Tag Archives: #thesealeychallenge

by | August 26, 2024 · 12:21 pm

Simple Pleasures: My Review of the New Elizabeth Gauffreau Poetry Collection

 

What a pleasure to open Elizabeth Gauffreau’s new book, Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right. Every page features a beautiful nature photo with an accompanying haiku. Combining poem with image creates a new art genre, one where each component gives more meaning to the other.

The first page displays a peaceful dirt road surrounded by evergreens. The poet invites the reader to accompany her on this trip through the natural beauty of the northeastern United States:

dirt road adventure

washboard, slapping branches, ruts

GPS turned off

I love that the GPS is turned off so that instead of following technology, we—poet and reader—are opening ourselves to the adventure.

Gauffreau directs us to majestic vistas, but she also points out the small or almost unnoticeable, such as a dappled woods image where you must look carefully or be directed by the poem:

new-growth pines, maples

farmer’s forgotten stone wall

a forest reclaimed

I learned things from the poems, which should not be surprising as Gauffreau seems so at home in the region.

stand of white birches

roots entwined canopy shared

indigenous trees

I hadn’t thought of birches as being Indigenous, so that was a bit of defamiliarizing the familiar, I suppose, as it made me take note. And it reminded me of the Robert Frost (another New England poet) poem, “Birches.”

The book is organized by the seasons of the year and makes a full cycle of the beauty of the area. Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right makes a gorgeous addition to my collection of Elizabeth Gauffreau books, Telling Sonny and Grief Songs. Heads up, though, I would recommend purchasing the paperback version because you will want to flip open the book often.

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 Author Biography

Elizabeth Gauffreau writes fiction and poetry with a strong connection to family and place. Her work has been widely published in literary magazines, as well as several themed anthologies. Her short story “Henrietta’s Saving Grace” was awarded the 2022 Ben Nyberg  prize for fiction by Choeofpleirn Press.

She has published a novel, Telling Sonny, and a collection of photopoetry, Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance. She is currently working on a novel, The Weight of Snow and Regret, based on the closing of the last poor farm in Vermont in 1968.

Liz’s professional background is in nontraditional higher education, including academic advising, classroom and online teaching, curriculum development, and program administration. She received the Granite State College Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018. Liz lives in Nottingham, New Hampshire with her husband. Find her online at https://lizgauffreau.com.

Book2Read Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/SimplePleasures

Print & Fixed EPUB for tablets and Kindle Fire

BookFunnel PDF Purchase Link: https://buy.bookfunnel.com/gef1ili6qd

For any device.

Blog Tour Host Links: https://lizgauffreau.com/simple-pleasures-blog-tour-links/

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Filed under #bloggingcommunity, #poetrycommunity, #thesealeychallenge, Book Review, Poetry, Poetry book, Poetry Collection, Syllabic Poetry

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by | August 12, 2024 · 5:15 am

Simple Pleasures Blog Tour: Day #7 – August 12 – Luanne Castle

Introduction

Thank you, Luanne, for hosting me on Day #7 of my blog tour for Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right! For this tour stop, I’m going to say a few words about my philosophy of haiku to give readers a sense of what to expect from Simple Pleasures.

I think it’s important for me as a writer of poetry and fiction to understand the literary context in which I’m writing–both the current context of what writers in a particular genre are creating and the literary tradition which brought the genre to this point.

When I first became interested in haiku as syllabic poetry, I was surprised to learn that haiku in English is a very slippery beast to pin down. There are purists who adhere to the 5-7-5 syllable count, the season word (kigo) and the pause that cuts the haiku into two parts (kireji). The Haiku Society of America, on the other hand, espouses the spirit of the Japanese form without trying to replicate the Japanese language-based  form in English. (https://www.hsa-haiku.org/hsa-definitions.html)

Then there’s this guy, Vermont poet Geof Hewitt, who decides to make his own rules. (Geof is a performance poet whom I met when he visited my tenth-grade English class in 1971. Then, in the early 2,000s, I took a performance poetry workshop with him, which was great fun. I even got a new poem out of it!)

 

https://vimeo.com/991080595/fe5211dfc3

Excerpted from: https://www.vermonthumanities.org/words-in-woods-hewitt/

 

So where does this leave me? I think I’m safe in saying that I follow the Haiku Society of America’s definition of haiku: “A haiku is a short poem that uses imagistic language to convey the essence of an experience of nature or the season intuitively linked to the human condition.”

