Category: Poets

My Poetry, NaPoWriMo 2016, Poetry, Poets, Pop Culture2 Comments

Thank You for a Funky Time

Charlotte Hamrick

Pick a day when the sunlight dances on little red Corvettes and snow in April, when elevators reach a higher floor and you can always see the sun. Choose a day that incites a parade so purple the cells in your body tingle like pop rocks and guitars exploding, feeling proud in the light of this power. Give the world all your extra time and kiss this parade we call life where he taught us to love and laugh and celebrate in purple rain and stars that fall from the sky. *****   Prompt courtesy of Found Poetry Review: Take an erasure … Continue reading Thank You for a Funky Time

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Inspiration Monday: Tupac Shakur

Charlotte Hamrick

Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete? Proving nature’s law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet. Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air. Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared. ― Tupac Shakur, The Rose That Grew from Concrete Continue reading Inspiration Monday: Tupac Shakur

About Writing, Books, My Poetry, Poetry, Poets, Writers2 Comments

Reading, Writing, and Publications

Charlotte Hamrick

It’s Sunday, a day I often catch up with my online reading. I like to check in with writer’s blogs and lit zines, following their links which often take me to new and exciting places. Today I followed a link about The Daily Poet, a book of writing prompts, from a Pinterest pin that took me to Kelli Russell Agodon’s website. Turns out, she’s one half of the team who founded Two Sylvias Press with which I was already familiar. So I read about her book plus some of her other posts and enjoyed it. The book looks good and who couldn’t use a … Continue reading Reading, Writing, and Publications

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Inspiration Monday: Marty McConnell

Charlotte Hamrick

  Frida Kahlo to Marty McConnell leaving is not enough; you must stay gone. train your heart like a dog. change the locks even on the house he’s never visited. you lucky, lucky girl. you have an apartment just your size. a bathtub full of tea. a heart the size of Arizona, but not nearly so arid. don’t wish away your cracked past, your crooked toes, your problems are papier mache puppets you made or bought because the vendor at the market was so compelling you just had to have them. you had to have him. and you did. and … Continue reading Inspiration Monday: Marty McConnell

About Writing, Books, Essays, Flash Fiction, Hot Reads, New Orleans, Pets, Poetry, Poets, Writers4 Comments

Hot Reads & Other Stuff

Charlotte Hamrick

The wind is blowing fiercely outside whipping the trees into a frenzy. The wind chimes are clanging merrily, though, giving quite the serenade. All the little birds at the bird feeder are puffed out. I guess they’re trying to stay warm in the cold wind. It’s grey. Another grey day. Every time we have one of these days in NOLA it reinforces how glad I am that I don’t live where winters are harsh. Day upon day of greyness would do me in for sure. I don’t mind the occasional gloomy day – sometimes it’s nice to cuddle up on … Continue reading Hot Reads & Other Stuff

About Writing, Minimalism, Pets, Poets, Random10 Comments

Less is more at 5:30 am

Charlotte Hamrick

At 5:30 every morning I get up to put drops in my dog Buddy’s eye. He had cataract surgery on December 7th and part of the aftercare is seven different drops at different times around the clock. Well, some of them coincide but you get the picture. He’s doing great, btw, finally able to see well enough to resume our daily walks which makes us both happy. Anyway, at 5am he has three drops that are given five minutes apart so in the five minute waiting periods I look at my iPad. Seems a theme has emerged this morning: less. … Continue reading Less is more at 5:30 am

Books, Poetry, Poets, Pop Culture, Writers9 Comments

Charlotte’s Top Five

Charlotte Hamrick

It’s end/beginning of year – list time! Although list posts are multiplying like rabbits online, I’ll go ahead and post my second annual Top Fives in books, movies, TV, and music. Note that these are not books, movies, TV, and music that debuted in 2015 but my personal Top Fives which means, although I’m not a slave to current pop culture, I am highly interested in good books, good movies, good TV, and good music regardless of when it was created. In addition, I’m posting my Top Five wanna-sees and wanna-reads for 2016. Wanna-listen is dependent upon mood. Here we … Continue reading Charlotte’s Top Five

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Happy Birthday, Sylvia

Charlotte Hamrick

Dear Sylvia, I read your book The Bell Jar when I was an angst-ridden teen. It made me feel less alone, less shunned, less ugly. It helped me realize there were others out there like me feeling like a dead end dirt road. I wrapped your words around me like a cloud of soft familiarality and the world’s edges felt less sharp. Some may not understand this but you do and that’s all that matters. Thank you. Continue reading Happy Birthday, Sylvia

Books, Flash Fiction, Hot Reads, Poetry, PoetsLeave a comment

Hot Reads & Other Things

Charlotte Hamrick

So I had really planned to have a good dozen links to a good dozen poems and stories for this post, but then, life happened. I’m flexible, though, and decided to go with what I have because the two flash fictions, one video-poem, and one text poem here are dynamite.  You just can’t get any better than these. So, forthwith: “Hands” by Tara Isabel Zambrano in The Sonder Review and Fictionaut. “I stay up all night. I write. I give up cashews and pistachios. I spend my time looking at his things wishing they were gone too. My only sliver of comfort about … Continue reading Hot Reads & Other Things

Inspiration Monday, New Orleans, Photography, Poets, Quotes2 Comments

Inspiration Monday: Adrienne Rich

Charlotte Hamrick

One of the great functions of art is to help us imagine what it is like to be not ourselves, what it is like to be someone or something else, what it is like to live in another skin, what it is like to live in another body, and in that sense to surpass ourselves, to go out beyond ourselves. — Adrienne Rich Continue reading Inspiration Monday: Adrienne Rich