eight penny day

 

This morning I found four pennies in
our driveway. This afternoon at work
I found four pennies in the melted snow.
You could almost make a living that way.

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the happy writer

Here's the frontispiece
of a book I'm mending
at the library.

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Saint in the Library

Saint Lemonade is in the Current Display at
the library. Someone even has it checked out!
Hopefully it will soon be in a library near you.

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snow bow

The snow is melting, and so
here goes the last bow of the
snow man on the patio.
C'est la vie.

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jon klassen

I've been enjoying Jon Klassen's books

THIS IS NOT MY HAT and

I WANT MY HAT BACK and

especially the book he made with Ted Kooser

THE HOUSE HELD UP BY TREES

Poet Ted Kooser wrote one of my 

favorite books LOCAL WONDERS

which I'm excited to recall is 

constructed in seasons as my next

book is too. It's an old Haiku way

to make a book.

 

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ornithology

on a windy day
the seagulls are up
using the sky
to find garbage

*This poem was rejected by
Heroic Seagull Digest

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promotion

I don't have anyone like The Colonel to help me promote
SAINT LEMONADE, but I have a list of 26 libraries to
mail flyers to. It's a start, I reckon...
That reminds me, one of these days I'll post my
little book called ELVIS 42. That might have been
the first self-published book I made. I still remember
the horror of going into a bookstore and asking if
they could sell it. Where was The Colonel then??

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tooth fairy

Our son just lost a loose tooth.
This is a poem I wrote a few teeth ago.
I think the tooth fairy is starting to run
out of ideas...

The Tooth Fairy

Get dressed
drive the car
to the grocery store
the only place open
at this late hour
so in the morning
our son will reach
under his pillow
excited to find
an avacado

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mural reminder

By the way, regular readers may remember
this post from last summer:

http://allenfrostlibrary.blogspot.com/2013/06/2-murals.html

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E, or 3

This is the E from a local hotel sign.
I took this picture last summer when
I was thinking of cover images for
SAINT LEMONADE. Instead,
I kept driving downtown and
stopped along Chestnut Street
to photograph the Herald building.
Still, it's a great E and as you'll see
plays an important role in the book.

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mike's message

I heard from the great artist and
friend Michael Paulus, who made
the cover for SAINT LEMONADE.
I sent him two copies and he replied:
"arrival today in the portland snow drifts.
It is splendid!...will curl up with my
invisible dog and read by the fireplace."

Mike and I met long ago and
have many projects together.
This is a reminder of our fateful
Super-8 movie, CARUSO:

http://allenfrostlibrary.blogspot.com/2012/12/caruso-returns.html

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larry's letter

I got a message from the great
Ohio poet and publisher Larry Smith.
(Last week I mailed him a copy of
SAINT LEMONADE):

"We've been passing your book around
in the cold Ohio...we alternate between
watching tv and periods of reading and
work. I'm so pleased with the way the
drawings fit in with the writing...and the
writing is so light and smooth. It really
sings. Good work all around...thanks..."

Larry also included this image from
Kenneth Patchen:

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