LatinosUSA

• Do you think poetry is back in fashion?

Poetry is like fashion.  
Styles, cyclical
Fabrics, change
Honest expressions
Meets a need
Makes a statement
Reflects the times

• Is your poetry created daily, or do you wait to be inspired to write it?

DAILY, since January 17, 2025 as a member of the current Stafford Challenge Community cohort.

The challenge is to write a poem-a-day for a year.  Here is today’s post:

114.  May 10, 2025

Vivian’s Family

No matter how tightly the letters are squeezed together,
  time has shown there’s always room for one more member.
We don’t know now if he’ll actually become kin, on much that does depend,
  but we’ll always remember May 9, 2025 when he asked you, “Can I be your boyfriend?”

• What is your next publishing project? Could you tell us how it came about?

My first book of poetry, Sixty-seven Pages from the Heart, was self-published. My Muse and I are discussing the wisdom of a second by a small press.This thought catapulted to the top of our Wish List on Thursday, May 8th when I participated in The Stafford-sponsored Guest Editor Series w/ Diane Goettel: A Deep Dive into Small Press Publishing.

• What city do you live in, and can you describe your favorite bar or café?

I live in Ruskin, FL (USA). In the heart of our city is a gem of a restaurant and Martini Bar, Joia. It’s no surprise, Joia means joy or jewel!  What a welcoming place with the ambiance for gathering on date night, savoring a margarita or mimosa, and karaoking my favorite 60s and 70s ‘jams’ courtesy of a traveling troubadour, i.e., a DJ with Bluetooth!

The Puzzle-Maker by Suzanne S. Austin-Hill

The Puzzle-Maker created my life…
A unique and colorful picture fixed in the ever-flowing span of time.
Only He knows what my completed picture looks like. 
For all eternity, He’s cut portrayals into an unknown number of
   irregularly-shaped, often unrecognizable, jigsaw pieces.
Each piece is cut perfectly, precisely and exactly.
With little or no transitions.
There are no harbingers.
No advance warnings.
No colors or experiences that signal that any one piece will definitely connect to another.
Then the Puzzle-Maker placed all of my life’s pieces in a box with no guiding picture on the top.
The challenge, from the moment I took my first breath, has been to work with the Puzzle-Maker.
The title He gave my box was vague,
   subject to (mis)interpretation. So He gifted me with Himself
   and earthly guides –
   family, friends,
   teachers,
   neighbors, and even strangers to assist me in putting my puzzle together.
Now, the thrill of each day is awakening to His promise
   that more and more of His picture of me, 
   and less and less of my self-portrait, 
   will emerge from that plain ol’ box.

Notes: 1. Florida State Poets Association, Inc.
                2017 Annual Poetry Contest                 
                Certificate of Merit  
                Jane Opel Memorial Award						
            2. Florida State Poets Association, Inc.
                CADENCE 2019,  p.87

Author Biography

Suzanne S. Austin-Hill, Ph.D., is a retired, internationally recognized mathematics educator who freely expresses her more soulful self as a poet. She has written hundreds of poems, some of which have received contest and award recognitions on the local, state, and national levels.  Suzanne is particularly proud of pieces published in LifestylesAFTER50, The Sandhill Review, Of Poets & Poetry, and CADENCE (both sponsored by the Florida State Poets Association) and by Chewers by Masticadores, MasticadoresUSA, LatinosUSA, and MasticadoresCanada).  Her first book of poetry, “Sixty-seven pages from the Heart,” is a testimony to her belief that poetry is an ointment, an elixir, and a tonic that pours out from the heart.

For more on Suzanne:
https://bamwrites.blogspot.com/2024/08/42-stories-anthology-presents-suzanne-s.html

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