AUTHOR NOTES

GLASS RAIN – a poem by Margaret Roxby

“CAME A SPIDER” was first published in Quartet in 1968. It is included this week for January 17, National Bootleggers’ Day (or the day prohibition began). The poem was written when her brother’s alcoholism was impacting his children’s lives, but also reflects the author’s own experience with an alcoholic father. The author used the nursery rhyme, “Little Miss Muffet,” to great effect.

REFRACTIONS—by Robert Roxby

“LOVE” is included this week for January 21, National Hugging Day. In his poetry journal, the author wrote this about the poem, “Fun thing for “poetry club.” The poem first appeared in his collection, Reflections on a Lifetime. Note: the author had no grandchildren, just grand nieces and nephews.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS—a poem by Kathleen Roxby

“PANIC IN THE BLACK QUARTER” first appeared in 2001 in the author’s chapbook, Tangent/Allusion. It is included this week for January 16, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Civil Rights Day. The poem was inspired by several films and documentaries the author saw about the White violence that came into the segregated areas where the Blacks lived both in the US and in South Africa during the Apartheid.

#National Bootleggers’ Day

#Martin Luther King Jr. Day

#Civil Rights Day

#National Hugging Day