EAP Journal #1 Official Book Release

 

 

Today is the day! The Edgar Allan Poet Journal #1 is now available for viewing free online & NOW IN PRINT ON AMAZON! This full color 8.5 x 11 collective of poetry, prose & short stories is published in tribute to the writers of wwwEdgarAllanPoet.com & the evolution of Edgar & Lenore's Publishing House.

Contributors Include:

Aunia Kahn, *Barbara Moore, Bill Friday, Cedric Drake, Dan Capriotti, Danny Baker, *David McIntire, Dom Gabrielli *E.L. Freifeld, Echoe Paul, Francesca Castaño, Gloria Wimberley, Greg Patrick, Ian Lennart Surraville, Jessica Ceballos, Jhon Baker, JR Phillips, Katie Bickell, *Lois Michal Unger, Marie Lecrivain, *Martin Willitts Jr., Michael Wayne Holland, Neil McCarthy, Niall Rasputin, Rich Follett, *Rick Stepp-Bolling, Samantha Ledger, Stephanie Bryant Anderson, Susan Botich, Thomas Kent, *Tim Buck, *William Crawford.

(*) EAP 2013 Award Nominees

TO PURCHASE:

AMAZON

TO VIEW FREE ONLINE:
EAP Journal #1 Official Webpage

The Risks of Plagiarism in the Internet Age

Online Plagiarism is a genuine concern for writers in this modern internet age. If you pour yourself into your work, then share it with the world via the internet, how can you ensure that that work is protected? How do you prevent your work being plagiarized?

Is Copyright Enough?
If you’re a creative professional then having an online portfolio is a key way of sharing your work with others, and marketing it to potential clients. But if your work is online it could be tempting for someone else to try to copy it and claim it as their own. So what can you do to protect your work? Well firstly, you need to know that no matter where you place your work online, unless you sign a document giving away your rights to it, the copyright to that work will always be yours. Copyright gives you the right to control your work , so make sure that you place your name and a copyright statement on every piece of work you publish online. However, of course, simply seeing that copyright statement or logo wouldn’t prevent an unscrupulous character from lifting your work. Other practical steps you can take are to place a watermark over any images you publish to accompany your writing (so no one can use them without citing you and your work). Finally if you discover someone copying your work then the best thing you can do is send them a friendly but firm email asking them to remove your copied work from their site. If this doesn’t work then the Digital Millennium Copyright Act contains a cease and desist notice you can send to the offender. Finally, if you’re still having no luck getting your work removed from someone else site or cited as your own, a letter from a lawyer might be enough to scare them into action, as a final step.

Plagiarism and School
Plagiarism is the biggest concern for those writing for the educational sector. If you write on a subject that will be of interest to college students then it’s likely your work might be plagiarized. School pupils are often told that plagiarism or ‘copying’ work they find online is cheating and unethical. And there is a lot of grey area in the world of online plagiarism too: is lifting two or three sentences from an essay you find online plagiarism, if you fit it into a 12 page paper plagiarism? To many colleges it is. And no doubt to you, the author that worked so hard to create the original work, it is too! For this reason there are often investigations into the practice of buying essays or reports online. If you want to write online to earn some extra money, never reply to ads asking for writers to write college papers for students: this plagiarism is unethical and could affect the future college careers of those you are writing for. 

Avoid Plagiarism
It’s often said that nothing is new in the creative arts any more. If you have an idea, it’s likely that someone has already had that very same idea already. So how can you avoid plagiarism, both intentional and unintentional, in your own work? Firstly, start each new writing day afresh: if you have been reading just before you start writing, especially if you have been reading works by authors whose topics or styles are similar to your own, then it’s likely that you could subconsciously slip words or phrases that aren’t your own into your piece. Finally don’t forget that there are now a very sophisticated range of online plagiarism detection tools available online: if in doubt about the true originality of your work (or somebody else’s work!)then you could always run it through an online plagiarism detection tool for extra piece of mind that the work you are so proud of really and truly is your own.

