| March 2006 | Café Society's Poetry News Update |
| March 2006 | Café Society's Poetry News Update |
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| Michael R. Burch is the editor of The HyperTexts, on-line at www.thehypertexts.com, where he has published the work of three Pulitzer Prize nominees and recent winners of the T. S. Eliot, Richard Wilbur and Howard Nemerov awards. He has been twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and his work has appeared over 450 times in literary journals and sundry publications in the USA, England, Scotland, Canada, Australia, South Africa and India, including The Chariton Review, Poetry Magazine, Verse, Poet Lore, Unlikely Stories, Light Quarterly, Writer’s Digest – The Year’s Best Writing 2003, The Best of the Eclectic Muse 1989-2003, The Lyric, ByLine, Icon and Nebo.
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No, I’ve never gotten around to publishing a book of my own poems, although Joe Ruggier and I have teamed up to publish a number of books by other poets. I imagine I will publish a book at some point in the future, but I’ve been published over 450 times in literary journals and sundry publications, so I don’t feel the need to be validated by a book, although a book would be nice.
The question raised by the poem is twofold: what if the frog the little girls seeks so whimsically turns out to be a “horny toad,” and what if the father dies before he is able to save his daughter from such an experience? I have a son, but not a daughter. So in a way I am completely “safe” from the tragedy the poem suggests. But in another way none of us is really “safe” because we live in a world where we are all taken advantage of, and we all take advantage of others. The wood is haunted – haunted by death. The leaves are bright only because they are dying. Soon they will fall and rot. The wood is a cathedral of death, and yet perhaps it is redeemed by the laughter of the girl and the love of her father. I’m not sure how “good” the poem is, but it seems to me that poems can and should try to touch readers through the method of fables: involvement. Let the reader imagine that he or she is the father, or the daughter, or an onlooker…
For every poem you write about yourself and/or your lover, try to write ten poems about larger and grander themes. Do you really think you’re that fascinating to the rest of us? Shakespeare gave us Hamlet and Lear, not endless goings-on about how the world mistreated him personally on a daily basis. Poetry is not a personal journal, but a letter the poet writes to the wider world.
If someone criticizes your poetry, don’t take it personally. If you have real talent and work hard, your poetry will get better, and you will hear better and better things about your poetry. If someone praises your poetry and they don’t write well, don’t assume they know what they’re talking about. Would you ask someone with no teeth about matters of oral hygiene? Find the best poet you know and ask for an honest opinion. If you really care about poetry, and not just how you feel about what people say about your poetry, you will learn to put your feelings aside and concentrate on the work itself. The better the work becomes, the better the feelings you will have.
As a poet, the answer is not so easy. I just write the words and stories that come to me, and I’m not at all sure ambition has much of anything to do with the results. Like most poets, I hope to write poems that will reach and touch readers, and perhaps endure when I don’t. I think there are signs that poets may again reach mainstream readers, and of course I’d like to be among the “reachers.” But if I only reach a few readers, and reach them deeply, that’s not bad in my book. To a degree, I think I’ve already done that. I read widely, I know what works, and sometimes I read my own poems and think – they’re not cathedrals of intellectualism; they’re not epics; they’re perhaps too commonplace to be considered “great” – but they often seem to do just what I intend them to do. They touch people and they communicate something essential: tenderness, heartache, compassion. I suppose if I have an ambition as a poet, it would be to keep doing the same thing, and keep doing it better and better.
Poetry L & T: When and why did you first start writing poetry, Michael?
Michael:
I started writing poetry in my early teens. Like many young poets, I began writing poetry out of personal despair, but I think I was fortunate because early on I somehow learned to exit my poems and began writing what I call “fables” – poems that attempt to seduce or mesmerize the reader rather than to commercialize the poet’s often-pathetic condition. The more I wrote, the less I wrote about the “real me.” At a fairly young age, I often wrote more from the perspective of a William Blake or W. B. Yeats than that of a Robert Lowell or Sylvia Plath, and I think that has stood me in good stead, because quite frankly I’d rather read Blake and Yeats.
Poetry L & T: Who are your favourite poets?
