Emanations from the Penumbra Collected Poems by EM Schorb Reviewed at PLT

Emanations front cover only Cover Painting “O Carib Isle” by the Author – ISBN: 978-0-692-03402-6
 
Editor’s Note: A short while ago EM Schorb contacted me for the address of a mutual friend, whose address he’d mislaid. Remembering i’d published a sonnet of his here in 2013, that later appeared in an anthology of sonnets Phoenix Rises from the Ashes, i promptly requested another contribution from him. One thing led to another and he kindly sent me a copy of his latest collection of poems.
 
Emanations from the Penumbra. Schorb is a prize winning poet having gained recognition and awards several times over ( see below in his bio), so it was with some trepidation i approached this work with the intention of presenting it at our PLT (Poetry Life & Times ) site. It opens with a quote Penumbra: The “Gray area where logic and principle falter” Hmm – it is in fact a corpus of poems, two hundred pages of them, written by a writer poet, – by that i mean, a person who writes extensively and writes poetry as well. Schorb has an excellent, polished and sophisticated technique in whatever manner he approaches a poetic theme and in Penumbra these are many and varied emanations. He is of course a writer/artist who hails from the USA and he covers widely from its socio historico background, everything from workers rights, the broken war hero to the persecution of blacks by whites. P196. Part 6. titled the same as the name of the collection, starts -/ Poets of my generation are turning up dead. A serial killer is injecting them with cancer heart disease and stroke / and ends / My generation think that this is a serial crime, but have no choice but to pull the ropes and toll the bell / Wow go figure – but as much as there is pessimism and cynicism, there are as many shades of mood together with a host of erudite literary reference ranging from Empson, Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound to Aristotle and Donne to name but a few. The fact that during the time i received and was reading this work, i also happened at the same time to be reading the classic Paterson by William Carlos Williams, i couldn’t help but find similarities and the recognition how a modern poet like Schorb has emerged out of the influences of such a great work in contemporary North American Literature. Carlos Williams set a trend for commentary on the mundane and current affairs in the city, whilst expanding into pure lyricalism, – and this is what happens in Schorb’s work, at least as i experienced it. In particular, i found a quote in Paterson, which Carlos Williams had seized upon, which i thought was entirely applicable to Schorb’s work in Emanations, i quote it here, {recognizing the harmony which subsists between crabbed verses and the distorted subjects with which they dealt – the vices and perversions of humanity, as well as their agreement with the snarling spirit of the satirist. Deformed verse was suited to deformed morality} – Studies of the Greek Poets, John Addington Symonds Vol: 1 P284. I could go on, the pathos of love, nihilism, spirituality are all covered by the poet and often brought out via descriptions of small scenic events like theater clips crafted into a free and flowing verse where the poet is speaking as often as not through another’s voice or persona – though sometimes we find self depreciation as in The Last Word at the end of Part 4. P121. / Edwin Makepeace Thackery Schorb / Wrote many words into his books /…./ Was quite mistaken in all he did /…/ What is the truth? Oh who knows? / Say this: He drank and had to go! / Lets hope he’s not gone forever and comes back. It’s impossible really to select favorites from such a ranging work but i liked especially The Isle of Langerhans P79. Written in vertical inter- facing columns, it makes the reader work hard at reading it and i think that’s important in modern poetry, why should poetry be made easy for the reader to read, it’s the struggle that counts. And here we present at PLT the particular poem Schorb has selected Because P169/70…/ the unicorn is an ungulate because they say so /… Robin Ouzman Hislop

