Madeline Sharples's Writings
View Madeline’s Books | Read Madeline’s other writings below.
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Article
Nov.18.2011
From the outside it would appear Melody Hill, the main character and narrator of Jessica Bell’s debut novel, String Bridge, has a perfect life. She lives in Athens with her charming Greek music promoter husband, she has an adorably precocious daughter, and she has a dream job as an editor for a publishing company with a promotion and raise in the offing.
But...
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Article
Aug.13.2011
Everyone knew something was terribly wrong with her mother, but nobody did anything about it …that is until Chynna T. Laird wrote White Elephants.
Chynna T. Laird and I met while I was on my WOW - Women on Writers blog tour last June. She graciously hosted me on her “White Elephants” website and later wrote a review of my memoir, Leaving the Hall On, which she...
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Poem
Sep.23.2010
Leaving the Hall Light On
I woke this morning at 4 am with a start and wondering if he was still alive at 4 am the morning we found him dead. Another thing I'll never know. At least I still have my memories of him while he was alive.
Perhaps I've posted this poem before. Even so, it is appropriate for today.
Remembering Paul
I'll always remember he slept
without closing his eyes all the...
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Poem
Sep.12.2010
The Great American Poetry Show, Volume 2, Muse Media, 2010
Volume 2 of The Great American Poetry Show, the anthology I co-edit is just out. Here's my poem from the book.
Dream World
I look toward my mother's bed
in its sunny spot by the window.
Her young nurse is smiling.
So is mother.
She lies in a blue hospital gown
printed with triangles, squares and circles
in shades of gray, burgundy and dark blue.
Her skin looks...
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Poem
Aug.08.2010
Poetsespresso Newsletter - April/May 2010
This poem was published in the April/May 2010 issue of the Poetsespresso Newsletter.
Today I Saw You on the Hill
Just after my morning walk on the highway
up to South Coast,
just after my relaxing soak in the big corner bath,
just as I start my trudge up the hill,
towel in hand ready to dump in the box,
I see you engrossed in a conversation.
I know you...
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Poem
Jun.26.2010
Survivor Chronicles
As stated in its website, Survivor Chronicles is a small independent publication that seeks to represent writing (poetry, short fiction, non fiction) and art that has been part of the process of trauma survival.
It is open to everyone who has survived trauma or watched someone close survive trauma, and has created art as a part of the process. We seek to...
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Poem
Jun.26.2010
unfold, a Twitter-zine published by Folded Word
Joplin, Hendrix
and Morrison all
died
at 28 in 1971
the year of your birth.
Only one more day and
it will be ten years
since we found you,
3 months shy of 28
that day when
we knew we would never
hug you, kiss you
or have to worry about you
ever again.
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Poem
Mar.30.2010
Writer's Block
It's not usual for me
to sit and look
at the blank page
and have nothing come.
So, I'll write about nothing coming
from this poet's brain this afternoon.
Even as I write I need to stop
and think and go back and edit,
something I almost never do.
I usually write, keeping my fingers moving
on the keyboard until I finish.
And then I go back and...
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Poem
Feb.18.2010
So I'm waiting at the stoplight
at the corner of Marine and Sepulveda
and just happened to glance over at the car
in the lane to my left.
The car was like my husband's, a gray Toyota Camry,
but that's where any similarities stopped.
Inside was a lady in the driver's seat
busily scrunching her chin from side to side
and up and down
and contorting her...
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Poem
Feb.16.2010
I Won't Know Him
Even though I know him
I won't know him.
I hear he's shrunk in size
down 20 pounds
from his usual husky physique
in just a few weeks.
I hear his speech is fuzzy,
like he's high on drugs,
but perhaps that's a good thing.
He was jovial and upbeat
when I saw him last,
contemplating knee surgery
and spending the last years of his life
in...
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You are a remarkable woman with a remarkable book and it SHOULD be read!”
—Jessica Bell, author of String Bridge
About Madeline
I have worked most of my professional life as a technical writer and editor, grant writer, and now as a proposal manager, managing the proposal development process and turning engineering "writing" into readable prose. I co-authored a book about women...
Connections
Causes Madeline Sharples Supports
Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center, Culver City, CA
Vistamar School, El Segundo, CA
Crossroads School, Santa Monica, CA (Endowment in...