Poem

Making the Best of It. A Video and Text Poem by Sarah Russell

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Make time for oatmeal
slap it on your face
A mask is always useful

Think about Mindfulness
enter the id
explore the more spiritual

Get into baking
throw nothing away
cut your own hair

A virtual pub quiz
almost the same
as being there

So here is Friday
a bit like Thursday
by another name

Here is a message
stay home save lives
be good, play the game

Here comes a baldy
With cold dead eyes
to tell you again

Here’s a comedian
saying the same thing
but makes it a joke

There’s good little children
there’s a good housewife
that’s a good bloke

Spring is forbidden
summer is cancelled
commerce has died

So dance in your bedroom
sing into your hairbrush
Pretend they all lied.

Sara L. Russell 17th April 2020

 

 

Sara Russel latest

Sara Louise Russell, aka PinkyAndrexa, is a UK poet and poetry ezine editor, specialising particularly in sonnets, lyric-style poetry and occasionally writing in more modern styles. She founded Poetry Life & Times and edited it from 1998 to 2006, when she handed it over to Robin Ouzman Hislop, who now runs it as Editor  at this site. Her poems and sonnets have been published in many paper and online publications including Sonnetto Poesia, Mindful of Poetry and Autumn Leaves a monthly Poetry ezine from the late Sondra Ball. Her sonnets also currently appear in the recently published anthology of sonnets Phoenix Rising from the Ashes. She is also one of the first poets ever to be published on multimedia CD ROMs, published by Kedco Studios Inc.; the first one being “Pinky’s Little Book of Shadows”, which was featured by the UK’s national newspaper The Mirror, in October 1999. (Picture link for Mirror article) Angel Fire

 

 

Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)

The last words of George Floyd by HanShan

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Hanshan (poet)
Chinese monk and poet
 
Hanshan is a figure associated with a collection of poems from the Chinese Tang Dynasty in the Taoist and Chan tradition. No one knows who he was, when he lived and died, or whether he actually existed. In the Chinese Buddhist tradition, Hanshan and his sidekick Shide are honored as emanations of the bodhisattvas Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra, respectively. In Japanese and Chinese paintings, Hanshan is often depicted together with Shide or with Fenggan, another monk with legendary attributes.

Faith. A Poem by Despy Boutris

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I knew the dying was coming—
knew her heart struck twelve
because I couldn’t sleep,
 
could only gaze out at the hallway,
past my door as it creaked
on its hinges, the wind outside
 
the open window running
its hands over everything in sight.
If I closed my eyes, I could pretend
 
it was my grandmother, running
her fingers through my hair.
I knew my father would call soon,
 
stranded at the hospital with her,
not wanting me
or my brother to see death so young.
 
I knew the lawyer would stop by,
present us with her
will. I didn’t know she’d leave
 
my brother her rocking chair,
and me: my favorite breakfast—
her recipe for buttered biscuits.
 
Didn’t know my father’s face
could glisten with tears or how hard
I’d sob, or how my mother’s palm
 
would smooth back my hair
me as we watched the coffin descend
into the ground, my grandmother
 
making her way into eternal life,
as the priest promised.
I wish I believed in eternal life.
 
It’s too much work to try
to imagine a realm without darkness,
no croaking
 
toads, nothing with claws.
It’s too hard to believe in her
cheering for me up above.
 
But how tempting it is to have faith
in her floating like pollen above us,
the clouds blurring her angles,
 
her body all tangled up with God’s.

 
 

(first published in Prairie Schooner)

 
 
 
 

Processed with VSCO with a6 preset
 
 
BIO:
Despy Boutris is published or forthcoming in American Poetry Review, Copper Nickel, Colorado Review, The Adroit Journal, Prairie Schooner, Palette Poetry, Third Coast, Raleigh Review, Diode, The Indianapolis Review, and elsewhere. Currently, she teaches at the University of Houston and serves as Assistant Poetry Editor for Gulf Coast.
 
