Be the Rose, digital art & poetry by Joan Ellen Gage

On Wednesday, April 17, 2019, at 7:00 PM, John C. Campbell Folk School (JCCFS) and NC Writers’ Network-West (NCWN-West) will sponsor The Literary Hour. At this event, NCWN-West members will read at the Keith House on the JCCFS campus, in Brasstown, NC (1 Folk School Rd., Brasstown, NC 28902. This reading is free of charge and open to the public.

Joan Ellen Gage is an author of humor and inspiration written from her own unique perspective. Her recipe for her writing focuses on staying upbeat and laughing at her own foibles. Gage’s photos are the spice in the mix that serve to punctuate the writing and add that special garnish to her creations.

Joan has written and published five books, Water Running Downhill, Embracing Your Inner Cheerleader, A Redhead Looks At 60, Trinity’s Adventures in Imagination, and a special edition of Water Running Downhill! the Rose Edition, as a tribute to her friend Rose Macedo Kull. All of the books are available on Amazon. Currently, Gage is working on a new book entitled: Words of Defiance and Empowerment.

Gage is a former administrator for the NCWN-West blog. Additionally, Ms. Gage has two blogs, Traveling at the Speed of Now, www.joanellengage.com,and A Redhead Blogs at 60, https://joans-zone.com/.

Gage will be reading with other NCWN-West members Bob Grove, author of prose and Carroll S. Taylor, author of YA novels. Grove has published a mystery novella, Secrets of Magnolia Manor, his memoir, Misadventures of an Only Child, a collection of children’s stories: Adventures of Kaylie and Jimmy, and many flash fiction stories as well as some poetry. Taylor is the author of two young adult novels, Chinaberry Summer and Chinaberry Summer: On the Other Side. She is currently writing the third novel in the series, Chinaberry Summer: Down by the Water.

OTHER WEBSITE: https://joanellengage.com/

JOAN’S LINKS:

https://www.facebook.com/yourpersonalcheerleaderJoanEllenGage/

https://twitter.com/gage_joanellen

https://www.instagram.com/JoanEllenGage609/

BOOKS:

EMBRACING YOUR INNER CHEERLEADER: http://www.amazon.com/Embracing-Your-Inner-Cheerleader-ebook/dp/B0086WW7AA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&

qid=1340641839&sr=8-1&keywords=Embracing+Your+Inner+Cheerleader

STRANGER IN A STRANGE SKIN: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/95140

A Redhead Looks at 60: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/189-7867874-1973650?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=a+redhead+looks+at+60

©All creative works by Joan Ellen Gage are her exclusive property, and Joan maintains the legal rights to them.

Spring in My Sneakered Step, by Joan Ellen Gage

Posted on April 8, 2019 by Your Personal Cheerleader/Poet/Photocreationist

There is a

spring in my sneakered

step, cheery bird song

bursts from verdant

trees.

Pregnant deer

trim tufts of grass, while we

pretend not to look; gray squirrels

steal suet from

hanging feeders.

Bluebirds decorate

their rental house’s nest with

grasses, fur and feathers of the

latest design.

by,

Joan Ellen Gage

OTHER WEBSITE: https://joanellengage.com/

JOAN’S LINKS:

https://www.facebook.com/yourpersonalcheerleaderJoanEllenGage/

https://twitter.com/gage_joanellen

https://www.instagram.com/JoanEllenGage609/

BOOKS:

EMBRACING YOUR INNER CHEERLEADER: http://www.amazon.com/Embracing-Your-Inner-Cheerleader-ebook/dp/B0086WW7AA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&

qid=1340641839&sr=8-1&keywords=Embracing+Your+Inner+Cheerleader

STRANGER IN A STRANGE SKIN: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/95140

A Redhead Looks at 60: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/189-7867874-1973650?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=a+redhead+looks+at+60

©All creative works by Joan Ellen Gage are her exclusive property, and Joan maintains the legal rights to them.

A poem for International Women’s Day–One Tribe, by Joan Ellen Gage

Posted on March 8, 2019March 9, 2019 by Your Personal Cheerleader/Poet/Photocreationist

ONE TRIBE

Have you felt

with passing years

a more pressing

need to connect

with other women,

to share observations

and laughter,

to offer advice

or garner wisdom?

Do you feel drawn

as if by a magnetic force

to be with your own kind?

For these women

are a tribe, your tribe.

No one else will ever

understand your struggle

as they will.

Women are our people,

when we come together

we feel a oneness,

a sisterhood united.

When we come together,

we are at home.

From the book, Water Running Downhill!,

by Joan Ellen Gage

OTHER WEBSITE: https://joanellengage.com/

JOAN’S LINKS:

https://www.facebook.com/yourpersonalcheerleaderJoanEllenGage/

https://twitter.com/gage_joanellen

https://www.instagram.com/JoanEllenGage609/

BOOKS:

EMBRACING YOUR INNER CHEERLEADER: http://www.amazon.com/Embracing-Your-Inner-Cheerleader-ebook/dp/B0086WW7AA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&

qid=1340641839&sr=8-1&keywords=Embracing+Your+Inner+Cheerleader

STRANGER IN A STRANGE SKIN: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/95140

WATER RUNNING DOWNHILL, ROSE EDITION: http://www.amazon.com/Water-Running-Downhill-Words-Empowerment/dp/0692571965/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1447021563&sr=1-1&keywords=water+running+downhill%2C+words+of+empowerment%2C+rose+edition

A Redhead Looks at 60: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/189-7867874-1973650?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=a+redhead+looks+at+60

©All creative works by Joan Ellen Gage are her exclusive property, and Joan maintains the legal rights to them.

