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Cyndi Macmillan

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Cyndi MacMillan lives in a small town in Ontario that is home to North America’s largest working waterwheel. Her writing has appeared in notable Canadian literary journals and local newspapers.

A Cruel Light is her debut gothic mystery (4/4/2023). She has been a Jill-of-all-trades, but for as long as she can remember, she has dreamt of being a novelist. Hard work and the wonderful team at Crooked Lane Books have made that dream a reality. Please note that her husband and daughter kindly keep her coffee mug filled when she is wrestling with a suspenseful chapter. During a pandemic lockdown, the family adopted a rescue cat who chirps.

When not writing, Cyndi enjoys reading Gothics, scrapbooking, and losing horribly at board games. Works-in-progress include the second (and third) Annora Garde Mystery, a Canadian noir series, and a standalone horror mystery, so more often than not, Cyndi is writing. She is a member of Crime Writers of Canada.

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POET PUB, TONIGHT'S SPECIAL: EXTRA TENDER, EASY TO DIGEST

Blog Posted by Cyndi Macmillan: 1/25/2016 9:40:00 PM

Hey all,

Seat yourself. We've got the fire blazing to chase off the chills. I've heard good things about the stew and the cottage pie is legendary. No rush... take your time.

What? Oh, yes, the featured poet tonight is Jane Eaton Hamilton. Canadian. She's written six books and has been short listed for several literary awards.

I'll let you look at the menu.

At the Cafe Trieste, North Beach, San Francisco, 1975. Left to right: Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Minelte Le Blanc, Peter Le Blanc, Allen Ginsberg, Harold Norse, Jack Hirschman & Bob Kaufman. Photo by Diana Church.

(the following poem is posted for study and review purpose only and will be later removed from this blog. This poem was found at Canadian Poetry Online.

http://canpoetry.library.utoronto.ca/hamilton/index.htm

Two Legs

Jane Eaton Hamilton
From: Prairie Fire, Vol. 16, No. 2.

_________________________

All poetic musings welcome. Don't mind Bob and Doug. They prefer hockey.

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Nette
Onclaud

Date: 1/27/2016 11:36:00 AM

though late for the party,sis, i find this poetry to be experiential and existential... the distinct show of a pair-- mother and daughter-- dovetailing with the twins' situation is indeed symbolical!..huggs

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/27/2016 5:51:00 PM

Sis, fire away, but soon. I added five spots to the contest. I was happily shocked to see it fill so quickly.

Nette Onclaud
Date: 1/27/2016 2:10:00 PM

i'll send an entry to your contest, with permission to edit as it's in rough draft... whether you like it or not, lol..

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/27/2016 12:43:00 PM

DOVETAILING! How beautifully worded! You may spark a poem from your comment, Sis. Cheers. Come to the next party. But seeing all the bloodshot eyes, the state of the lived-in room... holy cow... may be a while (frick, where'd I put the broom?)

Cyndi
Macmillan

Date: 1/26/2016 6:43:00 PM

Chris: Peter Le Blanc.

Brian
Strand

Date: 1/26/2016 4:39:00 PM

Perhaps it is a 'western style haibun ' to those who see this poem as poetic, ie they see the poetry ,... others just see the dialogue etc and consider it prose or a short story.

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/26/2016 4:43:00 PM

The fence keeps moving on us... shifty thing. I can only say that I read a good mix -- even smiled as I recognized a villanelle, published by a notable journal. There is room for all styles, all voices, all forms out there.

Cyndi
Macmillan

Date: 1/26/2016 4:01:00 PM

I see the structure, Brian, and I understand why so many can only see the prose, but I see the poetry... the placement of words like echoless, the alliteration like "hard hitches of hunger," the double-weight of saying a heart, beating "clear." Some internal rhyme... the sly use of the word beating, twice... It's good that we have differing opinions. I am trying to get my poetry published in Prairie Fire, one of Canada's most notable poetry journals. They accept 1 percent of the poetry they receive. I love the journal.. they love to publish a variety of styles and even some forms. This poem is archived by the University of Toronto library, under contemporary Canadian Poets.

Brian
Strand

Date: 1/26/2016 3:28:00 PM

One comment I would make on the format, to me, it reads as, what have I labelled as, 'Structured Prose'.PS Cyndi the hockey was good to watch, even to an English eye.

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/26/2016 4:44:00 PM

Chris? Pass him a stubby.

Brian Strand
Date: 1/26/2016 4:21:00 PM

In the long run Criag I don't think it matters a jot.It is how the author presents it,how 'poetic' it is ,and how the reader/listener reacts to it.What we label it is not important.Is it art or not.That will always be in the eye of the beholder.The Denis poem clearly is.

