LIFE OF A POET ~ LORI RYAN

Today we are visiting another of our new members, Lori Ryan, a fellow Canadian, who blogs at WRITING UNBOUND: a Collection of Words. Lori lives in  Ontario, in eastern Canada. I am so looking forward to getting to know her better! Let's dive in.

Sherry:  Lori, it is so nice to meet another Canadian poet. Tell us a bit about yourself, won’t you? 

Lori: Hello Sherry.  As you mentioned I’m Canadian.  I love living here and have travelled around much of the country.  I love the diversity of Canada both in people as well as landscape, although I could do with a little less of this crazy climate!

I’m married with two children.  They are awesome people and make me laugh all the time.  My kids have a resiliency of spirit and the kindest hearts imaginable.  They make me so unbelievably proud.  As a rule, I don’t share their photos online, but this is one of my favourite pics of them having fun diving off the dock at the cottage. 

I work in publishing as an education resource consultant.  I find books that tie into the Canadian curriculum and make recommendations to schools and libraries.   I feel really lucky because I’m one of those people that loves their job.  The publishing world has definitely changed since I first started… 20 years ago!  I’ve watched the shift from print to ebooks.  I will always be a fan of the printed word but I think there’s room for both. 

Actually, that is why my blog is called Writing Unbound.  I’m not sure I will ever have my poetry published in print so I consider my blog to be a book without binding.  It also playfully expresses the idea that there is so much to write that it’s boundless.  

Sherry: It is boundless indeed. When you look back at your childhood, do you see indications that you feel contributed to your becoming a poet?

Lori: When I was a child I struggled learning how to read.  I was given books that came with a record and a small record player to play them on.  (I still have it actually.)  I remember listening to a book of nursery rhymes; to the rhythm and flow of the writing and the rhyme of the text.  By listening while reading, the words slowly started to make sense to me.  I can still recite all the nursery rhymes by heart.  I take inspiration from children’s literature and nursery rhymes quite often.

Sherry: That is a cool story! Was there someone back then you feel was a significant influence, who encouraged or inspired your writing?

Lori: I had a lot of teachers that supported my writing.  A few submitted my work for competition.  I had short stories and poetry that were selected for school publications.  

I struggled learning how to read; but I also struggled with writing.  The structure of language was a mystery to me.  When I was in Grade 9, my teacher Mrs. Quinlan, pulled me aside, she couldn’t understand why I couldn’t structure a sentence properly.   She worked with me one-on-one to fill in all the gaps I was missing.  She showed me how punctuation can change the understanding of what is written.  How grammar is just as important as the words when trying to convey meaning.   I credit her for instilling in me a love of the written word that would carry me right through University. I still love playing with words and meaning and structure.  Although I quite frequently write poetry without punctuation.

Sherry: This is an example of the lifelong impact a caring teacher has on a child's life. Yay, Mrs. Quinlan.

When did you start writing poetry, Lori? What do you love about it?

Lori: I’ve written poetry since grade school.  One of the first pieces I remember writing was a Christmas poem in Grade 4.   I stopped writing when I graduated University and started working.  You get busy with life, and family, and it seemed I never had time.  And then one day inspiration struck and it was as if the flood gates opened.  I realized how much I had missed writing.  How important it is to me.  How I get a better sense of myself through my writing.  

I write on a variety of topics and in an assortment of styles.  I like trying everything and I’m continually editing. I love getting feedback.  I like finding out what other people see in my poetry because sometimes it’s completely different than what I expect. That, to me, is the best part, because you can never be wrong.  We read ourselves into the words and find connection.   I have a fun side too.  I don’t think all writing needs to be serious, sometimes it’s just for fun, and I love playing around with words that have multiple meanings so things can be read in a variety of ways. 

Sherry: I love it when poetry is fun! Would you choose three of your poems and share them with us?

Lori: I picked three poems and one prose piece… I hope that’s ok. :) 

Find Me: A Free Verse Poem

Free verse is my favourite style of poetry.  Most of my free verse writing ends up having a sort of conversational tone as this one does; where it is me speaking to my reader.   I like the intimacy that it creates.  This type of poetry is also the most personal for me.  It is introspective and emotional.  Generally, I am a very outgoing person, happy, and almost always wearing a smile, but I have a darker side too, and I need moments of quiet to “find me” again. 

