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Have you ever experienced a black, maybe you just need to find something that creates awe in your life. Today we talk about how to find awe in the world around us. My wife gave me a box of cards for the holidays in 2022. I was puzzled because they were creativity cards and I thought, what the heck is this, I don't need them. Well, folks, I was wrong and I will attempt to do a card a week and record an episode about how I am utilizing the card I draw every week if you decide to pick up a deck and do these let me know.
[email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.
If you have found value in this podcast please feel free to share it with a friend as that is the best way to discover new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see. Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.
Emi Ferguson has brought her love of music and performing to audiences around the globe,
Links for Emi Ferguson
To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.
If you have found value in this podcast please feel free to share it with a friend as that is the best way to discover new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see. Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.
Being attentive means fully being present and empathetic to the needs of others. How are you paying attention to your audiences? My wife gave me a box of cards for the holidays in 2022. I was puzzled because they were creativity cards and I thought, what the heck is this, I don't need them. Well, folks, I was wrong and I will attempt to do a card a week and record an episode about how I am utilizing the card I draw every week if you decide to pick up a deck and do these let me know.
Attention: the act or state of applying the mind to something, a condition of readiness for such attention involving especially a selective narrowing or focusing of consciousness and receptivity, sympathetic consideration of the needs and wants of others, a position assumed by a soldier with heels together, body erect, arms at the sides, and eyes to the front.
To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.
If you have found value in this podcast please feel free to share it with a friend as that is the best way to discover new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see. Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my o
Embracing imperfection is vital to your artistic practice, and embracing that is actually a philosophy called wabi-sabi. My wife gave me a box of cards for the holidays in 2022. I was puzzled because they were creativity cards and I thought, what the heck is this, I don't need them. Well, folks, I was wrong and I will attempt to do a card a week and record an episode about how I am utilizing the card I draw every week if you decide to pick up a deck and do these let me know.
Wabi-Sabi is centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection.[2] The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of appreciating beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete" in nature.[3] It is prevalent in many forms of Japanese art.
To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.
If you have found value in this podcast please feel free to share it with a friend as that is the best way to discover new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see. Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.
Taking time out to recover and finding time to rest is essential to avoid burnout. Give yourself the grace to rest. My wife gave me a box of cards for the holidays in 2022. I was puzzled because they were creativity cards and I thought, what the heck is this, I don't need them. Well, folks, I was wrong and I will attempt to do a card a week and record an episode about how I am utilizing the card I draw every week if you decide to pick up a deck and do these let me know.
Rest is a bodily state characterized by minimal functional and metabolic activities, freedom from activity or labor, a state of motionlessness or inactivity, peace of mind or spirit, a rhythmic silence in music, or something used for support.
To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.
If you have found value in this podcast please feel free to share it with a friend as that is the best way to discover new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see. Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.
National Poetry Writing Month (also known as NaPoWriMo) is a creative writing project held annually in April in which participants attempt to write a poem each day for one month. NaPoWriMo coincides with National Poetry Month in the United States of America and Canada.
This website is owned and operated by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC. Inspired by NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month), she started writing a poem a day for the month of April back in 2003, posting the poems on her blog. When other people started writing poems for April and posting them on their own blogs, Maureen linked to them. After a few years, so many people were doing NaPoWriMo that Maureen decided to launch an independent website for the project.
I started writing poetry in 1988 after I had been exposed to T.S. Elliot in my honors English class in high school. In 1992 I started reading my poetry publicly at Espresso Europia Coffee Shop in Abilene Tx while I was in the United States Air Force. While living in Rockford Illinois I published my first book of poetry Throwing Yourself at the Ground and Missing in 2007 followed by Postcards From Someone You Don't Know in 2008 Wisdom From the Sack in 2010 and Shaving Crop Circles In My Chest Hair in 2017. You can get copies of all of these books in my merch section. In 2020 I started publishing my podcast version of the challenge and those can be viewed here for 2020 and here for 2021.
For 2023 I am not going to be just writing poems in April, I will be writing poems all year round. Also, since I will be writing all year round, I am using a different source for my prompts. There is a blog called Think Written and you can find it here. I will also be performing these works at Katora Coffee House here in Fredericksburg Virginia on their Friday Night Snaps Open Mic Poetry reading. Some of the podcast episodes you will hear will be a live recording of me reading the poem to a live audience, other times I will be reading it in the comfort of my home studio. I do plan on posting my work to the NaPoWriMo site and interacting with the poets there and see if they want to read their work on this podcast.
