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So glad you have signed up to receive the For Random Learning Comes Newsletter! This is the one hundred and twenty-first edition.
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This being the last night of the year, I wanted to get my newsletter out while the fireworks are still popping outside. I hope you have had a wonderful holiday season and are full of the energy and verve necessary to face all the unknown unknowns of a new year.
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This time I have a few new poems for you. The first is called Serendipity, and has to do with accepting all the ups and downs of life as all part of a big, beautiful ride.
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It is addressed to mothers, specifically, but I'm sure most people go through an evaluation of their existence at some point, and usually come to the conclusion that everything turned out all right in the end, after all. The definition of serendipity, by the way, is making fortunate discoveries by accident, and being open to the possibility of doing so.
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The second poem is called Immortality and is exceedingly simple. I got the inspiration from a post where someone used the line "rhythmic tread." I thought the phrase really encapsulated the hypnotic feel of a walk outdoors, and the rhythm of the poem mimics the sound of those steps.
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Despite the holidays, I did manage to add nearly two thousand words to my novel, which has now broken 67,000 at 67,654 words. It is a bit easier to write now, since I have listed the scenes that I know the novel still lacks. But it seems the more I write, the further away from the goalpost I get. A scene that seems simple in synopsis grows exponentially, as soon as I set it down in paragraph form.
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I see a lot of people this week, charting their accomplishments blog-wise over the course of 2024. That caused me to look a bit more carefully at my stats. My blog has been around since 2015 in some form, and my visitor count has stayed pretty steady over the past three years.
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My top posts of all time mostly date from my participation in 2018-2022 in a flash fiction community that met online once a week to write and share 100-word stories (and sometimes poems.)
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My essay A Literary Citizen which I wrote in 2023 remains the "highest grossing" post, outside of my flash fiction, in terms of visitors.
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My best attended pieces of 2024 are the following, with links down further below):
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- Amelia Island Book Festival (About a local book convention)
- First At Last (About Kamala Harris being the first woman to win the Democratic Nomination)
- Fortunately, Unfortunately (About good and bad things happening during the week of the St Augustine Poetry Fest)
- The Corner (About waiting for Hurricane Milton to arrive in Florida)
- Private ( About poets wanting to keep their poetry private and how that can make the people close to them feel)
- The Measure of a Man (About the things we should take into consideration when choosing someone for elected office)
- Office Job (About writing poetry as an occupation or preoccupation)
- Gray Galleons (About the prospect of two tottering old men facing off in a presidential contest, written before Biden stepped down)
- Florid: In Defense of Flowery Language (an essay on writing and how much is lost, when we insist too much, upon brevity and clarity)
- The next post in line I have since "unpublished," since it turns out I was misinformed. This proves that it is always best to do your research thoroughly, before hitting publish. Oh well.
These posts are all below if you care to read them. The newest five are at the bottom of the stack.
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Hope you have had a lovely holiday season. I will try to check in again in a week or two. See you next year!
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If you know of anyone else who might be interested in receiving this newsletter, please forward it to them. They can sign up on my website, linked in the logo above, if they like it! The more the merrier!
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This blogpost talks about the many aspects of literary citizenship, or ways to support writers near you.
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Florid: In Defense of Flowery Language
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This essay defends the practice of putting abundant description or flowery language in fiction, and decries the modern tendency to issue rules that result in paring down our writing to within an inch of its life.
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This poem tries to capture the uncertainty of current events as two old gray vessels prepare to do battle like ancient galleons.
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This far from serious poem describes one of the most delightful of office jobs: writing verse.
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This poem lists the attributes by which we might measure a person's presence, character, goodness or integrity, some attributes being more superficial than others.
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A poem on poets wanting to keep their poetry private, and in doing so, making those around them feel excluded.
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This poem awaits the coming of Hurricane Milton in October 2024. It plays upon the notion that Florida stands in the lower right corner of the continental US.
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Fortunately, Unfortunately
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This post talks about the St Augustine PoetFest going on April 11-13, 2024 and how difficult it can be to choose between activities in our lives.
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A timely poem, marking the entrance of Vice President Kamala Harris onto the presidential stage, as President Joe Biden bows out of the race.
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Amelia Island Book Festival Weekend
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This post tells about a girls' weekend at the Amelia Island Book Festival, February 23-24, 2024.
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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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