...I injured my arm (permanently) some years ago & am trying to find my way back into drawing. To limit anxiety, I sketch on scrap paper w/a mechanical pencil to de-emphasize outcome. Here, I followed a correspondence of line, how they meet & overlap to form the idea of "deer". #sketch #create

Yesterday, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released the latest round of sage grouse plans. Urge Congress to restore ESA protections for the Greater Sage-Grouse, maintain critical conservation funding & uphold a strong Endangered Species Act. Act now: act.abcbirds.org/a/take-actio...

Sarah Arthur confesses admiration for C.S.Lewis & J.R.R.Tolkien, & her affection shines through the pages of her 2024 novel “Once a Queen”. Arthur has not only written a spell-binding story in which her young heroine, Eva, (1 of 3)

Last Sunday, I read an excerpt of my book, "A Small Tale of Uncommon Grace," to an intimate gathering at The Sanctuary -- it was a warm & engaging evening of q&a and conversation. I'm grateful to those who braved the frigid night to join in! #debut #author #fairytale #cozyfantasy #ya #fiction

Enchanting… When Robert MacFarlane learned the Oxford University Press had dropped scores of nature-themed words from its pages & replaced them with those more technologically themed, he did what we hope any motivated creative might (1 of 3)

Poetical... When L.M.Montgomery began “Anne of Green Gables” in 1907, she later reflected that she “did not for a moment dream” the book would bring the fame & success she had dreamed of, & that this freedom from “writing up to any particular reputation or style” allowed the opening (1 of 3)

Shirley Jackson enjoyed placing extreme personalities in extreme situations. Her 1958 #novella, “The Sundial”, uncomfortably settles three generations of the wealthy Halloran family – all at odds with one another – in a palatial home. Opening with a death (that may have been a (1 of 3)

As I #write, I make small #thumbnail #sketches to remind myself where I've placed objects. An example below, for my newly published #fairytale "A Small Tale of Uncommon Grace" - Grace's home, with garden arch & brick path, clothesline & henhouse, even the distant bee skep. #fiction #ya #cozyfantasy

zen begins a new podcast live from the basin #Caturday 😸😽

Chilling… Stephen King cites Henry James’ 1898 gothic horror “The Turn of the Screw” as one of two “most important” ghost stories, for good reason. James wrote the novella while experiencing great personal loss. This is reflected in the melancholic atmosphere, as well as its main character’s –

It's been a while! On Oct. 11, I had my #debut #novel's #book launch! What a wonderful, warm, welcoming experience -- I'm fortunate to have the support of exceptional friends & an amazing community. I hope "A Small Tale of Uncommon Grace" finds its way to those who will cherish it❣️

Magnificent... Chloe Dalton’s 2024 “Raising Hare” captures all the nuanced delight & heartache that accompanies forming relationship with a wild creature. She writes with a poet’s heart & a scientist’s eye, illuminating the fraught results of humanity’s unconscious actions & effects on the natural

I'm so happy to have "conversed" with the incomparable @tesscallahan.bsky.social in her Substack, "Writers at the Well" -- Tess is warm, welcoming, and asks deep, thought-provoking, soul-searching questions ❣️ Carrie Birde on Writing from the "Bright Wood" Within open.substack.com/pub/tesscall...

O thou monster Ignorance, how deformed dost thou look!

Bunny-gram! Out on delivery, stretching to reach the door bell...! #rabbit #lovenature #photography

Crepe myrtle's improbable pink frilled blooms clouding, drifting, dropping petaled confetti, heralding summer's encore. --C.Birde, 8/25 #poetry #crepemyrtle #inbloom #pink #lovenature #observation #photography

Freed from a shape that no longer fit, & crooning all the louder for it. -- C.Birde, 8/25 ❤️ May we all shed what no longer fits us, & allow ourselves to grow & transform beyond restrictive notions ❤️ #poetry #cicada #exoskeleton #hope #photography #lovenature

Heartwise Books, of Blydyn Square Books, is looking for submissions :)

Sunlight, sweet-sliced, slipped between teeth & tongue, this magic fruit In June a promise made, fulfilled, consumed in August heat. -- C.Birde, 8/25 #poetry #peach #summer #august #truth #beauty #photography

I held my breath while reading Alice Hoffman’s 2005 “The Foretelling”. A superb tale, told deftly, astonishingly, & almost entirely through exposition, of a girl born to an ancient nomadic clan of women, who slowly unravels the

Overdue... In grammar school, I'd read every “animal-related” #book (#fiction & #non-) in our school library by 4th grade &, in 5th, moved on to my teacher’s treasured personal collection. Which makes it all the more puzzling that Kenneth Grahame’s 1966 “Wind in the Willows” never

"Weave" I reweave the vining virgin's bower -- patiently, carefully -- uncurl tendrils twined 'round spirea, aster, peony, & re-route them -- gently, gently -- upward towards the light they seek. -C.Birde, 7/25 #write #poetry #truth #observation #photography #garden #virginsbowerclematis

Riddle… Cool to the touch, this burning bush unkindled yet to autumn’s flame Framed in July’s lush greenery, casting fluid heat- crowned shade. -C.Birde, 7/25 #poetry #lovenature #truth #burningbush #observation #photography #boonton

