Jan Keough

A piece of toast

I’m writing this blog for the fun of it.  Post a comment, make a suggestion, add an emoji or just say hi.

A little background:  My husband and I moved to the Atlantic coast of Florida many years ago to escape winter weather from Dec-March.

It was also after losing my quite adorable parents, Hal & Helen Carey, and then Kevin’s mother, the irrepressible Antoinette Keough.  Soon after packing up, driving I-95 South, and moving in, we realized that we traded New England winters for frightening hurricanes from June-Sept/October.  Walking dogs at 5:30 am became a necessity during those steamy months – if storms didn’t keep us inside.  One pup was closeted with my work-from-home computer programmer husband during ear-numbing thunderstorms.

As you can imagine, our friend’s invitation to visit them in western North Carolina was most welcome.  After two weeks we were hooked on mountain views, driving along the Blue Ridge highway, and quaint, friendly towns.  We ended up buying a small summer home to escape the Florida hurricanes.

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I’ve written poetry, essays, a ‘novella’ entitled Jasmine Tea, a wandering, and a one-act play “Unannounced.”  Have run a couple of poetry contests via the Origami Poems Project (OPP) and published the winning and notable poems.  See this Amazon page for an example of our 2017 & 2020 ‘Best of Kindness’ anthology contest winners anthologies.

My writing ranges from contemplative to the inane.  Or silly, in other words.  For example, my series on Toast in the Origami Poems Project (OPP).  Here’s an example,

Traveling Toast

Toast never mentions
her travel plans,
never sends a card.
Her online pics
reveal a taste
for one-meal stands
on fancy plates.
She scrapes by on the whim
of a morning stranger,
an open counter,
and a half-filled coffee mug.
That golden glow of hers
reflects either
balmy zones
or tanning salons set on high.
But butter
never did melt
in her mouth.
Jan Keough © 2012 (link to my microchap, Tangential Toast)

The Origami Poems Project
Back in 2009 two Rhode Island poet-friends, Lynnie Gobeille (center), Barbara Schweitzer (left) and I (Jan Keough, far right) started the Origami Poems Project to encourage poets to share their work. The idea of a micro-chapbook (or microchap) came up in Barbara’s poetry workshop. The class composed several short poems to fit onto a single sheet of paper. The poems were printed and folded it, origami-style, into a 6-page microchap. Lynnie & I were thrilled and, with Barbara, began to publish and share many poets’ micro-poetry.

Visit www.origamipoems.com to experience the wonder of this project.  If you write poetry of the positive-leaning variety, consider submitting via: Submittable

Nice chatting with you…

Jan Keough