Tra-la-la, Please, Oh Pooh!

Forget Disney. Pooh (or Edward Bear) is a character in a book by A.A. Milne that is now one hundred years old. A hundred years of the Hundred Acre Woods. I inherited my family's 1957 copy of The World of Pooh which lives in my library. Here's a sample: 

I emulate Pooh's ability for "tra-la-la"... and offer this as an antidote for the funk of focusing on the state of the world and humanity. Please, this is not a head in the sand moment. This is a little more desperate than that. Maybe you, also, want to be present with more than what's horrible. Hmm? 

Ron Charles, former book critic for The Washington Post, has devoted a marvelous article to Pooh on his Substack. View it here: https://roncharles.substack.com/p/in-which-winnie-the-pooh-turns-100?r=e43y8&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay&triedRedirect=true 

Be wowed by his closing statement. And, tra-la-la, carry on.

Cheers,
Charise

So, How Did It Go?

Well, now that you ask, or are curious about this question, let's be effusive about it. Let's bank on heightened interest. This is what writers do all the time. We write for our supposed audience, as well as some known fans. We imagine our audience is massive, "contains multitude(s)," as Whitman says. We're thinking of  you, whether you know it or not. We rarely hear applause. So, when we gathered for our virtual book launch of Serious Fun: Poets of "Next Line, Please," I was beaming like a proud parent. Emoji applause was rising up my laptop screen. I said, "I could do this all day." Thank you to Bruce Isaacson of "Yes, Poetry, YES!" and Zeitgeist Press for hosting. There are too many good poems and poets in the book to miss out on if you're without a copy. Here's a sample: 

https://bruceisaacson.substack.com/p/yes-poetry-yes-f88

And, if you missed the event, check out the Saturday Series for their regular poetry readings.

Cheers,
Charise

Writer's Center Event

The Writer's Center of Bethesda, Maryland is hosting The Capitol Hill Poetry Group for a reading and sharing of poetry craft. Get the inside scoop on the creation of poems now featured in our anthology, The Other Side of the Hill. I'm sorry to be away for this event! My high school reunion in New York is calling... for the very same date... and there are rumors I may be our class speaker for the occasion. Do not hesitate to hear my fellow poets, all brilliant at their craft. They are my poetry family, and it was a tough decision to choose my reunion over their company. Here are the details:

Kindly reserve at this link (it helps determine how many chairs and how many cookies to offer): https://writer.org/event/other-side-of-the-hill/

Cheers,
Charise

A Portable Identity... Anew

This may not be a book of poetry, but it is the first book in my repertoire, newly revised with the addition of a third co-author. If you are an accompanying spouse (or you know someone who is), this is the handbook to have. And, this time around, while redoing some writing, a new poem was born. That poem, "121 Heatherdown Lane," is included in Inheritance of Flowers. Endeavors do cross-pollinate! 

A Portable Identity, released January 5 this year, is ready for you. For a few months, some bonuses are offered from our lead page (a-portable-identity lead page). Soon, soon, one of these bonuses will be a reading of the poem that gives voice to leaving my home country. 

Warm wishes,

Charise

Capitol Hill Poetry Group 50th Anniversary

There are other things going on in Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, besides politics. This is the home of the Capitol Hill Poetry Group, since 1975. Fifty years strong! I was invited to be a member in 2017, and this group is instrumental to my craft of poetry. Come listen to us read from our newly published anthology The Other Side of the Hill at DC's iconic Politics and Prose bookstore on October 12. Enjoy a good dose of poetic artistry live and in-person. 

Here's what you need to know: 

https://politics-prose.com/capitol-hill-poetry-101225

Cheers,
Charise

Wrapping Up With The New York Times

Maybe you saw some movies this year and maybe one or two made The New York Times list of best movies of 2023. As a reader of this newspaper, I was surprised at a couple of omissions from their list: the fine film "The Holdovers," and Greta Gerwig’s layered fable "Barbie." My comment to this effect was excerpted and quoted in a follow up article of The New York Times on December 15. 

My, my... speak up! You may be heard. You may be published. Your perspective matters. Also, metaphor is dramatic. Among 700 reader comments, editor Robin Kawakami chose 4, including this poet's words:

 

Lisbon storefront (Barbie gets around)

Here's the full article: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/15/arts/readers-best-movies-tv-music-theater.html

Cheers,

Charise

Clue Number Two

 

I made a promise to provide hints about an upcoming poetry collection. My photo capture of a plaque on the sidewalk of Library Way in New York City is the second clue. (If you missed the first one, it's the post dated August 29.) 

"If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people" is a quote by the writer Virginia Woolf. Intrigued?

Cheers,

Charise

"Not a Lone Wolf"

 Not a Lone Wolf

                        after Monica Hesse

 

I do not need to hear 

that he “snapped,” or “had a bad day” 

 

I do not need to hear 

that he was heartbroken 

 

I do not need to hear 

that he was a churchgoer

 

I do not need to hear 

how he struggled with “temptation”

 

Don’t even need to know his name, really

 

Don’t need to hear thoughts and prayers

 

Don’t need to read excerpts of a weird manifesto

 

I want to hear about systems that helped build
the shooter

 

––things he saw celebrated, things he saw excused 

 

people who he was taught have value,
people who he was taught have none. 

 

 

Extracts from Monica Hesse’s article “Things I do not ever need to hear or read about a shooter again,” The Washington Post March 19, 2021

 

Patchwork Poem: Writers of The Washington Post

 January 6, 2021

Breaching the barriers

––their flags and banners 

snapping in the cold wind––

sprawling crowd 

shouting, chanting.

Nobody stopped them.

A sickening sight unfurls––

the flags and the onslaught.

Crowds climbed up scaffolding,

surged up the steps,

defied orders to disperse,

breached the capitol.

Our naivete was a talisman 

against disorder. 

The marauders freely roamed,

strolling through the statuaries. 
Precious artifacts were paraded 
around as props and prizes.

It happened because we refused 
to believe it could happen.

A sickening sight unfurls. 

Your gas masks are under your chairs.

This souring sentiment 

may lead to more violence.

This blindness to cataclysm

snapping in the cold wind.

 

 

Writers of The Washington Post: Dan Balz, Rebecca Tan, Peter Jamison, Meagan Flynn, John Woodrow Cox, Marc Fisher, Jessica Contrera, Carol D. Leonnig, Aaron C. Davis, Dan Lamothe, David A. Fahrenthold, Phillip Kennicott, Philip Rucker, Maura Judkis, Ellen McCarthy, Marissa J. Lang

 

~ LCMH