Most people I know disdain discussions about their age once they reach the more “exalted” years. Oh, I hear that “50 is the new 40” and such gobbledygook, but I don’t really buy it, do you? Really? I think we are what we are. For me, I am the age I’ve lived. I’m every moment, minute, month, and year. I’m every wrinkle, every bruise, every crack in every bone. I’m every white or grey hair (and in my case every purple and blue one, too). I’m every flake of dry skin, busted capillary, expansion joint and skin tag. I am who I have become. I do not pretend it makes me younger or older (though perhaps I am a wee bit wiser).

My physical age is but a number, yes, but it says “look I’ve been around the block.” The good news (or bad, depending on your perspective) is that I’ve probably lived more than many, given I’ve been blessed with a multitude of adventures and opportunities, loves and divorces, the love of wonderful parents, and the joy of a corresponding childhood, plus finding a great love, despite the odds. (This might be a good time to mention you can read all about it in my book, Breaking The Glass Slipper, a fictional memoir.)

I often joke that I am only 12 (mentally). Perhaps that’s because I encourage my inner child to come out to play. I delight in her exuberance. I exercise my imagination daily; and above all, I delight in laughing. I live for joy. I look for good things. I think this keeps perspective and helps you stay young. Sometimes, you just have to LET GO.

I wasn’t always this way. I’ve mellowed with time. This Aries is a true leader of her zodiac, but once the fiery, short-tempered, grudge-bearing, stubborn, self-centered alpha, slowly became a wiser, more forgiving, more moderately tempered, nurturing, dragon lady who knew of and practiced compromise. Still an alpha, I have a temper but the fuse is longer. I have no time for grudges. The soap-box cheering dragon lady raises her ugly head now and again, but one more tolerant, informed, and careful. I like to think smarter. But I am a nurturer. I am a giver. I have a need to do for others. This is where I get my joy.

And that brings me to now. My birthday was last week on March 29. I rarely ask for anything these days. I have so much and want for nothing. I am truly blessed. I give back whenever I can, as often as I can.  I desire only the love and joy of friends and family. I want to be remembered, yes. I want others to celebrate the joy of life with me, yes. To know they take joy in me (or I hope they do) is what birthdays are about, for me.

I do not know if I have succeeded in this wish. This birthday passed without the fanfare so many others feel is needed. After all, I have achieved that realm of my “great and exalted age.” But I’ve not time to exalt! I’m busy. Every day there are things to exalt in and this is the message. Living every day fully, laughing, playing, and finding joy. In this way, every day is a personal gift that you can keep or choose to share. Isn’t that the real joy we want when we reach “exalted” years?

Like writing a book whether you publish or not. Like smiles or giggles. For those who know me, I think you know whether I prefer to keep or to share. Sharing is where I find exaltation.

Once upon a time, long, long ago, a babe was born and delivered in a hospital by her mother.  Gas was 22 cents. Saturday matinee movie was 49 cents. Polio vaccinations began. Father Knows Best was popular on TV.  It was 1954. (It would be another five years before Barbie would be born and one week later, Swanson’s would produce its first TV dinner). I was born into a good year.

Hello 63!  And MY story continues. (say, do you let your characters have birthdays?)

— AND NOW, In keeping with National Poetry Month, I offer you my imaginary obit! 

Sherry – author, poet, woman, child –
lived a life passionate and wild,
tasted everything, regretted some,
loved many, in love with only one.
Believed in magic, danced and dreamed,
died complete, more than she seemed.
She played Led Zeppelin and drank champagne!
She said, “live boldly ’til we meet again!”

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Speaking of National Poetry Month (how did you like that transition?), last week I announced I’m sponsoring a POETRY CONTEST!  You can enter HERE.  Win some books and/or an Amazon gift card.

PLUS – winners will see their poems published here, on Facebook, on other blogs and I will read them LIVE on Facebook. I might even read them on You Tube.

Welcome Poetry Month by trying your hand at a poem. The theme is WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

Well? Go on….I dare you! You might surprise yourself and already be a fabulous poet!

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AND THERE’S MORE! In keeping with National Poetry Month, I’m GIVING AWAY FREE COPIES OF THE BOOK OF NOW! That’s right. FREE.  From April 14 through April 17, you can go to Amazon and get a free ebook of my last book of poetry (already free on KU).  Mark your calendar!  FREE!

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Before I go, I want to thank everyone for their wonderful feedback on last week’s blog post about Commenter Etiquette. Your support and your thoughts are important to me and I am grateful for your interest.

Keep an eye out for more FACEBOOK LIVE events! Keep reading! Keep writing.

Until next time, I remain,
Yours Between the Lines,
Sherry

Poetry Month is coming to a close. I hope you’ve taken a chance and opened your mind and heart to some new verses, explored new poetic vistas, and discovered some new poetic insights.

Just in case you want to continue celebrating poetry, I have some other dates you can participate in!

National Poem on Your Pillow Day! Always the first Tuesday in May, this year it is May 3. On this day put a poem on your spouses or significant other’s pillow, a child’s pillow, your roommate or dorm mate — and give them something memorable, be it fun or deep or even odd.

National Take A Poet to Work Day! Always the third Wednesday in July, this year it is July 20. This is the day you take something of your favorite poet to work, set it beside your phone or calendar, your computer or on your door. Celebrate the day by introducing everything about your favorite poet to everyone else.

