Known as the UK’s best-selling living poet, Donna Ashworth first rose to prominence during the 2020 lockdown, when her poem “History Will Remember When the World Stopped” went viral and helped raise funds for the NHS. In the years since, her work has continued to resonate, offering reflections on resilience, connection, and hope.
Here’s one of my favorites…perfect for the season:
On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.
Here’s a thought-provoking poem from Kate Baer:
Halfway There
Whatever happens,
you are free to go. Free
to peel off what’s left of this story and choose
another. It is not
too late
It is definitely worth the trouble.
Remember the story of the lion
lost without his courage.
Too scared, full of fury,
the great wizard
standing in the emerald tower
knowing the lion was already brave.
On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.
A thought-provoking poem!
I’m happy to welcome poet/singer/songwriter Intensia. Today, Intensia shares WORDS TO THINK. OR TO SING., her collection of lyric excerpts and emotional snapshots from pop songs in progress.
Blurb
Have you ever wondered how your favorite songs really began?
Not with the words, not with the melody, but with a feeling.
Becoming a vision, becoming lines, becoming a complete piece of sonorous truth meant to be shared to unite people who resonate with it.
A mystical, fascinating process you can now be part of.
INTENSIA, a new heartfelt, poetic singer songwriter likely to belong with your favorite pop music companions, is turning the traditional release model upside down, inviting you to look into her soul and mind before anyone else.
Be among the first to witness this spark before her distinctive voice echoes through the world. This unique approach offers an unprecedented glimpse into evolving art, so you can feel and enjoy the essence of her songs before they are even complete.
Dive into this curated collection of lyric excerpts and emotional snapshots from pop songs in progress. Each piece stands on its own as a modern, poetic message, paired with brief reflections about the meaning or emotions behind the words.
It is more than something to read. It is a space to pause, reflect, and connect, with room for your thoughts and reflections too. Write what moves you, what you feel, what you dream. This book and its songs to be are meant to accompany you wherever you go.
For even more space to express yourself, the companion notebook PLACE TO THINK. OR TO WRITE. (ISBN 978-3-911445-02-3) is available as a dedicated space.
WORDS TO THINK. OR TO SING. out 26 June 2025 on Amazon. Paperback (ISBN 978-3-911445-00-9), eBook (ISBN 978-3-911445-01-6).
Join INTENSIA’s free Intense Inside Club at http://www.intensia.music and discover this special music developing experience as it unfolds, where connection begins as songs come to life.
Excerpt
Author Bio and Links
From Munich’s vibrant core, Intensia is sparking a poetic, tuneful movement with a unique glimpse into her evolving pop songs-to-be book, “WORDS TO THINK. OR TO SING.”. It combines lyric snippets with heartfelt reflections, inviting readers to discover her art in progress in a new and unexpected way.
INTENSIA’s story began in childhood with a simple radio cassette recorder, a portal to a mesmerizing world where her voice became a powerful way to explore emotions and transform them into melodies.
Her lyrics delve into self-reflection, personal growth, relationships, and empowerment. Themes that reflect the vision of her boutique flagship label, Intensia Music International, which is also dedicated to inspiring others to explore their creative side.
With a high art, down-to-earth attitude, INTENSIA stands for emotional pop tunes that feel like after a meaningful conversation with a good friend. Step into her world at http://www.intensia.music and you will find a new sonorous companion for life.
Artist Website | Publisher Website/Music Label | Amazon Author Page | Goodreads | Book Buy Link
Giveaway
Intensia will be awarding a $20 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.
Follow Intensia on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.
On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.
In her latest book, Dear Writer, New York Times bestselling author Maggie Smith breaks down creativity into ten essential elements. Here’s an uplifting excerpt:
Writers are here to risk, to find new territory. We have to be very careful not to censor ourselves when we draft, not to impose order on the piece too early. So what if you’ve always written poems in meter? So what if all your stories are in first person? So what if you’ve never written a lyric essay? Or if you’ve only written essays? No one is born excelling at anything. Most babies aren’t even particularly good at the basics: eating and sleeping.
Don’t worry too much about the form as you get the raw material down; that would be like making a container at the same time as trying to fill it.
I’ve been thinking about how our work—and our lives—can stretch and change shape to accommodate more than we might think. About how writing and living both require imagination. We can’t change the past, but the rest is up for grabs. We get to make it up. We get to decide today, tomorrow, and on and on what we will try, do, and be.
On the page and off, we get to surprise ourselves.
Source: Dear Writer, pp. 76-77.
I’m happy to welcome poet Lark Compton. Today, Lark shares his new collection, Diving into the Beloved.
