Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Moonrise Press and Scenic Drive Gallery Present "Sky Garden" Exhibit of Art and Poetry Reading, October 16, 2022 at 4pm

 

 Scenic Drive Gallery and Moonrise Press present SKY GARDEN, an exhibition of art by  Ambika Talwar & Maja Trochimczyk. Opening reception: Sunday, October 16, 2022, 4-6 pm with a poetry reading from the  Crystal Fire anthology & Bright Skies collection. In person: Ambika Talwar, Maja Trochimczyk, Joe DeCenzo, Bory Thach, Marlene Hitt, Mary Elliott and Alice Pero. The  Exhibit is open by appointment until  November 20, 2022 at Scenic Drive Gallery, in Monrovia, CA 91016, RSVP email to  maja@moonrisepress.com. 

This exhibition presents paintings by Ambika Talwar and photographs by Maja Trochimczyk, inspired by nature and natural spirituality. Some of  Ambika's paintings have been used as illustrations in a new anthology by Moonrise Press, edited by Maja Trochimczyk, Crystal Fire, with 144 poems by 12 poets: Elzbieta Czajkowska, Joe DeCenzo, Mary Elliott, Jeff Graham, Marlene Hitt, Frederick Livingston, Alice Pero,  Allegra Silberstein, Jane Stuart, Ambika Talwar, Bory Thach, and Maja Trochimczyk. The nature photographs by Trochimczyk appear in her 2022 collection, Bright Skies, with 85 poems and over 160 photographs. 

Crystal Fire. Poems of Joy & Wisdom 

 ISBN 978-1-945938-58-0 (color paperback)

 ISBN 978-1-945938-59-7 (eBook), 144 poems, 12 paintings 

 Edited by Maja Trochimczyk, and illustrated with paintings by Ambika Talwar, the Crystal Fire anthology gathers poems of joy and wisdom by 12 poets, 8 women and 4 men: Elżbieta Czajkowska, Joe DeCenzo, Mary Elliott, Jeff Graham, Marlene Hitt, Frederick Livingston, Alice Pero, Allegra Silberstein, Jane Stuart, Ambika Talwar, Bory Thach, and the editor. The poets span all ages and diverse life experiences. They include émigrés from Poland, Cambodia, and India, and those born in the U.S. College professors join community poets. Native speakers appear alongside those for whom English is the second, or the third language. The ”joy and wisdom” they write about are also different, as each poet follows their own path and gathers unique reflections to share with readers.

More about this book: moonrisepress.blogspot.com/2022/09/moonrise-press-publishes-crystal-fire.html

As Maja Trochimczyk writes in the preface, “The phrase ‘Crystal Fire’ may be seen as the  symbol of all humanity, with each person born from the union of man and woman, the male and female DNA strands interlocking in ever new patterns to create human beings. In this phrase, "Crystal" stands for the feminine and “Fire” for the masculine. “Crystal” is peaceful, somewhat static, but well-constructed, stable, and growing slowly into perfection. It is the cosmos of order and being.[…] 

In contrast, ‘Fire’ is dynamic, sometimes intensely dramatic, always changing, always transforming, constantly in the state of flux. It is the energy of change and growth. It is also destructive... ‘Fire’ means destruction and becoming. It is pure chaos. The Universe arises from the dance of these twin forces, like yin and yang, but neither is pure darkness, negative and “evil” and neither is pure light, positive, and “good.” Instead, they are the ageless vortex  of cosmic unity and chaos, of creation and destruction. There is no value assigned to this polarity, for such labels are limiting and deceptive. Both aspects are essential, each  cannot exist without its twin.”

Seasons 

 by Mary Elliott

 

I place myself,

An entity 

In the eye

Of this life storm.

Through ether-fuel, 

Time energy,

Come back

I am reborn.

 

Return me to the soil,

Knowing nothing

From the past.

Rise again,

Clinging tightly, 

Onto this plain,

Where we’ve been cast.

 

It’s over now.

The innocence

Strung together

From within.

Fused tight,

In darkened winters,

The ice was getting thin.

Looking towards the pendulum,

Some can see the score.

To those of us left standing,

It gets harder to ignore.

Planted for a season

Upon this road we go.

