Robbie’s Inspiration – After the Fires of Day WordCrafter Book Tour
Posted: September 8, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentDay 3 of the WordCrafter “After the Fires of Day” Book Blog Tour finds us over at “Robbie’s Inspiration” with a wonderful review by Robbie Cheadle. Join us to gain insight into this wonderful haikuy collection by Cendrine Marrouat.

Today, I am delighted to welcome poet and artist, Cendrine Marrouat, to Robbie’s Inspiration with her new book, After the Fires of Day. Thank you to Kaye Lynne Booth from WordCrafter book blog tours for organising this tour.
You can read Day 1 of the tour here: https://writingtoberead.com/wc-book-blog-tours-2/
You can read Day 2 of the tour here: https://theshowersofblessings.com/2021/09/07/blog-tour-after-the-fires-of-day-haiku-inspired-by-kahlil-gibran-alphonse-de-lamartine-by-cendrine-marrouat/
Book blurb
![After the Fires of Day: Haiku Inspired by Kahlil Gibran and Alphonse de Lamartine by [Cendrine Marrouat]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41dtKVO4i2S.jpg)
Originating from Japan, the Haiku has been a source of inspiration and comfort for people of all ages and from all walks of life for many years. This versatile poetry form is cherished around the world. Inspired by the timeless words of authors Kahlil Gibran and Alphonse de Lamartine, After the Fires of Day is an hymn to life, the emotion of the moment, and our connection to nature. Every haiku in Cendrine Marrouat’s collection is sure to stay with you for a very long time…
My review
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Blog Tour – After the Fires of Day: Haiku Inspired by Kahlil Gibran & Alphonse de Lamartine by Cendrine Marrouat
Posted: September 7, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentFor Day 2 of the WordCrafter “After the Fires of Day” Book Blog Tour, we’re over at “The Showers of Blessing” where Miriam Hurdle is hosting a guest post by author/poet Cendrine Marrouat about the poetry form of Haiku. I hope you’ll join us and learn more about this wonderful collection of Haiku, “After the Fires of Day: Haiku inspired by Kahlil Gibran and Alphonse de Lamartine.”
I’m delighted to have Cendrine Marrouat on my blog today to celebrate her new release of After the Fires of Day: Haiku inspired by Kahlil Gibran & Alphonse de Lamartine.
Dear friends, please help me welcome, poet, photographer and multi-genre author Cendrine. She will share with you about the poetry form Haiku.
The Haiku: A Celebration of the Human Journey by Cendrine Marrouat
When I announced the upcoming release of After the Fires of Day: Haiku Inspired by Kahlil Gibran & Alphonse de Lamartine, people reacted very positively. They were also quite intrigued and kept inquiring as to why I had chosen the haiku as opposed to other forms of poetry to pay homage to those two amazing authors.
The haiku is my favorite form of poetry. It has been part of my life for almost two decades. I have written hundreds of them. However, it is not the…
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Welcome to the WordCrafter “After the Fires of Day” Book Blog Tour
Posted: September 6, 2021 Filed under: Blog Tour, book marketing, Book Promotion, Book Review, Books, Poetry | Tags: After the Fires of Day, Alphonse de Lamartine, Cendrine Marrouat, Haiku, Kahlil Gibran, Poetry, Poetry Collection, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours 12 Comments
To start off the WordCrafter After the Fires of Day Book Blog Tour, we’ve got an interview with poet and author Cendrine Marrouat and a review of her wonderful poetry collection and tribute to the inspiring poets, After the Fires of Day: Haiku Inspired by Kahlil Gibran & Alphonse de Lamartine. I hope you will all follow the tour this week and visit each of the tour stops to learn more about this inspired this inspired poet who is herself inspiring.

