Tag Archives: art

Bone Orchard Poetry, a blogzine for working poets and writers

Bone Orchard Poetry is variously active on discussion sites and uses social-media well. This is what writers refer to as bloody good innovative web-use. Editor Michael McAloran keeps the blogzine brief in description, ‘ An explorative blogzine of the Bleak/ the Surreal/ the Dark/ Absurd and the Experimental. ‘ There you have it encapsulated in a single minimal statement, a blogzine dedicated to new writing that focuses on the actual work of  working writers.

I had been aware of Bone Orchard Poetry for a period of time. I decided to investigate it, and I submitted a single poem. Turns out a single poem isn’t enough. This is probably the best thing about Michael’s editorship of the Zine, I got an email back suggesting that a single poem submission doesn’t really tell the reader anything about the writer at all. He suggested I re-submit with a small grouping of poems. This I did. I sent a sequence based in a dream, actually based in the reality of a grief-experience. The poem initially had one extra verse, and there was a turn contained within that verse. I am still holding onto the original cycle in a folder, as I am very unsure of the turn issue in the poem.

Eamon Ceannt Park Cycle is based in a seven day walk through an unfamiliar/familiar park, in winter. This sequence does not always occur in waking reality, it is a dream-reality.  Maybe the rest is nightmare. I am adding a link to the entire sequence here, and a brief excerpt from ECPC(#III).

Eamon Ceannt Park Cycle

III.
There is a man in the stone.
.
The dew is playing fire at her feet,
wetting her legs.
.
A legion of rooks guard his stone.
.
© C. Murray
.

Go read the site, I note that Kit Fryatt is a contributor , she will be familiar to Poethead readers for her poems which I published here and here. I added the Bone Orchard Poetry link to Irish Poetry Imprints on my blogroll.

Other poet-contributors to Bone Orchard Poetry are, PD Lyons ,Luis Cuauhtemoc Berriozabal, Kevin Reid, Gillian Prew, John W. Sexton, Alyssa Nickerson, Craig Podmore, , Michelle Greenblatt, Heller Levinson, David Scott Pointer, Natasa Georgievska, Carolyn Srygley-Moore, Anthony Seidman, Aad de Gids and David McLean

Poems from Mindskin by Antonella Zagaroli

from Fan-Locked (2001-2004)

‘The sun embroiders the hinges on the door
Fan-locked

the woman with the curdled breast
mirrors the colours one by one
mortifies their harmony with blood between her thighs

She’s jealous of every new whim
kneads her tongue with hankerings for salt

Replies without eyes to a world in silence ‘

Fan-Locked is ©Antonella Zagaroli, this translation is ©Anamaría Crowe Seranno
‘A Ray. Wind on the waterfall

The rain doesn’t burst down
Slowly the grey ink gets closer,

exhausted in the whirlwind, from the white crest
a ventricle a womb an island is newly born
slides into the lake to gather itself, perspire

And there’s no downpour yet

The earth continues to spread out ‘Fan-Locked is ©Antonella Zagaroli, this translation is ©Anamaría Crowe Seranno

.

from Prose poetry from THE BLUE FOX (2002).Les Amoureux..

‘At the hour that rises between water and harvest yellow a seagull
glided over the robust net of the fisherman Anchise
It had come from far away with no break
Its wings had withered, salt had dissolved their strength
Only thanks to its ever vigilant eye had it entered the clearing of
sheaves.
Anchise at that time of day would pause to look at the sky and had
noticed the bird for the solemn and cautious way it hovered
So it seemed from the flight path and angle which set the bird
apart from others
It must have been the leader of a flock though not of seagulls, of
exotic migrants from beyond the waves . . . . . .

The bird touched the water as if stroking it
happy to be pulled along
dived through the surface and let go
exhausted it aimed at the highest cloud
labouring to maintain height
with its wings glistening blue from the sea
then whirled back towards land.
Anchise, the white and nimble guardian of everything around him,
gauged the elements of that sea orchestra.’

© Antonella Zagaroli , translation is © Anamaría Crowe Seranno

Antonella Zagaroli’s Mindskin is translated with an introductory essay by Anamaría Crowe Serrano. Thank so much to Antonella for the poems and for facilitating their publication on Poethead, which has just reached 100,000 hits. I  printed out the entire Mindskin .pdf file, and I have enjoyed every second of reading it. It was very generous of Antonella to allow me the  crops and I had a lovely time selecting pieces from her work for this blog. Thanks to Jen Matthews of SouthWord Publications for suggesting Antonella for my Poet in Translation.

About Mindskin

‘Poetry, Bilingual Edition. Translated from the Italian and introduced by Anamaría Crowe Serrano. Antonella Zagaroli is a poetic phenomenon. She writes prolifically, applies poetry to psychological studies, runs poetic workshops and organizes poetry, art and awareness events in health-care centers, schools and libraries. Her work is fluid and constantly evolving. Mindskin offers a generous selection from two collections of poetry (La maschera della Gioconda/The Gioconda’s Mask and Serrata a ventagli/Fan-locked), a volume of prose poems (La volpe blu/The Blue Fox) and an epic poem (Vinera minima/Minimal Venus).’

