| December 2005 | Café Society's Poetry News Update |
| December 2005 | Café Society's Poetry News Update |
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otato Tarquin Orbisfleur Terror III was born somewhere near the M3, he always used to say, though in recent years he has divulged that he has lived most of his life in lodgings Camden Town, London, and more recently, Brighton, Sussex. In recent years he has become something of a cult figure on the internet, having found his way into artvilla.com and Curiouser and Curiouser, also Authorsden.com and Sonnetto Poesia, as well as previous issues of Poetry Life & Times. Much of his time, he tells us, is involved in back-packing around Europe in the summer, and sleeping it all off later in the year, during which there is more time for writing poetry. See below for links.
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Poetry L & T: How and why did you first start writing poetry, Potato? Or should I call you Tarquin?
Potato:
Tarquin, Potsey-Baby or Potato is fine. Well, it all started in my days as a burgeoning tuber, during the tender sprouting of adolecsence. Various misfortunes in love and a penchant for gloriously self-destructive habits drew me to venture into the fluffy forays of poesy. My first ideas seemed to lack a certain cohesiveness, then they simply took off. And I went after them, like a veritable tuber bullet down a rat hole.
Poetry L & T:
Who are your favourite poets?
Potato:
Ah me, what a question! Where to begin... well there is the wonderful Edward Lear (dear Learie!), e.e. cummings, Lewis Caroll, the lovely late Spike Milligan, also more serious poets such as Edgar Allen Poe, for when I am in a more somber mood. And a smattering of Elizabeth Barrett Browning on Wednesdays. Also Lord Byron was a remarkable creature... mad, bad, dangerous to know... I love his Don Juan adventures. They make me think, ah yes... we've all been there....
Poetry L & T:
In September 2003's Vallance Review, you expounded some of your New Tuberism poetry ideas in "Potatoes, Sonnets And The Enormous Muse." I was intrigued by the history behind that particular Vallance Review. Have you written many poems in the New Tuberist style recently, or unearthed any more of the infamous Spudnacious Bong's writings?
Potato:
Ah, the follies of that infamous bard, Spudnacious Bong... He lived his life almost in the manner of one trying to create good material for an autobiography. Like a hero, like a reprobate, like a wrist-dragging, blithering fool. I can certainly quote you the verses from that Vallance Review, plus several new stanzas which have since been rescued from the crumbling manuscripts:
....I'm afraid that after that stanza, part of the manuscript had crumbled beyond repair. In those days, you know, they had no photocopiers or scanners, so some of the more arresting passages may be lost forever. You will doubtless remember two of the stanzas from that Vallance Review.
Passages of Uranus
Spudnacious Bong, 1350 - 1378
O planet of preposterous deceit!
I see thee through my knees in darker hours,
When evil gnomes sing soft and bittersweet
And absinth is quaffed down with whisky sours;
For all the glitterati of the stars
Parading in this poisoned universe
For Venus, oft beset by raging Mars
I glare into the skies and roundly curse.
Uranus glares on me with taunting eyes
And bares his backside terrifyingly,
While Saturn is a satyr in disguise
And whispers to the moon of thee and me;
I fibrillate in pulsing nebulae
Fantastic druids float before my eyes
Quaintly-attired in silks of greenish-grey
With plaited beards and bells hung on their thighs.
They sing to me of times of quietude
Of parties when the universe was young,
Where naiads were of buxom magnitude
And centaurs were remarkably well-hung;
They wail of distant quasars and black holes,
They bellow, ever raucus, in my ears,
They promise the redemption of our souls
And so much more, for any fool who hears.
I prithee, please do not procrastinate,
Come quickly, in thy brogues of fetching suede,
Save me from the debauchery of fate
Dear druids, with thy haunting serenade!
Poetry L & T:
Have you ever been moved to tears by a poem?
Potato:
Indeed, yes.... Spike Milligan's Ning Nang Nong had me whimpering like a girl. So many of his works have moved me, in so many ways.
