Please welcome Barbara Barth on Choices today while on her WOW! Women on Writing book tour. This is her second time on Choices and we are thrilled to have her here. Her new book, Sleeping with Dogs: A Poetic Memoir is a poetic memoir on living with and loving rescue dogs. It is Barth's first collection of poems. She calls it a chapbook of second chances. Here's what Barbara Barth has to say on the first page this new book: "Poems are new to me, so I'm giving this my best. Just as writing was new to me when I lost my husband in 2008. But I managed to do it, a widow memoir followed by more books, self-published, finding a creative path that also included dogs, more dogs than I thought I should. In nine months, a house full of adult pups. With no one to say no, I said YES in all caps. To dogs, to life, to pushing forward through doubt and fear. "At seventy-six, I've slowed down, or I've learned to just be, at home, with the dogs, time with friends. On the Board of … [Read more...]
Still writing
“Let me think clearly and brightly,” Sylvia Plath once wrote in her journal. “Let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences.” Turning grief into art has made me a much better and more recognized writer. In just the last three years I've had four poetry chapbooks published and I continue to write a poem and a journal entry every day. Here is why it is so important to me. Turning Grief into Art I was 59 years old when my son, suffering with bipolar disorder, took his own life. Following an aftermath filled with guilt and grief, I made the decision to come out of that experience alive, whole, and productive. Instead of doing the expected: getting a divorce, having a breakdown or an affair with a beautiful younger man, becoming an alcoholic, or going into years of therapy, I chose to live and take care of myself as a woman, writer, wife, and mother. The Essential Truth I Discovered The truth is I was able to survive this tragedy. Even though the effects of my son’s … [Read more...]
New poems to go with a new life
The big news is that I'm getting my house ready to sell. I decided last month that I need to move out of the house I shared with Bob for over forty-two years. It's just too big and lonely and filled with all the memories of the years we spent here with each other and our boys. It's time to start anew. And to live where I can meet some other people - I'm thinking a senior independent living community. I cannot stand how lonely my life is now. So the scary part is, the house will go up for sale at the end of this week. And I worry that no one else will love it as much as I do and will not want to buy it. I'll keep you posted on that. But I'm sure you know, I'm still writing my daily poem. Here are some new ones. Remember they are only drafts that get written in no more than ten minutes or so. Someday, I'll revisit them when/if I decide to publish another chapbook. Enjoy! I find myself Talking about “we” And “our” lately. I can’t let go Of him even In small … [Read more...]
Introducing “Moving On”
My new poetry chapbook, called Moving On, published on January 30, 2021, arrived in my mail box this week. Here it is: It's kind of cool how this book came about. I wasn't looking for a publisher. In fact that was the last thing on my mind while my husband was so ill and since his death. Instead the publisher - Cyberwit.net - from India - sought me out. He had read one of my poems in a Story Circle Network journal in the True Words section and offered to publish sixty to seventy of my poems in a chapbook. How could I turn that down? Because of what was happening in my life I took longer that he wanted to get the poems together, edit them, and send them off, but finally I did it. I love this description of Moving On: "The poems are full of lyrical force and show freshness of style. No doubt, this is a significant work. The poems have great power of observation and originality of imagination." Here's a little sneak peek: Buddha “The dead we can imagine to be … [Read more...]
It’s November PAD time again
As usual, I'm writing a poem a day (PAD) from Writer's Digest poetry editor, Robert Lee Brewer's, prompts. During the year he posts a prompt on Wednesdays except in April and November when the prompts come once a day. Our assignment is to put the best into a chapbook and enter it into his chapbook contest at the end of the month. So far I've written a poem a day for fourteen days. I'm not thrilled with the products yet, but plan to keep plugging along. Maybe I can edit them into something passable for the contest. And it's funny that this year I've gotten a little political in my subject matter. Really? Can you blame me? So here are three poems of the fourteen I've written so far this month. I've included the prompts so you'll know where they came from. *** Write a poem with an occupation as the title. For instance, the titles might include: “Governor,” “Teacher,” “Architect,” and “Engineer.” Or go with some of these creative job titles I found: “Director of First … [Read more...]
What’s next in my writing life
Since I’ve finished – at least in my estimation– revision ten of my novel, it’s on hold. I want to hire a professional editor it go through it, but I haven’t made that happen yet. I’ve asked a young woman who worked with me on my memoir, but her life is so busy with children, she hasn’t given me a yes or no yet. I’ll wait another week or two and then go on to Plan B. In the meantime, I’ve gone back to writing small stones – I’ll post a couple that I’ve written this month below And I’m working on my poetry. I completed the April poem a day challenge put out by Robert Lee Brewer over at Writer’s Digest. I also write to his weekly Wednesday prompts. And this not usual for me – I’m editing some of my existing poems, getting them ready for submittal. (I’ve heard somewhere that if we haven’t received at least 100 rejections in a year, we haven’t submitted enough. That I’m editing poems is the unusual part for me. I usually write them, and then only with quick word or two changes … [Read more...]
