Tweetspeak Poetry

Oprah Summer Reads 14-k Gold Giveaway

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Some books make the A List, and some books make the O List.

In February, T.S. Poetry Press, known for poetry and memoirs, published its first novel, The Whipping Club by Deborah Henry. It is the story of a child placed for adoption, and years later, his birth parents learn that he wasn’t adopted as they had been told, but is in an orphanage – an institution that is more about child abuse than child care.

“Deborah Henry is a natural storyteller and she is far more, ” says Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler. “Her novel The Whipping Club is a compelling read, but it also seriously explores the terrible ways the world –as a society, as individuals—often fails its children. And most importantly, her book offers a searingly lovely vision of how wrongs can be made right. Deborah Henry is a splendid young novelist who deserves a wide audience.”

The novel is about to get that audience. This week, O Magazine—O as in Oprah—published its list of the 29 hottest reads for the summer – and The Whipping Club is on the list.

It made the O List. O my goodness.

Here at TweetSpeak Poetry, we’re celebrating Deborah Henry’s book and its O-list recognition. Like the secrets buried in The Whipping Club, we’re burying some secret words – secret O words.

Three different words will be available in our blog posts each day. For example, you might see #Oprah, and you might see #Ovation, and you might see #Onyx. Or three other O words. (Personally, I like the word #Oleander.) Look for the hashtag symbol (#) in front of an O word.

Then write a poem or take a picture, using or illustrating the secret word. Post the poem or picture on your blog, Twitter, or Facebook, with a link back to this post. Then stop in and share your post link with us in this comment box, and you’ll be entered in the 14-k-gold-secret giveaway (one necklace—winner’s choice—from the options below). Multiple entries, each using a different secret word, are perfectly acceptable.

14-k-gold-secret giveaway by Tweetspeakpoetry.com

The contest ends on Friday – this Friday, June 15, at 9 p.m. Eastern time. One winner will be picked at random and announced here at TweetSpeak on Monday, June 18. The more you share, the more chances you have to win! Just remember to link to us and to come back and share your post link with us HERE.

In addition to the O secret word contest, for two weeks only, the Kindle price of The Whipping Club will be $2.99. (I bought mine yesterday.)

Congratulations to Deborah Henry and T.S. Poetry Press. And start looking for those secret O words.

Post by Glynn Young, author of Dancing Priest: A Novel

___________

Check out The Whipping Club, by Deborah Henry!

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“A powerful saga of love and survival.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Glynn Young
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Comments

    • L. L. Barkat says

      Shoot, Nancy, you could try something really small. Like a haiku-ish kind of thing. What could it hurt? 🙂

      Reply

      • L. L. Barkat says

        Well, only if the Oldsmobile or the onion was a secret word. 🙂

        But you’re right, Glynn! She needn’t write a single poem (darn 😉

        Reply

          • Nancy Franson says

            Well didn’t you all have fun without me here this afternoon?

            You know, oodles of good words begin with the letter O.

            Like Owens. And Orangutan. Not that those two are related.

            In any case, We’ll see if I’m able to wax poetic. Or onomatopoeia-tic. Another good O-word, no?

            I’m just happy to have gotten the book for $2.99.

            Carry on.

  4. Jennifer@GDWJ says

    Ok. So I can take a photo, but NOT of my bowl of Cheerios, right? I don’t have any onyx or oleander around here. I do have cows who could moooooooooo an #ovation. ( <—— see all those Os in Moo?)

    🙂

    Reply

  5. Shelly Miller says

    It only takes one person of influence to garner the attention of distracted bystanders. So happy Oprah noticed the book and shouted it to the masses. Yay! Wish I was a poet, I would join the party here. I’ll just linger in the creativity of others.

