| February 2004 | Café Society's Poetry News Update |
| February 2004 | Café Society's Poetry News Update |
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Brittany Renée Herbert
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| Brittany Renée Herbert was born on 18 December, 1986 in Ipswich,
Suffolk, England. There she lived until she was three-years-old with
her father and mother. They had been in the United Kingdom as her
father was a chaplain in the air force. Moving back to the States, they relocated to Cleveland, Ohio. Here, Brittany and her best friend, Kristin, used to write lyrics for their two-member girl band. Both Brittany and Kristin have always, and continue to, had dreams to be singers and actresses. But Brittany shared more than that. She wanted to dance and write too. At the age of four her mother enrolled her in dancing. Brittany strived and made this a part of her life. At ten years old she quit. She started writing lyrics to accomodate adult's more. She said it was so the adult's would like the songs just as much as the kids and teenagers. One of her her biggest inspiration? Her dance teacher, Mr Neylon. In 1996 they had to relocate to Jacksonville, Florida. Her second year at a new school, she won first place in the DARE Essay contest. A contest and a programme made for kids teaching them that drugs are bad. In seventh grade, Brittany was in English class and a teacher had them write a poem about an animal. Brittany chose the panda and finished within minutes. It was a simple sonnet and the teacher saw Brittany's flawless talent and encouraged her to further her writing, as many teachers from her past did. It was then, in 2000, that Brittany began writing poetry instead of lyrics. The year after, she missed dance too much and began again. She flourished and the dance teacher said that she was amazed at Brittany's ability having not danced for so many years. In 2002, Brittany was accepted into a performing arts high school for her dancing. Here she was recognised for her dancing, academic and writing excellence. After that year, she quit to be privately tutored. She said she was not challenged enough. It wasn't until 2002 that Brittany started collecting all her poetry in one box and one disk. She lost a lot of her poetry from her seventh grade year when her laptop died but she managed to extract a few, which are now pleasantly featured in her book, Shadows of a Heart. She joined an adult writing community after having posted poetry on fanfiction website and gotten hundreds of raving reviews from teenagers. Then, at AuthorsDen, she pretended to be a thirty- year-old woman, as she didn't want them thinking she was too young. A few months later her age was revealed and many were not just surprised, but utterly amazed. After much encouragement, she secretly submitted a query to one publisher. Within two weeks she received the notice that they wanted her to send in her manuscript. After a week of waiting she heard back from them saying that they wanted to publish her a book. Almost a year later after submitting the manuscript, she is on her way to her second poetry collection, Dusty Angel. As of now, Brittany is highly active in dance. She is in all of the classes and is on the advanced dance team with a lyrical solo and a modern duo. She hopes to finish her children's story she is writing (and refuses to give us any information on!) by high school graduation. She hopes to publish it by university graduation.
Of the many things she is inspired by, it is gardens, England,
religion and life. Just now she is concentrating hard on being an
early graduate and maybe not just a published author, but a
professional dancer as well. |
| Poetry L & T: | How and why did you first start writing poetry, Brittany?
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| Brittany: | When I was a little girl I always wrote lyrics with my best-friend. To me, music is definitely a form of poetry. I’ve always been in love with music in the form of dancing and writing words to it. When I wrote actual poetry was when I was thirteen after my seventh grade teacher encouraged me to write poetry as a hobby throughout my life. I look back and regret all the mean things I was to her! She’s been right encouraging thought throughout this process for me!
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| Poetry L & T: | Who are your favourite poets?