(http://www.spdbooks.org/Producte/9780982384978/mindskin-a-selection-of-poems-19852010-.aspx

Related Links

And Other Poems

This is a brief note about the And Other Poems blog which is owned and written by Josephine Corcoran. What a breath of fresh air the blog is, judging by contemporary availability of good poetry (and critique). To say that poetry is sorely neglected in the face of market-forces is a wild understatement, but more polemic anon.

“And Other Poems is simply a quiet, uncluttered place to read poems by different writers posted by Josephine Corcoran. The blog’s aim is to give readership to poems which would not otherwise be available, for instance poems no longer elsewhere online, out of print poems, poems published in print but not online, and new, unpublished poems by established writers. Poets have given permission for their work to be featured and copyrights remain with the poets.”

I had been seeing some of Josephine’s link on Twitter for a period of time, and as always was gladdened to see the advent of blogs and websites dedicated to the reader of poetry. Quite a few blogs and websites deal in modern and contemporary poetry in all its wonderful variety. Whilst some people may look on this avant-gardeism as a niche-activity, it is important that the poetry-reader can access all types of poetic-writing. It has been a while since I looked at how poets use online tools to disseminate literature  but I see a radical improvement and diversification in the area. Josephine knows her poetry which is excellent for her readers. I recommend a perusal of her blog and of  her list of poets which is wonderfully diverse. I am adding here the And Other Poems index , and of course a link to my poem i and the village (after Marc Chagall) which she kindly published on 11/09/2012.

I have never presumed that poetics are a niche-activity , but that a wholly conservative approach to critique combined with a mechanistic desire to advance contemporary fiction book-sales dominate newspaper editorials/reviews,  at least in Ireland. The fact that many readers seek poetics through varieties of means, combined with news that 30,000 people signed up to PENN State’s Modern and Contemporary Poetry Course in 2012  would suggest that market-forces are just wrong. Or actually repellent !  Editors would rather clever women review silly books, than look at poetry or actual literature.  If  poetry readers seek adequate reviews of women authors and their books they must look elsewhere than the media, hence the blogs, the small presses, the literary journals and forums dedicated to poetry.

There is a list of blogs and websites dedicated to poetry on the right sidebar of this site. Links to And Other Poems are embedded in this post and given below :

Irish Poetry Imprints (Online and Print)

‘The Storm’ , by Rainbow Reed

The Storm

“On granite rock,
The woman sat.
Damp hair trickled down her back,
Azure highlights glimmering,
Golden curls shimmering.
Seaweed sparkled; waving wildly
White foam horses rear and pound,
Surging through the rocky mound.
Crashing against the sleeping stone.
Woman sits and
Stares alone.
 
Black cloud glares,
Fog horn blares,
Lightning screams across the sky.
Green eyes pierce through crushing waves,
As raging waters tumble by,
Swirling through the hidden reef.
Sharp fanged rocks, lurk just beneath.
Hungry for their prey….
 
Fisherman caught
In the storm.
Spies cast off lover all forlorn.
His heart pounds with fear and shock,
Demon lover clinging to demon rock,
Soaked in sea spray but shining still
Fisherman feels a surging thrill,
Pulls rudder across hard and fast,
Sails moan and flap against the mast.
Fishing boat thrown up and down,
Fishermans’ face creased with frown.
 
Woman sits in silence
Undertones of
Violence.
Green eyes glowing at her lovers face,
Thinking of happier times and place.
These eyes melt his heart of stone,
How could he have left her all alone?
Fishing boat drops from wave on high,
For a minute caught, seeming to fly.
Then falls and smashes into the foam,
Broken, drifting forever to roam.
 
Woman smiles and sings her song,
Waiting for another to come along….”

By Rainbow Reed ©2009  http://wickedpoetry.jigsy.com/AboutUs

Thanks to Rainbow  for the poem and the site-link. This is the fourth poem in the Poethead  New Poetry category. These women writers are mostly published poets who use blogs and multimedia to publish their works. Each writer has allowed me to choose one or two poems for this blog. The poetry comes with a blog or website link to their work and sometimes an image or a bio. Poets published in this category are Teresa Edmond, Brittany Hill , Rainbow Reed and Kitt Fryatt. I would also include some pre-publication tasters by Sarah Clancy and one or two of my own about to be published poems here too.

Experimenting with new poetry on poethead

I  have decided to inaugurate a new poetry section on the blog, which will be happening on the first Saturday of every month in the saturday woman poet category of Poethead. The first poem, Nine, by Brittany Hill will be followed in March by another poet-blogger’s work. I hope to keep this up until summer , when I will revise and decide whether to continue the section. The rest of the month’s posts  will be  of the usual blogging and book-talk for those readers who are interested in poetry, and in reading the work and themes of women poets. Thanks to my brave volunteers who have offered their works for the New Poetry space. I may also publish some poetic prose or short pieces of prose, as I have some pieces that are currently homeless.

As I decided to start with poet-bloggers , I’d like to invite anyone who is interested in sharing blog-links or contributing a poem to just add their name in comments. My email contact is c(dot)elizabethmurray(at)gmail(dot)com. I am adding this post to google+ and Facebook. This is an experiment, and I hope to try it for a period of a few months before deciding to retain it wholly.

 February’s poet is Brittany Hill , Nine , by Brittany Hill