poetry award

poem award mt dora 4 18Birthday Bash

The thought of clean underwear never crossed my mind.
Upon impact my brain turned deaf and blind.
An internal voice had insisted he would stop,
but he’s outside the car window, callin’ a cop.

Immobile in my seat on today’s birthday bash.
No bodily injury, nor graveyard smash.
The meal served at my party is a T-bone crash.
His fault, Mr. Mercedes, with the gray mustache.

Frozen at the intersection of space and time
Cars try to pass, uninvolved in the crime.
I can’t drive away, or reverse to pre-disaster,
side airbag hangs, grateful we weren’t going faster.

Trembling hands drop the phone
in shock, reacting on their own.
I call my spouse on his way to the gym
Briefly, I whimper why I won’t be meeting him.

He comes to my rescue, limbs begin to thaw.
Observing him take charge I wonder in awe
the purpose for this interruption on this very day.
Could I have sped up to get out of the way?

If thought becomes real, what motive in my head?
I’m quite certain I didn’t favor myself dead.
Perhaps I desired a safer auto, yes please.
This one surrendered with the greatest of ease.

A Policeman intrudes, “Vehicle in neutral?”
Uncovering the reason is probably futile.
I steer as they push me to the side of the road
and start up my car with a keyless code.

Weeks later, I still hear the crunching sound,
feel the strain of my body being jarred around.
Then I smile with relief, recalling a mother’s lament.
I had worn clean underwear in case of an accident.
-Fern Goodman 10/17

Another book review whoo hoo

Captured…The Look of the Dog.

OK maybe not one of our normal posts but this book was sent to me to review by a dear friend and I have to say it is the cutest book, Really! It couldn’t be posted at a better time with Christmas right around the corner. It is a MUST HAVE for any dog lover. You know you have someone right now on your list and you have no idea what they get them. Well do they love dogs? Buy the book. You can get it from Amazon or Barnes n Nobles.

Now onto the good stuff – what was it like your probably asking by now. The book is made up of a bunch of little stories kind if in the same manner of Chicken Soup for the Soul type, but not only can dog lovers relate to each story they can vividly imagine it all playing out the way it’s written. Most are written in the minds of the dogs and some in the owners. It is a book to keep your attention with stories being one page to several pages, but it is just enough to make you wish there was more, but leaving you satisfied.

I loved “Show Girl” with her sassy attitude and “King Size Optimist” really hit me hard as I see this one way too often in rescue. But it was really precious. “Poo Diddy Po” was so funny but “He Only Peed” really took the cake. LOL Yes you will also laugh out loud!! “Get a Lil Chi” is how I feel with my own Min Pin and that story was told in the correct light, I might add. The “Wise Guy” story was good and one that is probably too often played out but I just loved the ending. Love happy endings.

I really like the sense of reality that comes with each story. I personally like books I can relate to something within it. Most of these I have either seen, experienced, know someone who has, head about it or I’m sure will go through it at some point. It kept my interest and made me wonder what the next story was about. I just had to read one more, ok just one more, and another until I had to put it down to tend to everyday life. Bummer!

One more story worth mentioning as there are so many in there, but “The Right Match” is about rescue. Being in rescue we do home visits and talk to foster parents, well this story really puts it into perspective what the foster parents really do but in such a small amount of space they really get the point across. It makes you sad and happy but you really get that understanding. Some people take fosters for granite, but they are truly the glue to an entire rescue. Without them in most cases there would be no rescue!

 

# 1 Book Review

…The artful photographs are complemented by the writer’s razor-sharp wit and sense of the absurd,
making the final composition a delightful read.
…The writing, by Fern Goodman, gives to the picture of each dog, not only its identity, but
a special luminescence. Some descriptions make us laugh, others make us think, and all are
perfectly phrased to encapsulate and illuminate the picture before us. Each photo/story is
compelling yet rapidly traced, like an old-fashioned zoetrope, where we are amazed and
transfixed by the moving images. Each story takes hold and reminds us, once again, that people
who love dogs and write about them surely deserve our highest regard. For they are the ones who
translate our feelings, which would otherwise go unexpressed and leave us hollow, unable to
explain this extraordinary, time-honored relationship, the one that exists between each of us who
ever had, and loved, a dog.
If you love dogs, photography or just the joy of the well-written word, Captured is a book
you must have, to keep, to savor and enjoy, to return to again and again.

upcoming Event

Soon to be released book-Captured….the look of the dog
Authors: Fern Goodman and Gloria Yarina
“Re-bark-able” -CH Fortunetellers First Knight, Nigel (Black Standard Poodle)
“Simply De-bite-ful” -Stucky Sims (Staffordshire Bull Terrier from Fresno Bully Rescue)
“A Grrrrreat read” -Elvis ( Hound dog interviewed on the Las Vegas Strip)
Includes eye catching photographs and short treats to read and roll over again and again. Tales and photos by two dog lovin’ sisters.