IAN THORPE

A happy child but a late developer, Ian Thorpe was born at quite an advanced age and remembers nothing more for several years. One morning he awoke and was aware of being in a large white room. The blinds were drawn but the furniture was real. A note pinned to the wall said XYZZY. "I've only got your word for that" Ian replied and the note threw itself in a waste paper bin. This experience convinced Ian that his destiny was to become a writer. He immediately composed his first poem "Ode to a Milkman."

Seriously, Ian has been away some time but is back with this selection from a work in progress based on what he calls "single source myths," the mythology of India, Arabia and Celtic Europe

LELAND JAMIESON

Leland Jamieson, a performing arts center manager for most of his working life, is retired and lives in East Hampton, Connecticut, USA. His recent and forthcoming work appears in *Bellowing Ark, Blue Unicorn, Candelabrum, Raintown Review* and *3rd* Muse. He has gathered many of his published formal poems, some with streaming audio, under the title *Needles in a Pinewood* . He is hawking a longer book manuscript by the same title. Major influences on his work, after Shakespeare, of course, are Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, William Stafford, and Timothy Steele.

RICHARD JAMES

Richard James is an Australian-born poet who currently resides in the West Country in England. Since 1997 his poems have appeared in numerous poetry magazines, both online and in print. His poetry has been described as visionary and highly visual, Romantic and imaginative. Richard James has published several books of poetry himself, details of which can be found on his author’s webpage

  Richard James finds his inspiration in life itself; life, both wonderful and terrible, fills him with awe for the mystery at the centre of things. For a number of years now, James has been editing the quarterly online poetry magazine ANCIENT HEART MAGAZINE, (ISSN 1742-6049). Many new and promising poets have seen their work published in this magazine which seems to have a loyal following already. The first ever Ancient Heart Magazine Anthology is now available

This unique publication features poems that appeared in the 2005 volume of the magazine.

 Richard James has recently been working on a volume of collected poems

BARBARY CHAAPEL

Barbary Chaapel was born in the mountains of West
Virginia. She walked 250 miles with her aunt and uncle
at age three to Painesville, Ohio where her uncle
found work. It was here that the daily sound of a fog
horn on Lake Erie shaped her future. Later in life she
and her husband, Bill, spent nearly a decade cruising
and living aboard their beloved sailboat, Snow Goose.
Eventually they returned to the mountains of her
birth, where she now writes.
Her book, NO NAME HARBOR,
POETRY OF BARBARY CHAAPEL  may be viewed at
http://barbarychaapel.eveusa.com

MICHELLE MEAD

Michelle Mead, of Wappingers Falls, New York, is an editor of Artless and Naked magazine and editor of an excellent childrens magazine, Whimsey.. Michelle graduated high school and chose to travel as her further education, claiming, "...I think travel is one of the best educators in the world." Her journeys included multiple trips to England and France. Michelle writes short stories, novellas and novels, although the states that poetry is "half of what I write, a quarter of what I read and I share it often. Some of the poets whom have inspired Ms Mead are Langston Hughes, Jim Morrison, Christina Rossetti, Wilfred Owen and Lord Byron. Michelle's poetic interpretations of some of the paintings by Erte especially delighted  all who read her work. "Being a poet, It doesn't make me a better person, it makes me a more balanced person."

Michelle  Mead's work:

Palace Poets (poetrypalacegiftshop.biz)
is a collection of poetry chapbooks that can be bought online through the above web address. My chapbook, "Moongirls and Nightdreams," was published in 2003. "Whimsy" (www.writewhimsy.net) is a free magazine dedicated to
children's literature.
I co-edit, write book reviews and poetry,
interview writers and illustrators and occasionally will illustrate a piece (one cover) for the magazine. We have interviewed authors such as Da Chen, Pete Perry and Charles Smith, and illustrators such as Alison Jay and James Ransome.  We were featured in Barnes & Noble's insiders magazine, as well as in the Poughkeepsie Journal. We are linked to Barnes & Noble through our website. I also created, edited and distributed a literary magazine of my own locally for many years (before I became ill)  called "Artless & Naked." This was an uncensored and edgy zine. I am currently working on a rewrite for a young readers novel about a boy who saw his father shoot his mother and them himself, and no longer speaks. He befriends two local homeless people and the craziest girl in town and discovers the real meaning of family is not necessarily the ones who are in your four walls. I had this novel critiqued by
Kelly Going, winner of the Michael Printz award for her teen novel, "Fat Kid Rules the World," and in the first draft stage, she said that I should definately get it published.