Blurb
Diving Into the Beloved is a mesmerizing collection of poetry that plunges into the realms of love, spirituality, and the soul’s longing. Each poem is a profound reflection of the sacred dance between the lover and the Beloved, capturing the essence of divine connection and human vulnerability. Compton’s words invite readers to explore the depths of their own hearts, making this book not just a literary work but a spiritual experience—an invitation to embrace the love that resides within and around us. With a youthful, modern interpretation of the path to enlightenment, this collection reminds us of the ecstatic poets like Rumi and Hafiz, yet Compton’s voice remains distinctly his own, weaving together concrete details and bold imagery that will leave a lasting impression.
Tears of Tangerines
Beloved, take me back
to that feeling space
in dream time
where I can easily navigate
my yellow submarine
with its pink propeller of love
while laughing at the absurdity
of being a character
in your psychedelic cartoon
Laughing and crying tears of tangerines
floating endlessly
in my submarine of love,
silly, as it swims endlessly in you
I give up, I have no clue
why I continue to exist on your playground
For the moment I will keep crying and laughing
tears of tangerines
until there are enough
for a giant glass of your morning juice
Then, I hope that when you drink it
you will laugh at this cartoon,
put it down
and I can go back to composing poetry
to the tune of
“We all live in Beloved’s submarine
Laughing and crying tangerines of pure love
floating through galaxies and universes
sharing our love fruit with all
in Beloved’s wild cartoon of Love”
Bio and Links
Lark enjoys being a hermit and staying out of the limelight.
He has been known to accidentally bodysurf with turtles at play.
He leaves them alone and they leave him alone.
Everyone’s happy.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/53108042.Lark_Compton
Giveaway
Lark Compton will be awarding print copies of the book to ten randomly drawn winners. Find out more here.
Follow Lark on the rest of his Goddess Fish tour here.
April is National Poetry Month, a month set aside to celebrate poetry and its vital place in our society. Launched by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, this month-long celebration has attracted millions of readers, students, teachers, librarians, booksellers, and poets.
Each Friday of April, I will share a favorite poetry collection.
Today’s pick is Healing is a Gift: Poems for Those Who Need to Grow by Alexandra Vasiliu, a collection described as “a valuable resource for anyone seeking personal growth, self-improvement, and inner peace.”
From the very first lines, it’s evident that Ms. Vasiliu writes with raw honesty and heartfelt intention. Her collection, composed in free verse, reads like a quiet conversation with the soul. There is a simplicity in her language that belies the emotional depth beneath. At times, it felt like I was reading a distilled self-help guide wrapped in poetic form.
The titles, among them, “No Permission Needed,” “Your Golden Trophy,” “Such Bad Manners,” and “No Pills,” suggest a stripping away of pretense and a return to fundamentals. These poems don’t seek to impress. Instead, they challenge the reader to confront and reconsider long-held beliefs about pain, recovery, and self-worth.
This slim volume can easily be read in a single sitting, but its impact lingers. I found myself pausing often, underlining lines that struck a chord, and marking pages to return to later. It’s a book you’ll want to keep within reach—not just for comfort but as a reminder of how powerful honesty can be.
Here’s one of my favorite poems:
Hope
When everything around you
is falling apart,
remind yourself
that Hope is a magical place
where all implausible dreams
stop being impossible,
where all good powers
belong naturally to you,
where love,
self-confidence,
and peace
call your name out loud.
When everything around you
is falling apart,
remind yourself
that you can find refuge
in Hope,
in that magical,
invisible place
where you can go without a car
or a passport.
When everything around you
is falling apart,
remind yourself
that for moving on,
all you need is Hope.
And Hope is the name of a pure heart.
April is National Poetry Month, a month set aside to celebrate poetry and its vital place in our society. Launched by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, this month-long celebration has attracted millions of readers, students, teachers, librarians, booksellers, and poets.
Each Friday of April, I will share a favorite poetry collection.
Today’s pick is How to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons) by Barbara Kingsolver, a collection described as “reflections on the practical, the spiritual, and the wild.”
Having enjoyed reading Kingsolver’s novels, I was delighted to discover that she also writes poetry. In this collection, she explores everyday life with warmth and insight.
The book opens with a series of “how to” poems that range from the intimate—marriage and divorce—to the unexpected, like shearing a sheep or doing nothing at all. Her poem “How to Survive This” was featured in The New York Times during the pandemic.
The second set, “Pellegrinaggio,” follows a family trip to Italy with her mother-in-law. I could easily visualize the following scene in “On the Train to Sicily:”
“In a family compartment we take the long
road south, down the coast and across the channel
to the patria of her father. She is so tired.
We’ve lifted her onto the sill of this urbane clatter,
tucked ourselves in a cupboard of relative
peace, but now her small frame finds no resting
place on the great square seats. We offer
pillows, sips of water. She only says, Don’t worry.”
