Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Bitter Strawberries
    Bitter Strawberries
    Bitter Strawberries
    Ebook70 pages43 minutes

    Bitter Strawberries

    By Jen Selinsky

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    "Bitter Strawberries" is a book consisting of forty-one poems and one short story. The poems are similar in structure and subject matter to that of Sylvia Plath's "Colossus." The short story, "Illuminating Lives," is a work of autobiographical and biographical material. The fictional part involves Jen having been cast as the lead role of Sylvia Plath for a local play.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJen Selinsky
    Release dateNov 9, 2017
    ISBN9781370939879
    Bitter Strawberries
    Author

    Jen Selinsky

    Jen Selinsky was born in Pittsburgh, PA. In 2003, she earned her bachelor's degree in English from Clarion University of Pennsylvania. In 2004, she earned her master's degree in library science from the same school. Jen has worked as a professional librarian for over twelve years. She has published more than 170 books, most of which contain poetry. Her work can be found on the following sites: Lulu, Amazon, iTunes, Kobo, Barnes & Noble/Nook, Smashwords, and Pen It! Publications. She has also been featured in publications such as: The Courier Journal, Explorer Magazine, Liphar Magazine, and Indiana Libraries. Jen lives in Sellersburg, IN with her husband.

    Read more from Jen Selinsky

    Related to Bitter Strawberries

    Related ebooks

    Biographical/AutoFiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Exhaling

      Dec 7, 2021

      Around me are fifty or so men, in whose company I will sit and be silent for ten days. I eye them discreetly, wondering who among them is going through a crisis. Who, like me, has a family. Who’s single, who’s been dumped, who’s poor or unhappy. Who’

      52 min read

    • Article

      On Aging

      Mar 1, 2022

      On Aging
      9 min read

    • Article

      SHORT STORY by MARGARET ATWOOD

      Mar 22, 2023

      SHORT STORY by MARGARET ATWOOD
      7 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Jul 1, 2020

      The purpose of being alive is to carry a sequence of code.And so, being adopted, I’m part of a plot, a sleeper cellin enemy territory, quietly working against the systemfrom within. It’s fall, I’m on an ancestry website signing up for a DNA kit,becau

      4 min read

    • Article

      SHORT STORY by MARGARET ATWOOD

      Mar 22, 2023

      SHORT STORY by MARGARET ATWOOD
      7 min read

    • Article

      This is The End

      Feb 21, 2020

      This is The End
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Plague Legends

      Dec 1, 2021

      The Plague Legends
      12 min read

    • Article

      The Final Truth

      Jan 21, 2020

      The Final Truth
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Inventions of Witches

      Oct 30, 2017

      The Inventions of Witches
      7 min read

    • Article

      A Brand-new ending

      Jan 29, 2022

      A Brand-new ending
      7 min read

    • Article

      It’ S Time To Say Goodbye To Being “The Good Gay”

      Jul 29, 2022

      “You can be trans and toxic, it’s called intersectionality bitch.” Ruthie makes this statement early on in the latest reimagining of Queer As Folk. Before I started watching the show, the state of the world had me in the type of negative headspace th

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Anne K. Yoder

      Dec 12, 2021

      Reading Levy helped me envision a way to write myself again into existence, to remake a home and a life, to visualize it as the adventure I was thrust into. The post A Year in Reading: Anne K. Yoder appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Four Poems

      Nov 1, 2022

      Day after Thanksgiving. I give thanks for Eveto beat the rush of appreciating hernext year and let her sleep inuntil three hundred o’clock.Thank you light on the mountainfor being my star on cloudy nights.Thank you all the guns I’ve never ownedand ki

      6 min read

    • Article

      All This Blood and Love

      Nov 22, 2017

      All This Blood and Love
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Farewell to Summer

      Aug 29, 2019

      A Farewell to Summer
      6 min read

    • Article

      Redefining Togetherness: One Mother’s Quest for an Adventurous Family Life

      Jan 12, 2021

      — Isn’t it interesting how an image can evoke so many emotions? Of course, that’s why they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Visual art moves us humans. Yes, some of us seem to be moved more easily than others, but the potential is there for u

      6 min read

    • Article

      It’s All Relative

      Aug 1, 2021

      It’s All Relative
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Gospel According To Disney

