Ever been bitten by a fire ant? If so, it is not an experience you’ll easily forget.
The tenacious tiny fire ant is my inspiration for Poem #26.
To catch up on my progress, I hope you’ll breeze through the daily list to read the poems posted so far. Just four more to go!
If you love poetry, I hope you’ll consider supporting a poet this month. Scroll down read my work (and those of the other poets) if you can, and consider supporting me with a small donation. Supportive comments on this blog are also very welcome because they inspire me to keep going!
Many, many thanks to all of you have contributed to the cause so far — either through a monetary donation or moral support, which are equally valuable.
Please know that your contributions are going to a great cause. Tupelo Press is a prestigious non-profit press, and for 17 years their mission has been to publish new voices. They are giving my work some exposure, and bringing me into a community of over 350 alumni helping each other publish our work.
Today I share a story about a donkey that began as a story about three. To the left is Gertrude, the mother of little Pedro, just 5 days old on the day this picture was taken!
You don’t have to open a book to plunge into the history of our state. Try visiting a little town like Ether. Although they often fell victim to North Carolina’s all-too-brief gold rush or the decline of our textile mills, these little communities are coping in their own way. And even with tiny populations, many of these towns still have enough life to make a visit a rewarding and poignant experience.
Springtime along Whale Tail Road in southwestern Randolph County brings abundant joys but I’m on the fence when it comes to the plethora of wild blackberries. They have more “volunteers” than any other plant and seem to pop up in the most unlikely places–even in the gravel!
Ashley Harris 