What Would Your Life's Book Title Be? ((+Book Giveaway Winner!))

And of course, a poem. About Books.

Greetings on this lovely almost-Fall (here in the Pacific Northwest) day!

Before I announce the winner of Mining the Bright Birds: Poems of Longing for Home and share the answer to last week’s question, here’s a poem to commemorate the beginning of school…and the reading of books.

Because writers are readers, yes?

Some of my favorite Christian poets-Abigail Carroll, Laurie Klein and the inimitable Luci Shaw

Book Report

All the books that I am reading

All the books that I have read

Make me feel my brain is bleeding

Surely ‘twill explode my head.

Now here, now there, now everywhere

On floors, on desks and tables.

In baskets, piles, in drawers and files

I’ve stacked as I am able.

I love to write, I write a lot

It helps me think more clearly.

But clearly writers read a lot

I love these books most dearly.

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Last week I announced that everyone who answered the question below would be entered into a drawing for a free copy of Mining the Bright Birds: Poems of Longing for Home. I had so much fun inviting readers to answer this question:

If your life was a book, what would be the title?

The responses were delightful so I thought I’d include them here. Thank you to everyone who participated! The winner’s name is below….and if you’d like to order a copy of MBB yourself, the link’s down in the footnotes.¹

• Catherine Nunan                    “Pursuit of Beauty”

• Diane Bryant                            “Spirals, Vistas and Roadblocks to Finding Me”

• Mark Rico                                 “Learning to Wait”

• Matthew Long                          “Navigating the Tides of Time: A Sailor’s Story”

• Meagan D.                                 “One Step Short of Crazy”

• Mel Bjorgen                              “Just Like Peter”

• Rachael Denny                        “Going the Long Way Home”

• Rebecca Gomez                     “SERENDIPITY”

• Sheila Dougal                           “Gardens and Walls”

• Stephanie Nygaard                “Through my Eyes”

• Susan Mulder                           “Bright Light on Bees Wings”

• Teri Hyrkas                                “Bilocation”

• Tohru Inoue                               “Tell Me a Story”

• Zane Paxton                              “A Sinner’s Psalter”

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  And the winner is………..

  Zane Paxton! Zane, email me at heyjode70@yahoo.com and let me know your snail mail address to mail you a copy of Mining the Bright Birds.

  And for your enjoyment, here is a photo collage of the name drawing process, thanks to my granddaughter Mary Becca (and her mom).

  

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  Thanks so much for reading along. I hope you’ll look for a little poetry in your life today, and spend some time penning your own.

  Need help getting started? Here are two ideas from past posts on Poetry & Made Things:

  Does a Poem Have to Rhyme?

  How to Write a Poem and the Gift of Where to Begin

Cheers!

Jody

1. Mining the Bright Birds: Poems of Longing for Home, and my first book of poetry, Hearts on Pilgrimage, can both be ordered via THIS LINK. Autographed copies are available here https://jodyleecollins.com/contact/. Just copy the URL into your browser and open a new tab.