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Celebrating American She-Poets (15): Sylvia Plath, Listen to the Poet Reading “Ariel”

Sylvia_plath

I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life. And I am horribly limited. Sylvia Plath, “The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath“

What a find! What a treat to hear some of “Ariel” read by its author.  So this being the soundbite world of the blogosphere, I simply give you a short bio for those who need one and leave you to the poet herself. Enjoy!

“Sylvia Plath (October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short-story writer. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she studied at Smith College and Newnham College at the University of Cambridge, before receiving acclaim as a poet and writer. She was married to fellow poet Ted Hughes from 1956 until they separated in September of 1962. They lived together in the United States and then the United Kingdom, and had two children, Frieda and Nicholas. Plath was clinically depressed for most of her adult life. She died by suicide in 1963.

“Plath is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for her two published collections, The Colossus and Other Poems, and Ariel. She also wrote The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her death. In 1982, she won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for The Collected Poems.’ Wikipedia

“If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and the same time, then I’m neurotic as hell. I’ll be flying back and forth between one mutually exclusive thing and another for the rest of my days.” Sylvia Plath, “The Bell Jar”

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The BeZine, Vol.2/Issue 8, The Books That Changed Our Lives

May 15, 2016

Books are a uniquely portable magic.
Stephen King, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft”

Books are a primary way we get to travel, meet new people, and learn about the world and the human condition outside the narrow confines of our personal concerns, our families and communities. They are indeed magic: they inform, heal, spur us to action, offer new perspectives, new ways of being in the world and – perhaps most important – they open us to the joys and suffering of others.

In this month’s lead feature, Algerian poet, writer, university student and frequent contributor to The BeZine, Imen Benyoub, tells how three important books that focus on war and genocide teach us about “courage, tolerance, love and sacrifice” and bear witness to “how generous and resilient a human spirit can be, even in the darkest times.”

Imen’s feature is suggestive of The BeZine‘s raison d’etre: to come together from different parts of the world, different cultures, races and creeds, to show our soft underbelly, our most human side in the interest of peace. We are here to quietly be ourselves, to share and in so doing to recognize one another as sister and brother, not “other.” If one of us bleeds, we all bleed. Let us not be silent in the face daily brutalities. Pens, not swords, open minds and hearts and heal our world. This month – as always – our writers represent a diversity of nations, religions (or lack of), ethnicities and cultures. While this is an English language publication, not all of our writers have English as a first language.

Lilianna Negoi and Contributing Editor, Priscilla Galasso, get us started at the beginning, our early childhood reading. Lana Phillips tells the touching story of finding comfort in reading Red Shoes for Nancy about a girl older then she who was also living with disability. Corina Ravenscraft tells us how two books made a substantive difference in her life and way of being in the world. Michael Watson says in his essay:

Being an avid reader, I have developed a suspicion that, like the Great Weathers, almost any book can change one’s life for good or ill, and that timing has a lot to do with the outcome.

James R. Cowles’ essay, Escaping Into Reality, offers a lot to think about (as his essays always do) and Mendes Biondo (new to our pages) tells us of personal growth and changes in perspective fostered by an encounter with The Cannon of 20th Century Greek poet, Costantino Cavafy.

We move on to poetry by several of our core team members: John Anstie’s profound Looking South (looking back) with Frodo Baggins; Joe Hesch’s well-crafted and honest poems Schwund und Reue (Loss and Regret) and Confessions of Light-reading Poet; Naomi Baltuck combines a poem by Alice Lowe with her signature photo-storytelling; Charlie Martin loves too many books; Liliana Negoi writes movingly and vividly of reading.

We have several newcomers to our pages this month. We are delighted to introduce poets Joshua Medsker, whose poem is included with the themed pieces and, under the More Light section, Miki Byrne, Sakshi Chanana and Maggie Mackay. Please be sure to welcome them with “likes” and comments. Read their bios HERE.

Also under More Light are Naomi Baltuck’s always engaging photo-stories. We close with a charming art piece from Marlyn Exconde and her children.

Enjoy! … and be the peace …

Jamie Dedes, Managing Editor

LEAD FEATURE

Three books. Three cities: Sarajevo, Warsaw, and Lod … stories about music, war, friendship and survival…, Imen Benyoub

THEME FEATURES

Essays and Photo Stories

The First Book That Shapped Me, Lilianna Negoi
Books That Change Lives, Priscilla Galasso
Red Shoes for Nancy, Lana Phillips
Books That Changed My Life, Corina Ravenscraft
Books and Great Weather, Michael Watson
Escaping Into Reality, James R. Cowles
May there be many a summer morning …, Mendes Biondo

Poems

Looking South with Frodo Baggins, John Anstie (essay & poem)
A Merry Literary Christmas, Naomi Baltuck and Alice Lowe
Schwund und Reue, Joseph Hesch
Confessions of a Light-reading Poet, Joseph Hesch
too many loves, Charles W. Martin
The Poetic Books, Joshua Medsker
Night Light, Liliana Negoi

MORE LIGHT

Poetry

Tying Coats on Elephants, Miki Byrne
Drugs on the Street, Miki Byrne
Blood and Money, Miki Byrne
Transience, Sakshi Chanana
Silver and Gold, Maggie Mackay
Anosmia, Maggie Mackay

Photo Stories

A Peace of My Mind, Naomi Baltuck
The Mystery of Life, Naomi Baltick
Lullaby of Life, Naomi Baltick

Art

Magic Is Your Name, Marlyn Exconde and Children

IMG_9671CONNECT WITH US

Beguine Again, Spirtual Community and Practice

Facebook, The Bardo Group Beguines

Twitter, The Bardo Group Beguines

Access to the biographies of our core team contributing writers and guest writers is in the blogroll to your left along with archived issues of The BeZine, our Mission Statement and Submission Guidelines.

