Bonnie Gail Carter and Her Debut Book of Poetry, The Chill Turned Warm

Hi everyone, I’d like to introduce Bonnie Gail Carter, and her debut book of poetry, The Chill Turned Warm. The title comes from one of her poems in the book.

I’ve asked her to provide some information about herself, her poetry, and her inspirations to share with my readers.

Bonnie Gail Carter:

I was born in Bay City, Michigan in 1954. That makes me sixty years old. My parents got divorced when I was around five years old. I lived in Bay City and Saginaw, Michigan until I was 15 years old then I moved to Lafayette, Indiana where I lived until 2 years ago. My residence is in Peru, Indiana now. I graduated from William Henry Harrison High School in 1972. I have two years of College at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana where I studied Sociology and Psychology.

Some of my poems are about intense subjects like divorce, alcoholism, when my husband tried to kill his own unborn child, suicide attempt, and rape. For that reason my book is intended for an adult audience.

A poem called, “The Prisoner in Grade School” and a poem called, “The Child Inside of Me”, were read by my boyfriend. He is a singer/songwriter that plays an acoustic guitar. His name is Donnie Townsend. He wrote a song called, “Little Girl in the Orphanage” about me and it is on my YouTube channel.

I lived in an orphanage when I was in grade school, with an aunt and uncle for four years, and in foster homes while in high school.

Some of my poems are like short stories about my life. It’s like a memoir in the form of poetry.

There are poems about love and love lost. There are poems about my faith and love for God and Jesus.There are poems about many things.

One of my poems was inspired about a painting of a rose by artist, Ghazi Riman. You can find him on Facebook.

Unfortunately I couldn’t afford to put the paintings in my book but the painting of the rose is below.

The Rose

The painting of the rose brings such beauty into my life.

It’s such a wonderful sight.

For a moment, I can escape the strife.

When I can’t sleep at night,

I can remember the delicate beauty of the rose in the daylight.

The thorns will prick your hand if you hold it tight,

so let go of the stress in your life.

The rose’s aroma is such a delight.

It’s also pleasing to gaze at by candlelight.

Each petal unfolds a mystery and gives insight.

I delight in the painting of the rose

with all of my might.

One of my poems is about how the nuns separated me from my sisters for the four years we were there. Here is the poem:

Our Bond They Couldn’t Break

Even though we didn’t grow up together,

we remained sisters forever.

Our bond they couldn’t break.

Our spirits remained great.

Being sisters they couldn’t take.

God watched over us for our own sake.

Our guardian angels knew what was at stake.

Even though we had to wait,

our bond they couldn’t break.

We didn’t grow up filled with hate.

Sisters we did make,

filled with love until this date.

Our bond they couldn’t break.

Here is a poem inspired by another one of Ghazi’s paintings and the picture of the painting is below.

Dancing Tulips

The tulips are dancing in the cool summer breeze.

Would you hold me and dance with me, please?

The photographs of us are like a slideshow on the screen.

We dance in my mind like we were teens.

We have matured just like the tulips have bloomed.

Our like-minded thoughts are perfectly in tune.

Our eyes meet and they dance with laughter

as we remember all of the love that remains after.

We get older as each tulip petal falls to the ground.

It doesn’t even make a sound.

We are like the tulips in the fall of their life.

I am so grateful to be called your wife.

As the last petal falls to the ground,

I’ll say I love you and I’m so glad you’ve been around.

Before I would write a poem I would listen to some of my favorite music. Some of my poems were inspired by the paintings. Some of them came from 

hardships I’ve endured. Some came from my faith in God and Jesus. One of my poems is called, Wind Song and it’s about Harley riders. When I was 

young I hung around with a motorcycle gang for about three years.I didn’t get into doing drugs but I drank a lot of Jack Daniels. I quit drinking many years ago.

When I was inspired to write a poem I would sit on the couch and write it down on a tablet in pencil so I could erase a few words if needed.

This past year I’ve been more interested in photography. We take rides out on country roads, go to a lake, creeks. the Wabash River, or go some place like Seven Pillars.

Below are a few of my photos.

My next project is to have a book of my photographs published.

Thank you, Bonnie, for sharing a sample of your work and your beautiful photography. I hope to see you combine your talents on your next book.

For more information on Bonnie Gail Carter, follow her links provided below:

en.gravatar.com/bonniegcarter#pic-l

http://www.facebook.com/PoetryMyStyle/

https://www.goodreads.com/BonnieGailCarter/

about.me/carterbonnie440/

https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/profile/AuthorCentral/

www.iauthor.uk.com/profile/bonnie-gail-carter:6383

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PB62T0C/

More about Bonnie by Bonnie:

Ever since I was sixteen years old I wanted to publish a book of poetry. Now I am sixty and my dream has come to fruition.

Now I can say I am an author but being an author is turning out to be the easy part. Marketing and sales are the hard part. I might have to hire someone to help me with that.

On Amazon I have two 5 Star reviews and one 4 Star review. I want to ask my readers to leave a review..

It’s a very important thing you can do for your favorite authors.

On a lighter note I want to tell you a conversation I had with my cousin when she was in her twenties.

She told me she wouldn’t eat brown eggs. i asked her why not. She said that she won’t eat brown eggs because they come from the chicken. So then I asked her where do you think white eggs come from and she said, “from the store.”

My philosophy is to never let the world take away your smile. No matter how many hardships you endure there is always a glimmer of sunshine and love is just around the corner.

Thank you for taking the time to read about me and my book of poems. I hope you enjoy them.

Bonnie Gail Carter

Great job, Bonnie! And thank you again for sharing!

Advertisement