Poetry L & T: I particularly enoyed your sonnets in the Strumpet Chronicles, some of which will be featured in Scotty Snow's forthcoming e-book, Moon Tan. What are the symbols or allegories behind my favourite of that series, "The Strumpets' Last Temptation of Sir Wholegrain"?
Potato:
Well the thing is, Sir Wholegrain represents the uptight, health-conscious prude in all of us. We each have a Sir Wholegrain side and an Evil Bapgobbler, junk-consumer, cover-me-in-jam-butties side. The wholesome knight whispers as the voice of conscience, the bapgobbler murmurs lasciviously of self-indulgent folly, driving us blindly into fast-food parlours or sending us reeling towards the Pot Noodle Shelves of No Return. The strumpets who tempt Sir Wholegrain represent all of those little temptations that advertisers and supermarkets throw in our way. But we must never succumb... for that way lies madness.
Poetry L & T: In your series of translations (from the Spudscrit) of the Lost Book of Tuberlantis, did you find that the original works lost, or gained, anything in translation?
Potato:
Well of course translation is very tricky at times. Catching each cadence and nuance of a poem, which was written a very long time ago, is very difficult, especially in a drafty garret workshop like mine, and especially from an old language which has fallen into disuse. Sometimes it can be hard to capture the quintessential tuberality of such pieces as the partly-retrieved Tuberlantis scrolls, nevertheless I struggle gamely on. It's a labour of love.
Poetry L & T: I very much enjoyed your poem Isembard Ping. Was it inspired by someone you know?
Potato:
Oh my dear, I never ping and tell. Suffice it to say, our paths did cross once or twice, he was an interesting person to say the least, and the least said the better! One or two of the other characters mentioned are real friends of mine too, but I am not saying which ones.
Poetry L & T:
How do you get inspiration for your poetry? Do you have a special quiet place to go to, for inspiration?
Potato:
Sometimes I like to roam the colourful streets and alleyways of Catford, just to catch a vibe or look around various shops and bars. Bethnal Green has a special appeal. There are several sit-in kebab shops that draw me when the muse is rampant. Of course some of my more melancholy work can be fuelled by drink... as can some of the happiest. Beer can cause fits of giggles, along with more outrageous outings into tuberistic campdom, whereas wine can cause more maudlin moods, with stanzas about nightmares, sleep paralysis and - you know how it is - those small green goblins that sit on your shoulder and tempt you to shout abuse in the middle of public libraries.
Poetry L & T: I don't think that happens to many people, really...
Potato:
Oh, perhaps it's just me then.
Poetry L & T: What is your idea of a good, or memorable poem?
Potato:
An interesting question... well it does need to be endowed with something of the musical power of words. Be it full of joy or death-wish, it should resound to the ear and the brain, it should grab you by the lapels and shake you with its sheer vivacity. A really, really good poem should contain at least one extremely memorable line, so that people can gasp at it, remember it forever or bore children to death with it in schools.
Poetry L & T:
Several years ago, you were awarded the Three-Toed Elvis Duck Award, from the Curiouser and Curiouser website. It must have been a great honour....
Potato:
It was. I was very moved. In the throes of artistic struggles over the years (I was in my Cerise Period even before The Artist Formerly Known As Prince had cut his baby teeth, let alone found his Purple period) it was heartening to know that the marginalised tuber race had not been forgotten, in the cut-throat world of literature.
Poetry L & T:
Why do you never allow photographs of yourself to appear online?
