It’s absolute joy to see that this issue honors Myra Schneider at 80 years and includes an interview of Myra by Dilys Wood, founder of Second Light Network of Women Poets (SLN) and managing editor of ARTEMISpoetry. Bravo, SLN! 🙂

[Myra’s] poetry glows with an unembarrassed love of the quotidian – food, the kitchen, creatures, company, every leaf in the garden – especially the edible ones! – and almost above all, color.” Kate Foley, A Crimson Creed, Appreciating Myra Schneider

It’s equally wonderful after a long day to find this issue in my mailbox … with a bit of a new look, if I’m not mistaken …  a little less content and a bit more white space to enhance the readability and quite a bit more artwork, most enjoyable.

Gil Learner co-edited this issue with Dilys Wood. Kate Foley is featured poet and Maggie Hawkins chose the wealth of…

We wrote the book because we believe that personal writing is very potent both for the writer and the reader, because some of the greatest literature is rooted in personal material. Myra Schneider in an interview to be published here tomorrow.

It always seems to me that writing  about life – “personal material” –  is a healing activity, a way to live hugely, and a way to empower ourselves and others. Whether we do it for ourselves alone or whether our purpose is to leave history behind for family, to set the record straight, or simply to share and entertain, the experience is rewarding.

Writing Your Selfis a comprehensive book organized into two parts:

• Part I: Here the focus is on life experiences, the exploration of those human experiences that are universal. These include childhood, self-concepts, relationships, displacement, physical and mental illness and disability, and abuse.
• Part II: Here the focus is on…

what sound do windows make
when they do not open

…………………….a signed story
…………………….laughing at surfaces
………………………………….only

standing
in some direction

they don’t provide for safety
& nothing’s allowed
to surprise……………not even
a sun
………rising
over ring roads

……….whose heads
are hanging now
……….these tired
precincts & cathedral
bones

we bleed
impatient
& stories
………tell stories
to fill the holes.the old birds
gaunt…………& greyling
in winds
unfeathered

uncrying
in corners
…………they hold for saviours

it’s a poor logic
of numbers.no words
to bury
………..we are
transparent
in burning rain
the leftovers
……………….thumbed
down by vacant caesars.raw
liver
for slavering jaws

..

Bio:
Reuben Woolley has been published in various magazines including Tears in the Fence, The Lighthouse Literary Journal, The Interpreter’s House, Domestic Cherry, The Stare’s Nest and Ink Sweat and Tears. His…

Last night on the news, slotted in between Election fever and Tax Dodgers, was the usual News Report in a War Zone. We could be forgiven for not noticing what war zone, if we took our eyes off the TV for a minute, make a cup of tea. It could be Ukraine, Syria, Iraq. It could be Nigeria, Boko Haram’s latest outrage, now stretching into Chad. Nigerian soldiers are interviewed in silhouette, afraid to speak out against their government, anonymously saying they have no arms. A group of refugees sit in a camp, their experiences translated, some with harrowed eyes withdrawing into silence. The few stories we hear, we have heard over and over. Battles, homes burnt, murder, abduction, slavery. Another two hundred souls overboard in the Mediterranean Sea escaping horrors like these. Amongst these stories is that of a small boy aged around 11 or 12, difficult to tell…

NORTHWEST FOLK FESTIVAL: Popular storyteller Naomi Baltuck (Writing Between the Lines) and her husband Thom Baltuck are performing this weekend (Memorial Day Weekend, May 27-30) at the Northwest Folk Festival in Seattle. The performance schedule is HERE.

NAOMI BALTUCK (Writing Between the Lines)~ is a Contributing Editor and Resident Storyteller at The BeZine. She is a world-traveler and an award-winning writer, photographer. Her works of fiction and nonfiction are available through Amazon HERE.

Naomi presents her wonderful photo-stories – always interesting and rich with meaning and humor – at Writing Between the Lines, Life from the Writer’s POV (her personal blog) as well as on The BeZine.

Naomi conducts workshops such as Peace Porridge (multicultural stories to promote cooperation, goodwill, and peaceful coexistence), Whispers in the Graveyard (a spellbinding array of haunting and mysterious stories), Tandem Tales, Traveling Light Around the World, and…