Many thanks to Columbia Journal for publishing five of my poems, If Unencumbered (The Story Of A Life That Did Not Happen), Self-Destruction:, Sepia Legacy, What Can’t Be Buried, and You Are Who I’ll Become.
Tag Archive for Lucinda Marshall
Great Article About The Gaithersburg Teen Writing Club
Great thanks to The (Gaithersburg) Town Courier for this great article about the Gaithersburg Teen Writing Club. I think the quotes from two of our writers says it all,
Gabby Howenstein said the group met her goals “to expand my horizons in my writing, get good feedback, and hopefully make a few new friends.” In addition, she “had the opportunity to hear and read the wonderful writing of some of our other members.”
Yamini Manikoth heard about the club from Gabby, and “thought it would be interesting to see what it was like. And I think it’s one of my favorite things now, because so many people come in and talk about things of mutual interest. … So as someone who enjoys writing, hearing feedback from other people who think the same as you is one of the best feelings in the world.
Teen Poetry Workshop At The Writer’s Center–Signup Info
I am very excited to be offering a workshop for teen poets at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, MD this fall.
Here is the info about the workshop:
Days: 4 Saturdays
Time: 2:00 PM-4:00 PM
Dates: 10/10–11/7
Location: Bethesda
Level: Beginner/Intermediate
Young authors (ages 12-16) will learn to use workshopping techniques to fine tune, revise, edit, and present poetry. Participants will have a chance to share their work, respond to writing prompts, get feedback, and learn about publishing options. In the last session we will hold a poetry reading to share work with family and friends. Please bring a laptop, tablet, or paper notebook. If you are already writing poetry, please bring something you’ve written to the first session. No meeting October 31.
You can sign up for the workshop here.
New Poem–Kaddish Season
I’m very pleased to have my poem, “Kaddish Season” in the Summer, 2015 edition of Poetica Magazine.
Articulation of a Dreamtime
Many thanks to Nortina Simmons for publishing my poem, Articulation of a Dreamtime in Sediments Literary Arts Journal’s Newbies issue. You can read the poem here, page 38 (although of course I encourage you to read all the other fine work in this issue as well!).
National Poetry Month Goodness
In honor of National Poetry Month, River Poets Journal has posted a group of pocket poems and I am honored to have my poem 5:04 Ante Mediem included in this lovely collection.
I am also grateful to Katie Woodzick for recording my poem, Unicorn,
and to Kristin LaTour for reading my poem, The Lilies Were In Bloom, which received an Honorable Mention in Waterline Writers’ Artists as Visionaries Climate Change: Solutions contest, at the opening of the Climate Crisis art show at Water Street Studios in Batavia, IL.
Finally, the teen writing club that I facilitate at the Gaithersburg, MD library, celebrated National Poetry Month by putting up a wall of poetry at the library. These young writers are so impressive and I am grateful to the library for letting us use a wall to display their wonderful work, including a collaborative poem that we wrote during our last workshop session.
The Lilies (and I) Are Honored
Lotus Reflection At Inspiration Lake. Lucinda Marshall, ©2013
I am pleased and humbled that my poem, The Lilies Were In Bloom received an Honorable Mention in Waterline Writers’ Artists as Visionaries Climate Change: Solutions contest.
Many thanks to Waterline and to Kristin LaTour for choosing my poem! The picture is of a lotus flower at Inspiration Lake in Gaithersburg, MD, part of the field of flowers that inspired the poem.
Kristin LaTour has selected Donna Pucciani as winner, and Tricia Marcella Cimera, Jim Lewis, Lucinda Marshall and Barbara Ungar as honorable mention poets to kick off a series of climate-related readings, gallery shows, featured speakers, workshops and other opportunities this spring at Water Street Studios. The poets will have their first opportunity to read, joining a full lineup of selected writers (TBA) and Open Mic participants at Waterline Writers on Sunday March 15th at 7 PM. Luis Mejico will also perform an interdisciplinary piece based on the poems. Luis and the winning poets will share their work again on Friday March 20th at the gallery opening of the Climate Crisis art show. Both events: Water Street Studios, 160 S. Water Street, Batavia IL.
In addition, Poetica, Sediments and One Sentence Poems have all recently accepted poems that I’ve written and I’ll be posting links when they are published.
Of Unicorns And Other Fancies
Want to read one of my poems? Here is your opportunity. My poem, Unicorn was published in Stepping Stones Magazine this fall. It begins,
You were the unicorn
in the waves
but I didn’t know that
until just yesterday,
You can read the poem in it’s entirety here.
In other writing news, this fall I organized a one day writing retreat for women writers at the Fox Haven Learning Center in Jefferson, MD. The leaves were turning and it was a great opportunity for all of us to get away from it all and ignite our writing passions. You know things have gone well when the primary feedback is when can we come back and can we stay longer!
I was also thrilled to be a featured reader at the Zed’s Cafe (Silver Spring, MD) monthly poetry night in December. Many thanks to Ginger Ingalls for inviting me to be part of the reading.
And starting in January, poet Alison Palmer and I will be co-facilitating a teen writing club at the Gaithersburg, MD library as part of a program run by the Maryland Writers’ Association through the Montgomery County (MD) Public Libraries.
Happy 2015, now back to writing!