 
 
 

You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)

The Fear Factor and Covid19. Video Poem by Debashish Haar.

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Debashish is a machine learning scientist, who has been published in literary magazines severaltimes across the globe, including Poetry Life & Times, where he was interviewed twice. He is currently contending with a severe writer’s block spanning a decade, when he has hardly produced any publishable content. He is also losing emotional connection with his own work gradually, and spends more time to edit / tighten his old poems than creating any new content.

 

Editor’s Note: Debashish Haar was interviewed twice in the old Poetry Life and Times, once by Sarah Russell then Editor & later by myself as a new Editor before it folded in 2008. The New Poetry Life & Times restarted in 2013 at Artvilla.com site, Admin David Jackson.

Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)

In Perfection. A Poem by Antonio Martínez Arboleda

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                        Nothing is in

                                               perfect,

                         Isn´t it?

Everyone counts

no Body is dispensable

                     Energy in

                     Energy out

The Equation holds

                    -The Fort-

until the End

                                              Nothing is in

                                                                       perfect,

                                              Isn´t it?

                                              Except for this bastard Universe

                                    In its self-fulfilling Logic

                         of cruel Creation

                        and cruel destruction

             following its Own

            beautiful blueprint

 

 

 

Antonio Martínez Arboleda:
Antonio (Tony Martin-Woods) started to write poetry for the public in 2012, at the age of 43, driven by his political indignation. That same year he also set in motion Poesía Indignada, an online publication of political poetry. He runs the poetry evening Transforming with Poetry at Inkwell, in Leeds, and collaborates with 100 Thousands Poets for Change 100tpc.org/. Tony is also known in the UK for his work as an academic and educator under his real-life name, Antonio Martínez Arboleda at the University of Leeds. His project of digitisation of poetry, Ártemis, compiles more than 100 high quality videos of Spanish poets and other Open Educational Resources. http://www.artemispoesia.com/ .

He is the delegate in the UK of Crátera Revista de Crítica y Poesía Contemporánea , where he also publishes his work as translator from English into Spanish. He published his first volume of poetry in Spanish, Los viajes de Diosa (The Travels of Goddess), in 2015, as a response to the Great Recession, particularly in Spain. His second book, Goddess Summons the Nation Paperback ,  Goddess Summons the Nation Kindle Edition , is a critique of the ideas of nation and capitalism, mainly in the British Brexit context. It incorporates voices of culprits, victims and heroes with mordacity and rhythm. It consists of 21 poems, 18 of which are originally written in English, available in print

and kindle in Amazon and other platforms.

Editor’s note: further information bio & academic activities can be found at this link: https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/languages/staff/91/antonio-martinez-arboleda

 

 

 

 

 

Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)

 

 

 

 

 

Even Now. Audio Textual Poem by Robin Ouzman Hislop

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Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include

All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected poems, and the recently published Moon Selected Audio Textual Poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.

You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)

Reducto Anagramatico Sunday Afternoon 1915 Wallace Stevens. Poem Excerpt from Moon Selected Audio Textual Poems by Robin Ouzman Hislop

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http://www.aquillrelle.com/authorrobin.htm
 

 

 
reducto anagramatico sunday afternoon 1915 wallace stevens
 
come give balm to the gusty grieving
nights to hush day green the seas
for her dark oranges bloom an
 
indifferent inhuman evening
of cherished comfort and wings
like wide complacencies
 
but next moves in mythy gat motions
among any hind’s heaven or paradise
& cries cause the sun’s littering
 
our afterwards river sky relinquish
the mountains and whistle in her porch
death still the imperishable inescapable
 
for receding boughs to wear sleeplessly
the sun colours to hang of sky bosom
serafin plum the perfect rivers the hills
 
the lay sky paths that live impassioned
upon grass phrases in extended cries over
her peignoir and coffee upon blood calm
 
 

 
 
