Flash Burn ---- #2 Poem of An Original Poem a Day for National Poetry Month

 Flash Burn

the patterns of kimonos
seared into skin
blistered burns and scars
intricate designs upon flesh
of the dead and dying
thin man, little boy, fat man

shadows burned into walls
walls burned into shadows

the flash burn they say,
"is typically a surface effect"

but on the surface
of a man made sun
in two thousandths of a second
the effect, mere shadows
tattooed on our souls






[Day #2 of my poem-a-day challenge for National Poetry Day.]

A Poem and An Apology, from a Fool.

Today, this is me...your writing DODO

I will once again be posting a poem a day for the month of April, as a celebration of National Poetry month and a thank you to all those who have supported me and my writing endeavors over the past several years. I hope you enjoy the poems this month, and I hope you'll share and comment on those that move you, make you laugh, or cry, or curse.

Speaking of laughing, crying, and cursing...I owe many of you a huge apology for my devious joke today. I did not anticipate such an overwhelming and supportive response to my ridiculous announcement of publication for my new novel. It is true that I do have a new novel written, but I am as of this moment sans publisher. There is no Dodo Books. No Great Auk House. No 189 countries pushing to bring the novel to the US before climate change really devastates us. Those were all the words of a joker, perhaps one who is a little sad that he can't yet share with you his new work, perhaps one a little frustrated with this whole glacial world of publishing while the glaciers are melting and his book becomes less and less relevant!

Nonetheless, I am sincerely sorry for the prank. I wanted people to laugh or be momentarily tricked, not cheer and be excited for me and write kind notes of congratulations.  I didn't anticipate that in the busy rush of the day folks would cheer and give me accolades and not realize I was being a complete and utter smart-ass.

Today I learned a little something about April Fools Day...and your response was humbling and really a bit of a lesson for me, today, the fool.

And NOW for your poem of the day.



Play. Ground.

to let the blinding sun
reflecting on the snow
etch each second upon your memory
like a flash burn shadow
as your son cackles like a goose
chasing you around the playground

remember the crush of gravel
beneath your boots
the cold iron of the equipment
the splash of slush

his laughter, so pure
then small black boots
betray him on the ice
silence for a fraction
as he flies, a superhero

that moment of the air
sucked from the world
then open mouth,
a wail, then tears

remember that, too
and the hug of endless tomorrows
as you carry him towards home

US Publication coming for My 2nd Novel

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 It's happening! US publication for my next book!

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Shishmaref, Alaska. Photo by my friend Dennis Davis

 Many of you are already aware of the long struggle to get my novel The Raven’s Gift into print here in the US. At the time, that manuscript, with themes of the world ending, faced the publishing boards in some major houses as the world did seem to be ending. The big houses here in America passed on the book, but other countries snapped it up. Three years later, Penguin Canada brought the title to the US through a cool little boutique of Penguin US called Pintail. The Raven’s Gift went on to become a one of the Washington Post Notable fiction selections for 2013.

Until today, my new novel, Moving Salmon Bay, by all appearances, seemed to be headed down the same strange river. Where The Raven’s Gift was initially published in Canada, this new novel seemed as if it would first be published in France and only in France.

Once again rejected by the US, I thought I would have to wait to see what would happen in France and hope for my own stubborn country to come around some day before it was too late, and this stressed me out to no end. The book simply couldn’t wait. We as a species couldn't wait. The title says it all, the book is about a fictional Alaskan village that is moving. The reason they are moving? It isn't because they want to live somewhere with a IHOP. It's climate change. Global warming. Seas rising. This is a reality that nearly a dozen Alaskan communities face right now. The projections from scientists have revealed our earth's warming rates are increasing. The projections haven’t even been fast enough to keep up with the warming trends.

The peril some Alaskan communities face is the same that so many other communities across the world are or will soon also be facing themselves.

 If Moving Salmon Bay wasn’t going to be published within the next year or so, it might be too late. The story would have been not only passé, but completely irrelevant, as the major publishers themselves will have relocated, leaving editors, publishers, and publicists at the major houses themselves climate refugees.

