October 2002Café Society's Poetry News Update
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An Interview With

SONDRA BALL

Editor of Autumn Leaves



SONDRA BALL'S BIO


Sondra told me, of her background:

"I never give the year of my birth - and maybe, if I'm lucky, no one will record my death date in my last biography - and then both will be a mystery.

I spent my childhood in extreme poverty, living in one room tar papered shacks, in small trailers, in cars, on the ground - often following crops with other migrant workers. But I trash picked books from trash cans - read everything I could find - and eventually went to university on an academic scholarship, where I got a BA in anthropology and in sociology.

I earn my living as a ghost writer and a freelance editor - mostly in medical and veterinarian fields - although I also ghosted a theosophical book once. I have two children: one living teen aged son and one daughter who died in kindergarten. I also have two almost daughters, whose lives I have been very involved with since they were children, and whom I love as if they were my own children. And I have a wonderful husband, who has been very supportive of me in all my endeavors."

LATEST ISSUE OF AUTUMN LEAVES


THE INTERVIEW


Poetry L & T:How and why did you first start writing poetry, Sondra?

Sondra: When I was seven. I actually remember it very clearly. I had taken "A Child's Garden of Verses" by Stevenson up into an apple tree to read. I loved his poetry. I thought, "Wow! I could do this!" I then went and found a piece of paper from my older sister's school work -- and wrote a poem. I don't remember what the poem was about anymore. It was probably pretty awful. Aftr all, I was only seven. But I was convinced it was every bit as good as the poems Stevenson wrote.

Poetry L & T:Funny you should say that Sondra... that book was part of my childhood too, and I loved it! To my next question... Who are your favourite poets?

Sondra:Among the dead poets: probably Wordsworth, although I am also very fond of Yeats and of Blake. And of course some of Shakespeare's sonnets are pretty irresistible. Among modern poets: well, some of the poets I publish regularly rank really high up there, but I'm hesitant to name which ones. I don't want any jealousy or anything. Outside of those, I am very fond of Sherman Alexie and Joy Harjo.

Poetry L & T: How did your ezine "Autumn Leaves" first come into existence?

Sondra:A little over six years ago, my husband and I were sitting around talking about what we could do with our newly formed web site. He said, "You ought to publish a journal that would seek first to show the poetic works of Native Americans." In the first issue, it should be yours - just to get it started - and then you should start looking for Native authors to submit to it." I said, "Sounds great!" and I did it.

Poetry L & T: What is your criteria for poetry good enough to befeatured in Autumn Leaves?

Sondra:Well - the number one criteria is that I have to like it. I don't care how technically good a poem is - and what sort of rep the poet has. If I don't like it, it doesn't get published. And it's really hard to say for sure what makes me like a poem. I have published all sorts of poems here: tankas, wakas, senyrus, and haiku in the haiku section, of course - but also free form and blank verse and sonnets and cinquains and paragraph poems in the adult guest sections. I don't rule out any one type of poem. I do try to keep about half or more of my poems from native Americans (American Indians, Eskimos, native Hawaiians), so if I run out of time and space, preference goes to their poems. But I always publish a lot of poems by other writers. In a few cases, I have sensed that a writer whose poems are poorly done had a lot of potential - or had a strong message - and I have worked with them in creating their own publishable poetic style. I don't do that very often, however. And. no matter how good a poem is, if it implies that Native Americans no longer exist, or if if is a very stereotypical view of Native Americans, I will not publish it.

And, of course, I publish pretty much anything that's written by a child. Hey, one of those kid poets out there is sure to be our next Homer or Milton.

Poetry L & T: In March this year, you suffered a violent mugging incident. Do you feel better these days, and do you have any message of support, and/or poems, for others who have had a similar experience?

Sondra:Yes, I did suffer a mugging and purse snatching. I got mugged while getting out of my car in front of my house. My lip was cut all the way through - and it required a number of stitches both inside and outside my mouth to hold it together so it could heal. It was a frightening experience. I never did get the purse back - and had to go through the usual grueling process of replacing drivers' license, cards, etc. Because I have photo ID on my drivers' license, and the picture was taken the morning after the attack, I have a very strange looking picture of me on the current license - with this huge lip. Oh well - it's only for another year. One thing to remember - for those who are mugged. Life does go on - and, like so many other difficult events in life, time is your best ally and your best healer. Without any real force at all, the day came when I woke up and thought about other things besides the mugging. I also had my car stolen - with all my poems I had written since 1992 in it. Luckily, I got the car and the poems back.