Top Online Plagiarism Checkers

Mashable

Grammarly


Written by Claire Baines

Maintaining Focus when Writing

It is a problem experienced by the best of writers at one time or another: struggling to focus on your writing because of external distractions. Do you always have just one more email you’d like to reply to before you start writing? Need to get the kids their dinner or help them with their homework? Want to make sure your stationary cupboard is fully stocked? There are so many reasons not to buckle down and get on with the business of writing! If this sounds like you then here are a few tips for focusing on your writing and getting your work back on track:

Set a Writing Schedule!

It’s important to see your creative writing as a job and the best way to do that is to set yourself daily deadlines, just like you would in an office environment! How you organize these deadlines is up to you: what’s important is that you set them, achieve them, and they are realistic. Some writers like to set themselves daily word counts: for example, they must write 1,000 words a day. Other writers prefer to focus on quality rather than quantities of work produced and instead try to work solidly for certain chunks of time instead: you must sit at your desk for two hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon, for example. It doesn’t matter what targets you set, just set them and stick to them!

Stay hydrated and avoid alcohol

The list of writers who have struggled with alcoholism during the course of their career is seemingly endless. Raymond Chandler abused alcohol for the entire duration of his writing career. Welsh poet Dylan Thomas spent much of his career boasting about his drinking and his health deteriorated rapidly towards the end of his life due to this vice. He ultimately slipped into a coma whilst drinking to celebrate his 39^th birthday and died four days later. Finally Edgar Allan Poe died at the young age of just 40, and his unexplained death has been attributed in turn to a mix of alcoholism, drugs, cholera, and tuberculosis. Although all of these writers had huge success during their careers, of course, there is no glorifying drinking as you write. There is no merit to drinking simply due to the ill-conceived idea that it might contribute to your art. If you do feel you are drinking too much during the writing process then seek help before the problem escalates too much. You can find support wherever you are from Florida alcoholic help, to New York rehabilitation centers. Don’t be tempted to reach for a beer or a glass of wine whilst you’re working, but do keep hydrated. Being properly hydrated will actually help to increase your concentration. Water makes up approximately 60% of your body mass and about 80% of your brain, so it makes sense that drinking it will add to your brain power!!  Keep a jug of water on your desk as you work, and get into the habit of sipping throughout the day.

Create the Perfect Work Environment

Working on your laptop whilst curled up on your sofa might feel comfy, but it certainly won’t aid your productivity! If you want to work smart then work at a desk: preferably in an office or a separate room away from the hustle and bustle of family life. If that’s not possible (if your desk is in your living room for example) then ensure that you turn the TV, radio, or any other stimulus off whilst you’re trying to wrote. Listening to Oprah might be a pleasant way to spend the afternoon, but it won't help your work! Keep your working environment tidy and clutter free; after all, having a tidy space is conductive to having a tidy mind. Finally, avoid the lure of the writers favorite haunt: the coffee shop. Working in a coffee shop with your laptop and a latte may make you feel like a ‘real writer’ but it certainly won’t aid your word count! The people-watching opportunities in a coffee shop are endless, and it’s far more exciting to see what’s going on around you than it is to edit that final chapter. Stay at home and increase your productivity instead! 

Written by Claire Baines

INTERVIEW WITH RAINDOG OF LUMMOX PRESS

1. As a poet what do you look for in "good" poetry? What must a poem have in
order to draw you in? On the contrary, what are the deal breakers for you? Does this perspective change at all when your publishing hat is on?

Oddly, I never seem to take my "poet" hat off. I think that my editing hat is so laden
down with thousands of poems that I have read or skimmed over or even glanced at (as if I could absorb the material by waving my hand over it) over the past forty years, of which I have spent the past twenty years earnestly pursuing some sort of "career" or modest hobby.

