Cheryl Walsh
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cherylwalsh.bsky.social
Cheryl Walsh
@cherylwalsh.bsky.social
660 followers 610 following 150 posts
Originally from Michigan, now writing from Iowa. Author of UNEQUAL TEMPERAMENT (American Buffalo Books, 2023). I write fiction about people who are into #harpsichords, #weather, #opera, #archaeology, and #ghosts.
www.cherylwalsh.net
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cherylwalsh.bsky.social
A favorite line from Barbara Kingsolver's novel *The Poisonwood Bible*: "Illusions mistaken for truth are the pavement under our feet. They are what we call civilization."

#favoritelinefridays #barbarakingsolver #thepoisonwoodbible #womenwriters #postcolonialliterature
November 15, 2025 at 1:04 AM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
"On Passing the New Menin Gate" by Siegfried Sassoon, 1927
#RemembranceDay #ArmisticeDay #siegfriedsassoon #worldwaripoetry #wwipoetry
On Passing the New Menin Gate Who will remember, passing through this Gate, The unheroic Dead who fed the guns? Who shall absolve the foulness of their fate,— Those doomed, conscripted, unvictorious ones? Crudely renewed, the Salient holds its own. Paid are its dim defenders by this pomp; Paid, with a pile of peace-complacent stone, The armies who endured that sullen swamp. Here was the world's worst wound. And here with pride 'Their name liveth for ever,' the Gateway claims. Was ever an immolation so belied As these intolerably nameless names? Well might the Dead who struggled in the slime Rise and deride this sepulchre of crime. ~ Siegfried Sassoon, 1927
November 11, 2025 at 12:23 AM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
New blog post--review of a new book out this week: Lorissa Rinehart's biography of Jeannette Rankin. Someone I've always been curious about, and the book is a pleasure to read--there's lots about Progressivism, woman suffrage, and 20th-century American politics.
www.cherylwalsh.net/blog
November 1, 2025 at 4:54 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
A favorite line from @jenniferfawcett.bsky.social's brand new book, *Keep This for Me*: "When did all their tiny movements get so layered with meaning? It was exhausting."

#favoritelinefridays #keepthisforme #thrillerbooks @atriabooks.bsky.social
October 10, 2025 at 12:38 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
New blog post up today, a review of @jenniferfawcett.bsky.social's new thriller, #KeepThisForMe --out this week. As a child of the Great Lakes, I was totally into the Lake Ontario beach town setting.
www.cherylwalsh.net/blog
#bookreviews #thrillerbooks @atriabooks.bsky.social
October 5, 2025 at 7:00 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
New specs!

#newglasses
October 1, 2025 at 3:33 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
Favorite lines from T. S. Eliot's poem "East Coker": "Do not let me hear / Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly, / Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession, / Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God."

#tseliot #eastcoker #favoritelinefridays #poetry
Black and white photo of two pairs of clasped hands, wrinkled and gnarled, next to each other from across a table, not touching.
September 12, 2025 at 5:56 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
In celebration of UNEQUAL TEMPERAMENT's second birthday, here is one of my own lines for #favoritelinefridays.

#unequaltemperament #debutnovel #WomensFiction #americanbuffalobooks #harpsichord #meteorology #booksky #writingcommunity
"There was something comforting about handling a machine.... The inexplicable could be explained, the right decision implicit in the conditions. Incorrect decisions were measurable. And if something went wrong, there would be a solution. Or at least a clear reason for scrapping the heap." Unequal Temperament, Cheryl Walsh
September 5, 2025 at 6:47 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
Happy birthday to UNEQUAL TEMPERAMENT, launched into the world two years ago today! To celebrate, I'm giving away a few copies--DM if you're interested.
#unequaltemperament #bookbirthday #debutnovel #harpsichord #meteorology #WomensFiction @buffalo-books.bsky.social
September 5, 2025 at 3:09 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
A favorite line from Jim Harrison's wonderful novel *Returning to Earth*: "I awoke delighted with life on earth despite its desperately compromised nature."

#jimharrison #favoritelinefridays
August 29, 2025 at 6:49 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
Today I made guacamole with garlic chive blossoms and it was fantastic!

