Selected Works
Children's Novels
P3 Press 2008. 135 pages. "I can't wait to read it to my students!" ~ Susan See, LISD Teacher-of-the Year Finalist. "A heartwarming story of family, acceptance, and buried treasure." ~ Laura Edge, Children's Author
Royal Fireworks Press 2001. 123 pages. Mystery for middle grades, enjoyed by readers age 7-70.
"It was so exciting I even got up early just to read it." ~ Joanne (8), England.
Work-in-Progress
SECRET OF THE SEVENTH GATE sequel. The Texas 1979 reunion between the Graham & Darabi families is overshadowed by the Iran hostage crisis! I am also writing sidebars full of funs facts to supplement my new picture book, L IS FOR LONDON.
Poetry Chapbooks
A chapbook from RaeMark Press, June 2003. $6.00 B&W illustrations by the author. Click on title for sample poems.
38 illustrated pieces, ranging in style from Shakespeare to Ginsberg, trace a rich pattern woven over five decades of living. RaeMark Press 2006. Click on title for sample poems.
Memoir
Fly with Lucy in the Sky, back to a time when everything was fab!
A tribute to my teacher, Miss Irene Wheeler: See BLOG post 9-4-12
Magazine Articles
Published in Welcome Home. A survey of women's experiences with newborns.
Interview with founding members of a Mothers of Multiples chapter
What made novelist Thomas Hardy switch to poetry for the rest of his life? Published in Quartos, UK.
Tapestry of Time
2nd chapbook, with author's drawings & photos. RaeMark Press, 2006. $7 incl P&P. Order from hazelspire@sbcglobal.net.
MORE SAMPLE POEMS:
After the Rapture (rondel)
My friends have flown.
I'm left behind.
I closed my mind
To Scriptures shown.
I should have known
But I was blind.
My friends have flown.
I'm left behind.
My heart is stone.
I'm in a bind,
To Fate resigned.
I'm all alone.
My friends have flown.
I'm left behind.
...............................................................
Voices (April 2003)
At the end of "The Hours" the music plays on.
I emerge from the cinema into the mall,
lost in a daydream. Driving home, I see taillights
ahead, stuck on red. Construction. Congestion.
Voices echo in my brain--memories
of the movie. Not, thank God,
those malevolent voices that spoke
to Virginia Woolf (and my Nana)
from London walls between the wars.
As I sip cappuccino, the voice from Paris
via car radio reports a NATO standoff.
France said, "Non!" to bolstering Turkey,
like de Gaulle in the '60s when he told Britain
"Non!" to joining the Common Market.
I remember the bold headline
and cartoon-like nose of his profile.
It's a perfect day for kids to wear shorts,
bounce a ball, play tag along the sidewalk
beside their mom with the stroller.
Synpases buzz, connecting their lives
with mine, present with past.
An author reads from her novel on NPR,
noting how brutal--and gentle--people can be.
In Kabul, a journalist rejoices that the children
are back in school. Seeing them with their satchels
he stands in the street and weeps.
After the Rapture (rondel)
My friends have flown.
I'm left behind.
I closed my mind
To Scriptures shown.
I should have known
But I was blind.
My friends have flown.
I'm left behind.
My heart is stone.
I'm in a bind,
To Fate resigned.
I'm all alone.
My friends have flown.
I'm left behind.
...............................................................
Voices (April 2003)
At the end of "The Hours" the music plays on.
I emerge from the cinema into the mall,
lost in a daydream. Driving home, I see taillights
ahead, stuck on red. Construction. Congestion.
Voices echo in my brain--memories
of the movie. Not, thank God,
those malevolent voices that spoke
to Virginia Woolf (and my Nana)
from London walls between the wars.
As I sip cappuccino, the voice from Paris
via car radio reports a NATO standoff.
France said, "Non!" to bolstering Turkey,
like de Gaulle in the '60s when he told Britain
"Non!" to joining the Common Market.
I remember the bold headline
and cartoon-like nose of his profile.
It's a perfect day for kids to wear shorts,
bounce a ball, play tag along the sidewalk
beside their mom with the stroller.
Synpases buzz, connecting their lives
with mine, present with past.
An author reads from her novel on NPR,
noting how brutal--and gentle--people can be.
In Kabul, a journalist rejoices that the children
are back in school. Seeing them with their satchels
he stands in the street and weeps.