When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing... Turns out, of the four-and-twenty blackbirds, 20 were men and only 4 were women! I know I promised to post the next installment of PM's journey, but an interesting conversation is bubbling up around a piece published by VIDA, Women in the Literary Arts, and I just … Continue reading pie, publishing & swagger
Category: Readings & Other Happenings
the birth of pokey, part II
In which Pokey becomes a Master of Regret and encounters Temporary Blindness. My friend Maya describes how she recently came across a photograph of herself at a party when her daughter was an infant. “I was wearing red pants! Red pants! What was I thinking? Who does that?” This, dear reader, is the question of … Continue reading the birth of pokey, part II
no place like home
click.click.click. In the poetry workshop I taught this fall we talked a lot about repetition and variation. We agreed that repetition can be a good thing in a poem, like an engine moving you forward when you think you might be stuck. It worked for Dorothy: there’s no place like home, there’s no place like … Continue reading no place like home
the pokey pledge
When I first imagined Pokey Mama, I didn’t see her as a blog, per se, at least in the sense of daily/frequent musings, updates, etc. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But I had a clear vision of telling a kind of serialized story: my journey through pregnancy into motherhood followed by the chaos … Continue reading the pokey pledge
Red Light, Green Light
In regard to posting a full-length essay with accoutrements on a weekly basis Pokey has given herself the green light to forgo the self-flagellation and instead allow for occasional blathering and newsy news in between the fabulousness of the longer posts, hence, the following items that may be of interest: Pokey Reads! Words will be … Continue reading Red Light, Green Light
And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
So sad I’ve been not to be here at Pokey Mama that I couldn’t stand to look at the little tab on my Favorites bar with the mini PM staring forlornly at me from way out in cyberspace. If not now, when? she asks plaintively, or sometimes, when feeling bullish (in the Hemingway sense of … Continue reading And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
bear, not tree
Of course I love them, they are my children. This is my daughter and this my son. And this is my life I give them to please them. It has never been used. Keep it safe. Pass it on. The Mother, Anne Stevenson I subscribe to a women’s poetry list serv, and this poem was … Continue reading bear, not tree
out-of-office reply
Thank you for visiting Pokey Mama. Pokey is on vacation this week. She's a real person and sometimes she gets tired and has to go away and not think so much. Please come back on 8/23 and see what a little relaxation does to her brain. In the meantime, her poems are live at Poets … Continue reading out-of-office reply
Later
Recently I co-facilitated a writing workshop in my home town. Our group met in the Field Memorial library-- Marshall Field, that is, who grew up in Conway, made a fortune in Chicago and left us citizens a remarkable temple to books. To get to the library you must ascend many shallow stone stairs and shoulder open … Continue reading Later
in threes
I just got word that three of my poems will be featured on the Poets for Living Waters site. (I encourage you to visit there, but don’t look for my poems, they aren’t up yet. I’ll let you know when.) The project was initiated by Amy King and Heidi Lynn Staples in response to the … Continue reading in threes
Amy Dryansky 