Tag Archives: poetry

To All Rejections

Posted on March 14, 2013 by PB Rippey

To all rejections: I am building a cathedral. I am building a cathedral. I am building a cathedral. I am building a cathedral. I am building a cathedral. I am building a cathedral. I am building a cathedral. I am … Continue reading →

Old Town Poetry

Posted on March 11, 2013 by PB Rippey

I invited a friend to a poetry reading. 6 years ago this would have been a normal request of any of my friends. But now I’m a mom. Now most of my friends are mothers and working mothers and mothers with working-OT-husbands–thus … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, poetry reading, Writing | Tagged 2013, AWP, cocktails, fiction writing, life, Los Angeles, Pasadena, poetry, poetry readings, preschoolers, San Fernando Valley, Sushi Roku sushi, writer, writing | 4 Comments

Clues

Posted on March 3, 2013 by PB Rippey

So it’s time to leave the Little House and tear him away from several days of precious Pottery Barn living and Angry Birds on the Kindle at odd hours and foods we don’t normally eat at home, like grated-cheese-and-nitrate-free-bacon-quesadillas-for-breakfast-with-1-maraschino-cherry-on-top, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, dog, Fiction, Me and Us, ocean related, Poetry, Santa Barbara, Writer's Angst, Writing | Tagged 2013, angry birds, beach, dog, Dr. Seuss, fiction writing, Kindle Fire, labrador, middle grade writing, ocean, personal goals, poetry, preschoolers, Santa Barbara, writer, writing | 4 Comments

Birthday Edition

Posted on February 22, 2013 by PB Rippey

On the eve of my hubbadobubbaboblah birthday: tucked my son into Pre-K, FB’d (i.e. avoided yoga), did yoga, even Superman, even V-ups, edited poems, sighed at the unicycle, edited poems, zoomed the boy to karate testing for his green stripe … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, books, Faction, Fiction, Me and Us, Poetry, Writer's Angst, Writing | Tagged 2013, birthdays, chaos, Coldplay, Downton Abbey, Elbow, fiction writing, Joan Collins, karate, Lego, poetry, preschoolers, time, unicycle, writing, yoga | 2 Comments

Quote For The Weekend: Early Edition (Due To Colds, Flu, Pediatric Dental ER’s, Close-Family Close Calls, Going Away For The Weekend & A Unicycle That Still Needs Mastering…)

Posted on February 14, 2013 by PB Rippey

Try, fail. Try again, fail better. —Samuel Beckett In Sunday’s typically heat-knit twilight, I glance up from pinching pie crust into old-fashioned, part curtains patterned in fat cherries. A palomino trots down my street, its rider guiding with the blithe … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Theatre, Writer quotes, Writing | Tagged 2013, fiction, palominos, personal goals, poetry, unicycles, writing | Leave a comment

And The Seat Moved

Posted on January 22, 2013 by PB Rippey

My sliced finger salved and bandaged, wiping cat gak off my bare foot, it was about then I remembered my promise to learn to ride the unicycle before my next birthday, so I went outside, snatched up my son’s helmet … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, dog, Fiction, Pets, Poetry, To Explain, Writing, Writing Progress, WTF | Tagged 2013, cats, dog, domestic bliss, fiction writing, labrador, personal goals, poetry, preschoolers, unicycle, writing | 4 Comments

Beach Break

Posted on January 14, 2013 by PB Rippey

This was last weekend, all Winter beachness, crisp, clear light, air cold enough for us to wear sweaters we haven’t seen in over a year, sweaters with jeans and sweats and bare feet as we ran on glassy beach, Anacapa, … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Me and Us, Poetry, Santa Barbara, Writing | Tagged 2013, beach, fiction writing, life, middle grade writing, ocean, poetry, preschoolers, Santa Barbara, writing | 4 Comments

This Just In

Posted on January 10, 2013 by PB Rippey

Rhapsodomancy has officially announced the reading I’m participating in on Sunday, February 3rd, 2013, 7:30p.m. Be there! And have a sidecar with me afterwards. Or, you know, a martini. The Good Luck has just the right amount of dim and … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, poetry reading, Steps In Promotion, Writing, Writing Progress | Tagged 2013, Amy Gerstler, Good Luck Bar, Los Angeles, Los Feliz, martinis, personal goals, poetry, poetry readings, Rhapsodomancy, sidecars, T | 6 Comments

Reading List 2013 (So Far)

Posted on January 5, 2013 by PB Rippey

This morning my husband burst through the front door, yanked the tiny earphones out of his ears and, flushed from his post-run endorphin rush, declared: The Death Of Bees, we must own it! The Death Of Bees, by Lisa O’Donnell (check out … Continue reading →

