Mary Dezember

I Hiked Scotland Coastal Lands

By Mary Dezember

I hiked beaches of sand, beaches of rock, and beaches edged by cliffs and dunes.

I hiked some of the cliffs and dunes.

I hiked forests that stretched seemingly forever, from the edge of the coast to acres inland.

I hiked yellow gorse-lined cliffs upward and upward with the bluest ocean to the left and freshly plowed rich brown farmland to the right.

I hiked away from enchanting villages, one with the church steeple barely visible as the fog rolling in the from ocean, perpendicular, covered the town facades in a romantic and mysterious mist.

I hiked past desolate WWII pillbox bunkers and piles of rocks, the ocean crashing to the left, thinking of my dad and the many other selfless, brave soldiers. Here, as with most of the hike, I saw no one. On this timeless stretch — and except for some birds — I was the only living soul.

By Mary Dezember

For lovely, introspective moments that will whisk you away from the ordinary of the day, here are five poetry books I highly recommend:

By Mary Dezember, Ph.D.

Hidden in Plain Sight, Emerging Into the Light

Five years before Emily Dickinson’s poetry made its appearance in an 1890 Higginson-prefaced volume from a Bostonian publishing house [Roberts], New York publisher Cassell and Company released a book of poetry by twenty-six-year-old Helen Gray Cone [1859-1934] that received critical acclaim [Oberon and Puck, 1885]. In 1886, William Morton Payne of The Dial described the book as “a more ambitious kind . . . unusually full of promise.” [1]

Cone’s debut book of 1885 is a compilation of sixty-six highly lyrical, formal verse poems, many of which respond intertextually to works by authors, visual artists, and composers, such as Shakespeare, Dante, Boccaccio, Bastien-Lepage, and Bach, and often with a metaphysical poetic flair. Human condition themes explore ideology-and-effect, such as in the poems “The Conservative,” “The Liberal,” and “The Inheritance.” Her poems advocate women’s authority over their lives. Her sonnet “The Resolve” is in this collection.

Upon publication by Houghton Mifflin in 1891 of Cone’s second book, The Ride to the Lady and Other Poems, The Critic wrote, “The outlook for the future of poetry in this country grows distinctively brighter…”. [2]

In 1892, Payne [in The Dial] wrote that Cone had accomplished “advance in precision and in dramatic force.” [3] I delineate Cone’s oeuvre into three time periods, the Second Period being her Professional Poet Years of June 1876 to 1891, of which only these two of Cone’s poetry books — her nineteenth-century poetry— reside.

My intent is to bring Helen Gray Cone’s nineteenth-century poetry — and the poet herself — out of the shadows and into the view of Cone as a metrical pre-modernist, intertextual, female-empowerment poet of metaphysical finesse.

Poems that establish Helen Gray Cone’s identity as a poet are found in her nineteenth-century poetry, the striking poems that have been overlooked with virtually no inclusion in twentieth-century century and contemporary anthologies.

These are the poems of her first two books — Oberon and Puck (1885) and The Ride to the Lady and Other Poems (1891).

By Mary Dezember
Author of stories and poetry as portals to possibilities.

Happy 1st Birthday to Wild Conviction!

Read here to find out how to enter birthday celebration contests and attend birthday celebration events!

Wild Conviction was published at the end of July 2023.

It has been an exciting first year for me and for Twilight, Spirit and friends — and a successful year for a debut novel!

I am grateful to all of you who have been and continue to be on this great wild conviction adventure with us!

I hope you can participate in one or more of our First Birthday Celebration Contests and Events!

See below for the Events and Contests with Prizes for which you must be a subscriber to my newsletter to win or attend. If you are not yet, you can Sign Up at the bottom of this page.

By Mary Dezember

What we do not see
Are the vibrations fine-tuned
We call 
Kindness, 
The quick incanting.

If we listen closely
We might say,

This is angel song —

Today, May the Fourth, 2024 — in honor of great SCI-FI, great SCIENCE, and great CREATIVE WRITING — I will post about my role model Nichelle Nichols (1932-2022) and my dear, clever friend Karen Hellinger (1972-2024) — who were relatives — the NMT Sci-Fi Convention in 2008, and my caring, brilliant friend, gentle soul, Dr. Scott Zeman (1969-2020).

By Mary Dezember

Author of stories and poetry as portals to possibilities.

Readers ask: What motivated me to write my socially conscious, historical, epic adventure novel, Wild Conviction.

My answer is:

A Soft and Gentle Reminder
In the Spirit of Walt Whitman

By Mary Dezember

I

Whenever I start to feel tired
and down,
I let my eyes gaze down, too,
for there I can gaze upon my socks . . .

A Heliotrope/Heliotropium Poem

By Mary Dezember
Author of stories and poetry as portals to possibilities.

