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Index of poets:
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Horizons
i.
Finger on the Window.
Such celebrant killing has been done
Where every death is votive epiphany
In its claim within the anonymous story*
That we listen to over & over again
As the stars vanish with their music.
* The Seed Cutters. Seamus Heaney.
ii.
Soft ephemeral
effulgence on a hung
& sultry summer
Wild herbage breaks
where road builders
build roads on dreams
The rituals of existence
fly by in caricature
in the wink of an eye.
Horizons break on words
which neither tell the day
that more than words fades.
iii.
Elephant Boy.
Liquid eyes darker than starless night
Ghosts touch you even in arid winds,
In eternal crowds & deserts where herds
Trod the rubble plains. In city ruins
In your beaten beggar eyes helpless
Before the fated scene. The nothing that
Has not already been nor outlasts not
As spirit or beast, a heart made human.
To taste that kiss, a right to innocence
& near tenderness, to yield to
The decisiveness of birth & death,
As near eternity as less than a moment, lost.
iv.
it's the dead who reach out
to touch us
through locking walls
where door & mirror
conspire to seal our senses,
swallow our time.
but the dead too
are sealed in walls & their touch
which fails
flaws in its desperation
falls awry
in the startled day
on its pedestrian way
still puzzled
at the unravelled thread
& lost freedom of the skies.
v.
Highland Horizons
Describe not day, it´s made of clay
& only breaks to lay, but the way
free to attain universal freedom.
In mind beyond senses ascend,
where dream remembers & wakens
How sleep & wake were divided.
On the barren plains of Cairn Gorme,
where gone it´s woodland fen,
yet before them, what borders trampled
down the wild boar Caledonian?
vi.
Elastic Gap.
the door cracks the floor crackles
order of imperatives
each in the elastic gap
creation cracks mind crackles
in the cleft gap order of
flashes of recall traced with such
sweet sad nostalgia vanishing
as they appear as in a dream
where one returns again & again
& yet eludes as though a peacock's
fan flies outstretched overhead
beyond touch but desperately pursued
vii.
Life is so frail,
You´ve been gone an hour,
What will become of my bones?
viii.
Horizon News.
Nobody wants to say
New Millennium
Got off in a bad way.
No sugar for the coolies,
Government shortage of oil,
To pay or not to pay.
But O brave new world
In the name of your host et al
Your legacy's crashed.
ix.
Quest to Exalt.
This sea wild & man
poorer than a ship´s rat
on the mast as ghosts´chatter
rattles your bones & sirens
call your glory mortal:
what test the time to submitt
to every dazzling spell,
as music wails on the radio
when you man have nowhere left to go
yet nowhere to let go as still breaks
darker rains to come
& though you´ve not changed
the meaning´s no more the same
& what´s been will not be again
what you remain before
in the dark corner of the storm
where you try to remember
when you were born.
Copyright Robin Ouzman Hislop 2005
All Rights Reserved
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: 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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Sappho's Odes 3. Symposium The Feast
1
Ah! Golden-sandaled Lady Dawn is gone
and noon's alighted! Gone, her sun
has cast its footfall rays, and shone
on Lesbos. Now, Dusk, we embrace you, dun.
2
We've seen wild hyacinths vermilion
all our island's hills since you've alighted,
Our Lady Dusk! Your clouds will pavilion
our valleys, where their full Moon's sighted.
3
While shepherds tread hyacinths under heel,
Dusk, you'll outstrip them as they drive their herds
down to valleys in their light so surreal
it's hushed our island's trilling warbler birds.
4
If reddened apples ripened on their topmost
boughs grow more russet as you die away, Dusk,
their gatherers will leave you for our coast
where their farm hearths glow smokier with musk.
5
So, Cyrpis, come, come, offer us your grace,
yes, share with us nectar your right hand pours
in kratera, and mix its mirrored trace
with equal grace, for these my friends and yours.
6
Cyrpis, you seem as fortunate to me
as are gods, still seated though I be before
you, listening to you sing, as you see,
and to your welling laughter I adore.
7
You've gone and set my heart all trembling in
my breast as fondly I gaze on you too.
Why, my tongue's snapped. I pray, is this a sin?
Fire steals over my flesh. I'm flushed through and through!
8
I see nothing with my eyes, my ears merely hum,
I sweat profusely, I'm seized from head to toe
with wild convulsions, and I fall so numb,
look! -- I'm stifling in your lamp's low glow.
9
Am I greener than grass that shivers just
as the barest breeze tells us night's falling
all around us? This I won't endure! "You must."
You must find resolve where love comes calling.
10
Now as love summons me to you tonight,
our messenger of spring, sweet nightingale,
whose lovely voice sings to us in the moonlight,
reveals her throated songs, and to great avail!
11
Our ambrosia's bowl is mixed so well
as Hermes pours his Lesbian wine, our best!
And all the gods revel in its spinning spell,
pouring libations on bride and bridegroom blessed.
12
By the Pleiades, all our love's wealth rings true.
Shunning love's honours, what can wealth spare?
My valour and love are neighbours to you,
and our honour's true happiness we share.
13
The earth is so garlanded with stars we
are their embroidery. Pray, love, believe me.
