Why Poetry?

Journey taken to become a misfit

My newest book, Why Poetry?, came about at the suggestion of my friend and fellow author Erika Szabo.  She is very determined to make me write in full sentences.  It is just a short book, she wanted 6000 words but that did not happen.  Luckily she allowed me to add a few poems to emphasize my choices. 

Sometimes what we do, we have no say in.  I cannot recall making a conscious decision to write poetry.  I just know that I always have.  I think our talents are similar to our likes and dislikes.  I don't remember when I decided chocolate was awesome nor do I recall deciding escargo was something I would never try.  Both of those are now just facts about me.

A funny thing happened on the way to publication of this book.  Erika shared with me the cover she designed (isn't it beautiful?).  Well, I thought it was gorgeous and In read the piece of poem on it.  It sounded so familiar.  I asked her 3 times where she found it because I could not place who wrote it, I just knew I recognized it.  I think she thought I was kidding when I asked because after the third inquiry she finally answered---It was mine.  That did explain why it sounded so familiar.  Here is the poem in its entirety.  I wrote it for my sister Rae Jo. It is the final poem in a set based on her three favorite lines,  A river of hope, An ocean of regrets, and A waterfall of faith.

A WATERFALL OF FAITH

Life is such a hard road to travel

Potholes and pitfalls litter the way

Sadness and heartache fill the horizon

Hiding the laughter and love from view

My body trembles as I raise my foot

Another step into the abyss that is the future

My will is slowly fading as burdens increase

Family estranged, my health declining

What is the point of it all

Why do I still try so hard to live

Then I look up into the dark sky

The sun's rays peeking through the clouds

Showing me beauty I had forgotten

God's love pouring down from the Heavens

Washing away my woes and anger

In a waterfall of faith

© Cindy J. Smith

While writing this short piece, I noticed tiny nudges that did lead me on.  Nothing obvious at the time, just some gentle prodding.  The end result is what stands before you  A Poet, A Misfit in every sense of the word.

Why Poetry? is available at your favorite digital store.  If you take the time to read it, I hope you enjoy the journey.


Find Cindy on her:

Blog:
https://cindysvoices.blogspot.com/

Website:
http://carternovels.com/author-cindy-j-smith.html

Twitter:  @cindysvoicesFB:  https://www.facebook.com/CindysVoices/

GOODREADS:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6505989.Cindy_J_Smith

Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/cindyjsmith1/

365 narration by Karina Kantas https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d0UNM-QtpvOBS84qlAr9fiEK6by7QkwG/view

https://www.ebooknetworking.net/blog/bookshelf/?bs=bCdYOpgww

Deadly Deception -Insomniac-

By P. J. Mann

This is the second book of the trilogy Deadly Deception. As we say bye-bye to Ethan Jackson who was the main character of the first book of the trilogy, we are going to meet new friends, which will entertain us with their personal vicissitudes.

Here is the blurb:
Something keeps Laura Jefferson up at night. Maybe it’s the Boston traffic, maybe the sounds of the city outside her apartment window, maybe the stresses of day to day life. Whatever it is, when she’s offered a radical treatment at a secluded hotel, she doesn’t even hesitate.

But while the hotel is perfect, the grounds idyllic, and Dr. Wright and his staff friendly and eager to help, it isn’t long before Laura’s fellow patients begin acting strangely, some even dropping out of the program altogether, disappearing into the night. As Laura loses chunks of time, a detective arrives, and the questions at the heart of the hotel begin to unravel.
Continuing the trilogy, Deadly Deception -Insomniac- draws closer to the mystery of Dr. Wright’s research, and the lies behind Laura’s perfect night of sleep.

Excerpt:
He took out his notebook and started to write some notes about what his feelings were. That was a sort of self-psychoanalysis or a way to understand himself and to get a better grasp over the triggers that take over a serial killer.

Although with just one murder on his conscience, he could not consider himself a serial killer, he knew from the very beginning that the need to step into murder was feasible.

“There are things that I still fail to understand about the feelings of being an assassin, of planning and eventually executing a murder. Something for sure is the powerful effect it has on the conscious.
Like a heavy curtain, it is able to obliterate any other feelings like compassion and empathy. When I think about the process, my brain gives priority to what gives me some sort of pleasure. It is like it’s trying to push aside the feelings like regret, fear, compassion, and empathy, emphasizing the pleasure I can get from the power of choosing the fate of another human being.
It feels like I am no longer a fellow human, but a sort of super being that has the power and right to decide who is going to live and who instead has to die.
This is a sort of trigger I might use with my patients, to help them in their fight against the murderer inside them…
Sometimes to cure a monster, you need to become a monster yourself.”

He shook his head and hoped that nasty story would have come soon to an end. “If I get out of this alive, I promise to leave the country and peacefully enjoy my life.”
He took a deep breath and switched off the lights hoping to find some rest.