Here is a poem I wrote about the theft of the poems:

My Poems Are Gone © Sondra Ball 2002 My poems are gone: torn by prying fingers with no respect for art in any form. It's only one more loss: grief following grief year after year after year. I am tired of losing: a daughter's death, a nephew's death, a mother's death. What shall I do with my sorrow? God, what have you done with your sorrow: grief following grief year after year after year through the long ages of creation. Even your son was torn by prying fingers with no respect for art in any form. But you called him back with a sudden shout, a brilliant burst of light. Today, I will write a poem.
and I also wrote the following poem,which reflects another way I find healing - with nature.
We Go to the Skies © Sondra Ball 2002 We go to the skies and we go to the streams, where the realness of earth can heal our hurt dreams. We wander in silence while stars swing above, until we recover the wonder of love.
and there's the poem I wrote last year, but is still relevant:
Walking With God (with thanks to John Greenleaf Whittier for the first two lines) © Sondra Ball 2001 I know not what the future holds of marvel and surprise; how many seas my ship may sail beneath amazing skies; how high a mountain I may climb to see my last sunrise; But this I know: through death, through life, the Lord walks by my side. And if I walk a lonely road with stones that cut my feet; if suns burn too hot on flesh, and mountain sides prove steep; if grief and pain press in on me, so all I do is weep; still this I know: through death, through life, the Lord will walk with me. So when I pause at end of night to watch my last sunrise; when I no longer sail the seas beneath bright starry skies; I trust that death will bring to me much marvel and surprise; for this I know: through death, through life, God walks in love with me.

Poetry L & T:Do you feel that writing poetry can be therapeutic in times of sorrow, or at least that it can raise awareness of injustice in the world?

Sondra:Definitely. I think it fits both categories - although I find that I actually do not tend to write right away after a traumatic experience. I think, for me, as for Wordsworth, poetry tends to be "emotion recollected in tranquillity" - and I tend to write my most powerful pieces after a bit of healing has happened.

Poetry L & T:I like the design of the Autumn Leaves website. Do you set all the pages up yourself, for each issue?

Sondra: Actually, I don't set the pages up at all. My husband, Mario Cavallini, who earns his living as an information architect, takes care of that end of it. I know that he has a master plan of some sort that he works with - and that he does do the HTML for each page that gets set up.

Poetry L & T:Is there anything that annoys you in modern poetry on the internet?

Sondra:There are two things about modern poetry that annoy me a lot - and they are actually at opposite ends from one another. I have little patience with "poet's poets", people who write in such a way that the only people who can really enjoy them are other poets. I believe poetry ought to be enjoyed by the masses. I guess I feel about poetry the same way Twain did about prose when he said, "If you can't say it so an eight year old can understand it, it ain't worth saying." I wouldn't go quite as low as eight - but I don't think one ought to have read Milton before reading a poem either.

On the other end, many people who don't read poetry write rough poems about their neuroses and angers, poems they don't bother to edit and rewrite. These poems are probably good therapy - but they are usually not good poetry. Sometimes these folks send me poems, and, when I reject them and explain why and suggest they read some poet or other who has dealt with a similar subject, they often reply with, "I don't read poetry. I don't like it. I only write it." But of course what they are writing isn't really poetry.

Poetry L & T:What do you find is the most satisfying aspect of being an ezine editor?

Sondra:I've gotten to know something about the lives of some really wonderful people out there. I've shared in some of their joys and sorrows - not always through the poetry they send either. Sometimes I get e-mail updating me on a birth or a death or a prize won in a poetry contest somewhere. I think it's the people who have made it most worthwhile.

Poetry L & T:When you write a poem, does it come to you as a complete idea, or do you prefer to revise it several times?

Sondra:Both. Once in a great while, I have had a short poem come in complete form. Probably my unconscience had already edited it. Usually, though, I put the first draft aside for a week or two and then come back to it and re-work it. Sometimes I re-work it several times before I am happy with it. Sometimes, I start out intending to write a specific type of poem (a sonnet perhaps) and move from type to idea. Other times, I start with the idea - and move from there to style of poem.

Poetry L & T:What do you think poets can teach the world, through their work?