Like skins of snakes,

We shed ourselves,

Forgetting what we know. 



If I Rise

 By Alice Pero

If I rise up past the sun
I will keep a point
down in the green
I will not cast all my anchors up
I will still touch
the tiny trees that sway
the weeping branches

If I hide behind the moon
dark shadows paint
on planet’s hills, beam
a long ray on moon’s quiet
I will still leave
my thought, brush
the wings of birds
in Earth flight
Form greeting
 
If I try to fathom space
mark deep traces

in the unknown
I will not rise up forever
past the fallen friends remaining
loved ones grieving
Those caught in Earth’s
endless turning

I will catch the silver
of the dep and silent sky
I will bring a treasure home
to touch the earth, each eye

 


Melting Mirrors

by Ambika Talwar

These burning times are rapidly
winnowing their way – ice is
melting as before   melting into floes.
What shall we now dream of
in the middle of the eclipse?

The blood moon on a still night
has whiskers and we
wonder how to change the things
that break before their time…

Surely there is sustenance
for the having and for the grieving
rapidly remembering
beauty of translucent mornings
before the deluge and the smoke

before the cracking of old mirrors…

Look deeply into your heart's core
your soul may sing you onward
for your heart's burning
is but a smidgen away – Call in
your glowing soul…wild as love

Call it in and love it – Love it because
there is nothing else left for us to do.



Like Grapes on a Vine

by Maja Trochimczyk 

 

—we grow and grow.

Nourished by gold light

and sapphire water,

we become sweeter as we age.

Last traces of bitterness

and resentment dissolve

into forgiveness.

 

Yes, it was a long road.

      Yes, it was hard.

    But we are here.

                         Grapes on the vine.

 

I’m kind to myself, kind to others,

kind to the world. I listen.

 

All grains of sand on the beach,

all dancing droplets in the ocean,

the salty mist on my lips – sing the song

of creation.  Such a joy to be. Present.

Attentive—to the sparkling pathway

of sunlight leading beyond the horizon—

to the relentless rhythm of the waves

crushing all worry into smithereens.

 

Out flows my pain.

Out goes my sorrow.

                        In flows my peace.

                                    In comes my gladness.

 

Like the ripening grapes on the vine

we become sweeter as we age. 




Bright Skies. Selected Poems by Maja Trochimczyk.

 ISBN 978-1-945938-49-8, color paperback, 

184 Pages, 85 poems, 160 color photographs, 

ISBN 978-1-945938-52-8, ebook

In Bright Skies, as Marlene Hitt writes, "Maja Trochimczyk leads her readers into a lovely world. She sees the beauty of a rose, a bird, a sunrise. She has brought her childhood memories from faraway Poland into the splendid light of Southern California."  William Scott Galasso concurs: "Every poem celebrates the incomparable beauty, diversity and healing power of nature--giving us reason for hope.[...] Whether one perceives dewdrops on a rose, the wind swirl of a kite in cerulean skies or an incoming wave bursting from a turquoise sea, one is moved and that’s the point. She presents all five senses and dares you to fully engage—and to be moved."

More about this book: https://moonrisepress.blogspot.com/2022/05/maja-trochimczyks-new-volume-of.html



On Being Green in Vincent’s Garden

 

~ After Vincent Van Gogh, "The Poet's Garden" (1888)

   at the Art Institute of Chicago

A white rose faints on a cement sidewalk.
Crisp clear azure sky encloses the city in a cupola.
Art vibrates on the walls of the Art Institute
guarded by green-patinaed copper lions
in garish Christmas wreaths. Van Gogh
waits for me. Frowning, uncertain.

Yes, I love your iridescent greens,
celadons, aquas, emeralds, jades.
The vibrant grass, uncut new meadow
and the explosion of bushes and trees,
vibrating with the full force of life.

Leaf opens after leaf—after leaf—
exploding with cosmic energy
alive—so alive—so alive—so alive
so real, emerging from canvas
coming into becoming—stretching—
growing—being—breathing—living—

Even the sky vibrates in hues of green
and yellow, turquoise, and aqua.
Each plant, tree, bush—marked with
a thick layer of paint, intense brushstrokes.
I understand now. Vincent was one
of us, the seeing ones. Awake.
He could not tell us any louder
than in this saturated greenest paint.