I’d like to challenge you to write a palinode – a poem in which you retract a view or sentiment expressed in an earlier poem. For example, you might pick a poem you drafted earlier in the month and write a poem that contradicts or troubles it. This could be an interesting way to start working on a series of related poems. Alternatively, you could play around with the idea of a palinode by writing a poem in which the speaker says something like “I take it back” or otherwise abandons a prior position within the single poem.
At One Time
30 April 2023
You used to be important to me
I even let you seep into my world
Mine
The world of words
That I crafted for others
And let you reside for one or two works
I looked to you to provide guidance and called you Papa
I wanted to be the ideal son
I don’t know when I felt that I should
And most normal families
According to your third trophy wife
Are set up that way
And she said that because
I told you not to come unannounced
I gave you restrictions
To protect my mental health
To protect the family I cocreated
I told you both not to send anything without checking
And you could not abide
You could not follow directions
You could not honor my life
So you were discarded
I won’t speak your name in my house
I won’t call you Papa
Or father or friend or mentor
Especially after the one call you did receive
At a time when I knew you wouldn’t be home
And I left the last message
You would ever receive from me
You were renamed sperm donor
Which is what you were
But you were so much more
You were my tormentor
You instilled the hatred of my body
My mind
My choices
You instilled that I shouldn’t ever be satisfied with myself
Which is not the same as never being satisfied with the status quo
I have to lie to my children
And beg their forgiveness later in life
When they find out you didn’t die
When I vaguely mentioned that you did
No details
Just death
Because you are dead to me
But you still live in me
And the hatred I have felt of myself
Reminds me of your hold
Your influence
But the victory comes
When the day you will actually die
And I won’t fear you showing up at my door
Ad having to explain to my children who the person
I won’t let in the house
Standing on the porch
Waiting to infect
The poison
The poison you injected into me
They may ask who that person is
And again I will lie to them
It's just easier this way
Then describing your sickness
So I do thank you for one thing
And that is being the photo negative
I don’t ever want to be
Other than that
I’ll see you in hell
And that is what you mean to me
Or Subscribe Here
To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.
If you have found value in this podcast please feel free to share it with a friend as that is the best way to find new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see. Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. . You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.
National Poetry Writing Month (also known as NaPoWriMo) is a creative writing project held annually in April in which participants attempt to write a poem each day for one month. NaPoWriMo coincides with National Poetry Month in the United States of America and Canada.
This website is owned and operated by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC. Inspired by NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month), she started writing a poem a day for the month of April back in 2003, posting the poems on her blog. When other people started writing poems for April and posting them on their own blogs, Maureen linked to them. After a few years, so many people were doing NaPoWriMo that Maureen decided to launch an independent website for the project.
I started writing poetry in 1988 after I had been exposed to T.S. Elliot in my honors English class in high school. In 1992 I started reading my poetry publicly at Espresso Europia Coffee Shop in Abilene Tx while I was in the United States Air Force. While living in Rockford Illinois I published my first book of poetry Throwing Yourself at the Ground and Missing in 2007 followed by Postcards From Someone You Don't Know in 2008 Wisdom From the Sack in 2010 and Shaving Crop Circles In My Chest Hair in 2017. You can get copies of all of these books in my merch section. In 2020 I started publishing my podcast version of the challenge and those can be viewed here for 2020 and here for 2021.
For 2023 I am not going to be just writing poems in April, I will be writing poems all year round. Also, since I will be writing all year round, I am using a different source for my prompts. There is a blog called Think Written and you can find it here. I will also be performing these works at Katora Coffee House here in Fredericksburg Virginia on their Friday Night Snaps Open Mic Poetry reading. Some of the podcast episodes you will hear will be a live recording of me reading the poem to a live audience, other times I will be reading it in the comfort of my home studio. I do plan on posting my work to the NaPoWriMo site and interacting with the poets there and see if they want to read their work on this podcast.
Now, write your own two-part poem that focuses on a food or type of meal. At some point in the poem, describe the food or meal as if it were a specific kind of person. Give the food/meal at least one line of spoken dialogue.