Michael:
Along with Blake and Yeats, I particularly like Robert Frost, W. H. Auden, Hart Crane, Dylan Thomas, Louise Bogan, Ernest Dowson, Edward Arlington Robinson, Percy Bysshe Shelley, A. E. Housman, Elizabeth Bishop and Wilfred Owen. My two favorite poems are “Directive” by Frost and “Tom O’Bedlam” by that truly great poet, Anonymous. For anyone not intimately familiar with both of these poems, I recommend that they become so forthwith, by checking out the Masters page on the literary website I edit, The HyperTexts, online at www.thehypertexts.com.
Poetry L & T:
How did you first become editor of The HyperTexts?
Michael:
I’m not even sure why I started the website, to be quite honest. In retrospect it seems like divine inspiration, but I had better leave all the kudos to God! I certainly never dreamed that I’d end up publishing three Pulitzer Prize nominees and winners of the T. S. Eliot, Richard Wilbur and Howard Nemerov awards. I had no idea that I’d become good friends with poets I respect and wildly admire, like Richard Moore, Rhina P. Espaillat, Zyskandar Jaimot, Tom Kerrigan, Tom Merrill, Esther Cameron, Yala Korwin, Harvey Stanbrough, Tony Marco, Georgia Kornbluth, Takashi “Thomas” Tanemori and Joe Ruggier … just to drop a few names. These are folks with uncommon talents and passions. For instance, Takashi-san, as I call him, was born into a Samurai family, taught the seven codes of the Samurai as a young boy, lost his entire family at Hiroshima, came to the United States seeking revenge on Americans … only to end up becoming a minister, poet, artist and peace activist! And he did this while losing his sight to radiation poisoning. Joe Ruggier is a Maltese poet who now lives in Canada and has sold over 20,000 books – most of them door to door! Yala Korwin survived a World War II labor camp to become an American artist and poet of note, and she and Esther Cameron have helped The HyperTexts publish a number of Holocaust poetry translations that had never before appeared in English. We don’t even know the names of some of the poets, and yet their poems somehow miraculously survived, and then even more miraculously ended up in the talented, caring, nurturing hands of Yala and Esther. These poems can be read for free on THT’s Ghetto Poets page, and are truly a gift to the world. I was recently honored to do a special tribute page on Nadia Anjuman, one of the poets of the celebrated Sewing Circles of Heart, who defied the Taliban to study forbidden writers at the risk of their lives. Nadia Anjuman survived the Taliban only to die under suspicious circumstances shortly after publishing her first book of poems. I have also done pages on the poetry of Abraham Lincoln, Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan. It’s rewarding and thrilling for me to be able to let the world know such poets, both through their poetry and through the stories of their lives.
Poetry L & T:
As an editor, what, in your opinion, makes a poem good or memorable?
Michael:
That’s hard to say. The best poems are like magical elixirs. We experience the magic, it changes us, but we really can’t explain it. I can read “Tom O’Bedlam” or “Directive” with chills running down my spine, but I can’t give a young poet a formula to write such a poem. For me, poetry begins with the sounds of the words, with rhythms and sonic effects. A good example is “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes. When I was a small boy, my mother would recite this poem from memory, and it was absolutely a thriller, but not just for the story. There was something about the sounds of the words and the spell of the rhythm that captivated me, that still captivates me… The Highwayman
THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.
He'd a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,
A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin;
They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky.
Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred;
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.
And dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked;
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's red-lipped daughter,
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say—
"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."
He rose upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair i' the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume came tumbling over his breast;
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet, black waves in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his rein in the moonlight, and galloped away to the West.
That’s only the first half of the poem, and the second half is even better! What a poem, and yet I wonder how many people know it today. I wonder how many children have missed the experience I had when my mother recited the poem to me. Hopefully, with the current renaissance of poetry on the Internet, more and more readers will learn the exquisite pleasures of reading poetry that “rocks, rolls and tells a soulful story.”
Poetry L & T:
I love the down-to-earth, yet tender quality of your love poems, especially "For All That I Remembered" and "Ordinary Love". Have you ever put your love poems together all in one book?
