Book Review

Press Release The Poetic Bond V11 (2017)

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PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE
THE POETIC BOND VII

ISBN-13: 978-1978098039, ISBN-10: 1978098030
Publication Date 17 NOV 17

The seventh, annual, international poetry anthology in
The Poetic Bond Series. 112 poems by 50 poets from 17 countries, drawn from new media, professional and social networking, giving a snapshot of 2017 which could be said to capture the zeitgeist of contemporary poetry

Comments on The Poetic Bond Series
“The poetry that fills this book is moving, deep and affirming … A beautiful publication that will rest on top of my favorite books of poetry.”
Nicholas Chiarkas (WI, USA)
“I am very impressed with much of the excellently crafted writing”
Robin Hislop (UK, artvilla.com)

Biographies of the Poets of the year’s anthology available at http://www.thepoeticbond.com/Meetthepoets2017.htm

Pre-order your copy for a 33% discount for £9.99 or $11.99 (RRP £14.99/$17.99) at www.thepoeticbond.com

All poets included in the anthology are now voting for
THE POETIC BOND CHOICE POETS’ CHOICE AWARDS 2017
Poets, this year, get to vote for the three poems in the anthology which they find most engage and inspire them. The poems that win the most votes, in a 1-2-3 preferential voting system, will receive an award of $25. So, TO BE CLEAR, for 2017, The Poets of The Poetic Bond VII will select The Poetic Bond Poets’ Choice Award Winners for 2017.

Full details below and available at www.thepoeticbond.com
Editors’ Notes

1. Press contact Trevor Maynard at poetry@trevormaynard.com on 0 44 7966 079968 or by snail mail at Willowdown Books, 105 Crockford Park Road, Addletone, Surrey, UK, KT 15 2LP

2. The Poets of The Poetic Bond VII (2017) are Amber Jimenez-Flores (US)/ Annel Bell Martin (US)/ April Fallon (US)/ Belinda DuPret (UK) Betty Bleen (US) / Melissa Bird (UK)/ Diane Burrow (UK) / Christine Anderes (US) / Cigeng Zhang (China) / Chris Maynard (UK) / Darrell Wright (US) / Deborah Nyamekye (Ghana) / Denisa Parsons (US) Elaine Battersby (UK)/ Fiona Sullivan (UK) / Bonnie J. Flach (US) / Flavia Cosma (Canada) Gil Franke (US) / Kelli Gunn (Canada) / Pamela Hope (US) / Jane Johann (US) Joseph Simmons US) / Joseph Sinclair (UK) / Karen Henneberry (Canada) / Karen Nurenberg-Rothstein (US) / Kayla Matheson (US) Sajida Khan (UK) / Lee Landau (US) / Lexene Burns (Australia) / Madeline Lipton (US) Lizzie La Pool (UK) / Tatjana Lončarec (Croatia) / Low Kwai Chee (Malaysia)/ Marcia Weber (UK) Mariangela Canzi (Italy) / Marie Youssefirad (US) / Mustofa Munir (US) / Nancy Scott (US) Pedro Cunha (Portugal) / Richard Glen Smith (US) / Robin Ouzman Hislop (UK/Spain) / Suzanne Askham (UK) / Nana Tokatli (Greece) / Tom Sterner (US)/ Trevir Maynard (UK) / Vensa Adriana Arsenic (US) Brian Walker (UK)/ William DiBenedetto (US) / Vi De Vries (Friesian/Canada) / Lynne Zotalis (US)

3. All poems selected for publication will be automatically be put forward for The Poetic Bond Poets’ Choice Award, which will consist of three prizes of $25 for winning poems. The award winners will be chosen by a process preferential voting by the poets who will have been selected for publication in The Poetic Bond VII. Neither the editor, nor anyone connected with the production of The Poetic Bond Series, will have any input into the selection of award winners. The Award Winners will be announced after publication. Further details available at www.thepoeticbond.com

4. Trevor Maynard, UK based poet, writer and editor. He is owner/manager of Poetry, Review and Discuss Group, a major poetry group on LinkedIn. His new poetry collection is GREY SUN, DARK MOON was published September 14 2015. He is also the author of several plays. Further information at http://www.trevormaynard.com

5. Making a Poetic Bond – the ethos behind putting together the anthology
The process of selecting poems for publishing The Poetic Bond series is unlike any other in that there is no set plan as to what will be published. It depends on the themes which emerge from the pool of work submitted, or to put it another way, the poetic energy which comes together at this certain time and place. Where themes emerge, patterns of energy harmonize, form bonds, connections, and these in turn lead to interconnected chapters, and the creation of a holistic volume, deeply connected with humanity, nature, and the universe.

PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE

 

Amazon.com Author Robin Ouzman Hislop
Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop

Hislop’s Cartoon Molecules Collected Poems Reviewed by EM Schorb

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Cartoon Molecules is divided into six stoas, or porticos where, safe from the inclement weather of the outer world, the poet, thinking cap on, can walk like the peripatetic philosophers of ancient Greece, his readers following him about, absorbing the wisdom he is imparting, and occasionally, though sometimes without full comprehension, repeating it like rhapsodes. In short, the organization of the book invites one in, each stoa like a carnival tent, magical and intriguing to the starry-eyed reader. One pulls a flap and wonders, “What’s in here?” and is never disappointed. But at the same time. the ultimate subject of Mister Hislop’s extraordinary book is so large, so kaleidoscopic, that, in this reader’s opinion, to do it justice requires much more than a review. Like Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake, it should have a skeleton key (as by Campbell and Robinson); like the universe, it should have a space traveller who can explore its endless depths. But don’t get me wrong. We get more than enough of magic and beauty when we just get some of it—like beautiful, unknowable life.

Take this sampler, a favorite of mine:

Dream of the machine

At the top of the stairs, perhaps she’s a person
in three persons traffic in her hair hums
life and intelligence a person
a fixed stair with a parading universe
machine intelligence a person
a ballooning moon
a universe in entelechy a person
or is she a simulation
a cartoon molecule in the dream of the machine
as long as she’s prisoner of an unknown
perhaps she’s a simulation
finite limits in a false eternity
voice of a world collapsing endlessly
a frozen world with only leaning things
lapsing crumbling without memory
a world at an end in frosted shadows that ride
in their depths a wilderness
could a machine swallow a universe
or a universe swallow a machine
at the top of the stairs the locusts come
in her hair the simulacrum

In this work Mister Hislop reaches for the ends of being and, I suppose, though he may not think it, ideal grace. Deep in this Hislop-simulated universe of the cartoon molecule that dances its jig throughout his space-time continuum, he searches, as in “Dream of the machine,” for what might be called electronic love. He sings the body electric at the top of the stairs. Who is she? What is she? Machine or woman; or some combination of the two? Is it possible for the reader to think of it/her as Grace, or at least, as “grace”? Mister Hislop seems to think of it/her both ways; but then, isn’t it pretty well accepted that there are multiple universes? Perhaps in one universe she is the one thing, and in another, another.

      • Is all that we see or seem

 

    • But a dream within a dream?

Aside from the centuries, Mister Poe and Mister Hislop are not so far apart, and, do you know, despite the objections that I expect from almost everyone, possibly including Mister Hislop, I say the two poets are partners in the exploration of the Universe. “Eureka,” cried Archimedes; Eureka, wrote Mister Poe; Eureka! Mister Hislop, fare thee well, as you explore the world of deep space.
Amazon.com Author Robin Ouzman Hislop
Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop

E.M. Schorb

 
PRIZE-WINNING BOOKS
BY E.M. SCHORB
Books available at Amazon.com
_______________________________________

Dates and Dreams, Writer’s Digest International Self-
Published Book Award for Poetry, First Prize

Paradise Square, International eBook Award
Foundation, Grand Prize, Fiction, Frankfurt Book Fair

A Portable Chaos, The Eric Hoffer Award for Fiction,
First Prize

Murderer’s Day, Verna Emery Poetry Prize, Purdue
University Press

Time and Fevers, The Eric Hoffer Award for Poetry
and Writer’s Digest International Self-Published Book
Award for Poetry, each First Prize

edtor@artvilla.com
robin@artvilla.com

 

All the Babble of the Souk. Antonio Martínez Arboleda ~ Reinventing

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all-the-bable-of-the-souk-image-with-tony-martin-woods
 
https://martinezarboleda.wordpress.com/
 

Before I provide my views about All the Babble of the Souk (Aquillrelle, 2015), I must declare my admiration for its author, Robin Ouzman Hislop. He is a person of great intellect, determination and generosity, a combination of traits that is unfortunately not so common in our world. In his work as an editor Robin promotes literary quality and innovation whilst helping hundreds of artists to feel and become part of a global community of equals which expands through Poetry Life and Times. He has demonstrated his commitment to grassroots, popular and digital poetry by supporting Transforming with Poetry and Poesía Indignada, two of the platforms I run. Knowing him personally makes this review a pleasant experience. I think the reader is entitled to be aware of the subjectivity of my views and I wish people were more open about declaring all the reasons informing their personal preferences when they write about other’s work. Our “professional” world is polluted by a false duty of objectivity which often takes away the most valuable information one can provide about the work of someone else: the human qualities of the author.
 
