| September 2004 | Café Society's Poetry News Update |
| September 2004 | Café Society's Poetry News Update |
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| My name is Bradley Alexander Bucsis, and I am a 16 year old living in Lumsden Saskatchewan, Canada. I've been writing poetry for nearly six years now, and through many happy and hard times it has really been something I have always enjoyed. Though it was hardly what it could have been, and I did not have the knowledge nor the want of it as I do now, I started writing poetry in Grade 6, at 11 years of age. It started as a class project in Writers Workshop, which has always been my favorite subject. I had to write about a rather touchy topic. We were reading a book, though I cannot remember the name, and it had quite a bit to do about love and romance, how young people slowly learn that they can care so deeply about another person. Since I had no idea on what to do, I decided I would write a poem, and Falling * was the result. I can not even begin to recall all of the emotion surging through me when I wrote that poem, how life, to everyone who I had seen, seemed so empty when they did not have someone else to share it with, how everything seemed to fall away from their grasp until they could finally hold the one they knew they would spend the rest of their days with. Of course, my mind then was not nearly as mature as it is now, so the thoughts were rather childish, but had the same concept. My teacher was so taken aback that he had the poem read in front of all the teachers, they called my parents saying they were afraid I was in depression, and many other things, though I could not understand why they were so worried, it was a happy poem I thought, how love is what saves us all in the end, but they could only see the first couple of lines, not the end of it, which seems to be the case with quite a bit of my early poetry. Through the years my poetry has grown just as much as I have, evolved and matured both through style and structure. Throughout school I have had support in teachers and friends, and in most recent times, help from a new dear friend Richard Vallance, who has been a friend and mentor for over a year now. Aside from Poetry, I also write fantasy and science fiction novels, take photographs, and just enjoy nature and life itself altogether. [* The poem "Falling" can be read in Poetry In Emotion, Fall 2003.]
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Poetry L & T: How and why did you first start writing poetry, Bradley?
Bradley: Well, before, when I first started writing poetry, I had never even thought about it much, for any reason. One thing I had always associated it with though was love, and in the 6th grade we were given an assignment in Writers Workshop to do a creative response to a book we had just finished reading. Though I cannot recall the name of the book, nor the author, I remember it being about a young man and his travels into adulthood, finding out about love, so I wrote the poem "Falling" as a response. After that I never wrote poetry very much at all, in fact, not at all, but soon I found that writing words on paper was a good way to express emotion and thoughts, and my poetry started to bloom.
Poetry L & T: Who are your favourite poets?
Bradley: Before this year I had not read very much poetry aside from what was assigned to me in school, but I have started reading quite a bit of Robert Frost, who is my favorite poet by far, especially with his poem "Nothing Gold can Stay."
Poetry L & T: How did you first come to be published in Richard Vallance's poetry ezine, Poetry In Emotion?
Bradley: By chance really, I was once a part of a website called Authors Den (though now have left it due to security and comfort reasons) and Richard happened to stumble across my poetry one day. He commented on a poem, and then another, and another, and soon he contacted me, saying he wanted to publish my poetry. I was very eager to accept his offer.
Poetry L & T: You recently accepted an invitation to be an editor for the prestigious, forthcoming e-book: The New Pleiades Anthology of Poetry. Do you find this task exciting (if a little daunting at times)?
Bradley: Oh most definitely, on both accounts. I am very excited to be a part of the book, and also have been given the part of Assistant Editor with the book. Being 16, this has been quite exciting and interesting, maturing me as both a poet and a person. Through the work with the book I have been inspired to write more poetry, and try different styles. Though the work is a bit intimidating at times, it really has helped quite a lot, and I am really looking forward to the book.
Poetry L & T: I hear you write novellas and short stories on horror/fantasy themes. I would like to know more about this, especially any recent projects...
Bradley: I am currently working on several stories. Will they be short or long, not even I have any idea, but I do know that they are just as important to me as my poetry. There are two main stories I am working on right now, one being "Without a Heartbeat," which is based on Michael du Coudray, and his trials through being a vampire, and the other is "Wolven," a story of Werewolves in a native-American type setting, with different tribes and beliefs. Both are very exciting, and after I am finished with other things, will be worked on more often.
Poetry L & T: What fascinates you, in particular, about the genre of horror? Is it perhaps the challenge of effectively scaring the reader?
Bradley: Not at all. Though my books usually hold darker themes, Vampires and Werewolves in particular, what I really focus on is the adventure and romance through the book. The horror and drama is really a contrast, and really could be referred to as fantasy more than horror, giving excitement and body to the story, and really making the story itself.
