poems

Have you heard the wood thrush this summer? He is an unassuming little bird in terms of appearance, but don’t be deceived! The wood thrush is unique for his Y-shaped voice box! This means that his voice magically splits and harmonizes with itself on the final notes of his trademark song, what humans have anthropomorphized as follows: Come to me. Here I am. Right near you.

The wood thrush spends his summers in the Eastern U.S., where he sings to attract a mate and together they raise their young in the deep woods, where he is far more likely to be heard than seen. We have a very vocal wood thrush in the woods outside our house and his voice sails through the air like the first notes of a flute, which makes him stand out from the cacophony of the other birds. Click here to hear him sing.

For all of these reasons, I chose to feature the wood thrush in the title poem of my first-ever poetry collection, Waiting for the Wood Thrush, which is being published by Finishing Line Press and has been described by celebrated poet and fiction writer Ruth Moose as “Witty, wise, overflowing with life and color, grace, and the goodness in our lives….”

Waiting for the Wood Thrush is now available for pre-order through September 13 by the publisher, Finishing Line Press. Pre-order sales help the author and publisher because they help determine the quantity of the first press run. As a personal favor, I hope you’ll order my book soon, but I wouldn’t ask you unless I believed you might enjoy it.

Memory_Ashley_COV_EM Click here to order Waiting for the Wood Thrush online. You may also order by sending a check for $14.99 (please include $2.99 per copy for shipping) to Finishing Line Press at P.O. Box 1626, Georgetown, KY 40324.

If you’ve ordered a copy already, I sincerely thank you. Finishing Line Press will be shipping all copies around November 8, which means it will arrive well in time for your holiday shopping.

And who wouldn’t like to get a book of poetry for Christmas? 🙂

If you could see my dining room table, you’d think I’m a hoarder. The primary function of such a table should be eating but for weeks now, it’s become a planning station for the upcoming workshop I’m leading on Saturday, March 14 at the Pittsboro campus of Central Carolina Community College bluebird-2 : Jumpstart Your Poetic Imagination. Scraps of paper, dog-eared books, and notebooks cover the surface, and frankly, I’d be ashamed for you to see it. That’s why instead I’ve posted a picture of a male bluebird in flight against the snow, caught by my husband on Thursday.

In spite of the clutter, I certainly feel like a bird in flight. I’ve been having the time of my life! I’ve been selecting poems by others to inspire us, and I’ll be honest, I’ve had to make some tough decisions. But I think I’m done. All poems are contemporary in nature, and go back as far as Emily Dickinson and Ezra Pound but some were published as recently as 2014.

From sad to joyous to humorous, these poems cover the seemingly simple fabric of life–from eating fruit to reading the news to observing backyard birds. But as we’ll see, these experiences are merely the lens through which we experience life’s complexities–love, death, loneliness, and hope, just to name a few.

The exercises are what I’m working on now and it is my hope with these that participants will understand (or deepen) what I’ve come to know–how the act of reading and writing poetry can help you feel more connected to the outer world. We’ll focus on imagery, have fun with random phrases, and stoke our imagination by making up stories about ourselves. Most importantly, and this is my greatest hope, we’ll have FUN!

I’ll close with a quote. While I’m not familiar with the writer, her words are timeless and set the stage beautifully for our workshop:

“Writing, I think, is not apart from living. Writing is a kind of double living. The writer experiences everything twice. Once in reality and once in that mirror which waits always before or behind.” ~Catherine Drinker Bowen, Atlantic, December 1957

Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday, March 14. If you’ve not signed up, whaaat? It’s okay, it’s not too late. You can easily register today online or by calling 919-545-8044, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. M – F.

Listen for the Wood Thrush!

Poetry Workshop Just Two Weeks Away!