Posted in Adult writing, Children's Books, Fiction, middle grade, Poetry, poetry reading, Writing, YA Novels | Tagged 2013, Ann Patchett, Anne Lamott, Dave Eggers, Dragons Love Tacos, Edward P. Jones, fiction writing, Help Thanks Wow, Lisa O'Donnell, Maria Semple, poetry, The Death Of Bees, The Known World, Tina Fey, unicycles, Where'd You Go Bernadette, writing, YA Muses | 5 Comments

2013: Resolute

Posted on January 1, 2013 by PB Rippey

1. Stand taller. 2. Be wiser. 3. Mother better. 4. Honor date nights. 4a. find a babysitter after 5 years of not 4b. either more or less caffeine @8pm any Friday night—search for successful eye-propping balance! Ha ha! Fun! 5. … Continue reading →

Posted in books, Children's Books, Fiction, ocean related, Poetry, Writer's Angst, Writing | Tagged 2013, beach, cats, chaos, children's literature, fiction writing, middle grade writing, ocean, personal goals, poetry, preK kids, writer, writer's angst, writing | 1 Comment

Holidaze

Posted on December 27, 2012 by PB Rippey

Seabiscuit. I’m working backwards—Seabiscuit with a cheesecake glopped in cognac whipped cream. Also called Vital Precedence due to a greed it’s important (vitally so) to indulge this time of year. A dozen kids galloping around our yard, dogs weaving between (or dodging) Ninja … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Writing | Tagged 2012, cheesecake, Christmas, Madonna Inn, poetry, preschoolers, Seabiscuit, writing | 5 Comments

Quote For The Weekend: Christmas Poem Edition

Posted on December 23, 2012 by PB Rippey

Full Howling Moon Southern California’s brittle December 24th: swells, surfboards, fire-skin, a holiday bbq by a slide-dunked swimming pool blooming algae, all palms standing by–city logo, city tattoos. The Hollywood Hills Gelson’s Market evacuates delicacies when a parking lot palm … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Writing | Tagged 2012, fiction writing, poetry, writing | Leave a comment

Quote For The Weekend (Strickland Speaking–W/Swedish Au Pair)

Posted on November 17, 2012 by PB Rippey

You may have tangible wealth untold; Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. Richer than I you can never be — I had a Mother who read to me. –Strickland Gillilan Who read to me: Mother, great-grandmother, grandmothers, godmother, great … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, Quotes, Writer quotes, Writing | Tagged 2012, Au Pair, Bob Dylan, children's literature, Cinderella, fiction writing, North Oxford, Paris, poetry, quotes on writing, Rod Stewart, Santa Claus, Strickland Gillilan, writing | 5 Comments

And There Is A Storm And Here Is A Cat

Posted on October 29, 2012 by PB Rippey

Locust After the midnight bell, the battered book closed, flame of the inherited candle snuffed, we recover from stifling night, erasing radical dream-dyes we will never share (though not because we are secretive) and we remember I’ve just returned from … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Poetry | Tagged 2012, cats, fiction, fiction writing, locust, poetry, storm, writing | 3 Comments

Quote For The Weekend (About Ends Edition)

Posted on October 14, 2012 by PB Rippey

I really don’t think life is about the I-could-have-beens. Life is only about the I-tried-to-do. I don’t mind the failure but I can’t imagine that I’d forgive myself if I didn’t try. —Nikki Giovanni Recently Write Naked posted this quote … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Quotes, Writer's Angst, Writing | Tagged 2012, Alison Lurie, John Steinbeck, Nikki Giovanni, poetry, quotes on writing, Slyvia Plath, The Truth About Lorin Jones, writing | 2 Comments

Note From The Writing House

Posted on October 1, 2012 by PB Rippey

As I write, a fountain bubbles outside remarkable windows. It was bubbling when we arrived. No note was left instructing me to turn it, or the fountain outside the guest bedroom off, and I wasn’t about to go hunting for control panels … Continue reading →

Posted in Avoiding My Writing, books, Children's Books, Fiction, ocean related, Santa Barbara, To Explain, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress | Tagged 2012, beach, Fountains, Peacocks, poetry, Pottery Barn, preschoolers | 5 Comments

The After 9/11/2001 Post

Posted on September 12, 2012 by PB Rippey

Last year I posted this piece on 9/11/11, the crux of which is: One morning, as my boss and I walked across campus after a 9/11 tribute during which she’d read a poem to hundreds gathered at the special ceremony, … Continue reading →

