Editors Stacy Russo and Julie Artman of Wild Librarian Press (Santa Ana, California) offer a new  anthology of poetry and stories worth savouring. Just published ‘WILD CRONE WISDOM, POETRY AND STORIES” embraces poetry of depth and character. In pushing aside the negativity surrounding the term, ‘crone,’  the editors created a collection that embraces crones, women in old(er) age  with “…complexity, ambiguity, and the wisdom found in the dark and light” their stage of  life brings.

In the prose poem, “I wear scars on the inside,”  JC pulls no punches in revealing as much about herself as she does the subjects of her observations — women in a changing room at a local pool after an aquafit workout. “Do-si-do,” is a dance of sorts between the poet, a long-time friend of an artist now in decline, and the artist herself, who no longer remembers their relationship.

On October 28, most of the contributors to the collection were on hand for a reading on Zoom. “Having heard these fine writers read their own work added so much to my appreciation of the anthology. I am honoured that my poems appear  in this fine anthology, “JC noted. Contributors include poets and authors writing in Canada, the  US, France, and India. JC appears to be one of two Canadians in the mix. Copies are available from https://bookshop.org/p/books/wild-crone-wisdom-poetry-and-stories-stacy-russo/20514200?ean=9781737675938.

For information on the press, please go to: https://www.wildlibrarianpress.com

In its new anthology Simple Simons Press published “Time in the hourless houses,” a cento by A. Garnett Weiss. This found poem also features in BRICOLAGE, A GATHERING OF CENTOS, JC’s collection from Aeolus House (2021.) JC, writing as A. Garnett Weiss, is the sole Canadian whose work appears in the slim volume.

This piece, the only found poem in the anthology, draws lines or partial lines unaltered except for changes in punctuation for the sake of grammar, from TWELVE MODERN POETS, the Continental Book Company AB, edited by Arthur Lundkvist (1946.) Among the luminaries whose lines make up the new poem are Dylan Thomas, T. S. Elliot, Stephen Spender, W. H. Auden, and Ezra Pound. George Baker’s words from “Sacred Elegies, Elegy 1” provide the 10th line for her poem: “I see tomorrow grow a tree of hope.”

“What intrigues me about this book is the eclectic nature of the selections editor J.R. Simons has made and how JR chose to array these offerings, from free verse to sonnets and haiku. Once again, I find my work in fine company,” JC noted. Here’s a link to the publisher’s site: https://www.simple-simons-press.com/simple-simons-press-poetry

Copies of HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL can be ordered this way: https://www.amazon.com/Hope-Springs-Eternal-Anthology-Introduction/dp/B0CC4G1HNR?crid=L4TC940FMSL6&keywords=hope+springs+eternal&qid=1690289202&sprefix=hope+springs+eter,aps,220&sr=8-16&linkCode=sl1&tag=simplesimonsv-20&linkId=438c0de956e03e600b76061d82631664&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

 

Here’s the text of my letter, unaltered from what I submitted, regarding this article — “Canadian writers can’t afford to write non-fiction anymore – and that’s a problem for all of us” (Arts & Books, Aug. 12):

I appreciate contributor Charlotte Gray’s considered analysis of the woeful state of Canadian non-fiction publishing and, in particular, the lack of support for writing about Canadian history.

But if, as Plato observed, “poetry is nearer to vital truth than history,” then the shortcomings of our publishers and policies apply tenfold to poets and poetry. In a U.S.-dominated and globalized marketplace, we risk losing our soul without access to these words.

JC returns to Blizzmax Gallery 3071 County Road 13 with 3 poems as part of an afternoon of 5-minute readings by Prince Edward County writers.  Organizers Nora-Lyn Veevers and Jane Macdonald invited local authors to tell a story in very short segments in what is an intimate and unique space.

Alice Mennecher is well known for the Gallery’s support of artists and writers in the County. “The Gallery provides a perfect setting for what promises to be an eclectic program,” JC noted.

Among featured readers are winners of the County Arts’s annual Wind & Water Writing Contests. JC’s centos, poems which use lines unaltered from the work of other poets with full attribution as to the sources of the lines,  took first place in the contest’s inaugural year, 2019, and again in 2023.

Signed copies of the collections featuring JC’s poetry — BRICOLAGE, A GATHERING OF CENTOS, and SOUTH SHORE SUITE…POEMS — will be available for sale at the event.

Invited to participate in an afternoon of 5-minute readings, JC began her segment of the program with one long poem, a triptych that captures three facets of her experience during a winter escape to South Carolina before the pandemic.

“I loved the idea of short readings on a summer’s day. Choosing which snippets of writing to share in just a few minutes in a line-up of fine Prince Edward County writers was a challenge, though,” JC admitted.

Organizers Nora-Lyn Veevers and Jane Macdonald selected local authors to participate in the event which was held on July 15 at Blizzmax Gallery,  3071 County Road 13. A second round will take place on  Saturday, August 19, at 3:00 PM.

