Late at night again
He’s dreaming on the screen
He’s dreaming waterfalls and
bumblebees flying impossibly.
He’s dreaming flowers waving in
the spring breeze like
children.
He’s dreaming the wind blowing in
her hair again.
Month: November 2018
Kidney. A Poem by Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois
1.
In the Bessarabian night
I got knocked on the head
and my left kidney was stolen
but there was charity there—
the thugs could have taken both kidneys
They could have harvested all my organs
I wonder why they didn’t
2.
My grandfather hid in a basement
on the Bessarabian night in 1903
when the gentiles went mad
and killed Jews
3.
The thieves didn’t know that I’ve suffered terribly from kidney stones
mostly on the left side
I wonder if their doctor will discover
the many chunks of calcium oxalate lurking inside
and if he will clean them out
before he installs the kidney
in a new person
Perhaps the recipient will consequently suffer from kidney disease
and will curse the son of a bitch who donated that organ
not knowing that it was taken from him
involuntarily
after he was struck in the head with a blunt object
I’ve suffered blinding headaches ever since
I have terrible ringing in my ears
4.
My grandfather escaped Bessarabia
also known as Moldova
He escaped with all his organs
and what little money he could scrape together
and what little intelligence he had
His sons thought he was a stupid man
and hated him
hated him also because he was cruel to them
He was cruel because he was frightened
and depressed
but how could he ever explain those things
to his newly American sons
whose future was so bright
despite Anti-Semitism
which, fortunately for them, was waning?
Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois
Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois has had over fourteen-hundred of his poems and fictions appear in literary magazines in the U.S. and abroad, including quite a few in POETRY LIFE AND TIMES. He has been nominated for numerous prizes, and was awarded the 2017 Booranga Writers’ Centre (Australia) Prize for Fiction. His novel, Two-Headed Dog, based on his work as a clinical psychologist in a state hospital, is available for Kindle and Nook, or as a Print Edition . To see more of his work, google Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois. He lives in Denver.
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times his publications include All the Babble of the Souk and Cartoon Molecules collected poems and Key of Mist the recently published Tesserae translations from Spanish poets Guadalupe Grande and Carmen Crespo visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (Leeds University) .
Soloist (on the soft glass edge). Poem by Richard Lloyd Cederberg
Ekphrasis
.
Calmly focused, attentive,
Poised, her flute gracefully held,
Nimble fingers begin to dance on
The soft glass edge of a player’s heart…
.
Adagio…
.
An elegant cavatina,
With airy passages building
Towards the larger exposition,
A pause – a breath…
.
Andante…
.
A stir of nuanced phrases
Ineffable, rife of melancholy,
An impromptu interlude wooing the
Listener into an atmosphere of longing…
.
Allegro….
.
In a crescendo of harmonic strings
The orchestra bursts forth…
In soaring synchronies
The exhaled notes
(Of a solo flute)
Begin to flow
Like a silver
Stream of dulcet pearls,
Gossamer harmonies enlaced,
Aureate lines transforming pinnacles,
The scherzo – an exaltation – penetrating – diffusing –
Vanishing – then, a short pause – a breath…
.
And when an
Empty Flute fills again
Subtle notes begin to stir…
Patiently centered,
Attentive,
Poised,
Her flute devotedly held,
The conductor cues the soloist, and
Nimble fingers (again) begin to dance
On the soft glass edge of a player’s heart…
.
© richard lloyd cederberg 2018
______________________________________________________________________________
BIOGRAPHY
Richard is the progeny of Swedish and Norwegian immigrants. He was born in Chicago Illinois. Richard began his journey into the arts at age six. For twelve years he played classical trumpet. The British incursion of music, however, influenced him to put down the trumpet and take-up acoustic and electric guitar, and, to write songs and lyrics. He toured professionally for ten years. In 1995 Richard was privileged to design and build his own Midi-centered Recording Studio ~ Taylor & Grace ~ where he worked diligently until 2002. During that time he composed, and multi-track recorded, over 500 compositions and has two CD’s (‘WHAT LOVE HAS DONE’ and ‘THE PATH’) to his personal credit.
.
Richard’s interest in writing continues. His poetic invention is integrative and employs various elements: nature, history, relationships (past and present), parlance, alliteration, metaphor, characterization, spirituality, faith, eschatology, art, and subtext. Avoiding the middle-road; he enjoys the challenge of poetic stylization: Rhythmical, Poetic/Prose, Triolets, Syllable formats, Story-Poems, Freeform, Haiku, Tanka, Haibun, and Acrostic. Richard’s work has been (and is) featured in a wide variety of anthologies, compendiums, and e-zines including: Poetry Life and Times, Artvilla, Motherbird, and The Path. Richard was nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize.
.
Books include: 1. A MONUMENTAL JOURNEY… 2. IN SEARCH OF THE FIRST TRIBE… 3. THE UNDERGROUND RIVER… 4. BEYOND UNDERSTANDING. The Monumental Journey Series is a confluence of adventure, mystery, and historical fiction. A new adventure/thriller, BETWEEN THE CRACKS has been published. Also, a new eschatological drama – AFTER WE WERE HUMAN – is being written. Follow the lives of several friends as a race of ageless multi-dimensional humans comes back to Earth with their Creator to rule and reign for 1000 years.
