It will take all of my time

Hi everyone,

I think this is going to be one of those days when you never stop but at the end of it find it hard to account for what you got done. I have a new poem to consider, thanks to an invitation by a friend to contribute to an anthology he has in the works. I finished a new collection of poems yesterday so I need to send it out. And I must get back to planning for my program at The Library Center on May 5. I expect more than 100 participants to join me for that and it will take some serious preparations to get that many people on and off stage and stay on schedule. If there’s time, I hope to consider ideas for a new story. So that’s me for today, as far as I know this early. Something unexpected usually comes up and, as author BILL ANDERSON says, that’s part of the fun of being a writer.

The cover of our new book

Hi everyone,

MARY JO FRESCH and I have received confirmation of the cover for The Phonics Handbook Poetry Collection, 101 Decodable Poems for Reinforcing Sound Patterns, which will be out later this year as a companion to her recent title, The Phonics Handbook, A Comprehensive Guide for Reading Teachers.

Phonics refers to the basic sounds in our language. The study of phonics is a method of teaching reading, writing, and spelling by correlating sounds (phonemes) with letters or combinations of letters. Mastering the relationship between spoken sounds and written letters allows beginners to sound out unfamiliar words, a vital step in a complex process that leads to comprehension and reading fluency. My 101 poems in this book were written to help teachers demonstrate to students the basic phonemes in our English language. In addition to masterminding the book, Mary Jo provides multiple activities to explain, follow up, and reinforce each sound.

Where or where can they be?

Hi everyone,

Different place, same old me. Not a turtle in sight yet. I don’t think they’ve spotted me yet.

Sometimes it takes them a while, but they’ll show up by and by.

Something I’m looking forward to

Hi everyone,

Last September I was interviewed by a team from The Story of Art in America. I mentioned it at the time. There were three members in the group that came to my house, two from New York and one from Chicago. The production company has done documentaries across the country. Here’s a link to their website. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16748778/ They describe what they do as, “The Story of Art in America is a docuseries exploring the role of Art in American society and its diverse communities, from large cities to small rural communities, through intimate and emotional interviews of Artists in their studios.”

I was happy to be on their list of people to interview when they came through Springfield in the process of doing a film about Route 66. The finished product will be released in the second quarter of this year, hopefully in time for my May 5 program in The Library Center. I’ve received a link to their most recent trailer about the project and I’m in it. My voice is also heard reading a few lines from the poem I wrote for the Centennial Celebration. The whole poem will be in the final edition.

My Word of the Month poem for February

Hi everyone,

Sometimes you just feel Haiku.

Hope flows from our soul,
holds the light where we would go,
lifts us should we fall.

(c) 2026 David L. Harrison, all rights reserved