 
BECAUSE
 
in the port-cities they have found everything out and
Aristotle-like have put everything into categories
and the unicorn is an ungulate because they say so
because the fine-print of the unreligious sun says we circle it
it is not for us but we for it because the moon hit us
and bounced off instead of was born of our first spin
because the ninth planet is an invading comet caught
and because there is no now and there never has been
 
because we look upon ourselves in savannas past
knuckling to water because we see the white lemming’s hole
in the snow smashed down by hooves and hear its pitiful
chirp of counter-aggression because the avalanche
indifferently buries the contested world of the snow
valley because stars die because we believe in facts
and because the deluge led to the ark because because
and because we bury our dead and dig up their bones
 
because the unsoundness of our judgments lead to sound
judgment and because facts are facts and we must reckon
and because the sea is cruel and because time flies
because the wind blows down our houses and because
we remember the snow hare and the hawk because
because the dove is taken in air by the eagle
and because space is either empty or full of dark matter
because galaxies hold for a long time their pinwheel-shapes
 
because time and space are curved and we can blow ourselves up
and because we blow ourselves up constantly and because
it makes us wonder because doesn’t it mean something
because we are riding a mud-ball through space because
we were born here and because we have categories and
because we dig up our bones and dogs dig our bones up
and because we are not even safe in pyramids because
we dig ourselves up and look upon our own bones
 

 
Biography
E. M. Schorb attended New York University, where he fell in with a group of actors and became a professional actor. During this time, he attended several top-ranking drama schools, which led to industrial films and eventually into sales and business. He has remained in business on and off ever since, but started writing poetry when he was a teenager and has never stopped. His collection, Time and Fevers, was a 2007 recipient of an Eric Hoffer Award for Excellence in Independent Publishing and also won the “Writer’s Digest” Award for Self-Published Books in Poetry. An earlier collection, Murderer’s Day, was awarded the Verna Emery Poetry Prize and published by Purdue University Press. Other collections include Reflections in a Doubtful I, The Ideologues, The Journey, Manhattan Spleen: Prose Poems, 50 Poems, and The Poor Boy and Other Poems.
 
Schorb’s work has appeared widely in such journals as The Yale Review, The Southern Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Chicago Review, The Sewanee Review, The American Scholar, and The Hudson Review.

 
At the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2000, his novel, Paradise Square, was the winner of the Grand Prize for fiction from the International eBook Award Foundation, and later, A Portable Chaos won the Eric Hoffer Award for Fiction in 2004.

 
Schorb has received fellowships from the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center and the North Carolina Arts Council; grants from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, the Carnegie Fund, Robert Rauschenberg & Change, Inc. (for drawings), and The Dramatists Guild, among others. He is a member of the Academy of American Poets, and the Poetry Society of America.

 
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

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

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Antonio Martinez Arboleda Reviews Cartoon Molecules Collected Poems

 
Cartoon Molecules. Robin Ouzman Hislop. Amazon.com is a brave philosophical and poetic exploration of humanity and the universe, advancing theories of time and space and technological utopias as well as questioning the singularity of humankind.
 
Hislop’s insightfulness is exuberant. He combines the analysis of the universe through the appreciation of the ephemeral instant with a variety of poetic forms. For instance, he provides sequences of human (or humanoid?) thought, by intelligently staging verse recurrence, notably in the poem “Human Simulation”, when the intertwining of shared words throughout several stanzas provides the baseline of the animation that the alterations of patterns depict, as in the form of sketches for TV cartoons. He also works with infinity mirror effect. The result of this experimental language is a reflection on the relativity of syntax and an invitation to imagine how advanced forms of computers would realise thought.
 
The cultural references, explicit and implicit, of this book are also worth noting: Kill Bill, the Luddites, Soap operas, Jesus, The Cradle Will Rock, Goya, Alice in Wonderland, Fitterman’s poetry, or Solaris place this book in a constant intertextual conversation full of irony and refinement.
 
With its ontologically congruent, meaningful and exciting modernism, coupled by more light and luminous verse, such as in the poem “Abandoned Island”, which I had the pleasure to translate into Spanish for CRÁTERA (Autumn 2017), alongside “Dream of the machine”, Cartoon molecules undresses humanity to the barebone to show its place in a world that we believe under our control.
 
Antonio Martínez Arboleda
 

 
www.leeds.ac.uk/arts/people/Spanish Portuguese and_Latin American Studies/Antonio Martinez Arboleda
 
Tony Martin-Woods.com/2017/08/27/Cartoon-Molecules

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Press Release Virtual Living Collected Poems by Gary Beck

 
 

Poet Gary Beck’s new collection Virtual Living is a revealing glimpse of how our relationship with the world around us is an ever-evolving experience. Focusing on how humans relate to the world via artificial means, as well as self-imposed affected mechanisms. Beck looks at the concept of living virtually from all angles and tells his story with just enough abstractness to move readers to choose how to inhabit their own worlds. A peek into our world in ways most of us forget to see, these poems will shift any reader’s perspective of how they relate to others, technology and the world.
 
