“Who knows the blues of life in prison?”

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Review of Shahid Reads His Own Palm

Book by Reginald Dwayne Betts

Review by Rose Booker

Who knows how to make wine out of government mandated juice while behind prison walls? Who knows the ancestors that didn’t go to Heaven?

“Who knows the blues of life in prison?”

Reginald Dwayne Betts does. Within his collection of poems, Shahid Reads His Own Palm, Betts guides us through the jail cells of America, exposing the harsh realities of what the American prison system does to its people locked behind bars and what that, in turn means, for America as a whole.

The first thing that struck me when I encountered Betts’s poetry was the raw emotion and honesty that he embeds into each poem. He can take an idea, such as solitude in “The Spanish Word for Solitude” and make it so tangible that even in a crowded café I felt as if I was alone.

Betts use of traditional form, moreover, complements the tone of his poems. This is especially true of his ghazals, where the form lends itself easily to the themes of lost, redemption, and revelation.

Finally, the music within this work is reminiscent of a psalm one moment and blues lyrics the next. For instance, “Song,” when read aloud, sounds as if it should be accompanied by a guitar or a saxophone.

Though the topic is heart wrenching, Betts presents it to us in a startlingly beautiful way.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in African American poetry, the American prison system, and poetry about redemption.

This review will appear on Writer Advice’s Hooked on Books.

Cat Got Your Book?

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Review of Cat Striking Back

Book by Shirley Rousseau

Review by Rose Booker

Dried blood at the bottom of an empty pool, a series of unexplained break-ins with nothing stolen, and an oversized drainage ditch turned into a tomb: what is one talking tomcat to do? Tom Grey and company discover these and many more troubling signs of murder and mischief in Shirley Rousseau Murphy’s Cat Striking Back.

While on his way to deliver a meal of mice to some hungry kittens, Tom Grey stumbles upon a murder scene. Immediately, he dives into the case to help the police. The premise of the mystery is established by his discovery: no one knows who the murderer or the victim was.

Murphy’s style is engaging and thought-provoking. She lures the reader into believing they have solved the mystery early on in the book. I was so sure of whom the murderer and the victim were that I almost stopped reading. What egged me on were the small clues that the cats stumbled upon. What was that smell that resembled catmint? What in the connection between the murder and the break-ins?

Moreover, I wanted to learn more about each character. Murphy has a way of bringing character’s to life. From Clyde, Tom Grey’s housemate, to sweet cat-loving Charlie, each character feels like someone we all have met at the PTA or football game. These characters are familiar, despite being surrounded by talking cats.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in puzzle-solving, complex characters, or who simply loves cats.

This review first appeared on Writer Advice’s website.

REVIEWS!

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Hello All!

Been a while since my last post and for that I apologize. Life happens and when it does all we can do is jot down a quick note on some thought that struck us in the heat of the moment (sometimes this is much better than saying that thought aloud among present company). BUT, despite the ups and downs of life I somehow managed to read over the cold San Francisco summer days. In honor of the books that kept my sanity intact among economic woes and daring  journeys across bays, I present to you BOOK REVIEWS!

I wrote these reviews for WriterAdvice, a website that promotes authors through interviews , book reviews, and contest postings. If you’re an author or just simply love books, I highly recommend checking out this website.

Now without further ado, here come the book reviews…in the following posts. ^_^

Looking for “Inspiration”

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Advice of the week: procrastination does not need to be your enemy, so long as you have a piece of paper and a writing implement at hand. Case in point: I haven’t posted a blog in a while. Was it because I didn’t have things to write about? No. Did I not write poems during the time I was away, also no. I was procrastinating.

This is not to say that sitting on the couch watching Glee all night is all apart of the writing process. It might be for some, but often that isn’t at all apart of what writing and creating art is about.

The type of procrastination I am talking about is when you step out of your comfort zone for a bit and look at the world around you. Be as observant as possible and live for a while without actively thinking about your work.

Often the solution to your writer’s block is not found on the blank page. It’s found in your the world around you.

Best part about this type of active procrastination: it helps you fall in love with your own work all over again.

So, while I WASN’T writing, I was searching for inspiration in the everyday life of a graduate student in San Francisco: doing laundry, cleaning my room, paying bills, revisiting old poems, playing the guitar, reading, talking with friends, family, colleagues, perfect strangers, and walking. Lots of walking. The beautiful thing about city life is walking through it and finding all the wonderful things that tourist have yet to find.

First walking trip was to the Golden Gate Park. Tourist haven you say? Not on a cloudy day.