Next come four sets of poems about making peace (or not) with our families and friends, aging, grief, and mortality. The final set celebrates the natural world–ruthless ants, clever shellfish, coral reefs, haunting deserts, and ghost-flowers. While reading this set, I was reminded of Mary Oliver’s poems.
I recommend taking your time to read and reflect on each poem. Seven sets in seven days—one possibility. Or simply devour them in one or two gulps and then return to the ones that resonate most with you.
One of my favorites:
How to Do Absolutely Nothing
Rent a house near the beach, or a cabin
but: Do not take your walking shoes.
Don’t take any clothes you’d wear
anyplace anyone would see you.
Don’t take your rechargeables.
Take Scrabble if you have to,
but not a dictionary and no
pencils for keeping score.
Don’t take a cookbook
or anything to cook.
A fishing pole, ok
but not the line,
hook, sinker,
leave it all.
Find out
what’s
left.
April is National Poetry Month, a month set aside to celebrate poetry and its vital place in our society. Launched by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, this month-long celebration has attracted millions of readers, students, teachers, librarians, booksellers, and poets.
Today, and for the next two Fridays, I will share my favorite poetry collections.
Today’s selection, Instructions for Traveling West, has been described as “a lush debut collection that examines what happens when we leave home and leap into the unknown.”
A master wordsmith, Joy Sullivan possesses that rare ability to transform life’s most ordinary moments into dazzling poetry that brims with emotion and insight. I was impressed by her vivid imagery, fresh metaphors, and the threads of humor and compassion that run throughout the collection.
Underlying each poem is the importance of listening to our deepest desires and embracing the call to reinvent ourselves. This is something Sullivan understands very well. In the midst of the pandemic, she left the man she planned to marry, sold her house, quit her corporate job, and drove west.
These poems, with their deeply personal and universal relatable themes, will resonate with women at every age and stage of life. A must-read book for anyone seeking clarity, courage, or a spark of reinvention.
Here’s one of my favorite poems:
Giving Notice
One day soon, you’ll rise from your desk or quietly excuse yourself
from the meeting or turn the car around in the middle of the street.
Anything may trigger it. An open window. A sunny day in April.
Daffodils panting in a mason jar. Call it madness. Call it glorious
disappearance. Call it locomotion. Do what you should have done
years ago. Let your body out to pasture. Fill your calendar with
nothing but sky. Surrender to the woods. To cicadas and sap
beetles. To the moths, the color of memory and dream. Wear
dusk like an ancient cloak. Hurry—
there’s still time to creature—to pluck all the wild cloudberries
and carry them home. Even now, you can hear coyotes crying
at the canyon’s edge. Find your first fang. Grow back your hackles
and howl. This was always your chorus, the mother tongue, a feral
hymn you know by heart.
April is National Poetry Month, a month set aside to celebrate poetry and its vital place in our society. Launched by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, this month-long celebration has attracted millions of readers, students, teachers, librarians, booksellers, and poets.
Today, and for the next three Fridays, I will share my favorite poetry collections.
Today’s selection, All Along You Were Blooming, has been described as “a love letter from the poet to your heart, to your soul, and to your body.”
There is so much to like here, starting with the title and subtitle. These initial messages are reassuring, reminding us that we have been blooming for a while and that we can enrich our lives with “thoughts for boundless living.” I was also impressed by the striking colors and illustrations that accompany each piece of poetry and prose.
Morgan Harper Nichols—a multi-talented artist, musician, and poet—does more than create art. She also gives meaning to each season of our lives. Her work gently encourages us to live fully in the present moment and own our unique stories. Her backstory is an intriguing one. An introvert, she didn’t believe she could show up in the world. All that changed on a cold autumn day when Morgan took a deep breath and wrote an Instagram message to her followers. She invited them to share their stories, and one by one, she responded with a personalized poem, forging a deep and authentic connection with her audience.
Beautifully written and aesthetically pleasing, this book is a versatile gift for many occasions. Whether it’s for Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, or holidays, this collection will delight the poetry readers in your circle.
One of my favorite poems from the collection:
You find yourself
beneath a canopy of trees
with broken branches,
covered with moss tangled at your knees.
Rest assured
the forest does not crawl on forever,
But you must begin the journey
here.
For this is the time,
this is the time to come alive,
to walk tall with a beating heart
and wide-open midday eyes,
to surrender,
here in the green,
for you are still free
to travel free,
without knowing
everything,
humbly following the traces of daylight,
even though the path is unmarked,
even though this was not a favored start,
this is your only Hope
to make it through
precisely here,
pushing through the land of the unknown
you will find your home
in Hope.
So for now,
while you are here,
turn your attention
to the lessons of strength
this present forest offers.
Joanne Guidoccio 