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Writings of Andrea W. LeDew
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Buy Now: Polemics: Political Poems & Prose
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This is the page to buy Polemics: Political Poems & Prose. The button will lead you to a universal link at Books2Read, from which you can choose your favorite vendor.
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So glad you have signed up to receive the For Random Learning Comes Newsletter! This is the one hundred and thirty-third edition.
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Big News! I will be having a reading (see announcement above) in Jacksonville at Happy Medium Books Cafe at Park and King in Riverside. It's on July 13th at 2 pm and as you can see from the second picture above, I will have actual books!
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I plan to have a book cover cake and a cheese tray and liquid refreshments at our house nearby, after the reading, for those interested.
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The 352-page paperback books are $22.99. I'll be able to take tap payments and chip cards for payment, unless the proprietor Dana chooses to do the money part herself. I have many boxes full of books besides this one, so I'm happy if you choose paper!
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(The e-book online is $4.99 normally and is at the moment on sale for $3.99, if price is a factor for you.) I have many boxes full besides this one, so I'm perfectly happy if you choose the paperback, but either way I hope you read it!
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What to expect at the reading
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I'd really love to see you at Happy Medium! If you enjoy having a signed copy, this will be your first --but I hope not your last--opportunity to get one. I will read probably around ten short pieces, so you'll really get a taste for what the book (which has 78 in all) is like.
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Feel free to bring your interested friends with you. But come early, because the venue is small, and my co-reader, Phoebe Mullis, will have her fans there, too.
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I have added a new Events and Readings Page to the site about upcoming events so everything is easy to find. Help me fill up this page!
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If you can think of someone who might have an interest in holding an event or who has a podcast or radio program or other venue, where I can be interviewed, read from the book, or do a signing, please put in a good word for me.
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For good measure, and for those who need a little convincing, I also now have a Publications Page. This lists the places where my poems have been published and my short stories selected for reading. My About page says a lot about my background, too. For the person who wonders "Who is this chick?"
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I think this book will be helpful to those who are very well informed of recent current events, and also to those whose memories are a little fuzzy. It brings up not-so-fond memories and also fills in the blanks, if you weren't paying attention, at the time, or were just too young. If you have any friends like that, please forward this newsletter!
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Like any author, I hope to get my book into as many hands as possible. And with the news getting more troubling each day, sooner might be better!
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I recently published one new piece for you on my blog, which is called Bootstraps. You will find it at the top of the blogroll below. It's a complaint in essay form about the state of disability services, and our family's experience with them recently. It compares them, in their measure of cruelty and inhumanity, to immigration services, or the lack thereof, these days.
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I really did try to not be too negative, but the Big Beautiful Bill had just passed, so there wasn't much to celebrate.
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This has been an active week, getting ready for my July 13th reading. I did a little practice run on the Fourth at an open mic at Solune Coffee, near CORK in Jacksonville, on the suggestion of my writer friend, Maxwell, who helps run it. The theme of the evening was "Protest," and boy, did people deliver.
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They also had cute shoutouts, that they yeledl at the writer, as the writer commented about their pieces. One that they chorused, as I shared the price of my book, was "That's practically free!"
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I got to read an older poem, Provincial, ("Old sh*t!") about an uncaring suburban housewife during Black Lives Matter, and a recent one, called The Ruins of Paradise, ("New sh*t!") where I compare our country's current state to a garden, as it approaches Midsummer in Florida, and almost everything has begun to show signs of imminent collapse. But we're not quite there, yet.
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The only poem I read from Polemics: Political Poems & Prose was Dominate, which is about the storming of Lafayette Park with mounted police, in Trump's first term, during Black Lives Matter and in the thick of Covid.
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My book is still available both as e-book and in print (though the cover is not showing, for print--don't worry, it's identical) at most of the following sites.
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I'll try to work on my Books2Read link soon, to put buttons up explicitly for print books. On most sites, you can find the print book listed on at the same page as the e-book, and just click through.
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Amazon, Apple, Baker& Taylor, Barnes & Noble, BorrowBox, cloudLibrary, Everand, Fable, Gardners, Kobo, Odilo, Overdrive, Smashwords, Thalia.de and Vivlio. Australian, French and German bookstores are included in this list!
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It's print on demand, so I'm not sure how long it takes to ship. Let me know what you experience.
