Pools of Longing. A Poem by Sara L Russell

Pools of Longing: July 9th, 03:11am. Editor’s note, I believe the Lockdown on swimming pools in UK, has temporarily been lifted & it is now possible to book in advance a time slot, however, the way things are going on there at present, it’s anybody’s guess how long it will last

 
 
That it might come back to me, that sweet sensation,
When i would reach out my arms across the cool light blue ripples
and push off from the side.
 
Then would i glide
out across the water, as a white crane glides across the sunset,
as a white cloud hurries brightly on a warm southerly breeze.
 
There are trees
when I go walking; butterflies and wild flowers too. They seem
comfort enough for a short time, in parklands and along the lanes.
 
There are trains
I may never ride on, there are buses I am still rethinking,
There is time enough for drinking in the the cafes and the bars;
 
But oh my stars,
what would I give to go back swimming,
gliding weightless once again, free as the birds that skim the sky.
 
 

 
 
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 and Amparo Arrospide; Robin now runs it as Editor from Poetry Life & Times 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 at Artvilla.com ; his publications include
 
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules, Next Arrivals and Moon Selected Audio Textual Poems, collected 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)

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The Lovely Lady in the Ridiculous Clothes & Poems by RW Haynes

1]
 
The Lovely Lady in the Ridiculous Clothes
 
In a sea of meaningless stuff, that honesty
Fires up the jaded imagination,
Enlivens losing life with lively sensation,
And calls for music, dancing harmony.
So wear that hat, a dashing pronouncement,
Those painted shoes, eye-grabbing things,
And whatever else inspiration brings
To hear wisdom’s ultimate announcement.
The hat, the crazy shoes, your laughing smile,
Are flowers sprung from nowhere, although
Sweet hope requires that they arrive so,
And the light has come, now, to stay awhile.
The music does more than speak: it commands,
And souls step forth and boldly now clap hands.
 
2]
 
Hot Date for The Fiddlers’ Convention
 
Brought against you, then,
An arsenal of betrayals that begin
A catalog of unexpected depletions,
Beginnings to begin once again,
Chaos of incompletions.
 
So chalk this up to the record then,
Remembering themes are just themes,
Not formulas, mathematic dreams,
Just stuff just good for slogans to rant,
Useless epitaphs for grackles to chant.
 
Tune the instrument, tune in the station
Playing the spirit of inspiration.
Let the dance continue hard and fast
Or deep and slow, but let it play on.
Let it go. Leave it playing on at last.
 
3]
 
Behind the Old Church
 
Heavy stone slabs
Shadowed with warning
Echo ominously…
The moon keeps burning…
 
The dead stones emanate
Stupefying cold
Around these graves’
Enigmas untold,
 
And the ravens look down
With raucous disdain
On stupefied despair,
A frozen hurricane…
 
Silent bells boom
And clang,
Time’s malicious
Boomerang.
 
Step right up,
Sentimental slave;
Pour your liquor
All over his grave.
 
 

 
R. W. Haynes, Professor of English at Texas A&M International University, writes various things in prose and in poetic form. His academic specialty is 16th-century England, but much of his work lately has been on the playwright/screenwriter Horton Foote. His recent poetry collections are Laredo Light and Let the Whales Escape published summer 2019 ( for further info see under Categories at this site). He recently wrote a play titled Never Claim a Kill, and he hopes to complete his novel The Songs of Billy Bonstead before Laredo cools off again. Another project in progress is an academic work currently titled The Struggling Spirit in the Plays and Screenplays of Horton Foote. In 2016 he was awarded the SCMLA poetry Prize ($500) at the Dallas meeting of the South Central Modern Language Association

 
 
 
 
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times at Artvilla.com ; his publications include
 
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules, Next Arrivals and Moon Selected Audio Textual Poems, collected 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)

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Dying with the Evening Gown. A Poem by Fabrice B. Poussin

 

Standing before the long mirror she wondered
to hide this nakedness in the dark of fancy velour
or to wrap those limbs in worn out denim.
 