In his work All the Babble of the Souk, Robin takes us through a fascinating journey into the painful complexities, and the beauty, of the universe, with a very honest, informed and uncompromising cosmovision. Robin’s poems are enlivened with very opportune geographical, physical, scientific and human ingredients, including what seems to be autobiographical references. These are also the stepping stones for Robin’s insightfully critique of our constructed social reality and our species. But make no mistakes: the reader will not find a political programme in the poetry of Hislop. Instead, he offers an impressionistic yet refined understanding of what is wrong, and what is right, with humanity: we humans are an indistinguishable and intertwined part of the matter that surrounds us. We are as immense as the galaxies we dream with, as little as the atoms that sustain us and as problematic as the viruses who kill us. We struggle in our lives with the symmetries and asymmetries that underpin nature and the universe.
 
Robin’s work is an invitation to discover the necessity and expressive value of sometimes relatively uncommon words that reveal the richness of the world he encounters. Words for him are the commotion of the intellect, a statement of fiery consciousness where signifier and signified can often melt. But the reader should not be afraid of this. The poems are very enjoyable and thought-provoking, even if one feels inclined to consult the dictionary now and then. The use of occasional rhymes and repetitions or the combination of monosyllables in some poems is very effective. With no exception along the whole book, the pace of Robin’s prosody is light and elegant like the walk of a playful Arab horse.
 
Overall, a very recommended read. Thank you for your poetry, Robin!
 
 
 
tony republic
 
 
Tony Martin-Woods started to write poetry in 2012, at the age of 43, driven by his political indignation. That same year he also set in motion Poesía Indignada (Transforming with Poetry), an online publication of political poetry that he edits. Tony is a political and artistic activist who explores the digital component of our lives as a means to support critical human empowerment. He is also known in the UK for his work as an academic and educator under his non-literary name. He writes in English and Spanish and has published his first volume of poetry Los viajes de Diosa (The Travels of Goddess) 2016.
 
 
 
www.facebook.com/PoetryLifeTimes
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robin@artvilla.com
editor@artvilla.com
 
 
goodreads.com/author/show/Robin Ouzman Hislop
http://www.aquillrelle.com/authorrobin.htm
http://www.amazon.com. All the Babble of the Souk. Robin Ouzman Hislop
www.lulu.com. All the Babble of the Souk. Robin Ouzman Hislop
https://www.amazon.com/author/robinouzmanhislop
http://www.innerchildpress.com/robin-ouzman-hislop.All the Babble of the Souk

Perceptions. Video Poem & Book Review. Gary Beck.

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‘Perceptions’, is a just published poetry collection that challenges many of our attitudes and values, showing us many of our concerns that grow more troubled in these difficult times. Disasters of our time come into immediate focus as they occur. We are shown again and again the catastrophic events of the day. It is the lingering effects that are seen from different viewpoints, and produce a sometimes volatile perception of our world.
 
Amazon.com. Perceptions Gary Beck
 
Perceptions is a 146 page poetry volume. Available on paperback with a retail price of $10.99, and eBook with a retail price of $4.99. The ISBN: 1941058493. Published through Winter Goose Publishing and available now through all major retailers.
 
 
Gary pic

 
Gary Beck has spent most of his adult life as a theater director, and as an art dealer when he couldn’t make a living in theater. He has 11 published chapbooks and 3 more accepted for publication. His poetry collections include: Days of Destruction (Skive Press), Expectations (Rogue Scholars Press). Dawn in Cities, Assault on Nature, Songs of a Clerk, Civilized Ways, Displays, Perceptions (Winter Goose Publishing). Fault Lines, Tremors, Perturbations, Rude Awakenings and The Remission of Order will be published by Winter Goose Publishing. Conditioned Response (Nazar Look). Resonance (Dreaming Big Publications). His novels include: Extreme Change (Cogwheel Press) and Flawed Connections (Black Rose Writing). Call to Valor will be published by Gnome on Pigs Productions and Acts of Defiance will be published by Dreaming Big Publications. His short story collection, A Glimpse of Youth (Sweatshoppe Publications). Now I Accuse and other stories will be published by Winter Goose Publishing. His original plays and translations of Moliere, Aristophanes and Sophocles have been produced Off Broadway. His poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in hundreds of literary magazines. He currently lives in New York City.
 
 
 
www.facebook.com/PoetryLifeTimes
www.facebook.com/Artvilla.com
robin@artvilla.com
editor@artvilla.com
 
goodreads.com/author/show/Robin Ouzman Hislop
http://www.aquillrelle.com/authorrobin.htm
http://www.amazon.com. All the Babble of the Souk. Robin Ouzman Hislop
www.lulu.com. All the Babble of the Souk. Robin Ouzman Hislop
https://www.amazon.com/author/robinouzmanhislop
http://www.innerchildpress.com/robin-ouzman-hislop.All the Babble of the Souk

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