Whole Lotta Stuff Goin' On!

Gentle Readers:

There is a lot going on with Women Writing for (a) Change Up North these days!

I am preparing for our July 11-13 Writing Retreat at the Augustine Center just North of Petoskey, Mi. For more information, check out the Retreat section on my site: www.womenwritingupnorth.com

Meantime, I'm getting ready to move from a house to a condo down South in Cincinnati...so there's a whole lotta work going on there. This is so we can spend more time Up North.

I'm also waiting to hear from 4 universities about getting into MFA/Creative Writing Programs - for poetry - and am on pins and needles until I get news.

Luckily, I have been writing regularly, with 5 more poem drafts in the past couple of weeks.

Classes: Boy am I excited to be offering Women Writing for (a) Change classes starting on August 30. Again, check out the website for details.

Women Writing for (a) Change provides a safe, structured community for women who want to continue or start a writing practice. All levels of experience and genres of writing are welcome!

As usual, I'll end my blog entry with a poem:
Bees

The redolent apple blossoms
await your arcane dance.
but you are absent this year.
Bumblees and carpenter bees abound,
but where is the dainty honey bee??

I read that there is a mold or a virus
infecting hives, killing half your kind.
Billions of dollars for cancer research,
is there enough left over to find you a cure?
For what would we do without
lead characters in the play of Life?

So many swat at you, not knowing
you are small Gods, blessing the world
with blue delphinium, russet apples, Big Boy tomatoes,
rhubarb for pie, honey on crusty home-made bread.

In the cherry orchards by my cottage,
you buzz around rented wooden crates
so you can pollinate delicate white flowers.
an alchemy that conjures juicy red fruit
for tourists to buy at roadside stands
on dry July days, the sky painted deep Michigan blue.

Queens, drones, worker bees --
we hope for your consonant hum.
There must be an ancient Navajo
dance for conjuring the bees,
if only I knew it.

Blessings,

Anni Macht Gibson