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{poem} in which a woodpecker saves me
Into the aftermath of blaring car accident near misses, thrum of impatience covered with sheepishly-offered smiles of good people pushed into temporary belligerence drops the tiniest sound full of curiosity and glee because late season goodness was found tucked into tiny gray-brown caverns in gnarled tree bark. she-tree slumbers on, roots holding fast aware she’s […]
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{poem} in which my muse outwits me
it’s not always exact, this making of poems, word pictures written rhythms soundimagescapes in black and white. sometimes they just don’t gel. © 2021 Tracie Nichols
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Fourteen Years After
I watched them run into the rubble, smoke and confusion. Saw them disappear through the doors. Running in when everyone else was running out. I remember thinking, “They’re so brave. We’re so lucky to have people like that willing to help.” Then the screen filled with billows of gray-black smoke, the camera angle pulled back […]
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In the Belly of the Moon
I’ve written more poems by the glow of the bathroom nightlight than have ever passed through these fingers in daylight hours. With children and a husband sleeping, my options for daytime writing—and nighttime writing without waking anyone—are limited. So, the bathroom nightlight and I are long-time writing friends. Last night my mind was yadda yadda […]
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It’s not your fault…or mine.
Life flows tidally.It seems we’re always navigatingincoming or outgoing waves of change. Tracie Nichols In my just-before-sleep reading these past few nights, I’ve been settling my roots into the paradigm-shifting goodness that is Sharon Blackie’s book If Women Rose Rooted. It’s one of those books, you know? Where one reading only scratches the surface. Anyway, […]
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The language of names
We often choose a name that seems accurate for us, but that isn’t big enough to contain our entire life. Margaret J. Wheatley I’ve been thinking a lot about identity these days, as I talk with women clients. I’ve been thinking about the names we use to identify ourselves. About the ways in which those […]
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Revenge of the muse
a poem a day. what was I thinking announcing it to the world? did enthusiasm or foolhardiness cadge control of my mouth? perhaps this is my muse declaring “Payment due.” for all those inspirations offered and declined. Daily Poem Project 2018 – day 2 © 2018 Tracie Nichols – all rights reserved image credit: Tracie […]
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Don’t let the critical voices win
When I was in sixth grade, I started drawing an ever-expanding Halloween-themed picture. In a few weeks it went beyond a simple drawing into becoming a whole world. A story in images. Bewitched, I drew more sprawling worlds. In seventh grade, I found poetry. Words fell into and out of me creating images from language. I called them wordscapes. […]
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Please. Don’t look away.
So many people responded when I published this in my newsletter this morning that it feels important to share it more widely. So, from my heart to yours… With devastation of all kinds in so many places around the world, you’re probably overflowing with advice about how to help or where to give. Me too. But […]
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Writer’s Block remedy
Sometimes when life has tossed a challenge at me, I get stuck in hamster-wheel thinking. Churning the same thoughts and beliefs around and around. “Squeak, squeak, squeak…” Reaching the same conclusions over and over until I just wish I could pop my head off, give it a good shake, and snow-globe myself into a different […]
Tracie Nichols, M.A.
Writing Services
Tracie Nichols, M.A. 