Links to the book:

Ebook: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07M5R2ZLT 

Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9526915909

Follow the author:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paperpenandinkwell

Website: https://pjmann2016.wixsite.com/pjmann

amazon author page: www.amazon.com/author/pjmann

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/p-j-mann

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16064775.P_J_Mann

Blog: www.paperpenandinkwell.blogspot.com

About the meaning of happiness

Certainly, we all have in mind what makes us happy, and perhaps we are working towards a steady direction in our lives towards that goal: happiness.

Nevertheless, today my husband shared with me a post about the world and the real meaning of happiness. The post was actually a page of the book of Matt Haig “Reasons to stay alive.”

Here is a quote from that book shared on Goodreads:

“THE WORLD is increasingly designed to depress us. Happiness isn’t very good for the economy. If we were happy with what we had, why would we need more? How do you sell an anti-ageing moisturiser? You make someone worry about ageing. How do you get people to vote for a political party? You make them worry about immigration. How do you get them to buy insurance? By making them worry about everything. How do you get them to have plastic surgery? By highlighting their physical flaws. How do you get them to watch a TV show? By making them worry about missing out. How do you get them to buy a new smartphone? By making them feel like they are being left behind. To be calm becomes a kind of revolutionary act. To be happy with your own non-upgraded existence. To be comfortable with our messy, human selves, would not be good for business.”

I agree one hundred percent with the statements above, each of them is spot on, but instead of the word “World” I would perhaps use the word “Society.”

The world is not doing anything against people, the world is there and watches us hurting each other, trying to prevail over each other. Society is what we have been building, and that is what makes us unhappy.

I have to say that if everybody were like me, the economy, as we know it, would just collapse, as I live for one simple thing, enjoying the nature and life, and those activities are all free (or almost).

Despite this, I think that most of the people really fall into the trap of what society is expecting from them or what they think it expects from them. With this, they are falsely brought to believe that buying one object, wearing a certain dress, owning a certain car, living in a certain area will make them accepted. The reality is that unless people do not love themselves, accept themselves and start living confidently with themselves, they won’t be loved, accepted, and trusted by anybody else.

I guess that the real secret lies in looking inside ourselves and get to know our inner nature, that little stranger that is inside us, to which we never really talked for long enough.

I admit it that perhaps I also talk too much with myself, and that little stranger is no stranger after all. A personal suggestion is just to live the way each of us wants and forget about what everyone else says. 

Do whatever you want, and never harm anyone.

With that in mind, what can possibly go wrong?

Forgotten Women - Madame d'Ora Part Two

Madame d’Ora - Part Two

Nicola McDonagh

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Pinterest

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In my previous post, you can view it here: I talked about Dora Kallmus, a forgotten pioneer in the world of early photography. Today I will continue her amazing story.  

Dora’s studio in Vienna, Atelier d’Ora, was an instant success and helped  to secure her position as The Photographer of a new millennium. Her daring poses and unusual subjects, such as exotic dancers and revealing self portraits, gained her a reputation for taking risks. Exactly what her famous clients craved. 

Pinterest

But Dora was ambitious and wanted to attract a wider clientele. So in 1925 she and her assistant Arthur Benda, opened a studio in Paris. Although it was a success, Benda preferred his life in Vienna and returned, taking over her studio and renaming it d’Ora-Benda-Wien. His actions caused a rift between them and they never spoke again.

Pinterest

Loosing her technical assistant did not deter Dora, and she carried on with her fashion photography and portraits of stars in theatre and the silver screen. But things were about to change for Madame d’Ora.

Firstly, when the National Socialists gained power in Germany in 1933. Unfortunately for Dora, the fashion industry collapsed and magazines that featured her photographs were reprimanded for doing so and she was no longer able to show her work in this way.

Pinterest

Second, was the German invasion of France in 1940. Dora, despite converting to Christianity, was still a Jew and was forced to sell her Parisian studio. For much of the second world war, Dora went into hiding in such places as a cloister in La Lanvese, southern France, finally relocating to Austria in 1945. Although Dora survived, the rest of her family were not so fortunate and were killed in the holocaust. 

The tragedy of the war weighed heavily upon Dora. Her photography changed drastically. She turned her talents to photographing the horrors of the aftermath of survivors from concentration camps. She began a series of documentary photographs capturing the misery of refugees fleeing to Austria. Dora continued to be involved in the fashion industry, but her interests seemed to switch from glamorous photo shoots to dark representations of the horrors of the casualties of war and oppression.

Pinterest

Her disturbing series of images from 1950 to 58, when she was now in her seventies, captures the gruesome and terrifying plight of animals sent to slaughter. She vividly captures the brutality of the slaughterhouses in Paris and in doing so, the inhumanity of her fellow man. Perhaps a reflection of what she saw in the concentration camps a decade earlier.

Please visit my Pinterest site to view Dora’s photographs taken in the Parisian abbatoir. I chose not to put them here as some people may find the images too distressing.

Pinterest

When Dora was knocked down by a motorcycle in 1959, she returned to her family home in Frohnleiten Austria that had been sold under the Nazi rule, but then returned to her. Her injuries from the accident meant that she lost most of her memories and could no longer use a camera. She died October 28, 1963 at the age of seventy-six.

