| November 2005 | Café Society's Poetry News Update |
| November 2005 | Café Society's Poetry News Update |
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| Fred Wolven is Michigan born and Michigan and Florida educated. From a family with ancestors coming from Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, and then mixed in with Pennsylvania Dutch, Canadian, and Midwestern U.S.A., and a family of career teachers, Fred lives in Homestead, Florida, with his wife—a miniature artesian, and their two youngest children. A teaching poet since 1960, Fred is a professor of composition, creative writing and literature at Miami Dade College. Long influenced by Michigan born Theodore Roethke and Florida poet Duane Locke, among others, Fred admits to an eclectic taste in his free verse form. Editor of Ann Arbor Review, an international poetry ezine, he believes “poetry is more than art, music or myth.” He adds, “All writing is a form of mediation in motion, a relaxed, interactive exercise involving mind, body and spirit.” And, he notes, “Such activity is essential in developing critical and creative thinking and writing skills, and with such, as a poet, I can soar!” Meanwhile, Fred devotes energy to encouraging student writers in their development, and many of them win competitions, receive publication and obtain publishing contracts. Fred edited Ann Arbor Review, a widely recognized literary (print) publication, with institutional support, from 1967-1980, and in 2004 revived it as an ezine devoted to publishing poetry: http://fwolven.net/aArborReview/index.htm
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I worked at writing and developing my poetry because it was challenging, I thought I could write better than most of what was being printed in magazines, and I really enjoyed being able to blend my view of the natural world in with my own critical perspectives. There were no creative writing courses nor any writers at my university, just a couple other student writers and we had no contact, so I had no formal study of poetics. But, both William Stafford and Robert Bly gave readings on campus my senior year, and they had an early impact on my efforts to continue developing. And then I started appreciating William Blake and Neruda too.
I completed my master's degree in 1964 and within a couple years started teaching at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan. There I had the chance to develop and teach creative writing courses, conduct summer workshops, and handle literature classes. The 60s and 70s was a wonderful time to be in Ann Arbor, one of the great college towns in the USA; established and new writers visited and with artists and musicians performed on campus, in parks, in bars, coffee houses, and pubs. And writing groups and little magazines flourished along with the establishment of more bookstores owned by enlightened supporters of the arts. I was caught up in much of that activitiy, founded a writing group which survived for 10 plus years, and established Ann Arbor Review as a periodical in 1967 (it survived in print form until 1980). From then on, I discover that when I'm teaching or working with 'young' writers, I tend to be more creative and produce more poems. There's something about helping nurture others' creative endeavors that entices me to work too.
And I have received New Warrior training drawing on rituals from Native Americans. I have strong beliefs about such as the Sacred Tree, the medicine wheel and the related 4 dimensions of true learning--these 4 aspects of every person's nature: mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical. I think cats, fox and wolves have instinctive connections with some of us; there is a lot felt, instinctively, when looking into the eyes of a cat or fox, something I have done on many occasions.
All of this by way of introduction to the other background influences which are also within parts of several of the poems in this suite of "cat" pieces. Each poem in this series begins with the cat looking in, then switches to personal introspection, and the ideas and images wend their way through four 4-line stanzas and conclude with a couplet. There is also a more direct reference to Roethke someplace within each poem. How many additional poems in this suite I will eventually complete I am not sure; it now looks like about 12, but.... Each poem slips in and out of an unnatural and irregular rhythmic pattern and occasional accidental rhyme or near rhyme as I seek to graspe the nature of my uneasy connection to my environment. I feel I am attempting to unravel the essence of my holistic being, but also sense that is my lifelong task.
This Ivory Billed Woodpecker series is the result of three things: I read of the fairly recent sightings of this woodpecker which was thought to be extinct, a friend mentioned that he has just read my earlier series - the Snow Leopard on Miami Beach poems, and I had just been rereading the Cat suite poems discussed above. Having determined, just deciding that this natural find--this woodpecker--was so significant it must be written of, I started to work, moving from one poem to the next in the sequence you see in this issue. The misc. other content which moves in and out of the poem series is usually the ideas, feelings, et al., which I am dealing with at the time I am fashioning the poems in the set. I usually do not know how many poems will wind up in each series until I finish. In part, so far, I've found that such series pieces are serious tributes to these delightful creatures of nature. But I also write other poem series--one about gold and brown colors and another about the late Roethke--for example.
Usually I work on the set of themed poems moving right through them without much interruption other than taking from one to three or four days for the first drafts. The revising may occur within the same days or occur at a later date but usually no longer than a week or so later. The original content, order, basic material is set in the first draft. And sometimes the first draft is fairly close to the finished work. The Snow Leopard series took a few weeks to complete; the Ivory Billed Woodpecker sequence took about one day for the first draft and another week for a few minor revisions.
