Tangled by Blood

Rebecca Evans (whom we’ve interviewed) has recently released Tangled by Blood: A Memoir in Verse.

Unlike other memoirs, Tangled by Blood is not a tale of redemption, but one of hard-earned love and high stakes. Through a shifting POV, Tangled by Blood offers social commentary on abuse, sexual trauma, addiction, and suicide. The poems and prose in Tangled by Blood reflect, among many things, fractured intimacy. This fracturing influences every subsequent relationship—carrying scars and wounds throughout one’s life.

Tangled by Blood is available at Bookshop.org, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and MoonTidePress.

About the author (from her Amazon Author Page):

Evans is a memoirist, poet, and essayist. In addition to writing, she teaches Creative Nonfiction at Boise State University and mentors high school girls in the juvenile system. In her spare time, she co-hosts a radio program, Writer to Writer, offering a space for writers to offer tips on craft and life. She served eight years in the United States Air Force and is a decorated Gulf War veteran. She’s hosted and co-produced Our Voice and Idaho Living television shows, advocating personal stories. 

She’s also disabled, a Veteran, a Jew, a gardener, a mother, a worrier, and more. She has a passion for sharing difficult stories about vulnerability woven with mysticism and hopes to inform, in a new way, what it means to navigate this world through a broken body and spirit. 

Rebecca Evans

She’s been in several anthologies and has co-edited a poetry collection in tribute to the life and achievements of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, when there are nine (available widely: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Bookshop.org, and via the publisher’s site, Moon Tide Press.

A memoir-in-verse, Tangled by Blood, is forthcoming (March 2023). This is a full-length collection, but delivered in a narrative format of three parts with a shifting point of view. 

Do you have a writing routine? Where and when do you write?

I’m a fairly systematic and disciplined human, but I try not to overstructure my writing habit. I find I’m more creative in the early morning, so I usually wake around four and spend an hour or two in my self-care and reflection routine. This includes gentle yoga, stretching, reading, journaling, morning prayers, puppies, and sitting in silence. After, I eat a hearty breakfast. Eggs. Every day. No matter. And then I cook a big breakfast for my sons and walk my Newfoundlands. 

By the time I settle in for writing, it’s around seven in the morning and I sit at my desk, I pull a Tarot card, I light a fig candle and some sage. I always write longhand first and then transfer to my computer. This early writing is generative and creative. I explore forms and song and methods and moods.

Continue reading “Rebecca Evans”

Margaret Koger

She’s a former teacher, librarian, and Poet in the Schools. Study of the interplay of nature and the economy during the settlement of the American West informs Maggie’s writing. Her poetry has appeared in numerous journals online and in print.

She’s very active in the Treasure Valley writing community. Here (Soundcloud link) Ken Rodgers and Rebecca Evans quiz her about her writing methods and her advice for new authors

Her most recent publication is What These Hands Remember (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kelsay Books).

Do you have a writing routine? Where and when do you write?

I write for deadlines! A submission window or an upcoming writers group session sends me directly to my computer where I rewrite a shaky draft or fly off on a new idea as suggested by the muse of the day: a river nymph, a robin, or a stranger’s face—it just depends. I write in my office, where I’m surrounded by my husband Grove Koger’s collection of books. They inspire me to keep at it.

Continue reading “Margaret Koger”

Idaho Prize for Poetry

Lost Horse Press (in Sandpoint) runs the Idaho Prize for Poetry contest for a book-length poetry manuscript. Winners receive $1000, publication by Lost Horse Press, and 20 comp copies of their book.

Submissions are now open for the Idaho Prize for Poetry 2021

  • All US poets are eligible.
  • Entries must be submitted by 31 May 2021

Winners will be announced by 15 August 2021. The entry fee is $28. Read more about submitting your poetry.

Poetry reading (online) 16 September

Do you enjoy lively and original poetry? The Live Poets Society Is conducting its first Zoom poetry reading (hosted by its long-time community partner, the Garden City Public Library) on Wednesday, 16 September 2020 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.

There’s no fee and the public is welcome to participate.