I adhere to the 5-7-5 syllabic structure because it serves me well as the means by which I discover and express that essence. Any exception I may make to the syllable count is minor, when the poem just doesn’t scan right. Most of my haiku include a kigo, although my interpretation of season may extend to seasons of life.

 

The simple pleasures of our favorite places in nature are gifts of the spirit to be shared with others. In this collection of 53 haiku, each paired with a photograph, poet Liz Gauffreau invites readers to come with her to some of her favorite places in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Some places are long-time favorites going back years; others have become favorites by virtue of inspiring poetry.

 Author Biography

Elizabeth Gauffreau writes fiction and poetry with a strong connection to family and place. Her work has been widely published in literary magazines, as well as several themed anthologies. Her short story “Henrietta’s Saving Grace” was awarded the 2022 Ben Nyberg  prize for fiction by Choeofpleirn Press.

She has published a novel, Telling Sonny, and a collection of photopoetry, Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance. She is currently working on a novel, The Weight of Snow and Regret, based on the closing of the last poor farm in Vermont in 1968.

Liz’s professional background is in nontraditional higher education, including academic advising, classroom and online teaching, curriculum development, and program administration. She received the Granite State College Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018. Liz lives in Nottingham, New Hampshire with her husband. Find her online at https://lizgauffreau.com.

Book2Read Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/SimplePleasures

Print & Fixed EPUB for tablets and Kindle Fire

BookFunnel PDF Purchase Link: https://buy.bookfunnel.com/gef1ili6qd

For any device.

Blog Tour Host Links: https://lizgauffreau.com/simple-pleasures-blog-tour-links/

58 Comments

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by | August 1, 2023 · 5:15 am

Follow Me: #TankaTuesday

August is the month of The Sealey Challenge. Started by poet Nicole Sealey in 2017, the challenge is to read a book of poetry every day for the month of August. In the past, I have used this time to read poetry books that were sitting unread on my bookshelf. While I know I can’t read a book a day as I have other things going on, I am still going to try to read more than usual this month. Want to join me?

If you join the challenge and need an idea, I would love it if you wanted to add one of my books to your list. Here is a link to all four books. https://www.luannecastle.com/bookstore/ Additionally, if you are interested in a copy of my first collection Doll God, for this month I am offering you a copy for $5 that includes shipping if you have it delivered in the United States. If you are not in the U.S. contact me and let’s see if we can figure it out. Think of it in honor of the Barbie movie. Email me at luanne.castle which is at gmail.com.

Two of my Doll God poems have been republished this month in Verse-Virtual. You can find them here: https://www.verse-virtual.org/2023/August/castle-luanne-2023-august.html

Colleen Chesebro’s #TankaTuesday poetry prompt for this week is to use synonyms for the words flow and wave. I used runs and beckons and wrote an American cinquain.

Follow Me

The doe

in the pasture

sees me and runs away,

slips between trees, white tail, a sail,

beckons.

The turn is found in line five because while the deer runs from me, it seems as though she also beckons me to follow her with her communicative tail.

Not sure if this is a male that shed its antlers or a female

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by | September 6, 2021 · 5:20 am

Changing of the Month, Changing of the Season

You might think from the post title that fall has come to Phoenix. Not. It’s still hot. And, yet, there is something of fall here, if only in our minds. Today is a holiday in the United States. We celebrate Labor Day because the lives of laborers in the 19th century (and early 20th century, too) were often horrible and sometimes horrific. If you want to read more about what it was like through fiction, try Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle or Rebecca Harding Davis’ Life in the Iron Mills. Although many workers in this country have reaped the benefits of unemployment insurance for some or much of the pandemic, before 1935 no such assistance existed. I was thinking that Labor Day 2021 ought to be dedicated to medical–as well as the whole chain of food delivery–employees since they have been our front lines against covid.

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Last month I participated in The Sealey Challenge, reading poetry every day. For the first half or more, I read a book a day. Then I chose more complex books and gave myself 3-4 days each. I’ve never read so much poetry in one month in my life. Well, maybe in grad school, but I mean I’ve never enjoyed so much poetry in one month in my life hahaha.

I also participated in an Instagram mixed media challenge called #seekgathercreate. It was a lot of fun. You start off by collecting four different objects each week to use for the page. The rest is up to the art journaler. Here are a couple of pages I made for it.