Open your eyes. We are all here.

The world is ours to love, to see.

 



            The Antidote

            Chaos breaks out in our cities full of noise,

             toxins, radiation. I withdraw into my garden,
             compress the sphere of attention,
             intensifying the focus on minute details.

             The liquid patterns of finches’ song, repeated
             like a broken record. The sediment lines
             on the layered rock from Big Tujunga Wash.
             The translucent opal of a quartz stone,
             smoothed by the Pacific on Oxnard Beach.

            The imperceptible motion of leaves
            expanding skywards, while their roots
            stretch down invisibly, moist with dew.


Is it not enough to taste a pomegranate,

really taste each tart aril, bursting in your mouth?

Is it not enough to turn your face up,

to be kissed by noon sunlight?

 

“No fear, no hate, not even a slight dislike” 

says St. Germain. I clear the rubble

of memories of past pain, stronger,

more clingy than the pain itself.

 

The mind is full of useless knowledge.

The body remembers on its own.

Pitiful. The heart locks itself

in a hard shell of protectiveness.

 

I have to conquer this chaos within,

polish lamps, wash the windows

into sparkling translucence, letting

the light inthe antidote to chaos.



Maja Trochimczyk with "Bright Skies" and "Crystal Fire" books at Sky Garden exhibition opening
October 16, 2022

OPENING RECEPTION AND READING

The opening reception and reading on October 16, 2022 was a great success with seven "readers" in attendance, presenting their work from the anthology: Ella Czajkowska, Joe DeCenzo, Mary Elliott, Alice Pero, Bory Thach, Ambika Talwar and Maja Trochimczyk.  The work of other poets who live too far to attend was also read during the presentation. The reading was recorded via Zoom and will be posted on Moonrise Press YouTube Channel after edits are finished. 

Marlene Hitt on October 16, 2022


Alice Pero

Mary Elliott


Mary Elliott, October 16, 2022

Maja Trochimczyk

Maja Trochimczyk





Alice Pero


Maja with Jadwiga and Evan Inglis



Poets at the Opening Reception: Elliott, Thach, Hitt, Pero, DeCenzo, Talwar, Trochimczyk













Thursday, September 1, 2022

Moonrise Press Publishes "Crystal Fire. Poems of Joy & Wisdom" Edited by Maja Trochimczyk, September 2022

 

Crystal Fire. Poems of Joy & Wisdom

 ISBN 978-1-945938-57-3 (color hardcover)

 ISBN 978-1-945938-58-0 (color paperback)

 ISBN 978-1-945938-59-7 (eBook) 

 Edited by Maja Trochimczyk, and illustrated with paintings by Ambika Talwar, the “Crystal Fire” anthology gathers poems of joy and wisdom by 12 poets, 8 women and 4 men: Elżbieta Czajkowska, Joe DeCenzo, Mary Elliott, Jeff Graham, Marlene Hitt, Frederick Livingston, Alice Pero, Allegra Silberstein, Jane Stuart, Ambika Talwar, Bory Thach, and Maja Trochimczyk. The poets span all ages and diverse life experiences. They include émigrés from Poland, Cambodia, and India, and those born in the U.S. College professors join community poets. Native speakers appear alongside those for whom English is the second, or even the third language. The ”joy and wisdom” they write about are also different, as each poet follows their own path and gathers unique reflections to share with their readers.


Preface

When shadows fell, it was time to shine. The worse and more absurd the news and events are, the more inclined I have been to write “positive” poetry—find shelter in my garden, watch ocean waves on an empty beach, play with kites in the hills. All alone. This period of seclusion has helped me find focus and inspiration for a book of my own, Bright Skies, dedicated to my children and grandchildren.  I thought of a legacy to leave for them: the legacy of love and joy, the legacy of experience, the legacy of wisdom. 

The same focus resulted in the idea of gathering poems of joy and wisdom from other poets for an anthology. Alas, my call for submissions did not result in an avalanche of poems. Not at all. Instead, I heard from some fine poet-friends that they found it very hard to write about light and love, and that their own poems were very dark, reflecting traumas and sorrows of their lives.  But I also received sets  of great poems that inspired me to change the book’s design. Instead of an anthology filled with single poems by many authors, I present a collection written by 12 poets, 8 women and 4 men, spanning all ages and diverse life experiences. Emigrés from Poland, Cambodia, and India, and those born in the U.S.  College professors join community poets. Native speakers appear alongside those for whom English is second, or even third language. The ”joy and wisdom” they write about are also different, as each poet follows their own path and gathers unique reflections to share with their readers.

