I’m about to get really personal.

I’m writing an erotic poetry book — most of which is written from real life. I’m rounding the bend. My goal was 70 – 80 poems and I am at 61. How do I wrap this up? My favorite poems in the collection are a little longer and tell a story. They’re a little more specific and detail a sequence of events. I need inspiration to keep this momentum up!

Enter “The List”.

To help me finish my book and have a little fun on the side, my husband and I are creating a list of things we want to try. Right now the list mostly contains fun, new locations, and maybe a sex tape.

Give me some ideas! Tell me something fun you’ve tried. Where’s the most interesting place you’ve had sex?

To say my husband and I have had fun in the making of this erotic poetry book would be a huge understatement. I just hope the fun continues when the book is finished!

I have over thirty house plants. Some are big. Some are little. They live in almost every room in our house. It’s just been in the past couple of years I started collecting house plants and I’m completely fascinated by them. I love watching them grow. My daughter helps me water them and I put many of them outside in the summer. 

I have a snake plant that is just gigantic. We named him “Stanley”. We put him out on our front porch in the summer and it takes both my husband and I as well as a little dolly to move him. He was my very first house plant a few years back. 

Last night we had a snowstorm — five inches which is a record for a snowstorm in April in Northwest Ohio. I was so sad. We have tulips all over our yard and when the snow started to fall I ran outside with scissors and cut them all. We’re expecting a hard freeze tonight so I brought them inside and put them in water. At least we will have the flowers for a few more days. 

It was a surprise getting snow after already having a couple days in the 80’s this month but in Ohio, you begin to expect the unexpected. I’m absolutely fascinated by the weather and I live in the perfect place for that. Our winters are cold and windy, our summers are humid, and spring and fall are just unpredictable. Not to mention Toledo falls in the Hoosier Tornado Alley. 

Plants. Weather. These days I’m feeling a little more connected to nature. Any other atheists feeling that way? You got to admit, science and nature are absolutely awe-inspiring — especially when you take god out of the picture.

Some of the tulips I cut.

I’ve had quite a few speaking engagements in the past few months to promote my recently released poetry book. I had two just this past weekend. I always get really nervous and it’s hard for me to really get anything done on the day of an event. When the event is over, it’s an absolute rush, and then eventually I crash. It is this huge up and down and frankly, it’s quite exhausting.

However, it is absolutely worth it! I’ve met some great people and I’ve learned a lot. Prior to writing this book, I had no idea that there were atheist groups and secular communities all around — not just existing, but thriving and making a difference. 

The following poem sums up my experience of writing my poetry book. It’s from the last section — “Midwest Mom: Meatloaf and Revolution” — of my book, Free to Roam: Poems from a Heathen Mommy. 

 

Free to Roam 

Let questions swirl in my brain
as my eyes strain at the glow of the screen. 

I’m a tired mom from the heartland
with the world at my fingertips. 

Opportunities and choices are overwhelming
in a world becoming so small. 

My corner of the planet is now yours
as I peer into your faraway life. 

Once impossible connections are made
as I share my story with the world 

isolated but no longer alone.

 

My poetry book gives an atheist perspective on being a Midwest Mom. It is for sale on my publisher’s site freethoughthouse.com, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon. (Signed copies are available at freethoughthouse.com.)

I will be speaking to Lincoln Atheists on April 24th at 1 pm CST and Cleveland Humanist Alliance on May 11th at 7pm EST. Looking forward to reading some poetry and meeting new people!

I have been contacting various groups looking for speaking engagements to promote my recently released poetry book. To my surprise, I’m actually having a lot of fun with it. I’m shy and definitely not a “people person”, but I’m becoming pretty comfortable with Zoom meetings. I’ve met a lot of nice people and some have helped me along the way. 

Anyway, I had been contacting atheist groups through the affiliates page on the American Atheists website, and after a while, I felt like I was hitting dead ends. My publisher suggested I try contacting humanist groups. I contacted a few groups today and I’m excited to see if they respond.

Humanism is a somewhat new concept to me. I only learned of the term a couple years ago after seeing a post on Facebook. I was immediately a fan of the AHA slogan, “good without a god”. That’s exactly how I feel about life and how I want to live. I’ve always called myself an atheist first but considering my actions and outlook, maybe humanist is a better description of who I am. 

What do you consider yourself? Atheist? Humanist? Agnostic? Secular? A combination? I’m curious and I’m sure there are more terms.

Happy Easter to all those celebrating in some way shape or form! We had an egg hunt and lots of chocolate. Thankfully the weather is nice here today and we were able to spend some time outside.

My daughter has been super excited about Easter. They had a party at her daycare last week and she really had a good time. She said it’s now her favorite holiday.

My daughter decided that she wanted to get our family members Easter cards. We went to the store and she picked them out herself. Most were flowers or bunnies but then she picked out a card with a Noah’s Ark scene. She doesn’t know what Noah’s Ark is. She just saw cute animals and a rainbow and thought it was pretty. So we went with it. We bought the card and she gave it to my sister and her wife. 

Will there ever be a time where I need to explain this stuff to my daughter? Why do people celebrate Easter and what’s Noah’s Ark? At the moment, my husband and I avoid anything religious with our daughter, but will there come a time when we should tell her about popular bible stories or meanings of holidays — for common knowledge or maybe from a cultural or historical aspect? 

I have been so very careful with my daughter. I’ve always thought that religion preys on young people and I want my daughter to be free. She hasn’t asked any questions and I avoid bringing it up. She will be five at the end of the month and hasn’t had any exposure to religion, but I know that might change as she gets older.

Is it better if I say something first before she’s exposed to religious people or do I explain as we go — answer her questions as they come up?

Will she have any questions at all? Maybe it won’t be a big deal.

But I assume at some point I should tell her the basics. When? What should I say?