By Magdalena Ball and Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Genre: Poetry chapbook/women/Women'sDay/feminism/Mother's Day
ISBN: 9781461159384
Publisher: The Compulsive Reader
Available on Amazon Kindle and Amazon (as paperback)
$6.95
From Gilda Evans' blog Girl Talk
I am honored to have as a guest on my blog the very talented Carolyn Howard-Johnson. Her books have earned her multiple awards, including the Best Book Award from USA Book News, the Diamond Award for Achievement in the Arts from the city of Glendale and Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment from the California State Legislature. She imparts her wisdom in many formats – I am pleased to present one of her poems from her collection titled “Deeper in the Pond: A Celebration of Femininity.”
Enjoy the reflections and humor of my esteemed guest, Carolyn!
Breakthrough for a Sexagenarian
In my Tangee years, Seventeen advised I apply makeup
with an upward motion, toil fingers from chin
to cheekbone. We likely didn’t know the word collagen.
Gravity
we had known since Newton. That it would work
its weighty purpose on me, well, no one bothered
to tell me . . .
I, about 30, surprised that an elder-friend
had not shampooed for a week. Another friend
elbows my ribs, gives me a look.
Later says (hushed at the secret), Didn’t you know
that old peoples’ scalps dry up. No, no one ever bothered to tell me . . .
That was scalps. This is jowls. Now on the origami
packet in my Estée Lauder box of rejuvenating cream,
the same directional arrows Seventeen espoused,
(much too late for the anti part of anti-aging cream)
fingers massaging up, up to keep time
in its place.
I’m told fingers are more sensitive than other body
parts, still doubt magic fingerlifts vanish crows’ feet, wonder, though, if they could—would—work on drying labial petals.
No one ever said that, but I’ve learned if I don’t figure
it out for myself, no one will ever
tell me.
In my acne days, lotions pooled in oily
patches I cottoned away.
In the Pond’s Cold Cream
decade when, to combat drying affects,
I left grease shiny—thick enough to slick
my pillow cases.
There a hint.
That and fallen leaves skittering across my lawn,
so dry they sing a song before they crumble into sand. Very nearly too late to do much with this new-found wisdom—this trifle: If there is something I need to know (but really don’t want to know), no one can tell me
one damn thing.
MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
“Deeper in the Pond” is available on Amazon at http://budurl.com/DeeperPond
Carolyn can be reached at -
The Frugal Book Promoter: http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo
/ Web site: http://www.HowToDoItFrugally.com
/ E-mail: CarolynHowardJ@AOL.com
/ Facebook: http://Facebook.com/carolynhowardjohnson
/ Twitter: http://Twitter.com/FrugalBookPromo
/ Pinterest: http://Pinterest.com/chowardjohnson
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor.