The title of this anthology comes from my poem “The Year of Crystal Fire” written at the end of a very long and convoluted love story that has a lot to do with the ancient Chinese legends of nine-tailed foxes. I placed this poem in the Babie Lato section of the Bright Skies book. This section contains poems about romantic love and wisdom that comes from loving someone, getting to know the beloved, and learning about love itself. I must admit that the pathway ascending from personal, romantic and erotic love to the universal love, the glue that holds the Universe together, has been my obsession since my first poetry book, Miriam’s Iris, or Angels in the Garden, published in 2008. But I’m a slow learner, so my last words on the subject were written only in 2022! In any case, Babie Lato  (lit. Woman’s Summer) is the Polish term for that magical period between summer and fall, when the light is golden, the air warm, and orchards full of fruit. This is the time of harvest, of ripening, of maturing.  In English it is called Indian Summer, but this name does not fit my idea of gathering the fruit of insight from romance, so I kept the Polish term.

Initially, the title of this anthology was to be The Year of Crystal Fire, just like the poem, but why limit ourselves to just one year? The phrase of “Crystal Fire” may be seen as the  symbol of all humanity, with each person born from the union of man and woman, the male and female DNA strands interlocking in ever new patterns to create human beings. In this phrase, "Crystal" stands for the feminine and “Fire” for the masculine. “Crystal” is peaceful, somewhat static, but well-constructed, stable, and growing slowly into perfection. It is the cosmos of order and being. Remember, only women give birth (though some want to construct artificial wombs and detach humanity from its roots). In contrast, "Fire" is dynamic, sometimes intensely dramatic, always changing, always transforming, constantly in the state of flux. It is the energy of change and growth. It is also destructive, demolishing  solid structures of the past to make room for the new. “Fire” means destruction and becoming. It is pure chaos. 

The Universe arises from the dance of these twin forces, like yin and yang, but neither is pure darkness, negative and “evil” and neither is pure light, positive, and “good.” Instead, they are the ageless vortex  of cosmic unity and chaos, of creation and destruction. There is no value assigned to this polarity, for such labels are limiting and deceptive. Both aspects are essential, each  cannot exist without its twin. Both are good AND evil, both are positive AND negative. ”Good and positive” when coupled with the other. “Evil and negative” when alone. These are the polar opposites of stagnation and decline—or constant movement and the total destruction of all life. The feminine elements of "earth" and "water" endlessly dance with the masculine elements of “air” and “fire.” Do you agree with me?

I find this completely new cosmology that came out of one love wisdom poem to be quite fascinating.  Take it or leave it. It is mine to share.

I am grateful to all poets that found their way to this anthology, via submission or invitation to contribute: Elżbieta Czajkowska, Joe DeCenzo, Mary Elliott, Jeff Graham, Marlene Hitt, Frederick Livingston, Alice Pero, Allegra Silberstein, Jane Stuart, Ambika Talwar, and Bory Thach. I am grateful for the poets’ willingness to work with me and revise or replace their poems as requested. Alice, Ambika and Bory serve with me on the California State Poetry Society’s Board.  Joe and Marlene are friends from Village Poets of Sunland-Tujunga; we have been organizing readings together for over a decade. Others are contributors to the CSPS’s California Quarterly whose poems I liked so much I decided to invite them to join us. Thus, these two organizations should also be acknowledged for opening my poetic horizons and making this anthology possible.

I am particularly grateful to Ambika Talwar whose magnificent artwork graces the cover of this volume and all title pages for individual poets.  She is a great painter and a great poet, also the most prolific. Her verse provides a fitting conclusion to this collection designed to illumine its readers with Crystal Fire.

Enjoy! 