Sondra:I believe the most important thing a poet gives the world is the words to express feelings and thoughts - and the knowledge that other people have also experienced birth and death, daily routine and adventure, love and hate. We are all in this world together - and the experiences we have are the common experiences of all humanity.

Poetry L & T:Finally Sondra, what advice would you give to a struggling poet who wanted to improve his or her writing?

Sondra:Read poetry - lots of it. Write poetry - lots of it. Re-write poetry. Find a person who is sympathetic to them and to poetry - and get their work criticized. Observe people and things. Be aware of the world around them. And do things. Live life fully. Feel joy and sorrow to the depths of their beings. Because poetry bubbles out from one's own experiences.

Poetry L & T:Thank you for the interview, Sondra.

Sondra:Thank you for interviewing me.


Click Here to read more poetry by Sondra Ball



EDITOR'S LETTER, OCTOBER 2002

Dear Poets,

Welcome to the October 2002 issue of Poetry Life & Times (For those of you reading this on a mirror site and not poetrylifeandtimes.com, click here).

In this issue, I was pleased to have the opportunity to interview Sondra Ball, poet and editor of Autumn Leaves, who has remained resilient and optimistic through some of the toughest experiences that life can deal out.

Featured Poets this month include Jean Hull Herman, Jim Dunlap, Lyn Lifshin*, Richard Vallance and Jan Sand. *See also announcement about a new book by Lyn Lifshin.

For the October 2002 Vallance Review, Richard Vallance has reviewed Andrew Belsey's sonnet, "Lost Love".

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. Further submission guidelines are available on request, or click the submissions link on our main page.

Best Regards,

                  




Click title below for this month's Vallance Review feature

Richard Vallance reviews sonnets, both classic and modern.





Featured Poets this month include Jean Hull Herman, Jim Dunlap, Lyn Lifshin, Richard Vallance and Jan Sand. Many thanks to all contributors.


click cover to visit

JEAN HULL HERMAN

Of her poetry, Jean says:
"I am a poet – a writer in general, but a poet foremost . My first paid appearance was in 1993. I developed a strong career in Michigan as a poet/performer. As of 1997, I have appeared at the Delaware Art Museum's Program Literature After Hours in April, 2002; at the last two April Poetry Celebrations centered at the Opera House (as artist and panelist); twice at Aldersgate Church, including 2001 Christmas (with Evelyn Swensson) for a nice remuneration each time; and, in May, 2002, for the American Association of University Women. I have greatly enjoyed participating in the Young Authors Workshops. I also make Delaware and Pennsylvania appearances if the event advanced the cause of poetry and literature. The National Association of Pen Women, AAUW, and the Delaware Press Association. Nominated me for the position of Poet Laureate of Delaware in 2001. I framed the letters. I have won state and several national awards since I began publishing again. My work has frequently appeared in small press magazines and on Internet e-zines.

Editor of MÖBIUS, The Poetry Magazine, since 1989, I'm celebrating my 15th consecutive year in that post. The magazine has been in print for twenty years. This is a remarkable achievement. I am recognized as an expert in my field. (Poets Market, 1994.) We are proudly bringing out the second 20th Anniversary Issue in November, 2002. (The magazine comes out twice a year.) We've published poetry not only from all 50 states, but also from all seven continents. Incorporated in Delaware in 1997 by me as a non-profit organization, MÖBIUS originated in Michigan in 1982.

I've taught Reading and Composition courses at Delaware Technical and Community College (Wilmington campus) since 1999. I can use poetry as I teach, and the students like it. Teaching has always been the heart of my various job positions, no matter what work in which career at what location. Starving For The Marvelous, my first book, will be brought out by ZeBooks in November, 2002. My poetry touches on art, language and literature, technology and science, ethnic experiences, global issues, United States and world history, comparative religions, and – of course – the lives of women. And humor! I am a humorist, as well as an intensely serious writer. "

I'M A RED CAR GIRL
© Jean Hull Herman



I'm a red car girl.
Say it purring, say it husky,
Give me that attitude:
I'm a Red Car Girl.
And when I say I'm a Red Car Girl,
I mean my car is red, not yours.
I mean Valentine's Day red,
Star-and-Stripes Red,
Lipstick red,
Devil's red,
Purple Haze Red.

I'm a Red Car Girl
Although I didn't know it
Until I turned 50, and said to my husband,
"I want a red car for my birthday.
Guys always get a red car when they turn fifty;
You did; so, I want a red car when I turn fifty."
And he produced a red Cadillac El Dorado
That had the best sound system God detailed,
Fine white leather, chrome, burnished appointments, And eight cylinders in its souped-up North Star engine.
I became a Red Car Girl on the spot.

