Heart's Compass Tarot Readings at Poet's Corner in Duncans Mills

Come find me in the Magic Circle at Poet's Corner Book Shop in Duncans Mills (Russian River area) this Saturday, where I join Rune reader Jessica Superball to read complementary tarot cards with purchase of Heart's Compass Tarot: Discover Tarot Journaling and Create Your Own Cards (Two Fine Crows Books, 2021) on the bookshop patio. We are celebrating Independent Bookstore Day Saturday April 30 from noon to five pm. 

Local authors Toby Neal, John Mark Schnick, John McCarty, Neal Grace and Daniel Dawson will all be reading from their books at Poet's Corner as well. I'll also have copies of November Butterfly (my first poetry collection, Saddle Road Press, 2014) on hand.  Come listen to music with Joanne and Felipe Ferraz  (Brazilian and American duet).

Also taking place on Saturday in the Duncas Mills Shopping Village: At Sophie's Cellars Wine Shop, a reading and book signing with Iris Dunkle, award-winning literary biographer, essayist and poet. At Revolution Vinyl and Vintage, you'll find children's face painting with local children's author Tracy Stanley. And check out the lemonade stand at Alta California Provision!

Self-Realization Koi, Extract(s) and Poetry Play

…I have the sensation of eternally falling toward myself. I am looking for myself through the labyrinth of words… From the Meditation, “And if the Hanged One Spoke,” in "The Way of The Tarot:The Spiritual Teacher in the Cards" by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Marianne Costa

I’m eternally falling lately (up, down, you name it), but overjoyed to escape, despite the three children, Husky, two cats, and husband, on small kidless field trips with a friend. This week we made it as far as Encinitas to the Self-Realization Fellowship Retreat and Hermitage Meditation Garden perched on the ocean bluffs, site of the former Golden Lotus Temple designed by Paramahansa Yogananda (author of one of my favorite books, Autobiography of a Yogi). While the temple no longer exists, the garden and koi do.

We tried out a new practice: not talking about the kids in order to give ourselves a BK-like reprieve (Before Kids). So easy to just “be” the moment we stepped into the meditation garden, the one-hundred year old koi—the koi! over two feet long, corn gold, pumpkin orange, sleepy smoke-white and grey, swilling through slim stone-lined ponds, “the silence itself…incense” to quote from "Julian of Norwich, A Contemplative Biography" (by Amy Frykholm).

Much needed, after the ongoing ruckus of misspelling koi in an earlier version of this blog post, house keys skipping into dense shrubbery (Hackey-Sacked “accidentally” by one of the soccer sons), and cats upending full-length mirrors (three foot shards I had to secret into the trash during the school day—can you blame my daughter for thinking like an artist, stashing jagged panels for future mosaics).

Or how about that mix-up on “Crazy Hair Day”—my eighth-grade daughter sprucing my youngest son’s hair into a stiff Mohawk to match hers, spraying it a bright Smurf blue. I’m sipping my coffee, thrilled we got out of the house on time, glancing smugly in rear view mirror, enjoying the way they are enjoying one another.

Until we pull up at school and notice that while my daughter’s friends sport Pippi Longstocking braids and zombie knots, not a single third-grader has a hair out of place. Tears, a quick sink-rinse, and a fierce blow-dry later, we deposit my son at the curb barely in time to catch his fieldtrip bus, rims of his ears still a smoky blue.

On the upside, we took a beautiful trip to Grand Canyon to retrieve a family heirloom—a roll top desk I’m honored the family trusted to my care. A snow flurry at the South Rim cleared just long enough for the sun to break through and for us to descend the three quarter mile or so down to “Ooh Ah Point,” just far enough down for us to gain a healthy respect for the altitude. Back home, the desk’s glass cabinet upper half arrived somehow unscathed despite the tarp tattering itself to threads on the drive through the desert. I’ve pulled out the desk shelf and started to write my morning words on the maroon leather insert, recording the trip’s haiku.

At South Kaibab trail

Condors soar doubling our 

Canyon vertigo.

Anchor of shale trail

We fall--mind's eye--a night's sleep

And hike out changed, good.

Poetry News

On the writing front, I would say by far the only front over which I maintain any degree of potential dignity or control (ok, so maybe the same is true of the teaching front), three of November Butterfly’s poems went up earlier this month thanks to the editors at Extract(s), Daily dose of Lit: Veil, Veil II, and Transport.

Tarot for Two

Mary and I wrote about our respective cards this month at Tarot for Two: Four of Cups and Eight of Cups. 