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| Brittany: | I’ve not read enough poetry books and such to say who’re my favourite poets. I have read a lot of Emily Dickinson though and I really like her. She’s very good. I made friends with a lot of the poets I admired from AuthorsDen, so most of my friends are ones I admire. Some of the people weren’t as friendly though. |
| Poetry L & T: | How has the internet helped you, as a poet? |
| Brittany: | At first I applied to a fan fiction website where my poetry just flourished with the teeny-boppers. I wanted something more, like an adult’s opinion other than what I considered biased family views. So I went to Authors Den and pretended to be a thirty-year old woman at first. The internet has helped in those ways. I’ve been quite secretive about my poetry writing ever since I started at thirteen. I wanted no one to read them because I thought I was just down right dreadful. I was, too. |
| Poetry L & T: | Is there anything in modern poetry online, or about poetry newsgroups, which annoys you? |
| Brittany: | Lately it’s all about politics really in these groups. If you’re a part of it, it is all about who posts the most, who reviews who the most, etc. It’s not about the true meaning. We used to have it, but we’ve lost it. Not to mention bickering and stealing of poetry. It’s so juvenile and completely irrelevant to the true purpose. |
| Poetry L & T: | Are there any subjects which you find difficult, emotionally, to write about? |
| Brittany: | Anything difficult for me to write about, I usually don’t then. I don’t like to write about something unnatural to me unless I have this urgent desire to. I think my hardest subject is what I actually am truly feeling. I tend to write more on others’ emotions and situations rather than my own. So when it comes to me, it’s much more difficult. |
| Poetry L & T: | Your poem "Never Learn" intrigues me; dealing with sin versus judgment, along with angels crying over the follies of mankind. Did you have powerful Dante-esque visions in your mind's eye, when you wrote this, or did the idea come to you mainly in words? |
| Brittany: |
I would never say I had Dante-esque visions. I don’t think I’m capable of that, and if I am, I don’t think just yet. When I write, I never have an idea in mind. Sometimes a poem is at first a love poem and it can end up to who knows what. ‘Never Learn’ was an unbiased call on everything I’ve seen in daily life. Even little things that are justified as ‘holy’ and in truth they are not. It was my nice way of saying that not all the Bible readers are perfect either.
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| Poetry L & T: | I very much enjoyed your poem "A Dreamer's Song". You dedicated it to your mother because she loved it, but what, or who, initially inspired it? Were you writing about your own daydreams? |
| Brittany: | It was like a combined ‘story’, if you will, of Cinderella, the film ‘A Little Princess’ and the memories I had of my best-friend and I when we were little girls. We used to play and no one could ever tell us any different that we wouldn’t one day be these wonderful girls in our dreams. |
| Poetry L & T: |
I would like to know more about your latest book, "Shadows of a Heart"...
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| Brittany: |
It’s all the first attempts I did when I was thirteen up until I was sixteen when I was just getting it ready for publication. It really is just a big bundle of firsts. My first book, my first poems (not the lyrics), my first poems on Authors Den… everything. I called it ‘Shadows of a Heart’ because these poems were, at one time, all hidden and kept secret from anyone who actually knew me. So these were my secrets; my little shadows.
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| Poetry L & T: | At 17, you have erudite skills in poetry. Do you ever get fed up with being referred to as a prodigy? |
| Brittany: |
Oh my goodness! Erudite skills. That’s so flattering! I’ve never been called a prodigy per say but I do get a lot of, ‘You’re how old?!’ It never irritates me because I understand people are curious and not a lot of people my age write things other than gothic and depressing poetry, but sometimes it gives me a chuckle.
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| Poetry L & T: | What advice would you give to other young poets who wish to improve their chances of getting published? |
| Brittany: | Criticism doesn’t imply contest. Take all the criticism you can because that helps you a great deal. You won’t always please everyone, but you can see the general idea of what people are looking for if you take criticism. And publish not for fame, but for self satisfaction and to share with those who want to read what you have to give. Humble yourself, otherwise you’ll trip over your own tongue goggling at your own work. |
| Poetry L & T: | Do you think that women poets are more likely than men, to write about deep, emotional subjects? |
| Brittany: | I think there are certain topics that women can write about with a better understanding, and same goes for men. But really, I’ve read some poems that were so deeply written and I admit to being surprised it was written by a gender I wouldn’t have thought. So I think it just depends on the natural talent and desire. |
| Poetry L & T: | Finally Brittany, what is your main ambition for the future? |
| Brittany: | To make sure I’m doing something that I love to do or doesn’t take away from it. The goal I have set for the near future is to finish my first novel and to publish my second collection of poetry, ‘Dusty Angel’. Who knows, but I’ll let God lead my way. |
| Poetry L & T: | Thank you for the interview, Brittany. |
| Brittany: | Thank you so much, Sara! I hope you’re feeling better. We’ll keep you in our prayers. |
| Dear Poets, Welcome to the February 2004 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 Brittany Renée Herbert, a talented young (17) poet, whose work I found initially on AuthorsDen. My apologies for the lateness of this issue and the January issue - caused by an accident before Christmas, which meant a long hospital stay with limited internet access.
