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David
Trinidad
The Ballad of Truman and Lee— The meter and rhyme give
this ballad a light-hearted veneer and subtle humor, just right
for the topic of fickle stardom, love and almost revenge.
One can imagine this lyric being in the repertoire of a folk
singer such as Bob Dylan.
Miss D. Smokes— In this poem, Trinidad employs repetition
quite well to display obsessive compulsive behavior. By the
end of the poem, the reader is left with no doubt that what is
important is, she and cigarette and that the
ash-trays are fuller than the life.
Coleen Shin
After a Fashion— The fashion in this poem is the loss and
sacrifice of rising and falling against a backdrop of war. Shin
employs language with a masterful stroke, as various sounds rise
and fall through her work. One is reminded of the
completeness of an ocean, the singularity of each wave.
Esteban Arellano
When the Spider Wails— Arellano's voice
here sings a passionate song of faith and knowledge. There
is a sense of place and belonging which sweeps the reader along in
the fast-moving waters of his words.
Happy Union & a Path to
Enlightenment — It is the year
of eternity and our protagonist contemplates the meaning of life as
it swooshes. Arellano again brings the reader, in this case into a
watering hole, with him.
Mark Hartenbach
valley of the bourgeois love dolls— Hartenbach's very
matter-of-fact, almost journalistic voice is an ideal match for
the subject of his poem. One can easily believe in his
business only bourgeois love dolls.
Jenni Russell
Sonnet Beast—A sense of abandonment both by the beast and
to the beast carries this poem. The beast itself is quite
believable as its antics closely parallel the behavior of an
untrained dog left alone in a house—one both marvels and is
appalled.
Stephen Hoadley
Costly Words—Hoadley's poem is in the style of Bukowski,
where the daily travails of life weigh heavily upon the
protagonist and yet, there is always art to fall back upon. One
does not prosper from it, but one finds it necessary. Note that
Hoadley turns on the radio in the end and not the television.
There is still that craving for creativity.
Robert Bohm
The Locust's Vocabulary, A Sequence—Bohm is a
story-teller, easily able to hold the reader's interest through
the eleven pieces of this sequence. His theme is that
strange mingling between the ancient and the new, where change
seems to be brought on by war and conflict—inevitable.
Mike Klumpp
Excursus Through Dream—The manner in which Klumpp presents his
images, the surprising twists which occur all convey well the
essence of dreams, that indistinct topography, that quicksand
reality.
Ron Androla
Wet Wrens—This is a poem where content and form find a
comfortable fit. Androla's protagonist, hung over, seems to
struggle for every word or thought, one small bit at a time.
If This Rain Never Stops—The daily aspects of life are
nicely wound into nature, in this case, rain, by Androla. There is
also a nice comparison of creativity and writing to rain and
growth in this poem.
Silvia A. Brandon-Perez
Banquet for One—As in many of Silvia's poems, food is a
central theme in this one. There is a great sense of family
dynamics also present, a sort of love/hate relationship for which
the arsenic becomes the ideal spice. Having sampled Silvia's
cooking one evening in 2000 on North Captiva, I can attest to the
fact that her cooking is as good as her poetry.
wake
without a corpse— The title sets up the idea of a death
or laying to rest of sorts; in this case perhaps of the poet's own
misconceived importance or "earthly strivings" as she
said herself. The details are wonderful and varied, from the
spiritual to languages and music. The poem moves from lofty
"stratospheric regions" to grounded "bananaraisin
breads" and is dissolved at last in Brazilian song.
Richard Denner
Contact—The move from litter to litter is well crafted
and Denner's point made quickly. One has a sense of Frost,
where man and nature seem at time to be at odds, each prone to
subtle encroachments.
Janet Buck
Creases in Fruit— Age and sharing play a central role in
the poem by Buck. There is also a strong sense of faith and
the will to go on.
Kathryn
Koromilas
Intervention—
A grown child looks at a photograph of her parents as a
youngcouple, muses about how her birth will change their
lives. The language is controlled yet magical, as is the
invoking of the narrator's presence in the room with her parents
before
conception willing "the tiny possibility of (herself) to move
forward".
R.D. McManes
Highway 75 Blue—
A poem about being a poet, this opens with a dreamy-eyed
description of the night, though the similes become ones of
longing and finally of resignation as the narrator realizes he may
not reach his goals. The piece is a nice mix of physical
details from the poet's evening and his emotional response to
them.
Dave Ruslander
The Totality Of Socially
Transmitted Behavior— The title is a traditional definition
of "culture", though the poem calls to mind the homeless
excluded or forgotten in our culture. As in much of Dave's
work, he uses an economy of words to create a compelling atmosphere; the reader becomes a part of this shadowed, lonely
world and at the end, is left with the feeling that he/she could
be a part of change.
Adriel
Hampton
The Big Lefty—
Adriel Hampton was offered a job in Tacoma for these essays. He
had to decline because The Big Lefty From San Francisco needs his
city. It’s part of his name.
Amanda
Miller Casandra— What if a machine could replace Clara Barton? Sure, you lose all that nurturing, sponge bath hope, and cleavage. But would the meds, phlebotomy, and cleaning be more consistent? Casandra is an essay about the interchange of social programs and medicine."
Silvia A. Brandon-Perez The Penultimate Frontier—
“Everything I am, everything I know, I owe to someone else.”
Einstein, Ideas and Opinions, 1936
Behold the visage of ninety-year-old heroes. From the gladstone roam to our tombstone home—Perez shows that the journey is never ended. The Penultimate Frontier is a perspective on youth.“
Melanie Anne Campbell
The Owner—“The Owner will be your friend. He will help you when everyone else is a hundred miles away. Melanie Ann
Campbell is a keeper. “
Brandon Clark
The Body Shop— “Walk. Pay. Enter. Detest and Kill. What Goes Around is the contrast: the contact sport of angry love. “
Kris Broughton
Buck Dance— Enjoy a Buck Dance as Mr. Oreo Doublestuff checks Joe’s shit. The noble skycap has to explain himself and the Italian woman thinks of rape-- bluebloods and philosophers abound. One reason to read: “Provoking.”
D. J.
Hebert Shooting Horse—Puts me in mind of the novel "Plainsong" with it's simplicity and lingering
impact. Great characters with a good feel to them. Best of all, I haven't read
it before. Totally new, totally entertaining.
Jim Amos
One Black Sock—What a surreal piece.. Nice descriptive scenes and word plays. Crazy
characters in a kaleidoscope scene. Just plain fun.
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