four poems. two projects. one chapbook.

johnvick.org has published four of my poems, all of them written during recent 30/30 challenges. i'm happy to be part of the project. and john deserves an extra *thanks* for the fastest turnaround time ever:

poems sent: 17 march, 11.52 am
answer received: 17 march, 17.33 pm
pages ready to review: 17 march, 18.33 pm

and here's where you can read my poems.


i have been meaning to promote a project of my friend annette's here on my blog:
poet annette m hyder invited me to join her project changing the face of feminism a couple of months ago, and i sat down immediately to dig up a picture and some words to send to her. now the project has been launched, and annette has asked me to pass the news on to women i know, and to ask whether they'd be interested in being part of it. so this is what i am doing. and guys, by all means, do join in.

here are a few lines from the press release:

The project is hosted through the MNARTISTS.ORG website and distributed through the media via the magazine EMPOWERMENT4WOMEN and curated by Annette Marie Hyder. For this series, each feminist is invited to submit a photo of their choosing and a text forum to express their feminism. Each statement is individual to each feminist and so it shows how individual feminists interpret the freedoms that they want within their common bond. The photoems can be viewed here: MNARTISTS.ORG website and at EMPOWERMENT4WOMEN.ORG.

i hope you will have at least check out the project, and perhaps contact annette to send her your contribution. tell her you heard it from me.

another project in which i participated was poetry super highway's great poetry exchange. poets pledged their poetry collections and then had to send their book to someone randomly selected, and in return would receive one randomly selected book. funny coincidence that i received f.j. bergmann's chapbook Steaming A Head, because we once shared first prize in a poetry contest!

jeannie's poems are right down my alley. often humorous, tongue-in-cheek, just the right kind of slighty wacky, using terrific metaphors, and very well-written.

i fell in love immediately with her Pictosyllabic Haiku, 17, er, syllables in the form of webdings and wingdings symbols. it works too. it makes perfect sense.


i detect a leaning towards the surreal, even sci-fi, in several of her poems, and a little surfing around her website confirms this - there are quite a few sci-fi writers among her favourites.

one poem that stayed with me after having first read it, is Homesickness. terrific imagery and metaphors.

When I hear
the national anthem I take off my hat,
place my hand over my heart,
and clouds cover the face of the sun.

Earthly Delights is a delight indeed - wicked fun:

But his potatoes were all eyes. Staring
at Lettuce’s enormous melons,
he felt his hard green cucumber
ripen.

another favourite is Sky Blue:

Dressing in sky blue is considered tacky, though. Protesters pin a cotton ball on their chest like a small brooch, to represent a cloud.

i sent my own chapbook off last friday, to canada. i know a few of my friends participated - what did you get? where did your books travel?

song of the day: hollywood bowl, adam green.