Smyrna Beach
a photo-poem
by Elisavietta Ritchie
Lisa and Clyde's venture to New Smyrna Beach, "...Keep dreaming!"
...get inspired! December 2016
...get inspired! August 2016
...get inspired!
July 2016
...get inspired!
June 2016
...get inspired!
May 2016
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| Composer David Owens has transformed poems from Elisavietta's Raking the Snow into exciting classical music scored for piano and mezzo-soprano. Now on CD available from Albany Records – catalogue number TROY 1506 and on Amazon.com |
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Elisavietta's book, Tiger Upstairs on Connecticut Avenue was officially published in September 2013
"...reading some of her poems is akin to watching a wick sizzle down on a firecracker..." read more from Scott Whittaker's review here.
ISBN 9781625490292
and on Amazon.com |
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Feathers, or Love on the Wing, a team effort with Megan Richard, artist, and Suzanne Shelden, artist and book designer. Suzanne superimposed Elisavietta's bird poems on Megan's bird paintings in ingenious ways to create a beautiful four-color chapbook. Now in its second printing, the book is available on Amazon.com, at art galleries around Southern Maryland, and can be ordered from Shelden Studios, PO Box 3221, Prince Frederick, MD 20678. |
Dear Ones,
I know you imagine us sunbathing on the sand, lolling in hot tubs in luxurious resort hotels, idling in the many bars and nibbling lotus flowers and biking over the dunes...Keep dreaming!
Alas, though New Year's Day in New Smyrna Beach was warm enough to swim in the pool and Clyde dipped in the surf until after a torrential monsoon this morning, for a few hours this afternoon the sun appeared and was warm, the rest of the weather has more often been rainy and chill and we have been working day and night on the penultimate "final" stages of our books...
Backtracking to a challenging drive south, then the three nights in a no-frills motel on the main Dixie Highway in New Smyrna Beach: Clyde, expecting luxury, was miserable about the "simplicity" thereof and could not sleep for the traffic which began at 6 a.m. So his insomnia colored everything. Then we finally were able to spend one night at the excellent Best Western with a balcony right over the beach.
Now we are in a beautifully appointed AIRB&B on the grounds of an old estate which is now a B&B (currently no guests till the Nascar weeks begin in February) a half hour northward in a quiet neighborhood in Daytona Beach a block from the river and some five blocks to the beach.
Until yesterday, the town seemed almost deserted and rundown. Kirk and Sara spent a long weekend here, and produced and treated us to gourmet meals stocked the larder and found plenty to explore.
The main noise is the whistle of a train which shrills and toots night and day just across the river. Except for this, which does wake us occasionally, from the first night Clyde has slept relatively well, so much so that while we picked up the super Rozerem pills for which Chris went to much trouble to get a local Walmart to order, these are for the moment on the shelf though he expects to need them when he retrieves the old anxieties as we return north.
We did rent bikes right away, Clyde a two-wheeler which he finds great to ride on the hard sand at low tide. I rented the only adult trike in town and a monster. While on Sanibel and in Sarasota I was zooming all over on rusty but light-weight trikes, this one is so monstrously heavy and the seat slipped down so that the first day out — while I did not entirely fall off —my legs are black and blue with open wounds because of which Clyde insists I give up biking until I find shin guards, and I cannot yet go in the hot tub. So I merely attach my yesterday's photos.
Otherwise, Clyde and I have both spent every moment on our respective manuscripts, except for an hour a day hiking on the so far beautiful but until yesterday chilly windy beach.
And barely had we move in than when sudden monumental pain hit the left lower molar, so two days we spent tracking down dentists too busy to see me and driving from one end of this long skinny town between Oral Surgery and Dr. Rosenburg's Root Canals to the Publix where we got Amoxicillin free. Now I am relying on Aleve, which keeps the pain at bay, and hope this will keep me until I have to make some big decision. I am too busy to do so.
Clyde seems to have done all he can on his opus magnum, including the photos and captions, until University of Missouri press returns the penultimate version and he has to worry about typos and footnotes. Now he is struggling with the log-line and "treatment" for his screenplay aborning.
Finally I can do no more fine-tuning the "final" manuscript of my new book BABUSHKA'S BEADS: A GEOGRAPHY OF GENES. Richard Harteis, the publisher, overnighted here and we worked over it (not an easy procedure). I actually have formatted most of the book myself. Now it is up to Richard to finalize the job, but he has just broken his elbow so it will take longer.
So, having made some deadlines including submitting my new collection of short stories (all of which have already been published individually in one or another journal), I am about to go in to organizing the next collection-in-progress. But there are always the banal quotidian tasks such as laundry, and paying bills — tasks which keep us humble. As you may have noticed.
ASAP today we will head to what is at last a sunny and warm beach--
Love to all
Lisa
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News and pictures from 2016
December 2016
Book Launch
A tentative date has been set for Saturday, 21 January, 12 noon for the Southern Maryland launch of my book about art and poetry, Reflections, published by Poet's Choice. The location will be calvART Gallery. Please take a look at the press release for this the latest of my books. Read here!
