I'd Rather Be Me

Lily Dawn is a young girl who hopes to be anyone other than herself. Her story starts when she decides to talk to the animals on the farm to see how their lives compare to hers. What she discovers is a valuable lesson about being true to oneself.

Ana's Hymns

Ana’s Hymns welcomes you to joy. A celebration of love. May these words provoke you to dream, to love one another. Dear readers, this book will take you on a journey of the mind to inspire the magic within your heart and life.

Writers, Like Hats

Writers, Like Hats begins with an ode and ends with a philosophical message from one of my students; in between is a variety of genres for enjoyment and meditation. Three sections explore the natural world, the world outside, and the world inside. In the appendix, readers find instructions for writing riddles, sonnets, and celebrations of self, as well as samples from students. I invite you to enjoy the music and magic of poetry that lifts us to new heights in Writers, Like Hats.

“Trish Frech’s untrammeled poetic style opens to the reader her deep attachments to Nature, her concerns for the world and its people, and her insights into her own Life. But it is more than that: many readers will savor the vivid images, carefully turned phrases, and playfulness of her poetry. Teachers of poetry, moreover, will find not only rich material to share with students but in the Appendix four ready to use methods (with student samples) for creating poetry itself. Frech’s insights into her on life’s arc and into momentous questions of our times are offset and [made pleasurable] by her simplicity of phrase, colorful wording, and frequent evocation of Nature.”

Review of the final manuscript from Gordon B. Donaldson, Jr., Professor Emeritus at the University of Maine.

Wolves with Furniture

Is the true nature of the human creature more akin to that of wolves or closer to bees or ants? What parts of the human soul are sacrificed by choosing a modern life in a crowded city-hive, an existence severed from the balance of Nature? Do wild wolves have a better sense of humanity than humans themselves?

These are only a few of the questions pondered in L.M. Reid’s poetry collection Wolves With Furniture, in which every intense poem is woven into the stories of Lupa the Wolf Queen and a vibrant girl born unlucky, who grows into a woman carrying within her the towering fury of a flame-haired Lilith.

Will she shatter herself against her own bitter rage, or choose to live a harmonious life guided by the just laws of the wolf? By turns poignant, thought-provoking and redemptive, Wolves With Furniture explores new depths of what it means to be human.

We The People

Joanne S. Duffin’s poetry is a captivating fusion of the personal and the universal, delving into the depths of the human experience. Her verses touch upon matters of the heart, offer insightful observations of the world, and fearlessly tackle the pressing issues of our time, both within the United States of America and on a global scale.

As you turn the pages, you’ll find yourself immersed in the wonders and interpretations of the natural world, the joys of family, the treasure of discovered love, the journey of self-discovery, philosophical musings, political commentary, patriotic reflections, and the pursuit of justice. Duffin’s poetry also explores the complexities of friendship, the pain of loss, and the inevitability of death.

This groundbreaking work of fiction will captivate your mind as you traverse space and time alongside the author, who fearlessly delves into the very essence of self-expression. Throughout her poetry, Duffin never loses sight of the profound impact and influence of the past, acknowledging the experiences that have shaped her as both a writer and a human being.

Embark on this transformative literary journey with Joanne S. Duffin, and allow her unique voice to guide you through a landscape of beauty, understanding, and introspection, as her thoughts and words weave a tapestry of the human condition.

Vulnerable

Take a moment to reflect on relationships past and present and what they may have taught you. What you thought you wanted and wished for, to the moment when you realized you should have been more specific in your requests. This is a journey of reflection, release, and re-directing focus, from what is wanted to what is needed. That need and want from not only someone else but also yourself. Follow the story of five relationships – The Good, The Bad, and The Fling. Told through short stories and poems, these stories and poems, will not only help you discover some things about yourself but also help you discover what you may have lost searching for your comfort in someone else. Sometimes what you really need has been there all along, just waiting on you to be ready, waiting on you to finally release that baggage of your past and deal with some things you were scared to look at within yourself.

Victims and Perpetrators

Dive into the mischievous world of Victims and Perpetrators: Light Verse Judgement on the Criminally Inclined, where the lines between lawbreakers and law enforcers blur in the most whimsical ways. Through the masterful pen of John Gentry, a humorist poet with a penchant for the peculiar, this collection of poems invites readers on a rollicking journey through the underbelly of society, all from the safety of their armchairs.

From the tale of Felony Fred, whose criminal escapades are as endearing as they are egregious, to the saga of a hapless diner in Hard Rock, Idaho, Gentry crafts a universe where crime does indeed pay – in laughter and wit. Each poem is a vignette, a snapshot of life on the other side of the law, told with a twinkle in the eye and a tip of the hat to the absurd.

So, whether you’re a seasoned criminal mastermind looking to take a break from your nefarious activities, or a law-abiding citizen with a love for the lyrical, Victims and Perpetrators offers something for everyone. It’s a reminder that, in the end, we’re all just characters in the grand, ridiculous story of life – some of us just have better alibis than others.

Verses

Nothing in nature compares to the beauty of rainbows.

When they appear most feel, ‘Oh!’

They are signs that the rain has stopped.

Now people feel freer to go out to shops,

The flooded streets become more tame,

Children can go out to play games.

Most are once again bright eyed,

And see birds soaring throughout the skies.

And just maybe there are two beings,

At each end of the rainbow, connecting.

Venus - A Point of Expression

The monsoon rains come to our desert in the summer, when the temperature is highest. The winds shift to the SE, bringing moisture from both the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California. The rains come as huge, black, thunder storms over the mountains, driven by vivid lightning and high winds. It also provides a magical drop in temperature. The magnificent odor of the desert after a rain is a rich, organic experience.

After the storm I sit on my patio, in the cool fall of night – watching the shadows changing on the mountains as the sun declines. Recently, after such a storm, the sun is dying in various shades of ocher and vermillion… The crescent moon rises, and the planet Venus soon follows. Venus is a bright diamond in the now black sky. I write in my notebook: Venus is a Bright Point of Expression in the Sky. Thus, a poem is born.

Truly Broken

Does anyone ever stop and think what they’re about to do? How their action can affect people's lives?

I heard once or twice that your decisions are like a domino effect, one decision can affect many. Why make choices that you know you will regret? Why put people through pain? Can you actually say that you ever thought about how many people you hurt?

Explain in so many words why we treat people like they don’t mean anything. Many of us are the victims in cases like these. Maybe you are the victimizer, in that case describe why you felt that treating someone so bad would make you feel better? Well, did it? Maybe you should look in the mirror and ask if you are truly happy with being yourself? Or maybe you feel the need to take out all the pain you bottle up on someone who doesn’t deserve it.

Maybe it's just me but I am done with thinking of all the reasons why people get involved in situations they can’t dig themselves out of, well here is my story...

Trauma, Drama, Love, and Loss

Poetry can be healing. It can break the heart and heal it. Let it touch you and you’ll feel it. The scars here are real, but may it guide you through your own struggles, let you see that you’re not alone, show solidarity, and, at the end, provide you hope.

Track of Time

Life as a passage. This anthology of poetry, Track of Time, contains 77 poems which explored themes of ephemerality and permanence.

It’s a book about time and its reflexes, cycles and seasons, as moods whose trajectory begins with the notion of “losing the track” but reaches “on time” at the end.

A work summarized by the verses of a brief and flying being: “if you spend your luck/ beholding a bee/ honey is always/ a symbol/ of the sweetest great/ little being”.

Poetry helps us remember, after all, that happiness is simple: “like a time/ where’n’ver”.