Michael:
Thanks! It means a lot to me when discerning readers like my work. I think poems like "For All That I Remembered" and "Ordinary Love" and my fables are my “hallmarks,” and in a way my love poems are perhaps personalized fables, where the fable becomes so intimate it seems like an actual experience...
Poetry L & T:
I very much enjoyed reading your poem "In Praise of Meter". Do you prefer to write poetry mostly in rhyme?
Michael:
I’m glad you like “In Praise of Meter.” The original title was “In Defense of Meter” but I love meter and rhyme so much, and their attractions are so obvious and compelling, it seems silly to “defend” them. I like the new title much better. Poets should be unafraid to sing the praises of the praiseworthy, although praise has been out of fashion for a long time now. Yes, I do write mostly in meter and rhyme, though not exclusively. I write both rhymed and unrhymed free verse, but my real passion is for meter and rhyme. I feel a certain kinship with Taylor Hicks on this season’s American Idol – for the way he seems incapable of singing and not being completely immersed in, and overcome by, the sheer joy of the music itself. When I start writing poetry, I can hardly contain the meter and rhyme that seem determined to bubble up and pour out. Writing poetry seems very natural to me, and meter and rhyme are not at all “hard” for me. In fact, very seldom do I ever write a line and have to go back and change the line to find a suitable rhyme. It seems there is almost always a “natural rhyme” that presents itself as soon as it is needed. Mathematicians often know they’re “onto something” because of the natural elegance of an equation. For me, there is a “natural elegance” to certain poems. A line and its companion rhyme seem “made for and meant to dance with each other.”
Poetry L & T:
Are there any subjects which you find difficult, emotionally, to write about?
Michael:
Not really. I think all subjects are fair game for poets, as long as they can make the subject “intimate” for the reader as well. I don’t think many readers go to poetry for the sheer analytical prowess of the poet. Readers and listeners go to music and poetry for intimacy. I like to think of the poet and the reader being in “communion,” of them sharing a common experience together. So if there is anything difficult for me to write about, it is not because the topic is emotionally “difficult” or “off limits” to me, but because it is “out of my range” in terms of my being able to communicate something viable to the reader. I believe I can enter into communion with a reader in a poem like “Ordinary Love” because the experience of love being both extraordinary and commonplace is something we all understand. I’m not “afraid” of writing a poem about a homosexual cowboy relationship, but I’m a married man and anything but a cowboy, so a “Brokeback Mountain” poem seems out of my range.
Poetry L & T:
I was very moved by the wistful mood of your poem "The Folly of Wisdom". For parents, childrens' childhood seems to race by. Is this poem about one of your own children?
Michael:
Very few of my poems are about actual experiences of mine. “The Folly of Wisdom” is a fable: a fable based on another fable – the frog who was kissed by a princess.
Poetry L & T:
Do you have a favourite peaceful place, where you go to write poetry, or do you take pen and paper everywhere you go?
Michael:
I can and do write anywhere. I write in the shower (although the paper gets soggy), while driving (makes the red lights seem to change at lightspeed), while sunbathing in the backyard, while walking. I keep pen and paper in the bathroom, in my car, in my luggage when I travel, by the couch when I read or watch TV. The only time I don’t have pen and paper nearby is when I walk, so if I compose poems while walking, I recite them over and over to myself to avoid losing them.
Poetry L & T:
Is there anything you see in contemporary poetry online that annoys you?
Michael:
I am much more optimistic about contemporary poetry and online poetry than most poets I know. Most of the poets I know best are Formalists, and many of them are put off by the amateurish nature of most online poetry. But here’s my perspective: I like to sing in the shower, but I have no illusions that I am a great singer. I understand that there is a world of difference between Elvis Presley and me. Many “serious poets” seem to think the mere existence of poetry inferior to theirs is a horrible thing. But I think it’s the tremendous interest shown in online poetry forums that bodes well for the future prospects of poetry. Many bad shower singers listen to and buy much good music. And sometimes people who sing badly keep singing and improve. I’m not a fan of online poetry forums where discussions about poetry descend into personal insults and outright attacks, but even those sorts of things may illustrate just how deeply many people care about poetry these days. We can’t have lovers’ spats without passion, and people are passionate about poetry these days. I deem that a very good thing.
