Shirley Satterfield

Shirley Mandel Satterfield is a Baltimore girl from way back who was raised in the rough and tumble world of a steelworkers family and writes Christian poetry, memoirs and nonfiction. She has lived to survive a life fraught with domestic violence, child abuse, and mental illness and writes to help others to survive the same kinds of things. After becoming a radiology technician, she went on to serve in the U.S. Army and later on in life attended Averett University in Danville, Virginia as a nontraditional student earning two B.A. degrees in English and journalism and was awarded the Ember Award for Excellence in Poetry by the campus literary magazine. She was also named correspondent of the Day by the Richmond Times Dispatch for a letter she wrote to the editor concerning the importance of compassionate treatment and the acceptance of the mentally ill by society.

Morning Fun

August 23, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

by: Shirley Satterfield I have a plant that’s jumping up to the sky To spy on the heavenlies as I lift my eyes up to the sun And feelin’ a poem coming on. Sitting on the porch is fun, hon. I see that that the trees don a hint of Fall While the leaves are … Read more

William Shakespeare: Part III His Poems

August 17, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

This is the last in my three part series on Shakespeare, but perhaps it should have been my first since Shakespeare started his expansive writing career as a poet before he became a playwright. And in the year of 1593 he published his first long narrative poem of 199 stanzas “Venus and Adonis” a poem … Read more

My Affirmation

August 16, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

by: Shirley Satterfield Bipolar disorder may make me a bit different and perhaps even a bit odd. But I rejoice in my affliction because it is my strength, for my joy is just as rich as my sorrow is deep, and “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I can succeed and … Read more

Southern Fried Fun

August 15, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

by: Shirley Satterfield Drinking, smoking, gambling And cussing out your hated driver; The raceway is a den of iniquity. But it’s fun though. Cars careening screaming down the track crashing each other loud. The raceway is a den of iniquity. But it’s fun though. French fries sliding down the booby hatch making me fat. The … Read more

My House

August 15, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

by: Shirley Satterfield There’s something special Going on in my house, And it’s called love. For when God sent me Danny dear, He sent out a dove. He rubs my back, And I make him biscuits. Commited marriage was Conceived by a Good God up above us, we are in love

Book Review: 3 Stories of Love

August 12, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

by: Shirley Satterfield Book Review: 3 Stories of Love by Yasir Sulaiman Yasir’s book “3 Stories of Love” is one of the best new reads I’ve enjoyed this year. It is full of charming, provocative and lovely romantic poetry and prose. In the first story “Just Between You and Me” one cocky, sharp tongued Yuvan … Read more

William Shakespeare: Part II His Plays

August 10, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

William Shakespeare Part II: His Plays William Shakespeare was part owner of the world renown Globe Theater in London and the blockbuster actor and playwright of England’s Elizabethan era. And his language was so beautiful, and he had such an adept command of the English language that he went down in history as a great … Read more

To Paint the Stars

July 30, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

by: Shirley Satterfield Can you paint the stars? I think so, if you let the Spirit flow You can reach right up and touch the planet, Mars. Can you paint the stars? Yes you can when you’ve’ been blessed by God To be conceived of Man. You can paint the stars. Can I paint the … Read more

William Shakespeare: Part I, His Life

July 28, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

William Shakespeare: Part I, His Life Shakespeare is too big of a literary figure so he will be covered in a three-part series about his life his plays and his poetry. The exact day of his birth is not known, but William Shakespeare was in April 1564 in the little town of Stratford, a community … Read more

Henry David Thoreau: Nature’s Friend

July 20, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

Henry David Thoreau: Nature’s Friend Henry David Thoreau was born July 12, 1817, in Concord, Massachusetts where he spent most of his life and was educated at Harvard University. But he was no lover of town life and the mundane, more trivial things pertaining to man. He was a very deeply spiritual person who had … Read more

Forrest Gander: The 2019 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Poetry

July 13, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

Forrest Gander is the renown award-winning poet and translator who won this current year’s Pulitzer prize for his book Be With. Be with is a collection of poems dealing with the sorrows of loss and bereavement. In his poem “Ruined Tunnel” he writes about a group of trapped miners who are fighting for their … Read more

The Definition of Old

July 12, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

by: Shirley Satterfield What is old? Old is only a perception, A down and dirty Worldly-wise deception. No one that trods this sod Is old compared to Moses or dirt, Or old compared to God. We are all God’s children Groping in the dark- Searching, searching for live’s lively spark. So don’t be so bold … Read more

Walt Whitman: The Great American Bard

July 6, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

Walt Whitman: The Great American Bard Walt Whitman was an innovative poet who went down in history as America’s most influential bard because of his unprecedented experimentation with free-verse poetry. He was born on May 31, 1819, to a farming family that was failing financially, so his father had to move the family of 9 … Read more

Lord Byron: Idealistically Romantic

June 29, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

Lord Byron: Ideally Romantic George Gordon Byron the 6th was as baron born in a family of men with a checkered past. His father was a chronic debtor who moved his family from place to place to avoid his creditors, and his uncle, from whom he inherited his title and a fortune, had a bad … Read more

The Japanese Haiku Master, Matsuo Basho

June 22, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

Japanese Haiku Master, Matsuo Basho: Simply Natural Simplicity, contrasts, and opposites in nature are what constituted the three-line poems of Japan’s most important bard, Matsuo Basho. Basho was born in 1644 near the Japanese town of Ueno. His family was of Samurai decent, however, his father was a low ranking Samurai who essentially made his … Read more

Celebrating my Birthday

June 21, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

by: Shirley Satterfield Happy birthday, self, everything ‘s okay now. You are making it. You’ll be just fine Until the day of of your competition. At 67 years young Life is really fun. No more worries. No more regrets. And I’m not done Until gone the sun. I’ve done my best To love someone- Even … Read more

Bob Dylan: The Conscience of a Counter-Culture

June 18, 2019June 15, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

Bob Dylan: The Conscience of a Counter-Culture He moved a generation to action with these heart-probing lyrics in which he questions the purpose of racism and war: Blowin in the Wind How many roads must a man walk down Before you call him a man. How many seas must a white dove sail Before he … Read more

Dylan Thomas: The wise and Wanton Poet

June 8, 2019June 8, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

by: Shirley Satterfield .Dylan Thomas: The Wise and Wanton Poet Dylan Thomas, Wales’ most distinguished poet, was a consummate poet of the modernist movement in literature and poet who influenced such contemporary music luminaries as Bob Dylan and The Beatles, Bob Dylan even changed his last name from Zimmerman to Dylan and The Beatles included … Read more

Wise Poets from the Present

June 1, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

by: Shirley Satterfield Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Man Who Elevated Rap Rap music, it seems that one either loves it or hates it, And I think that one is more apt to love it if you’re still in your youth. But Lin Manual Miranda, a Tony award winning lyricist and actor, elevated this fairly new genre … Read more

Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Man Who Elevated Rap

June 25, 2019June 1, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Man Who Elevated Rap Rap music, it seems that one either loves it or hates it, And I think that one is more apt to love it if you’re still in your youth. But Lin-Manual Miranda, a Tony award-winning lyricist and actor, elevated this fairly new genre to the realm of legitimate … Read more

Edgar Allen Poe: The Spooky Poet

June 25, 2019June 1, 2019 by Shirley Satterfield

Edgar Allen Poe, born in January 1849, liked to weave tales of mystery and macabre. And he often delved into the inner workings of a sick man’s mind often using rich symbolism to signify his character’s insanity in works such as the Fall of the House of Usher in which a grand old house falls … Read more