Great Auk House

While climate change and the threat of rising seas appear to be something that America cannot or isn’t willing to address in any meaningful way, there is suddenly hope for the publication of Moving Salmon Bay! Just as the Canadians knew that the message in The Raven’s Gift would resonate with Americans, when our own American publishers did not, a multi-lateral publishing house, comprised of 188 of the 189 countries attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference will publish the novel in the USA under the Dodo Books banner, an imprint of Great Auk.

While I’ll still have to toss and turn in bed at night, distressed for my Alaskan friends who live in fear of each big coastal storm, I no longer have to shrug my shoulders when fans of The Raven’s Gift ask when my next book will be out. I no longer have to lie about interest from publishers to friends and colleagues who have read the manuscript to Moving Salmon Bay and who say it’s better than The Raven’s Gift.  I can now tell them they can pre-order a copy of the novel on my website. I am relieved and grateful to the rest of the world for their support of my work (and for acknowledging climate change), and while those countries don’t have the military or economic power to make the US do anything related to saving the planet, they can at least bring us good books to read while the fool ship sinks. 

Crossing the Bridge to Nowhere

Nowhere Near a Bridge --- Winter 2014 w/Seth Kantner near Kotzebue, AK

Crossing the Bridge to Nowhere

in my Alaska

when we cross the bridge

to nowhere

Nowhere is a city

perhaps not unlike your own

where no one

knows your name

or cares which village you came from

in your Alaska

they mush dogs through city streets

through marauding moose

live in bars and build igloos

wear flannel and fur

in my Alaska,

diminishing salmon runs

are reality

Discovery is a Sudanese refugee

widowed mother of five

learning to write a college scholarship essay,

as her first snow

falls

in your Alaska,

re-runs of scripted reality

on Discovery

on The Learning Channel

Wild West Guns On Animal Planet

In my Alaska

the animals are our friends

our food, our fate

in your Alaska

they talk only

of drilling, of gold

of guns and good heaven

“Say don’t cha know?”

“You betcha!”

and “Polls are for Strippers

and Cross Country Skiers”

In my Alaska,

we use ski poles. 

we strip.

we kayak, climb mountains,

we’re homeless, and have mansions

fly float planes and take city busses

we’re Mexican, Samoan, Denaina,

Yup’ik, Hmong, Korean, Irish, Inupiaq,

sunburned brown

and snowblind white

and Arctic night black

in your Alaska

they would build Bridges to Nowhere.

in mine

we write to burn them

[I wrote and read this poem at the 2014 AWP Conference, for "Crossing the Bridge to Nowhere," a cross-genre reading by Seth Kantner, Bryan Fierro, Leigh Newman, and myself.]

A Writer Gives Thanks

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Quyana --- the Yup'ik word for "Thank you"

A Writer Gives Thanks

Often at this time of year we get too wrapped up in the trappings of the holidays to actually remember the point of the actual holiday. Turkey. Or is it football? No wait. Black Friday holiday shopping! Right? 

What happened to just being thankful?

For myself I wanted to take a few moments to actually give thanks as a writer. Writing is often a said to be a solitary and lonely occupation. I’m not sure who said that, and I’m not sure I agree. As I began thinking about composing a little note of thanks, I realized, maybe it isn’t so lonely.

 This has been an amazing year thus far for me in terms of my writing career, and I am simply beyond grateful and I owe so many people an Alaskan sized debt of gratitude for helping make my writing dreams a reality. I owe thanks to various countries, agents, publishers, critics, newspapers, reporters, bloggers, booksellers, book clubs, readers, writers, professors, secondary teachers, students, friends, family, and fans. 

Those acquainted with the long and convoluted route taken by my novel on the road to getting published in the United States, know I have much to be thankful for. Thanks to Adam Chromy, my agent here in the US for fighting for The Raven’s Gift every step of the way. Thanks to my foreign agents for getting my novel published in France this year, and thanks to that publisher Fleuve Noir and my French editor Ben

edicte Lombardo.

Thanks to Penguin Canada for continuing to believe in The Raven’s Gift and for getting the book into the United States with Pintail Book and Penguin USA. I am grateful to my Adrienne Kerr and Nicole Winstanley at Penguin for continuing to have faith in the novel. Thanks to Elena Hershey and the Pintail folks working tirelessly to help get the book into bookstores all over America.

