poem

by

IGNITING YOUR SPARK

A mighty flame followeth a tiny spark.
—Dante

Photo by Karol Josef Fadallan on Pexels.com

There is a quiet spark of an idea in each writer, especially as winter approaches. You will be aware of this as something that wants to come out.

You may think that you must wait until you have something to say—an idea, an insight, or something known. When I feel this way, I start writing onto the page, whatever is on my mind. I often journal this way, until I have the germ of an idea. Then, I start writing in a more focused way and eventually, it evolves into a poem. For you, it may be an essay, short story, or even a novel.

Much of what you write may be totally unusable, incoherent, but then eventually something important emerges – your unique way of seeing things from your singular and distinctive life.

I was in the state of looking for a new project when I traveled to Costa Rica in winter three years ago. It was there that I met the Norwegian artist, Irene Christensen, who was doing a series of paintings on women at the heart of the environmental movement. I fell in love with these paintings and started writing poem responses to them. The paintings were the spark I needed at that time.

That’s how Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth developed. The dread is what’s happening to the environment. The splendor is the paintings and poems that developed. This book will be published by Shanti Arts Press in January 2026 (www.ShantiArts.com.)

Whatever inspires you, follow your spark a a writer, and you will find your inspiration and next project there. Follow me here monthly as I report about writing, inspiration, and the progress of my new book.

by

Putting Together a Poetry Chapbook

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com

If you’ve published poems in literary journals, your next step might be a poetry chapbook. A poetry chapbook is a small poetry collection that is significantly shorter than a typical printed poetry collection. Typically running in the range of 20 to 40 pages, a chapbook can be affordably published by small presses and is therefore a more economical option for emerging writers who may be financing their own book of poems. 

Some poets begin with publishing a chapbook before a full-length collection. The chapbook, due to its small size, has to be focused on a theme. Ghost Girl by Laura Madeline Wiseman is a small group of poems about memory loss. Muted: A Short Story in Verse by Jessica Bell is a narrative in poetry about whose vocal cords are brutally cut. I’m working on a manuscript about a drowned future world, Water Journey in the form of a Japanese narrative form called a Haibun. Soul Work: A Chapbook of Poems by Elizabeth Spring is about astrology.

The word chap dates back to sixteenth century England. A written account from Cambridgeshire in 1553 describes “lytle books” sold by pedlars, likely containing lyrics to sung ballads. The price of these books was low—typically a penny or a halfpenny—and they provided cheap entertainment for the masses, although there’s little evidence that the books themselves were mass produced. A “chapman” is an English word for an itinerant pedlar or tradesman.

There are several things to consider in compiling a chapbook. The first is audience. The biggest reason to write a chapbook is to reach dedicated poetry fans, a tiny but devout slice of the general population. So think about who will be reading your chapbook.

Another consideration is theme. Nearly any theme is acceptable, since your poetry chapbook should ultimately reflect your personal taste and style as a poet and showcase your best work. The theme can be almost anything, winter, New York City, nature, a poetry form like haiku.

Another thing to consider is organization. My second book, Touch My Head Softly (Finishing Line Press, 2021) was about my partner’s dying of Alzheimer’s. I organized it into three sections: before, during and after the death.

My latest collection of poetry, Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth, is due out from Shanti Arts in early 2026. Follow me here monthly as I blog about writing, the publishing process and my new book.

by

Putting Together a Manuscript for a Full-Length Poetry Book

Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com

Many poets have published in literary journals, online or print. I wrote a blog about publishing in literary journals, if you want to research my site. But if you are at the stage of having published in a number of journals, you may want to start compiling a manuscript of your poems for publication.

There are two big categories of poetry manuscripts. One is a full-length, the other is a chapbook. A full-length poetry manuscript has at least 48 pages. The important thing is that the poet feel “finished” with the manuscript. The other category, a chapbook is under 48 pages. Chapbooks tend to be more thematic, because they are smaller. But either manuscript format should fit together as a whole.

This blog will focus on the full-length poetry manuscript. The poems need to have a connecting thread. You can start by looking at your published poems and see if there is a connection. For one thing, your finished collection should have a list of acknowledgements at the end that give credit to the literary journals you have published in. If you start by considering your published work first, you have your acknowledgements at the end and also your future publisher knows there were literary journals who found your poems worthy of publication. As a general rule, about 25% of your poems should be pre-published, although this varies publisher to publisher.