Poetry L & T: Do horror themes sometimes find their way into your poems?
Bradley: Yes, though with a different reason. My poems sometimes hold a darker more depressing nature to them, and this is due to the feelings I had while writing it. However, my poems usually hold quite a bit of hope and light, even through that darkness, quite a bit like my views of my life in general. Not that it is very dark with light somewhere out there, but that through any problem or conflict there is light to help guide you through it.
Poetry L & T: Your poem "Soaring" has a wistful, dreamlike evocation of flight. How did the idea for this poem happen?
Bradley: I have always found myself as a voyager within my own thoughts, and it
has always been a dream of mine to grow wings and fly, even as a child. This
poem has quite a bit to do with hopes, dreams, and religion, and so I
incorporated that dream into it, and used that to express my thoughts. Though
hopes and dreams are a comfort in even the darkest times, I know that I must
never lose sight of reality. This poem expresses that.
Poetry L & T: I have enjoyed reading your poems, especially the haiku. Do you find haiku an easy form, or hard sometimes, due to its strict economy of words?
Bradley: Haiku is very fun, and quite difficult as well. Though I love to write it, I have a way of needing to use words and expressions to show imagery, which usually takes far more words than those allowed within the style. Haiku, however, has been easy at other times, where I am in the midst of nature and there are no words but the few in your breath as you gasp in awe at the sheer beauty.
Poetry L & T: How has the internet helped you, as a poet and fiction writer?
Bradley: Very much, I am currently part of a group, The New Pleiades, which is a group over the internet. The people there have helped me more than they know, both with my poetry, and also other things. If I didn’t have the internet, I never would have met Richard Vallance, or achieved the things I have done.
Poetry L & T: Do you have a favourite place, for example a Canadian nature spot, or a café, where you go to write poetry?
Bradley: At one time I had a tree I used to sit in... I would go there nearly every day, whether it was to write, or just sit and think. That tree was there through many things, and held every one of my memories, good and bad. One day the city cut that tree down, because it "had the potential to damage powerlines in a couple years." And after a span of a couple months the tree was removed entirely, now not even a stump remains. The tree's memory is within my poem "How the Mighty have Fallen," which I wrote against the stump of that tree. Now I just walk, and when I am in need to write I sit in the park that the tree used to be in.
Poetry L & T: Finally, Bradley, what are your ambitions for the future?
Bradley: Though I am in love with poetry, it has never been what I have viewed
myself with in the future. Though I most definitely will always write it, I am
actually trying to become a child and youth counselor in the future. Perhaps I
will make my writing a side job as well, but I never have wanted to do it for
money, it has always been a hobby for me. Also, in the future, I plan to visit
many different places, places I have always found to be remarkably beautiful.
This, of course, will not happen all at once, I just want to do it through the
span of my lifetime.
Poetry L & T: Thank you for the interview, Bradley.
Bradley: You are very welcome, this has been a pleasure.
 | 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 September 2004 issue of Poetry Life & Times (For those of you reading this on a mirror site and not poetrylifeandtimes.com, click here).
This month's interview features Bradley Alexander Bucsis, a young poet from Lumsden Saskatchewan, Canada, who recently became a co-editor of the prestigious, forthcoming e-book: The New Pleiades Anthology of Poetry.
Featured Poets this month include Gail White, Richard H. Williams,
Pat Paulk, Richard Vallance and Jan Sand.
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In the Vallance Review for September 2004, Richard's Review No. 37 features Samuel Taylor Coleridge, AD LYRAM (1796), after Casimir's AD LYRAM (1646): The Art of Translating Poetry.
Fans of The Perils of Norris cartoon: now you can buy Norris merchandise for home and office, including a stylish wall clock, plus a new poets' journal with Norris on the cover and ruled pages inside for your notes and poems... Click here to visit the store, which is located at CafePress.com. More goodies will be added as soon as we design them! You can also buy merchandise with our Poetry Life & Times logo.
My own poetry can be found mainly on AuthorsDen, these days. The links in the left-hand column of my pages include books and articles as well as poetry. Some of the articles give advice on making chapbooks, or finding publishers - and there is even an item on ghosts.
My latest e-book: Worlds Inside The Head, is now available, featuring animated html 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. The animation shows images from the CD.
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 Gail White, Richard H. Williams,
Pat Paulk, Richard Vallance and Jan Sand. Many thanks to all contributors.
Click title below for this month's Vallance Review feature
GAIL WHITE
Gail White's personal web page is:
Her poems can be found on-line at these sites:
Her first (& still only) full-length book is
"The Priceof Everything" from Mellen Poetry Press.