Potato:
Well, Sara, you know as well as I do that the camera is a scurrilous tool of torture. You go out in the evening, dressed to the nines in all the best leather gear, or shimmery spandex (I know I have), and take a little peek-ette in the mirror and everything looks lovely. The lamp under the mirror gives that rosy evening glow to the features. You smile at yourself, jiggle your eyebrows fetchingly and say "Tiger!! Aaaoowwwrrrrrrrrrrr!!" then off you go to the nearest bar or bistro. Then - wouldn't you know it, some "friend" takes a candid picture with a camera phone or digital camera. They insist on showing you the result.... and hey presto - you have turned into the ugliest old pilchard in the known universe. Who likes pictures of themselves, anyway? And if it was a good picture, showing my best side, why I might not get a moment's peace in my home town if it ended up on the internet!
Poetry L & T: Finally, Potato, what are your main ambitions for the future?
Potato:
The future is a rather transient thing to me. I prefer to live very much in the moment, with occasional sabbaticals into the past, when the muse (or the beer) takes me. But if one was to have an ambition, for tomorrow or the next moment or so... I might like to be remembered as the poet who was a leader rather than a follower. Never let it be said that I was a chip off the old block. They threw away the block when they made the Potato of Terror, for fear of tasteless, freeze-dried imitations. Actually, to be remembered at all would be good.
Poetry L & T: Thank you for the interview, Potato.
Potato:
Thank you for asking me.
 | NEW - in our merchandise store: the Poetry Life & Times Poetry Journal... click image to find out more.
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| Dear Poets, Welcome to the December 2005 issue of Poetry Life & Times (For those of you reading this on a mirror site and not poetrylifeandtimes.com, click here).
This month's interview features the cult internet poet, The Potato of Terror.
Featured Poets include: Jean Hull Herman, Jim Dunlap, Sean Clair, and Deborah Kolodji.
Resident Poets feature Robin Ouzman Hislop, Richard Vallance, Jan Sand and Sara L. Russell. See below Featured Poets for the link to this page.
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In the Vallance Review for December 2005, Richard's Review No. 52 features an Introduction to The New Pleiades Anthology of Poetry © 2005 [11] - Just Released in Canada by Describe Adonis Press, Ottawa (Part B: continued from Vallance Review 50, October 2005).
Fans of The Perils of Norris cartoon: You can buy Norris merchandise for home and office, including apparel and stationery... Click here to visit the store at CafePress.com. More goodies will be added as soon!
My own poetry can be found on AuthorsDen, these days. The links in the left-hand column of my pages include books and articles as well as poetry. Some of the articles give advice on making chapbooks, or finding publishers - and there is even an item on ghosts.
My latest e-book: Worlds Inside The Head, is now available, featuring animated poetry pages, short stories, video & audio recitals, plus pages in PDF format. Click here to scroll down to the animated ad at the bottom of the page, and click the link to find out more.
NEW - Poetry Life & Times Mobile Phone Pages + Free Ringtones & Wallpapers! We now have new mini-sized Poetry Life & Times supplement pages for mobile phones, which include information on the main site, occasional interviews, short poems + free ringtones and wallpapers. If you have a WAP-enabled mobile phone with a colour screen, point your mobile's browser at these pages (on your mobile you can usually omit http//:):
www.poetrylifeandtimes.com/pltmobile/index.htm
Ringtones are both classical and new original music (my own). Wallpapers are mostly from The Perils of Norris cartoon.
Any comments on this issue or back issues can be emailed to me on the link at the bottom of the page. Announcements are always welcome (brief if possible), you can also promote poetry books here.
Poetry submissions should be in plain text in the body of an email, with a small jpeg author picture attached, also a bio, with the URLs of any ezines mentioned, so that they can be shown as links. This increases the chance of inclusion, especially for late submissions. Pictures are best at a maximum of 520 pixels across, otherwise they take ages to arrive by email, especially in bitmap or TIFF format. I recommend that poets click the submissions link on our main page, for full guidelines, and please, always use a spellchecker.
Poets can submit previously-published work here. If another editor likes it, there's a chance we'll like it too. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our readers.
Best Regards,
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Richard Vallance reviews sonnets, both classic and modern.
