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where poets share ideas about poetry
and its place in society."
One Poem by Alexus Casares
I Am
I am a brave girl that cares,
I wonder if I will go to heaven,
I hear little fairies buzzing in the sky,
I see fairies dancing in the moonlight,
I want the world to be a better place,
I am a brave girl that cares,
I pretend I am a doctor helping everyone in the world,
I feel people following me at night,
I touch the wings of a small fairy,
I worry for the children who have no parents,
I cry when I see the people in Africa,
I am a brave girl that cares,
I understand people can't live forever,
I say what goes around comes around,
I dream that I will one day see GOD,
I try my best in everything I do,
I hope I will live until 100,
I am a brave girl that cares.
---
I'm Angry That I'm This Angry With Life
Review by AliFlo
I n 2008, Eric Miyeni published his book A Poetic Journey, a collection of writings from the past few decades. So here I am, an unknowing, unaware reader, knowing nothing about Eric's career as an actor or his life path in his home country. This means I am reading his book as if he is my neighbor living in California, my native state, reading as if the book is his private journal. I find lines along my reading way that I copy onto yellow post it notes that become many bookmarks in the paperback that was sent to me from South Africa to South California by Jacana Media publicist, Lerato P. Ngakane, for AlienFlower review.
From my Post-it Note bookmarks:
"My sin is to be drug addictive, dangerous to love."
"My sin is that in my sweetness, people forget to put on their alarm systems."
"I'm angry that I'm this angry with life."
"Love gives you that swagger that only a good, strong spine can sustain over a long time without breaking your back."
"Love... has a way of... turning you totally blind to make you see more."
To this AlienFlower critic, his book is one educated, fearless, feeling, energetic man's soul expression and it feels almost irrelevant, the formatting of the words into poem shape on the page. Maybe this has something to do with voice, I don't know. However, I find myself reading his words aloud more than to myself in my head. I found a woman's blog entry about her memorable day at a book lounge author's reading event when she met Eric. She writes that she felt COMPELLED to buy his book and when she heard him read, she went home INSPIRED.
"Everyone has a talent, what is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads."
- Erica Jong
"If a poem is written well, it was written with the poet's voice and for a voice. Reading a poem silently instead of saying a poem is like the difference between staring at sheet music and actually humming or playing the music on an instrument."
- Robert Pinsky
"It is the music in the buzz of voices." (from The Harbour Cafe, 1990)
- Eric Miyeni
Essay by Thom Williams
On Truth, Poetry and the Dance of Maya
W e've all heard Polonius' advice from Hamlet, "To thine own self be true, and it must follow as night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." He says it as if truth were easy to find, like a glass of lemonade you could buy from a child's stand by the road. In fact, along with that other oft-abused word "love," truth is bandied about pretty offhandedly. For my part, I lean toward a quote I read in a Benet short story called "By the Waters of Babylon." A shaman advises that "The truth is a hard deer to hunt." Just when you get it in your sights, the scene changes; the deer vanishes. Perhaps truth is a shape-shifter that is more kaleidoscopic and evanescent.
I recall myself at other times and places being fairly sure about certain things, most of which have changed with time. Even poetry, which has been all but holy to me, has been brought under scrutiny. When I was younger, I felt so righteous just getting it out; like I had something I had to say. Now, in another time, I have thought at times that poetry is a sorry attempt to hang onto things, things that it would be healthier to let go, and my hubris in thinking I had something to say should just chill out. Just live, baby.
But then there's Shakespeare, which always makes me feel like I hit on an oasis in an arid world, or Sophocles whose truths always hit me hard and don't really change, like, "Those pains that we inflict upon ourselves hurt worst of all." or "Time is the great healer, you will see." And then there's the muse that still works for me, as I labor over my novels and my songs. It won't shut up, and I hope I have "miles to go before I sleep." I can't deny that poetry seems a lever to pry open the door of "truth" or whatever truth there is. Maya is dancing around me; sometimes I see a flash. Could it be "the truth?"
---Thom Williams is a professor at Immaculata University in Pennsylvania. He has won numerous awards for his writing on five continents. He has published many poems and fiction, and he has been anthologized repeatedly. He is a musician (see myspace music page "T.Will") and essayist.
Two external links for more reading on truth and poetry: Honesty, Wikipedia and Two Horses and a Dog by James Galvin, poets.org
Thank You To
- Poet's Market Featured Web Resource, 2003/2004/2005/2006/2007/2008
- UC Davis University Library, Mothership newsletter listing, 2005
- Point of Life Merit of Excellence Award for Outstanding Content and Sincerity, 2002
- Poets & Writers, Inc. & The New York Arts Council: Bowery Poetry Club Funding, August 2002
- Writer's Market Featured Resource, June 2002
- Poets & Writers, Inc. Matching Workshop Grant, May 2001
- Writer's Digest 101 Best Web Sites, 2001
- RockHill Communications April 2000 Web Feet Seal of Approval
- Empire:ZINE February 1998 Debut Issue
- Shasta County Arts Council Since November 1997
- MSN, One Click Away September 1997
- Gary Gach, writers.net
- The Mining Company Spring 1997
- The Dandelion Revolution, April 1997
- suite101 September 1996
- iGuide 1996
- Magellan (Now "Excite") 1996
- NetGuide, January 1996
- Danny Glix (AlienFlower logo)
National Poetry Day, England, October 10.
National Poetry Month, United States, April.
www.sonic.net/web