Featured Poets this month include Jim Dunlap, Jeff Mason, Virginia Monson, Richard Vallance and Jan Sand.
In the Vallance Review for February, Richard's Review No. 30 is The Historical Evolution of The Sonnet 2. Translation: Part 2B.
Fans of The Perils of Norris cartoon: now you can buy Norris merchandise for home and office, including a stylish wall clock... Click here to visit the store, which is located at CafePress.com. More goodies will be added as soon as we design them! You can also buy merchandise with our Poetry Life & Times logo.
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My own poetry can be found mainly 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.
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.
Best Regards,
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Richard Vallance reviews sonnets, both classic and modern.
Featured Poets this month include Jim Dunlap, Jeff Mason, Virginia Monson, Richard Vallance and Jan Sand. Many thanks to all contributors.
Click title below for this month's Vallance Review feature
JIM DUNLAP
(Rhyme Master)Jim is in the Marquis, Who's Who In America and will be in the Marquis Who's Who In The World in it's next edition as well. He is also in the Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers.
His list of publications include "Candelabrum", "Plainsongs" and the "Paris/ Atlantic"; and he is now (or has been) online at "Die Niderngasse", "Poetry Repair Shop", "Midnight Edition" and Poetry Life & Times". He is a resident poet, and an Alpha poet at the Poet's Porch, and has had about six hundred poems published to date. He has been in the Writer's Digest top 100 three times, although he doesn't usually enter their contests any more, as their entry fees have gone out of sight. However, he has decided to send a single poem this time. He is currently the newsletter editor for the Des Moines Area Writers' Network.
His work also appears online at:
authorsden.com
http://www.thepoetsporch.com
http://www.aceonline.com.au/~db/
http://www.valmagnuson.com/
on Describe_Adonis in the Yahoo groups,
poetryrepairs.com
and in a number of other places as well.
I'd have liked to see the bluebirds fly Above the white, chalk-cliffs of Dover; And as they're blithely soaring over, Immersed in thought I'd lie In calm repose upon that beach, Admiring those swooping forms, In evanescent, fleeting storms, Like ballet ... far beyond my reach. Frisking, fragile, carefree birds, Symbolic in intrinsic meaning -- Like liberty and freedom's words In English springs, forever greening: While England fought her bitter fight To hold at bay the 'fall of night.' SELF-SUFFICIENCY, SURELY © Jim Dunlap
A Eurostar travel promotion With a trip to Holland as prize Was derailed by Dutch vitriolics. An affront to conservative eyes Was delivered inadvertently By posters of Vincent Van Gogh With cannabis leaves, smoking a joint; They must think the world doesn't know That marijuana's at worst semi-legal In the land of windmills and dikes -- Yet their tourists might increase in droves With armadas of boats, cars and bikes. Perhaps they don't want an invasion Of potheads polluting the air. Who needs all the money they'd spend Since they're so self-sufficient there? BEWARE THE "EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES" © Jim Dunlap
What price sophistication? Is it something money buys, Gilt with flattery and lies? Approached with trepidation, Some aspects may be learned. Garnered poise and urbane charm Will never do a bit of harm -- Yet its essence must be earned. The French say 'noblesse oblige,' Though with them, the trait's inbred; But true gentility's not dead -- Just bruised and under siege. Sophistication, to be kind, Is truly just a state of mind. FIERY MAID OF ORLEANS © Jim Dunlap
She burned...with holy fire, And gave her all...for God. Her soul a fiery rod Divining faith...that higher Soared, to a sainted realm In some fair, better place. In mail and burnished helm, She ran a deadly race -- And vowed, with shaking breath, No pain would drag her down. She died a martyr's death To search a golden crown. Though stake might be her byre, She burned...with holy fire. Previously published, CANDELABRUM, Sept., 1998
 JEFF MASON
I have received an Editor's Choice award for my poetry. I have had
opinion articles published in "Network World" and other technical
journals, and have had poetry published in the anthologies "A Moment
to Reflect" and "Eternal Portraits" (upcoming - Spring 2004), as well
as in other anthologies.