Brian
Strand

Date: 1/26/2016 1:54:00 PM

Not my scene,this write so I'm watching the hockey with Bob and Doug!

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/26/2016 2:06:00 PM

:) If you know these terms, "You hoser," "Take off, eh," or "Youz" then I hereby dub thee an honourary Canadian.

Carrie
Richards

Date: 1/26/2016 12:28:00 PM

Short story, prose, or narrative...? For me, it never really matters, which perhaps is a tell-tale sign that I know zip about proper poetry. But when reading a piece that truly pulls me into the deep pool of emotion, whether it is joyous or tragic, meaningful, thought-provoking, and heart-wrenchingly beautiful, ...I'm a goner. I fell into this poem, and gladly so. I am one who would much rather listen to the story unfold, than see another rainbow appear in a more structured poem. The mother-child connection, the difficult journey of letting go, (which every mother must eventually face),..or explaining the unexplainable tragedies of life to those tender ears, are complexities of motherhood no woman can possibly know when they first conceive their child

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/26/2016 2:19:00 PM

Chris, I feel that poetry is defined by the nature of the write, how or if it can be interpreted several ways, it's depth and nuances. I've read metered, versed work that is not poetry, in my books. I've read pieces of prose that were profoundly poetic and left me humbled and questing.

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/26/2016 2:14:00 PM

Glad it touched you, Carrie... I do not put on the news, here, not yet. School shootings ... parents doing the now-imaginable... people killing each other... war... all these things I know we must soon discuss and it KILLS me inside. How to even begin the discussion... this is what genocide looks like... racism, terrorism...

Cyndi
Macmillan

Date: 1/26/2016 11:17:00 AM

Recently, my six year old daughter (only 6) and I have been curling up on the couch and watching "Bondi Vet," a real life drama of an Aussie veterinarian and all those real life and death scenarios that occur at an animal hospital. Oh, you guys! If you heard the "internal conversation" I had with myself about the pros and cons of watching this with her... goes like this: "This is good for her. No. What if I'm permanently scarring her? She's watching surgery, animals put to sleep, pain, despair, heartbreak" And then, "But most of the animals recover. She is learning about the love people have for more than their own species. She is learning about letting go... about life and its ins and outs..." She LOVES THE SHOW. It's her favourite. And it has become on of mine, too. Our time together, talking during the commercials.. reminds me of this poem.

Suzanne Delaney
Date: 1/26/2016 11:57:00 AM

A wonderful way for her to learn. My early years were on a farm so we learned about life and death through seeing it with animals that have a life span so much shorter than ours. Have you two watched the movie," Babe" together. About the little pig in Australia who thinks he is a sheepdog. The prose I mentioned by Simic is a collection.

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/26/2016 11:20:00 AM

We've seen poisoned dogs come back from the brink of death, a pelican set free after being helped to recovery, a baby kangaroo not make it, snakes, platypuses, cats who've swallowed things they shouldn't ... all of them: life lessons.

Suzanne
Delaney

Date: 1/26/2016 10:44:00 AM

Put another log on the fire and stir the stew this conversation is heating up. Once again technology has supplied a new psychological hurdle ...the decision to seperate or not, knowing there is a risk of one dying, and yet the conundrum of both dying if the separation isn't attempted. Yes for me it seems to be a narrative poem written in free verse. I used to have a definition of prose poetry but it is on my main computer. To me some of the best of prose poetry I have read is Charles Simic's "The World Doesn't End."

Suzanne Delaney
Date: 1/26/2016 4:18:00 PM

The world is changing so much. Back in our day the world seemed a safer place and way more opportunity for making our own way. Now it can be a matter of safety or survival to stay at home far longer than our generation did.

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/26/2016 11:12:00 AM

I'll have to check out that poem, Suzanne! We live in a world where children stay at home until 30, return home at 35... separation, in an odd way, even between the parent and child relationship has become a sort of choice, hasn't it? Yet, as a child grows, becomes more autonomous, it is a hurdle for both the parents and the growing child, I think.

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/26/2016 11:07:00 AM

Oops sorry Suzanne... sigh... comment that starts with HOW BEAUTIFUL is for Dianne and her posting of the youtube video which shows twins embracing just after being born, and they refuse to let go of each other...

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/26/2016 11:04:00 AM

How beautiful. How truly beautiful. To be that close? Is a mother's devotion any different... to celebrate your child growing, even as they grow AWAY from us, as they are meant to do? That first day of school? I held in my sobs until the bus was around the corner... but barely...