To give you some examples, Mary Oliver’s American Primitive is a collection of nature poems. My second book of poems, Touch My Head Softly, is about my partner who died of Alzheimer’s. Deaf Republic by Ilya Kaminsky, is about a town under occupation. Stag’s Leap by Sharon Olds is about her divorce. American Sonnets for my Past and Future Assassination by Terence Hayes is a collection unified by a single poetry form, the sonnet. Richard Silken’s Chrush is focused on stories about queer desire and loss. So think about how your poems fit together when you choose them.

So you have a theme or unifier for your collection. How do you order your poems? Ask yourself the following questions. Do the poems fit together? Do the poems feel evenly spread out? Does the subject matter grow and change over time? Do the poems offer new experiences? Do the poems play with words, form and structure?

Now that you know the poems you’ll be including and in what order, think about the format. Start with a cover sheet. This should include the title of your manuscript and if it is not a blind submission, your name, as you wish it to be published. I publish with my middle initial, so my name on a publication is Eileen P. Kennedy. Next is your address, phone number and email. A table of contents should follow, with the titles of the poems in the collection followed by the page numbers they appear on. These numbers should correspond to the page numbers of your manuscript. The manuscript should be followed by the acknowledgements we discussed earlier.

I followed this organization when I complied my upcoming manuscript Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth. It is about women at the heart of the environmental crisis and will be published by Shanti Arts in early 2026. Follow me here as I blog more about manuscripts and the publishing process. I will blog once a month.

by

Writing in a Foreign Country

Photo by Kevin Malik on Pexels.com

If you are a writer, you write. Even if you’re traveling or just put down for awhile in a new place. I find traveling stimulating for my imagination and a natural time to write, even if it’s just in a travel journal.

For about the past twenty years, I have been spending winter in Costa Rica, where mostly I writeThe change of location seems to effect my writing in a positive way. Travel brings new experiences and ideas to you that will show up in your writing.

The travel can be anywhere: the next town to another country. I just don’t like winters in the Northeast, where I normally live, so I like traveling in warmer climbs in the winter months. I’ve traveled in the winter in Mexico too. I mostly write while I’m here. i devised the manuscript for my upcoming book: Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth here.

I find the change of scene helps my writing in several ways. First of all, whether I’m in a hotel or temporary apartment, I don’t worry about cleaning or answering mail (which I have held.) I focus more on my writing. Also, you don’t tend to be on the phone with telemarketers or even friends. 

Then there is just the stimulation of being someplace different, with a different language, culture, sights. This may lead to a whole opening up of your writing to new topics.

You can add new language to your writing. A noun or two in Italian or Spanish can add to the authenticity of your poem or story. But be careful about using too much that a non-Spanish or non-Italian speaker may find confusing. You can offer your reader context cues and nonverbal communication to help understanding. You can also italicize the foreign word to distinguish it from the English.

You can also set your next piece in the country your visiting. I’ve often written poems about Costa Rica. The sights and smells of the country will permeate your writing. It’s a much better way of learning about it then researching online or in a library. Talk to as many locals as possible. Introduce yourself as a writer and explain that you are working on a story set in that country. This will help open up people to answer your questions.

Read other books set in that country and google it. Read blogs, articles, travel articles, news. Learn as much as you can about the country.

Finally, talk to your accountant. You may be able to write off your travels to your writing business. I am publishing a book, Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth early next year with Shanti Arts. It’s a book that was hatched by myself and an artist, Irene Christensen, on one of my visits to Costa Rica. The book, which has some poems and paintings about Costa Rica, would not have existed unless I had made that trip to Costa Rica.

I will be blogging monthly about the writing process and my new book. Follow me here on Thursdays.

by

The Writing Process: Enjoying It

“Art is standing with one hand extended into the universe and one hand extended into the world, and letting ourselves be a conduit for passing energy.”

—Albert Einstein

Photo by Lisa Fotios on Pexels.com

Many artists focus on the final product, but the secret is in enjoying the road to creation. The process itself is a reward. The creative journey should interest you far more than reaching the destination.

I am currently working on a manuscript, Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth, with the Norwegian artist, Irene Christensen. “The Goddess” painting is part of that manuscript of eco-poetry and paintings. I wrote responses to Irene’s paintings about women at the heart of the environmental movement. It’s a pleasure to just enjoy art and respond to it with writing. I enjoyed the paintings and the friendship we felt and embellished along the way.

We forget to enjoy the journey, and in effect, we lose our desire to even reach the destination.Sylvia Plath said, “The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. Creativity holds great significance when it comes to connecting with our soul or authentic self.” Writing is a process of self-discovery of the self, among other things.

