Monday, November 11, 2019

A Drink of Water by Jeffrey Harrison

I lost my brother almost three years ago. I see him in some of my son's traits, so this poem was very meaningful to me.

InTRODUCTION BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE
I highly recommend a new anthology called Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness and Connection, edited by James Crews and published by Green Writers Press in Brattleboro, Vermont. Here's just one of the many fine poems, this one by Jeffrey Harrison, whose poetry we've published here before. His most recent book is Into Daylight (Tupelo Press), in which this poem was originally published, and he makes his home in Massachusetts.

A Drink of Water

When my nineteen-year-old son turns on the kitchen tap
and leans down over the sink and tilts his head sideways
to drink directly from the stream of cool water,
I think of my older brother, now almost ten years gone,
who used to do the same thing at that age;

And when he lifts his head back up and, satisfied,
wipes the water dripping from his cheek
with his shirtsleeve, it's the same casual gesture
my brother used to make; and I don't tell him
to use a glass, the way our father told my brother,

because I like remembering my brother
when he was young, decades before anything
went wrong, and I like the way my son
becomes a little more my brother for a moment
through this small habit born of a simple need,

which, natural and unprompted, ties them together
across the bounds of death, and across time . . .
as if the clear stream flowed between two worlds
and entered this one through the kitchen faucet,
my son and brother drinking the same water.

We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2014 by Jeffrey Harrison, "A Drink of Water," from Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness & Connection, ed., James Crews, (Green Writers Press, 2019). Poem reprinted by permission of Jeffrey Harrison and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2019 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

My Quilt Guild’s Quilt Show

Cimarron Valley Quilters Guild had a quilt show Friday and Saturday. I entered ten quilts in the show, five of which were in the judged portion, and two in the guild’s challenge. I am very proud to have earned three ribbons. Below are pictures of me in front of my winning quilts.


The top quilt with the blue ribbon is my Liberated Log Cabin quilt. This quilt was also accepted into the Fiberworks 2019 Exhibit that will be in Tulsa October 4 - November 24, 2019.


All four of the quilts in the above picture are mine. The quilt with the red ribbon is Sticks & Stones, which was exhibited in Fiberworks 2018. 


I entered two quilts into our guild's quilt challenge, which was to take one of three vintage quilt blocks (hexagon, fan, or maple leaf) and make a modern quilt with it; I chose the maple leaf for both of my quilts. The two quilts in the above picture are mine; the one on the left won a white ribbon.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Curated Quilts Mini Quilt Challenge - Black and White II

Here is my second submission to the mini quilt challenge. I'm not sure how strictly the black and white criterion will be applied, so this may not be considered. But it certainly won't be considered if I don't enter it.


Curated Quilts Mini Quilt Challenge - Black & White

I actually have two submissions for the newest mini quilt challenge from Curated Quilts magazine - here is my first:


Monday, June 24, 2019

Curated Quilts Mini Quilt Challenge Update

I am thrilled to announce that my mini quilt in the previous post was selected to be published in issue 9 of Curated Quilts. You can see the quilt in my post here.

Friday, June 07, 2019

Curated Quilts Mini Quilt Challenge

I have learned that I am motivated to make quilts for quilt challenges. One of my favorite magazines, Curated Quilts, has a mini quilt challenge going on right now, and I made a quilt for it. The challenge can be seen here, and below is the quilt I made for the challenge.


Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Japan Scrapbook Pages Part 3

Here are the last pages from my recent trip to Japan. You can click on the pages to see them larger and read the journaling.



Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Japan Scrapbook Pages Part 2

Here are the next pages from my recent trip to Japan. You can click on the pages to see them larger and read the journaling.





Monday, February 25, 2019

Japan Scrapbook Pages Part 1

A good friend and I recently took a trip to Japan with Country Heritage Tours, a quilt tour company. We thought that the main highlight of the trip would be the Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival, but there were so many other wonderful places to see and things to do that the quilt show, while fabulous to see, was just one more. We both enjoyed almost everything about the trip (except for having to remove our shoes at several places; we both wear orthotics in our shoes and find it very uncomfortable to walk without them). I have completed 11 scrapbook pages of the trip that I will be sharing over the next few days, and several of the places we went didn't allow photos to be taken inside. As always, you can click on the pages to see them larger and read the journaling.





Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Africa Scrapbook Part 8

Here are the last pages of the scrapbook my husband and I created of our trip. You can click on the pages to see them larger and read the journaling.







Monday, January 14, 2019

Africa Scrapbook Part 7

Here are the next few pages of the scrapbook my husband and I created of our trip. You can click on the pages to see them larger and read the journaling.







Sunday, January 13, 2019

Africa Scrapbook Part 6

Here are the next few pages of the scrapbook my husband and I created of our trip. You can click on the pages to see them larger and read the journaling.






Saturday, January 12, 2019

Africa Scrapbook Part 5

Here are the next few pages of the scrapbook my husband and I created of our trip. You can click on the pages to see them larger and read the journaling.





Friday, January 11, 2019

Africa Scrapbook Part 4

Here are the next few pages of the scrapbook my husband and I created of our trip. You can click on the pages to see them larger and read the journaling.






Thursday, January 10, 2019

Africa Scrapbook Part 3

Here are the next few pages of the scrapbook my husband and I created of our trip. You can click on the pages to see them larger and read the journaling.