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If you have a favorite bookstore, as many of us do, you may want to patronize it exclusively. I would love that! I do love to support independent bookstores.
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All you need to do is ask if they can order the book for you! Chances are, they can. If you see my book on any shelves in a bookstore or library, please send me a photo! It is every author's dream come true.
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Please drop me an email in reply if you have any questions or want to give me any feedback. Or you can always contact me through the contact form on my Contact Page.
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Still no progress on my novel, sorry. I think I'll feel more at ease when the Happy Medium reading is done.
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Thanks to those who have ordered the book already, or are planning to. Looking forward to your impressions and reviews. Send your review to me via the contact form or return email, or post it on your site of choice, but please send me a link so I see it! Reviews are gold! Any serious critiques I'd love to here about privately. Thanks!
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All the best and hope you had a Happy Fourth, despite it all.
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So glad you have signed up to receive the For Random Learning Comes Newsletter! This is the one hundred and thirty-third edition.
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Big News! I will be having a reading in Jacksonville in mid July, and would really love to see those of you who can come. If you like getting a signed copy, this will be your first --but I hope not your last--opportunity.
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I will try to add a page to the site about upcoming events so everything is easy to find. Bring your interested friends too! More details as soon as I can divulge them!
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I recently published one new piece for you on my blog, which is called Why Publish Polemics and Why Now? It's first in the list of posts, down below the newsy part of this newsletter. The post talks about my rush to publish, spurred on my national events, and also about watching Good Night and Good Luck with George Clooney, a live broadcast of the Broadway play on CNN. You can judge, whether I interpret either event correctly. But both reality and fiction seem to portend a worrisome future.
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This has been an active week on social media if no where else, for me. The care and maintenance of a newly published book is much like the care and maintenance of a group of tomato plants, planted much too close together and growing into a kind of forest, as June stretches into July, in a land much too hot for most plants, not to mention people.
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As the garden calls for my attention in this inclement 90-plus-degree weather, so too does the blue screen with its many bells and whistles. In addition, this was the highly anticipated week of the great #NoKingsDay rallies, paired by fate and circumstance with the celebration of the birth of the Continental Army and of our President, both.
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The day before the rally, I received my rather patriotic-looking print proof of Polemics: Political Poems and Prose, or PPPP, as I like to call it, especially when weary of too much typing.
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This was a joyous occasion to be celebrated with an unboxing video. This video can be found on my social media, at Andrea W LeDew, Author on Facebook and @andrealedew most everywhere else. Please follow me there!
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I also made for social media a short video reading of my poem "Lunatic," which is about a wannabe king. It was written in response to Trump's comment about the judge being a lunatic, in one his umpteen cases, the one about an immigrant deported to El Salvador without due process.
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Following this dizzying no kings weekend, I cannot get out of my head the song, sung in the Broadway Musical Hamilton by George the Third, as a declaration of his love for his naughty colonies. Love which he would gladly prove, at the point of a gun.
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As the parade day in D.C. got closer, things got hotter in Los Angeles, with sloppy and flagrant ICE raids bringing protesters to the streets, in opposition. This, and a few cars on fire (the fact, that they happened to be driverless and made by a nonpreferred brand is perhaps irrelevant) allowed our President the opportunity for some saber-rattling.
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Our Florida governor and local law enforcement quickly echoed this sentiment, most memorably with threats of making violent protesters "graveyard dead." It seems that everyone was braced for violence, and considered it an almost inevitable consequence of so many people assembling, in the course of the No Kings Day rallies.
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Early Saturday, the threats of violence materialized as an attack on two legislators from Minnesota and their spouses was revealed. One couple was killed, while the other remained in hospital, while the gunman was still on the loose.
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The method, involving a man masquerading as a cop, seemed particularly despicable. Then as the icing on the cake, the spin on the story, said it was clearly a Democrat doing the shooting, upset about one legislator's support of harsher treatment of immigrants.
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Of course, later in the day, a manifesto and other evidence revealed the far right agenda of yet another senseless white male, engaging in a senseless shooting, inspired perhaps by prochoice policies of both legislators.
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The list of additional targets, left behind in the suspect's car, seemed engineered, all by itself, to inspire fear. Prominent people, such as potential VP Tim Walz, were on it, as well as the No Kings Rally itself, an eventuality which is terrible to contemplate.
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Despite this rocky start, the protests went on peacefully as planned. The Presidential Parade was equally uneventful, if soggier, and somewhat less inspiring.