Mary writes:

My card this month was the four of cups.  The four of cups in the Thoth deck depicts four cups with water pouring out of a lotus fixture at the top, and is, according to Angeles Arrien, supposed to represent emotional luxury and fulfillment -- both internal and external fulfillment. 

At first I couldn’t figure out what in my month had anything to say about me having both internal and external emotional fulfillment.  Maybe the card was just wrong this time? 

Tania Writes:

I initially disliked this month’s card, the Thoth Eight of Cups, balking at the one word caption, Indolence, with its hues of purposeful laziness, petulance and excessive wealth, fearing it meant I was doomed to squander my month stewing in unhealthy emotion.

In the Thoth image we see even rows of storm clouds bordered by moody mossy Neptunian hems of green that gradually subside to a lighter blue, with one brief lemon ray to indicate sky before the plunge into a green you could mistake for the sea or a desert out of which sprout peach cups.

Read the rest of our joint post here: Four of Cups and Eight of Cups.

Photo by Robyn Beattie

Poetry Play: A Tour of the Forms

Last spring I taught a two hour workshop touring a handful of poetry forms; I enjoyed it so much I am teaching a full six week course for San Diego Writers, Ink in person this summer. We will try our hand at haiku, haibun, aubades, sestinas, villanelles, and sonnets. For a full course description and to register with San Diego Writers, Ink, visit Poetry Play: A Tour of the Forms. Starts June 25, 2015.

Barbara Rockman and Jayne Benjulian Guest Post at Mother Writer Mentor

We’ve been busy celebrating Mother’s Day all month over at Mother Writer Mentor; if you have post Mother’s Day reflections you’d like to share with us, send us your reverie too. In the meantime, enjoy Mother Thoughts by poet Barbara Rockman and a lovely adoption poem, Winter by poet Jayne Benjulian.

Related Links:

Review of The Way of Tarot by Sherryl E. Smith, Tarot Hermitage 

Photos are mine with the exception of the one above, by Robyn Beattie.

Out of The Chrysalis: Feral Mom Attempts November Butterfly Book Tour Sans Kids

I am still basking in the warmth of a beautiful homecoming trip to Sonoma County where we celebrated November Butterfly’s arrival—I left Southern California with a bag full of books and returned with a scant three copies that were spoken for before my plane landed in San Diego. I traveled alone, having celebrated with my husband and my children at San Diego Writers, Ink the week prior. How odd, but lovely, a bit alien, to escape as writer self and leave mother self behind.

Or try. Within two hours, texts from the kids and husband trickled in… “Where are the car keys?” “When are you coming back?” “I miss you already!” And one graphic photo of a bloody toe…all gently eclipsed in San Francisco by my brother, his wife and my niece. They kindly whisked me off for a beer—even though I am not much of a drinker and fruitflies tend to get the better portion of any quarter glass of wine my husband pours for me.

But this was The Trappist, and in the bronze dusk of the unassuming low-lit hallway that makes the venue so cozy, I converted, sipping a very fine, dark, foaming 8 Wired I-stout, admiring the miniature tree limbs advancing up the wall above us with evenly balanced tendrils. I was further spoiled each day of my visit--omelets by my sister-in-law, Italian dinner out, and girl-time curing toes of their winter pall. Finally, by night, in the slightly freaky and deafening silence of putting only myself to bed, I succumbed to the pleasure of losing time between the covers of The Book of Symbols:Reflections on Archetypal Images, (Taschen), table of contents pulling me in with incantatory list: Egg, Breath, Star, Sun, Moon, Crescent, Eclipse, Comet….

Further north at my father’s home, my collaborator Robyn’s chrysalis artwork greeted me on the table. Inside, tucked in a butterfly pocket, she and my father had collected “magic words” (bookmark sized quotes to lift the mind).  At nearly a foot tall, the chrysalis card is a delight to hold and open, serving as a three-dimensional out-picturing of this year’s process.  After some superb seven-secret-ingredient pancakes (my father’s specialty), we headed out to Shiloh Park for a morning hike which is just what I needed in order to ground before the afternoon workshop and reading at Coffee Catz (thank you Debbie and Keli!).

The vibrant reds and golds of the changing leaves and sprawling oaks still linger in my mind’s eyes as do the heartprints of the friends and writers circling the workshop table and back room at Coffee Catz, and again, in Berkeley at Moe’s Books, where I had the honor of reading with Ruth Thompson (Woman with Crows) and Michelle Wing (Body on the Wall) to a full house at the invitation of Poetry Flash (which meant lovely introductions for all three of us poets by the generous and thoughtful Richard Silberg and venue set-up and arrangements thanks to Joyce Jenkins).