© by Richard Vallance 2004 & 2005
December 30 2004; revised March 16 2005
Sappho's Odes 4. Like the Great Poets, I
Lap me in soft Lydian airs,
Married to immortal verse,...
George Frederic Handel, from "L'Allegro" [Parte Seconda, Air 32]
after John Milton's "L'Allegro"
1
Come unto me, all my Graces rosy-armed,
come, daughters of Zeus, our Divine Creator,
come, come and inspire me, sublimely charmed
with your holiness, your frail translator.
2
Come, divinest lyre, come unto me
and revive in me your mortal voice.
Come then, Muses, fair and free,
lend my tears to your immortal voice.
3
Come, come to me, Muses, now as you leave
the mansions of your smiling father, Zeus!
Now, Aphrodite, lovelier, I believe,
than your Graces are, sign in me your truce.
4
Fair, O my goddess, my golden tressed,
Come unto me, I long for you again!
Aphrodite, whom young Gyrinno's blessed,
yes, come. Come, salve my soul's icy pain.
5
Now I, wild, your messenger of spring,
like the full-throated nightingale who sings,
allow my poor lyre's strains to you to wing
on my stolen Olympian wings.
6
Even the finest bards of Earth may be
like roaming stars her plaintive silver moon
conceals when in all her fullness look! -- she
breaks on our wildest dreams from sleep's gloom.
7
Though I never may live to imagine
any girl who will hone her lyric skills
as I do through futurity, know my sin
is frailty. And I am left all chills.
8
All other virgin's paëns fade! I
raise sublimer music than them all,
I, your Lesbian singer, while I sigh
Apollo's wild songs, as I'm held in thrall!
9
Trilling more sublimely than any lyre's
notes is my graceful voice, purer than gold
is my every song that faithfully aspires
to sing all my joys to devotees untold.
10
Aphrodite, how like a babe I sing!
Hearing my stunning Odes, yes, all rejoice
in every strophe or antistrophe I bring
before your altar, according to free choice.
11
If often I've danced in company
with my Lydian damsels by your full moon,
seeing our rosy-fingered sunset flee,
how long may we dance before I too swoon?
12
How long will I outshine your dimmest stars,
your Pleiades, or I surpass their light
on the seas before our full moon bars
us all in clouds and beclouds my dimming sight?
13
How frosty is your moonlight fallen o'er
our fields where their dews are shed . I weep
for poetry, while roses blossomed by our door
with chervil and melilot also fall asleep.
14
As often as I wander to and fro
before our bowered door, I recall you,
my holy Muses, and in the soothing flow
of my verse my soul pours out her rue.
15
In my visions have I watched you nightly,
Cyprogenia. Pray, how long may I lead
my gossamer chorus, born of Aphrodite
into moonlit fields, to share our high love's need?
16
Though, now that rosy-fingered Dawn
draws near, I wonder, as I shiver so,
Muses, will you forsake me like the fawn
Aphrodite left dying in the bitter snow?
17
Fair haired Aphrodite, if only I
might die like the little, newborn fawn,
whom shepherds found alone in snow cradled
in death on the approach of winter's dawn!
18
Knowing this, I pray I attain the lot
of bards who perished so long before me,
who knew no lamentation while they sought
to serve their wild Muses on land and sea.
19
Believe me, Aphrodite, see, I grow
weary of my strains, your strong immortal strains.
I beg of you, goddess, come in, bestow
Death on my verse, oracle of my pains.
© by Richard Vallance 2005
January 8 2005; revised March 17 2005
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
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HUMPHRY Humphry fell from the sky to my feet From a gull, swooping by. A tablespoonful of sparrow Intent on self destruction as he hopped Into the street. But I stopped His foolishness, cupped him in my palm And, with misgivings, took him home. Ideas for nourishment for such a puff Of feathers puzzled me, looked tough But anyhow I figured what the hell If one of God’s fallen sparrows fell To my responsibility I had no choice But to see he did well. At first his beak tightly closed Refused to open to my offerings. This and that I tried but no matter How I pried he gave no access. I supposed He must be demented No matter what I presented He denied his sustenance, Darkly suspicious of my intents. At end, a touch of honey lightly diluted With a drop of water suited His desire. He gulped it down And asked for more. With haste I fulfilled his taste And was rewarded with a chirp. His demeanor brightened, I faced Optimistic prospects. Now more solid stuff Could make its way down that throat Honey adulterated To get him sated fat and flyable And make his future more reliable. So, stuffed with catfood soaked in honey, My adopted son with luck And weather, sunny, Could escape the nip and tuck, Fat and sassy finally, and mature Enough to make sure I could send him off with a sigh Back to his brethren in the sky. MISDIRECTION We all must confess The world is a mess. The crazies are loose and conniving. They’re concerned by small cells Or gay wedding bells But nothing about drunken driving. They all are aghast Of our ancestors, past, Had been human by just few degrees, Who wore no bandanas And lived on bananas Whilst swinging about in the trees. For they all put their stake In the words of a snake That determined the end of man’s fate. That this reptile deceived Makes them all feel relieved That they’ve got their biology straight. That humankind was designed By a competent mind Seems to them a fact very clear. So it strikes me as strange That events can arrange To give science such a bum steer © Jan Sand, July 2005JAN 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
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Sara L. Russell (Editor)
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.
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.
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