#Monday #Music #Mood "And the men who hold high places Must be the ones to start To mold the new reality Closer to the heart..." "Closer to the Heart" by Rush, 1977's "A Farewell to Kings" #lyrics as #poetry #inspiration #progrock

"Rabbit" pocket shrine for my sister; a blessing to "Move with creativity, intuition, & quick wit." Such a pleasure to #create! #foundobject #paper #craft #art #rabbit #blessing #reuse #reduce #recycle

Clarissa Pinkola Estes urged #women to reconnect with their inner Wild Woman; C.G. Jung, our Shadow; & Lisa Marchiano, Lillith’s #feminine fire. In her 2024 #book, “The Vital Spark”, she explores how we may access our “outlaw energies”, sharing personal experience, themes

Daylily -- thirsting, lips parted, jaws wide, quaffing sunlight by the gallon. -C.Birde, 6/25 #poetry #daylily #inbloom #now #observation #truth #photography

The name #Achilles is so much a part of our cultural fabric, it’s practically a brand, associated with hubris, as well as the human body. But Madeline Miller , in her 2012 #novel “The Song of Achilles”, grants this larger-than-life #mythological figure humanity, complexity, and

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ― Plato

Synopsis: Bc some have asked -- I consider my debut #novel to be a literary #fairytale that could snuggle up wwith the #YA & #CozyFantasy #genres. Its main themes are communication, community, & connection - to each other & our #environment - & it asks what our world

Mina, remembering the recent taste of whipped cream, grows weary of our #sunday #morning conversation over coffee. #companion #canine #chihuahuamix disguised as a small #fey #creature

Peony speech arrives perfumed in sunlight, A profusion of pink petticoats – raindrop bruised – bearing petal-tongued poems to peace, love, & beauty. -C.Birde, 6/25 #poetry #peony #inbloom #lovenature #truth #peace #beauty #photography

MondayMusicMood... "Hear my song People don't you listen now? Sing along, You don't know what you're missing now, Any little song that you know, Everything that's small has to grow..." - "The Song Remains the Same" - Led Zeppelin's 1973 "Houses of the Holy" #lyrics #poetry #hardrock #bluesrock

I'm elated to actually hold an ARC of my very first book -- "A Small Tale of Uncommon Grace". To feel it, see it, fan its pages! I'm so deeply grateful to Blydyn Square Books for seeing its potential & working with me toward this very personal goal. To be published this September!

the tiny poet scoffing at my writer’s block sonneting robin #haikufeels #haiku

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." -FDR, 1937

At night the door is so close and I think tomorrow! I’ll be right there I’ll walk right through but the moon has carried it further away a million stars another day #poetry

bathed by light in luna's silver river deliverance - ❖ - a pond in jade paths worn thru the duckweed feathered thoroughfare #dailyhaikuprompt [river] #haikuchallenge [jade] #haiku #writingprompt #writingcommunity #poetsofbluesky #blueskypoets

If Mina were to write a book, she'd include more couch time, more treats, and far fewer em dashes... not that she judges me... much ;) #chihuahuamix #canine #companion #rescue

Mid-March, my existential anxiety over the state of the world & our country became so deep, I began a new ritual -- each weekend, I shred the front page of the NYT, pulp it, add a little dye, & reshape the paper into a heart, which I then decorate... The results so far: #create #art #anxiety

In his 1939 debut novel, “The Big Sleep”, Raymond Chandler masterfully remolds the mythologized fiction of the American “rugged individualist” from cowboy to private detective.

MondayMusicMood... "Through the oak & poison ivy, as the lemon light was alkalining, I was growing, I was dying, Growing I was dying..." "Green+Evergreen" by Darlingside, 202's "Fish Pond Fish" #monday #music #mood #listen #melody #harmony #lyrics #indiefolk #baroquerock #americana

Spend a minute in conversation with the minute blooms of the Robert Burns-ing bush... Emerge, renewed. -C.Birde, 5/25 #tiny #flowers #inbloom #spring #lovenature #poetry #truth #observation #photography

"Rain", by Beatrice Goldsmith, 1953 (posthumous) 'Said Constance with the rain deep in her hair "This is spring cider - and the wind and I Am drunk and crazy - oh my dear" her voice Was full of rain and laughter, and her eyes Were green and wild, "My dear I have know other kinds of rain -

#Monday #Music #Mood... "These are the seasons of emotion & like the winds, they rise and fall This is the wonder of devotion, I see the torch we all must hold This is the mystery of the quotient, upon us all a little rain must fall..." - "The Rain Song", off #Zeppelin's 1973 "Houses of the Holy"

lilies for the dead ghost white, weeping petals ritual waste - ❖ - bog ballad bellows the toads' low, drumming croaks charmed the swooning moon #dailyhaikuprompt [lily] #haikuchallenge [ballad] #haiku #writingprompt #writingcommunity #poetsofbluesky #blueskypoets

Dogwood... or wouldn't (as it might), each night arranging patterned blooms in hues best seen with morning's light. -C.Birde, 5/25 #dogwood #flowers #inbloom #lovenature #truth #observation #photography