ROBIN OUZMAN HISLOP: Born UK. Childhood in Lyme Regis & Poole Dorset. Lived Scotland & Scandinavia, The East & Spain. A great deal of my life has been spent out of England, my mother's side is Scottish & I take the name Hislop, as writer's name from her family name.

Bachelor in Arts (Hns). Philosophy & Religion. Manchester University. Resident at Pakistan, Lahore. Studies at Punjab University, New Campus, Lahore: Sufism (Tasawuf), Jalal-U-Din Rumi & Ibn Arabi. Sheffield University: Spanish & Latin American Cultural Studies. Resident in Spain from 1985 until December 1998 (Madrid and Salamanca): Resident at Salamanca, 1996-98: English Language teacher and translator for “El Ateneo”. Organisation of bilingual poetry readings at Casa do Brasil, Madrid Complutense University, Escuela Oficial de Idiomas, (Madrid Official School of Languages), Cafés Manuela and Magerit, O’Connors Pub, Madrid, El Ateneo and El Corrillo in Salamanca.

Translations of poetry include 1927 Spanish Generation Poets: selections of F.G. Lorca, Luis Cernuda, Rafael Alberti, M. Altolaguirre, Miguel Hernandez and Vicente Aleixandre’s poems; and the Chilean poet Andres Fisher, Las Diosas Blancas an Anthology edited Ramon Buenaventura, an anthology of poetry Alchemy by Tessa Duncan from Spanish and James Stephens Fairy Stories into Spanish have been more recent activities. I hope to feature these, as well as introducing new translations with originals on my web page soon to be opened IBIS. I am interested in revivalist movements in modern poetry.

Appeared in Dawn Millenium Anthology published by Kedco Studios & this year appeared in their Crystal Dawn Anthology. Frequently featured in the E zines Poetry Life and Times, Autumn Leaves, Sonnetto Poesia, Canadian Zen Haiku, appeared on Artvilla, Poetry Repairs, the Celtic Pagan Poetry Pages Journal, as featured poet in the Beltane edition & Ancient Dawn E zines amongst others. This year will publish own anthology Blue Corn which will incorporate performance, on web cam and voice recital with Kedco Studios. My present book After the Cave the Comet was published this month by Mystic East.

Became a Resident Poet of Poetry Life & Times in January 2005.

More of Robin's work can be found here:

Amparo Arróspide's Gift of Tongues:
www.giftoftongues.co.uk
(Co-editors Robin Ouzman Hislop and Amparo Arróspide)

EXCLUSIVE NEWS UPDATE: Some of Robin's poems are due to appear in an anthology "Blue Corn", to be published by Kedco in 2005.

Also Robin's exciting epic "After the Cave, the Comet" is now available for purchase either as a CD or Ebook at www.giftoftongues.co.uk