Featured Poets this month include Jean Hull Herman, Jim Dunlap, Sean Clair and Deborah P. Kolodji. Many thanks to all contributors. See below Featured Poets for our Resident Poets' page link.
Click title below for this month's Vallance Review feature
JEAN HULL HERMAN Jean continues to enjoy teaching at Delaware and Technical Community College. She is a member of the Diamond State Branch of the National League of Women Writers (NLAPW); a lifetime member of the American Association of University Women (AAUW); the American Society for the Advancement of Science; The Wilson Associates (Smithsonian Museum); a member of the Delaware Press Association and of The National Federation Of Press Women. She is listed in Michigan Authors, 4th Edition (Michigan Association For Media In Education). She has edited poetry for Chicken Soup For The Prisoner's Soul, Chicken Soup for The Volunteer's Soul, and now (2004) Serving Time, Serving Others, and the to-be-published The Secret Life of Crystals (Alan Corkish, Editor). Her poems have appeared in over 75 publications. She is a speaker for the Delaware Humanities Forum, with topics such as "Everyone Knows Someone Who Writes Poetry" and "How To Stop People From Fleeing When You Mention Poetry." Jean's first book, Starving For The Marvelous, took First Place in the National Federation of Press Women 2003 national competition. See Web site www.jeanhullherman.com for some of the poems and information about ordering the book. The book is being serialized by the e-zine Poetry Repair Shop.com (Dr. John Horvath, Jr., Editor). New poetry in Poetry Depth Quarterly, and Serving Time, Serving Others (Thomas Lagana, Editor), Of course Jean is at work on a second book – working title (or premise): Jerry Springer as Bulfinch. The literary ezine MÖBIUS, of which Jean is Editor, goes into its 25th year with both an international audience and submissions.
What do Thomas Bulfinch, the author of Bulfinch’s Mythology, and Jerry Springer, It’s Ringmaster, have in common?
When I told people about the title of my book in progress, most had one, markedly unfavorable, reaction: Why are you writing about that show?
The Jerry Springer Show, in one format or another, has been on television for 15 years. As the announcer loudly proclaims, “No awards! No respect! No Golden Globes! No Emmys! But bags and bags of money! And the viewers love us.” All those statements are true. Why? Because what is seen on the Springer stage reverberates with many of us. It resonates with and in our lives.
You may be wondering what Jerry Springer has to do with the excellent educational classical work, Bulfinch’s Mythology. The answer: history repeats itself – as in George Santayana’s famous quotation, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
This, also, is still true: Erotic love (sex) makes people crazy.
One day, while I was observing the antics of Springer guests, it hit me that there is indeed not much that's new under the sun. (No, I do not know people who behave like that, or, if they do, I don't know about it – so in a way I'm indulging myself in sociological studies.) AHA! – Everything I was seeing on Jerry's stage had been attributed to one Greek immortal or hero or another. It was serendipity – I was looking up something in mythology, in my trusty Bulfinch, and my book was open in front of me as the show rolled on.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
LIFE ON EARTH WASN'T EASY 3000 YEARS AGO
There are several Greek versions of the cosmogony, or accounts of creation. (These are not theologies, the beliefs we hold as truths.) In one, Aphrodite (Venus), goddess of Love, is daughter of the Titan Ouranos (Sky), and nearly on a par with Zeus, son of a Titan. She appears early. She came with her great beauty, and bore the child Eros. In another, Chaos (the state of the beginning) and Ouranos mated, and their child was Eros, who shot all things with life with his arrows. However it happened, Love is the originating force of life. And all recognize “the force that through the green fuse drives the flower.” (DYLAN THOMAS).