As to a "good" poem? Well, a great poem gives me the willies...literally: goose bumps. But a good poem gives me an "Aha!" Sometimes, it's not even the whole poem, sometimes it's a line or two, or a clever use of metaphor or a "heartfelt" reference (a line that touches me on an emotional level). Poetry, the writing of it, is personal and to some degree is an outlet. Some call it therapy, but while it might be therapeutic, it's rarely therapy for me. It's more like a cleansing. I often think that my role as a poet is "to observe and report" (just as my job as a publisher is to present the material as clearly as possible, with as much respect to the work, the poet and the reader as possible -- not too lofty of a goal, is it?).

But back to the question. As to deal breakers...I'm not too keen on rhyming poetry (too often there's no or an odd meter to so-called rhyming poetry these days). If it's well-written, though, I'll give it a shot (Doris Vernon co-wrote a chapbook of sarcastic limericks called Leaves of Sass which I thought was hilarious!). Let's see, I'm not too crazy about long poems (even though I've written a few myself - one was 15,147 words long); or poems that have a lot of image shifts or metaphor; oh, and I like poems that are easy to read and understand, so, no Mensa level conceptual poems for me. Finally, I'm not fond of "concrete" poems or poems that are centered on a page. That kinda stuff is just too cute for me.

Here's the deal, I never received any formal training for this. It's all been trial and

error. And I think my taste in poetry has evolved over the years, so what I like and dislike is constantly in flux. I like poems that appear to be real, and by real I mean honest and from the heart. That may be old-fashioned or outdated... too bad then. I don't like poems I can't understand. This is not an ageist thing because I have read bad poems by both young and old, same is true for good poems.

2. What are some of the projects you have worked on throughout your writing
history that make you the most proud? Why?
 

That's a hard one to answer, since I've been proud of most everything I've done.

There's been a few anthologies that I'm really happy with (proud?), like the anthology of Bukowski-esque writers I revised and re-published in 2011 (Last Call: the Bukowski Continues) or the collection of writers influenced by Todd Moore (Working the Wreckage of the American Poem). I think I'm most proud of LUMMOX #1, my new annual poetry anthology/magazine that I just published in Nov. of last year. It has over 200 poets between its covers; from all over the United States, Canada, The UK, India and Nigeria.

I'm proud that I have published over 100 titles by a variety of underground / small press poets over the past 18 years, not to mention the 105 issues of the Lummox Journal (a monthly Lit/Arts zine). Regrettably, all these accomplishments have gone pretty much unnoticed. It's hard to imagine that there could be a "mainstream" small / underground press, but apparently there is...and my "empire" exists in one of the backwater bays off this mainstream.

But I never got into this for the glory of recognition...just like I never got into

poetry 'cause I heard it was such a panty dropper. Someday, I'll get tired of it all and quit (or just drop dead), and when that happens, chances are nobody will take notice (maybe someday someone will stumble onto my work and say, hey, check this out). But than likely it'll end up in the dump or be recycled and made into egg cartons. Until that day comes I'll keep slogging away.

3. What future projects do you have imminent?

I'm currently trying to "clear the decks" of all the books I've been trying to get to

over the past 2 years. And I also am getting ready for the onslaught that is the next LUMMOX #2. And, I'd like to start working on 'my' next book; something I've been working on in my head for the past couple of years. Publishing other people's poetry kinda kills my creative drive. There's so much creative writing that goes along with the promotion of a new book, that it takes away from other forms of creativity. I don't think too many people think about this. These days my greatest forum of creativity, besides publishing, is my vegetable garden...

4. You recently released a thick collection of literature LUMMOX. Which I understand is the 1st collection in awhile. What made you decide to resurrect the issue again?


