Ecrivain01• Show poetry

Eureka. Zayra Yves has her first cd, and it's amazing. Go check it out:

cdbaby.com/cd/zayrayves




Check her out.



DUE TO POOR HEALTH, I WON'T BE POSTING MUCH HERE. MY HEALTH IS PRECARIOUS AND NOT GETTING ANY BETTER. ANYWAY, THANKS FOR ALL THE KIND THOUGHTS AND WORDS FROM ALL OF YOU. I WILL LIKELY BE ON HIATUS FROM SEPTEMBER 30TH ON. I WILL RETURN WHEN AND IF I CAN.



I have confirmation that The Asylum for your Soul Hour
will air each Tuesday night on Whistle Radio 102.7 on the FM dial, and online at 7p.m. Eastern time.

To see the Whistle radio announcement and to listen to the show live this
Tuesday click on the link below you will see the announcement of the show
and can click more to read all about it,,,

http://www.whistleradio.com/

as well to listen to the show live over the internet click on the link
below, and in the top left corner you will see Listen Live click on this
link to listen to Whistle Radio live through your computer and to The Asylum
for Your Soul Hour, with poetry, short stories, interviews from the members
of Soul Asylum Poetry, as well as a mix of music from up and coming
independent artists.

http://www.whistleradio.com/


We will
be having interviews on future shows as well as phone in interviews, and
when we do our live shows in studio we can have live musical guests
too.



For all of the meter freaks, see what happens when you don't stick to strict meter:



Silver by Walter de la Mare


Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon;
This way, and that, she peers, and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep
Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep;
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws and a silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream.


and here's what Micol said about it.


One of my professors, several centuries ago at least, gave a lecture one day arguing that almost all iambic pentametric lines in English can be legitimately read in a floating-four-stress, regardless of additional unstressed syllables. It was, he said, a holdover from the Anglo-Saxon alliterative four-stress line.

I can't guarantee that last, but he's right about the former. Shakespeare's Sonnet 73 works just as well read "that TIME of YEAR thou may'st in ME beHOLD," etc., as it does the metronomic "that TIME of YEAR thou MAYST in ME beHOLD."

De la Mare's first line might then read "SLOWly, SIently, NOW the MOON."

I have a book called METER IN ENGLISH (sorry, can't remember the author), in which a dozen or so poet/critics, all well respected, were asked to scan five or six lines by Frost. Not two of them agreed. Most didn't even agree on the number of stresses in each line. But all argued vehemently that the passage was definitely metrical.

Makes for a lot of interesting gamesmanship.

Also, J.R. McClatchy, Editor of the Yale Review, advocates "smudged" sonnets, villanelles and pantoums. He says that the variation in the lines improves the poem's readability. Naturally, I agree with him.


As to me and my poetry:

I write mostly rhymed verse, sonnets, villanelles, and rhymed couplets. I have been in the Writer's Digest top 100 in 3 categories, rhymed and unrhymed verse and the literary short story. I am in Who's Who In America and Who's Who In The World as well as in the Directory of American Poets and Fiction Writers. I am a 7 year ex-newsletter editor for DAWN. I write all kinds of poetry, including science fiction. I am the Resource Editor for SONNETTO POESIA, and am always interested in sonnets and those who write them. I am a resident poet on Poetry Life & Times:

http://www.poetrylifeandtimes.com/current.html

I am tone deaf and was told at an early age that I couldn't sing (which is a lie) and that I couldn't write traditional poetry because I can't hear the stresses in the lines. I am happy to say that that is also a canard, and I write rhymed poems very well, thank you very much.

If anybody is interested in signing the guestbook on my website against genocide, the url is:

www.voicesfora frica.homestea d.com/index.ht ml

and here is another laudable site:

http://poetsforhumanrights.ning.com/

If you care about human rights, check it out.

Also:

If you write sonnets, this is a must read for you:

http://vallancereviewcanada.homestead.com/vr62summer2007.html




For those of you who have given up on writing good poems because the people on here only appreciate sappy, sentimental ones, here's an instant message I got from Truembrace:



I find that I don't get a lot of replies on the better works I write. Mary Cat reassured me a few weeks ago that it has nothing to do with the quality of the write. Moreso, it has to do with having the ability to study the write. I think many on here (no offense to them as it is my mere opinion) have the need to have or want poems to be "dumbed down" as I call it. The themes that are most spoon fed are those that seem to receive trophies moreso than those that inspire thoughts outside of an entirely passive forum.

If you were to write about how you lost your dog, the broken heart you've been harboring since high school or how your mother slapped you around, I'm sure you'd get more compliments. Then again, do you imagine Picasso drawing with a crayon just to receive the applause of kindergarteners? I think not.

Stay true to yourself and keep the respect of those that see beyond spoon feeding. It's up to a reader to grow a bit... to mature some if they really want to grow as a person and/ or artist. It's not up to us to regress in order to satisfy the masses.

Was that my soap box or what?


Food for thought, eh?

Keep writing and keep on truckin'


If you haven't seen this, it's time you did:



Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1927 originally. Here's the url for
an article on Wikipedia in case you are interested.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiderata


=======