In the third version, “Aphrodite goddess of Love and Beauty, was daughter of Zeus and Dione, a Titan (the generation preceding the Olympians). She arose from the foam of the sea. The zephyrs wafted her along the waves to the Isle of Cyprus, where she was received and attired by the Seasons, and then led to the assembly of the gods. All the gods were charmed with/devastated by her beauty, and each one demanded her for his wife. Zeus gave her to Hephaestus in gratitude for the service he had rendered in forging his thunderbolts {and the shield Aegis}. So the most beautiful of goddesses became the wife of the most ill-favored of gods.” (4, 6)
Aphrodite's power should never be underestimated. She is one of the oldest forces known.
The home life of the average Athenian some 3000 to 4000 years ago was typically a family group of a man, his wife, and children. Perhaps a servant or a slave, too. They'd live on a farm, since they had to grow enough food to feed themselves, and/or raise animals for use and trade. Goods were made, and traded, too, if enough was left over after the needs of the family were met. Everything had to be created from raw materials: clothing came after the crops (cotton or sheep); iron forged and clay shaped; wood chopped; food prepared over open fires. Their farm might be apart from others, or within city walls. And everyone was constantly on guard against the new and different, or an incursion of any sort.
It now becomes important to become familiar with the pantheon of Olympic gods. First, all the known universe had been divided into roughly three kingdoms. The three brothers who had overthrown their father, the Titan Cronos, drew lots: Zeus won the heavens and earth, Poseidon won the sea, and Hades won the kingdom below the earth and rule of the dead who came to reside with him. Each immortal had his or her own special area. Demeter was goddess of the land and Nature; Artemis, twin to Apollo was the moon, protector of virgins and chastity, and goddess of the hunt, and Hebe was the goddess of youth. They had favorite animals, birds, people. For example, Athena (Minerva), a very important goddess in her own right having many powers and responsibilities, favored Odysseus (Ulysses in the Latin) above all others and interfered with/helped him all his life.
Some of them are scandalous, some more good than bad, and some not. Aphrodite was beautiful beyond words and a mean, spiteful, grudge-holding entity. Ares, god of war, was disliked by everybody, including his parents (Zeus and Hera), but he loved his dogs – hence the expression “the dogs of war."
Jim Dunlap has been published in some 90+ small press
magazines to date, including CANDELABRUM, POTPOURRI,
PARIS/ ATLANTIC, MOBIUS, NEOVICTORIAN / COCHLEA, TALES
OF THE TALISMAN, and online on POETRY REPAIR SHOP,
BLACKMAIL PRESS, NUMBAT POETRY JOURNAL, THE POETS
PORCH, POETRY LIFE AND TIMES and ALCHEMY COVE. Jim is
also Associate Editor of Alchemy Cove and was
Newsletter Editor for the DES MOINES AREA WRITERS'
NETWORK for 7 years. He has been in the Writer's
Digest top 100 in 3 categories, rhymed verse (a
sonnet), unrhymed verse, and the literary short story.
Jim is in Who's Who In America, Who's Who In The
World, and in the Directory of American Poets and
Fiction Writers. He is also moderator of the haiku
group on Care2.com.
SEAN CLAIR
I am a native of the United States; I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and have been writing for five years.
I was started by the lyrics of certain musicians, namely, Tupac Shakur, and other poets/artists. I have also been greatly influenced by the American poet Robert Frost, and many other greats. I only aspire to become published, and eventually create an anthology of my works, thus far, I have upwards of 900 written out poems and typed poems I am trying to put out eventually. My family has always been very supportive of my zeal for writing, by supporting me I have grown to truly love the art of writing, both poetically, and in prose form.