Boredom. Things weren't moving/selling too fast and I remembered how the little Lit zine I used to put out (monthly for 8 years and bi-monthly for 3 more) had a pretty loyal audience of about 150 subscribers; and I thought that I'd give it another try, seeing as how it was a steady source of income. Of course I wasn't living off that income either like I did for a couple of months last year. But, I'd like to make this a yearly publication...w/ subscribers and maybe even a few universities involved as well (I think it's an excellent source for small press & underground poetry as well as some interesting essays on the subject).

5. Where can we get our hands on LUMMOX?


You can order it directly from the publisher and save about $10 at
www.lummoxpress.com/journal.html

Or via Small Press Distribution at
http://www.spdbooks.org/Search/Default.aspx?PublisherName=Lummox%20Press

You can also ask your local indie bookstore to order a copy from SPD...
Or as a last resort, via Amazon at
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1929878389/

Or get on my email list <poetraindog@gmail.com> and I'll let you know where I'm reading next and you can get it right there!

6. What is behind the name LUMMOX?


Well, if you look it up in the dictionary, you'll see that it is a big, slow, clumsy person.
That definition is especially true of me these days! But I may be big and slow and a bit
on the dim side, I still get the job done (it just might take a while)!

7. What are the biggest challenges small press publishing faces? Can you offer any insight on the topic?

Well, there are two problem areas because the small press has a subset of presses that
exist but are too small to be considered "small" and these are the micro presses. For the most part, Lummox Press exists in the realm of the micro press; though there are times when it has eased up into the small press range. Basically, if you sell less than 100 copies of a title, you are considered 'micro'. Lummox #1 is allowing me bragging rights as a 'small' press...it has sold nearly 175 copies.

Okay. So the main problem I can see is EXPOSURE. There are so many small/micro presses these days. When I started, in 1994, there weren't that many presses (at least I wasn't aware of them at the time). But since the explosion that was the Internet, presses have also exploded! There is so much competition these days that it is very hard to keep the name Lummox Press high enough above the crowd so as to be "exposed".

I have no insights to offer other than the fact that "slow and steady" seems to get the job done. I'm not savvy enough to work the internet, FB, Twitter or whatever the next "new" method is. I use emails and I rely on word of mouth and I am

CONTINUALLY disappointed by the general lack of interest in anything smacking of 'thoughtful'. Seems like what's popular these days is vapid or "humorous" gossentary (gossip & commentary). I picked poetry as my genre and it does tend to be dark or thoughtful or sometimes humorous. But I just don't get this need to be kitchy all the time...tra la la la la my ass!

8. What are the benefits of small press publishing?


None. If you mean Small Press vrs large press, then the chances of getting published
are greater (in the small press). As we all know, the publishing industry is going through a huge makeover...everyone is wondering if the E-book will do to the Publishers what the CD did to the Record Industry. Will people stop reading? Based on some of the badly written drivel I've seen available on Amazon, it might not be a bad idea!

No, the question you should be asking is: What are the benefits of "self" publishing? Lummox Press was pretty much born out of my need for published works and my dissatisfaction with what was available to me. It was a case of "if you don't like the way it's being done, then do it yourself" which I did. I started a chapbook series called The Little Red Books (of which I published 61 titles, 12 of which were my own work); I started my own Lit/Arts mag (which ran for 11 years; 105 issues); and my current group of 6 X 9 inch paperbacks (31 titles and counting of which 5 are my own work)...and EACH series was started because some editor or publisher told me essentially "if you don't like it, etc." - which I did!

Self-publishing isn't hard. The hardest thing about it is that YOU have to be a tough editor (or have access to one), a savvy designer (or have access to one), and be able to market your own book like crazy! Actually, that last one applies to being published in the small, medium and large presses too. Nobody, repeat, NOBODY is going to market your book as well as you do. This is almost always the reason I am disappointed by the failure of a good book to sell. 9 times out of 10 the poet drops the ball and doesn't push their book. This is why small presses often want you to presell a title, too make sure you have a market. If you don't sell enough, then they won't publish your book...it is a business after all!