Actually, I've come to realize that I don't need to worry something into existence; when I'm in the right place, at the right time, something will happen, and I'll write! So, now, for the most part, I just ignore it.
Examples of such very good poems include: Elizabeth Bishop's "The Bight," Theodore Roethke's "In a Dark Time," Robert Frost's "Acquainted with the Night," Ted Hughes' "Tern," Duane Locke's "Submerged Fern in a Waistline of Solitude," Pablo Neruda's "Ode to the Sea," John Ashbery's "The Mythological Poet," W. C. Williams' "This is Just to Say," Philip Larkin's "The Whitsun Weddings," and D. H. Lawrence's "Snake."
Other funds would be used to lease and fund storefront learning centers wherein youngsters would have opportunities to read, appreciate and write poems alongwith listening to quality classical and jazz music while they also have a chance to paint. These centers would be co-directed by a writer and an artist; the centers would be learning spaces not day care businesses. They would be neighborhood libraries and safe spaces for youngsters to enjoy and learn. The centers would be located in inner cities and in malls. And the writers and musicians and artists connected with these centers and in these schools would give and arrange readings, concerts and exhibits of their own work and the youngsters they interact with. Such presentations would all be free.
in the leaf-filtered sunlight
Poetry L & T: How and why did you first start writing poetry, Fred?
Fred: Sara, I still remember the first term College composition class in which the instructor asked us to write a poem for the next week; that poem (my first ever) was terrible and long since discarded. It wasn't until I was in my junior year and I discovered the poetry of Theodore Roethke, Wallace Stevens and Elizabeth Bishop that I attempted to write more seriously. Although I had a couple pieces, mainly imiations of such poets then, printed in college or university society periodicals, it was another five or so years before my writing had matured enough to merit publication in some of the then 'little magazines' being published around the country. Duane Locke's Poetry Review (in Tampa, Florida) was the first quality journal to print any of my poems - in 1967. Naturally, after that I also became acquainted with Duane Locke's own fantastic poetry output.
Poetry L & T: Your biography tells us that Theodore Roethke and Florida poet Duane Locke are two of your favourite poets. I remember that you very kindly interviewed Duane Locke for us in the December 2000 issue of Poetry Life & Times. What kind of questions might you have asked Theodore Roethke, if you had ever had the chance to interview him?
Fred: Ah, to have such an opportunity! I lived in his hometown in the early 60s, just a few blocks from Roethke's birthplace, his family's nursery business and the cemetery in which he was planted, but he never returned (while I was around) from Washington where he was a masterful teacher of poetry and poetry writing before passing away in 1963. Saginaw, Michigan barely acknowledged his existence prior to his death, and then afterward they claimed him as a native son, established a foundation and a significant award in his honor for poets - but naturally the award is given to established, published authors (in the good olde boys tradition!) rather than the up and coming and as yet unnoticed poet.
But, questions I would ask Ted include:
Poetry L & T: I love your poem "The Cat Outside His Door" #4 ...I would love to know more about it, it's very poignant - and about the suite of poems it was taken from.
Fred: This poem, # 4, like the first three, was inspired, come from my remembering clearly the image of a cat sitting outside the screen door of the house in which Theodore Roethke was filmed reading several of his poems for a black and white film, In a Dark Time; I think it was his home in the Puget Sound area around Seattle, Washington. At one time my "x" and I had 13 cats - all strays who found their way into our household, so I've been a cat lover ever since. I'm caught by the attention cats give to and seek from humans; we (I, at least) seem to have a natural connection which transcends master/mistress - dog/cat understanding. Many Native Americans somehow have such connections with animals. And I grew up, lived in areas of Michigan, and here in Florida, frequented by tribes.
Poetry L & T: I enjoyed your set of odes, entitled "Have You Heard, The Ivory Billed Woodpecker Has Been Seen, Though I Haven't As Yet". I particularly liked the imagery of the fox... we occasionally have those in our garden too, here in the UK. How do you put together a themed set of poems like that? Do the ideas grow from one idea slowly, with re-drafting, or somehow arrive all at once?
Fred: Sara, while I have perhaps started to respond to this in my response to your question about the Cat # 4 poem above, let me share a couple thoughts about creating a themed set or series of poems. And yes, as you may be gathering, I have an eye for the fox; when I first moved to Florida I used to see a couple during my before daylight runs, and once stood face to face with one under a streetlamp until he, being satisfied somehow about me, turned and slowly ambled off. More recently, I had a fox that every month or so would enter my yard, pausing under the yardlight, turn looking directly at me until I too stood watching and returning his look, then he would move off out of view. Such foxes have had such an impact on me that my animal totem, my spirit animal, is the Silver Grey Fox.
