VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR - Another Leg of the Journey Begins . . .

WELCOME TO THE VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR

Janet Rice Carnahan, currently living in Southern California, finds her inspiration in nature’s beauty every chance she gets.  Her poetry has been published online in “Jellyfish Whispers”, “Pryokinection”, “Camel Saloon”, “Three Line Poetry”, and “The Mind{less} Muse”.  Two of Janet’s poems were selected for the anthology, “Storm Cycle: The Best of 2013” through “Kind of a Hurricane Press”.  She also contributed poetry to two other anthologies, “Backlit Barbell” and “Prompted: An International Collection of Poems”, where she also received credit for the cover photo and caption.  On her website, Hear Earth Heart, she has self-published four poetry books, “Shadows in the Sanctuary”, “Into the Inner Path”, “The Cosmic Highway” and “Hear Earth Heart, a series of haikus”.

The sunny Southern California coast provides marvelous opportunities for Janet and her husband to walk the beaches in search of all nature provides and never hides . . . among the tides!   All of life is there; the pounding surf, flying seabirds, children discovering the beach for the first time, and the peace and serenity found in a golden sunset.

Life for me has always been near water; oceans, islands and lakes, bringing joy and delight to the natural ebb and flow of life itself.

The creative process is a different dance for each artist, inviting and weaving one’s thoughts and feelings into captured moments with an unexpected yet creatively welcomed style and grace as it becomes a new form, previously formless.  The artist is drawn to the medium that best allows for their own expression and sense of connection to the world through the written word, painting, drawing or photography.

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From the “lip of the Arctic Circle”, I was asked by poetic friend, S. E. Ingraham, to join this virtual blog tour. I have known Sharon online for a few years now, always enjoying her poetic style and unique expression. She shares who she is through her openly creative voice.  I am grateful to Sharon for inviting me on this journey, supporting people in their creative endeavors.  Sharon has several poetic accomplishments, which she shares in her bio below.  

S.E.Ingraham, a retired mental health consumer, pens poems from the 53rd parallel where she lives with the love of her life, as well as a very old wolf/border-collie. Recently she's had work published in a number of online and print journals: Poetic Pinup Revue; Free Fall Literary Mag; and from kind of a hurricane press: Tic Toc, Something's Brewing, In Gilded Frame, Storm Cycle-the Best of 2012 and 2013,  to name a few. She continues to work on chapbooks and more plans for publication.  Ingraham won 2013's Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry contest, but her fondest accomplishment is a sidewalk poem that will leave her words "written in stone" on a walkway near where her grandsons live. Her work can be found on any of her blogs but the one she's using for the tour is:

http://whenthepenbleeds.blogspot.ca/?zx=d36f092f50b54848

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Thank you again, Sharon, and here are the answers to the four questions for my portion of the tour.

1) What am I currently working on?

I am playing with a few titles for a series of new haikus around the theme of the love of nature as it relates to the human heart.  It seems nature brings out the gentle side of human nature and Haiku creates that very touchable human moment.

  

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Haiku seems to embody spirituality, philosophy and psychology to evoke a true connection for the core feeling of the human experience.  When the words are captured in such a way as to truly touch the heart, the glory of their correct alignment brings about a true feeling of love and joy, leading one to feel the moment.  If it touches me in that way, I trust it will move someone else as well.

3)  Why do I write/create what I do?

Essentially I just write what shows up!  If I am out walking in nature, for example, I just let nature show me what’s there.  The way the birds dance across the sky, the wind on the branches or the ripples of sparkling sunlight in harmony with the waves.  It seems to me that poetry is the art of being in the moment and using words to frame it and offer it back for someone else to enjoy and experience.

4) How does my writing/ creating process work?

It starts with the real feeling in a moment and as the feeling comes so do the words.  The visual experience also evokes the feeling.  I saw a little girl with red bows in her hair, wearing a red coat and red shoes waving at a bright red fire truck.  All the firemen were waving madly back.  The sense of red in both the harder metal and softness of the small girl’s ruby colored bows and shoes was a great contrast for a captured poetic moment.

 The love and joy of family also stirs the heart and provides marvelous inspiration on a wonderful ongoing and growing basis!

 

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Choosing three poets to participate in the virtual blog tour was and wasn’t an easy task.  Several of us have participated in a Poem –A- Day (PAD) challenge through Writer’s Digest with senior editor, Robert Lee Brewer, for many years now.  Many poets write and post daily and through that process some names just leap off the page and stay in your mind.  The three poets I chose show their own voice, spirit and expression through the boldness of their chosen words that touch and move people to hear what speaks to them in their own way.

So happy to present Sara Vinas, Linda G. Hatton and Bruce Neidt!  Looking forward to seeing how they will take this virtual blog tour to the next step on June 30^th! 

Sara v is a worshipper of sun, sea and serendipity. She is also an artist and the inspirations for art in paint and pen come from her delight in nature, especially of the salt water variety. Her poetry has been published in "Jellyfish Whispers," "Errant Parent," "Brevity Poetry Review," and several anthologies. My art and poetry is at saravinas.blogspot.com

Linda G Hatton spends her days writing—poetry, novels, screenplays, web codes, or notes to her children. She is also the managing editor of Mouse Tales Press and works as a freelance copyeditor. [link to: http://www.lindaghatton.com/]

 Bruce W. Niedt is a "beneficant bureaucrat" from southern NJ whose poetry has appeared in numerous print and online journals, including Writers Digest, Writers Journal, The Lyric, Lucid Rhythms, US 1 Worksheets, Spitball, Chantarelle's Notebook, and Edison Literary Review.  His awards include the ByLine Short Fiction and Poetry Prize, first prize for poetry at the Philadelphia Writers Conference, and two nominations each for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. He has workshopped with Jane Hirshfield, Marge Piercy, Molly Peacock, and Stephen Dunn, and is looking forward to working with Billy Collins in January 2015. His latest chapbook is Twenty-four by Fourteen, a collection of sonnets and other short poems, published by Maverick Duck Press.  Bruce’s blog address is bniedt.blogspot.com

 Ok, poets . . . onward and up word!  Let's see all the good stuff!