This may be one of our finest collections yet, poetry written and/or shared in response to Ecce Panis [Take This Bread], Wednesday Writing Prompt, December 6, “What event or experience or time in your life (doesn’t have to be associated with religion) birthed for you the freedom to explore beyond the boundaries set for you?” These poets have certainly risen to the occasion. Much thanks to Denise DeVries, Paul Brookes, Mike Stone, bogpan (Bozhidar Pangelov), Gary W. Bowles and Sonja Benskin Mesher.
Join THE NEXT WRITING PROMPT, JANUARY 3, 2018. Once I put The BeZine to bed on the 15th, I’ll be offline for family time and taking a rest until January 3. Many blessings for joy in this season that is sacred to so many and for your peace of heart in the new year.
Thank you for your support, kind comments and sharing through The Poet by Day site this past year. In a world gone mad, you are the hope, the grace, and the voices of sanity. Poetry is the flagpole around which we gather in compassion and acceptance. You are valued.
All are welcome to come out to play for these writing prompts no matter the stage of your poetry career: beginning, emerging or pro. It’s about sharing and friendship, discretion not judgement.
A Town Where Nothing Ever Happens
I lived in a small landlocked town
and would probably never go anywhere.
My parents rejected the foreign
language teacher’s offered lessons.
They didn’t like the looks of him.
Something could happen…
Years later, I find myself
in Central America, in a town
where nothing ever happens,
except me, trying to speak Spanish.
In the market, the black
head of a calf stares up at me.
A tiny tiny old woman in
native dress embraces me
and kisses my hand, speaking
a language I’ve never heard before.
Beggars wait on cathedral steps
for the priest to finish asking God
in his North American accent,
“Quita los pecados del mundo.
Danos paz.” The children want
to know why I am crying.
That I know what my wife is feeling,
That my love will be enough to protect her
From the lovelessness around her,
That my particular being might have some worth
In the eye of the Grand Schemer of Things,
That the sun will climb over the eastern mountains tomorrow,
That the ground on which I walk
Is as solid as any reality,
These are small beliefs I think
That won’t hurt anyone else,
At least I don’t believe so.
But there are grander beliefs
That grow stronger
With every man and woman who believes them,
That only the grandest edifices
Can house them,
These beliefs,
Like who’s a chosen people
And who’s a virgin, an only son, or a true prophet,
Beliefs that hurt those who don’t believe them.
These are the beliefs I don’t believe
Are any good for anything
That’s not a building.
“An Agnostic’s Prayer”
(Raanana, January 23, 2014)
Just for the record
I don’t believe in you
So there’s no point in capitalizing, is there?
That doesn’t mean I don’t wish you were
Here, there, somewhere.
God knows I do,
Well, maybe not the you
Of everybody else.
You know exactly what I mean,
Someone who’s not always
Making clever excuses
Why he’s never around
When we need him.
I’d like to see you try that on my wife.
She wouldn’t fall for it.
She’d tell you
You’re either here or you’re not here,
So don’t bother trying to be
Somewhere in between.
She’d say if you want someone to believe in you
Then be there, front and center,
Instead of hiding behind the guy
Who’s hiding behind the curtain
Hoodwinking the true believers.
Then tell them they have only
One life in this godforsaken universe
And that one life is so gut-twistingly precious
That they should get up off their knees,
Walk out into the sunshine,
And smell just how blue the sky is.
Frozen shards of light litter the dusty ground and
The moon-colored skulls of creatures whose blood
Once warmed the earth and sated its thirst
If only for a moment.
There is a trail I must follow
Through this forest dark and mordant
That snakes its wending way from
The womb of my first love
To the parched throat of my last.
I think sometimes of the ancient ones
And the things of their world
Of which they were certain.
It is not so hard to believe in a God,
An animus for every animal
Or a hoary herald above the spheres.
But a monstrous God
Who plots to devour our innocence
And rend our hearts with the cruel beauty of its beings,
Indifferent yet demanding our prayers and oblations;
Such a God I believe in:
A God of holocausts and broken promised lands.
There is a certain silence
On a day like this
That carries you on its wide wings
But only those whose souls are weightless
A silence that muffles the shouts of children
And banal chatter of adults on mundane matters
But only for those whose souls are transparent
A silence that vows to be true
Even when we live among lies
But only among those
Whose souls are consumed by other souls.
