Sunday, February 24, 2013

Countdown

Here it is!

We've entered the countdown phase for delivery of my late daughter Laura Jeanne Morefield's poetry chapbook, The Warrior's Stance.

For those who've not been following my nearly two-year odyssey, here is a bit more information. There will be a book publication party in March. If you wish to be invited contact me as below.




Laura Jeanne Morefield’s The Warrior’s Stance


A lifelong poet, Laura Jeanne Morefield showed her work to only a few people, among them her husband, her mother, her sister-in-law and her best friend. When she was diagnosed with stage-four colon cancer in 2008, Laura kept on writing. When it became apparent she was not going to survive, Laura extracted a promise from her mother, writer Charlene Baldridge, to collect and edit her post-diagnosis poetry and make a chapbook.

With its title taken from a line in one of the poems, “The Work at Hand,” the chapbook is titled The Warrior’s Stance.

A warrior keeps her back leg strong, connected
to the earth. She faces her hips forward.
She lifts hands and face skyward as
her front leg leans into the territory of the enemy
as far as, as long as, her breath will take her.

Laura’s poems are filled with a language that bespeaks love, humor, gratitude and courage.

Her assertiveness was apparent early: she writes about “inventing body-surfing” at age 8. Her love of nature, particularly birds, is evident when she writes: “I must be about my winged business today.” She sings along with cherry blossoms in the far reaches of the oncologist’s parking lot. Even though she blows bubbles instead of praying (“Selah”) and scoffs at miracle cures (“Another Day”), her faith shines through all the works, right down to the last handwritten poem, “Me Again,” in which she pulls out the begging bowl, asking God for enough time to see her nephew married.

Charlene Baldridge
619-296-8044



Friday, February 1, 2013

News of The Warrior's Stance

Well, here it is, an image of the cover of the book I've been working on for quite some time. That's my warrior sketch there. Design is by Patty Kevershan of Kevershan Design. I've known Patty since the 1980s when I worked at the Old Globe. She designed my poetry chapbook titled Winter Roses. Neyenesch is doing the print job. Can't wait! Once the ISBN number is affixed and minor corrections are made, it goes to press! 

What you can't tell is that in the red strip lower left is handwriting from Laura's journal which wraps around from the  back cover. At the top of each page will be a strip of this red with different sections of the journal. In white will be the title of the poem on that page. There's even going to be a matching bookmark! And of course there will be photos of Laura.

The 50-page book will sell for $20 and the entire amount is tax deductible because it goes directly to the non-profit Colon Cancer Alliance in Washington, DC. We're still working out the logistics but we will have a web site, www.thewarriorsstance.com. To reserve your copy, send an email to charb81@cox.net.

The poems contained in the theatre piece titled The Warriors' Duet were selected from this chapbook, which is the result of my promise to Laura that I would collect,  edit and publish her post-diagnosis poems. The Warriors' Duet will be performed in July as part of the San Diego Fringe Festival. 

Laura Jeanne Morefield (10/8/1960-7/17/2011) and her mom, Charlene Baldridge
2008