My influences include Edgar Allan Poe, Pink Floyd, Alan Parsons Project,
Hemingway, Steinbeck, Dickinson, Grisham, Kellerman, Stephen King,
Ken Follett. I have been published various places, in print and on the
Internet.
I am a former U.S. Marine, having held a Secret clearance. I
am involved in various aspects of Computer and physical Security. I have
worked in the super-secret confines of the Pentagon. I hold a Bachelor's
degree in Computer Information Systems from Middle Tennessee State University.
In addition to being an award-winning poet, I have penned a number of short
stories, articles and songs. I write from the heart; from my experiences
and interactions throughout life. I love science, science-fiction, history,
romance, mystery and all kinds of music. I live and breathe poetry.
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SLIPSTREAM © Jeff Mason |
VIRGINIA MONSONVirginia Monson worked as a journalist for many years before turning to brand PR and marketing.
She has read poetry all her life and began writing creatively in 1999.
She is currently an active member of East Grinstead Poets in West Sussex, England.
© Virginia Monson
Move that mirror away while I cultivate that blind eye through which men see. No beer gut, no dreary hum drum, No waistband regrouped beneath the tum that once was simply a dimpled navel. As man begins his couch potato journeying in self deluding bliss, his friends will bring him beer and sneer at those who would deny him. Yet those same hawk eyes will soon define a favoured page three girl's behind. Applying unique formulae they'll dream; and from the depths of their rose tinted specs do not discern that fatal slippage from lean mean machine to unfanciable fat. SHAKE 'N' GO © Virginia Monson
AN ORNERY THING IS A DUVET Just shake and go? Convenient. No commitment. So cosy - so neat - till the end of the week. Just shake and go. So? Come Friday or Monday shirts strewn on the floor; the shopping undone - you weren't keeping score. His feelings digress. If its laundry not funday he just failed the test. An ornery thing is a duvet When he won't share more you start keeping score. You'll shout and he'll blow; You shake and he goes. DOWNBEAT © Virginia Monson
Don't give me downbeat if the agenda is fun. Don't try to impose your obsession for possession. on me. Don't plead your needs when they blind you to mine. Don't look for a honeymoon when I want only the moon, which I will share only on terms you cannot bear. Don't expect malleability and servility. For I enjoy a kind of lunar identity and . . will not bear your anguished forehead tugs: and sullen shrugs. I who revel in simpler treasures, cultures and ochre skies; the peace of being, and a quiet mountain side will give you too little and want, no less than the moon, which I will share only on terms you cannot bear.
Click here for February 2004 Featured Poets page 2 --> 
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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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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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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
OUT NOW MILLENNIUM DAWN anthology, by Kedco Studios Artist Profile Press. Enquiries to Elaine Davis at kedco-ap@juno.com
Also - Contributors Wanted for: CRYSTAL DAWN
TWO EPISODES OF THE PERILS OF NORRIS: THE PERILS OF NORRIS, #39 - The judge passes sentence... this episode also appears in the late-published January issue - shown here for those who missed it, or who don't have time to click the January link. Scroll down for February's episode...
THE PERILS OF NORRIS, #40 - Norris arrives at a new low in his career...
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The Perils of Norris started in August 2000. To catch up on past episodes, click the links below, then your browser's Back button to return.
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