Hillary Clinton Serves Us Kissinger Kool-Aid
Sunday morning newspaper, steaming hot coffee, peaceful reverie, lounge chair on my deck, birdsong chorus in the background–bliss until I saw the Outlook section of the Washington Post with two, yes two, life size headshots of Henry Kissinger.
My peaceful easy feeling went full throttle grumpy in a matter of seconds.
Which was quite justified when I found that this dual image travesty illustrated a review by Hillary Clinton of Kissinger’s new book (no I won’t provide a convenient Amazon link).
As a feminist, I am completely in favor of electing a woman president. It is long overdue. But as anyone who has read my work over the years knows, I am no fan of Hillary Clinton. Yes, she has done some good things, but her world outlook is as dangerous as the male politicians who have preceded her. Lest you doubt this, read the following few paragraphs from her very long review:
In his new book, “World Order,” Henry Kissinger explains the historic scope of this challenge. His analysis, despite some differences over specific policies, largely fits with the broad strategy behind the Obama administration’s effort over the past six years to build a global architecture of security and cooperation for the 21st century.
During the Cold War, America’s bipartisan commitment to protecting and expanding a community of nations devoted to freedom, market economies and cooperation eventually proved successful for us and the world. Kissinger’s summary of that vision sounds pertinent today: “an inexorably expanding cooperative order of states observing common rules and norms, embracing liberal economic systems, forswearing territorial conquest, respecting national sovereignty, and adopting participatory and democratic systems of governance.”
This system, advanced by U.S. military and diplomatic power and our alliances with like-minded nations, helped us defeat fascism and communism and brought enormous benefits to Americans and billions of others. Nonetheless, many people around the world today — especially millions of young people — don’t know these success stories, so it becomes our responsibility to show as well as tell what American leadership looks like.
Success stories? Through what warped lens is she viewing the world and our country? Rare is the book review that could be characterized as chilling. In this case, it is an apt descriptor.
Clinton is correct that many people, especially the young, don’t know these stories. But those of us who do call foul. This review is nothing short of an alarming adulation of Kissinger’s damaging tenure.
That she wrote it really isn’t a surprise, she has always bought into this toxic narrative and it tells us beyond doubt that regardless of the need to finally elect a woman as president in the United States, an Hillary Clinton presidency would be enormously dangerous.
Peak Water
Rehoboth Beach, DE
photo by Lucinda Marshall
On a recent trip to the Delaware shore, I was struck by the jarring notion that in the not so distant future, the sandy beach where I was walking would be reclaimed by the ocean. Although the weather was chilly, I took off my shoes–I needed to feel the cold, wet sand beneath my feet. Each step became a possible goodbye.
Our relationship with water is changing drastically. For years we have read about terrible droughts in Africa, floods in Bangladesh, melting glaciers in the arctic and about how our waterways are becoming polluted. Events where water–too much of it, too little of it, and the compromising of its pristine health occur are becoming more and more common:
- The historic drought in California may well spread throughout the entire Southwest.
- To make matters worse, the Colorado River is drying up at an alarming rate.
- And of course it isn’t just the American West that is in trouble. Nadia Prupis reports that, unless water use is drastically minimized…widespread drought will affect between 30 and 40 percent of the planet by 2020, and another two decades after that will see a severe water shortage that would affect the entire planet.”
- War can severely impact access to safe water as the Iraqis know all too well and as we are seeing now in the Ukraine and in Gaza.
- As can corporate greed, as we are learning in Detroit.
- Acidification is killing fish.
- Throughout the U.S. water service is frequently disrupted by pipe breaks in our aging infrastructure.
- Energy companies pollute our water at will with little real culpability. Think Elk River, think the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and fracking.
- And now we are seeing how allowing the over-fertilization of lawns can contribute to poisoning water supplies such as Lake Erie, recently leaving the entire city of Toledo, OH without potable water.
- We have littered the oceans with literally islands of trash.
- Intersex fish are being found in our waterways, likely the result of endocrine/hormonal disruption due to herbicides, fertilizers and pharmaceuticals that have made their way into our rivers.
- And of course the ongoing disaster that is Fukushima.
That, unfortunately is only the prelude of what is to come. It should be all too clear that we need to immediately change the way we think about this precious resource and take immediate action to protect and conserve water, and practice realistic land use policy in areas where there is drought and along our coasts where impending inundation is a given.
But with the gridlock and sellout of our body politic, that is unlikely to happen. And if it doesn’t, the taps will run dry, our homes will be underwater and there will be inadequate potable water. A grim (and unsurvivable) future indeed.
Many years ago, I had the privilege of attending a water blessing along the banks of the Ohio River conducted by a group called the
International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers,
The truth is our Mother Waters is dying and we are dying with her. However, in this gloomy situation is indeed a message of hope. For our Mother Water shows us that she is dirty because something is wrong with our humanity. She has, and always has, become a mirror to our souls. The simple act of blessing the rivers in fact makes a beautiful re-connection back with all that is life. You do not abuse something you have created a respectful relationship with.
We pray that our Mother Waters in all her forms celestial and physical continues to nurture and guide us. May she continue to run clean so that we and all life can be sustained. We ask for blessings for and from Mother Ganga River, Mother Osun River, Mother Mekong River, the Jordon River, the sacred Catawba River and the many more. We pray that there is healthy clean water for the next seven generations.
We would do well to heed their wisdom.