She is currently working on
her second book.
Gail has also edited the 4-poet anthology "Landscapes With
Women", and co-edited "The Muse Strikes Back,"
pictured at the top of this column.
RICHARD H. WILLIAMS
PAT PAULK
Pat Paulk was born and raised in Brunswick, GA, sixty miles south of Savannah, on the coast. Whether it was the ocean breezes or the really good looking girls in the creative writing club in high school remains to be proven, but began his writing in 1968. Two marriages, work, and child rearing provided reason for a 30-year hiatus. However, with grown children, and two successfully failed marriages behind him, it was time to write. Pat has been published in Poetic Voices; The Sidewalk's End; BBC Southwest Wales; Makata; Kookamonga Square; The Artistic Forum, Skyline Magazine, Poetism, Above Ground Testing and True Poet Magazine. He currently resides in Lawrenceville, GA. with his fiancé and their family of barking fur and hissing claws.
http://home.earthlinknet/~whiteag/
www.poemtree.com
www.thehypertexts.com
n2hos.com/acm/index.htmlEMILY DICKINSON ON A GUGGENHEIM
© Gail White
Dearest Lavinia: Venice is unexpected.
All day I walk on water, like Peter.
I step from a boat into a pearl
from which some idle god has carved a church.
He has a string of such beads,
like soap bubbles rising from a dishpan.
You would have cats enough, sister
if you were here! They clutter the doorways
and are over-supplied with kittens.
At night I stand in an archway
and look at St. Mark’s – don’t think
I sit in a bright-lighted restaurant, pretending
I’m one of the gentry, O no!
I’m a strange wayside gypsy still,
and silent as marble column,
I almost walk invisible.
But as for poems—
I think poems live like pigeons,
thriving on a lean diet. Feed them
too much, and they no longer fly,
just bow and chuckle to each other.
My mind is over-fed here. Adam
and Eve and the 12 Apostles
shine here in white and gold,
and yet I think
I have more to say to a hummingbird,
and more love for the river-pink.
HER GHOST
© Gail White
I’m here beside you, but it’s not the same.
I’m out of time, although I’m still in space.
If only you would call me by my name,
I’d step out like a portrait from its frame
And we could look each other in the face.
I’m here beside you, but it’s not the same
As when I was alive. We’ve lost the game
That lovers play while they can still embrace.
If only you would call me by my name,
I could respond. My dear, I’m not to blame
If you keep looking in an empty place.
I’m here beside you, but it’s not the same
For you, I know. There’s nothing to inflame
Your love in me, nothing to spark the chase.
If only you would call me by my name –
But it’s too late. I’m sorry that I came.
I didn’t know death was so commonplace.
I’m here beside you, but it’s not the same.
If only you would call me by my name.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
© Gail White
I disliked children, even as a child –
those vexing, nattering, excluding things.
Animals, on the other hand, were mild
and tractable. I loved the tapered wings
of birds, the softness of the household cat,
the slender flanks and melting eyes of deer.
Animals need our tenderness. And that
is why imprisonment is pleasant here,
where the rough beast attends my every need
and only asks to see me twice a day.
I brush his coat and warm his bed and feed
him chocolate drops, and I’m content to stay.
He’s kindly natured, though his face is grim.
He won’t risk children who might look like him.
DIALOGUE AT A WEDDING
© Gail White
“Who would have thought she’d pick a younger man?”
“And foreign! Did they meet in Sicily?”
“In Rome. A tourist guide, I understand.”
“Italian men – they could excite a tree.”
“Well, he’s good-looking, I’ll say that for him.”
“Handsome enough, but not a patch on Jim.”
“He only wants her money.” “Is that news?
He’ll be unfaithful in his wedding shoes.”
But while they filtered her through many minds,
Not one had mastered the essential fact:
A heart in freezing weather, like a cat,
Will make a nest of anything it finds.
CORTEZ
© Richard H. Williams
Long, long, long ago,
When Cortez conquered Mexico,
He knew that Montezuma and his men a white God feared,
And he knew that the God had a long shaggy beard.
He too had a beard and was a white man,
Thus when he came on horseback all the frightened Aztecs ran.
LINES ON A SIDEWALK
© Richard H. Williams
Johnny walked alongside his father and, as always, he carefully avoided stepping
on the lines. He hopped and skipped, but always in such a way that his little feet landed
on the unlined portions of the sidewalk.
Johnny's father was trying to read a newspaper as he walked and he was initially
unaware of his son's irregular gait. The newspaper told of the terrible atomic bomb
and of the imminence of an atomic war.