Andrew Belsey was born many years ago in the small village of Hilton in
Huntingdonshire. He has lived in Kent, London, Newcastle upon Tyne,
Leamington Spa, Cambridge and Cardiff, where since 1973 he has taught
philosophy at Cardiff University. The county of Huntingdon and the house in
Kent where he once lived have been respectively abolished and demolished
(the site of the latter is now a Sainsbury supermarket) so is it any wonder
he has identity problems? In 1974 he won the Outposts sonnet competition
and in 2004 he won an award at a photographic competition (see picture). In
the intervening thirty years his poems have appeared in a number of print
magazines, including The Affectionate Punch, Bad Poetry Quarterly, Bogg,
Kontexts, Krax, London Magazine, New Headland, Peer Poetry International,
Philosophy Now, Radix, Root, Typewriter and The Windless Orchard, and Web
magazines, including Above Ground Testing, Comrades, Charlotte's Web,
CricInfo, Poetry Life and Times, Sonnetto Poesia, Snakeskin and A Writer's
Choice Literary Journal. He is the author of three poetry pamphlets (the
third being concrete poetry, of which he is an avid fan): Anaximander
(Outposts Publications, 1974), Four-Line Poems (Llwynywll Press, 2000), and
Going Round in Circles (Llwynywll Press, 2nd ed, 2002). He is also a
regular poetry reviewer for New Hope International Review On-Line.
DEBORAH P KOLODJI
Her cinquains have appeared in Eclectica, Scrivener's Pen, Wilmington Blues, St. Anthony Messenger Magazine, Autumn Pond, Short Stuff, Brevities, Hummingbird, and many other places. Seven cinquains and two dozen other of her poems will appear in The New Pleaides Anthology due out from Kedco Press this fall. She is a winner of the Virgil Hutton Haiku Memorial Award Chapbook Contest with her first haiku collection, Seaside Moon by Saki Press, and one of the featured poets in The New Resonance 4: Emerging Voices in English Language Haiku from Red Moon Press.
GREEK MYTHOLOGY
IS THE FOUNDATION OF OUR CIVILIZATION
(Excerpt from Introduction to Jerry Springer as Bulfinch,
or Mythology Modernized)
Down on the Pig Farm
© Jean Hull Herman
Down on the Pig Farm (Notes)
Out in the middle of nowhere,
The lonely pig farm stands
Or sits or squats, depending on how
The farmer keeps his lands.
The pigs decide how the day will go:
Are they cheerful or feeling truculent?
They're not too sure about the wife,
But they think the farmer's succulent.
The wife's young cousin, a bristly girl,
Came to stay at the farm one day,
’Though she and the farmer rolled in the mud,
The pigs chased her away.
This curly, brief tale has a moral:
Even pigs have their standards for a cousin.
They love their swill; they're happy a-hoof;
But they've got no tolerance for fussin.’
JIM DUNLAP
(Rhyme Master)Hear The Bells At Christmas Ring
© Jim Dunlap
a villanelle
Hear the bells at Christmas ring --
Recalling happy days gone by,
While carolers exult...and sing.
In snowy fields, the grouse take wing --
Stark silhouettes on wintry sky;
Hear the bells at Christmas ring.
Tidings down the Ages bring
The Christmas story's how and why --
While carolers exult...and sing.
Friendships sundered on downswing
Can sometimes reignite and fly --
Hear the bells at Christmas ring.
And as those bells peal, ding-a-ling
Happy voices shout and cry --
While carolers exult and sing.
The starry fields of God's heartstrings,
Like torches, light the "Bye and Bye."
Hear the bells at Christmas ring --
While carolers exult...and sing.
Bethlehem's Star
© Jim Dunlap
Starlight shining down the ages,
Brings tidings of good will and peace --
Shepherds and those Magi sages
Began a tale to never cease.
That star that shone on Bethlehem
Is mirrored across Time and Space.
No hint of cold deceit or sham
Can camouflage that holy place.
Christmas trees, housetops and eaves,
Broadcast the glory of that night,
They light the heavy hand of ages,
Shining out, pristine and bright.
Illumining far-seeking will --
And mansion, waiting on the hill.
The Poop On Santa
© Jim Dunlap
Christmas comes but once a year,
and Silver Bells ring merrily.
Have no doubt or slightest fear --
the year’s best holiday – quite verily.
If you love snow, or Xmas lights,
or wish to write to Santa Claus,
remember, drape your tree so bright
that elves will stand in awe – because
the time grows short – put up the holly,
drape mistletoe over each door.