I also had the privilege of meeting Don Mitchell (A Red Woman Was Crying) for the first time in person (after months of email correspondence).  Don is the other half of Saddle Road Press (located in Hilo, Hawaii) and the man responsible for the book cover magic and logistics of poems on the page plus all the hand-holding during the thousand invisible decisions that signal final stages of book-making. Ruth Thompson, pictured here, is the other half of Saddle Road Press, and the woman responsible for editing November Butterfly and seeing it through to completion.

Other collateral joy: time with my poetry steady Liz Brennan—she’s already put up one of our new short prose Perhaps, Maybe video collaborations we had time to record over the weekend, The Hummingbird’s Complaint.

I am in the process of mapping out new book tour events and will announce dates as we confirm them; I am overwhelmingly grateful for the love and support of my family and friends.

Additional Links:

January Blogging Class:

I’ll be offering a four part blogging series of classes (from Beginning Blogging to Advanced Blogging) in person through San Diego Writers, Ink, starting in January, 2015. Here is the link to the first series of classes for Beginning Bloggers. I welcome bloggers at any point on their blogging trajectory, and former students are always welcome to join us again for blog support. I tailor my courses to fit the needs of each forming class.


November Butterfly Prompts:

As promised to workshop participants, I am still writing poetry prompts for the iconics in section 1 of November Butterfly--I will have one up for Nefertiti in the next couple of days. Visit this link to see all ten prompts up so far (from Marilyn to Jeanne d'Arc). 

November Butterfly comes to Northern California

Goddesses, fairytale queens, and legendary heroines: these are the stuff of fantasy. Aren't they? But November Butterfly introduces them in the vivid colors of now...Tania Pryputniewicz remolds these characters: they batter down your door, rush into your living room and unapologetically take all the most comfortable chairs. In return, they offer clear and often cold-eyed views of their worlds dominated by the men and circumstances they are steered by...I read and re-read sections, astonished by the fresh and dynamic beauty in the writing that opened a door for these characters to step into our time: utterly captivating and overwhelmingly relevant...--Excerpt from first Amazon page review to go up for November Butterfly, with gratitude for Sandra Hunter (LosingTouch)

As a newbie author, I have to share the unexpected joy of walking into the public library here in downtown Coronado to see November Butterfly in the local author display. True, I had turned in the book to the librarian when the call came out, but I had forgotten about it until I walked in last night with my daughter. What a rush! 

The most recent poem in the collection to be featured online, Guinevere Braves High Noon in My Backyard, can be read here, at The Mom Egg: Author Note: Tania Pryputniewicz on November Butterfly (poem follows the Author Note). 

I'll be in Sonoma County next week--come out and play with me! I'd love it if you pre-registered for the workshop so I know how many strings of paper dolls to make for us--use my Contact page to email me regarding payment. Certainly I will not turn anyone away at the door; feel free to just show up for the reading portion if that's what's in the cards.

Monday November 10th, 2014:

Sonoma County Book Launch Event: "Writing Past Fear: Free Your Butterfly" Workshop and Reading

Sonoma County’s Coffee Catz holds a special place in my heart; not only did I get to spend Friday mornings for a few hours writing when my children were babies (Grandpa and Grandma took over every week so I could sneak away), but we even hosted the baby shower for my firstborn in the back room behind the velvet curtain. Owner Debbie chatted me sweetly all through my first pregnancy and the next.  I am so thrilled to return to use that back room to celebrate November Butterfly’s release. Come out and write with me for an hour; we will follow our writing workshop with a reading and book signing. No prior writing or art experience needed.

Workshop description: What story have you kept in the cocoon? What would happen if you wrote it out, just for you? In this dual focus workshop, we’ll consider our heroes, both famous and family, who have inspired us. Using them as inspiration, we’ll write our cocooned core stories. We’ll also explore the butterfly and hero metaphors via colored pencils and paper cutouts. Art supplies provided.

Coffee Catz

6761 Sebastopol Ave

Sebastopol, CA  95472

2:00-3:00: Writing workshop (Free Your Butterfly, description above); $30 includes hour long workshop and a copy of the poetry collection, November Butterfly. Please contact me to pre-register. Or sign up at the door.

3:00-4:00: Reading and book signing (free of charge)

Tuesday November 11, 2014:

Bay Area Reading and Book Signing for the poetry collection, November Butterfly

I’ll be reading with Saddle Road Press sisters Ruth Thompson (Woman with Crows) and Michelle Wing (Body on the Wall).

Moe’s Books, Berkeley

2476 Telegraph Ave

Berkeley, CA 94704

7:30 p.m. (free of charge)