Posts Tagged ‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’
my new book of poetry available now!
Late at night in February 2015, as my husband and I crossed the Patrick Owens Covered Bridge on the Rusagonis Stream, we startled a rabbit in the middle of the span. The rabbit raced through the bridge in front of the truck. I can still see the shadow of his long ears and the scurry of his feet. Since the incident occurred during the February 21, 2015 conjunction of Venus and Mars with the sickle moon, I thought of all the legends about the hare and the moon. This led to the poem “conjunction” and a question about what other plants and animals find shelter in or around our covered bridges in New Brunswick.
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I am please to announce that my resulting book of poems ‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’ is now available. The book includes 21 of my drawings and more than 70 poems. The Foreword is written by my friend Brian Atkinson who wrote New Brunswick’s Covered Bridges (Nimbus, 2010).
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‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’ is now available through my publisher Chapel Street Editions http://www.chapelstreeteditions.com and at upcoming readings. You will soon be able to find it at Westminster Books in Fredericton and Tidewater Books in Sackville.
I hope you enjoy the book and take every opportunity to drive through one of our covered bridges in New Brunswick!
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conjunction – February 21, 2015
Patrick Owens Bridge
Rusagonis River #2
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Venus and Mars
sickle of mid-winter moon
planet and moon light scamper
into crevasses
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headlights of the half-ton enter
overwhelm planet shadow
startle a winter hare
erect on haunches, paw lifted
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frosted by sky-gaze, worshiping
the sliver of moon, dismayed
at desecration, round glare
of the truck’s predatory eyes
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fright to stop a heart
or flight to mobilize
hind-legs straighten
before fore-legs turn
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long ear shadows
quit the length of the bridge
ahead of whiskers, chin velvet
and rabbit wisdom
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From ‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’, Chapel Street Editions, 2017
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
winter reading
Today in New Brunswick, it’s just a little colder than yesterday. Leaves are falling from the trees and there are lots of bare branches against the blue sky. Yesterday I switched our thermostats to auto mode. And yesterday we stopped at a roadside stand to buy a small store of pickles and jams for winter eating.
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My pile of winter reading is also growing. I am looking forward to days by the fire reading many of our New Brunswick authors.
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I can add to your winter reading pile in a couple of ways:
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A chance to win a copy (paperback, postage-paid) of my upcoming book ‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’ (Chapel Street Editions). This book includes 73 of my poems about plants and animals living in the vicinity of 35 of our covered bridges in New Brunswick. The book also includes 21 of my drawings of bridges and wild life. To enter for the draw, just leave a comment on any of my blog posts at http://www.nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com or the Facebook posting. one entry per person per post.
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Get a free copy of the Kindle version of the third book in my science fiction Meniscus Series from October 22 to October 25, 2017. ‘Meniscus: Winter by the Waterclimb’ will tell you everything you need to know about how to survive winter on an alien planet!!! Although the book is part of a series, it is also ‘stand-alone’. To get a free copy of the ebook, just click here.
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Enjoy your day!
Jane
new book about covered bridges in New Brunswick – coming soon!
In New Brunswick, we love our covered bridges. They are part of our history … a walk inside a covered bridge gives you access to one of the best ‘written’ pages you will ever read, the carved and scribbled notations of a century of passers-by.
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My new book ‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’ (published by Chapel Street Editions) is a tribute to the value of our covered bridges as part of our landscape and ecology. In the book are 73 of my poems about plants and animals living in the vicinity of the covered bridge. Many of the poems are about the ways humans use the spaces inside the covered bridge.
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‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’ includes poems about 35 different covered bridges, most crossing the St. John River or its many tributaries. There are also poems about a few bridges in Charlotte and Westmorland Counties.
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My book is also illustrated with 21 of my drawings of covered bridges and the animals and plants that live there. The cover illustration is from my painting ‘apple tree, Malone Bridge.’
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I hope you will buy a copy of my book! I will keep you posted on the publication date and availability!
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If you would like to win a paperback, postage-paid copy of ‘in the shelter of the covered bridge’ enter the draw by leaving a comment here on any post of my blog from now until I get my 500th follower, sometime within the next few weeks or days. You can also enter by leaving a comment on any posting of my blog on my Facebook page. One entry per commenter per post.
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
500th follower contest!
I have been blogging since 2011 and I am delighted to see that I will have my 500th follower sometime during the next days/weeks.
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To commemorate this milestone, I am running a contest.
Everyone who enters a comment on a post here at http://www.nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com from now until I have my 500th follower will be entered in a draw to win a signed paperback copy of my new book “in the shelter of the covered bridge” (Chapel Street Editions), postage paid.
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I am going to try to get that 500th follower as soon as possible, so comment on every post you can! One entry per post per commenter/follower.
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
blue jay on a fall day
Our cabin is a great place for relaxing. Sometimes we have work to do, but sometimes we just sit back, read, watch birds or talk.
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Often the birds come to us. I have had a hummingbird hover in the open door, just to check out what is inside that peculiar box on the hillside. We often see waxwings in our big pine trees or catch a glimpse of a goldfinch sashaying by.
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This past week, a blue jay came to call. It perched on our grape arbour for a while and then examined our ATV trailer thoroughly. I don’t think he had a clue he was being watched and photographed.
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dark choke-cherries, scarlet keys of ash
hang, counterweight to summer
blue jays strip the branches, berry by berry
v-beaks and hollow throats
(from my up-coming book “in the shelter of the covered bridge”)
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Copyright Jane Tims 2017
in the shelter of the covered bridge – Plumweseep Bridge, New Brunswick
Plumweseep Bridge (Kennebecasis River #9) built 1911, not far from Sussex …
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The covered bridge in its setting … surrounded by trees, river running beneath, a field of ripened grain in the foreground, the rolling hills of the Kennebecasis Valley in the background.
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Copyright 2016 Jane Tims
nichepoetryandprose 