Cyndi
Macmillan

Date: 1/26/2016 10:13:00 AM

:) Hey Becca. We have lots of comfy chairs, pick whichever you wish. The definition of prose poetry has not been set in stone. Some, believe it is form based. So a poem that is written in a paragraph, no breaks at all, no spacing, no stanzas, would categorize a poem as a prose poem. Others, feel that an absence of metaphoric language, almost non-existent figurative language, is what differentiates free verse from prose poetry. However, prose poetry is not prose (from what I've read online and in journals. Editors have discussed this.) Prose poetry contains significant layering, understatement/overstatement, other components of poetry. While as prose is more straightforward. No layers.

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/26/2016 10:17:00 AM

I put this up there because many poets (including the poets on Soup) prefer to write and read poetry in this style. Maybe, some can even see themselves writing this very poem... have experienced this with their children or will one day...

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/26/2016 10:15:00 AM

I consider this to be prose poetry, even though it is stanzas, because of its very clear language, use of dialogue, common and familiar wording (I nodded, kissed her, and pulled her close, for example)

Cyndi
Macmillan

Date: 1/26/2016 9:45:00 AM

Charmaine, I'm in the kitchen for most of today... and this poem is with me, keeps me company as I do the dishes, get the drudgery done. And as I was standing there, the Velcro came to mind.. the "how it would be apart, the ripping over and over..." and I realized... it is like that for US, YES? Every parting, to school, all those independent steps... come together, rip apart... so hard... what do you think?

Charmaine
Chircop

Date: 1/26/2016 7:54:00 AM

This is a powerful ,emotional poem ...which describes so well how deep is the bond of mother and child. How hard it must have been for that woman to take a decision to separate her twins..How hard on the twins themselves.I love how the author related it to her own kind of loss when her baby was out of her womb.Yes,as a mother I can understand that hollowness I felt when my girl left my womb..On the otherhand the author seems grateful that her daughter is healthy and She could treasure the sound of her girl's heartbeat,unlike those twins ,one had died and the other seemed to feel lost..Heartwrenching poem..

Charmaine Chircop
Date: 1/26/2016 8:01:00 AM

My girl and I ,I meant : ) oops

Charmaine Chircop
Date: 1/26/2016 7:59:00 AM

Ttyl : )

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/26/2016 7:58:00 AM

:) Yes. You see it, too. It is heartwrenching. Almost, instinctive, all of it. The clinging, the moaning, the fear... Hope you check in here again, Charmaine. I'm off now... lol... but I know I will not be able to stay away long. xoxoxox

Charmaine Chircop
Date: 1/26/2016 7:57:00 AM

I still feel that my girl are one in many ways..I know I have to give her wings to fly..but it is difficult as much as it is beautiful to watch her find her identity as 'her own ' ..and not 'hers and mine ' . : )

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/26/2016 7:54:00 AM

Can't wait to chat! As far as the relationship... it is the universal relationship of every loving mother for her children. Symbiosis... and yet... each is their own person, requiring personal growth. Parents and children, the want of closeness, the need to separate. Even the want of private space.

Cyndi
Macmillan

Date: 1/26/2016 6:07:00 AM

I'm looking forward to returning... have to do the "frantic morning run" of lunches-made and girl-on-bus that starts our Mondays to Fridays... Lots to discuss here... Suz, I see it, too. But is it because the last two lines disturb us? The last two lines... are they about independence? A want of separation, even while the love is strong enough to choke us? Debbie, yes and no. So often, poetry captures one moment... but it can also speak of a lifetime, too, maybe? I need to read it, again. Good stuff, in there. Yes. Simply told. Still, excellent connotation... look at how she starts two lines with THEM... intentional cut, there. Part/them... unravel/them... talk about a meaningful cut.

Suzanne
Delaney

Date: 1/26/2016 1:53:00 AM

This is achingly sad, I know it is already published but after reading it through a couple of times I think in the first stanza I would leave out most of the last two lines and write it '.....pressing, as if conjoined.' Just an opinion. SuZ

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/26/2016 6:29:00 AM

Ooops. LOL.. read you wrong. The last two lines on the FIRST stanza. Back later!

Debbie
Guzzi

Date: 1/25/2016 10:13:00 PM

Yes what a story, I don't know Dee? I think perhaps I'd rather see it as a short story? Sure tears your heart out no matter what we call it!

Cyndi Macmillan
Date: 1/26/2016 6:31:00 AM

Yes. VERY emotive. Written like prose poetry, but chopped into stanzas. Lots of poetry within the piece...

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POET PUB, TONIGHT'S SPECIAL: EXTRA TENDER, EASY TO DIGEST

Two Legs

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