Poetry L & T: I love the line "there's a sense of discovery in these nearly uninterrupted places" in your poem "There's a Melody Playing In My Head". It gives me the sense of being allowed to share in that moment of the poet being an explorer. Where were you when you wrote that poem (or is it better kept a secret from potential tourists)?
Fred: I wrote this poem while in a workshop with a poet and an environmentalist in a central part of Florida - the Kissimmee River valley area; the area is being restored to a more natural state, and it is a wonderful place to wander about as I was able to while writing this, and a few other, poems.
Poetry L & T: Do you ever experience times of "writers' block"? If so, do you ignore it or do you have ways of banishing it?
Fred: I used to get anxious whenever I felt like writing and nothing happened. So, I resorted to many things to stir myself up--reading some poems by a writer I don't know or some poems I haven't read by a known poet, going for a walk in a natural surrounding along a beach, by a canal, through a wooded lot, or just getting away by myself for a day or part of a day finding a place where I can just sit and gaze out at the ocean, watching small creatures at work or play, even wandering through a bookstore or museum, going out to listen to a folk, jazz group play. Or just not worry about it.
Poetry L & T: What, in your opinion, makes a poem good, or memorable?
Fred: A poem is both good and memorable when I can read it aloud, or upon hearing it read aloud in a good fashion, I come as close as it is possible to enjoying the recreating of the essence of the poem as the poet permits and facilitates. Not all poets are good readers of even their own poems, so I listen carefully. Often times good poems are very nearly destroyed by poor oral readings. The memorable poem strikes something in me not unlike what happens when the really good film so catches me up in it that while viewing I'm carried off into the story of the production. The images, the words, the phrases, the line arrangements, the ideas all work in a realistic and convincing fashion in good poems.
Poetry L & T: If you had political power to assist the arts, what might you do to make poetry as popular in your country as it is with poets?
Fred: I would create a fund, through fundraising from the wealthy patrons of the arts and corporation CEOs, which would be directed by a small select committee of hand-picked writers and a couple persons with sound investment and accounting knowledge. They would handle grant requests and initiate grants for educational systems around the country; using some community colleges to funnel monies into local public school systems to bring writers and musicians into schools (these persons being on decent salaries) to teach youngsters in elementary schools an appreciation of poetry and provide basic opportunities to write poems.
Poetry L & T: Do you have a favourite poem of your own, that you would like to quote here or on your poetry page?
Fred:
While I spoke of the Cat suite of poems, I remembered a poem about a kitten which was struck by a myterious brain disease and never recovered. I wrote a longer poem, an elegy of sorts, while riding to and from campus a couple days after the cat Jamie's death. But it is too long for here. And I have another favorite about a different Woodpecker (not the Ivory Billed one), but I offer yet another poem here, without comment, a very short piece, dating from several years ago:
STANDING
in a small mountain meadow
alongside the narrow trail,
you lean into my arms,
your head resting on my shoulder,
and i hold you tightly
as if letting go
would mean the end of love.
Poetry L & T: Is there anything in contemporary poetry online which annoys you?
Fred: Only the very uneven nature of poems in what appear to be clique ezine publications; you know, poems of very suspect quality by only a pre-selected group of writers acquainted with each other. I do believe, though, that there should be publication outlets for anyone writing poems, and that the variety of ezines existing today offers that opportunity.
Poetry L & T: In 2004 you reincarnated the Ann Arbor Review as an ezine. As I know myself, ezines are a labour of love, but can be hard work. It must have been wonderful to see it reborn online at last...
Fred: I'm delighted AAR is out at long last. I toyed with the idea for two-three years before it happened. Now I'm committed to improving it and publishing twice a year in summer and in winter. Each issue can and will be improved; I want AAR to be a quality outlet for a variety of poets.
Poetry L & T: Finally, Fred, what are your main ambitions for the future?
Fred: To continue writing and hopefully publishing--mainly in ezines. It would be nice to devote more time and attention to getting my work out for a wider audience. Also, as I indicated, I want to continue to improve Ann Arbor Review so it becomes known as a quality source for quality poets. I hope to continue working with budding writers and see them flourish as have others I've had contact with over the years; it is wonderful to see former students and associates being published, receiving recognition and awards. While I anticipate retiring from full-time teaching in about 5 years, I suspect I will never fully retire from "teaching" in some fashion.