Getting back into the writing groove
Our Grand Canyon adventure and my husband's healing process have taken me far afield from my writing life. Everything just seemed to stop on November 16. Interesting that I had carefully packed some paper and a pen so I could write a journal entry after my walk down the Grand Canyon that day. Unfortunately I never used them after hearing the news of my husband's injuries and the challenge I faced in getting back to the rim and to the Flagstaff Medical Center to be with him. However, in this past week I've sat myself down at my writing desk and managed to write a couple of poems in response to Robert Lee Brewer's poem a day challenge that ended on November 30. And it felt good to poem (as Brewer likes to say) again. I am also putting together a new chapbook that I'll submit for the Frost Place contest that's due on January 1. Though I'm not back to my writing in full force yet as you can see from how long it's been since I wrote my last post here, I'm getting back … [Read more...]
Putting together a book of poems
I've been putting a poetry manuscript together in response to a submission request from a press asking for books written by women over fifty. I figure I'm well over fifty, so why not? The requirement is to compile a book of sixty to one hundred poems. I've been gathering my poems for the book during the last month or so. I've written a lot of poems - certainly more than the requirements of this submission, but the big question is: how many of them are good enough to put in a manuscript hoping to win a $1000 prize. As of today, I think I've completed the gathering phase. The next step is to organize them. I really had no idea how to do that. I've submitted to chapbook competitions before but never a full-length book. So I went to my poetry book shelf and looked at how some of my favorite poets (Ellen Bass, Billy Collins, Maxine Kunitz, Dorianne Laux, Joseph Millar, etc.) do it. Some just number the sections, some use the title of one of the poems in the section as the title of the … [Read more...]
Don’t be afraid to submit
Three out of five isn't bad. In the last couple of months I've submitted five pieces to contests and anthologies mostly at the urging of my recent poetry instructor, Thresha Haefner at The Poetry Salon. And I found out that submitting really pays off. It's like lottery tickets. If you don't buy one, you have no chance of winning. In all I submitted three poems, a poetry chapbook, and an excerpt from my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On. Two of the three poems were accepted one is still in review, and the excerpt was accepted to appear in a suicide loss anthology. Unfortunately the chapbook didn't make it, but that doesn't mean I'm giving up. I'll submit it again and again to wherever seems suitable. And so as not to keep you in the dark, here are the two poems that will come out soon: Stop and Go will appear in Yellow Chair Review's In the Words of Women anthology, and Remnants will appear in the 2016 Porter Gulch Review. Stop and Go On the drive up the coast I … [Read more...]
Please join the November PAD Chapbook Challenge with me
For the last several years I've participated in the Writer's Digest poem a day chapbook challenge in November and April. It is managed by the WD poetry editor Robert Lee Brewer. The prompts are always very interesting. The challenge is work but a lot of fun. So, in case you'd like to join me, here are Robert's guidelines. Please sign up and you'll receive a prompt from Robert every day from November 1 to November 30. I'll be sharing some my poems here throughout the month. Here's Robert: Here are the basics of the November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Beginning on November 1 (Atlanta, Georgia time), I will share a prompt and poem each day of November on this blog. Poets are then challenged to write a poem each day (no matter where you live on the planet) within 24 hours (or so) from when the prompt is posted. Don't worry: If you fall behind or start late, you CAN play catch up. Poets do NOT have to register anywhere to participate. In fact, poets don't even … [Read more...]
Poems for Cynthia
I have been holding these poems in very close. They are personal and sad, all about my friend who died at the end of December. I wrote them in response to Robert Lee Brewer's November 2013 Poem A Day Chapbook Challenge. Here's the dedication I wrote: This chapbook is dedicated to my cherished friend Cynthia Rayvis Godofsky November 5, 1946 December 28, 2013 At the outset I decided to write a poem about Cynthia adhering to the daily prompt no matter what it was, hoping that my words might help keep her alive at least until the end of the challenge. Thankfully I was successful in weaving Cynthia into each daily prompt, and she kept rallying throughout the month. As you will see from these poems, she had a lot of love in her life and constant loving care during her last days. I'm sure that love helped keep her alive almost a month after the challenge ended. I thank Cynthia and her family for being my muses for this November 2013 PAD Chapbook Challenge (all poems written from … [Read more...]
Back to writing work
What a relief to not have to drive an hour to Anaheim and back anymore. I finished my consulting job - which I loved - but I'm very happy not to have to do that stressful drive anymore. So instead, I'm using my time to catch up on my writing work. The first order of business is gathering my November 2012 challenge poems into a chapbook. Robert Lee Brewer's instructions are to submit no more than twenty by January 7 - this coming Monday. I went through them this afternoon and picked out fifteen. I have a little editing left to do, and then I plan to get the document off tomorrow. After that I'm on to the next item on my list. It gives me great joy (there's my word Joy that I picked for 2013) to tick items off my to-do list. Here's a preview of a couple of poems I'm submitting. This prompt was to write about something just beneath my skin. Just Beneath My Skin Unfortunately those miracle creams that are supposed to get rid of age spots fine lines, deep … [Read more...]
