I always love to report something a little different and I think award-winning poets Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Magdalena Ball have done it with chapbooks of poetry that can substitute for greeting cards for two important spring holidays—Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
The two women have never met. In fact they live on different continents. But that hasn't stopped them from collaborating on a series of poetry chapbooks designed to replace trite greeting cards with real sentiment. With their 'celebration series', the two have developed a new concept for inexpensive holiday gifts. They range from only $6.95 to $12.95.
The chapbooks for Mother’s Day is She Wore Emerald Then (for mothers on your gift list) with photographs by May Lattanzio, and the one for Father’s Day is Imagining the Future: Rumination on Fathers and Other Masculine Apparitions with photographs by May Lattanzio.
Also in the series is Cherished Pulse (for anyone you love) with artwork from California artist Vicki Thomas and Blooming Red: Christmas Poetry for the Rational.
The small books, a tradition in the poetry world since itinerant vendors roams the country side selling their wares in Elizabethan times. They often sold or gave away their little books filled with their own songs, poems, and wares.
Now these poets' collaborations can all be purchased for Kindle or other digital readers on the high profile Smashwords.com site so they can be read in over nine digital formats on any computer or portable reading device anywhere in the world. This is quite a revolution for both authors, both of whom started their writing careers when the latest technology was a typewriter and carbon paper for copies.
Magdalena Ball runs the highly respected compulsivereader.com review site. She is the author of the poetry book Repulsion Thrust, which was published to unanimous 5-star reviews. Her novel Sleep Before Evening, published in 2007, was a Next Generation Indie Book Awards Finalist.
Carolyn Howard-Johnson's poetry appears frequently in review journals. She is listed in Poets & Writers and her chapbook of poetry, Tracings, was given the Award of Excellence by the Military Writers Society of America. She is also an award-winning novelist and short story writer and instructor for UCLA Extension Writers' Program.For more information on any of the chapbooks in this poetry series, contact either of the authors or visit media rooms or Magdalena Ball's site.
Reviews of all these books may be read here.
Carolyn blogs resources for writers at Writer's Digest 101 Best Websites pick and lots of editing tips.
Please visit Marietta Taylor who is featuring Donna McDine