Thanksgiving Dinner
29 April 2023
I never really thought about this meal when I was younger
We always drove the hour that took forever
No rest stops unless you call pissing in the corn fields a rest stop
We always left before dawn
And were lucky to return with our lives
We would eat freshly slaughtered ham
Nothing tasted sweeter
The mashed potatoes not from a box
Was chunky and gritty smashed rather than mashed
With all the cousins in their bare house
And each year a James Bond flick on the background
The cigarettes overflowed in the ashtray
The beers and wine were flowing, even for the kids
I’d like to say I tasted my first beer there
But then I’d be lying to you
Just like all the lies of “yeah we are good to drive”
Before the days of MADD and knowing better
One day I stopped going
Could have been because my folks found god
He was hiding out in the churches
That met when I was watching wrestling
And we as a family turned away
I didn’t really get that feeling again
Yes, there was destructive activities
That I can see from the safety of time
“I didn’t let you die during those days
Yes, there was the accident one year before the times of DUI’s
Yes, there was the car on fire that you passed without a care
But I didn’t let you die
I kept you as safe as I could for something else”
When I lived alone
With the roommates and on the 33rd floor above the Lake
The diner that I had frequented was open
Taking in others like me
Without friends or a family
And on the TV, still black and white
A game of hockey played quietly
While the others were munching on turkey
I became engrossed
And that was when
I decided the next year to hold a feast
But unknown to me what the next year would bring
I was alone in my apartment
I had finally escaped the crowds
Making a meal for two
In a studio barely big enough for one
In case there was a knock at the door
There was none
But the next year was different
I had stepped out and allowed myself to feel
To become attached to those who enlightened me
On being a human
On being open and vulnerable
And that year I had a few friends over
Who had nowhere else to go
And we dined like kings
“I am preparing you for a much better feast
A feast that you can share with family and friends
A family you created
And friends who were true”
And so, one year of cooking and clamoring
There I was
A Husband and father of three mentor to a nephew
And friends who brought friends to feast
We dined on duck
And other delicacies
We left a spot open for anyone who had nowhere to go
And my children sat there and asked
Why the empty spot
And we said together
“That spot is for me
That spot represents the chair that I once sat at
Alone in my studio
That chair represents those who couldn’t make it to a home”
With confused looks no more questions came
And a small wish was born that day
A wish that they wouldn’t have to carry that tradition forward
A wish that one day I wouldn’t either
A wish that the past could be forgiven
And a wish for a better year ahead
Or Subscribe Here
To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.
If you have found value in this podcast please feel free to share it with a friend as that is the best way to find new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see. Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. . You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.
National Poetry Writing Month (also known as NaPoWriMo) is a creative writing project held annually in April in which participants attempt to write a poem each day for one month. NaPoWriMo coincides with National Poetry Month in the United States of America and Canada.
This website is owned and operated by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC. Inspired by NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month), she started writing a poem a day for the month of April back in 2003, posting the poems on her blog. When other people started writing poems for April and posting them on their own blogs, Maureen linked to them. After a few years, so many people were doing NaPoWriMo that Maureen decided to launch an independent website for the project.
I started writing poetry in 1988 after I had been exposed to T.S. Elliot in my honors English class in high school. In 1992 I started reading my poetry publicly at Espresso Europia Coffee Shop in Abilene Tx while I was in the United States Air Force. While living in Rockford Illinois I published my first book of poetry Throwing Yourself at the Ground and Missing in 2007 followed by Postcards From Someone You Don't Know in 2008 Wisdom From the Sack in 2010 and Shaving Crop Circles In My Chest Hair in 2017. You can get copies of all of these books in my merch section. In 2020 I started publishing my podcast version of the challenge and those can be viewed here for 2020 and here for 2021.
For 2023 I am not going to be just writing poems in April, I will be writing poems all year round. Also, since I will be writing all year round, I am using a different source for my prompts. There is a blog called Think Written and you can find it here. I will also be performing these works at Katora Coffee House here in Fredericksburg Virginia on their Friday Night Snaps Open Mic Poetry reading. Some of the podcast episodes you will hear will be a live recording of me reading the poem to a live audience, other times I will be reading it in the comfort of my home studio. I do plan on posting my work to the NaPoWriMo site and interacting with the poets there and see if they want to read their work on this podcast.