Santa’s coming, fat, short and jolly,
with presents for the rich and poor.
Put out the carrots, cookies, milk,
for Santa’s reindeer and him too.
Drape the walls with finest silk,
and garland on the bathroom loo.
With that long trip, Santa just might
Need to make a pit stop fast.
Leave the door open this night,
So sweet relief can come at last.
For Santa may be fat and jolly,
but he’s still a man like other men.
Remember, it would be sheer folly
If he had to change his clothes again.
Merry Christmas, Santa!
God's Land
© Sean Clair
Airy sustenance of fresh
lithe kiss, of sod this nature's
dance about my psyche, treks
miles, abounds this grand taper,
this natural annex, I now reflect.
Apollo's grips, pithy and secure.
It is early morn in this mosaic
of life, a new born fawn just out
of sight, a hawk adorns this land
in flight, preying on all smaller
life, a cycle of life, such earthen
plight, but realistic in all rights.
Evergreens tip-toe into sky,
the gods' neighbors, ever high-
oaks ever stark, below them leaves
litter earth, animals numbers increase,
below these giants girt.
Man's hands have yet to gain hegemony
over this grandiose plain,
His hands have in fact molded secretly
in the most perfect frame,
never may this land be fraught, completely
whole, and still untamed.
When a star is born
© Sean Clair
Life needs an emery wipe,
to view through this
lens of life-
when a star is born-
does it ember all night-
perpetuate and exploit
the skies with eternal bright?
Or does it burn
for a chosen time,
"The Good die young"
that proposed line,
how true with you.
As time would find,
you've found a better
place to lay your
head at night.
Oh dear star mounted in sky -
so far away were you -
we couldn't see you die,
couldn't know the truth,
taken for granted,
your angelic bright,
always would you manage
to bear the celestial plight,
but your hydrogen is spent,
your chemicals awry,
in anticipation,
we'll wait for you to fly,
since like a Star you burned,
burned forever bright - and like a
star you'll find transcendence,
beyond this weary life -
so we shall wait, until the day,
to watch your final time,
of super nova climbing stairs
into the heaven's night.
ANDREW BELSEY
It's Late
© Andrew Belsey
the evening is getting late
and it is time to go to bedlam
to draw the cold sheets round
the body like a shrouded sheath
to close the eyes on a sight
that can no longer be envisaged
to wake to dark endless day
with icicles where once there were limbs
Leaving
© Andrew Belsey
In September it is the stalks
of the leaves that turn yellow
first, signifying a breach in
the vital union between leaf
and tree. Before they drop
such leaves can be plucked
with thumb and forefinger,
just a gentle tweak to
liberate the leaf, sparing
it from its natural fate
of falling to the ground,
meet for worms and mould.
Go with the Flow
© Andrew Belsey
In another universe there is
a world where the rain came
today out of a sky black with
anger at the passing of the
good times. What could I do
but weep in sympathy, my
salt tears mixing with the
unsullied water of the rain-
drops as they fell and flowed
towards their ocean grave.
Near Elkhorn Slough
© Deborah P Kolodji
shadows
from morning sun,
the swirling flock a cloud
of sooty shearwaters - I catch
my breath
first published in Mindfire Renewed, Fall 2005
* * *
Coda on the Corner of 5th and Main
© Deborah P Kolodji
Sad notes,
a saxophone
hidden in the shadows
near dingy boarded-up store fronts...
skid row
(first published in Mindfire Renewed, Fall 2005)
* * *
In the Attic
© Deborah P Kolodji
Two girls
model fashions
found in an antique trunk --
queens in furbelows, my sister
and I.
* * *
Split Shift at the Magic Show
© Deborah P Kolodji
The saw
is real, polished
to gleam in the spotlight.
Intact one more night, she plans her
escape.