Reflections, Paintings and Poems from a Poet's Gallery by Elisavietta Ritchie launched by Poets Choice Publishing and the William Meredith Foundation-first copies even before the Writer's Center Book Fair 17 December noon-five --maybe by our workshop --
Several of our local Calvert county artists in here with the Impressionists and others from the National Gallery
Big book fair Saturday December 17, 2016 The Writerí Center, 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, Admission free. Contact 301-654-8664
October 2016
Natalie Babbitt, Author of 'Tuck Everlasting,' Dies at 84
By SAM ROBERTS, NOV. 1, 2016; read Roberts' article here
| TIMBOT was a book which was my first collaboration with Natalie Babbitt, who created the wonderful line drawings. |
click me |
Authors' Day: Saturday October 29, 9 am - 2 pm! Calvert Library, 410-535-0291; also another Authors' Day same day, Legends Club, Waldorf, Blue Crabs Stadium; 240-545-5594
Dozens of authors, including several best-selling authors, will be at Calvert Library Prince Frederick from 9am to 2pm. Readings & presentations by many of the authors throughout that time. A great opportunity to collect autographs and expand your reading horizons. Elisavietta Ritchie has a table and will be reading briefly at 1:30 pm.
Newly published one of my poems in
"The Poetry of Flowers"
The Poetry of Flowers: Selected Internal Poets: 9781539511069: Amazon.com: Books
The Poetry of Flowers anthology is a worldwide appreciation of the beauty and mystique of the humble flower and garden. Poets from America, Canada, England, Holland, India, Malta, Nepal, Norway, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela have all offered their admiration, displaying a wide range of interpretation in their love, affection, and relationships with the world of flora.
Flowers are well known to have many different symbolisms, the red rose is often connoted with stories of love, whilst the red of the poppy offers hope and prosperity in light of death. In many cultures, flowers such as the lily are used to symbolise life and resurrection, associating with the sun; in fact, most, if not all flowers will have meaning to someone, somewhere – be it a cultural association, or a personal story. This anthology is a beautiful, sensitive celebration of our relationship with flowers. The following poets are featured in The Poetry of Flowers Sheikha A. Kimmy Alan Jasmine Allen Dr Nicole Antoine Donna Barkman Lana Bella Mary Bone Debbi Brody Lissie Bull Wanda Morrow Clevenger Mariela Cordero Philip Dodd Fathima E.V. Kaitlyn Fox Mark Frank Cleveland W. Gibson Ingrid Gjelsvik Norbert Gora Kristyl Gravina Carol Lynn Grellas Eric Harvey Debbie Johnson Wendy Joseph Tim Kahl Kaikasi V.S. Linda Kraus Richard Krawiec Alicja Kuberska John Lambremont Sr. Joan Leotta Indunil Madhusankha Joan McNerney Ian Mole Duncan Morris Ceri Naz Ashraf V. Nediyanad Bozena Helena Mazur-Nowak Afzal Nusker Amy S. Pacini Grace Pasco Priya Patel Akshaya Pawaskar P.J. Reed Elisavietta Ritchie Elspeth C. Ritchie Bethany Rivers Vincent Van Ross Ceo Ruaírc Miriam Sagan Neethu Sasikumar Don Schaeffer Sunil Sharma Eleanor Sivins Dennis Trujillo Bhisma Upreti Sylvia Riojas Vaughn Lita Verella Marion de Vos John Ward Robert West Heidi Willson Abigail Wyatt
September 2016
Susan Sonde is reading Thursday, September 22, 2 p.m.
Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Maryland. And she is creating a new poetsí workshop in Odentonó.
Evie Shockley, poet, reads at College of Southern Maryland, Prince Frederick campus, Flagship Bld, September 30, 7:30, $3.
CalvArt Gallery has a fascinating new show, Num6bers and Figure$, up now till October 2.
Authors' Day Saturday, October 29, 9-2, Calvert Library, 410-535-0291; also another Authors' Day same day, Legends Club, Waldorf, Blue Crabs Stadium; 240-545-5594
And yours truly seems to have a new collection accepted, more on this anon on Facebook.
Meanwhile, a diverse lot of some of the articles and poems which interested me these weeks.
11th August 2016
Published an article in the Bay Weekly "The Dog Who Raised Me" See the article on my Journalism Page.
4th August 2016
Published an article in the Bay Weekly "Just Passing Through" See the article on my Journalism Page.
28th June 2016
Contemporary Literary History: DO Click Here to read the attached article on Ferlinghetti and the Beats. City Lights bookstore was where I used to hang out ...
20th June, 2016
The Bay Weekly published my article "Master Sailor Paid it Forward," about Stovy Brown teaching many high-schoolers in Southern Maryland to sail, but is now coping with Lou Gehrig's Disease. Still he continues to do all he can from a wheelchair. See the article on my Journalism Page.
Published the poem "Clearing the Path" [see my Poetry Page] in Temptations, the Seven Deadly Since: In the anthology from Lost Tower Publications.