I have worked tirelessly to share my novel with the world and at times it has felt an impossible task to get the book into the hands of readers or to get the attention of reviewers and critics, but the support of some awesome booksellers across Alaska and across the country continues to inspire me. I owe thanks to dedicated booksellers like Fireside Book’s David Cheezem and his staff, Nathan Dunbar in Chicago, Deb Bonito at Mosquito Books, and so many others. 

There are those who I also can’t begin to even express my thanks to --- critic Michael Dirda and The Washington Post. When other newspapers and critics refused to give a book like mine the time of day, a Pulitzer Prize winning critic steps up and writes the most powerful and beautiful review of the book I’ve had to date. His review in the Washington Post was do damn good I almost ran out and bought a copy of the book myself! In addition to Dirda’s killer review, countless amazing bloggers have blogged and promoted the book --- far too many to name here, but you know who you are, and now you know I am giving you thanks, too! 

I can’t thank The Washington Post without also thanking The Anchorage Daily News for their coverage of my book, so quyana to Mike Dunham and David Hulen, at ADN, and to the Alaska Dispatch and Megan Edge and others there. And while I’m thanking news folks, I would be totally remiss if I didn’t thank Steve Heimel at Alaska Public Media for inviting me on Talk of Alaska. That was definitely one of the highlights of the year, and quite an honor. When you’ve grown up in the bush, public radio is just a life essential and to get to chat with the actual voice of Alaska, well that was something I’ll never forget. So thanks to Steve and Lori Townsend, and everyone who made that incredibly fun hour possible. 

Now on to thanking the readers and writers in my life. You have made this year absolutely magical. Those readers who have invited me to into their homes to meet with bookclubs? Those were some discussions I’ll forever cherish. I had never thought about visiting bookclubs as an author, and this turns out to be one of my favorite kind of author event. What more can you ask for than to sit down with a group of dedicated readers, perhaps with good wine and even better food, and talk about your novel? The answer is nothing. That is as good as it gets. So thanks to all those bookclubs, including those I haven’t attended yet!

I also never expected my book to be required reading! So I owe special thanks to those professors and highschool teachers using my book in their courses and the students writing about the book and contacting me with their thoughts and questions. I can really think of no higher honor than to know that The Raven’s Gift is being used in English courses, and even graduate level Psychology courses --- unless I suppose the book gets banned! Perhaps that can be something I am grateful for next year?!  (Come on people! The book has sex, violence, cannibalism, and even bad words! It needs to be banned! Okay, I admit, I just want to be on the banned book list!)

Finally, I want to thank the readers and authors for all the support. Alaskans have been so amazing and helpful in spreading the word about my The Raven’s Gift. I couldn’t even begin to list off all of you. The support I have received here at home is overwhelming and completely awe inspiring. I am so lucky to call this place my home, so incredibly lucky. Authors have been overly generous through mentoring me, giving advice, and spreading the word about my book. Again the list is just too long, but I’d be remiss to not thank all the members of the 49 Writers, my buddies Seth Kantner and Kris Farmen, my coach Daniel and his wife Rennie, and my friend and go to warm heart and brilliant writing life advisor Jodi Picoult.  I’m so fortunate to have such talented and giving souls in my life, and I’m thankful to each and every one of you!

 And to those readers who continue to share the book, who email me with their kind words of appreciation, who post their reviews on Amazon and elsewhere --- I cannot thank you enough, but please know that I am endlessly grateful for your support, your encouragement, and the time and energy you’ve spent reading my work, sharing it, and thinking about the underlying messages contained within the story.

We could simply all be thankful the world hasn’t quite ended just yet, or we could pause for a moment in our busy lives, watch a raven or two, and take stock of what we have, where we’ve been, and those we love. And ---- if you’ve read this far, and weren’t mentioned yet, then for me, you must be one of those I love.

Thank you. Quyana.

Don Rearden

Bear Valley, Anchorage Alaska

11/27/13

A New Book Trailer for The Raven's Gift

The New Book Trailer for The Raven's Gift. Enjoy and share with friends!

I finally got around to cutting a new trailer for my novel. This one includes a few of the blurbs from The Raven's Gift and footage from where I grew up. Be sure to have your volume turned up!

Cold is Kin

Cold Is Kin

 

 

cold is relative

like kin you know

too well 

fingertips burn

air stings nostrils

tears freeze and feeling

in the toes fails

and the cold

you love 

and the cold

you love

to hate

is relative

1/17/11 by Don Rearden