HERE, WHERE I AM: 01/01/2011

Welcome to where I am, where my kitchen's always messy, a pot's (or a poet) always about to boil over, a dog is always begging to be fed. Drafts of poems on the counter. Windows filled with leaves. Wind. Clouds moving over the mountains. If you like poetry, books, and music--especially dog howls when a siren unwinds down the hill-- you'll like it here.

MY NEW AUTHOR'S SITE, KATHRYNSTRIPLINGBYER.COM, THAT I MYSELF SET UP THROUGH WEEBLY.COM, IS NOW UP. I HAD FUN CREATING THIS SITE AND WOULD RECOMMEND WEEBLY.COM TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN SETTING UP A WEBSITE. I INVITE YOU TO VISIT MY NEW SITE TO KEEP UP WITH EVENTS RELATED TO MY NEW BOOK.

MY NC POET LAUREATE BLOG, MY LAUREATE'S LASSO, WILL REMAIN UP AS AN ARCHIVE OF NC POETS, GRADES K-INFINITY! I INVITE YOU TO VISIT WHEN YOU FEEL THE NEED TO READ SOME GOOD POEMS.

VISIT MY NEW BLOG, MOUNTAIN WOMAN, WHERE YOU WILL FIND UPDATES ON WHAT'S HAPPENING IN MY KITCHEN, IN THE ENVIRONMENT, IN MY IMAGINATION, IN MY GARDEN, AND AMONG MY MOUNTAIN WOMEN FRIENDS.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

FIRST SUNSET OF 2011

O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend

The brightest heaven of invention,

W. Shakespeare, Henry V

As I stood at the kitchen sink, suddenly the world turned amber.

Or was it topaz?

The bare trees looked about to catch fire.

I sood on the soggy ground, shutter clicking, my socks soaking up the day's rain. (I had run out wearing only my bedroom scuffs.)

Everything seemed to go up in flames for a moment. My camera hand shook.

And then it was over. Time to go back to the kitchen and stir the chili pot, add more jalapeno, and hope for Shakespeare's "muse of fire" to visit me during the new year.