Maja Trochimczyk

Los Angeles, 28 August 2022


ABOUT THIS BOOK - FROM A REVIEW BY MICHAEL ESCOUBAS

"Before launching into the poems themselves, I was blessed by Maja Trochimczyk’s two and one-half page preface. This personally revealing summary of her motivations for giving birth to Crystal Fire is indispensable reading. In it she explains her use of "Crystal," and "Fire," in the title. Don't pass over this enlightened writing.  Each contributor offers a unique take on the subject matter, thus adding a touch of virtuosity to the whole.  In an age of vitriolic talk, of political and moral uncertainty, amid the dark clouds of Covid-19, Crystal Fire draws back the curtain on Love, Joy and yes, Wisdom. As art and poetry work together, I’ve come to an ever-deeper appreciation of Wallace Stevens’ very practical saying, “Poetry [and painting] is a response to the daily necessity of getting the world right.” I can’t help thinking that Maja Trochimczyk, Ambika Talwar, and the talented contributors to Crystal Fire, would agree."

Michael Escoubas, Quill and Parchment, April 2023

http://quillandparchment.com/archives/April2023/book3.html


 

Table of Contents

Table of Contents ≈  v

Preface   x

Prior Publication Credits   xiii

Illustrations by Ambika Talwar    xiv

 


Elzbieta Czajkowska ≈ 3

1.      Of Sky, and Ocean, and Earth   4

2.      What Heart May Be Dreaming    5

3.      The Sublime Senses   6

4.      Given    7

5.      I Burn   8

6.      Fruits of Infinity ≈  9

7.      Close Enough   11

8.      Circles   12

9.      All  You   13

10.   The Calling   14


 All You

 

 

    Breathe in, breathe out. Let it go, let it flow.

    Let it seep out like water through fingers,

    Like sand—drop after drop, grain after grain.

    Empty out all the filth, discard the trash—

    There is no use for useless and no worth to worthless,

    No sense in senseless, no purpose to purposeless.

    There is a song to be found in silence,

    Peace—in motionlessness wrapped in chaos.

    Seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting

    The moment—a breathless wealth of endlessness

    Hidden in a second, an age of blissful now.

    Freedom is found in a mind unburdened from want,

    From expectations, desires and needs, and thus from fear—

    Of losing, of needing more, and not receiving enough.

 

    You are the grain of sand in a desert dune—

    A drop of water in infinite ocean—

    You are the breath, the design, the universe.

 

    Not everything is about you—

    Everything is about you—

 

  “I create myself”

 

 


Bory Thach ≈ 15

1.      Soul-spirit   16

2.      Memory   17

3.      Yesterday I was a Nightingale   18

4.      Fireflies in Moonlight   19

5.      I Fell in Love with the Quietly Flowing River   20

6.      My Desert   21

7.      Mirage   22

8.      Migration   23

9.      Awaken   24


   Fireflies in Moonlight

 

 

A spring moon, sad and beautiful

In an unseen world.  Endless

Whispers of late-night winds and rain.

An oil lamp. Hands in supplication

As they burn a prayer offering,

 

Washing away all earthly sentiments.

Vibrational auras are shaped by thoughts.

Purity and stillness remain. Dreams

Fly, seductive, like star magnolias

On midnight breeze.

 

Petals fall outside the window,

Red leaves float on water in a garden

With lilies. They open as bright as

hollowed moons, big enough to fill

Two outstretched palms.

 

The river of stars ebbs and flows,

Then sails away — as melting frost

Feeds the wilderness. All things

Come into being. The balance

Of matter and energy.

 

The imperceptible is everywhere

Like ink on a page that brings

Mountains and streams to life.

Gaze through the veil of time

Beyond mists and fog.

 

Before waking up,

Move between realms

Of the physical and spiritual.

It is time to count fireflies

In moonlight.


 


Joe DeCenzo ≈ 25

1.      Where the Road Bends   26

2.      It’s Never Too Early   27

3.      Lasagna   28

4.      For What October Brings   29

5.      Between the Lines    30

6.      Would You Ever Know?    31

7.      Love’s Cliché   32

8.      With Gratitude   33

9.      In Joy and Jacaranda ≈  34


In Joy and Jacaranda

 

 

Tell me stories of your restful hibernation,

How you live through the vague and varied impressions

    Of winter’s monochrome.

Tell me how it feels to dream in lavish lilac periwinkle,

To reimagine the bleached and bland conformities

    As you prepare the amethyst show.