Crushing me to purple, you

are no god.

Your appeal is mythology.

I bloom,

with each floret befriending

the next,

to what, when, and whom

I choose—

By Mary Dezember
Author of stories and poetry as portals to possibilities.

When tight-lipped winter 

cracks a smile,

slants of sunlight

create the ‘scape.

Heaven’s window 

shades twist in the wind,

By Mary Dezember
Author of stories and poetry as portals to possibilities.

I am so excited to share that, in addition to numerous insightful 5-Star customer/reader reviews for which I am so grateful, Wild Conviction is receiving accolades in editorial reviews!

The novel received fantastic reviews in recent days by three well-respected publications. These reviews strike me to silence in deep appreciation and awe, as they are awesome.

“My Little Pretty.”

Though the Wicked Witch’s words
could haunt me,

I choose
to see the falling grains of sand in slow
motion

By Mary Dezember
Author of stories and poetry as portals to possibilities.

Did you know that there are many books available for FREE or for a very LOW COST?

I have found many books I want to read that are free or from $0.99 to $2.99. There are books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Usually, the free or lower price offers are for a limited time per book, but every day, there are new books to explore.

By Mary Dezember
Author of stories and poetry as portals to possibilities.

As I was writing my novel Wild Conviction, I made gifts that corresponded to the events in the novel. The story spans three years in antebellum America—1858 to 1861.

Making these historical items “actualized” some aspects of what I was writing.

Having them around me feels as if I am in the scene of the some the novel’s action.

I gave and still give some of the gifts pictured to my friends so that, as they read the novel, they can see where their gifts fit with the action.

If someone you know is intrigued by history, giving them any of these gifts along with the novel is a “novel” way to “travel back in time.”

By Mary Dezember

On this Thanksgiving, I want to quote part of my 2023 New Year’s blog post “Happy 2023: A Key to Unlock Prosperity”:

The Choice

If I think of all of ways I can unlock my day, I can label each way as a key.

For example, I could choose the Angry key. Or, I could choose the Rejection key. I might chose the Unloved key. I could choose the Lonely key. How about the Why Me key? Or, my favorite key, the Misunderstood key.

On and on, I could choose those Downer keys.

Or, I could choose a Wonder key, one that unlocks wonder, even the wonder of all unexpected events.

What If You Knew Two Magic Words?

By Mary Dezember

You do know two magic words. The words are:

What if?

In a creative life, the words “What if” are magic. They can launch life plans and artistic creation.

What if ____________________________________?

How would you fill in the blank?

The answer sparks an idea. Once an idea is spoken or written, magic begins.

That is because, spoken or written, the answer—the idea or the “plan”—has become material, in the sense that it has moved from thought to the spoken or written word.

Customer Reviews of books are so important.

If you would, please tell others about my books. Word-of-mouth recommendations are always effective and much appreciated.

But—in today’s market, a kiss of death for a book’s success is having few reviews on Amazon. So leaving a customer review on Amazon is so helpful.

Leaving reviews on Goodreads and BookBub is also really helpful.

If you would, after you have read any of my books, leaving a customer review would be awesome.

Think of it not as a book review—a book review sounds time-consuming and maybe even daunting.

Instead, think of it as a customer review—like you review products on Amazon.

Just a couple of sentences is great!

Here are some things to know first:

CALLING ALL WHO LOVE FINDING LITERARY FIGURES IN STORIES!

• There are several actual historical literary figures in WILD CONVICTION.

• They might be mentioned.

• Or they might make an appearance.

• They might not even be the literary figure we know of when the story takes place, as they are young and haven’t gotten to that part of their life yet.

• If they make an appearance, they were actually in the place mentioned by the story.

  CONTEST RULES:

By Mary Dezember

I had a Wild Conviction vision.

It took decades of wild conviction for me to create this vision into a reality.

WILD CONVICTION is here.

I am filled with joy.

I would so love for you to join me in celebrating its publication at my
WILD CONVICTION Reading & Release Celebration!

Wednesday, August 23, 2023, 6:00 to 7:00 pm MT via Zoom.

By Mary Dezember

I was fortunate to be in France with my daughters April 1 through April 7.

A rare, special light that looked like what love must look like shifted each day to the realm of extraordinary.

Moments blossomed into a certain magic created by this astonishing sunlight.

I captured a bit of the sense of these wonder moments in some of my photos. And I wasn’t trying. No matter what photo I took, it seemed the sun figured out how to sneak in to make a glorious appearance and add its magic.

Blog: Musings from the Divine Studio

By Mary Dezember

Will This Year Be Different?

After some difficult—even devastating—recent past years, I hesitate to say or write Happy New Year. Instead, I have chosen to pinpoint the year. Somehow, that feels different to me.