We can connect more powerfully with the soul, by tuning into the fire within. For some people, creativity can even be more affective at this than meditation. One reason for our art is to help us with self-discovery.

I remember starting to write just after I put together the alphabet at the age of eight. It was a source of wonderment and joy for me to create the words. I try to revisit that wonder periodically.

When we make room for creativity in our lives and activate our creative muscles, it can be transformative. It can strengthen our intuition, release stagnant energy, and align with our larger project, like writing a book or composing a song.

I will be blogging on Thursdays. Follow me here for the journey of the manuscript, Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth which should be published by Shanti Arts in early 2026.

by

Writing an Outline for a Book Manuscript

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Writing a book can be a daunting task, especially for first-time book writers. Where do you even begin? The essential thing in breaking a manuscript down into a doable project is first writing an outline. Some writers fill it in as they go along. These are usually proficient writers who have published many writers. I advise new book authors to plan the manuscript with an outline before they get there. I am a poet and many people don’t see the organization that goes into a collection of poetry.

To start an outline of a collection of poetry, I start with the theme. My last collection of poetry, Touch My Head Softly (Finishing Line Press, 2021) was on the theme of Alzheimer’s Disease. My poems were about my experiences with my partner who died of Early Onset Alzheimer’s. After I decided on the theme, I arranged the poems into three parts: before, during and after the death. This became the outline.

Poets have a singular challenge in developing an outline for a collection of poems. I advise poets to look through the poems they have written and see if a theme emerges. This can come from published and unpublished poems. Poets have a natural penchant for middle, beginning and end, as they need this sense to put a poem together. Also, published poems tend to strengthen a manuscript in the eyes of a publisher as she/he will know that other editors of literary journals and anthologies valued your work enough to publish it.Just make sure most of the poems are new when you submit the manuscript to a publisher.

The organization of my upcoming manuscript Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth (Shanti Arts, 2026) was very different than Touch My Head Softly. I collaborated on this book with the Norwegian artist, Irene Christensen, who did a series of paintings on women at the heart of the environmental crisis. This informed the organization of the manuscript as there was a visual with each poem. We organized the manuscript together, taking into account the content of both the paintings and poems.

Once you have organized your manuscript and perhaps have a trusted colleague or mentor look it over, you may be ready to send out your manuscript. At this point, you need to start developing your query letter to a publisher. I will blog another week on writing a good query letter.

Follow me here on Thursdays as I talk about the development of my new collection, Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth and the writing process.

by

Overcoming the Blank Page

Photo by Marta Nogueira on Pexels.com

I have just delivered a finished manuscript to a publisher. This is the time I look forward to the new project. But what will that new project be?

Have you ever thought “I have a book inside me, waiting to be written”? As an aspiring author myself, I know that yearning all too well. I spent a lot of time staring hopelessly at blank pages, willing the words to flow but finding only frustration. My dream of writing a book felt out of reach. You may be creative, but if you’re staring at a blank page, it doesn’t matter.

People who are creative are happier, healthier, and less lonely. A published poem can lead to a reading, a painting to an exhibit, a song to a concert. I recently wrote an ekphrastic poem recently to my friend’s painting and she sold it, with the poem. All of these things put us, and our art, out into the world to see and be seen and to interact.

A creative ability is a skill to use our imagination to solve a problem. We may feel stuck with a problem, but if we read up on how other people have solved this, or ask a friend how they solved this, we are using creativity to problem-solve.

You don’t have to be an artist to exercise your creative ability. You can use this skill to fulfill dreams, problem solve, and improve communication skills.

I’ll be blogging here on Thursdays. Follow me here as I propose a new project.

by

Collaboration Can Build a Friendship

Collaboration is working with another artist/writer, in whatever capacity that may be. I published three books on my own, but my latest collection is eco-poetry with a painter who is very concerned about the environmental crisis. We met in Costa Rica. I saw her art, she read my poems, and a collaboration began.

A book I recently read, A Friend Sails in on a Poem, celebrates the friendship of Molly Peacock and her poet friend of 46 years, Phillis Levin. According to the book “they have read and discussed nearly every poem they’ve written, creating an unparalleled friendship.” It puts me in mind of all the years I have sat in writing groups reading to my writer friends and seeking their support in my endeavors. It was aptly enough, given to me by a writer/artist friend, Holly Woodward. It’s dedicated to “all friends who make art together.” It put me in mind of all of the friendships I have made with other artists and how easy it is to take these relaltionships for granted.

