Category: Poem

Charmayne Samuelson is First!

Posted on by Mark Davis

Following close on the heels of Fenton’s successes, Charmayne Samuelson takes first place in the Art Category of the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. for her book POETRY OF THE CLAY: POESÍA DEL BARRO.

Here are some of her comments on the win:

It was some tough competition from University Presses and Museums AROUND THE WORLD – so I am proud of our book!

Congratulations to the MATA ORTIZ potters, whose spellbounding work will be seen across the world! This is the SECOND first place award given this year, the first being First Place in the Indie Press Awards!

I am really thrilled and know that an INTERNATIONAL award-winning book about Mata Ortiz pottery means that every potter in Mata Ortiz wins! Somewhere someone will read about the MO Pottery, or will have heard about the potters, will fall in love with MO pottery!

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Charmayne Samuelson Wins First Place!

Posted on by Mark Davis

Las Cruces Writer Charmayne Samuelson has won First Place (Craft/Arts category) in the 2025 Independent Press Award for her book Mata Ortiz Poetry of the Clay: Pottery. Poems. Artists. Here’s the synopsis:

In this new BILINGUAL photo and poetry book, MATA ORTIZ POETRY OF THE CLAY Pottery, Poems, Artists. and the bilingual Spanish title, MATA ORTIZ POESÍA DEL BARRO Cerámica. Poemas. Artististas., Samuelson features the stellar pottery of 24 Contemporary Mata Ortiz potters paired with original poetry by the author. She also includes poetry, thoughts and dreams of the artists.

This book has been hailed as unique and one-of-a-kind, with uplifting poetry about the pottery and the potters. “I often feel very moved,” the author says, “by art that soars above the rest, as does the brilliant Mata Ortiz pottery. I wanted to honor their work with original poetry.”

Samuelson has gone beyond what would be a normal book about pottery by offering bilingual passages throughout the book. “So many books printed in America cannot be read by people who do not speak or read in English around the world, and I wanted people on both sides of our American Southwest “Borderlands” to be able to enjoy this stunning book of photography and poetry,” Samuelson said.

The book is 144 full-color photo pages with poetry, is hardbacked case-laminate, matte finish pages, and 8.25″ x 11″. Samuelson describes the book as a perfect gift for those who have everything, and a perfect coffee-table book to proudly display.

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Desert Exposure Winners!

Posted on by Mark Davis

Southern NM’s Desert Exposure arts and culture magazine just selected LCW’s own Karen Ray for Grand Prize for her poem “Flying with Sheets” that recollects the idyll of youth growing up in the desert. It reminded me of hitching those spring winds with a sheet fashioned into a sail and attached to a ten speed, all part of my own crazy, experimental youth.

Multiple winner Efram Carrasco won Prose Honorable Mention for “The Desert Girl,” and many other local writers won awards as well.

Finally, LCW’s Charmayne Samuelson’s new biography Spencer MacCallum Memories – Mystique – Mata Ortiz is discussed in the same issue.

To check out all these great works, you can read the PDF or pick up a copy locally.…

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Fenton Kay wins award!

Posted on by Mark Davis

Las Cruces Writers is thrilled that our own Fenton Kay has won Honorable Mention for his poem, “Rainstorm in Juarez,” from Desert Exposure magazine! I can’t publish it here because it is slated for the November/December issue of the magazine, but I give you a consolation poem from Fenton about rain in the desert:

Sonoran Desert

Winter storm torrents –

Rain-soaked earth brings a lily

To the summer’s kiln.…

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A Merry Writing Christmas

Posted on by Mark Davis

From Your Friends at Las Cruces Writers

’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Only the writer was stirring, with keyboard and mouse;
The plots were developed and outlined with care,
In the hopes that inspiration would soon be there;
The characters were diagrammed and what was said,
Had morphed into dialog that prattled along in his head;
And the imagery for the story and all that artistic crap,
Rumbled in his brain before his long winter’s nap,
When down on the page there arose a great natter,
His typing and corrections tried to calm the strange matter.
From his fertile mind the ideas did flash,
But the scenes he created always would clash.
A poem of Christmas, of hope, and snow,
Or a play about New Year’s stolen by a crow?
A miniature world constructed of spore,
Or a space-fairing mouse determined to explore?
The imagery flew in scenes so vivid and wild,
He sipped at a scotch to calm his inner child.
Then came the verbiage in novelistic verisimilitude,
And then waves of editing to calm the cacophonous and rude.
The work expanded and he started to pace,
As the night deepened cold, he saw traces of grace.
He typed and he sipped and he walked and he sang,
His phone was silenced and never once rang.
By dawn he was finished and looked at his work,
Then logged onto TikTok where he perfected his twerk.
A poem about writing on a long Christmas night,…

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