That car outran anything on the interstates.
When I turned on my ignition,
Police in three counties got ready.
Guys would eye me
Lustfully, but also with respect
If they could compute the cost
Of the Red Car Girl.
At the red light, we’d gun our motors,
And I could beat anything in town on green.
Bring on your GTOs, your Porsches, Jaguars,
Your little red Corvettes.
I sneer at baby Beamers and super-sized vanities,
Infinities of unnamable coupes and convertibles.

Of course, I had to get out of town a time or two
Or just lay low and crawl under cover of night
Because of my fine red car.
But I'm a Red Car Girl.
Check me out.
Anytime.


THERE'S NO REDEMPTION FROM PITCH
© Jean Hull Herman



There's no redemption from pitch.
Sometimes in the sunlight there's a sheen to it,
a tempting shine in its darkness,
and it seems yielding, aqueous.

The iridescence calls to your eyes –
it’s damnably attractive, this stuff.
Lies there in its patch, preening.

You touch it – ignore the warning signs –
reaching out across the barrier space,
fingers happily anticipating warm smoothness,
wanting to share the touch of the embedded color,
the age-old charm of oil.

No one can tell you.

No one can pull you apart from the pitch,
fingers stuck to the darkness
that went from enticing to something else.

Published in The News Journal April 10, 2001, as part of an article by Theresa Media (DE Press Association) on poetry and poets in Delaware. It won several prizes.


HOW HE BROKE MY HEART
© Jean Hull Herman



He'd been gone for a couple of weeks,
Nothing unusual,
So I left messages for him every few days,
Nothing unusual,
Until tonight.
I turned up my road and, suddenly,
There was the moon.
I knew it was the moon
Only because the dashboard clock
Confirmed this ornate sphere sovereign of the night.
With each second the embossed orb
Hastened further upward,
Pulling itself free from the land-fast road,
Earth's amorous tree trunks.
It seemed the spring-bare tree branches
Clung to the rondure,
Reluctant to let such splendor pass,
Wanting it to nourish them,
Perhaps embolden them to put forth splendid buds.
Ballooning from red to copper to gold,
Its magnificence shook my breath and my heart.
I quickly pulled over –
My apprehension and my action simultaneous –
To call him, to leave a message
About the grandeur in the night sky.
He answered the phone himself,
Taking me quite by surprise.
"The moon," I said, "the moon is so glorious
That it makes me want to weep in awe.
I thought of you, missed you,
Wanted to share my heart with you.
So I called."
And he said, "Who is this?"


STAY WITH ME, BABY
© Jean Hull Herman



At the Bette Midler concert,
that dazzling woman clawed my composure,
wrenched my careful memories askew
as she burnt her way through the song
Stay With Me Baby.
Not that I could acknowledge the pain
right there -- nope, had to stand still,
silent, next to my date of the moment
rather than next to the man her song invoked,
unexpectedly caught in the wrong place.
I thought enough time had passed.
I always think enough time has passed,
that I won't cry anymore
when surprised by a particular sequence
of notes, chords, words.

All night, I kept waking, dizzied by that refrain,
howling those words in the frenzied dreams
of my present cozy bedroom.
Stay with me, baby,
remembering Bette, Grief defiant,
glamorous in a silver gown,
red hair swept high into elegance,
diamonds spotlighted to the balcony,
and my sudden rememberings camouflaged
by their bright reflections.

Where had I been
when I sang stay with me, baby,
for my audience?
Running down the driveway?
Screaming from the doorway?
Kneeling on the living room carpet?
Lying on the bed?
Curled into the telephone?
What's the best position
for begging and demanding
at the same time?

What are the magic words
-- are there any words so potent
that, when heard, could compel him to stay?
Please, please, stay with me, baby,
just for a little while,
oh, just for a little longer.
Stay until the scene is over,
the fear abated for the moment,
the quickened grief and terror eased,
the wreckage of my eyes drowsing....
Stay until you think that maybe this time
you can run fast enough.


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, is usually on Poetry Down Under 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.

Jim's website, which included a lot of favorite poems by other writers, as well as his own work, is sadly now defunct, as Netscape discontinued their wonderful sites.netscape and now have a new site which is basically worthless for all practical purposes.

