NEW book! Living Nature's Moments by Cristina M. R. Norcross and Patricia Bashford (pub date April, 2014)

(forthcoming, April 2014 / Vox Novus Press)

In Living Nature’s Moments, Cristina M. R. Norcross and Patricia Bashford celebrate the theatre of nature’s display, as well as pay tribute to how moments of awe-inspiring beauty can nourish and nurture the soul.  Contemplative verse, hidden narratives and innovative visuals invite the reader to create a new story, one that honors our relationship with the natural world.

Cristina M. R. Norcross is the author of Land & Sea: Poetry Inspired by Art (2007), The Red Drum (2008, 2013), Unsung Love Songs (2010) and The Lava Storyteller (2013).  Her works appear in North American and international journals, such as The Toronto Quarterly, Red Cedar, Your Daily Poem and The Nervous Breakdown.  Featured in the BVAG show, ARTiculate (2011, 2012), Cristina's work also appears in the anthologies, Contemporary Women’s Literature (2007), Verse & Vision (2011, 2012) and Sounds of Solace (2013).  She was the co-editor for the project One Vision: A Fusion of Art & Poetry in Lake Country (2009-11) and is currently one of the co-organizers of Random Acts of Poetry & Art Day.  Cristina is a contributing member for the Art Ambush Project.  Cristina is also the founding editor of the online poetry journal, Blue Heron Review.  Find out more about this author at: www.firkinfiction.com

Patricia Bashford is an award winning photographer and a retired professor of photography, theatre, film, and communications.  A world traveler, her trespasser's eyes connect the revealed image with the rhythms that underpin the landscapes of daily living.  In countries as diverse as Russia, Turkey, Cambodia, China, Greece, Ireland and the United Kingdom, she has captured images that reflect both documentary and personal visions.  Pat works almost exclusively in digital formats, though her background includes the traditional darkroom.  She has exhibited extensively in the Northeast in numerous solo and group shows, and sells her work to private collectors.  She is listed in Women in the Arts and Who’s Who Among Professional Women.  To find out more, visit her website: www.travelswithpat.com

Sample Poem:

You Are Not Really Here

(Inspired by the photography of Pat Bashford)

You are the breeze

that blows a white kitchen curtain

up high above the vision of a field,

while cornbread browns in the oven.

You are a pair of faded, leather sandals

with wooden beads decorating the toes.

They could take you anywhere.

You are the light that flies away

like lightning bugs –

the little sparks from a bonfire.

You are the mighty tide coming in,

challenging the shore.

You are the undercurrent

sending starfish into a spin.

You are not really here.

Your soul has another home –

your birthplace

and your resting place.

Cristina M. R. Norcross

Copyright 2008, 2014