Find Me

It is easy to find me

When I am shining

And radiant

Full of laughter

And smiles

Sparkling

Under the glare

Of the blazing sun

But I need you to find me

In my darkness

When I am quiet

And still

A grain of sand

Amongst a million

Grains of sand

Lost beneath the stars

Can you find me then?

Words: ©2017LCR

Image: CCO

Heavy: A 17 Word Write

I like short writes. I like condensing an idea into a bare minimum of words. This is one of my writes where I play with word meaning.   When something is heavy you think of it as a burden to carry but in this case, when it is felt, love lifts us. 

Heavy

Love is not light

It has depth

And breadth

Generating

A hearty abundance

True love has weight

Words: ©2019LCR

Image: CCO

Poet vs. Fighter: A Structured Write

My children train in Tae Kwon Do.  One evening while I was watching their patterns class it struck me how much fighting and writing have in common.  That we each hold weapons in our hands.  Fighters use their fists to punch, writers use their fists to hold a pen.  Watching the movements of the patterns is like watching poetry; there is a beauty and flow to it.  This piece lent itself well to a back and forth structure, as if watching a sparring match and in the end the roles are reversed.  The poet at the beginning becomes the fighter in the end and vice versa. 

Poet vs. Fighter

I am the poet

You are the fighter

You are the muse

I am the writer

I am the pen

You are the fist

You are the punch

I'm the flick of a wrist

I am the words

You are the blows

You are immovable

I am what flows

                             

I am the stanza                                                    

You are the stance

You are the kick

I am the glance

  

I am the laurel

You are the wreath

You are the bite

I am the teeth

I am the scholar

You are the trained

You are the genuine

I am the feigned

I am the sword

You are the steel

You are the hurt

I am the heal

I am the thought

You are the cause

You are the motion

I am the pause

I am the poem

You are the prose

You are the round

I am the close

I am the match

You're the igniter

You are the poet

I am the fighter

©10/2018LCR

Image: Woodcut by Ogata Gekko, 1895

The Way the World Ends: A 100 word story

I write prose pieces as well as poetry.  I’ve always loved short story and I started writing 100 word stories.  I like the challenge to create a mood or evoke a thought in exactly 100 words.  For some reason quite a lot of my ideas hit me while I’m in the shower (most inconvenient time for a writer.) The thought: ‘What would be the strangest way you could imagine the world ending?’ Probably the fastest shower I’ve ever had as I had to get out to write this one down.  Lol.

   

The Way the World Ends

Nobody expected the world to end quite like this… because of an overpopulation of butterflies.  It would be a mass extinction by monarch.  Everyone knew about the butterfly effect.  If a single butterfly flapped its wings it could create a hurricane on the other side of the world.  Well, no one thought about the consequences of a battalion of butterflies all flapping their wings at the exact same time.   The weather was just starting to turn, the wind picking up.  How strange that this would be the way the world would end, not with a bang, but a flutter. 

Words: ©2019LCR

Gif Image: No Claim

Sherry: I love the originality of the idea that the world might end with a flutter. You likely enjoy Magaly's Pantry of Prose every month! Make sure to link. I especially love "Poet Vs. Fighter". It is quite wonderful.

When did you begin blogging, Lori? How has it impacted your work?

Lori: I’ve been blogging since 2013.  It’s basically been a run of trial and error.  Seeing what works and what doesn’t.   I’ve tried to keep my blog as simple and stream-lined as possible.  That’s probably a reflection of my writing as well.  I like it to be simple and to the point.  I have a very conversational tone in most of my writing.  And I wanted my blog to reflect that feeling as well.

Sherry: I think you achieve that very well. I see you have a second blog of book reviews titled Reading Abounds. Scratch a writer, and you will find a voracious reader. Name one book that stands out above the rest, to you. Why do you love it? 

Lori: I read so much, both for pleasure and for work, that I needed a way to catalogue all the titles as well as organize my thoughts on them.  I love so many books for a variety of reasons, but one of the books I love most, and might well be the most influential book I read growing up, is “Tuck Everlasting” by Natalie Babbitt.  

I think it’s the book’s discussion of immortality that struck me the most.  Given the opportunity, would you want to live forever?   But the problem with living forever is that you no longer participate in life; you’re simply existing, watching as life passes you by.  The world around you changes and you always remain the same.  So while death might be a sad ending it also means that you lived.   As a child, I hadn’t given much thought to death, and I think this book deals with it beautifully.   We are not meant to be everlasting.   

