tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17407145155619023782024-03-07T09:00:05.281-05:00If You Open the Cage . . .A writer's journal ~ Musings
on my muses and meanderings, my questions and quandaries, my fatigues and failures,
and once in a periwinkle blue moon, on that which takes flight.
~ by Tammi J Truax Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.comBlogger414125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-56045172754061891792020-09-21T17:45:00.002-04:002020-09-21T17:45:31.015-04:00RIP RBG https://www.instagram.com/p/CFZ2wlenO4N/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheetTameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-64364372033634874022020-06-10T21:29:00.000-04:002020-06-11T07:02:36.924-04:00New Poem
An Acrostic
I imagine,
consequent to current events,
a
new paradigm
taking hold forever,
becoming the other “new normal”,
reaching
even the farthest corners of the land,
an America
that is truly
home of the free and the brave,
eagles soaring above, everyone breathing below.
Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-46814505103412205512020-05-10T20:45:00.001-04:002020-05-10T20:45:21.234-04:00New Poem
Ground Glass
The only freedom I've
been longing for
is to go back to the
blissful time
when I had no idea
how I would die.
Now I contemplate my
covid comorbidities
and consider, should
doctors see
the telltale ‘ground
glass’ in my lungs
what might happen next
...
First, I develop
pneumonia, a crushing pain in the lungs
I've known before. Then,
perhaps weeks later, I wane
by aTameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-52218470769936380152019-12-31T20:31:00.001-05:002019-12-31T20:31:36.309-05:00My Psychedelic Zeppelin Year in Review
I am ending this year in a way that is uncharacteristic of me. Most years, definitely the last several, I am happy to let the old year go and welcome a new one in with all of its promise of better things to come. This December 31st I am sad and sorry to let 2019 go. Nineteen was very, very good to me. Coming after a stretch of years that hadn't been that memorable 2019 was Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-48048678534517936342019-09-21T09:06:00.001-04:002019-09-21T09:10:43.806-04:00Beautiful Words
This is how a fellow poet, Mark de Carteret, describes my poetry:
"These clear-eyed art-icles. That alert us to the lesser seen, cared-for. Asserting their location, state. Without making too much of a scene. Too over-tended a dent. Not letting us in on all their secrets. But taking that lead. When needed. Steering the reader Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-61178284247542040102019-07-13T16:30:00.000-04:002019-07-13T16:30:08.295-04:00Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-43788834146334796392019-05-26T19:07:00.000-04:002019-05-28T18:56:36.992-04:00At Eagle Pond Farm
On Mother's Day my friend Erine Leigh (the tenth Portsmouth Poet Laureate) and I took a little road trip to attend the closing day of the estate sale at Eagle Pond Farm in Wilmot, New Hampshire, the long time home of Donald Hall and Jane Kenyon. Both of us had wanted to and discussed making this trip before he had passed, but we never got it done. There was a sadness in thatTameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-74555800319476822922019-05-20T18:19:00.000-04:002019-05-20T18:22:23.357-04:00Pub Day
It has been such a whirlwind since publication day, of exciting ups and downs. I feel like I've been for an elephant ride!
It was fun to have an event, my first official reading as Portsmouth Poet Laureate, on the same day as the book came out, which allowed me to sell and sign books.
Yet more exciting was waking up the next morning toTameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-34891980272377929072019-04-07T12:53:00.003-04:002019-04-07T12:53:43.760-04:00Accepting the Quill
On Monday evening, at Portsmouth City Hall I was proclaimed the 12th Poet Laureate of the city. Below is the transcript of the remarks I made after I was introduced by Erine Leigh, the tenth laureate. I had introduced her at the same podium four years earlier. None of the customary photos were taken so I can just share these that I took at home.
Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-87509985645736441722019-03-23T09:37:00.001-04:002019-03-23T09:41:41.906-04:00Ele word cloud – Word cloud – WordItOut
I made a word cloud from the first few poems in my forthcoming book For To See the Elephant (Piscataqua Press, April 2019).
Ele word cloud – Word cloud – WordItOut: Generate, customise, save, share, gift, print, browse & love word cloud art with WordItOut, the free word cloud maker online since 2010.
Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-1163405333006319922019-03-18T17:58:00.000-04:002019-03-18T17:58:02.661-04:00Dav Pilkey on School Libraries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sqppIDeQPk#action=share
Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-83873469557583311822019-03-02T16:02:00.002-05:002019-03-02T16:02:35.909-05:00PORT smith art journal
https://www.plainspoke.com/shop/issue-two-fallwinter-2018
Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-35063814441687750102019-02-25T22:43:00.001-05:002019-02-25T22:48:55.572-05:00Meet Sarah Sanchez
I'd like to introduce my friend Sarah Sanchez from Texas! Like me, she began writing seriously only a few years ago. She has released two series; The Sunwalker Trilogy is YA and The Keeper Chronicles is middle grade fiction.
