- Published on
“Free Hugs: Selected and New Poems”
By Jefferson Carter (Coyote Arts). 95 pp. $14.95.
Reading Jefferson Carter’s poems is like having a performance in your head. His voice does perform — or “preform,” as he quips. A poem might start with an observation — “To a narcissist, all/the world’s a mirror” — elaborate for a few lines, and then throw in a goat. You can feel a wry peek at the audience. The back cover calls Carter’s work “direct, clear, accessible, often wise, and always funny.” Couldn’t be righter.
“Free Hugs,” retired Pima College writing instructor Carter’s 13th book, includes poems from four previous volumes and 23 new ones. They’re familial (“She ain’t heavy. She’s my wife”), sometimes absurd (“I love my soft palate”), conflicted (“I swore I’d stop writing about liberal guilt”), aging-aware (“Sometimes I feel/like a Family Dollar store/in a dying strip mall”), political (“I’m wondering/ what our cat, will encounter/after the thermonuclear flash-bang”).
All in all, these poems are engaging reflections of an irreverent, expansive, convention-free mind.
— Christine Wald-Hopkins
By Jefferson Carter (Coyote Arts). 95 pp. $14.95.
Reading Jefferson Carter’s poems is like having a performance in your head. His voice does perform — or “preform,” as he quips. A poem might start with an observation — “To a narcissist, all/the world’s a mirror” — elaborate for a few lines, and then throw in a goat. You can feel a wry peek at the audience. The back cover calls Carter’s work “direct, clear, accessible, often wise, and always funny.” Couldn’t be righter.
“Free Hugs,” retired Pima College writing instructor Carter’s 13th book, includes poems from four previous volumes and 23 new ones. They’re familial (“She ain’t heavy. She’s my wife”), sometimes absurd (“I love my soft palate”), conflicted (“I swore I’d stop writing about liberal guilt”), aging-aware (“Sometimes I feel/like a Family Dollar store/in a dying strip mall”), political (“I’m wondering/ what our cat, will encounter/after the thermonuclear flash-bang”).
All in all, these poems are engaging reflections of an irreverent, expansive, convention-free mind.
— Christine Wald-Hopkins
- Published on
THE NEXT GENERATION INDIE BOOK AWARDS
Gold medal WINNER ($100 PRIZE):
ILLUSTRATIONS
Conversations with Psyche: A Dreamer's Guide to Soul-Stirring Creativity, by Victoria Rabinowe (Bright Shadow Press)
Contemplative and pensive. The abstract black and white images reflect the dreams, hopes, and desires of the subconscious. The illustrations are spiritually uplifting and soul-embracing. Their minimalism provides maximum affect.
Marcie Tennen, Next Generation Indie Book Awards Judge
Gold medal WINNER ($100 PRIZE):
MIND, BODY, SPIRIT
Conversations with Psyche: A Dreamer's Guide to Soul-Stirring Creativity, by Victoria Rabinowe (Bright Shadow Press)
This is not a typical how-to dream book. Having found that dream work opened the sources of her own blocked creativity, she has produced an elegant book, utilizing her own black ink illustrations, that is designed to help the reader expand their personal insight and creativity. She presents a range of suggestions and approaches from the familiar use of a dream journal to creative suggestions for approaching disturbing dreams or disturbing themes in dreams, while she is careful throughout to guide the dream worker along a safe pathway.
Richard Cook, Next Generation Indie Book Awards Judge
Silver medal winner
BEST OVERALL DESIGN
BEST BOOK AWARDS
Finalist: BEST INTERIOR DESIGN
Finalist: NEW AGE - NONFICTION
Gold medal WINNER ($100 PRIZE):
ILLUSTRATIONS
Conversations with Psyche: A Dreamer's Guide to Soul-Stirring Creativity, by Victoria Rabinowe (Bright Shadow Press)
Contemplative and pensive. The abstract black and white images reflect the dreams, hopes, and desires of the subconscious. The illustrations are spiritually uplifting and soul-embracing. Their minimalism provides maximum affect.
Marcie Tennen, Next Generation Indie Book Awards Judge
Gold medal WINNER ($100 PRIZE):
MIND, BODY, SPIRIT
Conversations with Psyche: A Dreamer's Guide to Soul-Stirring Creativity, by Victoria Rabinowe (Bright Shadow Press)
This is not a typical how-to dream book. Having found that dream work opened the sources of her own blocked creativity, she has produced an elegant book, utilizing her own black ink illustrations, that is designed to help the reader expand their personal insight and creativity. She presents a range of suggestions and approaches from the familiar use of a dream journal to creative suggestions for approaching disturbing dreams or disturbing themes in dreams, while she is careful throughout to guide the dream worker along a safe pathway.
Richard Cook, Next Generation Indie Book Awards Judge
Silver medal winner
BEST OVERALL DESIGN
BEST BOOK AWARDS
Finalist: BEST INTERIOR DESIGN
Finalist: NEW AGE - NONFICTION
- Published on
HALF A CENTURY LATER PHOTO – While digging in the garage over Memorial Day 2025, looking for a family photo, I came upon this one. It shows some fellow staffers at The News (Boston University) late one night in 1975. It’s a photo that I took as a deadline was looming for the next edition. I was completing a photojournalism assignment for a group photo. Just about everyone else on staff had the same homework, and the group had already been assembled over and over again as the week went on. I think I was about the last person to implore folks to get together so I could complete the assignment. They were tired, fed up with posing yet again, and wanting to get it over with and go home. But they let me click the shutter and record their exasperation for posterity.
A HALF CENTURY LATER – From the Sandia foothills of New Mexico, I send greetings to all, and a brief message about the art and craft of reporting. I’m a graduate of Boston University’s 1975 journalism program at what is now the College of Communication (COM). I’m still standing. Still writing. Still passionate. Still reporting on the Beauty Way paths integral to our land and our lives.
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Invitation to submit
Four Winds Journal invites you to share your thoughts and experiences with our readers. Full information here: Letters to the Editor and Submission Information
Winds of Change Press invites you to send us your delicious recipes and the memories that accompany them for Figs in Winter, a cookbook and memoir honoring family, friends, and food. Please read our Submission Guidelines.
Extended Submission Deadline August 31, 2025
Four Winds Journal invites you to share your thoughts and experiences with our readers. Full information here: Letters to the Editor and Submission Information
Winds of Change Press invites you to send us your delicious recipes and the memories that accompany them for Figs in Winter, a cookbook and memoir honoring family, friends, and food. Please read our Submission Guidelines.
Extended Submission Deadline August 31, 2025