(First published in Fireweed, July 2005)
* * *
Frog Moon
© Deborah P Kolodji
Deep croaks
disturb my sleep
moonlight through the window --
a day's regrets leapfrog my mind
in time.
New, full colour illustrated A5 poetry chapbook by Sara L.Russell
Ballads of Myth & Magic
currently Poole (Dorset), Tunbridge Wells (Kent), Crawley (West Sussex) and
East Grinstead (West Sussex).
Also available online from Giftoftongues.com, for readers both in and outside the UK.
Plus - a limited number of signed, complimentary review copies are available for
poet friends in the USA or Canada.
Special Features: Vellum cover, 28 pages of poems, with colour illustrations & line drawings.
Poems on the theme of legends and lost worlds of fantasy and magic.
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AVAILABLE NOW - Sara Russell's new e-book on CD ROM: WORLDS INSIDE THE HEAD ISBN 1-878431-47-1 / Kedco Studios Inc., Las Vegas with poetry, short stories, videos, animations, music, wavs and 3D art throughout... Only $9.95 - CLICK HERE to find out more... or Mail us here at Poetry Life & Times.
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 | OUT NOW - CANADIAN SPIRIT VOICES by Richard Vallance...
Photo © by Richard Vallance, 1993 (Northern Ontario)
Canadian Spirit Voices is now available from Kedco Studios Press (Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.)... in a full multi-media CD book, consisting of poetry, prose, the essay, original MIDI music and plenty of splendid artistic illustrations. The CD-ROM book is the equivalent of a hard-copy book in excess of 500 pages!
For more detailed information on this book, please click here:poesieslaissezfaire.homestead.com.
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 | An amazing new e-book published by Kedco Studios Inc. Curious? Click the picture link! |
Click the above banner to discover our free weekly market e-zine and searchable database of writer's guidelines with 1,000 publications - 200 that publish poetry.
Poetry Life & Times won The Prix Poesie's laissez-faire Grand Prize in 2002
- thanks Richard!
[Click the banner to learn more about this award.]
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Q U I C K I E S - an e-book of erotic/humorous stories for women |
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Come Meet our Poet Friends!
Check out the poetry sites of some of our friends and
Voulez-vous recontrez de nos amis poètes et rédacteurs Meet my literary friends! Rencontrez mes amis littéraires!
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Visit Crystal Rose's Place
Val Magnuson Galactic Poet Award
An exciting new anthology, by Kedco Studios Artist Profile Press,
The Crystal Rose © Ice Shard
OUT NOW! CRYSTAL DAWN
ISBN 1-878431-71-9.
Award-winning poetry, a full novel, 10 Shakespeare plays plus free photographs for any use. Contributors: Robin Ouzman Hislop - Richard Van der Draaij - Cara Alson - Gillian Stokes -Jasmine
Dienes - Tyler Wiseman - Doctor C. S. Shaw - Vladimir Orlov - Monica Smith - Nick Zegarac
- Aurora Antonovic - C. S. Snow - K. V. Davis, full novel.
THE PERILS OF NORRIS, #65 - The Absinth Fairy comes back to claim Norris for his next wish.....
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The image of the Hill's Absinth bottle in this episode of The Perils of Norris cartoon was used by kind permission of Dan Hill at hillsabsinth.com. For more information about this exciting bohemian drink, plus Vicky Vixen cartoon and info about Hill's Absinth cocktails, click the bottle link on the left to visit their fun, interactive website... |
NEW: The Poetry Life & Times Store
Buy Perils of Norris Merchandise online, including mouse mats, clocks, tote bags and postcards. |  |
The Perils of Norris started in August 2000. To catch up on past episodes, click the links below.
The Perils of Norris Page 6 (Current adventure)
The Perils of Norris Page 5 (page 2 of earlier adventures)
The Perils of Norris Page 1 (early stories, start page)
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Email us early
with poetry, articles or poetry news, by 16th December for the January 2005 issue.
