lcrwpres Author's examples

A Birthday Poem for Jacob

By Sue Spitulnik

Music. The universal language.

When there’s a beat, toes tap and bodies sway.

It can be fast and exciting, evoke feelings of loneliness,

Or have an air of peace and tranquility.

Animals even surround a singer with a guitar

I’ve watched it happening on a video.

Music. It’s one reason I met my husband

He wanted a dance partner

We could fill an empty floor

Just the two of us doing an old fashioned swing

Usually during the dinner hour

When the DJ played the crooner’s songs

Music. We sing along when alone in the car

And it takes us away from our today

People clean house to it

Surgeons operate to it

Children wiggle their bodies and butts

Grinning while being the center of attention

Music, the universal language

Aging backs took away our dance steps

So we enjoy listening, sitting near the band

In bars like the Spirit Room.

It brought us here, it’s why we come back

Well that and the birthday boy

Music is one of Jake’s things

He has a marvelous set of pipes

Everyone should get to hear at least once

Plus he makes a wickedly good cocktail

That might include an eyeball

And he writes poetry much better than so many others

Music, has brought us many new friends

Those who play it and those who listen

Some we’ve grown very close to and

Others are acquaintances in the crowd

Music, is alive in Rochester. It’s a big deal

And in so many locations

Sometimes we choose by the venue’s menu

Because our favorites are giging the same night

Music brings us together

By genre, talent, acoustically and otherwise

The stories that are sung

Could be yours or mine

Full of protest or gospel understanding

Patriotic even, the result is the same

It’s a way to share the reality of life

Music continues to be

Everywhere, All the time    

Happy birthday, Jacob

lcrwpres Author's examples

We Have a Winner

I’ll let Nicole share her good news. Please take the time to read her story. You will find that she’s very clever about “writing outside the box,” and you will understand what it takes to win a contest. Besides, her writing is awesome! Congratulations, Nicole.

“Happy New Year! I wanted to share that I won a writing contest. I discovered this site through Reedsy. They have quarterly writing contests that are modeled after athletic competitions where the stories compete in individual duels. You also get to be a judge for other genres.  Here is the link to my story and interview. Past Winners | Writing Battle

Nicole Galbraith”

lcrwpres Author's examples

Happy New Year

The older I get, the faster the time goes. I know you’ve heard that before. I’m not sure why it feels that way, but it does. Lilac City Rochester Writers has closed out another year of presentations, peer critiques, and our annual year-end pot-luck gathering. I feel it has been a year of growth, knowledge expansion, and good writing.

Personally, I joined a fourth writing group; Women Writing the West. I mention it because soon after joining, I went on a music cruise where I met an artist who is married to a full-blood Houma Native American. Because of the author/speaker I met through WWW, I knew about the tribe he mentioned. You should have seen his eyes light up when I knew where his wife was from. The point of this verse. One can expand their knowledge of life while they expand the craft of writing by belonging to multiple groups. I recommend it. I’ve added a 99-word flash piece that I wrote to demonstrate a story spine.

My Networking Reality      by Sue Spitulnik

As a girl, I dreamed of being an author.

But, after high school, I became a military wife writing letters home instead of a novel.

Years later, I started a blog. An avid reader from South Africa discovered it and led me to Carrot Ranch.

I enjoyed a Charli-led retreat in Vermont and became friends with another author who introduced me to Women Writing the West.

After a WWW conference where I heard Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer speak, I met an artist on the Big Easy Cruise whose eyes lit up because I knew about Houma and Choctaw Native Americans.

lcrwpres Author's examples

Window Star

By S. Arthur Yates

Resplendent, they appear.

Strangers, unwelcome.

Polite, always polite.

Strangers, unwelcome.

Details few, words hollow.

Strangers, unwelcome.

Notification – complete.

Strangers, unwelcome.

The drape arrives later.

Strangers, unwelcome.

Blue star to gold.

Strangers unwelcome

Do you know what a window star signifies?  A blue star is placed in the window when a loved one goes to war.  If they are missing in action, the star is changed to silver.  If they die, it is changed to gold. 

lcrwpres Author's examples

  Rochester

by Sally Valentine

Rochester lives for lilac time

when Spring finally gives Winter the boot and

Highland Park develops from black and white

into frames of color.

She’s been silently preparing for weeks

for her yearly Open House,

the biggest splash of the New York festival season.

Dressed not just in purple,

but also white, pink and blue with

pansy accents and rhododendron accessories,

she’s ready to dazzle.

Admirers come from miles around and

Suitors parade back and forth

simply to pay homage to her beauty,

hoping to be favored with a smile

she has reserved for them alone.

But heed this hard earned warning:

Just one whiff of her perfume can be intoxicating,

filling one’s head with ideas of

picnics and poems,

castles and creampuffs,

fables and ferries.

Draw close at your own risk.

It’s a rare man who can resist her charms.