At least with self-publishing, you know who's at fault if your "great American novel" doesn't move. And like Vanity publishing (or publishing in general) , a whole industry has arisen to "help" you get your 'masterpiece' ready for publication, self or otherwise.

While I think most of it is a scam designed to separate you from your money, there are some legitimate benefits to "workshopping" your poetry or writing, or finding a good editor to help you out. But buyer beware...there are lots of scammers out their! Ask around, do some research on a potential "mentor" and never, ever contract someone using an "oral" agreement. Always get it in writing! I've heard horror stories (and I don't even like to use contracts)!

9. Do you have any writing resources to share with writers intent on getting their work published? Any "To Do’s" and/or "To Don’ts"?


See previous question.

10. In the writing world do you think poetry or other forms of literature have an advantage over the other or do you feel it is a balanced market?


This is a joke, right? Poetry is the bastard orphan child of literature. I've been

admonished for taking it on as my chosen genre, any number of times because it is "a niche market, within the slightly larger niche of modern literature!" In other words, it's a blip on the radar screen of literature.

Now if you want to talk about Spoken Word or Slam poetry, then you are moving into an artform which can be quite entertaining. Of course, Slam poetry rarely looks like a poem...it looks more like a script.

11. Which writers inspire you the most? Can you share a poem or two with us?


I cut my teeth on Charles Bukowski, Carl Sandberg, Kahlil Gibran and Larry Feringhetti. But that was ages ago, Though Buk still holds up pretty well. But there are so many "modern" poets that I have met through the internet or through my press that it would be hard to pick out one or two who have inspired me. But I'll give it a try. Here is the title poem from an upcoming poetry collection by Kyle Laws (of Colorado):

WILDWOOD

I get on the El in North Philadelphia,
not far from Tulip Street
where Father died by
the posts of the ramps
to the Tacony Palmyra Bridge.
I sway with the clickety-clack of
the car pushing & pulling on the tracks
between closed windows
in the second story brick.

I want a woman with dark brown hair
to open one of those windows,
lean out with her breasts
brushing the fire escape,
and hand me a flower.
I want papaya & mango juice served
by the young man sitting next to me.
I want Miami in April,
and Wildwood in August.
I want Elvis on South Street,
and a big long car heading for New Orleans.
I want branches of magnolia
through an open window of
the St. Charles Street trolley,
cooked seafood in the hot wind,
and lips under the cream awning
of the Avenue Cafe.
I want to watch green grow under the door

of shotgun houses,
what pierces right through
and holds you there,
Jesse still in Tupelo.

I still want to be held in that way,
with mussels & oysters in the air,
to be wrapped in black shutters,
my hair flowing up a fire escape
to a Mansard roof,
a woman at the top of stairs
handing me a sweet southern rose.

I want tulips in North Philadelphia,
and the rhythm of the El
as it holds me between freeze-frames
of lovers in windows.
I want the reach of blue shell crabs
over the rim of a dented pot
as they are dropped into boiling water.
I want butter dripping down my chin
as I break open the shell.
I want Scott paper napkins
piled up beside my elbows on
a red checked tablecloth.
I want to ride in a convertible
down the curves of Fulling Mill Road.
I want the carousel and Ferris Wheel,
the tunnel of love and roller coaster.
I want the Days of Wine and Roses
at the Strand Theatre,
The Platters and Chuck Berry.
I want clams on the half shell and
crab sandwiches at the Shamrock Bar.
I want Wildwood,
the sweet Wildwood of my youth.

Kyle Laws © 2013

And here's one by BC Petrakos:

In Part

The part of me that is missing
Was funny
Quick witted
Open minded
Laughed and believed
The part of me that is missing

Was hopeful
Honest
Kind
That piece
Taken in midnight's violent stupidity
By selfish strangers
Scoring the road in blood-drenched escape route
Taken in silence lonely howl
That piece
Waits for me with lions and lambs
Explains mysteries
Says look again
The clock
Is not king
The pain a new door
Open it at risk
Always at risk

BC Petrakos © 2013

Both of these are from LUMMOX #1 which is also a great way to see a cross-section of
what I like (mostly).