Cendrine Marrouat is a French-born Canadian photographer, poet, and the multi-genre author of more than 30 books. In 2019, she founded the PoArtMo Collective and co-founded Auroras & Blossoms with David Ellis. A year later, they launched PoArtMo (Positive Art Month and Positive Art Moves) and created the Kindku and Pareiku, two forms of poetry.
Cendrine is also the creator of the Sixku, the Flashku, and the Reminigram. Cendrine writes both in French and English and has worked in many different fields in her 17-year career, including translation, language instruction, journalism, art reviews, and social media.
My Interview with author and poet, Cendrine Marrouat
Kaye: What inspired you to create After the Fires of Day: Haiku Inspired by Kahlil Gibran & Alphonse de Lamartine?
Cendrine: My love for the haiku and my passion for the beautiful words of Kahlil Gibran and Alphonse de Lamartine.
I had always wanted to release something similar to After the Fires of Day. I had many ideas. However, a project like this, which pays homage to two literary giants, was tricky and required a thoughtful approach.
At the beginning of my career, I tried to emulate Gibran’s style—to no avail. But it was not a useless pursuit. It taught me important lessons about my own style and how to incorporate emotions in my work.
Emotions is actually the keyword here. In the late 2010s, I had this idea: An author always leaves a part of themselves, their “energy”, in their works. So why not “borrow” that and go from there?
It’s what I did for After the Fires of Day.
Kaye: Why do you think the haiku is such a powerful poetry form?
Cendrine: Many people limit the haiku to its syllable count. Words are treated like an afterthought, when they are actually the most important element of the poem. In North America, the haiku is misunderstood by the general public.
The haiku freezes a scene in time while implicitly revealing its author’s innermost feelings at that precise moment. It is an intimate, albeit complex form of poetry that speaks to the human experience in more ways than one.
To write a memorable haiku, you need to understand: the importance of conciseness and simple language; and how to leverage the seasonal reference (‘kigo’) and “cutting word” (‘kireji’) to evoke a specific mood.
Kaye: What made you choose Kahlil Gibran and Alphonse de Lamartine as sources of inspiration for After the Fires of Day? And for the people who have never read them, is there a specific book or piece of writing you would recommend?
Cendrine: I chose them because everything in their bodies of work inspires me. Their styles and the flow of their words tug at my creative heartstrings and make me want to write.
The Prophet is the best introduction to Gibran’s work. As far as Lamartine is concerned, you should start with his most famous poem, The Lake.
For the people interested in learning more about Gibran and Lamartine, they can visit my blog. I recently ran a mini-series of posts on each writer.

My Review

After the Fires of Day: Haiku Inspired by Kahlil Gibran and Alphonse de Lamartine is both a tribute of admiration to two wonderful poets and a collection of Haikus by Cendrine Marrouat, the expressions of her own unique voice and style of Haiku, in which their inspirations can be seen.
I was familiar with Kahlil Gibran’s work, but Alphonse de Lamartine was new to me. I am thankful to Cendrine Marrouat for the introduction to this poet. The poetic words of Marrouat’s beautiful Haikus bring me back to when I was introduced to the Haiku poetry, in the fourth grade. At that time, I felt that the sheer simplicity of the Haiku was lovely, although my fourth-grade mind didn’t yet understand that it was the ability of the words to capture and conjure a moment in nature so exquisitely that sent so much awe flowing through me.
I’ve included my favorite poem from this collection below. I think this Haiku speaks to me because my son, Michael, was born and died in September and since his death, September has always been a hard month for me to face. Marrouat’s Haiku allows me to look at the month of September with more positivity. The vivid imagery reminds me of what it is like to wait in anticipation of cooler days and fall colors.
Valley sits in gold,
Reflections in water
Welcome September.
While reading the Haiku poetry of Cendrine Marrouat, I couldn’t help but smile as her words summoned vivid images in my mind, which is exactly what a quality haiku should do. I give After the Fires of Day: Haiku Inspired by Kahlil Gibran and Alphonse de Lamartine five quills.

