(July 2002) Page 2
(July 2002) Page 2
 RICHARD VALLANCE Richard Vallance was born in Guelph, southern Ontario, Canada, on March 11th., 1945, and currently resides in Ottawa, the nations capital. A graduate of Sir Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloon, Ontario (H.B.A. 1968) and the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario (M.L.S., 1975), Richard is a professional University librarian, now on disability pension. Richards career as a librarian reached its zenith in October, 1983, when he won the prestigious Data Courier Award for Excellence in Online Papers ($1,000 U.S.), in Chicago, Illinois. However, progressively aggravated alcoholism eventually forced him to retire prematurely, in September, 1991. Fortunately, Richard ceased drinking altogether in 1992, and has been sober now for a decade. While he did write some poetry during his "wet years", alcoholism severely blunted his inspiration. Creativity only truly blossomed in 1995. Since that time, he has written over 1,500 poems, most of them Sonnets, though he also specializes in both Haiku and the stricter, more traditional Japanese Hokku verse form. He has also composed numerous so-called "free verse" poems, and has published one book of poetry: A Quilt of Sonnets: Forty Four Familiar Poems. Ottawa: Providence Road Press, 1998. 56 pp. ISBN 1-896243-7-x. [National Library of Canada] Richard has been published on numerous occasions on some of the worlds best known poetry E-Zines, including, Poetry Life and Times (UK) and Autumn Leaves (USA). He also maintains his own bilingual international E-Zine, Poetry in Emotion la posie smouvoir and will soon be the editor of a new international Sonnet E-Zine, Sonnetto Poesia. Richard is the Poetry Reviewer for Poetry Life and Times. Anyone, who writes poetry for Poetry and Life and Times, is cordially invited to submit any poem of 20 lines or LESS for consideration for review to: Richard also moderates numerous Poetry Discussion Groups, the most notable of which are: 1. Describe Adonis [Shakespeares Sonnet 53] 120 members. Yahoos largest Sonnet poetry group by far. Here are posted historical sonnets, commentaries on sonnet writing, and sonnets by members: 2. Kawasaki Zen Haiku 90 members. Yahoos 3rd. Largest Haiku-Hokku poetry group, featuring links to historical Haiku Web Sites, examples of historical Haiku by such illustrious composers as Basho, Buson and Issa, and Haiku/Hokku posted by members, in any language they like: 3. Iliassia [Homers Iliad]. 61 members. Discussion group focussing on Homers Iliad, both in the original "Epic" Greek and in translation. Includes a repertoire archive of pictures, paintings, archaeological sites and cartographic information + maps: My Carousel Home Page is: Poesie's laissez-faire Foire
PUBLISHING HISTORY:
INTERNET:
March 2002 - Nominee for |
MY CHILD LIGHT * © Richard Vallance, 1994, 2002
My child light is the light of candlelights.
My child light is light of last month's moonlights
My child light mirrors today's millenium light
pour Paul Pinard, Our boy on the oceans, young dreams in his arms, harbours what notions? He's calmed our alarms.
Reflective, his left hand
Brow he's leant forward,
On his horizon,
A sea's by his feet
jeune homme au bord de la mer [1855. Musée du Louvre, Paris] *
Ton jeune chat tricolore, qui s’est rallongé,
English verses are in 10 syllable iambic pentameter;
French verses are 12 syllable Alexandrines.
* Dans le Canadian sonnet canadien, les vers s’enlacent
alternativement en anglais et en français.
À remarquer que les vers en anglais sont en dix syllabes,
selon le rythme naturel de la poésie en anglais, c’est-à– dire,
le pentamètre iambique (iambic pentameter), tandis que ceux
en français sont évidemment alexandrins.
Translation of the French verses for allophone English readers:
1. Your young Calico cat, who’s all stretched out,
3. On the pink sofa, all summer and all winter,
5. Purring (what dreams are hers?) soft sphinx of the house,
7. Sneaky, she figures out how to slip away without the merest noise,
9. Looking for (can you guess whom?) — her dindins, lovely mouse,
11. She wants you to have without further ado or pretext
13. As the nonchalance of her hunter’s gymnastics!
pour mon ami de coeur, Louis-Dominique
Why my oh why have you gone & stripped me
Dare say you've imagined our escapades
Can Parthenon’s reticulated frieze
Decide! Who's Owl, Who? perched on her bronzed arms,
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 Jan Sand in New York
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.
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FISH © Jan Sand That fin and sea Intimately Mobilize That which is me Is obvious Simplicity. For water is, At minimum, My only continuum. Not earth nor air Nor vacuum Constitutes my medium. Liquidity is required Where I live. I was sired Deep in blue, Down in green Where biology’s Incessant ceaseless industries Laid down gene on gene on gene To operate in their accords Producing me And piscine hordes.
These years, this time, is come tangible On sleep’s surfaces, where the moment Fabricates the incomprehensible. Gravity no longer binds nor must Stability be norm. Transience twists form So threats are mountains, hope is dust, And memory writhes like a worm. Here the dead who have taken residence Within communities that mentality Has fabricated out of daily incidents Emerge again in confidence and vitality, Reincarnate, no slight intimation That their solidity has dissipated. Sleep tolerates no pinch of confirmation That here dwells unreality. Contemplated, These extra universal passages, confusing, Are never boring, sometimes amusing.
In the territory of the Sun The days arise when you stare into its eye, And when you turn away, day’s done. Now you can perceive the country of the moon Who’s eye, serene, remains night’s queen, Strides smoothly through its dark salon. Our years are reckoned out of our careen Between encounters with these realms.
Our glances, back and forth deceive,
Frequently these days have I approached Some storage place, the fridge, the sink, And then stand there in puzzlement As to why I came. My mind meandered to think Of other things. The entanglement Of extranealities led me astray. Will I then approach death and not know How it came to be I lost my way, And now I stand, look at him, tip-toe To wonder why I came to here. Will it come to me before I disappear?
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