“Varied, inspiring and insightful – Nous Magazine
 
“We love your poems – Poetry Pacific
 
“Amazingly captivating and incredibly diverse – Kind of a Hurricane Press

 
Virtual Living is a 116 page poetry book. ISBN: 1945247134 Published through Thurston Howl Publications.
Available now through all major retailers
 
Amazon.com Virtual Living Gary Beck
 
Birdsong
 
The closer the highway
the closer to death,
so build your nest
as far as you can
from works of man.
 
Sports Fans
 
High school students cheer
at the top of their lungs
for their football team,
unaware of
the math student
ignored by all
who may build the future,
while former sport’s heroes
dwell in the past,
unable to forget
earlier glory.
 
College students root
for the home team,
eager to belong
to a bigger world,
paint their faces
in school colors,
identifying with
an institution
encouraging sports
more than science,
relegating the brightest
to unrequited dreams
of supple cheerleaders.
 
Many football fans
either yearn for the past,
or never grew up.
Some fear the future,
apprehensive of
the loss of function,
try to belong,
rooting for their team.
Others don’t realize
pros are as distant
as movie stars,
except they hurt each other
for large salaries,
while loyal fans
wear stupid hats,
wave witless signs,
scream for victory
for favorite teams.
 
Mindscape
 
Dreams shatter,
more fragile
than steel, brick, glass
man-made materials,
confining spaces
for the mental container
of hopes, fears, guilt,
unlike other animals
whose sleep exertions
re-enact feeding, flight.

 
 

 
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 2 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, Fault Lines & Tremors (Winter Goose Publishing). Perturbations, Rude Awakenings and The Remission of Order will be published by Winter Goose Publishing. Conditioned Response (Nazar Look). Resonance (Dreaming Big Publications). Virtual Living (Thurston Howl Publications). His novels include: Extreme Change (Cogwheel Press), Flawed Connections (Black Rose Writing), Call to Valor (Gnome on Pigs Productions) and Sudden Conflicts (Lillicat Publishers). State of Rage will be published by Rainy Day Reads Publishing. 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.garycbeck.com
www.facebook.com/AuthorGaryBeck

 
 
 
Cartoon-Molecules/paperback/Robin Ouzman Hislop
 
www.facebook.com/PoetryLifeTimes
 
robin@artvilla.com

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The Truth about Snails. Collected Poems by JD DeHart.

Editors Note: About the Author
 
In 2014, over the course of some snow days, I put together a collection that would become The Truth About Snails. At the time, most of the writing I was getting to was speculative and science fictional (I guess that’s a word) in nature. So the first collection of poetry I put together reflected this.
 
Poems were inspired by years as a comic book reader and sci-fi fan. They were not fan fiction, really, but reflected larger themes of science fiction and fantasy that I enjoyed.
 
This is the text that appears on the back of the book:
 
“Ordinary objects take on a new form, and myths become real and move next door in the verses contained in this collection. Whether it is a recasting of the myth of Sisyphus, or the titular truth about the origin of our shell-bearing planet dwellers, each poem offers a new view of an old friend. Much of the writing was inspired by the comic books and science fiction, and on concepts beyond the scope of the real world, and cast firmly in the supernatural.”
 
My hope is that this book can be the first of many. I am already at work on a second collection, which is out for review now, as well as a variety of articles, reviews, and prose works. I reprint some of my favorite poems at jddehartfeaturepoems.blogspot., write reviews and post them at http://dehartreadingandlitresources.blogspot.com/, and tweet @jd_dehart.
 
Whether you check out this chapbook collection, a future book, or just read my work around the web, I appreciate the read!
 