Robin Ouzman Hislop is on line Editor at Poetry Life & Times at Artvilla.com. His numerous appearances include Cold Mountain Review (Appalachian University, N.Carolina), The Honest Ulsterman, Cratera No 3 and Aquillrelle’s Best. His publications are collected poems All the Babble of the Souk, Cartoon Molecules, Next Arrivals & Moon Selected Audio Textual Poems and translations from Spanish of poems by Guadalupe Grande Key of Mist and Carmen Crespo Tesserae (the award winning XIII Premio César Simón De Poesía). In November 2017 these works were presented in a live performance at The International Writer’s Conference hosted by the University of Leeds, UK. A forthcoming publication of collected poems Off the Menu is expected in 2020.
 
 
https://www.facebook.com/PoetryLifeTimes
https://www.twitter.com/PoetryLifeTimes
 
 
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times at Artvilla.com . You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)

Themes. A Poem by Richard Lloyd Cederberg

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Using Symphonic nomenclature as a springboard to birth 7 life insights – 5-7-5-7-7

CHROMATICISM:

A stream in motion,

Water flows over pebbles

Touching each in turn,

Notes in semitones ascend

Or cascade down like water

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ANTITHESIS:

Opposites become,

Dwelling together in time,

Up or down the scale

Humanity seeks meaning

Good or evilly driven

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THEMATIC INTER-RELATIONSHIP:

Evolving hearts join

In inter-linking circles,

A stark commingling

Of space and line adjoining

Returns to places once known

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TONALITY:

Static expression,

Two souls brooding in one key

Seek security,

Living methodically

With little chance of mishap

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PIZZICATO:

Violoncellist

Intently interpreting,

Ready to evince

Staccato sounds on taut strings,

Plucking with fingers and bow

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ARIA:

Wisdom’s melody

Exposing intricate paths

Drawing the hearer

Into the deep mysteries

Of life’s richer fulfillments

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MODULATION:

Varied expression,

Strategically changing keys

To advance insight,

Transitional reflections

Reveal treasures once hidden

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richard lloyd cederberg 2019


AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY – 2019

RICHARD was born in Chicago Illinois. He is the progeny of Swedish and Norwegian immigrants. Richard began his journey into the arts at age six. For twelve years he played classical trumpet. Then… the wonderful incursion of British music influenced him to put down the trumpet and take-up acoustic and electric guitar. Richard began writing songs and lyrics. He performed in 17 professional bands. He played clubs, halls, cabarets, and concerts in Europe, Canada, across the USA, Alaska, and even Whitehorse in the Yukon Territories. Richard’s band SECRETS was one of the top four Pop-Jazz bands in San Diego for 5 years. In 1995 Richard was privileged to design and build his own Midi-centered Recording Studio ~ TAYLOR & GRACE ~ where he worked until 2002. During that time, he composed and multi-track recorded, over 500 compositions. Only two CD’s were compiled: WHAT LOVE HAS DONE and THE PATH. Richard retired from music in 2003.

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RICHARD’S POETRY uses various elements: nature, history, relationships (past and present), parlance, alliteration, metaphor, characterization, spirituality, faith, eschatology, art, and subtext. He enjoys the challenge of poetic stylization: Rhythmical, Poetic/Prose, Triolets, Syllable formats, Story-Poems, Freeform, Haiku, Tanka, Haibun, and Acrostic. Richard has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize.

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PUBLISHED BOOKS: The MONUMENTAL JOURNEY SERIES integrates adventure, mystery, and historical fiction.

1. A MONUMENTAL JOURNEY…

2. IN SEARCH OF THE FIRST TRIBE…

3. THE UNDERGROUND RIVER…

4. BEYOND UNDERSTANDING…

5. BETWEEN THE CRACKS… is a spinoff from the MJ Series…

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NEW BOOKS presently being written or compiled: A NEW RACE OF HuMAN’S… an eschatological drama that takes place just before the translation, during Daniel’s 70th Week, and into the Millennium. UNDER SILENT BRIDGES… a diversified collection of poetic invention, short-stories, essay’s, and digital photography.

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