Today, I challenge you to write your own index poem. You could start with found language from an actual index, or you could invent an index
(actual index used from It’s Not All In Your Head by Patricia Ferrell PHD)
Indexing A Diagnosis
28 April 2023
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Acceptance 43-46 but I was 48 when I finally got the diagnosis and even today, I don’t fully accept it, and for sure when I was 43-46 I sure as fuck didn’t so who was supposed to tell me to accept it when there was nothing to accept
Anger 10-11 Let me tell you, I have been angry for more than those two years, I have been angry at this insidious condition for what feels a lifetime, and I don’t think at 10 or 11 I was that angry
Anxiety 71-96 oh great I have that to look forward to, at least I’ll live to 96, but then how does this book know that, oh wait is it the level of anxiety on a 100-point scale, well that seems about right each and every day that ends with a Y
Attitude 197-198 I don’t have one, I am just frustrated with people’s ignorance and bullshit, if you want attitude I’ll give you attitude
Bike rides 196-197 Yes, I have a stationary one in my mancave, it's great for collecting dust, hanging clothes, for looking like I care for my body.
Children 57-59 every prayer I say to a god I don’t believe in or recognize is that they don’t get this and if they do then what I will do to the gods that allowed this
Cognitive Impairment 3-5, 64-66 are you talking about the time I was pouring beers for the sperm donors party when he wanted to be an elected official or are you talking about all the cigarette smoke I inhaled because it wasn’t the right time to quit or are you talking about how many times I have to reread a line to remember that I read that line.
CNS Components 6-10 is that a new Canadian free streaming service, will they teach us Americans the correct way to make poutine or play hockey or to just be nice, no? How about a Canadian stereo system, no? Well, I know what a CNC lathe is, am I close?
Coping Strategies 173-199 I thought I knew how to cope, but now I want this tattooed to my chest, written backwards so I can read it in the mirror and when I take off my shirt people can ask me what is carved there. Humor is a hell of a drug
Or Subscribe Here
To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.
If you have found value in this podcast please feel free to share it with a friend as that is the best way to find new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see. Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. . You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.
National Poetry Writing Month (also known as NaPoWriMo) is a creative writing project held annually in April in which participants attempt to write a poem each day for one month. NaPoWriMo coincides with National Poetry Month in the United States of America and Canada.
This website is owned and operated by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC. Inspired by NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month), she started writing a poem a day for the month of April back in 2003, posting the poems on her blog. When other people started writing poems for April and posting them on their own blogs, Maureen linked to them. After a few years, so many people were doing NaPoWriMo that Maureen decided to launch an independent website for the project.
I started writing poetry in 1988 after I had been exposed to T.S. Elliot in my honors English class in high school. In 1992 I started reading my poetry publicly at Espresso Europia Coffee Shop in Abilene Tx while I was in the United States Air Force. While living in Rockford Illinois I published my first book of poetry Throwing Yourself at the Ground and Missing in 2007 followed by Postcards From Someone You Don't Know in 2008 Wisdom From the Sack in 2010 and Shaving Crop Circles In My Chest Hair in 2017. You can get copies of all of these books in my merch section. In 2020 I started publishing my podcast version of the challenge and those can be viewed here for 2020 and here for 2021.
For 2023 I am not going to be just writing poems in April, I will be writing poems all year round. Also, since I will be writing all year round, I am using a different source for my prompts. There is a blog called Think Written and you can find it here. I will also be performing these works at Katora Coffee House here in Fredericksburg Virginia on their Friday Night Snaps Open Mic Poetry reading. Some of the podcast episodes you will hear will be a live recording of me reading the poem to a live audience, other times I will be reading it in the comfort of my home studio. I do plan on posting my work to the NaPoWriMo site and interacting with the poets there and see if they want to read their work on this podcast.
Today, begin by reading Bernadette Mayer’s poem “The Lobelias of Fear.” Now write your own poem titled “The ________ of ________,” where the first blank is a very particular kind of plant or animal, and the second blank is an abstract noun. The poem should contain at least one simile that plays on double meanings or otherwise doesn’t quite make “sense,” and describe things or beings from very different times or places as co-existing in the same space.