12. Writers are a persnickety bunch… Many writers can revise the same piece a
thousand times a still not be fully satisfied.
Please tell us a little something about your writing method and how you know when
a piece is finished.


As I said, I have not had any formal training to be a poet or a publisher, so
my "technique" is pretty strange. I usually write a poem when the poem is just busting to come out. It's a lot like defecating (on so many levels!) I hardly ever edit my work! I've never gone to a workshop or a seminar. I don't know what a Pantoon or a Sestina is. I just put the lines down the left side of the page... I'll alter it if the language doesn't read right out loud; or I'll change it if I'm transcribing it from paper to document file. My current catalog of poems and short stories are all written and stored in my computer, but I have others that were written in journals that I have yet to transcribe.

In short, I don't really know what I'm doing. It's a miracle that my poems speak to anyone!

Interview by Apryl Skies

www.EdgarAllanPoet.com

Author Interview: Radomir Vojtech Luza

RADOMIR VOJTECH LUZA

What are your goals/hopes for the poetry community in the future?

• My goals and hopes for the poetry community are that there will be a coming-together, a lack of egos of sorts. That the poetry, the work will come first not how many books a poet has or how many times he or she has been featured. There are no elite poets, just poets. Too often I have seen certain poets get preferential treatment simply because of their names. That is wrong. I believe with my whole heart and soul that the Los Angeles poetry community can be or is the strongest in the country. We have the potential here to produce wonderfully-talented poets. We have already proven that we can. We must simply trust our gut, our instincts and go where nature leads us. Like the Beatles said, "Let it be."

What are your personal goals as a writer?

• I want to keep writing and publishing books and recording spoken word CD's and touching and moving people. That is what art, and especially poetry, is all about. I would like a more personal relationship with this city which I have a love-hate relationship with. I would also like to learn more about God and love and incorporate them into my work more intensely. Metaphysics and philosophy, I would hope, will play a larger part in my work in the future, as will sports, romance and just what it means to be human. After all, what else is there? But most importantly, I want to get to know myself better and improve myself through my poetry and art.

How many books do you have available and how can we get our hands on a copy?

• Unfortunately, I only have four books right now that you can get your hands on through Publish America.
• 1. "Starving Swallows"
• 2. "The Last Collection"
• 3. "The Fourth Nuthouse In September"
• 4. "The Cafe Latte Tapes"
• The rest all perished in my move to Los Angeles. It almost killed me. I ended-up walking a small wheeled luggage around skid row for ten days and sleeping in shelters, bus stations, buses and subways and did not think about much more than survival. I have single copies of three or four other books, but that is it. Fortunately, I have four spoken word CD's set to music that you can also get your hands on through Amazon.com.
• 1. "Straight Outta NOHO: Incomplete"
• 2. "Nothing Water"
• 3. "In The Dark Of Morn: A Poetic Journey Towards Love"
• 4. "The Forking Road: A Poetic Symphony In Four Parts" (The Yellow Album)
• And if you want to see me in action go on YouTube and type in RADOMIR VOJTECH LUZA.

What exciting new ventures do you have for the near future?

• On November 24th at 7pm I am reading with a lot of other poets as part of the new Lummox Magazine reading. I am honored and proud to have two of my poems included in the new collection. On November 30th from 5pm-9pm I am reading poetry and hosting the First Annual Midtown North Hollywood Neighborhood Council Arts District Holiday Open House. On December 1st from 3:45pm-5:45pm I co-organize and host UNBUCKLED: NOHO POETRY at T. U. Studios at 10943 Camarillo Street in North Hollywood (Behind Odyssey Video) (Off Vineland). (FIRST SATURDAYS). On December 15th I am reading a children's poem at the MTNHNC Christmas Event. On December 20th I read from Lummox Magazine again at Mari's Wine Bar in Downey, CA. And on January 2nd I am resuming my stand-up comedy career after five years in retirement at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank at 8pm. I previously performed at some of the major clubs across the country for 20 years.