What gives voice to inspiration

When that first flower takes to stem?

 

Your trumpet blossoms serenade the skies,

A fanfare in tones of violet-blue

Transforming Drab Avenue into Lavender Lane,

Painting fairytales against a hazy backdrop

That emit free passes to foreign lands.

But, oh, so brief this purple pageant

Before it turns to floral rain.

To blink would be to miss its brilliance

Losing the captivity of its color.

A reviving yet ephemeral moment

Gazing at the lilac plume

To watch it then become sky again

When the wilting blue trumpet petals

Form pools of joy to bathe one’s feet

Or a parade of pastel fireworks

Bursting beneath the tires of bicycles that ride past.

 

You dazzle then you disappear as spring is ending soon.

The price of finding summer is the loss of passion’s bloom.




 

Marlene Hitt ≈ 35

1.      Long Time   36

2.      Dive Deep   37

3.      Journey   38

4.      Field Trip with the Sixth Grade   39

5.      Words from the Garden   40

6.      A Room Full of Boxes   41

7.      What Am I Thankful For?   42

8.      So Close   43

9.      In the Deepest Parts…   44

10.   Reflecting   44

11.   Echo   45

12.   Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day   46

 

Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day

  

You lean to a silver pond

in a brittle pose staring

while circles try to reach you

your palette is dry

mudded to burnt umber

 

How unlike you

your stiff drooping

how unlikely on this silver day

for wind blew last night

cleared the air, promised

a day fair and sunny

 

I remember the amber

and the leaves deep gold

when that day itself leapt

far out into all colors

except red which I banished

 

That day we danced

into intersecting rainbows

each moment luminous and pure

 

We twirled into the day

the one colored with laughter

that brisk and leaping

zestful soaring day

just the two of us

  


Jane Stuart ≈ 47

1.      Snow Flower   48

2.      Across a Lost Horizon   49

3.      A Nature Medley   50

4.      Alexandria – Athens   51

5.      Going Nowhere   52

6.      A Coral Kiss   53

7.      Seeing You in Silhouette ≈  54

8.      Kentucky Moonlight ≈  55

9.      The Fox Flies through the Wind    56

10.   Puppet Show No. 13    58

11.   A Kyrielle    59

12.   The Snow Globe ≈ 60


 Going Nowhere 

 

 

On the beach

your sandals

a red-striped towel

       evening's wind

       the lotus moon

 

Invisible moments

fill our hours—

silver stars float

through cold skies—

       summer's solstice

       is so late this year

 

And a lone heron

flies behind the hawk

and crying owl.

       Seaweed fills our boats,

       a blue wind blows us  

       back and forth

 

Our eyes are full of stars.

Our hearts fill with

the motion of the universe,

       a slow rocking

       under the full moon.

 

Listen!

       Now light is breaking,

             water washing over rock,

                   leaves flying in crazy rhythm

                           while trees wave their branches.

 

This new day brings us

everything we need.

 


Alice Pero ≈ 61

1.      Now   62

2.      Southern CA Yard Chaos   63

3.      Tree Nobility   64

4.      Begin Again, Summer Solstice   65

5.      What is Important?   66

6.      Be It   67

7.      Desert   68

8.      Wind Song   69

9.      If I Rise   70

10.   Break the Lock   71

 

  If I Rise

 

If I rise up past the sun

I will keep a point

down in the green

I will not cast all my anchors up

I will still touch

the tiny trees that sway

the weeping branches

 

If I hide behind the moon

dark shadows paint

on planet’s hills, beam

a long ray on moon’s quiet

I will still leave

my thought, brush

the wings of birds

in Earth flight

Form greeting

 

If I try to fathom space

mark deep traces

in the unknown

I will not rise up forever

past the fallen friends remaining

loved ones grieving

Those caught in Earth’s

endless turning

 

I will catch the silver

of the dep and silent sky

I will bring a treasure home

to touch the earth, each eye.                                                                                                                            

 


Frederick Livingston ≈ 73

1.      Do Stones Have Souls?   74

2.      Fig   76

3.      All Poems are Moon Poems   77

4.      Rings   78

5.      Lunar New Year   80

6.      Rainbow Dreaming   81

7.      Light    82

8.      Honey   83

9.      Present   85

10.   Gnat Creek   86

11.   Pear Blossom   87



Rainbows Dreaming

 

Snoqualmie Pass, Washington

 

 

Now I know

the blankness of snow

is only rainbows dreaming,

 

teaming with streaks of red paintbrush

little lanterns of columbine

tiger lilies prowl the scree slope

 

yellow asters multiply the sun

the hungry green of spring leaves

purple-blue lupine flooding the valley.

