A Bit about My Work
I love bad poetry. I’ve written bad poetry. In fact, when I was in college, Donald Hall used one of my poems in class as an example of bad poetry. Thank you, Donald. I appreciated that. However, in my second semester of poetry writing, X. J. Kennedy used a poem of mine as an example of, I guess what one could call, “acceptable” poetry. So I can learn.
I was never a serious poet, but one thing about writing poetry, unless its free verse, is that it teaches you how to use words, how to search for the right word, how to figure out the mathematical puzzle of the form. Sonnets were my favorite.
I was once in a writing group where I had to listen to hair-raising poetry and nod in approval. I especially remember one being about a girl getting her period for the first time. Because I’m a well-mannered individual, I didn’t groan, but I wondered, was this poem really necessary? It was, okay, her truth.
My truth is my love of bad poetry. Which brings us back again to “The Wanker.” Here’s this poor sod at the nadir of his life, when he decides that his real calling is poetry. How lucky he was to have a public library that supported a group of poets much like himself—bad.
Of course, it’s a story of redemption. In other words, he makes a go of it, although not exactly as a poet. But in the process he learns to use a sewing machine and deal with a psychopath who becomes his best friend.
While writing this book, I laughed at the joy of it. It was so much fun. Especially the poetry bits. So if you want light, laugh-out-loud reading, then “The Wanker” is for you.
On the other hand, if your tear ducts need opening, try “A Mother’s Secret.” (I mention this because I’ve just been told I have dry eyes and now have to use eye drops, so right now I’m obsessed about my tear ducts. Pardon the aside.)
“A Mother’s Secret roams the world from Europe to Israel to the United States, where new lives are built on lies and deceptions that come back to haunt one woman and leads another woman back to the mother who gave her up in order that she might live.
This is a book that wrote itself, as so many engaging books do. It took a lot of research in the map room at the University of Illinois. Great library, lousy location. I loved the characters, except for one of the men, but men can be a pain in the butt, can’t they?
Another interesting fact about “A Mother’s Secret:” The publisher asked Belva Plain if she would give it a blurb for the back cover. She refused, saying it had too much sex in it, and she didn’t think her readers would appreciate it. I don’t know about that. I think women like sex. I always have. Oh well.
Right now I’m revising, revising, revising a book entitled “Scarsdale Scandals.” Will Heidi the dominatrix ever find true love that doesn’t come with a huge bank account? Will Will Stanton ever serve the sentence he so richly deserves after defrauding half the town? And what about the Franklin siblings. Is true love in their future? Oh my goodness, why ask? Of course! Let’s be happy, people.
Stay tuned!
You can find my books by clicking “books” at the top of this page. If you want to read more about the characters in Scarsdale Scandals, take a look at the Finite Fiction stories under “blog.”