Pinterest

Dora Kallmus's legacy lives on in her outstanding photographic works of art. She was a pioneer in the field of photography and should be remembered for her daring and unique style that brought her fame, fortune, and a passion for pushing the boundaries of the photographic image that influenced many future practitioners in the field.

Pinterest

In fact, I liked Dora so much that she is now a character in my new crime mystery book set in 1899 Vienna. Here is a snippet from this work in progress that includes my interpretation of what a young and eager Dora Kallmus might have been like:

I tapped the counter. ‘If you have quite finished your argument? May I take what you have slaved over?’

‘Apologies. She irritates me that is all.’ 

Dora snorted. ‘Afraid of a little competition, well, you won’t get far.’

‘Oh, you see what I have to put with?’

‘I do indeed. Get used to it, Ralph, woman are getting stronger. They’ll be taking over everything.’

‘And making a better job of it too.’

‘Well said, Dora.’

‘Herr Katz, solidarity, please.’

Dora grinned. ‘I like you Herr Katz. Finally, a man who isn’t afraid of  a strong woman.’

‘Even though she is young and precocious?’ Ralph narrowed his eyes and shook his head. ‘I swear she’ll be the owner of this place in a couple of years.’

‘This place?’ Dora laughed. ‘Not good enough. I intend to open my own studio. Bigger and better than this male orientated stiff-necked, old-fashioned emporium.’

Pinterest

Thank you for reading my post. If you would like to know more about my work please visit my

Website 

Amazon Page

Blog Page

All photos taken from Pinterest

If you enjoyed reading this post you might like to have a look at more. Just click on the link:
https://asmallgangofauthors.blogspot.com/p/2018-gallery.html

COMMENTS

Ruth de Jauregui via Google+

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Nicola McDonagh shares the rest of photographer Madame d'Ora's long career, including her experiences during WWII. She survived, but her family didn't. Check her out at #OurAuthorGang.

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Ruth de Jauregui

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

What a wonderful and tragic story. Thank you for sharing her with us.

 

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Rebecca Tran

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

I love this series Nikki. You always find the most interesting people.

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Nikki McDonagh

4 months ago

 

 

Thanks Rebecca.

Rebecca Tran

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Nikki Mcdonough reminds the world of a famous female photographer Dora Kallmus on #OurAuthorGang  

 

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Joe Bonadonna via Google+

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Today on #OurAuthorGang, author Nikki McDonagh​ scores again with part of her fascinating look at Dora Kallmus - a pioneer in early photography.

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Joe Bonadonna

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Nikki, you score again with more fascinating insight into the life and times of Dora Kallmus.

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Joanne Jaytanie via Google+

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Discover the women in history. #OurGangAuthor

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Joanne Jaytanie

4 months ago (edited)  -  Shared publicly

 

I really enjoy reading about women in history.

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Chris Weigand via Google+

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Learn more about this courageous woman with Nicola McDonagh

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Chris Weigand

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

What a fascinating and courageous woman.

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Nikki McDonagh via Google+

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Check out my post about an amazing forgotten female photographer.

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Grace Au

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

What a fascinating lady! I loved the old photos. Thanks for sharing.

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Nikki McDonagh

4 months ago

 

 

Thank you Grace.

Cindy Smith via Google+

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

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Lorraine Carey via Google+

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Madame d'Ora was a woman on the cutting edge and years ahead of her time in the world of photography. Not many know her story! Check this out. #powerwomen #phototgraphy#bloghttps://asmallgangofauthors.blogspot.com/2018/09/forgotten-women-madame-dora-part-two.html#gpluscomments

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Cindy Smith

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

What an informative piece!  Dora certainly was a very talented woman, sad her family was lost in the war. The pictures you shared are amazing and I loved the snippet.

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Nikki McDonagh

4 months ago

 

 

Thank you Cindy. Yes Dora was amazing, so pleased you enjoyed the post.

Toi Thomas

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

What an amazing life and legacy. Thank you for sharing her story.

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Nikki McDonagh

4 months ago

 

 

She was a very interesting character that's for sure.

Toi Thomas via Google+

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

Today, Nikki McDonagh​ concludes the wonderful and tragic life and times of pioneer photographer Madame d’Ora. #OurAuthorGang.

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Lorraine Carey

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

I just adore this woman! I could see why you have made her a character. Here's to Wonder Woman such as Dora Kallmus. Thank you for bringing her story to light.

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Nikki McDonagh

4 months ago

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+Lorraine Carey Oh, thank you Lorraine.

Lorraine Carey

4 months ago

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+Nikki McDonagh You are most welcome. xx

Erika M Szabo via Google+

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

She pushed the boundaries and succeeded!

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Nikki McDonagh

4 months ago

 

 

She certainly did.

Erika M Szabo

4 months ago  -  Shared publicly

 

She really pushed the boundaries and succeeded!