 

Who would ever know

these slopes were covered in snow

one mere moon ago?

 

What else have I not seen

and called “empty” in my ignorance?

What dreams within me may erupt

 

from thawing soil,

simply waiting for ripe moments

to answer the generosity of sunlight?


 


 

Allegra Silberstein ≈ 89

1.      The Music of My Love   90

2.      Wherever You Are   91

3.      I Would Lean Out into Meaning   92

4.      Full Moon Magic   93

5.      April Apples and Other Notes   94

6.      The Wind   95

7.      Passage of Blossoms   96

8.      This Day   97

9.      For the Earth   98

 

April Apples and Other Notes

 

 

They blossom now

on their way to becoming

in August harvest.

 

Mourning dove beneath the tree

chases a scrub-jay away

territorial rights upheld.

 

Sometimes a cliche

touches the wonder heard

in birdsong of the heart.

 

Word flight remembered

the old ever new—I love you

warming the day.

 

You are the keeper

of a country that does not

yet know it exists.

 

Autumn apples

hold stars within…

the ripening of heart. 

 



Mary Elliott ≈ 99

1.      Run   100

2.      On Becoming   102

3.      The Crone   103

4.      Crowns of Flowers   105

5.      Stepping Stones   106

6.      Seasons   107

7.      Weave   108

8.      Blood of Stars   110


Blood of Stars

 

 

Will I make it back?

I’m 26,000 light years,

Away from everything,

In California.

 

Sitting on the edge,

of Orion Cygnus' arm,

Gazing up into the October skies,

At some unearthly hour,

It’s almost Thursday morning.

 

Sat wondering if that star,

Will come back my way,

Taking effervescence,

Somewhere deep into the heavens,

Made to roam,

Luminating from the inside.

 

Like me,

Covered in layers,

of borrowed flesh and bone,

Poured with blood,

From the souls of stars,

Into my own.

  


Jeff Graham ≈ 111

1.      Theology of Blue   112

2.      No, It Is Blossoming That Is in Bloom   112

3.      At Times, I Find Myself in Time   113

4.      Roadscape   116

5.      Roadside Roads   118

6.      Polarities: Grove of I   119

7.      Twilight’s Flight by Day, by Night   120

8.      Nocturne 20   122

9.      Nocturne 44   122

10.   The Bantam Hours 14   123

11.   The Bantam Hours 22   123

12.  

The Bantam Hours 53   124

13.   The Bantam Hours 74   124

14.   The Bantam Hours 79   125

15.   The Bantam Hours 80   126


  The Bantam Hours 53

 

Or say, green of field of wheat need not

wind to move it, but my eyes to see it move,

thus my mind to reason what my eyes see,                 

thus my body to maintain my mind                                                                   

like/while grain of wheat sustains the body.    

Or say, the sun sinks due to its heaviness,

that moonrise is steered by the tides,

that wheat sways because it is wheat.

Or say, the purpose of life is purpose,                           

the meaning but the search for meaning                                                                           

(along with the sense of purpose of such).

                        Or say, I may be.        

  

The Bantam Hours 79

 

Not petals, yet the minuscule petals;                                                                       

not leaves, yet the sparse leaves;

not stalks, yet even the uneven segmentations

          of the stalks of geraniums                              

brought spring to my thoughts,

brought spring to fruition (to spring),             

brought my thoughts to me                                                         

                                                   (of the actual)                       

of the eve of autumn

rolling down and off from the eaves                        

of treegreen and that of the roof                                                                                        

of the day’s everywhen

                                       (thus now).  