The past two years I have been collaborating with the Norwegian artist, Irene Christensen, pictured on the left above. We met at the Julia and David White Artist Colony in Costa Rica years ago and it was our mutual love of nature and art through the years that eventually led to our collection of eco-poetry and art called Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth.

I guess when one artist collaborates with another, it creates an understanding of the other’s artists’ work that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. Irene created a series of paintings about women at the heart of the environmental movement. I responded to these evocative paintings in the best way I know, through poetry. 

Yesterday. Oil, 16” x 12” by Irene Christensen

I find that the combination of painting and poem together merge and the separate works of art become something new. It’s a way of communicating in art that transcends painting or poem alonge.I responded to Yesterday with a poem called “She Occupies Time,” which begins “no quiet merging with the azure, but an orangesky, the earth bizarre with diasporic life.” 

Irene Christensen, the artist, started exhibiting her paintings with the poems I had written for them. Perilous Journey at the Galleries of the Interchurch Center in New York City. Queen of the Woods was exhibited with poem and painting at the Voices of the Earth Exhibition in Galleri Schaeffers Gate 5, Oslo,Norway. The painting and poem were sold together as that’s what the buyer wanted, the experience of having both the poem and painting together in his home.

The experience of collaborating and supporting each other as writers and artists is an invaluable part of the process. What has your interpersonal journey been like as a writer or artist?

I will be continuing the journey of our manuscript, Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth each week on Thursdays. Follow me here.

by

Developing a Book Cover

Every book needs a cover. This process of development has varied with each book I’ve published. My first publisher, Prentice Hall, just did the design, which was a photograph of a teacher in a classroom with the book title on front. I approved it, but otherwise was not involved. The next publisher, Flutter Press, did not get involved with book covers. She suggested a book designer, Jasmine Hernandez. Jasmine ran several designs by me until I was happy with the cover and Banshees was launched.

The next publisher was Finishing Line Press of my poetry collection, Touch My Head Softly, about my experience with my partner’s Alzheimer’s Disease. This publisher designed its own covers from a photograph you suggested. I liked the way Jasmine had designed my previous whole cover. I asked Finishing Line Press if I could do my own cover with a designer and deliver it for publication. Jasmine suggested several designs, including a drawing of a brain, with the title inserted across it. I thought the brain worked well and was appropriate for the content. That’s what we went with and is pictured above.

For the upcoming book,  Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth. my collaborator is an artist, Irene Christensen. She is coordinating the design with the publisher, Shanti Arts. She suggested a painting from the collection, which is comprised of an equal amount of paintings and poems. The painting is “The Goddess Speaks.” (pictured herewith). We also provided our bios, head shots, and endorsements from other art curators/writers for the back. Irene and Christine, my publisher, are still working this out together. I look forward to seeing the final cover and how it evolves.

We’re delivering the final manuscript and art at the end of this month. The cover will be developed after that. The book is scheduled for publication in early 2026. Follow me here on Thursdays as I blog about the publishing process and this book specifically.

by

Writing the Landscape

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Pexels.com

A lot of the writing that I particularly love about landscape is immersive and meaningful. Every place has a unique quality. When writing about the environmental crisis, as I did in Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth (upcoming, Shanti Arts.), it adds another layer to the landscape and the valuing of it. Then writers add this sense of it: their own associations, their own experiences.

I think of sense of place is a layered, multi-faceted thing. It’s not only a sense of emotional connection with landscape, an insight into how that landscape is inhabited—peopled and animal-ed—but a sense of story. It’s also an invitation to explore and investigate and listen and engage the senses. The paintings and poems from Dread and Splendor are from all over, Norway, New York City, Costa Rica, India and more.

Joan Didion has written many books about place, including Central America and California. She emotionally engages with the places she’s at. Didion has been described by Martin Amis “as the poet of the great California emptiness.” California has had its fair share of wild fires that have seriously altered the landscape since Didion wrote about it.

Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth is about women at the heart of the environmental crisis. Irene Christensen, a Norwegian artist, did a series of paintings on this topic. I wrote poem responses to the paintings. I had to write about a dystopic landscape set in the not-too-distant future. Many landscapes are endangered as we ignore the warning signs of the planet’s destruction

Our manuscript/artwork will be delivered to Shanti Arts at the end of the month. It is scheduled to be out in early 2026. Follow me and the book here on Thursdays.