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Becoming a Bigger Fish

January 23, 2019

ellenrobertsyoung Uncategorized , , , 1 Comment

my bookshelf

. . . in a small pond.  I was surprised and pleased to receive an honor this past weekend.  The Friends of the Thomas Branigan Memorial Library made me an honorary life member.

It was a surprise because I haven’t done very much with them (in my estimation).  I’ve been busy serving on the Library Advisory Board, which serves as liaison with the City Councilors, for the last eight years.

True, I did encourage support and pay attention to the Friends, come to book sales and every other event I could get to, and work toward a closer connection between the two organizations. (The Advisory Board can’t raise money; it advises and supports the Library Administrator on financial and other matters.  The Friends do raise funds and receive a wish-list from the Administrator for items beyond the city budget.)

So they decided to thank me. In the bio I wrote for them I did stress the importance of libraries in my life.

Libraries have been important to her from her childhood in Campbell, California to taking her sons to the Ardmore library in Pennsylvania, to research in the Philadelphia Free Library and the Library of Congress.

I didn’t mention that when I had a career module in early high school, I didn’t have the courage to find a writer to interview, so I interviewed our local librarian.  It has always seemed to me the next best thing.  If you can’t write books, take care of them.

I’m sure I’ll be hearing from the Friends of Branigan Library about further support.  That’s how these things work.  That’s just fine with me.

For more on the Branigan library, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Branigan_Memorial_Library

Celebrating the Kerf

January 14, 2019

ellenrobertsyoung Uncategorized , , , , 4 Comments

scan0001I have a poem in the current issue of the Kerf, a small journal out of College of the Redwoods in northern California.  This journal is part of the Del Norte Center for Writing of that college, which is located in Crescent City.

I want to spread the word about this journal because there is a lot I like about it, beginning with the fact that they have chosen a very nice selection of poems in this issue, mostly – but not all – by people I’ve never heard of.  Other features I like:

  • They only do poetry. They take formal as well as free verse poems, and two page poems as well as short ones.
  • They don’t organize the poems in alphabetical order by the poet’s last name; they make creative juxtapositions. (As a poet whose last name begins with Y, I really appreciate finding my poem on page 12.)
  • They often include more than one poem by an author, but put them in separate places.
  • They advertise an interest in “humanity and environmental consciousness” which turns out to have a wide scope.

And they operate without a website or email submissions.  This is one reason I want to spread the word about them.  They advertise annually in Poets & Writers, but they’re hard to find elsewhere.

My poem, Human/Nature, explores some of the contact points between humans and the rest of nature, especially as found here in the rapidly growing city of Las Cruces.  My favorite part, if it is possible to have a favorite part in one’s own poem, is

A puma is sighted near
the new subdivision.
As in a child’s puzzle, which
of these things does not belong?
The puma does not go willingly.

scan0002

The reading period for the Kerf is about to begin.  Unsolicited manuscripts are accepted between January 15 and March 31. Include name and address on all manuscripts, enclose an SASE and send to:

the Kerf
College of the Redwoods
883 West Washington Blvd.
Crescent City, CA 95531-8361

A copy of the journal is available for $5.00, a good price for 54 pages of varied and stimulating poems.