Pooh and U2
Milestones always provide great inspiration and this week I learned about two big artistic milestones: Winnie-the-Pooh celebrates his 100th birthday and U2 celebrated its 50th anniversary. Pooh was one of the treasures of my childhood that I happily shared with my son. To this day Pooh and his gang can make me smile and simply…
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Cave Stories
Ann Haney suggested that we watch Stone Age Masterpiece on PBS. Deep in the gorges of southern France lies the Chauvet Cave, an archaeological treasure hidden from the world for millennia. Sealed by a rockfall 20,000 years ago, and rediscovered in 1994, it protects some of the world’s oldest and best-preserved Stone Age art, including…
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The Giantess (Guardian of the Eggs)
One of my writing challenges for the Gauntlet is to write in response to The Giantess (Guardian of the Eggs) which is a tempera painting by English-born Mexican Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington. Leonora Carrington was one of the most prolific members of the Surrealist movement. After rejecting her upper-class upbringing in northern England, Carrington embarked…
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Soap Bubbles
I have so much buzzing around in my brain I don’t know where to begin so I will just begin with soap bubbles. I have very fond memories of soap bubbles from my son’s childhood. They are beautiful and ephemeral and brought us so much joy. We all hold memories of soap bubbles from doing…
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Other Houses
This may be a weird invitation to write as it is part of my homework for my next Gauntlet session to read some of Katerina Stoykova’s poetry, but as I was thinking about her life and work I decided to offer it all up to you as surely there is something there to inspire: What…
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Humor and Hubris
I have been thinking often about the Old Testament because have you seen the state of the world? But truthfully I have been listening for weeks to sermons that have helped me re-discover parts of the Bible that rampant patriarchy and conservatism have long ruined for me. My husband and I discussed this fact with…
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Gods, Monsters, and Aliens
In many ways, my 2026 has been about the exploration of myths and monsters in various forms from Sinners to Frankenstein to The Odyssey (see also Dangerous Gifts and Demons, Monsters, and Death). This pursuit may have been inevitable because I suspect most writing is seated in our fears whether we want to admit those…
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Rest In Grace
I had a very different writing invitation planned for this week, but the universe intervened when Kentucky writer, farmer and advocate Wendell Berry died at 92 on Aug. 31. Unlike several of my Kentucky writer friends (see Liz Prather’s What Wendell Berry Taught Me About Being a Teacher), I never met Berry, but his words…
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Farming Songs and Happiness
The world knows we lost Dolly Parton on Aug. 25, but the truth is that her legacy is in safe hands and will live on in our hearts and playlists. There is so much to celebrate about the gift that was Dolly Parton from her talent to her intelligence and humor to her beautiful soul.…
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Ripped From The Headlines
As one of my Lexington Poetry Gauntlet side quests, I am taking a documentary poem workshop taught by Marianne Worthington that I am finding very inspiring as a writer but also think could be tremendously useful for teaching writing – argumentation in particular. This is a definite endorsement of both Worthington and the Carnegie Center…
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Flip Side of Fear
I love to walk in the evening for all the health reasons. I know I need to regularly move my body and I have found that walking and listening (to poetry or music) also helps me keep my mind and soul in balance. Recently after a long travel day I took a walk in a…
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Myths and Monsters
I am an avid reader and my personal hell is not having any books to read. It has always been an anxiety of mine which meant overborrowing from the library, overbuying at the book store, and packing too many books on trips. When I began my practice retirement I knew I wanted to lean more…
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