#backyardherbs #guacamole
August 28, 2025 at 11:24 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
A favorite line from Linda Pastan's poem "Cosmology": "Someone has spilled the moon / all over the trees."
#favoritelinefridays #LindaPastan #poetry @wwnorton.com
Photo of pine trees against a dark sky with the tips illuminated by moonlight.
August 22, 2025 at 6:55 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
Dragon tongue! I don't grow green beans because I can't see them to harvest. So I grow purple or speckled beans instead. Dragon tongue is a very tasty variety. Stringless, bush habit.

#gardenbounty
large metal bowl full of dragon tongue beans: purple speckled wax beans.
August 11, 2025 at 8:53 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
I just learned that an old and dear friend of Bru's, the best man/emcee at our wedding, Neil Hornick, passed away last spring. Such regret that we have been so out of touch that I didn't know until now. We cherish his memory. Long live the Phantom Captain!

www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/a...
Neil Hornick as the Phantom Captain, holding the book "The Best Man's Duties," with Bruce Hart, the groom.
August 9, 2025 at 4:34 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
This line from Anne Enright's novel *The Wren, the Wren* made me laugh out loud: "I never tell my mother anything. I am not that stupid."
#favoritelinefridays #anneenright #thewrenthewren
July 25, 2025 at 1:53 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
First new blogpost in a while: Welcome to the Darkroom.
www.cherylwalsh.net/blog
#filmphotography #darkroom #cognitivedecline #grief
Photo of John Pochee and Bernie McGann © Bruce Hart. All rights reserved.
John Pochee playing drums and Bernie McGann wiping his forehead during a performance at a jazz club.
July 24, 2025 at 3:52 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
A favorite line (of many) from Charlotte Wood's novel *Stone Yard Devotional*: "The subtlety of the lilting chant belies the blunt instrument of the words themselves."
#favoritelinefridays #charlottewood #stoneyarddevotional #booksky @riverheadbooks.bsky.social
July 11, 2025 at 4:37 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
Another five-star review. #StoneYardDevotional is an intriguing exploration of grief, spirituality, and forgiveness during a time of isolation and covid lockdowns in Australia. What does is take to be a good person in times of environmental and personal crisis?
#charlottewood #yournextread #booksky
July 10, 2025 at 2:35 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
A favorite line from C. D. Wright's prose poem, "Song of the Gourd": "I confess the abject urge to weed your beds while the bittersweet overwhelmed my day lilies."
#favoritelinefridays #cdwright #gardenpoetry
July 4, 2025 at 5:28 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
Annette Gordon-Reed, from her book *On Juneteenth*: "As painful as it may be, recognizing--though not dwelling on--tragedy and the role it plays in our individual lives, and in the life of a state or nation, is, I think, a sign of maturity."
#favoritelinefridays #annettegordonreed #juneteenth
June 20, 2025 at 9:57 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
New 5-star reviews, meaning, I loved these books! Linda Pastan's *Insomnia* (poems) and Myla Goldberg's *Feast Your Eyes* (novel).
bookshop.org/lists/cheryl...
#LindaPastan #insomniapoems #mylagoldberg #FeastYourEyes @scribnerbooks.bsky.social @wwnorton.com
June 19, 2025 at 4:01 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
A favorite line from Jim Crace's novel *The Gift of Stones*: "We do love lies. The truth is dull and half-asleep. But lies are nimble, spirited, alive."

#favoritelinefridays #jimcrace #thegiftofstones
Wall made of gray cut stones in rows of various heights.
May 30, 2025 at 8:50 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
A favorite line from Walt Whitman's poem "This Compost": "Now I am terrified at the Earth, it is that calm and patient, / It grows such sweet things out of such corruptions."
#favoritelinefridays #waltwhitman #gardenpoetry
May 23, 2025 at 10:03 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
It's time to plant tomatoes! "For the tomato is an orb of holy light," as Ann Fisher-Wirth has written in her poem "Haecceitas." And congratulations to her on being named poet laureate of Mississippi!
#favoritelinefridays #annfisherwirth #haecceitas #gardenpoetry
Five ripe red tomatoes on the vine.
May 16, 2025 at 7:25 PM
cherylwalsh.bsky.social
A favorite line from Liana Sakelliou's poem "The scene needs nymphs": "I hang in green chaos / like a downy insect."
#favoritelinefridays #lianasakelliou #alikibarnstone #portraitbeforedark #stjulianpress @alikib.bsky.social
May 9, 2025 at 2:01 PM