So, Happy 2023!

Also, I am making a list of my accomplishments and growth in 2022 rather than looking back at the bad and believing that just because it is now 2023, all will be better.

Lists

• I am making my gratitude list: All that I have to be thankful for in 2022. And all that I foresee in 2023 that I will be thankful for.

• Additionally, I am listing what I have planned for 2023, with specific “accomplishment dates.”

Will these lists make 2023 better than 2022?

By Mary Dezember

I am excited to share with you the gorgeous, excellent cover for Wild Conviction!

It is inspired! The cover—art and design—is by nirbheek, a designer with Fiverr, Freelance Services Marketplace.

I am absolutely thrilled with nirbheek's creativity, work, and originality. It was an honor to work with him.

Nirbheek has exceptional vision, perfectly capturing in his art and design the "atmosphere" of my novel and of the strong, determined protagonist, sixteen-year-old Twilight, with her mystical horse, Spirit.

For me, it is such a joy to look at this cover. It almost leaves me speechless.

Soon, behind it, will be the pages of Twilight’s story and her wild conviction.

Dance

By Mary Dezember

His daddy had him dance. Being as it was the Depression, and being that they didn't have much of anything except children, for money his daddy had him dance.

Always it went like this: Saturdays before the sun set, his daddy collected him doing chores for old man Wright. His daddy, not saying a word, would take him to the corner drugstore. Inside, as usual, were the regulars—puffing and jawing, smacking and spitting—each having a hand crammed to the bottom of a trouser pocket, thumbing his just-got pay. From its hard case, his daddy would lift the fiddle with a tenderness the boy had never seen his daddy show for any other.

By Mary Dezember

A Review from Dr. Dezember’s View

Defying Time & Space: Response Poems

Recording—whether analog or digital formats—offers a type of communication that defies space and time.

The recording of one’s thoughts and creativity—such as in books, videos, photos—can reach anyone who is reading or viewing.

Even if the creator or person featured is no longer alive, it seems as though they are there speaking to us through the recording. In these cases, our predecessors can “reach” us from even centuries before. Think Shakespeare—as just one example, of course.

However, can a recording we do today reach back to those who have come before us?

If we are talking about poetry recorded (printed) on the page, recorded digitally, or performed, then, yes. By writing response poems, poets can, in a sense, defy time by reaching back to those poets who are our predecessors.

Response poems are poems that, in some way, “speak” to another poet, living or dead, as a form of homage or of parody or as a direct address.

The response poem can be an attribution to the form, style, or particular wording of a part of a poem or of an entire poem of another poet. The response poem, because it is a type of imitation, always credits the original poet and poem.

Ultimately, writing poems as responses to other poems demonstrates an engagement with poetry, a personal appreciation of recognized poems, a love for the art of poetry.
…
From silence to page to stage, poet and performer Don McIver proves time and time again his dedication to poetry.

By Mary Dezember

A Review from Dr. Dezember’s View

What IS a life of joy?

Billy Brown, featured Creative at Creatives in Conversation on Wednesday, June 1, 2022, chose the title of his presentation to be A Life of Joy : )

With anticipation and admiration, I am eager to hear what Billy has to say.

Multi-talented, open yet rather mysterious, Billy shares some of his thoughts about life and joy in his poetry, in the introductions to the anthologies he has edited, and even in his bio (see his bio below).

His writing shares his wit, kindness, achievements, family, love, and the greatest pain.

Billy’s skill in subtle poetic epiphanies and his love for music are perfectly illustrated in his poem "anger," which is "after Sonata for Solo Violin by Paul Hindemith.”

By Mary Dezember
A Review from Dr. Dezember’s View

Strong poetry, at its essence, is a musical, soul-event revealing originality and insight.

• The musicality of originality can come when the poet dedicates time to crafting.

• The musicality of insight can come when the poet allows the poem to lead.

Poet Hiram Larew accomplishes both.

Hiram’s fifth collection, Mud Ajar (Atmosphere Press, 2021), is a stellar achievement in the musicality of originality and insight.

You can discover these poems in any or all of the following four ways, all of which are a delight:

1. Listen to the audio book recording narrated and produced by T. A. Niles.

2. Read the poems aloud yourself.

3. Read the poems silently and allow your eyes to “hear” the music.

4. Read the poems in the book as you listen to the recording by T. A. Niles.

By Mary Dezember, Ph.D.

From Dr. Dezember’s View

Old Town Albuquerque, central to the arts and culture of Albuquerque, has a long tradition of mural art.

As an Old Town area resident, an arts scholar and arts and creativity advocate, I was shocked to learn that:

• the tradition of Old Town Albuquerque mural art is being threatened,

• two particular murals are being targeted for destruction,

• all murals might be destroyed.
  