Sherry:  That fact is what makes life so precious, I think. What other activities do you enjoy when you aren’t writing (or reading!)

Lori: I love music.  I listen to almost everything and I sing all the time.  Music, is poetry with sound.   I also play the piano.  I love the water.  It is my element and I swim like a fish.  If I was a mythical creature I think I would probably be a siren.   

Sherry: Is there anything else you’d like to tell us that I don’t know you well enough to ask?

Lori: Three quick facts about me:

1. My favourite character on Sesame Street is Cookie Monster.  

2. I’m a Rock Hound and a Numismatist.

3. Orange is my favourite colour because it is the happiest.   

Sherry: I learned a new word: numismatist, a collector of coins! Cool.

Is there anything you’d like to say to Poets United? How did you find us? How do you like us so far? LOL.

Lori: I used to have a profile on Google Plus and I was a member of a few poetry communities there.  After G+ closed I started my poetry blog but I missed the interaction with my fellow poets.  I did a blog search to see if something similar was available on Blogger and Poets United was the second result that came up in my search.  I must admit to having watched the interaction between poets for awhile before joining.  I was very impressed by the writing and the engagement between poets; as well as the variety of prompts that were offered.  I am so very happy to have found you.  Thank you for having me. 

Sherry: We are happy you found us, kiddo. Keep coming back. Thank you for this very lovely visit!

Well, my friends? We hope you enjoyed this wonderful chat. Next week will be my last Monday feature at Poets United. Mary and I will be sharing a poem and some thoughts with you, before we hop on our brooms and fly away! We hope you will stop by and say hi.

Life of a Poet ~ Ron. Lavalette

Today we are zooming cross-country to Vermont, to chat with Ron. Lavalette, who blogs at  Scrambled, Not Fried, and Eggs Over Tokyo. I detect a theme here. It almost begs for another blog titled Eggs Over Easy. Smiles. Let's dive in!

Sherry: One thing that is obvious, looking around your blog, is that you have a wicked sense of humour. I love it! How did you come up with the names of your blogs?

Ron.: “Sense of humor,” eh? Harumph. (Just kidding). Eggs Over Tokyo was the name of a rock band I hung out with waaaay back in High School in the late ‘60s.  I say “hung out” because they only occasionally invited me up on stage, and then only to sing back-up.

Much, much later (2010) I decided to participate in my 1^st National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo), so I inaugurated Scrambled, Not Fried for that purpose. The title maintains the Egg theme, and also describes the author.    

Sherry: LOL. Awesome!  You write both poetry and prose. Which is your first love? What do you love about poetry, and what made you choose it as your means of creative expression?

Ron.: Yikes! I think my first love was words. Spelling. Etymology. Sentences. Structure. Sound. I remember an early teacher pointing out to me how structure matters by showing me the sentences: 1) Only I hit Bobby in the nose. 2) I only hit Bobby in the nose. 3) I hit only Bobby…  I hit Bobby only… I hit Bobby in only…etc.

Once you’re in love with words, it doesn’t really matter if they’re prose or poetry, does it? As long as it’s well done. And it means something. And it sounds good.

Sherry: I agree. When did you begin writing, Ron? Is there a story about it? Looking back, is there someone you feel had a significant influence in your becoming a writer?

Ron.: I’m sure there is earlier evidence, but I guess I consider that I started considering myself to be a “writer” when I started serious journal-keeping early in the 90’s (ie the 1990s, not my 90s; I’m not quite there yet). I think that, like many journal-keepers, mine started out more in a “diary” style, but very quickly moved toward more creative entries. Mostly prose, of course, but I’ve found that lots of my prose springboards me into verse, so…

As to who encouraged me to pursue writing, I have to say I guess I’m kind of a self-starter, but only because until I got serious about it, I’d never really been in contact with very many other literary-minded folks.

Sherry: Tell us a bit about yourself, won’t you? 

The Northeast Kingdom

Ron.: I currently reside in Heaven, also referred to as The Northeast Kingdom section of Vermont, about 30 miles south of the Canadian border (just in case I have to make a hasty exit.)  I’ve been here for just under 3 decades, lured here by My Beloved Sandra, who seemed intent on rescuing me from myself and from the dead-endish jobs and relationships I was holding down back in my home state of Connecticut.  