Poetry L & T:
As an award-winning poet who has been published in many journals and ezines, do you have any advice for new poets who wish to improve their work?
Poetry L & T:
Yes, but none of it is at all original. Read lots of poetry, especially the standard-bearers: Frost, Yeats, Housman, Blake, et al. Learn the rules of the English language. If you don’t understand the difference between “its” and “it’s” you are akin to a golfer who can’t make a short putt. It doesn’t matter if you can drive the ball three hundred yards, if you can’t get the ball in the hole. You have to learn and master the basics, and the basics of poetry are words, phrases, sentences, grammar. I like to think of poetry as “the rightness of words” and the first step is to know the right word to use at the right time.
Poetry L & T:
Finally Michael, what are your main ambitions for the future?
Michael:
As an editor, the answer is easy. My ambition is to keep finding and publishing compelling poetry by compelling poets. A good poet makes an editor’s job easy. I just look for poems and poets who will appeal to my readers, and I see no reason to change that simple method.
Poetry L & T:
Thank you for the interview, Michael.
Michael:
Thank you, it was my pleasure! I hope your readers will check out www.thehypertexts.com and if they like my work they can google “Michael R. Burch” and find bajillions of my poems on-line, all free and only a mouseclick away. If they have questions, comments or would like to introduce themselves, they can e-mail me at mburch@aocg.com.
 | 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 March 2006 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 Michael R. Burch, award-winning poet and Editor of HyperTexts.
Featured Poets include: Ryfkah, Jim Dunlap and James Robert Campbell.
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 March 2006, Richard's Review No. 55 features A Reader Survey of Percy Bysshe Shelley's"Ode to the West Wind" (1819).
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. 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 Ryfkah, Jim Dunlap and James Robert Campbell. 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
RYFKAH
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.
JAMES ROBERT CAMPBELL
Valentine
© Ryfkah, 2/13/06
The tug of love
like war
like peace
she reaches for his heart
Wisteria silhouettes in
grape against lemon eve
She sees doves
snuggle in shrubs
like lovers embraced
He posts a Valentine
omits the kiss
His heart on card stock
within an envelop
she touches ruby
roses within lace
Under wisteria arbor
she gently weeps
Arise Arise
© Ryfkah
Incubus inside head
Deborah twists in sleep
Sheet rolled between feet
she seeks suitable ground
for growth like wildflower
that finds optimal niche
Dream speaks as G-d
ordains her to Arise Deborah arise
sing your verse
Like peacock butterfly
she sees with wings
Eyes pried open by prophesy
she lifts plume
and scrolls upon parchment
her victory-song
To Covet
© Ryfkah, 2/2/06
He brought me back a tee-shirt
from his trip to paradise
stacked between folded underwear
and hidden dollar bills
I take out my nine to five fan
flap away the sultry summer
turn on my thank you smile
and wonder about exotic trees
on islands where the breeze breathes
tender caresses to stay away the heat
A lone parrot wings among backyard sparrows
The sky burns tango tangerine
Like churning lava
like a thundering waterfall
a bellowing hyena
I laugh
set the alarm
for tomorrow
JIM DUNLAP
(Rhyme Master)They Lacked The Union Jack
© Jim Dunlap
There's an alternate dimension
where Harold won the day,
and Wiliam's Norman legions
were stoutly held at bay.
The Angles, Jutes & Saxons,
dressed in paints and pelts,
were not treated by the Normans
like they'd done to the Celts.
They were overrun by Vikings
who fell quickly in their turn
to flaxen-haired invaders
mostly come to loot and burn.
Yet these Teutonic marvels
forged an Empire meant to rule
an almost helpless Northland,
and fought a bitter duel
with old Empires to the South
were Africa and Asia met.
Then the Aryan juggernaut
became a potent threat
when victorious, it brandished
a worldwide fist of might.
The spectre of destruction
seemed to limn the fall of night.
An orator named Hitler
proved Nostrademus right
while opponents of this madness
were killed or forced to flight.
His victory was foreordained,
assuring worldwide tyranny,
and nowhere left on Earth
could mankind yet be free.
That Norman loss, at Hastings,
had sadly set the stage
so that monsters of depravity
could endlessly rampage.