Posted in Santa Barbara, Writer quotes, Writing | Tagged 2012, 9/11/2001, Ground Zero, life, poetry, Santa Barbara, writing | 4 Comments

What Beauty Gets You

Posted on August 28, 2012 by PB Rippey

I returned from Big Sur with a line in my head that needed to be inserted into a poem I’m working on. I am lucky the line didn’t leave me, creative synapses firing long and repeatedly enough for me to … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, ocean related, Poetry, Writer's Angst, Writing, Writing Progress, WTF | Tagged 2012, Andrew Molera, beach, Big Sur, earthquakes, fiction, Hearst Castle, middle grade writing, Morro Bay, mule deer, ocean, Pfeiffer Beach, poetry, preschoolers, San Simeon, sea otters, tsunamis, writing | 4 Comments

Quote For The Weekend: Robinson Jeffers (Early Edition)

Posted on August 23, 2012 by PB Rippey

To feel greatly, and understand greatly, and express greatly, the natural Beauty, is the sole business of poetry. The rest’s diversion: those holy or noble sentiments, the intricate ideas, The love, lust, longing: reasons, but not the reason. —Robinson Jeffers … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, ocean related, Poetry, Writer quotes, Writing | Tagged 2012, beach, Beauty, Big Sur, Carmel, poetry, Robinson Jeffers, Tor House, writing | 6 Comments

Snow White Revisited (Part I)

Posted on August 13, 2012 by PB Rippey

And just like that, 2 hours of sitting in traffic was replaced by the type of couch that swallows you in a smooth, nerves-loosening manner, windows looking out on lush greenery, walls hung tastefully in my sister’s collection of California plein air, … Continue reading →

Posted in Faction, Fiction, Poetry, poetry reading, Santa Barbara, Writing | Tagged 2012, fiction writing, ocean, poetry, Santa Barbara, snow white, writing | 7 Comments

Quote For The Weekend (Gore Vidal Edition)

Posted on August 5, 2012 by PB Rippey

You can’t really succeed with a novel anyway; they’re too big. It’s like city planning. You can’t plan a perfect city because there’s too much going on that you can’t take into account. You can, however, write a perfect sentence … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Writer quotes, Writing, WTF | Tagged 2012, Bunker Hill, Echo Park, fiction writing, Gore Vidal, KCRW, Los Angeles, NPR, poetry, quotes on writing | 5 Comments

Quote For The Weekend (Yet Another “Revision” Edition)

Posted on July 29, 2012 by PB Rippey

I work hard, I work very hard. All the books at leat 30 revisions. —Ha Jin In working on a poem, I love to revise. Lots of younger poets don’t enjoy this, but in the process of revision I discover … Continue reading →

Posted in ocean related, Poetry, Santa Barbara, Writer quotes, Writing | Tagged 2012, beach, children's literature, Ernest Hemingway, fiction, Ha Jin, John Irving, middle grade writing, ocean, poetry, preschoolers, quotes on writing, Rita Dove, T.S. Eliot, Viggo, writing | Leave a comment

Deep Summer Checkpoint

Posted on July 25, 2012 by PB Rippey

Two summers ago I wrote: I create escape beneath my yard’s wind- bent gazebo, books on spread gingham, the shrunk house I dragged into our shade, ticking stove, stranger’s voice in the toy wall phone he refuses. Create with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Children's Books, Fiction, middle grade, Poetry, Writer quotes, Writing | Tagged 2012, children's literature, domestic bliss, E.B. White, fiction, fiction writing, Joyce Carol Oates, Ken Follet, palominos, poetry, preschoolers, quotes on writing, revision, toddlers, writing | 1 Comment

Askew In The Valley

Posted on June 26, 2012 by PB Rippey

My poem is out in Askew Poetry Journal’s Issue #12 Spring/Summer 2012 (here’s the link to Askew in case you’re interested in submitting or subscribing). They also have a Facebook page with samples of poetry from this issue. Dorothea Grossman’s poems are a delight … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Quotes, Writing, Writing Publications | Tagged 2012, Askew Poetry Journal, Dorothea Grossman, Holly Prado, poetry, sonnets, writing | 2 Comments

Trickle-Down Poem For May (Thank You, April)

Posted on May 1, 2012 by PB Rippey

Full Flower Moon May (mostly), the petticoat swirl of rising pink meadow, petite showers, buds. I say: rose, peony, phlox. And I say: petal- shorn, plucked, blown until only the head remains, one pale sticky oval crushed by u- niverse … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Writing | Tagged 2012, Full moons, May, poetry, writer, writing | 4 Comments