I first met Linda at the Coastal Writers group about nine years ago. Soon I came to see that Linda had a love for horses, and for poetry. Horses are a lot of hard work, so is poetry, especially for anyone interested in persuading excellence.
Linda often talked about finding inspiration for her poems while mucking a stall, about going out early on dark winter mornings and taking a hatchet to the thick ice that had formed in the water trough. Recently, Linda told me she fell backwards out of a widow in the horse barn. I’m not sure how that happened, and I’m glad she wasn’t hurt, but this speaks to me of Linda’s devotion to her horses, willing to go through anything for them. I believe Linda always brought a similar dedication to the world of poetry.
As a poet, I have often been one who benefitted from the many outstanding workshops Linda took the time and effort to organize, always bringing in wonderful leaders. She also spent many hours dedicated to TBR as the poetry editor, and each time my work stood up to her scrutiny, I was pleased for the opportunity to have my poems published in this review, along with other writers I admired.
Then, Linda spent many hours each year organizing the Dogfish Poetry Prize. Again, I enjoyed attending many of the award nights that gave me the opportunity to mix with a community of writers, and to hear and celebrate that year’s prize winner.
Two years ago, I was honored to receive an e-mail informing me that The Broadkill Review and its Poetry Editor were pleased to inform me that I had been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. How lovely. But I know I am not the only writer who benefitted from Linda’s dedication to The Broadkill Review and to poetry, even as she herself continually studied, learned, and applied craft to her own writings.
With much gratitude, I thank Linda Adams Blaskey, and I wish her much joy and success in any venture she peruses.
Alice Morris, Pushcart Prize finalist, nominated for Best of the Web. Her poetry appears in such publications as Delaware Beach Life, Broadkill Review, Rat’s Ass Review, Backbone Mountain Review, Paterson Literary Review, Gargoyle, and in numerous anthologies. In 2018 she won The Florence C. Coltman Award for Creative Writing, and she won an award for a fiction piece. Also she attended the DOA Seashore Writers Retreat. In 2019 she was a finalist in the Art of Stewardship contest, and she was awarded a second and third place for single poem, single short story respectively in the Delaware Press Association Communications Contest. Her poetry is forthcoming is Gargoyle, Rat’s Ass Review, Paterson Literary Review, and in an anthology. She is a member of Coastal Writers and the Rehoboth Beach Writer’s Guild. Currently she is working on a first full-length poetry collection.