Nothing could prevent this villain's
New World Order, so obscene --
Unlike here, he triumphed.
No England stood between.
published in Pablo Lennis in 1995
An Easter Error
© Jim Dunlap
I woke up Easter morning
just at the crack of dawn.
I heard a muted whisper,
"There's a stranger on the lawn".
I ran and grabbed my rifle,
and, although it isn't funny,
when I pulled the trigger,
I shot the Easter Bunny.
I had to hide the evidence,
before the children knew,
so we put him in the freezer
for a later "rabbit stew".
Parnassus Literary Journal, Volume 16, NR1, Spr. 1997
Why Society Must Support The Arts
© Jim Dunlap
Culture and literature are not just
The embodiment of civilization --
The truth is that our people must
See they launched its incarnation...
Taking words and weaving them together
Gave the incipient push and volition
To organize, grow and tether
History's textured oral tradition.
Yet story-telling casts a spell
Which holds the 'naked ape' enthralled;
As Earth's greatest empires fell ...
Though it was brutalized and mauled...
Its magic pushed our world to thrive --
And its safety net helps man survive.
J.R. "Bob" Campbell is a native of Amherst, Texas, who grew up working in his father's blacksmith shop and took a degree in English at West Texas A&M University in Canyon in 1970. Specializing in political writing, trial coverage and human interest features, he has worked at nine newspapers in Texas and Colorado and is now at the Midland Reporter-Telegram in West Texas. He has had poems this year in Ancient Heart, 3 cup morning, TPQ Online and Prism Quarterly and is enjoying the boon to poetry and reading that the e-zines have become.
THE FLOATING SPECK
© James Robert Campbell 2006
1
Our craft is ready now.
The waters take the ledge.
All on which we stand
Must melt away and all
Our longing evanesce
Like mist in the morning sun.
We must give our breath to fire,
Our thirst to brine, and sit
Like stacked stones while the blind
And blinding eye revolves
And rises through the dawn
At a place we guess in darkness.
We shall see unanchored islands
Pitching, plunging, each
Unknown to the other. One
Will have grass and sloping sands
And palm trees on the lean,
Another lichen scrolls
On the flats of granite walls.
We shall not ever stop
At them because regardless
Of our meaning, we would only
Bump against the rocks
Or be stranded upon the shore.
Our time will carry by
Like wind without a sail.
We shall have no minutes or weeks
Or years to celebrate,
Only days to float askew
Or bob up and down in a spin
And no escape but the side
Of the boat and the shoreless sea.
And we shall have days to believe
We are on the edge of a scream
Unending, infinite days,
When the sea is suddenly still. . .
2
Steaming orange and red,
The sun sets ahead.
And so the sun
Will show it's done,
And we shall walk
Among the waves --
Perhaps enfold
Ourselves
In a stopped crest
And rest.
A star descends, a star descends,
Not plunging forever through the abyss
Nor exploding rocket-like to end,
It is worn away by what surrounds it
Into just a floating speck
Of what there was, into nothing.
NOTHING, NOW (After Stephen Crane)
© James Robert Campbell 2006
A rich man who had been born poor
Died and stood at the River Styx
In the Land of the Lost.
Squinting across, he asked Charon,
"How much will this cost?"
With oar groaning across the prow,
The boatman answered, "Nothing, now."
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WORD
© James Robert Campbell 2006
"Cuspidor," James Joyce averred,
Is English's most beautiful word.
Eschewing the romantic, "Mary,"
"Crystalline," "pristine" and aerie,"
"Amaranthine," "alpenglow,"
"Whipporwill" and "mistletoe,"
The maestro used his ear and wit
And said it's a can where people spit.
The Licorice Daughter:
Winner of the Texas Review Award
Click the book image on the left to visit Linlifshin.com to
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New, full colour illustrated A5 poetry chapbook by Sara L.Russell
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Plus - a limited number of signed, complimentary review copies are available for
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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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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!
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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, #68 - When the Absinth Fairy is around, you have to be careful what you wish for! Norris wished that all his dreams would come true....
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The image of the Hill's Absinth bottle in recent episodes 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... |
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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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