This month I am honored to spotlight one of the new All Poetry Greeters.
Congrats!!!!
1. Where did you grow up? Tasmania, Australia... for those familiar with the Australian map it is the tiny, useless looking island hanging off the bottom but I now reside in sunny South Australia
2.What is the first thing you remember that perked your interest in writing? The first poem I ever wrote, was a theraputic exercise given to us by our English teach to help us deal with the death of six of our schoolmates in a car accident in 1989. I wrote that day and never put down my pen
3. Did you go to college/university? College studying Business Administration
4. Outside of college, how have you educated yourself beyond secondary school? I have almost always worked in the medical profession, so there was always quite a lot of study involved in both keeping up with current required skills.
5. What’s your favorite color? Purple
6. Food? Raspberries, Mexican and Pancakes, I can't decide between them but definately not all of them together.
7. Pastime? Music, Photography and craft
8. Music? Anything Country, particularly Keith Urban (he is still an Aussie!!). Seriously, I will listen to anything once. I have a diverse love of music, anything from Classical to 60's Rock, Jazz to Opera and everything in between.
9. Poet ? I have so many favourites. I can't go past the first person I ever read on this site when I joined. Bigmammajen ( All Poetry Member ). That woman is the best there is.
10. TV show? House, Scrubs, NCIS, Numbers anything crime or medical related really. Not into reality shows.
11. Movie ? Shawshank Redemption, Hotel Rwanda, The Colour Purple and I have a terrible obsession with animated kids movies like Shrek and Cars.
12. Book ? The Emancipist by Veronica Geoghegan Sweeney
About Your Life On All Poetry
1. Give me a brief rundown of your history on AP. In other words, how did you get here? How did I get here, fluke or dumb luck... googling poetry one day I stumbled over the site and they've been trying to get rid of me ever since... I think I'm like a piece of old furniture now. These days I am very proud to have been promoted to todays active Greeter team.
2. How long have you been a member of All Poetry? since early 2001, one of just a handful of people who are still here from the good old days
About Your Poetry :
1. When did you first begin to write? in 1989
2. What kind of poetry do you write the most? I write most of my poetry based on my own experiences, some dealing with my current battle with cancer as far as that goes pretty much the good, bad and ugly of the disease......I love to learn and write new forms, also to write poetry inspired by my own photography and can't go past a good Nature write
3. Who are your influences? My biggest influence is my late Grandpa who loved everything I ever wrote, whether it was horrible or not.. and my friends here at AP, who got me through some pretty tough times. Their talent and brilliance inspires me to improve my writing every day
4. What feeds your desire to continue writing poetry? To better myself, I think sharing in others emotions be they happy or sad makes us all better people, I love the challenge of a good contest, word prompt, photo prompt and for me writing poetry is very theraputic.
General :
1. Hobbies? Photography... is my biggest passion besides writing, I love the outdoors and being close to nature, climbing over, under or through anything to get that perfect shot... I am also a craft junkie
2. Pets? A Turtle named Shelby (Don't laugh!)
3. Talents? I don't really have any talents apart from playing the piano.
4. Jobs? I started in Pharmacy, moved to Medical Adminsitration, then on to working with the Unemployed... right now I am on a forced long vacation but I am busy working on my own little business 'A Shot of Creativity' I sell my own photos on greeting cards in newsagencies in my area and also prints, so it keeps me amused when I am not wandering the halls of AP
5. What advice would you give to growing poets ? Be yourself, write for yourself, not for others or for recognition, glory or fame that might never come, just be true to yourself, write from the heart and keep your mind open to new things.
One of her writes :
Survival (monotetra)
© Karen R, All rights reserved
The chemo travels through my veins
It causes me some awful pain
I know this struggle’s not in vain
I can’t complain, I can’t complain
~~*~~
I have no hair upon my head
I have a shiny top instead
It could be worse I could be dead
The doctor said, the doctor said
~~*~~
Some people are not always fair
They laugh at people with no hair
I guess I shouldn’t even care
My cross to bear, my cross to bear
~~*~~
At times my body feels so weak
Life free of pain is all I seek
And life is looking pretty bleak
I’m not unique, I’m not unique
~~*~~
My heart won’t let me take a dive
Each day a task just to survive
I will fight and I will thrive
I am alive, I am alive
~~*~~
Karen, thank you so much for all of the hard work you do as a greeter. Your time and dedication to the site is very much appreciated!
If anyone has ideas for a spotlighted member please im me with the link to their bio, and why you think they should be spotlighted.
Adding your comment:
i hope this is a source of delight for you
Nice to meet you. Thanks for your work as a Greeter. A spectacular poem that I think would be excellent for a support magazine for cancer survivors to encourage others to SURVIVE! Not to mention well, yes, to mention... to inspire others not battling cancer to be more compassionate about the hair loss. Inspirational and moving. A gifted writer is able to make their reader, feel. You are a gifted writer. 