His work appears online at:
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.

OCTOBER
© Jim Dunlap

When the frigid fingers of Jack Frost Flash out to shrivel the cringing leaves ... Swaying branches drip tears of scarlet, yellow, And flaming orange ... Weeping forests wail silently with swaths of cascading foliage, Piling swiftly to mounds of disintegrating debris -- Shuffling and whispering in gusting eddies of wind. Sometimes, like the ghost of summer-past Returning to the scene of its poignant demise, 'Indian Summer' unfurls in soft, peaceful days And warm, caressing breezes. Then autumn rushes back To reclaim its intrinsic birthright... Handmaiden to the coming Ice King. A PICKLED HERO © Jim Dunlap
Custom on many British ships Was to serve a daily cup of grog -- Many a Captain and Admiral too Became a pickled, old sea dog. At Trafalgar, his hour of triumph, Horatio, Lord Nelson's death Brought consternation and pain. His supporters collectively held their breath Till a way was found to bring him home. Hard-drinking Britons labelled it dandy: Pickled like no Officer, then or since, They shipped him in a keg of brandy. A PHOENIX FROM THE ASHES © Jim Dunlap
William Lyon McKenzie King Was Canada's Prime Minister three times - His belief in the supernatural led him to follow a fortune teller's bold paradigms. Told in 1930 to call an election From which he'd emerge stronger than ever - Richard B. Bennett's electoral success Flowed over him like a raging river. But the fortune teller was proven right - He avoided the blame for the "Great Depression". In 1935 he thundered back To reclaim the office with fierce elation. It could be wise to heed the voice A clairvoyant fortune teller hears - King's Liberal Party kept him in office For thirteen long and auspicious years. HERE BE MONSTERS © Jim Dunlap
Here be monsters - emblazoned on the best 15th Century maps, those words marked off the unknown in a singular fashion. Now they can be writ large over all countries, all continents save one, to the four corners of the Earth. Some crawl through windows and steal, rape and kill young girls ... Some strap bombs to their chests and kill innocent civilians in a war that exists only in their own demented and diseased minds. Many pervert and twist religions to give them an excuse to murder anyone who disagrees with them. Many more pervert and twist religions to give them an excuse to pervert and twist the laws of their lands so they can control how others think ... or destroy them if it doesn't work ... Some steal elections, and some manipulate the markets to make themselves and their friends rich while impoverishing everyone else. Here be monsters. Look for them in high places ... and in low. Never forget what they are, because they will never forget what you are ... and destroy you if they can. Remember. Here be monsters.

LYN LIFSHIN

Lyn Lifshin has written more than 100 books and edited 4 anthologies of women writers. Her poems have appeared in most poetry and literary magazines in the U.S.A., and her work has been included in virtually every major anthology of recent writing by women. She has given more than 700 readings across the U.S.A. and has appeared at Dartmouth and Skidmore colleges, Cornell University, the Shakespeare Library, Whitney Museum, and Huntington Library. Lyn Lifshin has also taught poetry and prose writing for many years at universities, colleges and high schools, and has been Poet in Residence at the University of Rochester, Antioch, and Colorado Mountain College.

Winner of numerous awards including the Jack Kerouac Award for her book Kiss The Skin Off, Lyn is the subject of the documentary film Lyn Lifshin: Not Made of Glass.

For her absolute dedication to the small presses which first published her, and for managing to survive on her own apart from any major publishing house or academic institution, Lifshin has earned the distinction "Queen of the Small Presses." She has been praised by Robert Frost, Ken Kesey and Richard Eberhart, and Ed Sanders has seen her as "a modern Emily Dickinson."

AT THE POND EARLY
© Lyn Lifshin
(from the book "Before It's Light")