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It has been delightful to see all the clever signs that have popped up in my feed. I did not make it to a rally myself, but I have it on good authority that the one in Jax was peaceful and well-attended. It was very gratifying to see that people are paying attention, even with such a red political haze clouding our vision here, so much of the time.
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Here in my own home, we endured a type of violence, one in a string of unfortunate accidents, in which one household item or another gets destroyed. We have been looking for a solution to the problem of intermittent, out of control temper tantrums for some time, and we may have found at least a temporary treatment. Hopefully, this will help to make our lives a little less eventful and somewhat less costly in that department. I think I speak for everyone when I say, we could all use a little more calm these days.
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One of my favorite parts of receiving a copy of the printed book was reading the dedication aloud to my husband. I had kept the text secret from him. He reacted just as I had hoped he would. Let me know what you think of it.
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I went ahead and approved the proof as-is ,and ordered some books for my own uses, which will be coming in a few weeks. By the time they get here, the print edition should be available at many sites on the internet.
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(Amazon, Apple, Baker& Taylor, Barnes & Noble, BorrowBox, cloudLibrary, Everand, Fable, Gardners, Kobo, Odilo, Overdrive, Smashwords, Thalia.de and Vivlio. Australian, French and German bookstores are included in this list!)
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Once it's up, you can order your copy by using the same link Books2Read.com/polemics or simply by typing in my name or the title of my book Polemics: Political Poems & Prose into the search bar of your favorite site. It's print on demand, so I'm not sure how long it takes to ship. Let me know what you experience.
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If you have a favorite bookstore, as many of us do, you may want to patronize it exclusively. I would love that! I do love to support independent bookstores. All you need to do is ask if they can order the book for you! Chances are they can. If you see my book on any shelves in a bookstore or library, please send me a photo! It is every author's dream come true.
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Please drop me an email in reply if you have any questions or want to give me any feedback.
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Still no progress on my novel, sorry. Too many butterflies to concentrate, at the moment.
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I did hear back from the local zine publisher called CityBusPrint, to whom I sent some poems. I made it into Edition No. 4! They will be showcasing this, their latest edition, at DCAZ (Duval Comic and Zine event) at the Public Library downtown Jacksonville, June 21st from 11-5. Do try to stop by. Many of my favorite local writers will be tabling there, including Damon Thomas, Nicole Zwolinski, Maxwell, and many others I'm forgetting.
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Thanks to those who have ordered the book already or plan to. And remember, libraries probably have my book in their catalogs too, if purchasing is too much to ask! Either way the book benefits! Looking forward to your impressions and reviews.
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So Close and Yet So Far
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This essay discusses the Semiquincentennial celebration and compares it with Fourths of Years gone by.
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Drawing
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A poem on redistricting, the drawing of new districts to serve the ruling party's political purposes, with the blessing of the Supreme Court and with enthusiasm unchecked by either the people's will nor the State's Constitutional provisions.
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Attempt
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A poem describing the swirling emotions on and offline provoked by the attempted assassination of President Trump at the dinner for the press. Caveat: I do not doubt the attempt on his life was real. P.S. The photo is an attempt at beauty.
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Approaching May 1st, 2026, Anniversary of The Great Fire, Jacksonville, FL
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A poem about a very dry spring in Florida which calls to mind the terrible fire which consumed Jacksonville early in the 20th century.
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Smiles
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This poem analyzes the loss of reputation of the US in the eyes of its closest allies, and the attitude it projects, about that loss.
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Bread and Butter
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This poem is a response to the claim by politicians, that "bread and butter" issues are the most important ones to the most people. It questions whether that is true, and whether fixing other issues might cause people to focus less on mere survival.
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Doubt & Definitions, 3 am, Ancient City
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A poem about doubt and definitions at 3 am in the Ancient City of St Augustine while mulling over a glorious day of PoetFest 2026. Written with the utmost affection for those, for whom poetry and writing in general, is not their first love, but who listen to us writers anyway.
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Hostages
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A poem describing two incidents where presidents were called upon to rescue "hostages" with very different outcomes.
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Raven
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A poem nearly as dire as Poe's own Raven, pointing out the attraction of such birds to shiny objects. By Andrea LeDew.
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Democracy is Slow
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A poem in which Technology is likened to mice and Democracy is likened to a slow, hibernating bear.
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