Johnny was not fully aware of such things. He did not know of the consequences of
an atomic war, but he did know that if he stepped on one of the lines something unthink-
ably horrible would happen.
Johnny's father became aware of the hopping and skipping. Growing curious about
his son's unusual behavior, he asked Johnny about it and the boy told his father that he
dared not step on any of the lines.
Johnny knew he shouldn't step on the lines, but his father had given him an order.
As his feet touched a line, a deafening roar split the air and a mushroom shaped cloud
was all that remained.
A DOZEN HAIKU POEMS
© Richard H. Williams
I.
The splash of the waves
the graininess of the sand
sun shining brightly.
II.
October's color
changing of the leaves' colors
soon to be dying.
III.
The season's first snow
covering my car's windshield
driving is chancy.
IV.
Wind through the green leaves
clouds swiftly moving on by
followed by the rain.
V.
Up on the mountain
the long climb was difficult
but the air is cool.
VI.
Sex with my lover
all is pleasant and joyful
hope it never ends.
VII.
The storm's fearful crash
both the thunder and lightning
glad when it's over
VIII.
New Year's Eve is here
celebration is rampant
will New Year change us?
IX.
The woman's long legs
her sweet ass and luscious breast
will she be for me?
X.
Barry Bond's home run
on its way to Frisco Bay
crowd stands up and cheers.
XI.
A Cape Cod summer
Miami Beach in winter
A nice quiniela.
XII.
New England and spring
so pleasant a place to be
but winter is bad
Laughing Ghosts
© Pat Paulk
Weathered-gray,
semi-petrified slats,
frame the dark holes
that once beamed
with light and life.
The porch shattered
with broken teeth
and languid tongue,
is void of speech,
but not of sound.
Ghost’s laughter
echoing in the trees,
shading the wrinkled hat
sitting cocked to one side,
once sat square
and kept the rain outside.
I clicked my heels
down the hollow of your throat
looking for evidence
of the home you’d made.
With everything torn and scattered,
and holes set to trap,
I decided to leave, and
let the ghosts have you back.
(previously published in The Sidewalk's End)
Daily Special
© Pat Paulk
Your eyes tell no secrets,
and your words are carefully picked,
like spices in a concocted recipe,
zesty ingredients to flavor for taste.
The language sounds familiar,
but unrecognizable as intimate speech.
I wonder if I’m a menu selection,
a daily special, one day a week.
(previously published in Poetic Voices)
Old Spray Paint Cans
© Pat Paulk
Dinner consisted of grilled red snapper
daubed with a succulent, lemon-butter sauce,
conversations about old high school classmates,
golf, and how tangy the balsamic vinaigrette tasted.
The tables hosted a menagerie of customers
from the older more established guests,
to bands of Brooks Brothers
tickling their tongues with Bombay Sapphire,
and a group of lovely young ladies
that made us wish denim was on the menu.
(It was amazing after thirty five years
we still just ogled and snickered).
It was good revisiting people and places,
not forgotten,
but stored like half empty spray paint cans
to be picked up from time to time,
wiped free of cob webs and dust,
set back in place with shiny, cleaned tops,
and nozzles that’ll never get used again.
(previously published in Poetic Voices)
Dead And Getting Older
© Pat Paulk
There’s not a welcome
where steps used to be.
The sun and rain roam freely
on floors that once bustled
with a slew of hurried feet.
Shadows wash the fallen frame
with furious strokes that can’t restore.
Lugubrious eyes reflect the darkness of age,
and broken dreams
lay scattered in glassy tears.
Passers by throw disdaining looks
abhorring skeletons that defy the grave,
but in that crumpled, weathered heap,
I see an eyesore that looks like me.
Click here for September 2004 Featured Poets page 2 --> 
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Photo © by Richard Vallance, 1993 (Northern Ontario)
Canadian Spirit Voices is now available from Kedco Studios Press (Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.)... in a full multi-media CD book, consisting of poetry, prose, the essay, original MIDI music and plenty of splendid artistic illustrations. The CD-ROM book is the equivalent of a hard-copy book in excess of 500 pages!
For more detailed information on this book, please click here:poesieslaissezfaire.homestead.com.
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$16, ISBN: 0-9755955-0-4. Distributed in paperback, release date: June 2004.
Michael Paul Ladanyi, Editor of:
Adagio Verse Quarterly
The Bohemian Rag
Poetry reviewer with
Latest chapbook, Spelling Crows of Winter
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Val Magnuson Galactic Poet Award
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2004 Poetry Chapbook Competition...
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ISBN: 0-9675554-7-7
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