night grass steams. Mourning doves in the fog, a few feathers on the lawn though no geese for two days, Only the heron like a slate candle, a drift wood stick and my 19 year old cat, a cloth mouse in her jaws muffling a shriek, cuts the sleeve of quiet MY MOTHER'S ADDRESS BOOK © Lyn Lifshin (From the book "Cold Comfort")
With rubber bands flecked with powder, slack as the face of a child who won't eat. Almost half the names crossed out with a line, Buzzy, darkened over with a pencil, as if there was a rush like some one throwing a dead relative's shoes and wool dresses toward the Salvation Army baskets, someone catching a train, breathlessly, the graphite black as shining freight THINGS A WOMAN UNDER GLASS DOESN'T GET © Lyn Lifshin (From the book "Not Made of Glass")
not much winburn no warm fingers on her back no scabies no cat scratches on her chin she doesn't have to take the pill if the glass is thick enough she won't hear people yelling or if she does it sounds years a way and under water a woman under glass won't be eaten won't need to douche have her belly stretched by babies she won't feel july in her hair smell lilacs when it's raining: she's like a bug in amber ON THE WAY TO THE GAS © Lyn Lifshin (From the book "Blue Tattoo")
The woman is naked, her damp hair in strings. The SS officer leers Don't you dance? and orders her to dance for him. She does, and as she dances moves closer to him, grabs his gun and shoots him. Although she too is quickly shot, she dies dancing -- a dancer, not a number without a name. See announcements section for news of a new book by Lyn Lifshin (Click shortcut link above to go down the page)
                     

Click here for October 2002 Featured Poets page 2 --> link for second half of featured poets....




East Grinstead Poets

East Grinstead Poets News:


Ann Margetson, winner of the competition at our East Grinstead Library Exhibition in August, has now joined East Grinstead Poets.

We look forward to hearing more of her work at the next meeting.






Poetry Life & Times is a nominating site for The Poet's Hall of Fame. Nominations are according to poetic merit and sometimes also for services to poetry in general.

Nomination from the September 2002 issue:

Janet Caldwell *

Congratulations!

* Awarded for the humour and accessibility of her poems.


*NEW* Competition from the Poets' Porch:

http://poetsporch.homestead.com/PoetryComp.html

Click logo for details...


News from Lyn Lifshin:

LOVE: LOST AND FOUND...

A Book Review by Laura Stamps

A New Film About a Woman in Love with the Dead by Lyn Lifshin, 2002.

109 pages, $20.00, ISBN 1-882983-83-1

(March Street Press, 3413 Wilshire Drive, Greensboro, NC 27408)

Almost every woman I know has had at least one heart-wrenching experience with a "bad news" boyfriend, and Lyn Lifshin is no exception. In this new collection of 103 poems she chronicles her own relationship with such a man, one who happened to be a popular radio personality, yet possessed a chilly heart. She tells her tale in a sequence of poems that reads like a novel, spanning the length of the relationship from beginning to end, including a period of time years later when she learns he has died of cancer.

Lifshin astutely compares this miserable romance to the bizarre obsession of a woman in a film. In Kiss, Baby, The New Film she writes,
"It was everything inside / where your heart must have been that was / rigid, ice. The woman in the film went to work, / an embalming assistant. Isn't that what I'm / doing? Keeping you with words? Embracing / you on the sheet of this paper, a tentative / kiss on cold lips, the cuddling of cadavers?"

Every woman who becomes involved with a man incapable of love knows in her heart that she shouldn't. The signs are always there, but she chooses to ignore them. When this man breaks a date early in their relationship, Lifshin captures that moment in It's Too Beautiful an Afternoon, Baby, to Feel: "I got undressed, / put on some blues. / It could have been / June. It could have / been lilacs dripping. / I could have seen this / as an omen."

Yet in Nostalgia, I Hate the Word we learn she is fully aware of her tendency to sabotage her better instincts: "I'm / always falling for men / with something missing: / more often it's a / heart." Like most women involved with emotionally unavailable men, Lifshin struggles with the core of her dilemma. In Though You Never Asked she tells us, "It is as if the dead / still could comfort and / soothe like with my / father, who hardly talked, / never said I was pretty. / I've used absence to / make something out / out of nothing, to make / something more lasting / than either of you / could give me."

Most women who are attracted to men with cold hearts are the daughters of emotionally or physically absent fathers. Ultimately, it is this knowledge that gives Lifshin the strength to end the relationship and move ahead with her life. In Reading About the Floods in North Dakota she compares her experience to the devastating effects of fire and flood: "I think how I / felt swamped, / as if I'd lost / everything. What / mattered seemed / buried under water. / I was as wild as / someone looking / out at the water, / the buildings on / fire no one could / get to, eerie as / Dresden in WW2. / Like those buildings, / something inside / smoldered, felt as / gutted and I think / now I was lucky / to get out."