The Repentant Peter (El Greco c. 1600 Spain), Phillips Collection, Washington D.C., U.S., public domain photograph of the painting
Repenting Peter (El Greco)
since as
everything is Uttered
a land to even up
the eye
you touch grope about
the walls
more and more high
(on) cracks
the third road is the hardest
nowhere somewhere
the third road is the easiest
am I
I
cursed
cursing
swear
in net
(Peter)
“that the mighty angel tugs
along with net of fishermen”*
A legend has
A courier
Who ran and ran
And told, and died,
Per Lucian,
Pheidippides’
“We win–rejoice!”
The dying words
Of this young man.
A summer day
In ’84
Ten thousand ran
On Market Street,
And skirted San
Francisco Bay,
And saw through fog
The Golden Gate,
And past its Park,
And up a hill
So steep a man
In wheelchair
Went but four in-
Ches at a time.
We crossed the thrice-
Blessed Finish Line
At Union Square
To cheering crowds,
To honor dead
Pheidippides,
Who, truth be told,
Did not exist,
Or, if he did,
Not quite the way
The legend tells.
But there WAS strife
In ancient Greece,
And Persians died
At Marathon,
The site now known
As the event,
A footrace long
and arduous.
And when I ran
In ’84,
I briefly WAS
Pheidippides,
Defiant of
Impossible,
Horizon breached,
My battle won,
And I rejoiced
And did not die.
BELLETRIST MAGAZINE is a literary arts journal published out of Bellevue College in Washington state that publishes fiction, nonfiction and poetry online and in print. No submission fees. Details HERE.
DIAPHANOUS PRESS (poetry, short fiction, visual arts) next publication date and window for submissions to be announced. Details HERE.
HUB CITY WRITERS PROJECT, independent press of the American South, publishes eight titles per year of literary fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, regional nonfiction, nature and art. Query only and only March/April and September/October via Submittable. Details HERE. There is also an interest in “emerging visual artists, illustrators and photographers for book cover collaborations.”
STORM CELLAR, a literary journal of safety and danger, emphasises the Midwestern United States, writing and art. “Two to three issues per year in print and ebook. Free samples up weekly-ish …. Storm Cellar is not wholly serious; whimsy and humor are recurring features in its pages.” Details HERE. (Note: also hosts an annual contest, which usually closes in April. Watch the site for announcements.)
THE BeZINE, Be Inspired, Be Creative, Be Peace, BeDecember issue – themed Spirituality (Spiritual Paradigms, Awakenings, Miracles)call for December issue submissions closes today at 11:59 p.m. PST. NEW RULES: Please send text in the body of the email not as an attachment. Send submissions to me (Jamie) at bardogroup@gmail.com. Publication is December 15th. Poetry,essays, fiction and creative nonfiction, art and photography, music (videos or essays), and whatever lends itself to online presentation is welcome for consideration. No demographic restrictions. Please read at least one issue and the Intro/Mission Statement and Submission Guidelines. We DO NOT publish anything that promotes hate, divisiveness or violence or that is scornful or in any way dismissive of “other” peoples.
The BeZine will go to a quarterly schedule in 2018:
March 2018 issue, Deadline February 10th. Theme: Peace.
June 2018 issue, Deadline May 10th. Theme: Sustainability
September 2018 issue, Deadline August 10th, Theme: Human Rights/Social Justice
December 2018 issue, Deadline November 10th, Theme: A Life of the Spirit
Suggestions for sub-themes are still being reviewed. Send yours to thebardogroup@gmail.com. (Current suggestions awaiting review by the team include: domestic abuse, eckphrastic poetry, the meaning/importance of poetry, and restorative justice.)
The BeZine is an entirely volunteer effort, a mission. It is not a paying market but neither does it charge submission or subscription fees.
Previously published work may be submitted if you hold the copyright. Submissions from beginning and emerging artists as well as pro are encouraged and we have a special interest in getting more submissions short stores, feature articles, music videos and art.
WORLD LITERATURE TODAY, published by the University of Oklahoma, was founded in 1927 and publishes essays, book reviews, fiction, poetry, and interviews. Guidelines HERE.
Xi DRACONIS BOOKS has an open call for creative nonfiction book manuscript submissions for its 2018 production year. Its reading period for 2019 for all genres (novellas, novels, short story collections, memoirs, essay collections, long-form poems, and poetry collections) runs from May 15-August 15, 2018. Details HERE.
CONTESTS
ASSOCIATION OF WRITERS & WRITING PROGRAM (AWP), The Kurt Brown Prizes, for emerging writers in fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction “who wish to attend a writers’ conference, center, retreat, festival, or residence.” The prizes ($500) are applied to fees for winners to attend on of the” AWP,s Directory of Conference & Centers. Submissions through March 30, 2018. Details HERE.
