The Muses’ Refugia
Strolling Down Memory Lane with My Oldest Friend
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. And again. No doubt until I die: I am a fortunate woman. And this playlist post celebrates one of the reasons I have been so blessed in my life: friendship. This playlist celebrates my oldest continuing friendship, one that dates back to spring of 1965, when I…
Keep readingMy Pet Anolis sagrei
Now to the body of this blog post–listen up for the next seven minutes! And take care out there!
Keep readingTwo Friends, Two Fine Non-Fiction Finds
I first met Dan Giancola in August 2018, thanks to an introduction by his longtime friend and fellow poet William Heyen who’s one of my closest friends and a fellow neighbor in the Village of Brockport where I make my home. I became an instant fan of Dan’s poetry and a new friendship blossomed. Dan…
Keep readingShaking Hands
In my previous blog, “The Hands of a Poet, the Hand of a Poet,” I issued my readers a challenge: Write a 50-word piece in any genre—flash fiction, poetry (haiku, tanka, etc. welcome), memoir—that tells the story of the photograph. The most moving response came from my sister-in-law, Patti Bourne, who lives in Lyons, NY.…
Keep readingHands of a Poet, Hand of a Poet
Once upon a time there was a blog I created, Vagabond Poet, which after several years became for a short while Vagabond Poet Redux. Not too long after my husband Roger died in 2017, I discontinued the blog. But its still there at http://karlalinn.blogspot.com/, if you’re curious. Then, in deep Covid era in mid-2021, I…
Keep readingI Feel your Pain
“What’s wrong with her?” my father might have asked. “Nothing. She’s just very sad about the dead raccoon,” my mother might have answered on any number of occasions when our 1960 Ford station wagon sped by roadside carnage, and I curled up in the back seat, whimpering, disconsolate. Same reaction on the beach during summer…
Keep readingTaking It to the Limit for Springtime
Ahhh, Spring is just around the corner and no doubt you’re seeing signs of it everywhere, even if a new blast of snow is due to blast through. In the north, daffodils are beginning to show their faces and the raucous calls of migrating flocks of Canada geese fill the skies. Here in Florida, it’s…
Keep readingA Dirty, Damp Dish Rag of a Book
Meh, meh, and more meh. I can’t recall when I was last so disappointed in a book, but Editors Hillary Jordan and Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan’s Anonymous Sex supposedly erotic anthology was so disappointing it was almost disturbing—I’d been conned. Last week Numero Uno called me, asked if I’d seen the morning New York Times book…
Keep readingMerry, Merry from Lover’s Key
Temporarily suspend the laws of reality. ~Craig Hordlow, “These Dreams” “‛Oh my,’ said the woman sitting on a large dry platform contemplating her impending and near-violent plunge into a vast ocean of tumbling wetness,” writes the writer prone to metaphorically-driven lines. For she’s penning a fairy tale about a water sprite or a mermaid or…
Keep readingSix More Weeks of Something or Other
Whew, we made it through January, the new year already tarnished by thirty-one days of somber news—the Omicron phenom of explosive sickness and death and tolls on society, a tsunami that by now has most likely touched every single one of us in one way or another. But! But! But! As of this writing, the…
Keep readingMy Body the Guitar – Now Available Worldwide
My Body the Guitar by Karla Linn Merrifield is a poetry book inspired by guitars, guitarists, and their music. It is slated for publication in December 2021 from Before Your Quiet Eyes Publications Holograph Series, a press in Rochester, NY, USA. It’s destined to be a fat book, one with three parts. In “Part I,…
Keep readingMeet “Bro,” My Blues Baby-to-Be
Talk about forward thinking: In April 2023, I will be delivered a custom-built classic blues guitar whom I’ve already named Bro—my fourth sweetie who will join Boner, my Martin 000GT16; Bhalz, the electric AVA Guitars Bloody Pearl; and Boy, a Fender Stratocaster. Yes, a long two-year wait for Bro to be sure, but one that…
Keep readingThree Flash Book Reviews: Words from the Unflinching
What I Don’t Remember I Invent Everyone who knows me knows I adore Miriam Sagan who somehow manages to be both a fine and prolific writer. Bluebeard’s Castle is no exception. In this 2019 collection of essays and poems heaped in wisdom, Miriam explores her father’s life and her life growing up with him and…
Keep reading“All I Want for Christmas…” – A Musical Antidote for the Holidays
If you’re like me, your ears have had enough of treacly holiday music being piped in throughout the mall, in the grocery store, at the gas pump—everywhere! So here’s an eclectic playlist to counter the nausea that sweeps over you upon the assault of yet another rendering of “Jingle Bell Rock” or “Frosty the Snowman”…
Keep readingLove People. Cook Them Tasty Food.
I don’t cook that much that often anymore, a habit I’ve lost more or less since my Roger died and cooking lost its lustre. Now, I mostly just throw something together. I count on eggs, keep handy fruits ’n vegs, some bread units. Peanut butter! And dinners out and Door Dash! I get by. But!…
Keep readingLoading…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Be notified when Karla adds a new article! Sign up via the “Follow” link in the bottom right corner of your browser window.
CATEGORIES
- Book Reviews
- Contemporary Poetry
- Everglades National Park
- Fiction
- Fine Arts
- Florida
- Guitars/Guitarists
- Guitars/Music
- Interviews
- Music
- Nature
- Personal Essay/Memoir
- Personal History/Memoir
- Photography
- Shibari
- The Environment
- Travel
- Uncategorized
ARCHIVES
Karla Linn Merrifield 