November News

Forthcoming Publications
I am thrilled to share I have two books coming out in 2023. The first, Midnight Glossolalia, is a collection of poems I co-authored last summer with two of my favorite poets, the brilliant Scott Ferry and Lillian Necakov. It will be released by Meat for Tea Press. Scott, Lillian, and I wrote the book as call and response – one of us would write a poem, and the other two would respond. All of the poems are concerned with the strange and surreal, including but not limited to: ghosts, UFOs, alternate dimensions, ancestors, science, technology, math, music, nature, and Fruit Loops.

The other book is a solo collection I wrote called Moonlight and Monsters. The publisher hasn’t made an official announcement yet, so I can’t share too many publication details. The book is divided into three sections: Moonlight, Monsters, and General Weirdness. They are poems that find a home in the fantastical, in the celestial, in magic and mysticism, in indigenous beliefs, in mythology, and in folklore. In examining things that are considered strange, other, or even monstrous, they strive for something relatable and universal. They look for the human stories beneath the sideshow, a way into and back out of the labyrinth.

More to come!

Appearance

This month, I was a featured reader at Uncloistered Poetry Online. Unfortunately, they don’t record the show, so I don’t have a video to share, but if you enjoy reading/listening to poetry, I recommend this event out of Toledo, OH. They do readings/open mics at least once a month. Jonie McIntire, poet laureate of Lucas County, OH, is a great host. Many thanks to her for inviting me.

Other News

Poet Lynn Long read my piece, “White Noise,” on an episode of the podcast Hummingbird Blink: Nectar Poetry. Lynn is one of my favorite poets – her work is sensitive, romantic, and beautiful. I am so honored that she thought my work is worth reading, and if you’ve never heard Lynn read, you’re in for a treat.


Happy Holidays

For all who celebrate, I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving. As we go into the gift-giving season, don’t forget I have many books available on Amazon. Any one of them would make a great present to the book lovers in your life!

The complete Order of the Four Sons series (Books 1-6) is available in paperback and on Kindle Unlimited.

My horror novella, Our Miss Engel, is available on Kindle Unlimited.

My first poetry collection, West Side Girl & Other Poems, is available in paperback and on Kindle Unlimited.

My poetry collections, Languages, First and Last (Cyberwit Press) and Requiem for a Robot Dog (Cajun Mutt Press), are available in paperback. 

I have hard copies of Languages and Requiem, so if you would like a signed copy, please contact me, laurenscharhag@gmail.com.

Guest Post: Stephen Cole Reviews The Long Blade of Days Ahead

I am a big admirer of Scott Ferry's poetry. I've read many of his books and even blurbed a couple. Scott and I, along with Lillian Necakov, have recently finished a poetry collaboration together, so I am pleased to share this review of Scott's latest book, The Long Blade of Days Ahead, by poet Stephen Cole. 

The Long Blade of Days Ahead is available to purchase on Amazon.

Scott Ferry and the Connectivity of Poetry by Stephen Cole

In so many ways poetry is the unintended consequence of someone’s compulsion—of human consciousness making its way into a connection. It is always through consciousness realizing it is in the presence of other consciousnesses that we become aware of ourselves and poetry is the linguistic mechanism for this awesome human achievement.

So poetry is primarily the language act of connectivity. This is how it exerts its pressure on us and confronts the things that may be dangerously separated from us and too easily overlooked in that separation. Poetry at its best overcomes this too often unnoticed isolation and is the antidote that indeed presents us the unity and autonomy that is so deeply required for the healing of this too human experience.

This is what I want to praise the poetry of Scott Ferry and his book of poems, “The Long Blade of Days Ahead” (Impspired Press, 2022). When you come in to contact with poetry and it propels itself deeply into an awareness itself, it becomes a way that could at first be very disturbing but it leaves you connected to something you have always suspected but could not otherwise make the connection.

Poetry is the medicine which, at its best, may completely take you within its embrace and, like the hug of a lover, heal you. Afterwards, you do not forget the experience and of course it never leaves you completely or goes away. It can be picked up and read again. Reading poetry to yourself and others is how we reinforce and connect with the gift of poetry.

We owe the poet thanks and of course some monetary support. Nickel for the poet and you give thanks because you will come to understand why you can breathe again — and in thankfulness, you may not even hear your own self give up a sigh at each poem but you know it has been accomplished.

Here is an example:

ants

have streamed into our
kitchen in silent queues

finding sticky midjool dates
a box of honey nut cheerios

a tiny fist of rice surrounded
by morning in jaws and bodies

until i place a canoe of
liquid poison behind the fridge

where my sons fingers can’t
reach and the next morning

no itching script on floors
or counters so i knew

where they were i knew
I would find a clumped

paragraph a slowly
dying hunger congealing

in the dark

••••••

(Not in the book)

my hands are huge

and i can’t button my mouth on
my fabric is smeared with
faith

(mostly i lie in these poems—
mirrored miraged
mismanaged)

i have made a poison cake
with all of this
blight

still some people love me
i still love god
somehow

as the light wrapped in fire
touches my fingers they
blister

yes the sky is the same as
the mouth the wind
treacherous

i will try to open into it
less pain than
flaying

i will wear the extra
serotonin like a
badge

look i can laugh again
look i can
laugh

About Stephen

I was born in Los Angeles California near the end of the Second World War. I honestly believe that only rocks and redwood trees are older.

I was raised in the Hill Country of Northeast Mississippi and the San Fernando Valley in Southern California, which allows me to conflate opposites at a great distance. I went to many different schools in my country and overseas. I was raised with four older sisters and no brothers so this led me to believe that if there was a God, it was certainly female.

My education was in philosophy. I was raised in the political tradition that believes that all people are created equal and that it is the point of every Nation to form a more perfect union within itself to realize these goals of equality. Privilege is the ultimate evil in any society.