HUB CITY WRITERS PROJECT, South Carolina Novel Prize, opens to novels from South Carolina only. Submissions begin January 1, 2018. Details HERE.
HUB CITY WRITERS PROJECT, C. Michael Curtis Short Story Book Prize for emerging writers in thirteen Southern states closes January 1, 2018at noon EST. Award $10,000 and book publication. Details HERE.
SPECTURM Publication house, UK, Weekly Contest. Topic dozen. Through Tuesday, December 12th. International English or Hindi Poetry. Certificate awarded for participation. Post to their Facebook page HERE.
SPECIAL FOR STUDENTS (U.S.)
POETRY OUT LOUD sponsors school-wide, regional, state and national contests to encourage “students to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. This program helps students master public speaking sills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life.” $50,000 in awards for students’ schools. Details HERE.
Together for the First Time: Four Visceral Contemporary Poets, Philip Fried; Rachel Eliza Griffiths; Richard Hoffman; D. Nurkse tonight at The Cornelia Street Cafe, 29 Cornelia Street, New York, 212-989-9319, 6 p.m. $10 admission includes a drink. Details HERE.
Hear Stories! Tell Stories! with Jean le Bec, Asher Novek, Thomas Pryor, and Gianmarco Soresti Tuesday, December 12 at The Cornelia Street Cafe, 29 Cornelia Street, New York, 212-989-9319, 6 p.m. also open mic with sign-up. $10 admission includes a drink. Details HERE.
2018 MASS POETRY FESTIVAL (“Mass” as in Massachusetts), MAY 4-6. Details HERE.
VERVE, A Birmingham (England) Festival of Poetry & Spoken Word, February 15 – 18, 2017. Details HERE.
The Annikki Poetry Festival, “one of Finland’s foremost poetry eventS … has expanded to also include prose, music and the visual arts.” June 9, 2018. Details on the Festival’s Facebook page and its website.
Tomorrow night in Israel:
Accessible anytime from anywhere in the world:
The Poet by Day always available online with poems, poets and writers, news and information.
The Poet by Day, Wednesday Writing Prompt, online every week (except for vacation) and all are invited to take part no matter the stage of career (emerging or established) or status (amateur or professional). Poems related to the challenge of the week (always theme based not form based) will be published here on the following Tuesday.
The Poet by Day, Sunday Announcements. Every week (except for vacation) opportunity knocks for poets and writers.
THE BeZINE, Be Inspired, Be Creative, Be Peace, Be – always online HERE.
Beguine Again, daily inspiration and spiritual practice – always online HERE. Beguine Again is the sister site to The BeZine.
KUDOS TO:
Amy Barry for publication in A New Ulster.
Kinga Fabó for the publication of six poems in French in an international magazine, The Opiate.
Myra Schneider for the latest of fourteen collections, Lifting The Sky, which is on the theme of survival [from every viewpoint – all to relevant in these times] to be published next autumn Ward Wood Publishing (U.K.). Will announce here at The Poet by Day or follow Myra’s poetry site HERE.
Next Line, Please, David Lehman, The American Scholar (“Each Tuesday, our readers contribute a new line of verse—or a completed poem—in collaboration with a renowned poet.”)
SPECIAL REQUEST (deadline today at 11:59 p.m. PST): More and more magazines are charging submission fees and these are in some cases going up. The highest I encountered recently was $23 for the submission of one poem. Sometimes the publication pays writers and poets. Sometimes it doesn’t. This is not new, of course. Its been going on for some years now. It makes me wonder how much of a barrier that creates for writers. I’m collecting material on how you feel about these charges as a poet/writer and/or editor. Fair? Not fair? Okay depending on rate? Okay depending on whether they pay poets and writers? That sort of thing. I do plan to share the results of this informal survey at The Poet by Day. I won’t quote you by name without first getting your permission. Please let me know your thoughts about submission fees in the comments section below or by email: thepoetbyday@gmail.com. Thank you! J.D.
YOUR SUNDAY ANNOUNCEMENTS may be emailed to thepoetbyday@gmail.com. Please do so at least a week in advance.
If you would like me to consider reviewing your book, chapbook, magazine or film, here are some general guidelines:
send PDF to jamiededes@gmail.com (Note: I have a backlog of six or seven months, so at this writing I suggest you wait until June 2018 to forward anything. Thank you!)
nothing that foments hate or misunderstanding
nothing violent or encouraging of violence
English only, though Spanish is okay if accompanied by translation
though your book or other product doesn’t have to be available through Amazon for review here, it should be easy for readers to find through your site or other venues.
