The winter issue of Contemporary Verse 2 has hit mailboxes and newstands, and now you can read my poem “Fire and Safety,” which won their 2014 Young Buck Poetry Prize. I hope you will!
You can see that my daffodils are very enthusiastic about February. You may also notice that I own several fairy houses. This is because my boss at work is excellent at giving me birthday presents. (Not visible in this photo are two gorgeous fairy houses by friend and potter Andrea Hoff, which frame my two little blueberry bushes.)
I kind of love long titles for poems, although I don’t use them very much, and this one is kind of a second title, so almost doesn’t count. One of my very favourite poems with long titles is a sonnet by Charlotte Smith: “On Being Cautioned Against Walking on an Headland Overlooking the Sea, Because It Was Frequented by a Lunatic.” I highly recommend it.
2016 has been a wonderful year for me so far, although it’s definitely been busy. I’m looking forward to watching my garden continue to blossom. I planted a ridiculous amount of bulbs this year, and I’m expecting a lot of daffodils, tulips, and other assorted beauties. I also have three hydrangeas with which I am in love; my blue hydrangea and my pink hydrangea performed incredibly well last year, but my beloved shooting star hydrangea (my favourite impulse purchase of all time–it’s got lovely star-shapped white blossoms) only had one bloom last year. This year I can see my shooting star hydrangea is full of buds and looking very ambitious indeed.
Ruth Daniell 