by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jan 13, 2009 | poetry |
I spent any free minute I had yesterday looking for a poem to go along with this picture. This morning, when I found the poem, I knew I’d been looking for the wrong thing. It was a poem to go along with how I was feeling that I’d wanted. Perhaps the...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jan 12, 2009 | Columbus GA |
Low of 29 this morning in Columbus, Georgia. Frost. Sugared leaves. It made me want a poem.
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jan 10, 2009 | essays, reviews |
In 1980 Janet Sternburg wanted answers to the question of why other women write and “how they see their lives and their work.” Thus was born The Writer on Her Work. “It was a first,” writes Julia Alverez in the introduction to the...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jan 8, 2009 | craft of writing, details, novels, the day |
More from John Steinbeck… March 6, 1951, Tuesday. “No sleep last night but I feel fine. And I don’t even know why I didn’t sleep. I was perfectly comfortable. Just couldn’t let go of consciousness. Funny thing.” Journal of a...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jan 5, 2009 | craft of writing, details, reviews, stories |
Last Night is a slim volume of ten stories by James Salter. James is his real name. Salter is a pseudonym adopted because he was in the air force when he began to write. He was a fighter pilot who flew with Buzz Aldrin, Ed White and Gus Grissom. In July of 2004,...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Jan 3, 2009 | life, the day |
New Year’s Day is a pause for me. I lie on the sofa and watch movies and football. I let life happen outside of me and around me. Then yesterday I spent the entire day in action–restoring order after the holidays. Chopping wood, carrying water. ...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Dec 30, 2008 | my writing, stories |
My story, “Frosting,” appears in Contrary’s Winter issue. Here’s a little piece of it: “It was overcast and warm. Also, sticky. And still. Too still. I sniffed and inhaled the smell of rain. That was easy. But there was something...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Dec 29, 2008 | journeys, shapes, truth |
In July, I read Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk, a writer I’d never read before. Upon finishing the novel, I immediately wanted to reread it. Instead, I began a journey that has lasted four months: reading each of Rachel Cusk’s books in the order she...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Dec 27, 2008 | reading |
“Bea says that the art of reading is slowly dying, that it’s an intimate ritual, that a book is a mirror that offers us only what we already carry inside us, that when we read, we do it with all our heart and mind…” Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The...
by Cynthia Newberry Martin | Dec 24, 2008 | details, the day |
If you can find twenty minutes, you can listen to Dylan Thomas’ story “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” read by the author–courtesy of Salon.com. The written story is also available online. Thomas grounds the story of this long-ago...
