poetry – Cynthia Reyes

New Stuff to Tell You About

December 12, 2023 Cynthia Reyes

Hello Friends:

First, let me share some uplifting news:

After publishing nothing new for a few years, my co-author Lauren and I have just released two things that we hope will delight anyone who loves the colour purple, or notebooks.

Or, (for the young ones in their lives), the Myrtle the Purple Turtle book series because you’ll see a purple turtle on the cover below! Perfect Christmas present – wink, wink, nudge, nudge!

My Purple Notebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0991837967

My Purple Sketchbook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPBYZ51L

Second, I returned to teaching writing this fall after 4 years away. It was only 1 course of 8 weeks, once a week, focusing on Memoir Writing. And what a joy my group was! 8 persons over 50, none of them with writing experience, but hungry to learn. Members of previous groups have won writing competitions and published books and stories after the course, so I know that writing can be learned. The group both amazed and uplifted me.

As you and anyone who follows this blog knows, it’s been a tough couple years and I’ve blogged very little while trying to support my family and improve my own health. I have more appointments than I can count!

But life does go on, and as, always, I give thanks for the key blessings of love from family and friends. That, by the way, includes the friends I’ve made here through my blog, who have checked in on me and my family or replied to my quite rare blog posts. Blessings come in many different forms, and I thank you for yours.

I’m determined to post again soon so will send my Christmas greetings then. But for now, I wish everyone who celebrates Hanukkah, Advent, Winter Solstice (or other sacred days) the best of the season. And if that doesn’t apply to you, I hope you will find something to celebrate.

Blessings come in many forms. Some are tiny – like the amaryllis bud above that we accidentally severed from the plant, but which grew and grew in water and is blooming like crazy on a day when it’s cold and grey outdoors.

My best,

Cynthia.

A Good Home, Books

Short Books I’ve Enjoyed

September 19, 2017September 19, 2017 Cynthia Reyes

Let’s hear it for the short books!

The slender ones that you can slip into your handbag, your “man-purse” or even a (very large) pocket. I almost always have one such book with me when I go to a place where I have to wait: hospitals, for example.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the following in recent months, and some I have even reread (short books are good for re-reading).

Unfinished Business by Michael Topa (available from: greenoaks2@yahoo.com)

This is poetry about everything from the creation of the universe, to growing up in a strange family situation, falling in love and travel to intriguing places. Some of these poems are very moving, and all are beautiful in some way.

Blog Photo - Caboodle & the Whole Kit

Caboodle & the Whole Kit by Kevin Cooper

This book is an anthology — an unusual mix of topics and story types — and, as Kevin says, “inadvertent run-ins with some quite unsavory characters”.

I have read and reread my favourites from it, including the author’s hilarious visit with a famous fictional character. Kevin is a musician, author, editor and blogger. Caboodle includes a mix of short stories, poetry and songs, and topics include romance, faith, family — the whole kit and caboodle of life.

Blog Photo - My Vibrating Vertebrae

My Vibrating Vertebrae by Agnes Graham

I have loaned this book to 2 friends, and they also enjoyed it.

It asks the intriguing question: What if you are a girl growing up in 20th century Northern Ireland before, during and after the ‘Troubles’?

The answer comes in the clear, strong poetry – and humour — of Agnes Graham. The book was published (after her recent death) by her children, who said:

“From the poetic thoughts of our Mother, we get a sense of what it was like. Ranging from humour, sadness, wistful thinking and sometimes just downright nonsensical, these are the words of one such girl.”

Well-known book blogger Chris Graham is Agnes’ son, by the way.

Blog Photo - PS I forgive you

D.G. Kaye’s P.S. I Forgive You

D.G. Kaye writes on a powerful topic: forgiving a very difficult and abusive parent. Yet she does it in a clear-eyed way, in simple and taut writing. The topic may be difficult, but this book is easy to read, and more memorable for it.

A Good Home, Poem

Late Night Elegy….

March 31, 2017 Cynthia Reyes

Sometimes, when I’m struggling, I write a nonsense poem, or reblog one. It’s a way of cheering up others and myself at the same time. But sometimes, late at night, I give in to the ravages of pain or loss. I’ve just come through a time of mourning the deaths of people I love. Not ‘loved’, but love. So I will part the curtains and share this late-night rant with you, just this once. I hope it doesn’t offend your sensibilities:

Damn you, death

Who sent for you?

My friend’s last breath

Was not yet due.

What awful power

Gave you the right

To set the hour

Of life’s last light?

You watch and wait

Outside the door

You call it fate

You grim old whore

You reap the lives

Of young and brave

While evil thrives

Outside the grave

Once more you snatch

One who loves life

And tends his patch

With little strife.

Oh damn you, death

Who called for you

To steal life’s breath

From one so true?

A Good Home, Weather

Whither the Weather

April 4, 2016April 4, 2016 Cynthia Reyes

“The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day.
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You’re one month on in the middle of May.

But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
And wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you’re two months back in the middle of March.”
– Robert Frost, Two Tramps in Mud Time, 1926