ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE WEEK:
- Are you ready for tricks or treats?! Stop and watch the rain roll through. We need the rain as much as we need the sun. This is where growth comes in. For us and for our world. Be thankful.
Lines and Rhymes
Hey everyone! I'm N.S. Rettmann, I'm a poet and writer.
I started writing when I was very young, as an escape from a world that was often not very kind. I sought and found glimpses of simple kindness. I hung onto these glimpses like gold in my pocket and sunshine in my soul. I love a good short story with eccentric characters. Stories that make you think. Stories of developing faith, bad situations turning good, or ones that stream on softly like a rowboat on a quiet pond carrying you along peacefully like a daydream on a sunny day, or ones that shelter you from the steady driving rainstorms of life. Then there are those jots on thoughts of different topics like peace and chaos, pain and forgiveness and how these are sometimes, or often, linked to each other like we all are in one way or another.
About me and my writing
I write from my own experiences, those of others, and from my imagination. I write as the Spirit touches my heart and inspires my soul.
I am a 33 year Army veteran. My husband and I have raised two children, one dog, and a tropical wood turtle. I write from my own experience, those of others, and from my imagination. I write as the Spirit touches my heart and inspires my soul. My love of nature and deep faith seep into my writing as do my experiences with pain, hardship, and overcoming life's challenges including teenage homelessness, hunger, Loss, and military experiences including deployments and humanitarian aid. These poems, prayers, and stories are steeped in encouragement and hope, to inspire every reader to keep going, keep reaching.
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Books I've written
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Lines and Rhymes
Books I'm currently Working on
Peace, Love, and Body Armor - Stories from military experiences or perspectives. Looking for a literary agent to help in the publishing of this collection of stories. Thanks friends for all the help and patience.
Leaves in the Wind - Nature poems. Manuscript has been printed for potential illustration.
Oh Well, That's Life - Stories centered on the challenges of life. I will continue to work on this after Peace, Love, and Armor and Leaves in the wind are prepared for publication.
To Love, a Call to Action - Poems and prayers. I've got the shell of this one but still compiling for future editing and publication.
Note: I am still working on Skipping Stones, but have put off that collection work until I can complete the above theme specific works which will feed the Skipping Stones collection.
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19 October 2026 - Past Sacrifice - Tomorrow's Promise - is a poem I wrote during a trip to Gettysburg and is a reflection on that and other battlefields I have visited during the U.S. Army Warrant Officer Association's 54th Annual Meeting of the Members.
Out and about with Poetry...
Every Tuesday evening is Open Mic, hosted by the Pittsburgh Poetry Collective at the Pittsburgh Poetry Lounge 313 North Avenue in Millvale! Signups start at 6:00 PM and performance at 7:00 PM. I am usually there on the first and fourth Tuesdays of each month (unless a Steel City Slam or Poetry & Pints occur that same week) I do hope to be there the evening of 21 September to share some of my recently written poetry.
5 October 2026 - our next Poetry & Pints, which I co-host with our Pittsburgh Poetry Collective representative Lori Beth, at the Lawrenceville location of Burghers Brewing Company on Butler. Signups at 5:30pm and readings start at 6. Marie Elizabeth Thomas will co-host this event while I attend an Army Warrant Officer conference in Gettysburg.
Image Gallery
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Contacts
If you want to contact me, the best way is by email. Although it may take me a while to get back to you, I promise I will.