Yes, I Know. It's Been Over a Month. Read the Blog to Find Out Why. Oh! And a Couple New Poems!

Two Crows Stealing Food from a Blue Jay

Why, oh, why have I not been blogging for a month now? I have been waiting. Walk with Words is finished. I have edited the book of poems so that it has no errors, yet it has not been released for global distribution yet. Therefore, it cannot be found on Amazon or B&N or any other online bookstore except Lulu.com. If you want a copy, you can get it there. I have five copies. I will autograph one and put a note in it if you send me an email with your address.

So...I have been waiting for Walk with Words to clear global distribution before starting a marketing campaign. (Yeah, right! Like I'm a marketer. If you are willing to market for free, email me at mbt1966@yahoo.com. Ha! Ha!) Also, I have finished publishing Aunt Charlotte's Crib. According to mail tracking, the first proof is in my post office box today. I will go check in a little bit. I have been working two to three hours a day for several weeks on the copy editing of Aunt Charlotte's Crib. It has consumed my time.

Also, also, I received an email and a letter from Austin McCauley saying that they will no longer keep the publishing rights to Atheists and Empty Spaces and will no longer print copies for sale. That means that I can self-publish it. Hooray! I can put back in all the important stuff that their editors randomly took out. I have started on that project already, but, BEWARE or BE AWARE, that might take a while.

The final aspect of my busy-ness is that I have edited and revised the poems in Essential Words and created it as a regular size book rather than a coloring book size. I ordered the first proof yesterday. It should not need much editing.

In all, I will have published three--That is right!--THREE books in the last month: Walk with Words, Aunt Charlotte's Crib, and Essential Words: Revised. I have two books to proof in the next few weeks, but I suspect that little editing will need to take place in either of them. Let's all cross our fingers on that. I hope that my readers will support me by buying copies of the books when they are ready. Please! Please! I do everything I can to keep them as cheap for readers as possible, for example black and white covers, even limiting my earnings to something like $.50 a book. I am giving my books away, but the printer has to make money, so there is some expense. Sigh!

Anyhow, I haven't had time to write many poems in the last month, but here are two that I have been working on for the last couple of weeks. As always, ENJOY!

My Framing Hammer

I found my framing hammer,

The one that I love best.

It is a weighty instrument,

But not when it’s at rest.

I love it ‘cause it sinks a nail

With one decisive blow.

I really hate to tap and peck.

That method is too slow.

The hammer has a waffled face,

My striking side worn smooth,

And where the handle meets my thumb,

The rubber has a groove.

Its once sharp claws are rounded.

Its neck is flecked with rust.

Its cheek, which touts its maker’s name,

Is calcified with dust.

Still, I love this hammer.

It feels good in my hand.

And I’m sure that it needs me too.

It has no worth unmanned.

When I was young, I swung all day

And hardly ever missed.

The nails put up no fight at all.

(As if they could resist!)

I hammered on the floors and walls

On two-by-fours and beams,

And sometimes when I framed all day,

I hammered in my dreams.

Today, I found my hammer

Between two joists up on a wall,

And though I love this workman’s tool,

It was not missed at all.

Two Strange Crows Take Time

I saw a couple crows today,

And, no, they were not brothers,

But they were pleased to watch and stay

Unlike so many others.

They loitered on the concrete bridge

Below the short leaf pines

And scratched at empty crawdad shells

Near where the racoon dines.

They followed us to City Pond,

Disturbing nesting ducks,

But not alarming the fat goose

Who does not fear two clucks.

As we were climbing Gun Range hill,

They caused a couple frays

By landing near a kill deer nest

And stealing food from jays.

‘Cause that’s the nature of a crow,

To thieve, not beg nor borrow.

They filched some time from me today.

They might take yours tomorrow.

If you have any ideas for poems or short stories that you would like for me to write, please email me at mbt1966@yahoo.com. If you have some part of Dewey Lynn Bugler's life that you would like to hear about that I haven't already written about, let me know as well. I have already started on the next Dewey Lynn project. Oh! You might want to wait until you have read Aunt Charlotte's Crib before we talk about any more Dewey Lynn stories.

Gratefully,

MT