There I found so much material for writing and for life in general that I can’t wait to visit again. Here are some photos I took while there:

 

 

Walking through Golden Gate Park help clear my mind enough to realize why I felt I was hitting a block in my poetry: I haven’t yet given myself permission to write about certain topics. The more personal it a work got, the more I put it off. So, I took a deep breathe, read up on some poets that were doing what I wanted to do (something that I’ll cover in the next posting), and dived right in. Got about 3 poems done after that. The last one was the hardest to write because it was in ghazal for and about a very personal subject. It’s entitled Dancing Wings and although it needs extensive editing, I think it is one poem I am proud of simply because I gave myself permission to write it.

Next time I’ll cover what it means to give yourself permission and what it takes to write like the greats.

Talk you next time.

Peace love and pancakes.

Advice from two sources that all artist should take to heart.

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This is a quickies update for two bits of literature you should devour as soon as possible.
The first is Art&Fear, a novel about the process of creating art and what artist commonly go through, emotionally, physically and mentally.
http://www.tedorland.com/books/artandfear.html

The second is an article by Austin Kleon, another blogger. It is called “How to Steal Like an Artist.”

Steal Like An Artist

Enjoy. 🙂

Update and advice

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Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. When life happens, it rarely gives you time (or energy) to take it all in while writing. If you follow me on Facebook or know we personally, you probably have a good idea as to why I haven’t updated in a while.

But to recap for those not-in-the-know:

1) Resigned from full-time job

2) Helping my family with various issues (not going into that here)

3) Trying to organize life

4) Health issues

This is, of course,  just a summary but it does hit on something I think all writers have to deal with in their own lives.

Things that inform and simultaneously get in the way of our writing. Be it tragic events or happy ones, there are just so much to life that demands our attention away from the craft. How do professional writer’s manage their time is a constant question I deal with and the answer often bowls down to prioritization and sacrifice. You may have to sacrifice something in order to get your work done but you need to prioritize the things and people in your life in order to find out what can and cannot be sacrificed.

A good way to deal with this, is to think of what you can and cannot live without.

Can you live without updating your Facebook or reading a webcomic for 15 minutes? Yes. Can you live with not seeing your sister who is in the hospital? Most likely no.

That was easy, but what about everyday issues like bills, job, school, taxes, etc.

Those too can be prioritize, but just in a different manner. Think of how much time a task takes to complete, if you have everything you need to get it done, and when it needs to be done. Bills? Are they due tomorrow or next month? School? When is that presentation due?

The best advice I can give for the job issue is to never take it home with you, unless you work from home (in which case designate a time when you stop working everyday and just don’t go back to it for the rest of the day).

Other time management skills and tips exist out there, so find the one that works best for you. These are just some that have helped me, recently.

The most important tip for writers, however, is to never go a day without writing. Write anything, even if it is a word you like. The practice is apart of the craft. As with any craft, if you don’t practice you don’t improve.

This has been a public announcement by Rose.

Take care now.

Peace.

Found Poetry and Random Acts Of Inspiration

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Hi all,

This week is spring break but I’m still writing (just not on days when I would have had a class . . . that was converted to sleep time).

I “finished” (as finished as a 1st draft can get) a new poem done in a form I’m not that use to yet. I basically wrote a Found Poem; a poem where the text does not originate from the poet. Instead, the text is found and then rearranged to bring about new meaning, context, clarity or what-have-you to the words themselves. Think of it as collage for poets who have having a hard time dealing with the deadly blank page.

The poem itself is tentatively called Golgotha. I recently was praying the rosary for friends, family, and Japan when I came across the word. For the life of me I had no idea why it mattered that Jesus is said to be crucified at Golgotha, nor did I know where the place was. So I hit the Wikipedia pages and found some text that was ripe for poetry. A bit of cutting here, some rearranging there, and vola! A new poem.

The poem is actually addressed to other believers in Christ who may not be in touch with Him in the way that counts. You see, over the last, oh say, 10 years anyone who believed in God has been lumped with extremist who believe that what is written is verbatim what God meant. However, this is not true.

Language is ever-changing, so how can the words that have been largely mistranslated from the get-go be the direct words of God?

Conversely, what is so amazing about language is that as it evolves (and is allowed it) the root meaning can still be gathered in some way.

Why does Golgotha lead to the skull?

What is the significance that Jesus died at a place called the skull?

Is it simply further Christian critics against inquiry or is it something more?

Why does it matter that Helen of Troy may or may not have named the place in the first place?