    Reply

  11. Grace Marcella Brodhurst-Davis says

    Here’s my poem to #Outside

    “Destiny”

    Outside of myself
    I can see how
    The wind blows
    Breath into me,
    But can’t seem
    To see how
    Breath in me
    Can erase the cacophony
    Of deep-hued memories
    Of my being
    Though knowing
    Such breath,
    I pulse towards
    My innermost calling
    To free myself to be

    Reply

  13. Connie Cornwell Chipman says

    #Obsession

    Obsession absorbed deep into my soul,
    fostering burning passions
    of hot rhythm ready to spill out
    with spastic vigor,
    that has taken over
    my body as the music’s jump jiving,
    fast and free.

    faceboo.com

    Reply

  15. Connie Cornwell Chipman says

    #OLD

    I can’t find the words
    to play.
    Oh! You said to check
    the post today.
    Just look for words
    that start with #O,
    which you will find in
    the link below.
    I’m blind and daft,
    how I feel #OLD
    I’ll go to link that you did show.

    facebook.com

    Reply

  19. Ellen EtCetera says

    Darn. I honestly cannot figure out how this contest works. I click “blog” and it takes me back to the home page, referencing a daily blog that I can’t seem access. Are we supposed to be using the words #Oprah, #Ovation, #Onyx, or #Oleander? I was making the assumption those were examples and that the “real” secret words would be found elsewhere, but where? I am #obscured, #out-of-it, and #overwrought! Can you #oblige?

    Reply

    • L. L. Barkat says

      Seems you figured it out—that every morning post this week had the secret words. Love all the poems you offered up!

      Oprah, Ovation, Onyx, and Oleander were the words for that post (sneaky Glynn).

      You crack me up!

      Reply

  20. Darlene Kuykendall says

    This song, by Human League plays in my head every time I covet a new pair of shoes; Especially the last two verses. Shoes…My Obsession!

    You are an obsession
    I cannot sleep
    I am your possession
    Unopened at your feet
    There’s no balance
    No equality
    Be still I will not accept defeat

    I will have you
    Yes, I will have you
    I will find a way and I will have you
    Like a butterfly
    A wild butterly
    I will collect you and capture you

    CHORUS:
    You are an obsession
    You’re my obsession
    Who do you want me to be
    To make you sleep with me
    You are an obsession
    You’re my obsession
    Who do you want me to be
    To make you sleep with me

    I feed you I drink you
    My day and my night
    I need you I need you
    By sun or candlelight
    You protest
    You want to leave
    Stay
    Oh, there’s no alternative

    Your face appears again
    I see the beauty there
    But I see danger
    Stranger beware
    A circumstance
    In your naked dreams
    Your affection is not what it seems

    CHORUS
    My fantasy has turned to madness
    And all my goodness
    Has turned to badness
    My need to possess you
    Has consumed my soul
    My life is trembling
    I have no control

    I will have you
    Yes, I will have you
    I will find a way and I will have you
    Like a butterfly
    A wild butterly
    I will collect you and capture you!

    SHOES SHOES SHOES!!!

    Reply

  23. Connie Cornwell Chipman says

    #ONLY

    It’s easy to imagine something astounding
    if only we would take the time to look.
    Sadly, I only glimpsed.
    Time marches on, and it’s in those
    happy hours of slumber,
    when the imagination flashes…
    like Galvani’s spark, that
    in blink of an eye
    the past, present, and
    future no longer have
    restraints of time.

    https://www.facebook.com/?sk=welcome#!/chipmancs

    Reply

  37. Rosanne Osborne says

    #operation

    O Solitude

    Solitude is the operation
    of the soul in search of itself.
    It’s in the dead center
    of soundlessness
    that vitality’s insistent
    reminder can be heard.
    The crunch of ant feet
    descending into dust,
    their mission mandated
    by singular intelligence,
    beating a rhythm
    that the soul knows.

    Reply

  38. Rosanne Osborne says

    #Oxford

    Layoffs

    Oxford cloth shirts are as indestructible
    as he believed his career to be.
    His was a buttoned-down theology
    of work, an ethic that took the starch
    and rendered crisp collared authority
    its due. Locked from his office,
    he slumped in the pile of rumpled
    threads waiting for someone
    to see his worth, restore his press.

    Reply

  39. Grace Marcella Brodhurst-Davis says

    #Oxford

    “Oxford Comma”

    Oh! Such dilemma!
    Over Oxford comma
    Old country of mine
    Says,
    ‘Lose it not!’
    Others say,
    ‘In the gutter!
    Too much clutter!’
    Haters love the brevity
    Lovers, the history
    Or perhaps utility?
    This serial comma,
    Such an innocent fella,
    Breathes such life
    In naysayers,
    Yet breeds
    So strongly
    Among players
    This English mystery,
    To everyone’s worry,
    Is still very much alive
    In World’s ever-changing drive

    http://gracebrodhurstdavis1.blogspot.com/2012/06/oxford-comma.html

    Reply

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