Book your WordCrafter Book Blog Tour today!
Day 5 of the WordCrafter “Behind Closed Doors” Book Blog Tour
Posted: August 27, 2021 Filed under: Blog Tour, book marketing, Book Promotion, Book Review, Books, Guest Post, Poetry, Review, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours | Tags: Behind Closed Doors, Poetry, Poetry Collection, Robbie Cheadle, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours Leave a comment
We’re wrapping up the WordCrafter Behind Closed Doors Book Blog Tour over at Zigler’s News with a guest post by poet and author Robbie Cheadle and a review by Victoria Zigler. Please join us to learn a bit more about the author and her book.
http://ziglernews.blogspot.com/2021/08/behind-closed-doors-collection-of.html
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Book your WordCrafter Book Blog Tour today!
Day 4 – WordCrafter “Behind Closed Doors” Book Blog Tour
Posted: August 26, 2021 Filed under: Blog Tour, Book Covers, book marketing, Book Promotion, Book Review, Books, Guest Post, Poetry, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours | Tags: Behind Closed Doors, Book Review, Poetry, Poetry Collection, Robbie Cheadle, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours 1 Comment
Day 4 of the WordCrafter Behind Closed Doors Book Blog Tour finds us over at Miriam Hurdle’s Showers of Blessings blog site with a guest post by author and poet Robbie Cheadle and a lovely review of Robbie’s latest book, Behind Closed Doors, a collection of unusual poetry. Drop in and learn more about this fascinating poetry collection and its author.
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Day 3- WordCrafter “Behind Closed Doors” Book Blog Tour
Posted: August 25, 2021 Filed under: book marketing, Book Promotion, Books, Guest Post, Poetry, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours | Tags: Behind Closed Doors, Poetry, Poetry Collection, Robbie Cheadle, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours 2 Comments
For Day 3 of the WordCrafter Behind Closed Doors Book Blog Tour we’re over at This is My Truth Now with James Cudney and a guest post from author and poet, Robbie Cheadle and a wonderful review of Behind Closed Doors. Please join us to learn more about this author and her wonderful poetry collection.
Day 2 – WordCrafter “Behind Closed Doors” Book Blog Tour
Posted: August 24, 2021 Filed under: Blog Tour, book marketing, Book Promotion, Book Review, Books, Guest Post, Poetry, Review, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours | Tags: Behind Closed Doors, Poetry, Poetry Collection, Robbie Cheadle, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours 12 Comments
Day 2 of the WordCrafter Behind Closed Doors Book Blog Tour brings us another wonderful guest post by author and poet Robbie Cheadle and a review by DL Mullen. After you enjoy the guest post below, please pop on over to DL Mullen’s Undawnted blog site to check out her review:
http://www.undawnted.com/2021/08/wordcrafter-blog-tour-robbie-cheadles.html
Behind Closed Doors, a collection of unusual poems blog tour – Day 2
Do you want it enough? is a freestyle poem I wrote while contemplating why it is that some people and/or poets are prolific and manage to get a number of books, short stories and/or poems published while others don’t. It is not a question of talent generally, as many writers and poets who don’t publish their work are incredibly talented.
So what holds some writers and poets back?
This poem captured my ultimate view that it depends on the determination, resilience, and drive of the person in question. Publishing a book or any other work is a massive effort and requires numerous re-writes and edits. Once that process is complete, there is still the typesetting and final proofing phase to undergo before you can hit the publish button.
I also believe that there must be an acceptance that a piece of work will never be completely perfect. I have realised that I must accept a 96% perfection level in order to get a book finalised for printing and publishing. No matter how hard I try or how many times I read my work and get other people to read it and edit it for me, I always find a few typos and punctuations after the book has gone live. That is that nature of writing and is almost impossible to avoid. The fact that I detect typos and errors in traditionally published books gives me some comfort in this respect.
These ideas of mine resulted in the following poem.
Do you want it enough?
You tell me you want
Your time in the sun
To dance in the light
That reflects off your fame
Do you really want it?
Do you want it enough?
To give up the good things
Like relaxation and rest
Sleeping late in your bed
Toasty and warm
Are you sufficiently mesmerised
By the task to hand
To trade pleasure for work?
And sit in your office,
Juggling ideas and possibilities,
While your friends watch movies,
Eat out, drink, and socialise
Spending their weekends
Having a jolly good time
Can you be disciplined and sit
At a computer for hours
Tapping out words
While creating worlds
Actions and events
That form themselves into stories?
Will you watch
The world passing by
Through the glass of your window?
While you pursue the fantasy
You hope to achieve,
Knowing there are no guarantees
Few things in this life
Come without paying a price
And the tag accompanying fame
And its bedfellow fortune
Is always high
Taxing time and good health
With no assured return
Are you ready to exchange
Your freedom and pleasure
For the discipline required
To chase that elusive light?
If you prefer to listen to me reading this poem, you can find it on my Youtube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEXJnzzMYZo
What are your thoughts on perfection in publishing and the road to publication? Let me know in the comments.
Book blurb

What goes on behind closed doors: in the boardroom, after death, in the home, during lockdown, and in nature? This collection of poems, ranging from rhyming verse to twisted nursery rhymes, captures the emotions and thoughts people hide behind the masks they present to the world.
What thoughts are hidden
Behind her immobile face
Quite expressionless
Eyes cold and indifferent
Scrutinising me – hawk like
This book includes some of Robbie Cheadle’s spectacular fondant art and cakes.
Robbie Cheadle author bio

