Author: iowa469

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IF IT HAD TO HAPPEN

A little girl is devastated when a tree branch falls on her bike during a thunderstorm. Her older sister helps her understand  this event is not the tragedy it seems by gently guiding her through a series of other possible outcomes that would have been much worse. In this way, the older sibling is able to help her sister put her disappointment into perspective. I was inspired to write this story after helping my granddaughter through a similar event. IF IT HAD TO HAPPEN not only provides insight into the endearing relationship between sisters, it also provides a gentle lesson on the concept of gratefulness.

IF IT HAD TO HAPPEN is a predictable picture book complete at 310 words. The suggested illustrations, repetitive phrasing and word patterns allow children ages 3-7 to anticipate certain words, such as in PLEASE TAKE ME FOR A WALK, by Susan Gal. The overarching theme of gratefulness is comparable to the theme in “JUST SO THANKFUL,” by Mercer Mayer.  

If you are interested in the status of my current projects, I’d love to hear from you at bclark@iowareflections.com

Barbara

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THE PLANNING OF LULABELLE’S WEDDING UNDER THE WILLOW

 

Imagine planning your daughter’s outdoor wedding in August, in Iowa, on your own acreage, with only the sun and wind for power.  What could possibly go wrong? Rather, what could not go wrong?

A summer of records rains, the most oppressive heat in recent memory, mosquitoes everywhere and a lack of stored energy turned out to be the least this Mother of the Bride (MOB) had to worry about. Instead, days filled with researching mysterious dragonfly swarms, tracking down the owner of a small plane determined to buzz overhead, wondering about a husband’s concerning new penchant for burning what he thought was unwanted furniture (The “where is the couch, dear?” moment), and managing a young, ambivalent “whatever” bride, is what occupied this MOB.

So, when she finds herself ditch diving for flowers in the days before the wedding with her very pregnant daughter-in-law driving the get-away car, this perfectionist-leaning MOB had come to realize that even the most careful planning was no guarantee things would go as expected.

THE PLANNING OF LULABELLE’S WEDDING UNDER THE WILLOW is a creative non-fiction story complete at 10,000 words. Think Green Acres meets My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It is a look at the unique obstacles and unpredictable challenges one mom faced when trying to provide her daughter with the Perfect wedding under the willow.

If you are interested in the status of my current projects, I’d love to hear from you at bclark@iowareflections.com

 

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CRIMINAL DENIAL

This Kyrielle poem is about the crime of ignoring rising sea levels:

Criminal Denial

Fractured ice sheets grow by the day,

Become icebergs washed with sea spray,

Melting glaciers follow in time,

Rising sea levels are a crime.

 

Ninety-seven percent agree,

That this is a catastrophe,

Those in power won’t care in time,

Rising sea levels are a crime.

 

While battle lines are being drawn,

Places and ways of life are gone,

As water swallows all in time,

Rising sea levels are a crime.

 

The innocents will suffer most,

Rising sea levels are a crime.

 

I have visited Antarctica and seen massive ice sheets and glaciers. The scale was breathtaking. I then have to remind myself that I only saw a tiny part of the Antarctic Peninsula. The time for debate is over. Temperatures are warming there more than anywhere else on the planet. Ice sheets are breaking off. Once the ice sheets are gone, the impending catastrophe from the melting glaciers is only a matter of time. Meanwhile, those who feel obliged to serve only themselves or the uninformed, hold power in the US, keeping us all prisoners to this lowest common denominator. This denial of reality is a crime on humanity, and has to change.

A kyrielle is made of quatrains (stanzas) that rhyme. Each stanza has a line that repeats, so a line from a previous stanza. That line usually (but does not necessarily have to) be the last line in the stanza. Each line in the poem has eight syllables. There is no limit to the number of stanzas. Any type of rhyme scheme can be used

 

 

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SENT HOME TO DIE – US Immigration Policy in 2018

Published in New Verse News – June 27, 2018

Someone has killed my husband.

       Now he is trying to kill me and my children.

                                  We run away from the killer,

             And towards your home

            For many, many days.

                      Because

      I want to live.

                                               I want my children to live.

               I know your home is a safe haven.

  Exhausted and hungry,

             We make it to your doorstep.

          I knock on your door,

        But you don’t answer.

                       We camp on your porch for many nights.

           I knock on your door each day.

               Still, you don’t answer.

                                                Food and water left by the kind-hearted,                                  

 Is gone.

      Destroyed by your friends.

        Now my baby is running a fever.

 In desperation,

          I enter your home through an open window.

                       I find you to tell you I have entered,

          Whereupon, you tell me I am a criminal,

    Because

      I entered your home

          through a window,

 Not the door.

                                              I try to tell you why,

                          But you won’t listen.

                 You don’t even know my language.

         Instead,

          You put me in jail,

          You kidnap my children,

          You tell me I am a bad mother,

         And that I should not have come.

          That I should not have run from this killer.

          The next day,

          You stop kidnapping the children,

             Of those coming through the window.   

       Excitedly,

                I ask you, “where are my children and when can I see them?”

               You tell me you don’t know or care where they are.

                That I should never have run from this killer.

               And that I should never have come.

              You tell me I am a bad mother,

             And have lost my children.

           You send me home,

       TO

         DIE.

 

 

 

 

 

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WHEN WILL WE LEARN?

Carbon-based fuels contribute to climate change.

Climate change causes ocean temperatures to rise.

Rising ocean temperatures cause hurricanes to be stronger, bigger and more deadly.

Deadly hurricanes cause people to evacuate to safety.

People who evacuate to safety need carbon-based fuels.

Carbon-based fuels contribute to climate change.

 

Rinse and repeat.