Category Archives: poetry

Part of Living

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New Journalism Project is pleased to announce the publication of a collection of poetry by Austin writer, Charlotte Herzele. These poems reflect the author’s rich and varied journey through life with keen observation, heartfelt grief, humor, and joy.  You can find the professor, the belly dancer, the Tarot reader, the loving partner, and the joyful grandmother on these pages. Above all, Charlotte’s words reflect her zest for living. The book is available on Lulu.com and Amazon.

Charlotte must be possessed of something special. Maybe it is the voice of a never lost child insider her soul that guides her and speaks to her of people and places and things. It manifests outwardly in beautiful lifestyle, love of family, and a spirit of generosity and kindness that sits alongside a dichotomy of wry humor, ready laughter, and sharp wit. Now, through her poems, that voice reveals itself to us and shares the wise secrets.

Kimmie Rhodes – Singer-songwriter, author of Radio Dreams.

Echoes of Mercy: A soulful journey

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This is no typical memoire. It isn’t, for the most part, about actions or accomplishments. And it’s definitely not about bragging. 

The structure isn’t typical, either. It doesn’t go from one thing, leave that and go to another. It unfolds the way human minds and souls unfold over time. It was created the way a painting is: sketches and washes, then loosely shaped forms, then clarifying hues and values, then detailed touches. The pattern is prose stories written in a flowing, personal voice — followed by poetic structures that meditate on the stories that were just told. The pattern repeats many times, with factual overlaps, like ocean waves. The poetry is loose and casual at first, but merges into sophisticated free verse.

But how Alyce Guynn has created this book is not as unusual as what the book says. She doesn’t offer the usual highly curated peek into her life. She escorts you down to the marrow of her soul as you follow her out of small-town, rock-ribbed, Baptist Texas into her own free life. 

She is a strong, smart, independent woman and has much to be proud of. Her spiritual journey is a common one, and I’m sure she knows that. In my own life, I am surrounded by people who have made such a journey. But there’s only one Alyce Guynn. And only one unique, remarkably open book that can make so many of us say “Yes! Yes! That’s what it was like!”

M. Phillips, April 2019

Looking Glass

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Looking Glass Poems by Alice Embree book cover

Alice Embree, Austin writer and activist, is a frequent contributor to The Rag Blog and collaborator on Rag Radio. She helped launch Austin’s underground newspaper, The Rag in 1966. With Thorne Dreyer and Richard Croxdale, Embree edited Celebrating The Rag: Austin’s Iconic Underground Newspaper in 2016. She has written for The Texas Observer and contributed to the 1970 anthology, Sisterhood is Powerful, edited by Robin Morgan.

In Looking Glass, Embree explores the intimate terrain of grief, the memory of an earlier Austin, and the joys and challenges of living a creative life. The author introduces the collection with these words: “I find that through the alchemy of writing, I’m able to disperse the fog and find the light.”

Looking Glass is the second in a series by NJP Publishing that will feature women writers. Looking Glass is available online at Lulu.com, Amazon, Ingram and Barnes and Noble, and is sold in Austin at BookWoman.

Echoes of Mercy: Psalms from the Marrow Bone

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Echoes of Mercy by Alyce M. Guynn book cover

Echoes of Mercy: Psalms from the Marrow Bone by Austin author Alyce M. Guynn is richly layered poetry and prose.  Guynn, a reporter for the Austin American Statesman in the late 60s and an antitrust investigator, has a passion for writing.  A prolific poet, she has been a contributor to The Rag Blog and a guest on Rag Radio.  Her published work includes Deal Me In, a book of 52 love poems illustrated by Jesse ‘Guitar’ Taylor, a book of poetry entitled Beyond Blue: In Memory of Champ Hood and Feeding the Crow, a collection of poetry and prose.

Alyce Guynn’s memoir, Echoes of Mercy, lovingly records the language and rhythms of bygone, church-goin’ small-town Texas where Sunday lunch is called dinner, family members have nicknames like Toadie Mae and Aunt Sister, where caskets are left open, and teenagers swoon over Elvis, go the picture show, make out in old cars – and sometimes get ostracized as unwed mothers… — Sharon Shelton-Colangelo

Echoes of Mercy is the first in a series by NJP Publishing that will feature women writers.  Echoes of Mercy is available online at Lulu.com, Amazon, Ingram and Barnes and Noble.