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Blog tour – writing process questions answered

Last month, I was tagged by Erica Goss to participate in a virtual blog tour of writers. The goal was to answer four questions about my current writing process. What a great exercise for inquiring into the springs of my creative life. Here are my answers. 1. What are you currently working on? A messy poetry manuscript loosely organized around the title Arabesque. Like the ballet pose and Islamic calligraphy, it dips and swerves, echoes…

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Rain and a discount on Gods of Water and Air – email rachel@dacushome.com

I can’t claim that my twelve potted roses have been dessicated over the past three years, but California surely has been dessicated. I’ve worried about friendly trees and watched lawns become weed patches. So early this morning, the sound of a steady, soaking rain (as we used to call it back when we had rain) was pure Chopin to my ears. It induced in me a kind of quiet I haven’t felt for months. A…

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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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July is winding down — 9 days left on my book discount

If you haven’t got a copy of my new book, Gods of Water and Air, I’m offering a hefty discount. It’s a book with poetry, prose, and even This collection has prose a once-act  play (about the afterlife of dogs). 135 pages of summer reading — a deal! This price is good through July 31!  Email me (rachel@dacushome.com) to order one direct, for only $11.00 + shipping. (Amazon charges $2 more.) Here’s a taste. –>Life…

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July’s big discount on GODS OF WATER AND AIR

Happy Fourth! If you haven’t got a copy of my new book, Gods of Water and Air, I’m offering a hefty discount on Gods of Water and Air to celebrate midsummer. 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 + shipping (135 pages — a deal!). Or you can get it from Amazon. Here’s a taste. From “Prayers for Everywhere”:…

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Metaphor Monday

The only way to sanely start a week, if you’re a poet, is with metaphor. Reading to start and revising is the juice. I have three inches of print drafts to plow through, how many e-files, and am grabbing summer by the shorthairs to make a space for poetry. I need to make a fresh pile of worked-up stuff, need time and peace. Hedging my priorities. Here’s one from Gods of Water and Air. Have…

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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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The House of Emily D

Last night I saw the best play about Emily Dickinson I could imagine. It was a musical, and it was performed by fifth grade actors who brought this luminous ecstatic poet (“the Myth” as she was sometimes called) to life. It also brought to vivid life her bustling, growing Amherst (“the only thing silent in Amherst is the ‘h’”). Written by my brilliant playwright friend Judith Nielsen, music composed by a young and talented composer,…

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Memorial Day – Whitman Witnesses

Memorial Day began as a way to honor soldiers who died in the Civil War. Coincidentally, Walt Whitman’s birthday was a few days ago. One year, I wrote him a birthday poem, after having seen a play about him. The play movingly used his own lines to express his witnessing and nursing of the suffering soldiers. Today I’m grateful for Whitman’s moving tributes to the hundreds of thousands who made their sacrifice in our Civil…

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Poetry Book Giveaway and Midsummer Metaphors

Thanks to all who participated in my Great Poetry Book Giveaway this year! I picked names out of the numerical hat and sent a copy of my Gods of Water and Air  to one winner and Stanley Kunitz’s book Passing Through. I noticed we all entered each other’s Poetry Book Giveaways. It was a pleasure to read blogs I hadn’t visited and learn about books I will now buy. In the giving spirit, I’m offering…

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