Cocktails to be served at five in the eve
in a room ornate with illustrious chandeliers
imported crystals shining of artificial suns.
 
Boasting pearls, diamonds and rubies she descended
princess among royalty in make believe worlds
her breast heaved with the power of intimate convictions.
 
A deep breath held within her chest
pleading for patience in a room stuffed with smoke
pretenses and empty vanity she dreamed of freedom.
 
Perhaps another would appear rejected next door
too attached to the liberty of youthful years
choosing instead to shred the tuxedos of success.
 
She imagines herself atop desolate islands
near and far without lace, precious metals or fame
free in a white shroud dedicated to the world.
 
Mingling with the semblances of peers
they brush against the pure skin of her innocence
unable to make contact as she continues to the gates.
 
A gaze constant upon the abandoned domains
her soul smiles for she steps into her dream
made of pains joys and true healings.
 
Without a look back to those well-dressed ghosts
she shed the million-dollar evening gown
to enter as upon her birth within a fitting kingdom.
 
 

 
 
Fabrice B. Poussin is the advisor for The Chimes, the Shorter University award winning poetry and arts publication. His writing and photography have been published in print in the United States and abroad. He teaches French and English at Shorter University. Author of novels and poetry, his work has appeared in Kestrel, Symposium, The Chimes, La Pensee Universelle, Paris, and other art and literature magazines, where he has also featured here at Poetry Life and Times & Artvilla.com. His photography has been published in The Front Porch Review, the San Pedro River Review as well as other publications.
 
 
 
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)

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Approach. Audio Textual Poem by Robin Ouzman Hislop

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. A translation from Spanish of poems by Guadalupe Grande Key of Mist and Carmen Crespo Tesserae, the award winning (X111 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

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

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Golden Cage. A Poem by Debashish Haar

 
A man rubs honey on his eyelids
before going to bed
to dream ants and spiders.
In the morning his eyes weave
webs of silver and gold,
and mind stretches wings.
 
Each evening flying
with the birds his mind enters
itself in a golden cage lit
by honey lamps.
 
Originally Written in 2006
Published in Manifold Magazine of New Poetry
Editor the late Vera Rich.
Editor’s note: Vera Rich is also published here at PLT
where you may also read the bio of her fascinating life
https://www.artvilla.com/plt/conformal-mapping-poem-sonnet-vera-rich1936-2009
 
 
 

 
Debashish is a machine learning scientist, who has been published in literary magazines several
times 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)

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Somewhere over. An Audio Textual Poem by Robin Ouzman Hislop


 

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. A translation from Spanish of poems by Guadalupe Grande Key of Mist and Carmen Crespo Tesserae, the award winning (X111 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

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

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Motifs. Poems by Gary Beck

&nbsp
Motifs is an unpublished poetry collection that looks at instances in the human experience Gary Beck
 
(i)
 
Hard Times
 
On many street corners
of my fair city
the homeless sit
resources exhausted,
the tattered cardboard signs
requesting aid
the last connection
between abandonment
and termination,
alternate options
totally expended.
 
(ii)
 
Sustained
 
I do not need
intimations of mortality,
my frailty so burdensome
I never forget
each day a miracle
of continuation,
for which I give thanks
that I can still function
and appreciate beauty,
weeping willow, Beethoven,
the wondrous creations
of man and nature
 
(iii)
 
First Contact
 
Several times daily
I look up at the sky
expecting an alien spaceship
to suddenly appear.
Logically it shouldn’t be
invaders or traders,
but eager explorers
urgent for discovery.
If we are fortunate,
their advanced technology
will stimulate our sciences
for rapid innovation,
so when the merchants and soldiers
arrive for the next visit
we are not as ill prepared
as primitive tribesmen
who were devoured
by Western appetites.
 