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This month I am participating in Genealogy Photo a Day on Instagram. There are assigned topics for each day, so my job is to post an image, generally from my own family, that fits the topic. What I like about this besides the interactions with people on Instagram is that it makes me think about my family history from a different perspective. I think it makes the old new for me.

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I’ve been revising my memoir. I was going to join #pitmad on Twitter, but then I realized that my manuscript might not be a good match for finding an agent that way. I also realized how short my memoir is now. A few years ago it was too long, but the new version is significantly shorter. Too short for a traditional publisher, most likely. Nevertheless, after some finishing touches I am doing this week, I doubt I will try to lengthen the manuscript. If I like it the way it is, then I want to publish it the way I like it. Of course, this is what I am thinking today!

***

Pear is hanging in, but I had to up her pain meds a bit so that her leg doesn’t bother her. I’m taking it one day at a time. Tiger is now drinking way too much water. She is 17.5, so she is not a spring chicken either! I worry about her kidneys, plus there is something going on with her liver. Here is Perry lying next to Pear. Maybe he hopes he can comfort her.

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Not only is it Labor Day today, but this evening begins the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. Shana tova! Happy New Year! XO

 

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by | August 9, 2021 · 5:20 am

Kitty Care

A big thank you to Susan Farese for guest hosting last week. I have added her contact links to that post if you would like to follow or contact her.

I’ve written about my Felix and his terminal illness (either lymphoma or dry FIP). He is on medications, supplements, and fluids. He’s eating ok, not great, but only because of the pred he’s on. I guess steroids causes them to eat if they otherwise will not. And he doesn’t seem to be suffering, but enjoying life enough. He is getting skinny though.

Now I have another cat who has entered hospice in my home. That is my 21-year-old best friend Pear Blossom. Pear’s lab values are great for her age. She’s completely fine. EXCEPT.  She has a tumor on her front leg. At her age, surgery or amputation is out of the question, so we are trying to keep her comfortable and then will have to let her go when Pear says it’s time. I have been concerned about this leg since January, but couldn’t get a vet “interested” before. I took her to a new vet who was able to xray and then to probe under the scabs where she saw the tumor. I don’t want to “talk” too much about how this wasn’t acted upon earlier. It’s too upsetting on the one hand. On the other, what could they have done back in January? She was still nearly 21 at that time.

Instead, my focus is on taking care of these two, making them as comfy as possible, and then also not neglecting my other four!

In the photo: top left clockwise: Pear Blossom, Perry, Kana, Felix, Sloopy Anne, Tiger

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I’ve been participating in the Sealey Challenge since August 1 (reading a poetry book a day). I’m focusing on short books and chapbooks because it is a lot of reading on top of everything else.  In fact, I’m debating if I should continue because I got my memoir manuscript back from a consultation and really need to work on it. Guess what?! This new structure works, according to the reader!!!! First time in ten years the structure has worked LOL. Reminder: this new structure has short pieces like this: MacQueen’s Quinterly 3 linked stories

The book structure has gone a bit full circle, but every time it moved around the circumference it gained something positive even in the midst of setbacks.

Even if I don’t continue with the Sealey Challenge it’s been a really positive experience to savor a variety of poetry styles in such quick succession.

***

I haven’t forgotten the rest of my nonfiction reviews. Hope to have them up next week! OK, gotta go hug my kitties.

 

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by | August 1, 2021 · 5:20 am

Join Me for #thesealeychallenge!!!

Are you ready for the challenge of your life? How about reading a poetry book a day for this entire month (August)? Before you get too overwhelmed, let me explain. Chapbooks count. If you read a Collected Works book, you can count it as as many books as are collected within. You can read the old guys, the classics of the 20th century, or contemporary poetry–or any combination. You can reread books that you really want to read again. Then, if you want to, share somewhere: image, title, whatever you want to share. On your blog, your social media, or keep a log for yourself.

This is the first year I am participating in #thesealeychallenge. Here is a little info about it and an interview of founder Nicole Sealey: The Rumpus on #thesealeychallenge

The way I chose my books was to grab a lot of poetry books from my shelf that I have not yet read! But I could do it through the library on my Kindle, if I chose.

Are you up to joining me? I’d love to follow your progress!!! And come follow mine:  Luanne’s #thesealeychallenge on Instagram at CATPOEMS and Twitter at WRITERSITETWEET.

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