5th of June, 2016 — from 4 to 7pm and then some
Elisavietta Ritchie & Clyde Farnsworth invite YOU to a
CELEBRATION OF NEW BOOKS
Featuring Carol Jennings' THE DEAD SPIRITS AT THE PIANO & William Rivera's NOISE. Others with recent books are invited to read more briefly during the Open Mic intervals. 3207 Macomb Street NW, between Connecticut Avenue and 34th Street, Washington, DC 20008-3327. Refreshments will be served. New books available for sale and olderbooks to take, free!, from Clyde and Lisa's overflowing shelves.
Books also available from Amazon, Poets-Choice.com, Barnes&Noble, Politics&Prose, other independent bookstores
IN THE LOCHRAVEN REVIEW!
http://www.lochravenreview.net/ is up--Read poems by Carol Jennings, a review of her new book THE DEAD SPIRITS AT THE PIANO, and Clyde Farnsworth's 'JUNKET IS NICE' a chapter from his forthcoming TANGLED BYLINES: A FATHER-SON memoir of two journalists---
Cool? A snowy night in Leningrad is cool indeed.
People freeze to death.
Friday, May 20, 5:30-7. Poetry, Art, and Percussion Rhythms, CalvArt Gallery
Michael Glaser & Rocky Jones are the featured poets.
Open mic at end for brief readings by guests.
Sunday May 15 afternoon 'MEET THE AUTHORS' EVENT 12:00-4:00
The Patuxent River Naval Air Museum Association Attached is the schedule of who reads what when. Several familiar names.
Allen, Behre, Brownlie, Caruso, Chambers, Clark, Cousins, DogTagsandHeels, Farnsworth, Flowers, Hildebrandt, Kadmea, Jaster, Jenkins, Long, Maki, Prey, Ritchie, Stewart, Washington
Grown-up Stories & Children's Books from Local, Regional, and Military Experiences
Where: Patuxent River Naval Air Museum, Building B
22156 Three Notch Road, Lexington Park, St. Mary's County MD
ART RECEPTION AT CALVART GALLERY
May 14th, 2016, 5-8pm
Fresh, Funky Art; a Modern View of Southern Maryland
by Shelden, Griffin, Schneider, Wade
They always have interesting attendees involved in various creative endeavors, inspired hors díoeuvres and beverages.
CalvART Gallery:
110 Solomon Island Rd, Prince Frederick (i.e. near Greene Turtle, Dream Weavers, EZThai, up from PF post office).
MEANWHILE, EVERYONE,
WRITE/PAINT/SCULPT/COMPOSE/
READ/LISTEN/THINK/
APPLAUD
May 15th
Reading of poetry at the Air Museum in Lexington Park.
April 25th-26th, The Bay View Elementary School
The Bay View Elementary School in Norfolk, Virginia has invited Elisavietta to give a poetry-in-the-schools workshop to the four sections of the fourth grade.
April 18th, Café Muse at 7PM — 2016
Café Muse poetry reading showcasing the work of Emilia Phillips and Elisavietta ritchie. 7pm, Friendship Heights Village Center, 4433 S. Park Avenue., Chevy Chase. Followed by Open Mic.
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Elisavietta's recent book, Babushka's Beads was officially published in March 2016
"...Elisavietta Ritchie's rich autobiographical collection of poems only leaves you wanting more, not less."
ISBN 978-0-9909257-9-8
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March 20, 2:30 - 4PM — 2016
A big poetry bash at Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center organized by Hiram Larew:
Discovering Spring - A Poetry Reading and Open Mic, Featuring ever-popular poets Elisavietta (Lisa) Ritchie, Andre "Brenardo" Taylor, Grace Cavalieri and Rocky Jones.
All seating was filled as people gathered for an afternoon's celebration of poetry inspired by Spring. An open mic for poetry followed the featured poets. Light refreshments were served.
March 12th, 2016
And because I, and surely you, are intrigued by the cross fertilization of various forms of creativity (even if my attempts at sculpture, for instance, though striving toward Michelangelo or at least Giacometti, end up as sodden rocks) I attach an article on the reincarnation of the long-time friendship between Baryshnikov and Brodsky.
And see the new show: "Faces" — Ray/Phyllis Noble and Randy/Marie Estabrook at CalvArt Gallery between Dream Weavers Cafe and Sakura in the old Prince Frederick Shopping Center up from the Post Office.
Date: 9 March - 3 April Reception: 12 March 5-8 pm
I've seen examples of their work, indeed visited the Nobles' home studio off Cox Road, photographed in their studio/lab bursting with panels of stained glass in the process of becoming works of art and wrote a story on it that never made it to print!
March 9th, 2016
one among you asked if I were writing MY memoirs. My answer: "I'm still too young." However, my new collection BABUSHKA'S BEADS: A GEOGRAPHY OF GENES, New & Selected poems, forms a sort of pseudo-memoir on the Russian side of my family.
January 15-16, 2016
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