Sandra and Ron

I’ve been retired for 3 years, after working for almost a dozen years as a High School (Special) Educator, a part-time (newspaper) stringer reporter, and a decade as a Service Coordinator in Vermont’s Mental Health Services. I tapered off by providing 3 years as a para-educator at a local elementary school, and then (BLAMMO!) retired.

Do I have pets? No.  I had a dog once.  It was delicious!

Sherry: A hot dog, hopefully. LOL. Would you like to share two or three poems with us?

Ron.: If you check out my blog(s), you’ll see that I like to write about a wide variety of subjects, but even I can see that I keep coming back to recording my life-stage and how it’s affecting me. I find it easiest to do this by including observations about my immediate environment.  So I thought maybe I’d share 2 such poems:

“Crossing” was originally published in 2000, in the now-defunct New Works Review:

Crossing

The river sings of its rocks, mirrors
emerald and jade where summer
shadows attempt to outrun
sundown. I intrude, I presume,

I stand near the middle. The second cut
of hay is on the banks, neatly ordered
in rows this time of year, golden,
measuring the march-step toward August.

I think about changes: the movement
of sand through narrow places, how
a ripple diminishes downstream,
how a sound sounds when it stops.

“Fallen Away” is the title piece for my chapbook (Oh! Did I mention my Chapbook, available at Finishing Line Press, Amazon, etc?).  It uses the same autobiographical scenery-gazing approach as “Crossing”, but 20 years later:

Fallen Away

I don’t know when it happened;
I let it all fall away. I let it fall

on the long drive to work in the morning
in the sunlight, let it fall crossing

ridge after jaded ridge, fall
with the glimpse of an unlikely hawk

or a capture of crows, or the stacking
of cordwood, the season’s final frost,

fog on the hillside, or the flutter
of a yellow kite in a midsummer wind.

Like the stones of the dead, untended
in the long grass in the middle of June,

in the middle of nowhere I let it fall,
left it all behind and disappeared,

slipped into seamless dreams, drifted
through blue nights and black mornings.

I watched the water boil for coffee,
sat by the river and watched the water

run away toward heaven, heard angels
whisper in the leaves, left the secret

undiscovered, saw the uncertain moon
swim, reflected in dark, starlit pools.

Gone, now, the last of all the wasted words;
the effort, senseless, of upward struggle.

Available here and here

Sherry: Oh, wow! So beautiful. I especially love "Fallen Away". Such a sense of letting go of all the upward struggle and claiming peace, watching the river. I love it. 

When did you start blogging? How has it impacted your work?

Ron.: I addressed this above, but let me just add this: I have a third (apparently almost secret) blog entitled “One Post Only”.  It’s linked in the sidebars of both Eggs Over Tokyo and Scrambled Not Fried. You should check it out. It’ll blow your mind!!

Sherry: I checked it out. And it did! Smiles. Do you have a favourite poet?

Ron.: Oh, please. Favorite? No can do. I’ll say this. Like many (most?) young folks, I had little interest in poetry… until one day in High School a student teacher arrived on his 1^st day of teaching practice and accidently dropped several books out of his backpack onto my desk. I found myself holding a copy of Ginsberg’s HOWL in one hand and Ferlinghetti’s A Coney Island Of The Mind in the other. I thumbed through them briefly and knew, from that moment on, that I had to write poetry.

I’m an omnivore. I know what I don’t like when I read it, but I can’t imagine naming a favorite.

  

Sherry: You could not have stumbled upon better introductions to the world of poetry. 

What activities might we find you enjoying when you aren’t writing?

Ron.: Wait; whaaaat? Not writing?

Sherry: LOL. Is there anything you’d like to say to Poets United?

Ron.: I’m pretty sure that I used to hang out here at Poets United some time ago, but clearly drifted away at some point.  Don’t know when; can’t say why, but I’m glad I found my way back.  I’ve seen lots of the other poets at lots of other sites, but I’m definitely bookmarking Poets United again & I hope I can be a worthy member.

Sherry: We are glad you found your way back, Ron. 

Ron.: I especially want to thank you, Sherry, for inviting me to be interviewed. It’s not an activity I’m used to, nor particularly comfortable with. I am simultaneously humbled and deeply honored Thanks again!

Sherry: It has been a pleasure, Ron. Thanks for saying yes! 

We hope you enjoyed this visit, friends. These features are such a good way to get to know the poet behind the pen. I think we can agree this was a delightful glimpse. Do come back and see who we talk to next. Who knows? It might be you!