(iv)
 
Machine Learning IV
 
The latest business venture,
the Discreet Android Delivery Service,
satisfaction guaranteed,
all major credit cards accepted,
all languages spoken,
will open a new window
to A.I. profit.
Preliminary surveys
indicate a big market,
as long as the company controls
proprietorial software.
They’ve vowed great rewards
or dire punishment
to employees
to maintain secrecy.
Prospects are glittering
and to encourage clientele
corporate accounts welcome.
still enriching my life.
 
 
 
 

 
 
Gary Beck has spent most of his adult life as a theater director and worked as an art dealer when he couldn’t earn a living in the theater. He has also been a tennis pro, a ditch digger and a salvage diver. 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 and his published books include 26 poetry collections, 10 novels, 3 short story collections, 1 collection of essays and 1 collection of his one-act plays. Published poetry books include: Dawn in Cities, Assault on Nature, Songs of a Clerk, Civilized Ways, Displays, Perceptions, Fault Lines, Tremors, Perturbations, Rude Awakenings, The Remission of Order, Contusions and Desperate Seeker (Winter Goose Publishing. Forthcoming: Learning Curve and Ignition Point). Blossoms of Decay, Expectations, Blunt Force, Transitions, Mortal Coil and Temporal Dreams (Wordcatcher Publishing, Forthcoming: Redemption Value and Fractional Disorder). Earth Links and Too Harsh For Pastels (Cyberwit Publishing: Forthcoming: Severance). His novels include a series ‘Stand to Arms, Marines’: Call to Valor, Crumbling Ramparts and Raise High the Walls (Gnome on Pig Productions). Acts of Defiance, Flare Up and Still Defiant (Wordcatcher Publishing. Forthcoming: Until the Bell and Pirate Spring). Extreme Change will be published by Winter Goose Publishing. His short story collections include: A Glimpse of Youth (Sweatshoppe Publications). Now I Accuse and other stories (Winter Goose Publishing) Dogs Don’t Send Flowers and and other stories (Wordcatcher Publishing). The Republic of Dreams and other essays (Gnome on Pig Productions). The Big Match and other one act plays (Wordcatcher Publishing, Forthcoming: Collected Plays of Gary Beck Volume 1 and Four Plays by Moliere – Translated and Directed by Gary Beck)). Plays of Aristophanes will be published by Cyberwit Publishing. Gary lives in New York City.
 
 
 
 
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)

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ÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓ A Poem by Antonio Martínez Arboleda

                                                                         O
                                                                         O
                                                       I am not one Virus
                                                but                                as
                                                                        many        as
                                                                                Bodies
                                                                     and cells
                                                                             I inhabit
                                                                         O                                                                                                                               O
                                                                         O
                                                                 You assume 
                                                        I cannot             think
                                                    nor                                  feel
                                                     for                           Me
                                                                   and You
                                                                         O
                                                                         O
                                                                 My sorrow 
                                                         is                           constant
                                                   like                              the song
                                                       of                                   the Sailor
                                             who lost                                        the compass
                                                 and relies                                     on fate
                                                   to reach                        another Island
                                                       hopping                            through
                                                                  breaking in
                                                                         O
                                                                        OO
                                                                       OOO
                                                                I do not want 
                                                      to kill                       You
                                                                   honestly
                                                          but                   some
                                                                            times
                                                            things go wrong  
                                                                       OO
                                                                     OOO
                                                                   OOOO
                                                     We are damaged goods
                                  looking                                                     at each other
                                                                in the eye
                                                             like in a duel
                                              just                                    separated
                                                  by your protective glasses
                                                                and mask
                                                                  OOOO
                                                                OOOOO
                                                             OOOOOOO
                                                      Nature against Nature
                                  It will always                                 be a draw
                                                           OOOOOOOO
                                                      ÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓÓ


 

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 PaperbackGoddess 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)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                   

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