Random Acts of Poetry Day! Always the first Wednesday in October, this year it is Oct 5. Leave random bits of poetry in public places — on the bus, on a park bench, on the train, in your spouses’ car, on the school bus, in your break room at work. Make them fun and interesting. Pithy or fun.

Let these be added ways to include poetry in your life, make it fun and introduce poetry to others. No one said poetry had to be dull or hard to understand.

I leave you with a poem I’ve come to love. I hope you’ll share this with your students, your friends, your family, your readers. Let us keep poetry alive long after Poetry Month has passed.

Introduction to Poetry

I ask them to take a poem
 and hold it up to the light
 like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
 and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem’s room
 and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
 across the surface of a poem
 waving at the author’s name on the shore.

But all they want to do
 is tie the poem to a chair with rope
 and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
 to find out what it really means.

—Billy Collins
Introduction to Poetry Billy Collins. From The Apple that Astonished Paris, 1996. University of Arkansas Press, Fayetteville, Ark.

Tomorrow – come by to read an excerpt from the Magic Princess books as we draw National Princess Week to a close! You should enjoy some of PJ’s writing and awaken your inner fierce warrior!

Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter! I’ll be publishing new material and there will be giveaways and goodies for newletter followers ONLY! Spread the word, thank you!

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****The following items will always appear to keep you posted on activities.*****

WIP (Works in Progress): 

– NEW BOOK OF POETRY! – expected release July 2016
– first novel in the Evening Bower series, about vampires and other supernatural creatures
– fictional memoir
– four-part fairy story (part one complete)

On the Desk: (next reading): In Shining Armor  (#4) Elliott James

Off the Desk (book just finished): Soulless by Gail Carriger (#1 in a series)

Coming Soon:  Let’s Talk About Your Writing!

Poetry Smoetry – Why Should I Care About Poetry?

We are three weeks into National Poetry Month and I continue hearing people groan about having to listen to, recite or read poems. “Why,” they implore, “must I bother? I don’t care!”

Ah, my metaphoric padawan, you might want to rethink that position!

To begin with, poetry has its roots in history.
Just as a reminder, poetry comes from an oral tradition. Before we could write, we told stories and sang songs. These “tales” were a record of the community, of history, of births and deaths. The anecdotes and the tragedies, everything was oral. And to make it easy to remember, clever rhymes and catchy tunes were used, even a sing-song style to help children remember the difficult and even exhaustive stories.

Celebrations were usually done in music and once again, it was easier to apply a rhyme to help others remember what to say each time. With repetition, as with the oral histories, songs that celebrate events become traditional and provided a sense of community and security. Roots.

Poetry was also a device for relaxation.
Long ago, before there were radios or televisions, phones or Facebook, poems were put into small compact books. These small volumes were easily carried and often found their way to the seaside, on a picnic, in the library or drawing room, at parties and by the beside. Poetry was an abbreviated form of a story that both men and women could share. Read by a practiced voice, it could be delightfully humorous, or scary, or loving. The joy was in the peaceful gathering. Additionally, small volumes were easily used in private for quiet reflection (given that women didn’t care a purse, this was something women could keep in hand).

Poetry was used for social interaction.
Being able to read aloud was an encouraged talent as was dancing or art or needlepoint or cooking. Various “ages” though time have maintained that reading poetry well signified a graceful spirit and mind, a healthy education or even a dramatic talent. No one went to an event without having something poetry memorized or able to be referenced. Up through the 1920’s poetry was standard fare at parties. Today, open mic café’s and beat poetry is making a comeback.

Finally, poetry engages the imagination.
Poets, beyond being historians and entertainers, teach us to see the world in new ways. Words are synthesized, and in their economy of use we discover more succinct visuals, opening our minds to new ways of visualizing, sensing and dreaming of our world. Poetry has a rhythm and flow that binds us to what could be, not just what is. We discover the power of words in both our dreams and our truth. This is the power of imagination and poets understand the power of this tool.

You don’t have to “understand” a poem in order to gain something from it. Often comprehension takes many readings before an “ah-ha” moment is reached. However, while you are reading, you can be feeling the flow, the passing and falling of the words. You can be sensing emotions though the words. Even without a depth of knowledge, poetry can enlighten through the senses and this enhances thinking and imagination. Poetry gives a sense of perspective through the music of the words.

Why should you care about poetry, a literary form that offers so much? No one says you have to be a William Shakespeare groupie. Neither do you need to be an avid follower of the dark deliciousness of Baudelaire and Poe, the satire of Ogden Nash or the love of the Brownings. But when you open yourself to just one poem once in a while, you are giving yourself a gift of truth, of history, of peace and relaxation, grace and adventure. You allow your soul to fly and be enriched.

Samuel Johnson said, “Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth.”
It’s the best of both worlds. You don’t have to be a Poetic Jedi and that’s why you should care.

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Recommended reading: Poems by Agatha Christie (1973) Christie’s first book of poetry, The Road of Dreams, was self-published in 1925.

Paper Bones by me! Contemporary social issues poetry written for everyone and anyone.

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****The following items will always appear to keep you posted on activities.*****

WIP (Works in Progress): 

– NEW BOOK OF POETRY! – expected release July 2016
– first novel in the Evening Bower series, about vampires and other supernatural creatures
– fictional memoir
– four-part fairy story (part one complete)

On the Desk: (next reading): Soulless by Gail Carriger (#1 in a series)

Off the Desk (book just finished): Burned (Alex Verus #7) by Benedict Jacka

Coming Soon:  Princess Week and Guest Blogger PJ LaRue