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times his publications include All the Babble of the Souk and Cartoon Molecules collected poems and Key of Mist the recently published Tesserae translations from Spanish poets Guadalupe Grande and Carmen Crespo visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds) and his latest Collected Poems Volume at Next-Arrivals
Janet Kuypers’ “This Just In” 8/22/17 poetry feature @ Chicago’s Gallery Cabaret
Chicago poet and Austin resident Janet Kuypers returned to Chicago for a week in August to coincide with the August 21st total eclipse of the sun (where she traveled to southern Illinois to photograph the event). During her stay she was honored with the opportunity to guest host the open mic she rand for over half of a decade in Chicago (then titled “the Café” at the Gallery Cabaret) as well as perform her feature show “This Just In” for Poetry at The Gallery Cabaret (2020 N. Oakley Ave. in Chicago – one block east of Western Avenue and one block north of Armitage) Tuesday, August 22nd 2017.
[tubepress mode=’playlist’ playlistValue=’PLYa-AZK78_hqh33uPFPKr9OzmeYVO-XNp’ ]
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYa-AZK78_hqh33uPFPKr9OzmeYVO-XNp
Because Janet Kuypers knew she was coming back to Chicago the week of the total eclipse of the sun (and because she had no book releases of her poetry for years, ever since she moved TO Austin), Janet Kuypers was thrilled that Scars Publications was able to release the first printing (from a U.S. printer) of two new books of hers, of poetry she had written while living in Austin, “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems” and “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 show poems” (the second book of poems she wrote for features she has had in Austin). Since her return from this trip, Scars Publications has also released the second printing of “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 poems” and “(pheromemes) 2015-2017 show poems” (from an Amazon affiliated printer, with sales from printers in the U.S., the U.K., all of Europe, and also Japan). Everything she read in her show was from these two books, and she also sold proof copies to audience members after the show.
Read the poems from the feature “This Just In” (as well as poems performed during the open mic before the feature):
“Protecting Peace can Put you in Prison”
“Original Snowbirds”
“Ultimate Connectivity: a bird in the hand”
“erasure poem: A Poetic History”
“Just One Book”
“Newspaper Ink’s the Blood of a Dying Species”
“Elusive Imaginary Creature”
“Your Imaginary Soul Weighs 21 Grams”
“Yearning to Break Free”
“Just By Holding His Hand (extreme 2016 sestina variation)”
“Knew I Had to be Ready”
“Ultimate Connectivity: Getting Naked with Nature”
“X-rays and Broken Hearts”
Poems of Death & Incense by Alisa Velaj. Translated by Ukë Zenel Buçpapaj
WHEN DEATH PILES UP
They should not have piled those dry branches up here
It is midday and the crowd
Will soon pass by them
The forest ghost will terrify the Dead
With the marrow dried in his bones
Then he will convey the crowd’s death
Like an electrical conductor permits a flow of energy
They should have piled them up in the heart of the Bazaar square
But no, by no means
At midday
THE DEATH’S PAWS
Death has white paws
With the hare’s soft fur
And blinding whiteness
Like that of the tiger’s teeth
With the hare’s soft fur
We rub ourselves
On meadows
Growing narcissi flowers
But the lake in the middle of them
Never shows us
The tiger’s reflection…
INCENSE
I pray again after hushing or I hush right after praying
The lily of dreams has long ran away from the white colour
The whiteness of the snow, the whiteness of the petals, the whiteness of the egg
A raven black as death flies around the lily and fades away falling in the hands of the storm
The incense’s smell piercing through smelling…
DISTANCE
He is three hours away from the Swan’s Neck.
The screams of the bird have been staying frozen on those shores since the midnight of the last song.
He is three nights away from the songs and a life away from the screams.
Alisa Velaj has been shortlisted for the annual international Erbacce-Press Poetry Award in UK in June 2014. Her works have appeared in more than eighty print and online international magazines, including: FourW twentyfive Anthology (Australia), The Journal (UK), The Dallas Review (USA), The Linnet’s Wings (UK) The Seventh Quarry (UK), Envoi Magazine (UK) etc etc. Velaj’s digital chapbook “The Wind Foundations” translated by Ukë Zenel Buçpapaj is published by Zany Zygote Review (USA). Her poems are also translated in Hebrew, Swedish, Romanian, French and Portuguese. Alisa Velaj’s poetry book “With No Sweat At All” (trans by Ukë Zenel Buçpapaj) will be published by Cervena Barva Press in 2019.
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times his publications include All the Babble of the Souk and Cartoon Molecules collected poems and Key of Mist the recently published Tesserae translations from Spanish poets Guadalupe Grande and Carmen Crespo visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds) and his latest Collected Poems Volume at Next-Arrivals
Everyday Russian family in the View of Americans | Poem by Vladimir Tayninskiy
Everyday Russian family in the view of Americans.
Vladimir Tayninskiy
I’m home!
Why so late?
On the way to bear I was detained – I gave him vodka!
Everyone at the table !
Let’s drink some vodka.
Mom, I’m gonna go play with the bear.
He was already drunk and happy!
OK, only first you son have a drink vodka.
Where’s grandpa?
It is the second week in a queue for coupons on coupons for vodka!
Well, before that he drank vodka and not sleeping.
Okay, go for a walk, son, and don’t forget to write a report to the KGB tonight!
We don’t have food,but there’s a box of vodka.
That’s 30 bottles.For a month.
Honey, something’s boring!
You drink vodka and play the balalaika.
I’m going to dance.
I’m already drunk and funny!
And so on…
what do you really think?