Tag Archives: poetry

Houston Skyline

Review: Houston Skyline, by Carol A. Taylor

by

About the book, Houston Skyline: Selected Poems Houston Skyline

Houston Skyline by Carol A. Taylor is a collection of poetry inspired by a life filled with change and growth. From her humble beginnings in rural Texas, where her family lived simply, to her career in the high-rises of the business world, and later to her years as a language teacher, Carol’s journey is one of perseverance and self-discovery.

Her poems reflect her experiences, blending memories of her childhood with reflections from her later years. Through themes of family, identity, and place, Carol shares her story in a way that is both personal and relatable.

This collection offers a thoughtful look at how life shapes us, showing how Carol found her voice through poetry and her love for storytelling.

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Amazon | Goodreads

My Thoughts Melissa

Carol Taylor’s volume of poems, Houston Skyline gives us glimpses into the author’s life in the form of a collection of her poems and short bits of transitional prose. Some of the pieces have been published before, others are new, but every one was a treat to be savored.

At times gentle, wry, poignant, and wistful, this collection is well-crafted without feeling crafty. It’s sometimes very candid (“Hard Times” is a recollection about a damaged toilet seat!) and often tied to the weather, which makes sense, because the weather in Texas changes on a dime and is never without drama.

“You seldom see downpours like that ay more, like the deluge the day they buried old Berry, rain blowing sideways and dark coming down,” she writes in “Funeral in the Rain,” and immediately you can feel it, smell it, taste it.

Taylor’s word-choices are delicious, and her descriptions are cinematic. Because it’s poetry, it’s an easy book to pick up, put down, read through, and then revisit, which is what I did.

If you love poetry, in general, and Texas in particular, you will love this book. If you merely love either one of those things, I feel Houston Skyline will make you love them.

Goes well with: sweet tea, fresh strawberries, and a summer rainstorm.

Book Blast: Pieces of Me by Daron Kenneth

by

PiecesofMe-PUYB

About the Book, Pieces of Me

Pieces of Me

Pieces of Me is Daron Kenneth’s newest offering of poetry that takes the reader on the real, and often surreal, ride through the mindscape of the author’s soul. Pieces of Me is an electric journey into some of life’s richest and most memorable moments.

Buy a Copy from AuthorHouse

Pieces of Me at AuthorHouse

About the author, Daron Kenneth

Daron Kenneth, a teacher, writer, play wright and poet gives us his current collection of poetry and insightful observations about the things that mean the most: life, love, friendships and relationships.

Enter to Win a $25 Gift Card from Daron Kenneth and Pump Up Your Book

Terms and Conditions

  • By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
  • One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Amazon Gift Certificate.
  • This giveaway begins January 7 and ends on January 21.
  • Winners will be contacted via email on January 22, 2014.
  • Winner has 48 hours to reply.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This Isn’t Treasure Island

by

A Child's Garden of Verses

Robert Louis Stevenson’s poems were constant friends in childhood, poems my grandmother and I would memorize and recite. I knew all about having a little shadow, and going up in a swing.

One poem that I never appreciated until this weekend, which has been spent largely in bed, was “The Land of Counterpane,” in which a sick child turned the hills and valleys of his comfortable bed into all manner of landscapes for his imagination.

I don’t imagine my quilt squares as separate countries, but I do still let imagination run wild.

Even days spent propped on pillows have magic.

Originally written 30 August 2009 in another blog.

The Sunday Salon: Rhymes with Purple

by

The Sunday Salon.com

Maybe it’s that I’m nine days away from turning forty, or maybe it’s just that the news has too many stories about damage from the oil spill, incredibly hot weather (and no rain), Outer Banks foreclosures, and the like, but lately I’ve been rediscovering poetry, and specifically poetry meant for children. Not Dr. Seuss, because I’m incredibly anti-Seuss, but Robert Louis Stevenson, Shel Silverstein, A. A. Milne (because he didn’t ONLY write about a certain “bear of very little brain”), and even Ogden Nash.

Well, Ogden Nash might be a bit of a stretch, because I’m not really certain his stuff is meant for children, but most of it – most not all – is child friendly, though it might spark a lifelong love affair with really bad puns.

I talked about Robert Louis Stevenson a couple of days ago, referencing his poem “My Shadow,” (which, by the way, is ALSO one of the inspiration poems for this month’s project over at CafeWriting.com, so if you’re looking for a prompt, go visit – please? ) but my favorite kid-friendly poem isn’t one of Stevenson’s and it’s not even Milne’s “Coddleston Pie.” It’s Nash’s epic offering “The Tale of Custard the Dragon,” and it begins like this:

Belinda lived in a little white house,
With a little black kitten and a little gray mouse,
And a little yellow dog and a little red wagon,
And a realio, trulio, little pet dragon.

Now the name of the little black kitten was Ink,
And the little gray mouse, she called her Blink,
And the little yellow dog was sharp as Mustard,
But the dragon was a coward, and she called him Custard.

See? Delightful. (The poem has a happy ending, of course. Well, mostly.)

Then there’s Shel Silverstein. If you grew up in the 1970’s, as I did, you probably know Silverstein’s book, Where the Sidewalk Ends which includes silly, disturbing poems like “Hungry Mungry” and “Sick,” which latter is excerpted below:

“I cannot go to school today,”
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
“I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I’m going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I’ve counted sixteen chicken pox
And there’s one more-that’s seventeen,
And don’t you think my face looks green?”

And of course, I love Lewis Carroll’s verse almost as much as I love his stories, but one of my favorite childhood poems is actually a musical. It’s called Really Rosie and it’s based on the Nutshell Library books by Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are with music by Carole King. Seriously! Carole King! It includes one of the best alphabet songs ever, “Alligators All Around,” which goes like this:

A – alligators all around
B – bursting balloons
C – catching colds
D – doing dishes
E – entertaining elephants
F – forever fooling
G – getting giggles
H – having headaches
I – imitating Indians
J – juggling jellybeans
K – keeping kangaroos
L – looking like lions
M – making macaroni
N – never napping
O – ordering oatmeal
P – pushing people
Q – quite quarrelsome
R – riding reindeer
S – shockingly spoiled
T – throwing tantrums
U – usually upside down
V – very vain
W – wearing wigs
X – x-ing x’s
Y – yackety-yacking
Z – zippity zound
A – alligators ALL around!

The entire musical was made into an animated special in 1975. Here’s a clip:

Despite the fact that I don’t have children, and the dogs refuse to learn to read, I do have an extensive collection of children’s books, mainly left over from my own childhood. This week, I might have to re-read some of the poetry in that collection.