Who are your favorite contemporary poets and why?

• I really don't have any favorite contemporary poets, but William Shakespeare's poetry has always spoken to me. Its depth, passion and dramatic nature have a place in my soul of souls, my yellow little heart. As a union actor (SAG, Actors Equity Association) I have never read work which understands and comprehends human nature as well as the Shake. The other poet I admire, and many do not, because she is misunderstood, is Sylvia Plath. Not only did she have the courage to roar when many women were silenced or afraid, but her poetry was so very alive despite the way her life ended. I am reading "Ariel," the last thing she wrote before killing herself, and it is so full of vivid imagery and heartfelt ardour that sometimes I can't read it anymore. It also scares the shit out of me because it is so midnight dark. So full of focus. Such a beautiful disaster. Such a way out.

Los Angeles is saturated with so many talented artists and writers. What do you think makes one stand out in the crowd?

• I think one who is not selfish or egotistical. A poet, be it man or woman, who thinks of the work before himself or herself. Who loves art and understands the importance of it especially in today's society. Civilization was built on art, on poetry, on oratory. In America today the arts are the first thing cut, and among the arts, poetry is the first thing to go. We can't go on like that. We just can't. We are shooting ourselves in the soul. We must find a way to fund the arts, to fund the written and spoken word, to give kids in grammar and high school who want to be writers and poets an alley, an avenue, a boulevard to that end. We don't want them saying, "I can't follow my goal because there is no security or money in it." We have to get away from the idea that athletic scholarships, which are wonderful, are nonetheless the only way to get into college. We need more scholarships and grants in the arts and particularly in poetry and english. We need corporations, which are made of people, to hire arts and english and creative writing majors. So to answer the initial question, a poet, an artist who loves the city, and understands that it is not just about show business and the Oscars, but feels a duty, an obligation to make a mark on society with his or her work because it matters, it simply is too important not to risk your life on. A warrior, an indian chief.

What advice or wisdom do you have to offer the Los Angeles poetry community?

• To keep on doing what they're doing: loving the written and spoken word. To not be impressed with the tall buildings going up downtown or the music clubs on the Sunset Strip, but to concentrate on what matters: writing the best poetry you can without putting stuff in the way that distracts you or completely changes you. I know darkness. I am bipolar. I have been in four mental hospitals. And I know that the cliche is true. It isn't how you react when you are faced with success, it is how you react when you are down, on the rocks. I have lifted myself out of suicidal depression after suicidal depression and made it out here to my promised land: Los Angeles. I have lived in New York City, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Atlanta and LA has probably the most vibrant poetry scene in the nation. The amount of venues and talented poets is mind-boggling. Just keep following your heart, taking advantage of any breaks that come your way, and I can't stress this enough, love what you are doing and understand how fortunate you are to have the opportunity and the gift to do it. That is not true in many parts of the world.

No one knew his name

A madman in the city

finds peace in the palm of his hands

fixated on what they might hold

what they once held.

A young passerby kicks an empty coffee cup

the visionary smiles

sees beauty in its movement

it has been given wings.

He wraps himself in borrowed warmth

of street lamps casting shadows upon the boulevard

watches rain from beneath the bridge

imagines a flood, no one drowning, only swimming…

An entire city looks away in vulgar unison

bells toll from a church a block away

neon red vacancy signs sear harsh reality

into his eyelids.

He sleeps, he has been given wings.

~from ELEMENTS & ANGELS 

Apryl Skies © 2012

Sherman Oaks publisher expands its horizons with poetry by Gloria Wimberley