Author Archives: karlapoet

Two 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. DanContinue reading “Two Friends, Two Fine Non-Fiction Finds”

Shaking 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.Continue reading “Shaking Hands”

Hands 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, IContinue reading “Hands of a Poet, Hand of a Poet”

I 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 summerContinue reading “I Feel your Pain”

Taking 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’sContinue reading “Taking It to the Limit for Springtime”

A 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 bookContinue reading “A Dirty, Damp Dish Rag of a Book”

Merry, 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 orContinue reading “Merry, Merry from Lover’s Key”

Six 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, theContinue reading “Six More Weeks of Something or Other”

My 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,Continue reading “My Body the Guitar – Now Available Worldwide”