Here be the link to my latest column at Hilltown Families about poetry for families to learn and (hopefully) love. Enjoy!
Tag: parent
one clover & a bee
Pokey has another part-time gig: One Clover & A Bee (thank you Emily Dickinson!) is the name of my new column as a contributing writer at HilltownFamilies.org. I'll be writing once a month about how families can learn and say poems and just generally make poetry part of their lives and not be afraid of it. … Continue reading one clover & a bee
Berkshire Festival of Women Writers
At this very time, just a hop, skip and a jump away from anywhere in the MA, CT or NY state conjunction, really fabulous writing-related events featuring talented, funny and smart women are taking place, all during the month of March and even a wee bit into April. What is this thing? Where? How can … Continue reading Berkshire Festival of Women Writers
i’m not sorry
You know that old barb about certain people being born with a silver spoon in their mouth? Pokey thinks she may have been born with an apology permanently imprinted on her tongue. Not the empathy-based, “sorry I stepped on your toe” kind of apology but the fear-based, “sorry I have to tell you that you’re … Continue reading i’m not sorry
pokey finds the labyrinth
Part the Second of Pokey's adventures studying motherhood and poetry (aka herself) as an Associate at the Five College Women's Studies Research Center So there was Pokey, box of books and laptop in hand, settling into her office at The Center. Through the high plaster walls she could hear other women getting their nests in … Continue reading pokey finds the labyrinth
pokey leaves purgatory
Time to pick up the thread of the last Birth of Pokey post—no, not those red pants again! The thread of how Pokey wriggled her way out of the little box she was in, not-so-affectionately known as writer’s block. If you’ve never had writer’s block, or its equivalent for your chosen work (bread that refuses to rise, … Continue reading pokey leaves purgatory
Pokey’s first interview: Katryna Nields
In honor of President’s Day Pokey is inaugurating her first Mama to Mama interview, featuring musician Katryna Nields. Katryna and her husband Dave, also an amazing musician, moved to our little road in 2000. I remember meeting her at one of our neighborhood parties: she was this beautiful, willowy column of a woman wearing a … Continue reading Pokey’s first interview: Katryna Nields
pie, publishing & swagger
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
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
Amy Dryansky 