Poetry L & T: Thank you for the interview, Fred.
 | 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 November 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 Fred Wolven, poet and editor of the Ann Arbor Review.
Featured Poets include: Richard James van der Draaij (with a review of his book under the poems), Jim Dunlap and Ryfkah.
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 November 2005, Richard's Review No. 51 features The Canadian Maritime Documentary Poem: a Comparison of E.J. Pratt's "Titanic" (1935) and Eric Linden's Garland of Sonnets.
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.
Best Regards,
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Richard Vallance reviews sonnets, both classic and modern.
Featured Poets this month include Richard James van der Draaij, Jim Dunlap and Ryfkah.. 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
RICHARD JAMES VAN DER DRAAIJ
Richard's latest book is "Love's Own Treasure", published by Publish And Be Damned. See below Richard's poems for review by Poetry Life & Times.
Find more of Richard's poetry on his page at blogspot.com.
Richard's ezine - Ancient Heart Magazine
This book is full of the romantic spirit that is Richard James van der Draaij, the UK-based Dutch poet, who was first published by Kedco Studios in the USA with his book Lost And Found. Here at Poetry Life & Times we have always enjoyed his work.
Within these pages is something for everyone who has ever been in love, or those who love the romance of being close to nature. Click the Publish And Be Damned link in Richard's bio (L.H. col. next to poems) to buy a copy...
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:
RYFKAH
New, full colour illustrated A5 poetry chapbook by Sara L.Russell
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.
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.
Curious? Click the picture link!
Featured in our first ever print issue are several well-known contemporary sonneteers including Eric Linden, Joe Ruggier & Richard Vallance from Canada; Robin Ouzman Hislop and Sara Russell of the UK; and Sondra Ball, Esther Cameron, Jim Dunlap and Carrie Ann Thunell of the USA.
Subscription rates are $4.00 per issue/ $10.00 per year = 4 issues/Quarterly in C$ or US$.
laissezmoienpaix@coolgoose.ca
Please do not send your submissions inline in the body of your e-mail. We will contact you only in the event any of your sonnets are accepted for publication.
Richard Vallance,
Editor, SONNETTO POESIA ISSN 1705-4524
dmoz open directory
Listed in The Poet's Market 2006 (August 2005)
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.
[Click the banner to learn more about this award.] Q U I C K I E S - an e-book of erotic/humorous stories for women
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!
Visit Crystal Rose's Place
Val Magnuson Galactic Poet Award
An exciting new anthology, by Kedco Studios Artist Profile Press,
THE PERILS OF NORRIS, #64 - The Absinth Fairy comes back to claim Norris for his next wish.....
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...
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)
Displacement
© Richard James van der Draaij
She dreamt of gothic castles,
Moonlit rivers, frozen over with Nordic smiles,
Little creatures stirring in her midnight garden,
Oceans crossed in pirate vessels,
Ancient banners flying from fortress walls,
Marbled halls and Moorish palaces,
Sipping Tokajer with Turkish princes,
A road that winds and twists and turns,
A fire that warms but never burns,
Being a barmaid in old Shanghai town,
Wearing a gold-blue Egyptian crown,
Woods that echo the soul's displacement,
Horses, black as sin and steaming,
Meadows filled with ravens warning,
Swords raised in righteous causes,
Long lost love returned.
She dreamt all this and more besides,
Before the dawn where life resides,
Ready to take hold
Of all that had seemed true and bold.
She dresses for work and leaves the house,
An ancient broche beneath her clothes.
From: Love's Own Treasure
The Sunset Poets
© Richard James van der Draaij
They gathered on top of the lonely hill,
At the closing of the day.
There they would address the muse until
They felt they could no longer stay.
There was Michael from Margate;
Who spoke only in rhyme.
And Jenny from Gillingham
Obsessed by her fate.
There was Harry from Harwich,
Who dreaded the night.
He wrote long lines to capture
What remained of the light.
And Dawn was always
The last one to go.
She wrote little haiku
She never would show.
They looked at the moon,
And longed for so much.
They knew that too soon
They would part, and that such-
-nights of pure passion
Could never return.
But celestial lines,
In the skies yet would burn.
They wrote verse about pleasure
And stirrings inside.
Would scan them at leisure,
Then they all would hide
Until the sun would set again.
From: Love's Own Treasure
Kiss
© Richard James van der Draaij
Sweetest bliss unfathomably deep within
Reaching out past starlit cobalt skies, beyond
Moons serenaded through countless aeons.
Emotion exploding in agonizing tranquil anticipation,
Breathlessly the heart skips several beats, then
Carries on mindfully, not regardless,
Re-invigorated; all things seemingly new,
As bright as the new-born sun
On that first fresh day of days.
