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A Poet in Spring

I can’t help it. I’m a poet intoxicated in springtime, renewal and faith. Step aside, war and riot, prejudice run amok, mass shootings and atmospheric rivers, ignorance abroad and becoming endemic. Step aside, the ruin of the world — it’s like the ruin of winter. And I am a fervent believer in humanity and spring. Evrywhere, I find evidence to back up my faith. To celebrate (before the next bomb cyclone drops on our heads…

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Blue Heron Speaks – Featured Poet

I’m thrilled and honored to be theĀ  Featured Poet in the September Issue of Blue Heron Speaks. This wonderful online poetry journal has a goal of presenting “messages of inspiration, support, and nourishment for the soul.”And they really do offer heart-centered poems that speak to seekers after beauty and peace. My three poems include the title poem from my forthcoming collection, Arabesque. An excerpt from the poem treats the word “arabesque” in its other meaning,…

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To obtain a great cover image, try pleading “Poet in Poverty”

It was great fun to correspond with Matisse’s great grandson in order to obtain rights to use this image on the cover of my poetry collection Femme au chapeau. Happy to say it will be available as an eBook in September! Pre-order price for you is $2.99, until 9/26/16. You can go here to pre-order: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/657130. Poet Barbara Crooker did a wonderful review of the book on Smartish Pace, mentioning “exquisite figurative language throughout”. She…

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April — a Poetry Month discount on my book

I plan to honor poetry every day by reading it every day. Especially poets new to me. I bought two new books by poets friends recommended: Edgar Bowers and Henry Rago. Both write in ways that move me and illuminate the way poetry lives around and through us, whenever we have eyes to see. Here’s my reading of “Flight,” the first poem in my book Gods of Water and Air. Visit https://racheldacus.net for more information…

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How to stay sane as a writer

That’s perennial question, along with its corollary: Should writers be sane? Or is crazy really better for the work. If there’s one thing that drives every writer and poet I know crazy it’s the topic of publishing. Publishing is like hunting dragons — you’re not even sure they exist, you know you need some magical arrow that’s not in your quiver, and really you don’t have a killer’s heart. Especially the poets. It’s such a…

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Bloghopping: Word Garden + My Poem at Your Daily Poem

I’m happy to report that I have a poem featured today on Your Daily Poem. My “Apple Pie Order” (from my book Femme au chapeau) is a poem very close to me. It’s about my 91-year-old mother and was a gift to receive and then be able to give to her on a birthday. Thank you, Jayne Jaudon Ferrer, for featuring my poem today, and for your great inspiration to bring more poetry into our…

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Permission to be a poet

It’s something only you can give yourself: a space to create, sweet as ripe cherries. To find it, buy it with love for your creative self, wrap it in ethereal sheets of time, and then unwrap it as though you deserve every crinkle of the delicate paper and every silky ribbon of ink. You give yourself permission to NOT write a word. Not even think. To drift, a poet in poet time with the willingness…

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Gods of Water and Air Celebrates One-Year Anniversary! Woo-Hoo!!!

I’m happy to celebrate the one-year anniversary of my collection of poetry, prose, and short drama, Gods of Water and Air. Thanks to Karen Kelsay and Aldrich Press (an imprint of Kelsay Books) for creating a beautiful print book from my manuscript and supporting it! And thanks to all of you who bought a copy and read it. I’m going to make my book a little cake for its birthday, which I’m calling September 4…

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How much is enough in promoting your poetry book

Asilomar Beach, Photo by Heather Osborne Jeannine Hall Gailey responded to Timothy Green‘s Facebook about the responsibilities (and guilt and anxiety) of a poet in promoting a book. Jeannine’s post encourages us to forgive ourselves for not doing everything imaginable at our own cost: organizing cross-country book tours, banner ads, local readings, mailing out dozens of reviews copies, etc. Tim’s post lamented the lack of support from his publisher. He gave  numbers: 105 sold by…

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Midsummer Metaphors – Discount on Gods of Water and Air!

If you haven’t got a copy of my new book, out last fall from Aldrich Press, I’m offering a hefty discount on Gods of Water and Air to celebrate midsummer. Madness indeed, but it’s not about money, it’s about poetry. This collection has prose as well — even a small play. Email me (rachel@dacushome.com) to order one direct from me, for only $11.00 (135 pages — a deal!). Here’s a taste — animated and read…

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