JUST WORDS: What the Muse Says-a poem

I start most mornings by writing a poem. They are not for publication, just to get the words flowing. I write in a very pretty little 4x6 journal my daughter, Katie, the MG/YA author gave me. [1] There is one simple rule: Only ink, no cross-outs or do-overs. Once it’s on the paper, that’s it.

I find it to be a useful discipline, to learn how to think about the words before I use them, to get it right before I get it write.

Here’s the one from April 16.

At the breaking of the dawn

my muse appears,

riding on a cloud

of caffeine,

a tiny smear of jelly,

raspberry,

on her flawless cheek,

and says, “Write something true

and beautiful.”

Although she has a basket full

of pre-warmed words

and rhymes,

I cannot do both.

John Robert McFarland

1] Katie is on twitter @katiewritesbooks.

My novel, VETS, will be published by Black Opal Books in late 2014 or early 2015.

In case you missed it, a Tweet Repeat: The editor kept telling me to shorten my ms. I finally got it down to one word. “Couldn’t you find a shorter word?” she asked.

I tweet as yooper1721.

A RANDOM BOOK REVIEW:  William Kent Krueger, ORDINARY GRACE. A sparkling book that I read with pleasure. It deserves all the plaudits it has received. I have read and enjoyed many of his Cork O’Connor Northern MN mystery books. This one is about the family of a Methodist minister in a small town in MN in the 1960s and is also a murder mystery, but diff from the O’Connor series, and a good examination of theodicy. At first he portrays the ways of the Methodist Church and parsonage so accurately I thought he must be a Methodist PK [Preacher’s Kid], but he made two mistakes toward the end of the book. They don’t affect the story at all, which remains an excellent mystery and an excellent examination of the ways people in a family cope, with life and with one another.

                    

I also write Christ in Winter: Reflections on Faith from a Place of Winter for the Years of Winter. http://christinwinter.blogspot.com/

I also write The Periwinkle Chronicles. You need a rather strange sense of humor to appreciate it, but occasionally it is slightly humorous. http://periwinklechronicles.blogspot.com/

MY OTHER BOOKS:

NOW THAT I HAVE CANCER I AM WHOLE: Reflections on Life and Healing for Cancer Patients and Those Who Love Them [AndrewsMcMeel & HarperAudio, with Czech and Japanese translations] Paul K. Hamilton, MD, the co-founder of CanSurmount, called it “The best book for cancer patients, by a cancer patient, ever.”

AN ORDINARY MAN [HarperPaperbacks] Randall MacLane just wanted to be an ordinary man. But sent with a message for Custer, he became a drifting lawman with a knack for killing, and a deep well of loneliness. Then a twist of fate brought him full circle…

THE STRANGE CALLING: Stories of Ministry [Smyth&Helwys] I didn’t want to be a preacher, but I made a deal with God to save my sister’s life. Was that really a “call,” though? I said, “I’ll try t for 50 years, and if I still don’t know, I’ll do something else.” These are stories of what happened in those years of questioning the call.

WHEN FATHER RODE THE MAIL and Other Stories of Christmas [lulu.com] ISBN 978-1-300-38566-0

If you like baseball poetry, take a look at “Frosty & the Babe” http://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/frosty_and_the_babe.shtml