A music of boundless love descends
On soul partners re-united in a true quest
For happiness ever after. Later, everyday cares
May rear their weary noisy heads, but for now:
Sweet embraces and songs of love,
Life and giving in to immaterial fortune shared.
From: Love's Own Treasure
Love's Own Treasure
By Richard James van der Draaij
Review by Sara L. Russell, Editor
JIM DUNLAP
(Rhyme Master)
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.Golden Days In A Golden Life *
© Jim Dunlap
He lives upon a printed page,
marching, golden, through a dream.
His words described a brighter age --
which quaffed the milk and lapped the cream.
Fate bore him forth to love and live,
scion of a proud and noble race.
All he sacrificed, and all he'd give,
was deeply marked upon his face.
No gold survives the final frost;
and in his prime, death carried him away.
In wars, a nation's best are lost --
still, as then, it happens yet today.
His home was England, vale and hill,
Across the years, he's with us still.
* Written about Rupert Brooke, one of the England's premier poets of all time
The Secret Is To Live, Not Just to Exist
© Jim Dunlap
Be ready for life's every turn and twist --
Determine every possible aspect...
The secret is to live, not just exist.
Observe the things you can and can't resist.
Act only if you know that act's effect.
Be ready for life's every turn and twist.
Plan your time and even make a list;
Evaluate all choices you detect...
The secret is to live, not just exist.
You will decide of what your needs consist,
And mostly live the life that you select.
Be ready for life's every turn and twist.
Success will surely come, if you persist.
Set your goals, and all dead ends reject;
The secret is to live, not just exist.
So...when it comes, give luck a strong assist.
Be honest, friendly, candid, and direct.
Be ready for life's every turn and twist;
The secret is to live, not just exist.
The Spark of Passion's Candle Wick
© Jim Dunlap
A fiery spark was born with our first glance.
We'd never even said our first hello --
But mesmerized, I waited in a trance.
You pranced and strutted, almost in a dance;
My blood pulsed in a sultry ebb and flow --
A fiery spark was born with our first glance.
I'd barely known the meaning of romance:
Time metamorphosing from fast to slow,
As mesmerized, I waited in a trance.
Caught in a clinging web of circumstance,
I was trapped by some vast undertow --
A fiery spark was born with our first glance.
Loveshivery, which no drug could enhance,
It seemed that it was time to start the show ...
And mesmerized, I waited in a trance.
In suspense, I stood to meet your slow advance,
Like you'd planned some suave scenario --
A fiery spark was born with our first glance;
And -- mesmerized -- I waited, in a trance.
Feast of Gladness
© Ryfkah
Rain slashes at the pane
a harvest moon closets within clouds
and citron scents of ancient days
the desert trek of my people
Our backyard succah sits barren
drip drop drip drop drip
I wait for the fire cloud to shepherd my way
Fruits hang from palm fronds
like puppets on a string
I crave to bite an apple
taste its knowledge
but the rain cloisters me
a venerable righteous one
who feasts on carob and locust
in his cave of regret
of hope
peace
There being a time for everything
I sing a psalm to the heavens
Adonai Adonai I make my noise
unto the Holy One
The bare booth beyond fills
with moonlight
The Fall
© Ryfkah
Like the alto sax's blow
or the new moon's bent bone
she broods An uncut apple
in her hand glints crimson
under coupled candles' blaze
Summer finally eschews its luster
Honey lingers for apple slices
to plunge like skinny dipping children
A new year arrives with the shofar's timbre
Golden leaves coast Mums flash
ocher and rust as daylight diminishes
Autumn roars its fierce battle dirge
She solicits forgiveness
from fellow humans
herself G-d
The apple she offers
After all knowledge is found
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.
AVAILABLE NOW - Sara Russell's new e-book on CD ROM: WORLDS INSIDE THE HEAD 
OUT NOW - CANADIAN SPIRIT VOICES
by Richard Vallance...
An amazing new e-book
published by Kedco Studios Inc.
SONNETTO POESIA ISSN 1705-4524 (Canada) Vol. 4. no. 2 spring 2005 is going to print. 
Poetry Life & Times won The Prix Poesie's laissez-faire Grand Prize in 2002
- thanks Richard!
by Sara L. Russell and Patricia diMiere. Published by
Kedco Studios Artist Profile Press - ISBN 1-878431-42-0, $12.50
Original, funky and naughty, with twists and surprises!
editors in Canada, the U.S.A. and the U.K. at:
Rencontrez nos amis poétiques!
de la poésie, qui demeurent au Canada, aux États-unis
ou au
Royaume-uni ?
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.
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