desperate for cash or goods ... sounds like a johnny cash song

Free!  Free!  Free!

I'm hosting a giveaway from CSN stores worth $100.  CSN stores has everything you could possibly be looking for - from unique coffee tables to the kitchen sink and everything in between with something for everyone and prices to fit every size pocketbook for all you bargain hunters.

CSN Stores has pocket books, furniture for every room, even that new red bicycle with rugs, clocks and everything under the sun with over 200 stores to choose from.

One of you lucky people who who leaves a comment, sends me a private email or twitters about this $100 giveaway will be the winner. Twitter-ers please send me a heads up to let me know you've twittered this. I'm violetwrites on twitter too!

It's hard out here for a poet for everyone I hear
Almost too much on a sister to a bear
I keep trying to make that moolah
Hooray for you and me - money for free!
free is an offer difficult offer to refuse

Next Monday September 27th I'll put all the names in a hat and pick one. Good luck everyone.

A rose by any other name...

What does a Siamese cat have to do with poetry & a book give away? Read on to find out!
Leave a comment in the blog to be put in a draw for 3 giveaways of my book, A Spot Of Bleach & Other Poems and Prose.
Folks I am not a traditional writer. Strangely enough DubbleX & I had the following conversation this morning.
DubbleX said about Cleo, my cat, "She's an unusual Siamese."
"She is," I agreed. "She's officially called an exotic oriental short hair."
"I don't understand," DubbleX said.
"The reason for that," I explained, "is because The Cat Fanciers' Association hasn't decided that flame point Siamese ought to be included in the designation Siamese. This in spite of the fact that the flame point has all the same points as every other Siamese cat. She has bright blue eyes with a pointy face and flame color shading on her back deepening as she matures. My cat is an outcast among her own kind. Born to a tortoise point Siamese mother bred to a exotic oriental flame point male. Thus flame point Cleo is not called a Siamese. "
"That's funny," DubbleX said.
"Funny how?" I asked.
"The way you tell the story," he says "plus it reminds me of your poetry."
"Explain," I say.
"Well," he says, "You said there are poets out there who criticize your narrative style & the way you write and they don't consider your work poetry."
"That's true," I said. "Because my poetry tells a story, and is not all about the metaphor."
"I like the way you write," DubbleX said. "Your words have an impact, they make me feel & experience things. They make me think too plus I understand them. I don't have to work hard to interpret what you're saying. I like the way each poem tells a story."
"Yes, the impact is what counts. Sometimes though the impact makes people so angry that they hate my work. You don't know how many times people have told me I'm not a poet."
"They're wrong," said DubbleX, "You are a poet. You have your own style with your own rhythm and energy. Not everyone can see. Your poetry combined with your energy reminds me of sitting, listening to the blues."
I thought about this conversation more as the day wore on. I thought about how this related to my entire life, I'm an outcast Jew, an outcast poet, and now I have a cat named Cleo who is an outcast Siamese flame point cat who is called an exotic oriental cat.