Why is Golgotha in reality flat like a plain but in the Bible round like a skull?

My poem begins to (very roughly) address these questions.

It is my belief that to believe blindly is to not believe at all. You must go through the valley of the shadow of doubt and come out of it with your faith intact after seeing all that this world has to offer through language, science, history, animals, plants, biospheres, and ultimately each other.

It is hard to be Christian in today’s world where the very history of Christian Warfare is attached to each King James translation. However, it is my hope that someday everyone will focus on the root that connects all beliefs and that is simply one large truth:

We humans need one another.

This need should be enough to begin to settle differences. I may be naive to believe this, but at the end of the day I at least have this hope, this faith.

And to all my non-Christian friends and loved-ones: that you for respecting my beliefs and helping me grow as a person. I could not have gone half as far without you.

Peace, love, and pancakes,

Rose

 

Where did all the poems go?!?!

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Did some evil hacker decide to break into a writer’s account and destroy everything?

*le gasp*

No. That didn’t happen. Hey everyone, your fearless writer here. I was recently given some very good advice that each beginning writer (and everyone in general) should be aware of:

Blogging = publishing.

What this means is that until the great publishing lords and ladies have decided where in the hierarchy that is publishing, e-publishing falls under, it hurts my chances (and the chances for anyone else) to have my amutuer work up already. To better understand it, think of it from a publisher’s point-of-view: you submit your original piece of work and they think they are getting a exclusive-never-before-published piece of art. They do their background check, and WHAM they find that the exclusive piece has been spotted online… for free … either on the author’s blog or somewhere else. Either way, all the time (and time =$) they spent on an exclusive goes down the drain and you are dropped like a hot sack of molasses.

So I removed all the draft poem.

I am not, however, removing the story bits on the basis that as far as I can tell certain writers have gained the popular vote and thus the publisher’s favor that way. I just won’t have anymore “free-writes” up for a while on either CPU or DL.

In my personal opinion, neither my poems or my stories are not ready for publishing and therefore shall not be seen here anymore.

Does that mean I won’t pot as much or as often anymore?

Not a chance.

It means, however, that I will be using this space for other things related to the craft of writing. This includes, but is not limited to, techniques, styles, sage advice from published and weathered writers, random bits of inspiration, and ice cream (because the frosty goodness makes the world go round).

So yes, you will not be seeing my work on here any more, but you will be given notice when I have written new pieces, when and where I have submitted them to any contests, and anything else surrounding their very existence.

With that said, LONG LIVE EARTH HOUR!

Piece, love and pancakes,

Rose

Poems, poems everywhere, but never enough ink.

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Hi Everyone!

Got two new poems coming right at ya. Both are inspired by The Network by Jena Osman. It’s a fabulous book and I highly recommend it to anyone who has an open-mind and likes poetry of connections.

The first poem is directly inspired by her work and by Gargoyles.

Yes, these guys. I always wanted to write something related to them, but what came out was something unintentional. This poem is  very very rough so if you ever need an example of a bad first draft here it is:

Gargoyle

The next poem was more of a technique-based exercise combined with a theme I’ve been mulling over. Ever wonder if there is a right way to fail? Well, there is and I think this poem will explain what I mean.

Failing Better

Anyways, that’s it for this week’s poems. Please, as always, comment with critiques. Thanks.

Peace, love, and pancakes,

Rose

OFF-Day

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Hi Everyone,

Today my class had off because Prof. C had to go to Maryland for a literary business trip (the best kind!). So, the class was told to dedicate the time we have off to writing. Truth be told a good portion of the time I used was for resting and relaxing but I soon kicked my little literary butt into gear.

Next week we have to recite two poems: one we wrote and one from an author we admire. My first choice for poems from other authors was Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky, simply because Jabberwocky is awesome to recite and to be able to at any given moment would be sweet.

HOWEVER, after I thought about it for a while and realized that for the type of poems I write and the more serious literature that make up the literary cannon, I decided on Emily Dickinson’s 712. It is a marvelous poem that demonstrates one way of envisioning death that is devious in its simplicity.

BUT, I do not like all work and no fun. So to balance off DEATH I wanted to add in something a bit lighter to my repertoire . Still serious in subject matter, but lighter in tone. So here is my second take on Plug in Plug out.

This one is for you Michael Jackson!

Is that all I did for class today?

HECK NO!

I liked Dickinson’s poem so much that I decided to use it as a template for a new poem. So here it is for the first time ever: Because!

As always, comments and critiques are welcome. Thanks for the help.

TTYL

-Rose