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Richard Vallance Late Winter Haiku in honour of Percy Bysshe Shelley "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" Percy Bysshe Shelley "Ode to the West Wind" (1819) e snow stunned daylight runs through our south bay * can spring be far? * I mean a "bay window" (of course) f éblouie de neige la saillie s'illumine est-ce le printemps ? © by = par Richard Vallance February 24 = le 24 février 2006 e while our beavers hibernate our proud Métis suffer cabin fevers f quand nos castors hibernent nos Métis chassent l'hiver encore © by = par Richard Vallance February 25 = le25 février 2006 ___________________________ Richard Vallance's English sonnet translation of Charles Baudelaire's "J'aime de vos long yeux..." [Les Fleurs du mal] I love those boudoir greens of your fired eyes beneath our hearth, though I'm so bleak today, a day your love as vainly for me cries as sunlight on dun seashores where I stray. Though hear my appeal, love me, mother be to your prodigal son, some naughty boy; Lover or sister be, as sweet to me as sunsets bathing Autumn's dusks are coy. In vain! The tomb has greedy eyes for us! Oh! Leave me leave my brow fall on your knees and there taste summer's breath poor Fall distrusts, those saffron rays on yours where summer flees! © by Richard Vallance 2004 Richard Vallance's translation is posted on this French poetry site, Soleil's Café Baudelaire's Sonnet in the original French = le texte intégral en français du sonnet de Baudelaire tiré du recueil, « Les Fleurs du mal » J'aime de vos longs yeux la lumière verdâtre, Douce beauté, mais tout aujourd'hui m'est amer, Et rien, ni votre amour, ni le boudoir, ni l'âtre, Ne me vaut le soleil rayonnant sur la mer. Et pourtant aimez-moi, tendre cœur! soyez mère Même pour un ingrat, même pour un méchant; Amante ou sœur, soyez la douceur éphémère D'un glorieux automne ou d'un soleil couchant. Courte tâche! La tombe attend; elle est avide! Ah! laissez-moi, mon front posé sur vos genoux, Goûter, en regrettant l'été blanc et torride, De l'arrière-saison le rayon jaune et doux! Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) ___________________________ Whose Firewood? for Louis-Dominique Well you and I know why snowy scents bless our wild pines; we nose their evergreen smell this streamlet winds around us where we press against what's freezing cold, its bracing spell. Give pause. Today's too fresh! We've caught its whiff, n'est-ce pas ? — of the young sou'wester caught en flagrant délit skirting our lake's cliff as if to thrill though consciously unsought. You did? Well then take my hand... we'll retire to our foyer *, where embers fade. Let's share our small hearth again, rekindling our fire. Why do you ask? A whiff of our woods tells all. Someone else's firewood excites the air with scents of spruce they only felled last fall. © by Richard Vallance February 18 & 26 2006 NOTE * Non Canadian readers, and above all American readers, are apt to take the word "foyer" to mean "entrance". But to Canadians, living as we do in a bilingual English-French nation,this word usually means either "home" or "hearth" and can be viewed as synonymous with the both words in this poem. In this sonnet, "foyer" does not mean entrance. The New Plieades CD ROM e-book - to be published in January 2006! Click the CD cover picture above for more information, also see Vallance Review No. 52. RICHARD VALLANCE was Born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, March 11th., 1945.  He holds an Honours B.A. and Master of Library Science, and is fluently bilingual in English and French. He also reads Spanish and Italian, ancient Greek and Latin well.  He wrote his first major poem at the age of 18, in 1963.  Richard has also distinguished himself in the field of library and information science.  In 1983, he won the $1,000 Data Courier Award for Excellence in Online Published Papers. Richard has composed over 2,500 poems.  He is the Chairperson of the Ottawa Chapter of The Canadian Poetry Association, website = Canadian Poetry Association: Affiliation Ottawa Chapter.  He is also a member of The Canadian Federation of Poets, where he is the Canadian Federation of Poets/ Featured Poet (January 2005).  Richard judges and pre-selects all rhymed verse poetry for CFP's official journal, POETRY CANADA. Richard's world class poetry page is Poesie’s laissez-faire Faire Foire, which showcases over 40 poets worldwide.  PLFFF features sonnets, haiku, contemporary and historical poetry.  PLFFF is a member of Phenomenal Men of The Web: Arts & Humanities. Richard is the Editor of 2 Canadian poetry E-Zines, Canadian Zen Haiku canadien ISSN 1705-4508 and Poetry in Emotion = La Poésie à s'émouvoir ISSN 1705-4516, and is the editor of the sonnet journal in print, SONNETTO POESIA ISSN 1705-4508, to be listed in 2006 Poet's Market and distributed online by OpenMic.com. Creativity Pays (USA). Richard's poetry and sonnets frequently appear in such in print poetry journals as POETRY CANADA, POEMATA (Canadian Poetry Association), The Neovictorian/Cochlea (Madison, Wisc., USA) and The Nisqually Delta Review (USA). His CD-ROM book, Canadian Spirit Voices, Kedco Studios, Las Vegas, NV © 2003, ISBN 1-878431-44-7, some 500 pp. long, contains over 130 of his poems, almost 300 haiku, 32 translations of poetry in ancient Greek, Latin, Italian, German and French into English poems by the author, a novella, DENIZEN, and the 100 + pp. essay, "The Historical Evolution of the Sonnet". He is the Editor-in-Chief of the all-new multilingual international poetry anthology, The New Pleiades Anthology of Poetry = le Florilège de la nouvelle Pléiade, Kedco Studios, ISBN ISBN 1-878431-52-8 to be published in the summer of 2005. Finally, Richard is co-editor with Sondra Ball of the USA, of the North American poetry anthology, The Human Face = le Visage humain, Kedco Studios, ISBN ISBN 1-878431-52-X, to be published in 2006. Richard Vallance moderates 2 major poetry discussion groups, The New Pleiades Mirror and Canadian Zen Haiku canadien. CONTACT:  Richard Vallance Back to top

