Hi everyone, It’s my pleasure to tell you that my guest on Poetry from Daily Life this weekend will be ELLEN HOPKINS, who lives in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Ellen, a writer for more than thirty years, is a poet, former freelance journalist, and the award-winning author of fourteen NY Times bestselling young adult novels-in-verse, two middle grade novels-in-verse, and four novels (two in verse) for adult readers. She has visited every state in the union. Poetry from Daily Life is carried in five newspapers in Missouri, Kansas, and South Dakota. It’s hosted by Springfield News-Leader where it a ..read more

Hi everyone, The other day someone asked where they could find a copy of my poem, “Missouri,” which I wrote when I became Missouri’s Poet Laureate. It’s in print in the second edition of Bards of Moon City and available at Bookmarx and Waverly House in Springfield as well as on Amazon. If you would like to hear me read the poem, you can use this link to Tishomingo Arts Council in Mississippi for this year’s Smartphone Recital Series. Click here, https://www.facebook.com/TishCoArts/ , and scroll down a few spots until you get to me. It’s a five-minute recording during which I read “Missouri” a ..read more

Hi everyone, My thanks to JOHN SELLARS, Executive Director emeritus of the History Museum on the Square, for interviewing me yesterday on KICK Radio and for KOLR TV. Our talk was live but will be archived by both stations so others can hear it. I’ll give you the links when I get them. I want to make sure you don’t think I assume that you care every time I give you the link to something I’m in or have done. It isn’t my business if you click on it or not. But since this blog was created expressively for me to tell you about my life as a writer, I’m going to keep posting information and links bec ..read more

Hi everyone, Yesterday’s mail held a great surprise, the first copy of my new book. GILES LAROCHE has outdone himself again. The book won’t be released until September but holding this advance sample gives me high hopes that it has a good future in store. Orders can be placed now for September shipping. I’m grateful that my Charelesbridge editor, KAREN BOSS, saw this title as a strong companion to my two previous books with Giles, Now You See Them, Now You Don’t, Poems About Creatures that Hide, and A Place to Start a Family, Poems About Creatures that Build. I don’t want to wish the year aw ..read more

Hi everyone, My friend, LARRY WAKEFIELD, has been gone more than a year now. I still miss him, think about him a lot, remember little things that we shared in common. Yesterday as I was pulling on my socks, I accidentally had the logo on one of them facing out where people might notice it. I thought of Larry immediately, the time we discovered that we both had the same habit of always turning sock logos inward rather than go around advertising some sock maker’s product. Socks, after all, should be private business. I took off the offending sock and exchanged it with its partner so that both l ..read more

Hi everyone, This week was my turn again to contribute a column. I decided to revisit Word of the Month Poetry Challenge. I talked about it in my first column in November 2023, but that was six months ago and we have added new readers since then. https://www.news-leader.com/story/entertainment/2024/05/05/poetry-from-daily-life-start-with-one-word-let-your-poem-flow/73542434007 As always, I hope that you will share the link with those you know who might enjoy it ..read more

Hi everyone, On Saturday, April 6, Sandy and I drove to St. Louis where I delivered a 2-hour poetry workshop to the St. Louis Writers Guild, the oldest and largest writers group in the St. Louis area. I enjoyed the morning and was happy that it was being recorded. I was grateful to writers KATHY BROWN for facilitating my visit, JESSICA MATHEWS, the guild’s president, and BRAD COOK for running my PowerPoint and keeping me in front of the camera. It was Brad who sent me yesterday a link to the recording. To see it, click on the link, wait a few minutes while president Mathews attends to a few it ..read more

Hi everyone, For years I observed the progress of two hackberries in our back yard as they grew toward each other. I have a lot of pictures to prove my fascination. I didn’t know they were preparing me for this month’s poem inspired by the word, TOUCHING. TouchingYou were younger then,flirting when breezesbrought your eager leaves closer.The May camewhen your limb tips touched like a first kiss.You must have felt the momentdown to your roots. Now you’ve grown part of each other.you brush and rub, familiar as old marrieds.Excitement may have diminished,but comfort is no small thing. (c) 2024 ..read more

Hi everyone, For long evenings and nights we were serenaded by male toads trilling their hearts out, looking for love. Only when they became quiet out there in the dark did we suspect that the little lotharios had scored. We still hear an occasional song but the mating season has essentially passed, and so have the briefly happy couples. The evidence of their success lines the water accumulated on top of our pool. gone the mommiesgone the poppiesgone the hoppy hoppy hoppiesno more mammiesno more pappiesno more happy happy happiesleft the kiddos on their ownnow they must grow up alonefor futu ..read more

Hi everyone, Yesterday when WYATT TOWNLEY’s guest column was printed (and shared with you) something had happened in the layout process and her poem was printed in double space, all one stanza. We’re hoping to get the correction made, but if can we can’t, I’m printing the column here, with the poem as it should be. I’m very sorry for the error. WYATT TOWNLEYPoetry from Daily LifeMy guest today is Kansas Poet Laureate Emerita, Wyatt Townley, who lives in eastern Kansas. Wyatt has written poetry since childhood, from free verse to villanelles to pattern poems. Favorite book projects include Th ..read more