Even though she wrestles with an emotional pattern set from childhood, she knows what she wants and needs. In I want to Swallow the Anger she writes, "Give me a man like / a safe reliable / car, one that won't / let me down, won't have / me panicked, stranded / or have to lug home / in my arms at / too great a price." Eventually, this is just the partner she finds. In Now I'm With Someone we learn: "who's really there. / He's not always / charming, harder to / do when it's not for / a few hours one / night. Or over radio / air. But he's there, / and when I once / feared he wouldn't / be it was more scary / than losing the tons / of fantasy I stock / piled about you."

Once again, Lifshin delivers a stunning collection that enchants the reader with well-written, tightly focused poems. Her work often reminds me of an abstract painting, and this book is a perfect example. An abstract painter delights in placing opposing colors and shapes in such a way that the overall composition is pleasing to the eye, and all areas of the piece are balanced with light, dark, or bright strokes of color. Words are Lifshin's paints, and she is a master at arranging them in tight, unusual ways to communicate the meaning of each poem to the reader.

Beautifully designed and hand-bound by the publisher, A New Film About a Woman in Love With the Dead is an important addition to the two volumes of collected poems published by Black Sparrow Press. This book is not only a must for seasoned fans of Lifshin's work, but also for new readers, and I highly recommend it.


Click here for Lyn's website

Vous pouvez enfin lire
le volume 1, numéro 2, de l'e-zine canadien,

Vous pouvez enfin lire le volume 1, numéro 3, de l'e-zine canadien,
SONNETTO POESIA

- celui de l’automne, 2002, chez le lien suivant :

SONNETTO POESIA

Dans ce numéro uniquement en anglais, l'écrivain en vedette est Andrew Belseyde l’Angleterre .

Vous y lirez aussi deux sonnets classiques, dont l’un est par John Keats ( 1795-1821 ) : "Written in Disgust of Vulgar Superstition", et l’autre est par le poète irlandais, Edward Dowden ( 1843-1913 ) : "In the Cathedral". Ces sonnets servent à établir l’optique historique, dans laquelle se situent les deux sonnets similaires de Monsieur Belsey, voire, "The Good" et "Antitheism." Le sujet de l’éditorial est: "The Sonnet in the Twenty-First Century".

The Autumn, 2002 issue
(Vol. 1, no. 3) of:

SONNETTO POESIA

- which features the English sonneteer, Andrew Belsey is now on the WEB here:


SONNETTO POESIA


The unilingual English Autumn issue also includes two classic sonnets by John Keats (1795-1821), "Written in Disgust of Vulgar Superstition":, and the Irish poet, Edward Dowden (1843-1913), "In the Cathedral".


These sonnets provide an historical perspective for Andrew Belsey’s two similar sonnets, namely; "The Good" and "Antitheism". The subject Editorial is, "The Sonnet in the Twenty-First Century."



click for details
"Less trouble than men, less fattening than chocolate..."

Q U I C K I E S

- a new e-book of erotic/humorous stories for women
by Sara L. Russell and Patricia diMiere. Published by
Kedco Studios Artist Profile Press - ISBN 1-878431-42-0, $12.50
Original, funky and rather naughty, with many a twist in the tales.



Poetry Life and Times is listed in Poetry Who's Who






The Poet's Porch Anthology July 2002

Dreamland             200 pages

Poets of The Poet's Porch, Guest Poets and Resident poets

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Poesie's Laissez Faire Foire Announcement

Come Meet our Poet Friends!

Check out the poetry sites of some of our friends and
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Meet my literary friends!  Rencontrez mes amis littéraires!


Val Magnuson Galactic Poet Award


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MILLENNIUM DAWN

anthology, by Kedco Studios Artist Profile Press.

An exciting collection of award-winning poetry and short stories.

Enquiries to Elaine Davis at kedco-ap@juno.com

Also - Contributors Wanted for: CRYSTAL DAWN

... A new forthcoming anthology from Kedco.

Click Here for details.


THE PERILS OF NORRIS cartoon, #27 - Norris's dream gives him a bit of a bum deal.... Reginald Rat has escaped from the cartoon completely! He could be anywhere on this page, doing anything. If you can find him, you win a prize!
Email sararuss.geo@yahoo.com and say where he is and what he is doing. First correct answer wins prizes such as Poetry Life & Times pens and notebooks, and signed copies of the entire Norris adventures on CD ROM, in either PDF or HTML pages, according to preference.

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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Mail me on: sararuss.geo@yahoo.com with poems, letters or poetry news,
by 22nd October (latest) for the November issue.



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