                                                                                                               

 


 

Maja Trochimczyk ≈ 127

1.      The Year of Crystal Fire   128

2.      A Black Velvet Butterfly   129

3.      Repeat After Me   130

4.      The Infinity Room   132

5.      Pelicans    134

6.      Liquid Opal   135

7.      The School of Birds   136

8.      Alchemy in the Hills   137

9.      The Stillness of Trees   138

10.   Imagine a Star… ≈  139

11.   Arbor Cosmica   140

12.   Like Grapes on a Vine   142

13.   A Starchild’s Lesson   143

14.   Today Is for Us   144


 The Year of Crystal Fire

 

Soft patter of pink rose petals

falling onto the floor. The scent of French Perfume

in the air. The heartbeat  stops. The world ceases its rotations.

 

I see the light in your eyes shining

through the slit in your motorcycle helmet,

as you pass me on the street. In a millisecond

of recognition you take me in—whole,

serene in turquoise and aqua—then, you look away

far into the past we shared so shamelessly,

beyond measure—

             the year of passion

             the year of dogs that brought us together

             the year of longing

             the year of dolphins dancing on salty waves

             the year of absence

             the year of waiting in darkness 

the year of tiger lilies

the year of nine-tailed foxes—

                             smooth with seduction and delight

 

Yes, I liked that year the most—

as we grew into our demonic, daimonic selves,

created new galaxies, parallel universes

out of our other-worldly love.


Timelines shift.

The cosmic windows

keep opening and closing.

Soft patter of pink rose petals

on the flying carpet takes me into

            the year of passion

            the year of tiger lilies

            the year of diamond kites

soaring above hilltops

            the year of stardust

            the year of crystal fire

 




Ambika Talwar ≈ 145

1.      Wild Savant   146

2.      Breath of Resonance   147

3.      Torus for a Broken World   148

4.      Joy in a Careless Breeze   150

5.      Transmutation: A World In & Beyond Time   151

6.      When Gratitude Rises in my Skin   152

7.      Wings of Fire   153

8.      We Are All the Beloved   156

9.      Shades of a Dinner Meeting    158

10.   A Dream of Indomitable Courage   160

11.   Rose Haiku   161

12.   Freely Wilding Grace   162

13.   Melting Mirrors   164

14.   Love is Our Immanent Soul Force   165


   Joy in a Careless Breeze 

          Oh! Where are the forests       and lakes
          I long for? Ripple          of feathered wings
          and curls of water      that sing. Wishbone

         afloat. Smudge of dust           on our faces
         knees and hands that         clasped walls
         of rock, mud, fossils, language of lichen.

         Rain-song on my head       We sing soaked
         drenched with joy        untrammeled as wing
         bone. Oh! Where     the forests   and lakes
         I belong for?          Fragrance of wet wood
         cedar trickling       with fresh breath rising
         of latent wilderness        whose heart
         beats in mine own.         I must walk far

         from here to there       where wisdom beads
         fall from treetops      scattering auburn leaves

         on unaware sleepers.      Where are the forests
         where we can   sprawl   random as a forgotten
         daisy lost as a forest flower   about to burst–

         bloom with limitless     joy in a careless breeze?

  

                  Prana, ruah, chi…
                     breath stirs in all directions
                        shimmering new leaves

 

 About the Poets ≈ 167


Illustrations by Ambika Talwar

 “Heavens Lake Diptych” ~ Right, Acrylic / 1994     Front Cover

“Heavens Lake Diptych” ~ Left, Acrylic / 1994   ≈  Back Cover

“Little Blue Moon”~ Acrylic / 1996   ≈  3

“Vortices of Being ~ Acrylic / 2004 ≈  13

“Meridians” ~ Acrylic /1996 ≈ 23

“Quiet Rainfall” ~ Acrylic / 1997 ≈  33

“Serenity at Dusk” ~ Acrylic / 1997  ≈  45

“Passion of the Lotus” ~ Acrylic / 1998  ≈   59

“initiation” ~ Acrylic / 2003   71

“Celebration” ~ Acrylic  / 1997   87

“Dawn Lights” ~  Acrylic / 1997    97

“Raagas for a Himalayan Sunrise” ~ Acrylic / 1997  ≈  109

“Blue Arches”  ~  Acrylic / 1998  ≈  125

“Creative Vision of the Heart” ~ Acrylic / 1997   139

“Heavens Lake Diptych” ~ Left, Acrylic / 1994  ≈ 166