TO CONTACT ME WITH ANNOUNCEMENTS AND OTHER INFORMATION FOR THE POET BY DAY: thepoetbyday@gmail.com
TO CONTACT ME REGARDING SUBMISSIONS FOR THE BeZINE: bardogroup@gmail.com
PLEASE do not mix the communications between the two.
Often information is just that–information – and not necessarily recommendation. I haven’t worked with all the publications or other organizations featured in my regular Sunday Announcements or other announcements shared on this site. Awards and contests are often (generally) a means to generate income, publicity and marketing mailing lists for the host organizations, some of which are more reputable than others. I rarely attend events anymore. Caveat Emptor: Please be sure to verify information for yourself before submitting work, buying products, paying fees or attending events et al.
GRAPHIC DESIGN BY Dale Houstman (c) Diaphanous Press
Diaphanous Press was founded in February 2017 to publish contemporary, cutting-edge poetry, short fiction (under 750 words), and art in the online journal, Diaphanous. As a poet, literary fiction writer, scholar of postmodern literature and poetics, and wannabe visual artist (my predilection as a child was to be a painter first, then a writer), I wanted to provide a free, high-quality, e-journal to showcase and promote the creative work of writers and artists—and in turn, offer a wide audience free access to the best contemporary literature and visual art that I can find.
logo (c) Diaphanous Press
I chose the title “Diaphanous,” as the word evokes an image of a light, gauzy material (such as gossamer); a veil or dress draped elegantly over a woman or the semi-sheer, wind-tossed curtain covering a window or storm door. The word “diaphanous” often elicits images of a fragile, intricately-constructed spiderweb that can be destroyed with the swift swat of a human hand or a broom. The word and its image have also been thought of historically—as a filmic layering over one’s vision, the ancient Sumerian, Hindu and Buddhist Veil of Maya that prevents humans from perceiving “true reality” or representation; reminding us, as philosophers have, that perception; experience; emotional, intellectual, psychological responses to art and life; and the meaning we confer upon all of these human facets—are subjective and take place in the non-transparent, human medium of language that is a bi-product of civilization and one that evolves in its historical and cultural contexts over time.
As the title “Diaphanous” implies, I’m interested interested in writing and art that is slightly opaque or hazy, like language itself—that invite the reader/viewer in to experience the process of creating the specific text/image that is embedded in the final product–and to ascribe/construct possible meaning(s) and values to/for the linguistic/aesthetic experience. My hand-picked, small editorial staff and I gravitate towards a postmodern poetics and aesthetics that, as aforementioned, engage the reader/viewer in the experience the texts and images offer each, subjective reader. We are interested in language-centered poetry that foregrounds the medium of literary texts as slippery at best versus traditional, “I-centered” lyrics or straight, narrative poetry. Similarly, we value short fiction with challenging uses of language, composition, and condensed plot.
We are huge fans of writing that blurs the boundaries of genre (prose poetry, hybrid, flash fiction, micro-fiction) and subsequently, choose to feature experimental writing or writing that “leans toward the experimental,” as I like to say. Our Art Editor, Dale Houstman and I, solicit visual images that like the writing we value, are postmodern, experimental, and for the most part, non-representational. At the end of the day, we appreciate and choose to publish amazing, arresting, and haunting works of art. We have featured paintings, photography (acrylics, watercolors, and mixed media), digital art, mixed media collages, visual poetry, collage poems, text-based art, asemic writing, communal calligraphy, architecture—and seek to incorporate sculpture into our 2018 issue.
In terms of submissions, we receive a ton of poetry, a lot of art, and some fiction (not enough yet) due to the tagging of members of our facebook community and creative peers, direct soliciting from writers and artists, and now–as a result of our incredibly well-received inaugural Spring 2017 and Fall 2017 issues, people who have seen what kind of writing and art makes us swoon as well as the high-quality of our journal. In addition to the continued flow of poetry submissions, we would like more art and fiction submissions as well as more submissions from non-US writers and artists.
In our first two issues, we have published writers and artists from Australia, Tunisia, South Africa, Iran, Macedonia, Hungary, Italy, and England. We would love to represent talented writers and artists aligned with our mission statement in even more geographical locations across the globe. We are proud of a balance of male and female, established and new contributors—and the inclusion of diverse contributors in the context of ethnicity, race, and social status. Well, let’s face it, many artists and writers, yours truly included, are a bit financially-challenged due to the life choices we make that enable us to create and work in creative and academic environments, when possible. Many of us hold non-creative day jobs or temp when needed to support our art. Others, like Dale Houstman, are “gleefully retired” per his facebook bio description.