Spun to Death, poetry and photo-creation by Joan Ellen Gage

Posted on January 31, 2019 by Your Personal Cheerleader/Poet/Photocreationist

Spun to Death

This modern amoral, truth-spun (Let’s

not call them lies) world, sends me

under the covers, hiding from the daily

talking heads delivering todays

affronts to hearts that still

beat for humanity and brotherhood;

hearts that bleed and crack

open from the onslaught of

cruelty and cowardice, while our

minds consider madness rather than

try to wrap what constitutes

truth around them.

Can we not bless the poor, the

downtrodden, can’t we feed them, heal

them, help them, can we not

remember we are the same, the

same flesh, the same heart, can we

stand for something more than lower

taxes, something more than our selfish

inward islands, for protecting our own

asses and screw anyone else? I am

spun to

death.

by Joan Ellen Gage

OTHER WEBSITE: https://joanellengage.com/

JOAN’S LINKS:

https://www.facebook.com/yourpersonalcheerleaderJoanEllenGage/

https://twitter.com/gage_joanellen

https://www.instagram.com/JoanEllenGage609/

BOOKS:

EMBRACING YOUR INNER CHEERLEADER: http://www.amazon.com/Embracing-Your-Inner-Cheerleader-ebook/dp/B0086WW7AA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&

qid=1340641839&sr=8-1&keywords=Embracing+Your+Inner+Cheerleader

STRANGER IN A STRANGE SKIN: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/95140

A Redhead Looks at 60: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/189-7867874-1973650?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=a+redhead+looks+at+60

Are you Waiting for the Rest of Your Life? Photo and poem from Joan Ellen Gage

Posted on January 28, 2019 by Your Personal Cheerleader/Poet/Photocreationist

Waiting for the Rest of Your Life

Are you content in your comfort zone,

keeping within familiar parameters?

Do you wear blinders to keep your

focus fixed in front of you?

Intent on trudging the well-worn path,

are you afraid of taking that first step

toward the rest of your life?

People have a choice these days.

We don’t have to continue in the

career rut that we created, or

the temporary situation that

became our existence. Our other life, a

parallel universe, if you will, where we

wait, and deny ourselves our lives.

Have you considered a change?

Will you continue to struggle

against the potential current of your own will?

Have you encased your true self in a

web of denial so tight, that your

soul has given up hope of escape

into the realm of life’s possibilities?

How long have you pondered

doing something radical, or

potentially magical, empowering?

Are you afraid of the consequences of your

action, or inaction?

How long will it take? How long will you

wait for the rest of your life?

How long? How long? . . .

by Joan Ellen Gage

from the book,

Embracing Your Inner Cheerleader

OTHER WEBSITE: https://joanellengage.com/

JOAN’S LINKS:

https://www.facebook.com/yourpersonalcheerleaderJoanEllenGage/

https://twitter.com/gage_joanellen

https://www.instagram.com/JoanEllenGage609/

BOOKS:

EMBRACING YOUR INNER CHEERLEADER: http://www.amazon.com/Embracing-Your-Inner-Cheerleader-ebook/dp/B0086WW7AA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&

qid=1340641839&sr=8-1&keywords=Embracing+Your+Inner+Cheerleader

STRANGER IN A STRANGE SKIN: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/95140

A Redhead Looks at 60: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/189-7867874-1973650?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=a+redhead+looks+at+60

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photography

The River of Time

Suspended on an invisible bridge

the river of time, rushing beneath my feet,

I can go nowhere. I am

frozen, indecisive,

knowing I await my fate,

yet, unwilling to

jump.

ONE TRIBE

Have you felt

with passing years

a more pressing

need to connect

with other women,

to share observations

and laughter,

to offer advice

or garner wisdom?

Do you feel drawn

as if by a magnetic force

to be with your own kind?

For these women

are a tribe, your tribe.

No one else will ever

understand your struggle

as they will.

Women are our people,

when we come together

we feel a oneness,

a sisterhood united.

When we come together,

we are at home.

OTHER WEBSITE: https://joanellengage.com/

JOAN’S LINKS:

BOOKS:

EMBRACING YOUR INNER CHEERLEADER: http://www.amazon.com/Embracing-Your-Inner-Cheerleader-ebook/dp/B0086WW7AA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&

STRANGER IN A STRANGE SKIN: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/95140

WATER RUNNING DOWNHILL, ROSE EDITION: http://www.amazon.com/Water-Running-Downhill-Words-Empowerment/dp/0692571965/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1447021563&sr=1-1&keywords=water+running+downhill%2C+words+of+empowerment%2C+rose+edition

A Redhead Looks at 60: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/189-7867874-1973650?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=a+redhead+looks+at+60

©All creative works by Joan Ellen Gage are her exclusive property, and Joan maintains the legal rights to them.

Spun to Death

This modern amoral, truth-spun (Let’s

not call them lies) world, sends me

under the covers, hiding from the daily

talking heads delivering todays

affronts to hearts that still

beat for humanity and brotherhood;

hearts that bleed and crack

open from the onslaught of

cruelty and cowardice, while our

minds consider madness rather than

try to wrap what constitutes

truth around them.

Can we not bless the poor, the

downtrodden, can’t we feed them, heal

them, help them, can we not

remember we are the same, the

same flesh, the same heart, can we

stand for something more than lower

taxes, something more than our selfish

inward islands, for protecting our own

asses and screw anyone else? I am

spun to

death.

Waiting for the Rest of Your Life