Tell us a little about yourself , Sarah.
I am a mother of three, a chocolate addict, and a Texan. Several
years ago I found my true Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-61669884814713329672019-02-21T08:58:00.001-05:002019-02-21T08:58:55.763-05:00 "We Rise, We Resist, We Raise Our Voices"
I don't usually review books on my blog but I want to give a special extra-loud shout-out for this newly released antholgy. The Hudsons have done a remarkable job and it is a beautiful book that belongs in all middle and high school libraries. Children need this book; as a source of comfort, as a source of wisdom, as a source of answers. Please be sure it gets into their Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-51746045179794296652019-02-11T19:49:00.000-05:002019-02-11T19:49:01.596-05:00Writing for WriteOnCon
https://writeoncon.org/writing-novels-in-verse-2/
Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-4172543825941563752018-12-16T10:04:00.000-05:002018-12-17T06:35:34.755-05:00His name was William
So much excitement at my house this weekend! I had been doing final edits to a manuscript soon to be published. My first traditionally published book, a YA historical novel in verse. That is exciting, but not what I have been carrying on about. When I get like this, so excited I can barely function, the only thing I can do is write. So please let me explain...
Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-79752790214953033482018-09-01T23:27:00.000-04:002018-09-03T20:46:57.016-04:00What Was Supposed To Be
This afternoon I was supposed to be in New Hartford, Connecticut being officially named the Maine Beat Poet Laureate for 2018-2020. I really wanted to be there, mostly to meet the many others traveling from all over the world for the National Beat Poetry Festival. As is so often the case for me, life just didn't cooperate with my plans.
&Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-22139665254725766162018-08-19T09:16:00.000-04:002018-08-19T09:20:07.884-04:00Easy Lynching ...
A few days ago I attended a talk given by Presidential inaugural poet Richard Blanco and contemporary landscape photographer Jacob Bond Hessler discussing their collaborative exhibition, “Boundaries,” which is on view at #OMAA the Ogunquit Museum of American Art through October 31, 2018.
We made our way to Ogunquit in such a dangerous Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-56587385912516250082018-08-19T08:22:00.000-04:002018-08-19T08:22:12.085-04:00July 2018
I had a truly wonderful time teaching a STEAM summer camp at my elementary school. I called it Learning Like Leonardo. Here are a few pics:
Vitruvian girls!
We made paint from natural substances and learned all about the Mona Lisa.
Created (and munched on) our own
polyhedra.
Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-38984834730744737852018-08-16T08:30:00.003-04:002018-08-16T08:30:55.844-04:00June 2018
Here is the culmination of the poetry unit I taught to 4th graders. They presented the books as end-of-the-year gifts to their teachers.
I combined their study of their home state with a study of poetry. We watched this video a couple of times.
The highlight of the experience for me wasn't the creation of these Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-51898088387523371052018-05-13T08:51:00.000-04:002018-05-13T08:51:09.248-04:00An honor
that I am happy to accept.
Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-46622355123684948402018-05-06T19:13:00.000-04:002018-05-06T19:14:06.703-04:00Ars Poetica
This weekend while at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival I attended a workshop entitled Ars Poetica taught by Jennifer Jean, Jennifer Martelli, and Marjorie Tesser.
The Poetry Foundation says this about Ars Poetica:
Ars Poetica is
" A poem that explains the “art of poetry,” or a meditation on poetry using the form Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-41286429078710869672018-04-28T21:36:00.002-04:002018-04-29T22:09:43.661-04:00N'Port Lit Fest 2018
This post is a quick recap of the highlights of my trip to the Newburyport Literary Festival today. I love the festival, and make the trip down every year. There is always far too much to chose from. It is an abundance of riches sprinkled throughout a town that is also.
In the morning I attended a fun session of middle grade readers interviewing Tameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-90751629122482466972018-04-22T09:43:00.001-04:002018-04-24T16:24:09.623-04:00One Could Do Worse ...
I taught a poetry unit to three fourth-grade classes this month and because they are studying New Hampshire all year I tied the lesson into their study of their home state. I introduced them to Robert Frost, and just one of his poems, Birches, because the birch is the official state tree. We listened to the whole poem several times, but also enjoyed the animated excerpt belowTameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740714515561902378.post-29305829032334259392018-03-25T14:58:00.000-04:002018-03-25T15:08:22.871-04:00On Becoming A Sankofa Scholar
So many happy and sad moments this week, enough to fill a year really. I'll just touch on a couple here, perhaps the most important.
My mentor died. That isn't as sad as it sounds. Hers was a long and well-lived life just a few days shy of 94 years, and I am sure she was ready to go. But the void she leaves behind is huge. As I've been looking back on ourTameri T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/16607894505990748200noreply@blogger.com3