Robbie Cheadle is a South African children’s author and poet with 9 children’s books and 1 poetry book.
The 7 Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.
Robbie has also published 2 books for older children which incorporate recipes that are relevant to the storylines.
Robbie has 2 adult novels in the paranormal historical and supernatural fantasy genres published under the name Roberta Eaton Cheadle. She also has short stories in the horror and paranormal genre and poems included in several anthologies.
Robbie writes a monthly series for https://writingtoberead.com called Growing Bookworms. This series discusses different topics relating to the benefits of reading to children.
Robbie has a blog, https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/ where she shares book reviews, recipes, author interviews, and poetry.
Social Media Robbie Cheadle
Robbie Cheadle
Website
https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/
Blog
Robbie’s inspiration
TSL Books Author Page
Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15584446.Robbie_Cheadle
Purchase links
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09BBR94NC
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Behind-Closed-Doors-Robbie-Cheadle/dp/B099C8R3T4
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If you missed the Day 1 post yesterday, you can still catch it here: https://writingtoberead.com/2021/08/23/welcome-to-the-wordcrafter-behind-closed-doors-book-blog-tour/
Book your WordCrafter Book Blog Tour today!
Welcome to the WordCrafter “Behind Closed Doors” Book Blog Tour
Posted: August 23, 2021 Filed under: book marketing, Book Promotion, Books, Guest Post, Poetry, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours, WordCrafter Press | Tags: Behind Closed Doors, Poetry Collection, Robbie Cheadle, WordCrafter Book Blog Tours, Writing to be Read 51 Comments
To kick off the WordCrafter Behind Closed Doors Book Blog Tour today, we have a guest post by author and poet, Robbie Cheadle. In addition to being an author and poet, Robbie is a wife and mother of two boys, which shine through in her poetry. I always find Robbie’s poetry fun and heartwarming, and her fondant masterpieces are delightful. Today’s post discusses the inspiration by one of the poems in her newly released collection of unusual poems, Behind Closed Doors. I hope you will follow the tour this week, with a different guest post from Robbie at each blog stop, it should prove to be quite interesting. Join us to learn more about this fascinating lady and her poetry.
Behind Closed Doors, a collection of unusual poems blog tour – Day 1
On the 9th of February 2021, I had been married for 20 years. So much has happened since that Friday two decades ago. We’ve lost loved ones, moved to a new house, enlarged our family with two lovely boys, progressed in our careers, and are now living through a pandemic.

Through all these years, some periods of which were joyous and some difficult and strained, my husband and I have remained the same; two contrasting personalities that complement each other.
Terence is the conservative one. He reflects and considers before he takes any action. He rarely gets angry or emotional and is peaceful and calming to be around.
I am the colourful one, always busy with four or five projects on the go. I have great passions and become deeply obsessed with things. My obsessions have changed over the years from instructing spinning and weight training in the gym, to baking, teaching Sunday School, fondant art, blogging, and writing. The subject of my enthusiasm may change, but my single-minded devotion and addiction has not.
In the beginning, Terence had one emotional, arty, and obsessive person to deal with and now, two sons later, he has three of us. Gregory and Michael are both more like me in personality and behaviour.
I wrote Contrasting Colours, one of my few metaphorical poems, as a celebration of our difference.
Contrasting colours (a metaphorical poem)
| My husband is…. | I am…. |
| a calm expanse of water; glass smooth and clear, | a whirlpool of relentless, swirling motion, |
| a gentle zephyr, mildly puffing through life, | a tornado, tearing across fields and dales, |
| a leader with a firm attitude and commanding tone, | a soldier, determinedly marching through life, |
| a tawny owl, silent, watchful and wise, | a red breasted robin; bright eyed, perky and daring, |
| a spacious cavern, silent, restful and still, | a babbling stream; vibrant, noisy and turbulent, |
| a grandfather clock, steadily marking the seconds, minutes, and hours, | a cuckoo clock that loudly announces the hour, |
| a dictionary, providing an exact and definitive meaning, | a mysterious poem with different shades of meaning, |
| a mighty redwood, solid, sturdy and dependable, | a daylily flowering in a myriad of deep and bright colours, |
| a mural painted in calming blues and greens, | a collage of bright colours; yellows, oranges and pinks. |
| classic piano; gently soothing, relaxing, and soft, | raucous Broadway tunes; loud, lusty, and energised. |
Do you think relationships work better if the couple are similar or different? Tell me in the comments.
Book blurb

What goes on behind closed doors: in the boardroom, after death, in the home, during lockdown, and in nature? This collection of poems, ranging from rhyming verse to twisted nursery rhymes, captures the emotions and thoughts people hide behind the masks they present to the world.
What thoughts are hidden
Behind her immobile face
Quite expressionless
Eyes cold and indifferent
Scrutinising me – hawk like
This book includes some of Robbie Cheadle’s spectacular fondant art and cakes.
Robbie Cheadle author bio

