Meet MICHAEL SPEARS of Rhyme and Reason Chapter

          Welcome to Michael Spears new President of Rhyme and Reason Chapter and UTSPS Membership Coodinator. He just joined UTSPS in March 2019 and loves the association with his poet friends. Here's some background on him in his own words. "Early life was spent on the north end of the Portland Peninsula, growing up in a "Stand By Me" environment (in the most literal sense).  When Mom found out her three young sons were hopping freight trains and skinny dipping in Triangle Lake, she packed her five children up and moved to Provo.  I thought my life had ended.  

          Learning to love the imagery, I developed an early love for poetry from the rare visits I had with my father, who could quote poems for hours on end.  Army veteran of Vietnam era, graduate of Weber State University and also the University of Utah.  Enjoy reading, especially history and anything anthropological.  Spring to fall is spent with wife Donna in our varied flower gardens and the vegetable garden (we are both licensed pruners and weed pullers).  We have loved growing pumpkins for the grandchildren and now we have a whole new generation of Bumpkins to share them with (they are quickly outnumbering the grandchildren)."  

          How to Make a Memory —m spears 

Take one grandmother
any size
with a welcoming lap
and smiling eyes;
one granddaughter
short or tall
tightly holding
her favorite doll. 

Add a dozen sheets
of paper
two pairs of
safety scissors
several pencils
(with erasers),
a medium amount
of patience,
one kitchen table
or rocking chair
with lots of love
and hugs to share—

Just start cutting
memories
to hang atop
the fireplace
above the mirror
or frame of door,
it really doesn’t matter where.

Meet SUSAN GIBBONS-WOLF of Dixie Poets

Susan Gibbons-Wolf, a St. George resident, recently received word her non-fiction children’s picture book, “P.S. Boats, Around Puget Sound” was a finalist in the 2020 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.  The book, containing “cheerful, rhyming text” and “stunning artwork,” received rave reviews last fall at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association tradeshow.  The Next Generation Indie Book Awards is the largest international awards program for independent authors and publishers.  Awards are presented by Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group www.IBPPG.com in over 70 categories.  This year’s competition received thousands of entries from all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces.  

Gibbons-Wolf and her husband retired to Saint George two years ago from Washington state.  She is a free-lance writer and studied creative writing at the University of Washington.  She is a member of the Society of Children’s book Writers and Illustrators as well as the Dixie Poet Society.  She joined the Utah State Poetry Society only this year.  Her book is available locally at The Book Bungalow in St. George, on her website www.wolfpublishingllc.com and on Amazon. 

Excerpt from her book 

"P.S. Boats, Around Puget Sound"

“Small and round and

Rather plain,

I’m a helper:

Tugboat’s my name.

Push and tug

And come alongside

Moving big ships

Is my pride.”