It is critical for me to note that this labor of love would not have been possible without the beautiful website design of my dear friend and writing colleague, Michael Dickel (Meta / Phor(e) /Play). A shoe-string volunteer staff who are all passionate and talented writers and artists, including, Art Editor, Dale Houstman; Poetry Editor, Thato Andreas Mokotjo; and Managing Editor, Meg Harris–assisted in the stunning, well-received first two issues of Diaphanous. Dale will remain as Art Editor and Thato as Poetry Editor for our third, 2018 issue.
Due to time constraints with my own writing, the intense workload, and unfortunately, my own battle with a cluster of serious autoimmune diseases—beginning next year, Diaphanous will be an annual publication instead of biannual with a new, small staff in place working alongside Art Editor, Dale Houstman and Poetry Editor, Thato Andreas Mokotjo.
Our reading period and release date for our 2018 issue of Diaphanous is to be determined. We will update our Diaphanous Press facebook page and our website, as soon as we know.
I thank all of those involved with this amazing Diaphanous journey and look forward to reading and showcasing more of the highest-quality, cutting-edge, and exquisite poetry, short fiction, and art from around the world.
HOURGLASS STUDIES / XI
1. Sleeping close to the reef, the traveler holds a teal cup to the ear to hear the blue-green kelp gone lazy and dry, lost from the ink [stomach].
2. The chair in the suitcase packed to find the third shore, [w]here another narration varies.
3. In the dirt lit with Chinatown, the refrain apprehended in part; the loss of the second hand.
4. Send for the sample only to be plagued by more questionnaires.
5. The contents of the bag turned inside out. Borrowed and given back: a loose tooth, address book, bit of red mountain in a jar.
6. The lover’s eye spinning estuary coin.
7. Pulled out of slumber across the daybook filled to echo formulas for [sw]allowed halos.
8. The clock in hand the confused woman swallows the key to a diary the pages disappear waiting for the trump finale.
9. The [n]arrow boatride toward daybreak before the mountains crumbled [into] sound.
10. Pendulum’s dialectic of true and false, and all those shades of gray in between conspire hungry.
11. To prove the best design, the tincture couldn’t be documented to ensure the singular.
12. The hemlock given with an even hand, the logician attacked in the folds of a proposition, knotted in the tide’s undercurrent, wakes to find everyone missing–all of the main beams.
KRYSIA JOPEK‘s (Krysia Jopek, poems and poetic fiction) poems have appeared in many literary journals, including Great American Literary Magazine, Crisis Chronicles Cyber Litmag, Meta/Phor(e)/Play, Syllogism, The Woven Press, Columbia Poetry Review, and The Wallace Stevens Journal. She reviewed the poetry of Ann Lauterbach, Michael Palmer, Anna Rabinowitz, and Rosemarie Waldrop for The American Book Review as well as literary criticism for The Wallace Stevens Journal. Her first novel, Maps and Shadows (Aquila Polonica 2010), was praised as “a stunning debut novel, beautifully written, lyrical and poetic” and won a 2011 Silver Benjamin Franklin award in the category of historical fiction. Her sequence poem, Hourglass Studies (Crisis Chronicles, 2017) was nominated for a 2018 Pushcart Prize in Poetry. She holds four degrees: a B.A. and M.A. in English from the University of Connecticut, an M.Phil. in English from the City University of New York Graduate Center, and an M.F.A in Literary Fiction from Albertus Magnus. She is the Founding Editor of Diaphanous: an e-journal of literary and visual art. She can be contacted via Diaphonous Press or her author website (linked above).
“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. So medicine, law, business, engineering… these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love… these are what we stay alive for.” Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
Monday, December 11, 8 pm – 1 pm UTC+2,
Therefore For Thee
hosted by Jerusalism, Fostering Local Literary Community
at the Barbur Gallery, 6 Shirzil Street, Jerusalem, Israel
“Walt Whitman is considered the father of American Poetry. Jerusalism invites all lovers of literature to an evening celebrating his work. Hosted at the illustrious Barbur Gallery, deep in the heart of Nachlaot, the evening will feature local Israeli poets, reading Whitman’s poems alongside their own original poems written in the Whitmanian tradition.”
Jamie Dedes' THE POET BY DAY Webzine 