Robbie Cheadle is a South African children’s author and poet with 9 children’s books and 1 poetry book.
The 7 Sir Chocolate children’s picture books, co-authored by Robbie and Michael Cheadle, are written in sweet, short rhymes which are easy for young children to follow and are illustrated with pictures of delicious cakes and cake decorations. Each book also includes simple recipes or biscuit art directions which children can make under adult supervision.
Robbie has also published 2 books for older children which incorporate recipes that are relevant to the storylines.
Robbie has 2 adult novels in the paranormal historical and supernatural fantasy genres published under the name Roberta Eaton Cheadle. She also has short stories in the horror and paranormal genre and poems included in several anthologies.
Robbie writes a monthly series for https://writingtoberead.com called Growing Bookworms. This series discusses different topics relating to the benefits of reading to children.
Robbie has a blog, https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/ where she shares book reviews, recipes, author interviews, and poetry.
Social Media Robbie Cheadle
Website
https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/
Blog
https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/
TSL Books Author Page
Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15584446.Robbie_Cheadle
Purchase links
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09BBR94NC
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Behind-Closed-Doors-Robbie-Cheadle/dp/B099C8R3T4
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Book your WordCrafter Book Blog Tour today!
Poetry Set to Music – Just call it a song
Posted: August 16, 2021 Filed under: Poetry, Song Writing, Writing | Tags: music, Poetry, Song Writing, Writing to be Read 2 Comments
Poetry comes in many forms. There is free verse, rhymed poetry, blank verse or metered poetry, syllabic poetry, (such as hiaku on tankas), epic poems, narrative poetry, pastoral poetry, and sonnets, just to name a few. I’m partial to rhymed poetry, although I was warned away from it in school. I love rhymes of Dr. Suess and Shell Silverstein, and I love playing with rhyme and alliteration in my own poetry. Wordplay makes writing, (and reading), poetry fun. Poetry forms with structured rules, such as villinettes or syllabic poetry don’t come as easily for me.
I think it must be even more difficult to write poetry put to music, but if you think about it, many songs do use alliteration and rhyming, and this is perfectly acceptable in the song writing world. But what is a song, if not a poem set to music? Even many of the nursery rhymes that were handed down to you as a child have been put with a popular tune, making them more memorable: Old King Cole, Ring-Around-the-Rosy, London Bridge, Jack and Jill, etc… Below are some lyrics to some popular songs that use rhyming, but if you had never heard them, and didn’t know the tune, all you would see is poetry.
Winter nights we sang in tune
Played inside the months of moon
Never think of never
Let this spell last forever
Heart – Magic Man
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Drowning nightly in deep blue seas
Waves of sadness swallow me
No soul can hear me beneath the waves
No gods, no saviors, no hands of fate
The Pretty Reckless – Only Love Can Save Me Now
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Poetry uses language to paint vivid mental pictures and tell stories, as can be seen in the lyrics below. Fleetwood Mac uses similes and metaphores to paint a mental picture for the listener in some very poetic ways in Rhiannon, and Jethro Tull’s lyrics in Locomotive Breath conjurs some unusual images, as well.
Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night
And wouldn’t you love to love her?
Takes to the skies like a bird in flight
And who will be her lover?
Fleetwood Mac – Rhiannon
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In the suffering madness
Of the locomotive breath
Comes the all time loser
Headlong to his death
He sees the piston pumping
Steam breaking on his brow
But Charlie stole the handle
And the train, it won’t stop going
No way to slow down.
Jethro Tull – Locomotive Breath
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Narrative poetry tells a story in verse, as do many songs. Narrative songs that come readily to mind include The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, by Gordon Lightfoot, Running Bear by Sony James, and One Tin Soldier, by The Original Caste. Here, McGraw tells a story of the growth of first love in his song, Don’t Take the Girl. (And it rhymes.)
Johnny’s daddy was taking him fishing
when he was eight years old
A little girl came through the front gate
holding a fishing pole
His dad looked down and smiled,
said we can’t leave her behind
Son, I know you don’t want her to go,
but someday you’ll change your mind.
Tim McGraw – Don’t Take the Girl
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I’ve listed the handful of songs above with the names of the artists who sing them, but that’s another way songwriters and poets are alike. Both get very little recognition for their writing. Often the singer is not the songwriter. Songs may be peddled among singers, as was the case with That’s the Night that the Lights Went Out in Georgia, (written by someone named Bobby Russell), which Cher turned down before Vicky Lawrence ended up cutting the record. Magic Man was actually written by the singers, Ann and Nancy Anderson, and Rhiannon was written and sung by Stevie Nicks. Taylor Momsen and Ben Phillips of The Pretty Wreckless wrote Only Love Can Save Me Now. But, Don’t Take the Girl was written by songwriters Craig Martin and Larry W. Johnson, Locomotive Breath may be sung by Jethro Tull, but it was written by Ian Anderson.
It’s customary for songs to be identified with the singer, rather than the song writer, and poets don’t become famous until after they are dead. Song writers are the unknown poets of the music world.
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