The Truth About Snails is now available both on Amazon and Red Dashboard, the publisher’s website at http://cms.reddashboard.com/j-d-dehart/
 
 
Vigilante
 
 
Pardon me for attempting to be
some kind of hero or otherwise
savior figure. My mistake.
Pardon the garish appearance
of the costume I crafted (it was
a last minute low budget choice)
and pardon my lack of sophisticated
intelligence, weaponry, or astounding
martial arts skills. I am just a guy
who used to read comics, wanted to be
somebody’s emblem, and now find
the feeling of this cape rather awkward.
 
 

 
 
Bio:
JD DeHart is a writer and teacher. His poems have recently appeared in Dime Show Review and Cacti Fur.

 
 
Cartoon-Molecules/paperback/Robin Ouzman Hislop
 
www.facebook.com/PoetryLifeTimes
 
robin@artvilla.com

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Press Release Cartoon Molecules Collected Poems by Robin Ouzman Hislop



Cartoon Molecules is a new volume of collected poems by the poet Robin Ouzman Hislop, who is 
also editor of this Poetry Life & Times site at Artvilla.com. This volume attempts to engage 
its reader in the context of crisis the human race encounters in its struggle for survival, 
from both existential and surreal perspectives, as well as introducing themes innovated by its
author as an exploration in poetics.

  





 

Proem

Cartoon molecules 

Tweedledum & TweedledeeWhat makes us human?”

ditto - what does not add up
dum          what does not minus down

ditto - we know not what we do
dee         that's what makes a story

ditto - communications are a can of worms
dum         so sayeth the decree of the fates

ditto - time's a gulping mocker
dee         as the crow flies

ditto - entelechy is the dream of becoming
dum         in a kick ass belonging

ditto - art arises out of our ignorance of materia
dee         dreaming us into existence

ditto - a necessary illusion to dream ourself 
dum         into existence 

ditto - a hegemony of symmetry invades 
dee         once a wilderness 

Tweedledum & TweedledeeChaos becomes cartoon molecules”

 
 

                                                  Cartoon-Molecules/paperback/Robin Ouzman Hislop
 
www.facebook.com/PoetryLifeTimes
 
robin@artvilla.com

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Robin Ouzman Hislop and Antonio Martínez Arboleda Transforming with Poetry

 
The poets read their work in “Life, Books and Songs”, which took place in Casa Colombiana, Leeds, on 30 March 2017. Antonio introduces poems in English and Spanish, some of them from his book “Los viajes de Diosa” (2015) (The Travels of Goddess). https://www.facebook.com/losviajesded… Robin Ouzman Hislop reads extracts from “All the Babble of the Souk” (2016), written in Spain, England and Morocco. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2…

 

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Video Poem Tony Martin Woods & Robin Ouzman Hislop read Key of Mist by Guadalupe Grande

 

Life, Books and Songs

Life, Books and Songs

Dates and times

30 Mar 2017 6pm – 10pm

Show Map

Casa Colombiana

Grand Arcade, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS1 6PG

Poet, editor and translator Robin Ouzman Hislop will recite poems from his volume “All the babble of the Souk” (2016, Aquillrelle) and from “La llave de niebla” (Litterae Calambur, 2003)-, a book by Spanish writer Guadalupe Grande translated into English by himself and Amparo Arróspide, “Key of mist” (2016, Aquillrelle).

Poet Antonio Martínez Arboleda will read Grande’s original poems in Spanish as well as his own poems in Spanish from “Los viajes de Diosa” -“The travels of Goddess”- (2015 Diego Marín) and from various publications in English.

After an interval, the Leeds band “The Blacksocks” will play a dozen of songs, including “Take us”, “Mañana”, “Lágrimas negras” and “Monsters of Pop”.  The Blacksocks are Dave Hall (vocals), Pete Denton (guitar), Deryk Isherwood (drums), Len Forbes (guitar) and Antonio Martínez Arboleda (bass).

Visit Website

Editors note:This video was recorded at the Casa Colombiana Restaurant Leeds UK in May 2017 on its upstairs floor, unfortunately a little white noise permeates the backround from the diners below – but lets say it all adds to the joi de vive. it will also feature in the YouTube Poets TV Pilot project to be edited & published by Sara L Russell.