Here, I am sharing a brief opinion piece with the following call to action to officially recognize:

• Old Town Albuquerque as central to Albuquerque’s art, culture and history;

• Murals in Old Town are integral to the strong tradition of murals within Albuquerque and must be designated as protected art;
  

• Existing murals in Old Town not be targeted for destruction;
  

• Clear guidelines for additional mural art in Old Town Albuquerque—after a series of public discussion and with by arts and culture personnel added to the Landmarks Commission and with well-documented research—are created and are widely and effectively disseminated.

Additionally, I will make a statement about public art.

After That Day

Poem by Mary Dezember

Achille-Claude Debussy is my favorite composer and Arthur Rimbaud is my favorite poet. There is another connection between these two artistic visionaries besides being my favs…

When they were children, Debussy and Rimbaud were guests at the same time in the same home—that of Debussy’s music teacher and her husband. Also living in the home was their daughter, Mathilde, and Mathilde’s husband, poet Paul Verlaine.

My poem is an imagined interaction that explores the question of what if…

What if, as children, Debussy and Rimbaud spoke?

After That Day

Her house was hers.

Her piano was mine. Every piano was mine.

After that day.

That day. The irony is

Hers was a home that fostered music and poetry.

Which is why he was there.

It’s also why I was there.

3 November 1871:

“Again, my protege. Practice your Chopin

I must attend to my daughter and her baby,”

My teacher says, as she lifts her blue-silked self

Softly from the stool of the piano.

Swept Away! Into the Poetic Musical Cosmos with Bébé La La!

By Mary Dezember, Ph.D.
A “From Dr. Dezember’s View” Review

I click “play” on YouTube to hear and see the Bébé La La first official music video, of their song entitled “Bébé La La.”

The video starts, the music enters…and I am swept away!!

Truly, Baby Wow!

Bébé La La takes me into the pure poetry of music, beyond the comprehension of lyrics into the scenery of soul freedom.

Vignettes fill my senses:

from the entrance of musical duo Maryse Lapierre and Alicia Ultan, slowly from invisible to visible,

onto the rocky hills and magical woods of the Land of Enchantment,

to wild horses running,

to dancers in the forests,

to the spiraling Milky Way,

to the performance stage,

to flowered fields,

to animation,

to wild clouds touching ocean waves,

to rushing brooks,

to the mechanical whirring of a clocks—

all wrapped in spirited wind,

sweeping me away

with Alicia’s guitar and Maryse’s lead vocals.

Ancestors as Poetry: Voices Given Breath Again by Voices of Woodlawn, Poets of Witness

By Mary Dezember, Ph.D.

A Review (and Poem) From Dr. Dezember’s View

On an August day in 2019, poets Ladi Di (Sylvia Diane) Beverly, Patrick Washington and Diane Wilbon Parks accepted the invitation from their friend, poet Hiram Larew, to meet him on the last day of his week-long poetry residency at Woodlawn Plantation and Estate and Pope-Leighey House in Alexandria, Virginia, a National Trust for Historic Preservation site and home of the Arcadia Farm for Sustainable Agriculture.

Based on his work on hunger and on his poetry, Hiram had been selected to participate in the Writers in Residency Program, a partnership program organized by Woodlawn and The Inner Loop writing community in the Washington D. C. Metro area.

While former Director of International Programs within U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hiram guided several global hunger and farming programs in extension, research and teaching. Retired in 2015 and as a poet, he continued his work on hunger, founding the Poetry X Hunger initiative to, as stated on the Poetry X Hunger homepage, “link the power of poetry to the cause of hunger alleviation in the U.S. and around the world.”

But while at the historic plantation, Hiram realized, as he states, that his attention was on “the hunger of the soul more than hunger of the body.”

He found himself focusing on the American “history still haunting us today” as he wondered about the lives of the more than 90 people who had been captives there—and whose names had not been recorded—forced to serve and to build the wealth for the 9 relatives of George Washington living in the mansion.

To deepen his experience with better understanding, he invited his poet friends—Lady Di, Patrick, and Diane—descendants of enslaved Americans.

With trepidation and uneasiness, Ladi Di, Patrick and Diane walked onto the plantation, still unsure if they should take this journey in the footsteps of their ancestors, enslaved during America’s history of atrocity.

With their brave steps in the history of horrible tragedy, a blessed and unexpected experience happened:

They, while writing there and through poetry, became conduits for those enslaved at Woodlawn, imagining then creating stories of their ancestors, bringing forgotten lives into form as art.

From their experience walking in the footsteps of their ancestors and kinfolk on that August day, Ladi Di, Diane, Patrick and Hiram first questioned then imagined what the women, men and children questioned, suffered and endured. They were moved to write poetry on the spot.