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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS – “Books That Changed Our Lives” & “Words Dance”; POETRY EVENT – Literary Aisle, New Dehli

CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

Opportunity Knocks

BOOKS THAT CHANGED OUR LIVES The BeZine is open for submissions: one or two paragraphs on a book that changed your life and why. Please include a brief bio. DEADLINE May 12 bardogroup@gmail.com

WORDS DANCE PUBLISHING (I really like this one!) “artfully & carefully wrangles words that were born to dance wildly in the heart-mind matrix. Rich, edgy, raw, emotionally-charged energy balled up & waiting to whip your eyes wild; we rally together words that were written to make your heart go boom right before they slay your mind. We like Poems …” and they invite submissions. DETAILS HERE

EVENT

NEW DELHI, LITERARY AISLE & ARTISTS FOR CAUSE, MAY 15, 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. Anathm Mind Studio

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‘Artists for Cause’ at Literary Aisle, present a wonderful literary evening of spoken word poetry. Get ready to be mesmerised by words and verse. The featured poets for the evening are:

1. Dr. Ravi Dhar – A Senior management professional and one who appreciates the beauty of life in its lyrical seasons of action and stillness.

2 Dr Sakshi Chanana*- Founder, Literary Aisle and Poetess- Webs of Light

3. Raghavendra Madhu- Founder, Poetry Couture

4. Hemant Vijh- A Poetry enthusiast and writer.

There are few open mic slots avaialble. Those interested may write to us ASAP. There is a nominal registration fee of Rs 100/ per person and the collected amount would be used for the cause of helping some poor children.

P.S : Stay with us for HIgh Tea post event!

DETAILS HERE

Illustration:© Artists for Cause’ at Literary Aisle, All rights reserved; thanks to  Sakshi Chanana for sharing information. 

Dr Sakshi Chanana is one of the founder members of’ ‘Literary Aisle,’ in Delhi, which promotes a culture of reading and writing. Her poetry anthology is Webs of Light. Her poems have appeared in online journals like Muse India, Kritya, Tajmahal Review and A Few Lines Magazine. She works as an Assistant Professor of English in Delhi. Look for her in the May issue of The BeZine.

My role in society, or any artist or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all. John Lennon

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“FILL THE AIR WITH POEMS so thick even bombs can’t fall through …” (Peter Levitt)

Iraq War
Iraq War

It’s nothing new for poets to write poems against war, to write poems to raise the general consciousness of injustice, to express their pain and to speak truth to power. What is relatively new is the use of technology and social media to make it easy for poets to come together in protest as we see now with 100,000 Poets for Change (100TPC). In 2011, Michael Rothenberg, cofounder of 100TPC, put out a call for poets on Facebook and just five years later we have a huge global movement and a thriving community of poets and other creatives to stand up for peace, social justice and sustainability.

516Z7PHWT6L._SX309_BO1,204,203,200_On the eve of the Iraqi War, poet Sam Hamill received an invitation from Laura Bush to attend a White House literary salon to celebrate the works of Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman. Hamill had just read about President Bush’s plan for the invasion and saturation bombing of Iraq that would kill innumerable civilians, a plan that did not rule out the possibility of using nuclear weapons. Hamill felt he couldn’t sit restrained among politicians and poetic aristocracy. He had to speak out.  He contacted colleagues, asking them to join with him in using this event to make a stand for peace.

Poetry readings were scheduled outside the White House and across the country on February 12, the day the event was scheduled. A website was started to collect and display antiwar poetry. Such prominent poets as Rita Dove, Peter Levitt, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, W.S. Merwin and Adrienne Rich contributed work.  Their poems and many others were collected in a print volume.  Contributions for the webstie continued to flow in for several years. The poems were screened by a team before publication. I contributed two, which were my first anti-war poems. Ultimately I think some 5,000 poems were collected. The poems are now archived in a university library.

We all know that Poets Against the War didn’t stop the invasion. Poet, peace activist and Jesuit priest, Daniel Berrigan wrote, “One is called to live nonviolently, even if the change one works for seems impossible.”  So too are we called to speak truth to power, ignorance and cruelty no matter how hopeless things seem and no matter that we may never see the fruits of our labors in our lifetime. Peace has to start somewhere and it might just as well start with us.

If you are viewing this post from email, you’ll have to click through to the site to see the video.

© 2016, Jamie Dedes; photo montage credit, Futuretrillionaire under CC BY-SA 2.0 license