 
 

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.
 

 
 

GUADALUPE GRANDE
Madrid, 1965.

 
She has written the following books of poetry: El libro de Lilit (1995), La llave de niebla (2003), Mapas de cera (2006) and Hotel para erizos (2010).
 
She has been translated into French in the book Métier de crhysalide (translation by Drothèe Suarez and Juliette Gheerbrant (2010) and into Italian, in the volume Mestiere senza crisalide (translation by Raffaella Marzano (2015). She made the selection and translation of La aldea de sal (2009), an anthology of Brazilian poet Lêdo Ivo, together with poet Juan Carlos Mestre.
 
Her creative work extends to the territory of photography and visual poetry.http://guadalupegrande.blogspot.com.es/

 
 
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
 
Amparo Arróspide (Argentina) has published five poetry collections: Presencia en el Misterio, Mosaicos bajo la hiedra, Alucinación en dos actos y algunos poemas, Pañuelos de usar y tirar and En el oído del viento, as well as poems, short stories and articles on literature and films in anthologies and international magazines. She has translated authors such as Francisca Aguirre, Javier Díaz Gil, Luis Fores and José Antonio Pamies into English, together with Robin Ouzman Hislop, who she worked with for a period as co-editor of Poetry Life and Times, a Webzine. Her translations into Spanish of Margaret Atwood (Morning in the Burned House), James Stephens (Irish Fairy Tales) and Mia Couto (Vinte e Zinco) are in the course of being published, as well as her two poetry collections Hormigas en diáspora and Jacuzzi. She takes part in festivals, recently Transforming with Poetry (Leeds) and Centro de Poesía José Hierro (Getafe).
 
 
robin-portrait-july-sotillo-2016-by-amparo
 
Robin Ouzman Hislop is on line Editor Poetry Life & Times, his recent publications include Voices without Borders Volume 1 (USA), Cold Mountain Review (Appalachian University, N.Carolina), The Poetic Bond Volumes, Phoenix Rising from the Ashes (an international anthology of sonnets) and The Honest Ulsterman. His last publications are a volume of collected poems All the Babble of the Souk & Key of Mist, a translation from Spanish of the poems by the Spanish poetess Guadalupe Grande, both are published by Aquillrelle.com and available at all main online tributaries. For further information about these publications with reviews and comments see Author Robin..
 
www.facebook.com/PoetryLifeTimes
www.facebook.com/Artvilla.com
robin@artvilla.com
editor@artvilla.com

 
Key of Mist. Guadalupe Grande.Translated.Amparo Arróspide.Robin Ouzman Hislop
 
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

 

 

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Almost. Video Poem by Candice James.

Poetry Life and Times

A Video Poem by Candice James for the You Tube Poets TV Pilot Project to be Edited & Produced by Sara L Russell
for more information check http://www.artvilla.com/plt/you-tube-video-poets-sara-l-russell/ submissions welcome

 
 


 
 

 
 
Candice James is a poet, writer, visual artist, musician, singer-songwriter in her 2nd three year term as Poet Laureate of New Westminster, She is Royal City Literary Arts Society Director and founder and Past President of both Royal City Literary Arts Society and Federation BC Writers; She is also founder of Poetry In The Park and founder of Poetic Justice. She is a featured poet, keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, presenter and event hostess. Candice is also a full member of League Canadian Poets; a member of The Writers Union Canada and is the author of nine poetry books: the first book of poetry published was “A Split In The Water” (Fiddlehead Poetry Books 1979); and the most recent is “Merging Dimensions” (Ekstasis Editions 2015). She is the 2015 recipient of the prestigious Bernie Legge Artist Cultural Award and also the recipient of the Pandora’s Collective 2015 Citizenship award. Further information can be found on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candice_James and www.candicejames.com
 
 
 
 
www.facebook.com/PoetryLifeTimes
 
robin@artvilla.com
editor@artvilla.com

 
Key of Mist. Guadalupe Grande.Translated.Amparo Arróspide.Robin Ouzman Hislop
 
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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