The Vulture of Tolerance
27 April 2023
It doesn’t matter who we are
Or where we came from
Or what religion we subscribe to
How much money we made
How many people's lives we have positively impacted
There is no difference in party allegiance
Or Nationality
Gender or sexual orientation
If your socks match
If you are wearing underwear or prefer to go commando
If there is dirt under your fingernails
Or callouses on your palms
Or glitter nail polish that you let your children apply
If you are obese
Or suffer from a chronic disorder
Or suffer from too much of the chronic
Once your body is laid out in a field
You all taste the same to them
And no, you don’t taste like chicken
You are their food
And all that makes you, matters little to them
Your dreams and aspirations are just seasoning
They don’t care at all about anything you have done
You are what's for dinner
Dark meat, light meat
Meat is meat
And when you are as ugly as they are
An easy meal is like going to the drive thru for them
So, cheer up
Be their happy meal
And make sure not to carry plastic toys in your pockets
Choking hazard ya know
Wouldn't want to be the next meal
Or Subscribe Here
To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.
If you have found value in this podcast please feel free to share it with a friend as that is the best way to find new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see. Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. . You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.
National Poetry Writing Month (also known as NaPoWriMo) is a creative writing project held annually in April in which participants attempt to write a poem each day for one month. NaPoWriMo coincides with National Poetry Month in the United States of America and Canada.
This website is owned and operated by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC. Inspired by NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month), she started writing a poem a day for the month of April back in 2003, posting the poems on her blog. When other people started writing poems for April and posting them on their own blogs, Maureen linked to them. After a few years, so many people were doing NaPoWriMo that Maureen decided to launch an independent website for the project.
I started writing poetry in 1988 after I had been exposed to T.S. Elliot in my honors English class in high school. In 1992 I started reading my poetry publicly at Espresso Europia Coffee Shop in Abilene Tx while I was in the United States Air Force. While living in Rockford Illinois I published my first book of poetry Throwing Yourself at the Ground and Missing in 2007 followed by Postcards From Someone You Don't Know in 2008 Wisdom From the Sack in 2010 and Shaving Crop Circles In My Chest Hair in 2017. You can get copies of all of these books in my merch section. In 2020 I started publishing my podcast version of the challenge and those can be viewed here for 2020 and here for 2021.
For 2023 I am not going to be just writing poems in April, I will be writing poems all year round. Also, since I will be writing all year round, I am using a different source for my prompts. There is a blog called Think Written and you can find it here. I will also be performing these works at Katora Coffee House here in Fredericksburg Virginia on their Friday Night Snaps Open Mic Poetry reading. Some of the podcast episodes you will hear will be a live recording of me reading the poem to a live audience, other times I will be reading it in the comfort of my home studio. I do plan on posting my work to the NaPoWriMo site and interacting with the poets there and see if they want to read their work on this podcast.
prompt for the day asks you to write a portrait poem that focuses on or plays with the meaning of the subject’s name. This could be a self-portrait, a portrait of a family member or close friend, or even a portrait of a famous or historical person.
Defined By A Name
26 April 2023
How can I honor a god that doesn’t honor me back
It's not that I don’t believe, simply I don’t believe as you do
My idea is less personal and more expansive
But stick with coloring in the lines
It’s what you really want to do
I wasn’t there being Paul's bunk mate
It’s not my fault that he hijacked your religion
That guy was a two fer part Jewish and part Greek
So, I hope he can make a great falafel gyro
Hold the pork
You may think I am rich
And I have some student loans to show you
You may think I am masculine
And my ex-boyfriends will tell you the same
I like to shock people's perceptions
That’s why I took on my nickname
I am strong and nerdy
I am so many contradictions
An Anarchist in Libertarian clothes
From blue-collar 80-hour work weeks to two flights of stairs commute
Have fun unspooling my threads
Or Subscribe Here
To reach out to me, email [email protected] I would love to hear about your journey and what you are working on. If you would like to be on the show or have me discuss a topic that is giving you trouble write in and let's start that conversation.
If you have found value in this podcast please feel free to share it with a friend as that is the best way to find new podcasts. I want this to be a 5-star podcast in your eyes so let me know what you would like to see. Speaking about sharing with a friend, check out my other podcast Find A Podcast About where I help you outsmart the algorithm and find your next binge-worthy podcast. . You can find that podcast at findapodcastabout.xyz.
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