      Oct 19, 2022

      SISTER TERESA Seven years ago, when I was first asked to write for The Oldie, I firmly resolved not to complain too much, and I hope I have stuck to this. There are more than enough moans and groans around without my adding to the load, and there is

      2 min read

    • Article

      Choices

      Dec 18, 2016

      Choices
      3 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Nov 1, 2019

      It’s soothing when the newly dead are way older than I am. This guy was 95. His picture—middle-aged, archaic glasses—freezes him somewhere around 1970. But even when they are my age and live in my town and share so many of my habits and interests tha

      6 min read

    • Article

      Two Years Of Solitude

      Dec 31, 2021

      Two Years Of Solitude
      12 min read

    • Article

      Q&A with Bonnie

      Apr 21, 2023

      ◗ Elizabeth Zott is a character we would all love to know or even become. Where did such a personality spring from? Fury! I started Lessons in Chemistry about seven years ago. I’d just come out of a meeting, irritated by some garden variety sexism, a

      6 min read

    • Article

      My Best Friend

      Oct 1, 2020

      My Best Friend
      6 min read

    • Article

      This Or That…

      May 31, 2020

      This Or That…
      2 min read

    • Article

      The Letterbox

      May 1, 2020

      Dear Cricket, I’m a first-time writer, but I’ve been getting your magazine for about two years. I know that everyone says this, but it is really awesome and I look forward to getting each issue. I’m homeschooled and I love animals. Horses are my favo

      7 min read

    • Article

      My Culture Diary

      Jun 17, 2019

      My pre-show ritual… I like to find a secluded corner to quietly sit and think about the performance before I go on stage. It’s a short meditation that helps to settle my nerves and ground me. Something you didn’t know… I’m less than five feet tall!

      1 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Bitter Strawberries

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Bitter Strawberries - Jen Selinsky

      Bitter Strawberries

      Jen Selinsky

      Illuminating Lives is a partial work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and some incidents are real, but the story about starring in the play is the product of the author’s imagination and is used in a fictitious manner.

      Copyright © 2008 by Jen Selinsky

      All rights reserved by the author. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the copyright holder.

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Cover Art Copyright © 1996 by Jen Selinsky

      ISBN: 9781370939879

      Introduction

      I have been a fan of Sylvia Plath and her work since I was in college, as she has proven to be a good source of inspiration. Oftentimes, I have wondered what it would be like if I could write poetry based on hers—if my work could encapsulate her raw energy and passion.

      I also ponder the hypothetical thought of me starring in a play which describes Sylvia’s defining years, rather than only those after she met her husband, British Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes. Though some fans and spectators are often interested in their stormy marriage, there was much more to Sylvia’s life than her association with Ted.

      In this book, not only do I include over forty poems that I’ve written inspired by Sylvia’s works in Colossus, but I assume myself in the role of the brilliant writer, as I am cast in a play which describes her life.

      The setting is solitary; I am on a walk undergoing the quest to lose additional weight for my new role. But, as my walk progresses, my mind thinks of many different scenarios and questions that parallel my own life with Sylvia’s.

      Though we do not have much in common, except for the fact that we are both female Scorpio poets, the comparison of our life choices and emotional profiles should still prove to be interesting. This is something which has been on my mind since I first heard about the poet in college. I don’t really believe in reincarnation, but I would like to think that Sylvia and I share elements of each other’s souls.

      *Not every poem included in this book is dated in chronological order.  This is not an oversight on my part. Rather, I have made some changes and substitutions.

      -J.L.S.

      Summertime

      Dehydrated bees, flapping wings with exhaustion—

      Summer’s humidity nearly extinguished them all.

      Fluctuating temperatures, mouthful of degrees;

      The nighttime makes no difference.

      No fooling the season, we gave that up.

      Reckoned with current circumstance,

      Until organs expanded with death—

      New to sink through green blades and chunks of brown.

      They stick without being acknowledged

      Because they could not have the fortune to pay.

      For coolness to fill my brow,

      Take me away from this grizzly scene.

      Spectators can’t witness because they’ve nowhere to go,

      Unless it is in the same garden of trash,

      Or a harsher plane of existence,

      In which we are

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1