Among readers were winners of the County Arts annual Wind & Water Writing Contests. JC’s centos took first place in the contest’s inaugural year, 2019, and again in 2023.

“I also read the winning cento from this year’s contest, which had connection as its theme: “For our many moods, there is nothing like a lantern.”

Copies of JC’s books — BRICOLAGE, A GATHERING OF CENTOS, SOUTH SHORE SUITE…POEMS, and TALES ON THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD, which contains the triptych– will be available for sale at the event.

 

 

 

 

JC is delighted that three of her poems appear in the 2023 Tales on the Yellow Brick Road anthology just launched by Yellow Brick Road Publishing of Beaufort, South Carolina.

Here’s a link to the story on this new collection of poetry and prose, which appears in the current issue of Your Island News: https://yourislandnews.com/ybr-anthology-tales-on-the-yellow-brick-road-to-hit-beaufort-bookstore/

The free-verse poems chosen by Publisher Jack Gannon are unrelated to each other thematically. Mens rea takes on the concept of criminal intent in a quasi light-handed way. Long after Dorothy, a memory piece not written specifically for the anthology, contains coincidentally the lines “Now she’s dead at fifty-five. Again to my surprise,/ I miss the yellow brick road of our childhood.” Southern triptych distills a holiday experience into a trio of poems. “I was delighted to see this poem in the collection, given that it pulls no punches and captures and contrasts genteel city squares in Savannah with the history of racism and slavery.”

Copies of Tales on the Yellow Brick Road are available from JC through this website, from the publisher (https://www.ybrpub.com/product-page/tales-on-the-yellow-brick-road-2023), and on Amazon. (https://www.amazon.ca/Tales-Yellow-Brick-Road-2023/dp/B0C4QLNHWD/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2BEQRCZSD6JBI&keywords=Tales+from+the+yellow+brick+road&qid=1686240744&sprefix=tales+from+the+yellow+brick+road%2Caps%2C92&sr=8-1)

The League of Canadian Poets declared April 21 as AL PURDY DAY to recognize his legacy.

Published under her pseudonym A. Garnett Weiss, JC’s collection of centos, BRICOLAGE:A GATHERING OF CENTOS, features “Where love was slowly becoming possible,” based on Al’s poems. For the Art of Conversation joint project of the County Arts Council and the Community Care Association for Seniors JC created a second Purdy-linked cento after a number of conversations she had with a wise and independent 99 year-old woman who was born in Prince Edward County.

“I am a screen through which the world passes” draws non-contiguous lines and its title, unaltered apart from changes in punctuation, from Purdy’s long poem,  In Search of Owen Roblin. 

To honour AL PURDY DAY, here is the cento:

I  am a screen through which the world passes

                                                                                            

To belong somewhere torn

from the great pine forests,

so far from anywhere.

Leaning back against the tree trunks, sitting

on a stone where water foams out,

I realized that here was the exact spot

above the watery rumble.

A long misty chain stretched thru time, and I

began to read books about the 19^thcentury.

But names and dates say little.

But the only thing certain is the settlers, themselves.

And I can hear them,

in the past shouting questions and hearing echoes, movings

and reachings and fragments.

For the book is not closed,

as we, too, have our shadowy children deep

down beyond the morning light and under

the high green ceiling of the forest.

Editor Rick Lupert has assembled a collection of memorable poems from writers around the world to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day.

 This is not an easy collection to read, but it is a courageous one. These poems and poets make unavoidable and important the act of remembering the scale of inhumanity of a nation driven to cruelty and crimes against a people because of their religious beliefs.

In a world where disinformation and misinformation have become rife, this stark reminder becomes more important each year in combatting revisionist history and ignorance.

JC thanks Poetry Super Highway for including the five-line poem, “Forced Journey,” in the 2023 issue. This found poem draws words or phrases unaltered from one day’s death notices published in the Toronto Globe and Mail. JC writes found poetry and centos under the name, A. Garnett Weiss. Here’s a link to the piece:

 https://www.poetrysuperhighway.com/psh/25th-annual-yom-hashoah-holocaust-remembrance-day-poetry-issue/

Here’s the full text of the prompt that PSH Editor Rick Lupert posted on April 12:

 “If I had…” or roads not taken.

Write a poem imagining/focussing on how your life or your subject’s life could have been changed or become different if one decision had been made that was different from what actually happened. What risks did you take or avoid? What benefits came your way or did you miss out on? Examples: What if you had married the first person you loved or who loved you? What if the hitchhiking ride you and a buddy took turned bad rather than being the lark it was? What if you hadn’t accepted that job in another city but decided to stay put? What if you had not blown up at a social event and been shunned after that by people who you had counted as your friends?

If you write a poem from this prompt, post it as a comment underneath the prompt in the Poetry Super Highway Facebook Group.

#napowrimo #poetry

https://www.poetrysuperhighway.com/psh/april-12-2023-poetry-writing-prompt-from-jc-sulzenko/