Jan Sand END GAME The birds are dying, Also frogs. Coral’s soon all gone. Fish are surely soon All fished out Shall we join the mastodon? Humans are, no doubt, smart. Our gadgets tell us so. Cleverly, we’re phasing out All things that make life go. The air is bad, The water’s worse. Temperature Will be a curse. And humans work to make it so. We each do our part. If history testifies To humanity’s behavior, The total scope Gives little hope Of an emergent savior. Humans have a tendency To environmental smashing. So, hi-ho, off we go To environmenticide Nor do we care nor are aware Of our own suicide. POSSIBILITIES Not too long ago we touched the moon. Our astronauts bunny-hopped across the dusty plains. Science gained a modicum of new data. The place is dead, not much reward for money or our pains. We’ve sent robots creeping over Mars. Some water there. The atmosphere’s pretty thin. Sending men to that still sterile place Proffers small gain to win. The journey would be perilous and long. Funds are tight. It’s difficult to make the case. Dreams of fascinating monsters still persist Within the pages of the comic books Where super people save the world in routine. But reality preoccupies itself with massacres, With starving children, methods to be mean, Depleting possibilities, destroying species. We’re not yet Mars nor the Moon But we’re getting there. Hopefully, not too soon. © Jan Sand, 2006 JAN SAND is a poet and illustrator from New York (now residing in Helsinki), is a regular contributor to Poetry Life & Times and the newsgroup alt.arts.poetry.comments. A great deal of his work is about animals, or science fiction. Recently Jan was published by Kedco Studios Artist Profile Press, on their latest CD ROM e-book, "A Way With Words (Poetry Real and Surreal), which also includes complete books by Dale Houstman, Sara L. Russell and Keith Gabriel Hendricks. Jan's illustrated book on the CD is called "Wild Figments And Odd Conjectures", which is also sold separately, in a limited-edition "single" CD. To see an illustrated article about Jan's poems, visit the November '98 issue of Poetry Life & Times, and scroll down past the Editor's Letter. He also has his own poetry pages on Charlotte's Web at Artvilla. Back to top

Sara L. Russell (Editor) Nocturne Out of the room steeped in shadowy haze over the landing, so softly it plays she tiptoes behind it whispering prayers and follows the notes as it floats down the stairs. It plays in the hall like a beckoning hand sends a small shiver to shake the coat stand rising and falling seductive and low it sinks to the cellar to call from below. Onward and down with a candle, she treads she can hear each cadence weave insiduous threads she sees the piano but no-one is there while the keys rise and fall as if pounded by air. Deep in the dark lie unspeakable things that travel on bellies or leathery wings the piano is solid with no place to hide and yet becomes able to slither and glide. She is edging away with her back to the wall the piano moves on with its soft siren call gliding faster and faster with notes yet more hushed then a terrible scream, as the lady is crushed! In a junk shop in a shadowy nook whenever a customer troubles to look the piano stands silent awaiting the day when a new music lover will take it away. © Sara L. Russell, 00:34 09/09/2003 From Sara's chapbook, Ballads of Myth & Magic Soon to be available from www.giftoftongues.co.uk Maestro Andante he plays, with a bittersweet air, With his pale features drawn in ethereal joy, With sunlight from her window to halo his hair; He's a favourite musician within her employ. "Mareschal, Mareschal, lay down your bow, Lay your instrument down in its casket of teak, For your lips hold the melody mine thirst to know And your delicate bowmanship renders me weak." Monsieur Mareschal smiles and continues his tune Though the lady's entreaties still beckon him on And his violin sings of a full hunter's moon Which the lovers of old spent their wishes upon. "Mareschal, Mareschal, lay down your bow, Hither now, let me savour your kisses like wine, Like such nectar as only Eros may bestow, Bring your tall, slender body to cleave unto mine." As his notes start to falter, his heart speeds to race, He is closing his eyes as she's bolting the door, Sets his instrument carefully down in its case, Then shirt follows overcoat onto the floor. "Mareschal!" over and over, she cries, As they writhe by the hearth of her bedchamber's fire, Both lost to the passions that flutter their eyes, As mistress of love claims maestro of desire. © Sara L. Russell 21:01 02/02/2006 SARA RUSSELL Poet, cartoonist and short story writer. Editor of Poetry Life & Times. Newsgroup signature was originally 'Pinky Andrexa, Last Of The Cyber Vixen Poets From Outer Space'. Won Internet Arts Award from Kedco Studios Artist Profile Press. Runner-up in Capricorn International Love Poetry competition 1998. Her website Poetry Life & Times recently won the Alpha Poets' Poetic Eyes web award. Won Poet of the Week in the Poetry For Thought group (The Globe groups) for the week April 28-May 4th, 2001, with the poem "If You Were Mine". Inducted into The Poets' Hall of Fame, 2001, and included in its anthology for that year. Recently broke several bones after falling from a train; now fully recovered after almost a year, and walking without a limp following a recent successful hip operation. Published Works: 5 illustrated e-books published by Kedco Studios Artist Profile Press (most recent first): Worlds Inside The Head, Quickies, Spiders And Gliders, A Way With Words (in collaboration with four other poets) and Pinky's Little Book of Shadows. Also published in several Kedco e-book anthologies and Forward Press bound book anthologies. Back to top