Poetry of Valentines, Love, and Roses

Happy Valentine's Day to all happy and unhappy lovers. All lovers should be happy, even if their love is gone, dead, or lost in the mist of time. It is the supreme gift of having been able to feel what generations of poets have felt, from the divine Sappho until today...

For lovers of love poetry, Maja Trochimczyk's Rose Always - A Court Love Story was all in dew-drop rose-red, and filled with love poetry of delight, desire, fulfillment, and heartbreak. All versions of this book were withdrawn in 2018.

"This novella in verse is a tragedy; intense love against betrayal...Love is a strange truth--no two loves are the same. There are spiritual depths in each being. It is astonishing to see a woman's soul clearly in public in the white heat of love, the thought light of kisses sparkling on skin, the departure point into worlds. Even after it seemed lost her love takes a deeper spiritual form; she continues to love..." ~ Russell Salamon

Rose Always - No. 58

I’ve never done so much

to destroy a love, yet it lives on,

lingers in the corners of my soul,

explodes like summer fire, joy ineffable

con moto, agitato

I’ve never seen so much beauty

in one body, outlined by a halo of grace,

smooth lover’s sweat at midnight,

bright morning sunrays, light invincible

sotto, colla voce

I’ve never felt so much

desire, blinding me to all

but your heartbeat, the warm touch

of your strength, dangerous charm

semplicemente

I’ve never dreamed so much

of a happy future, two strangers

who share nothing, just surprise

at the unthinkable bliss of chance

molto scherzando

I’ve never loved so much  

(c) 2011 by Maja Trochimczyk

For lovers of love's wisdom in poetry, Maja Trochimczyk's Miriam's Iris, or Angels in a Garden, describes a life trajectory from homesickness, through romance, grief, and reconciliation with the most beautiful of loves, found only with the Angel called Sophia, the Divine Wisdom. This book, too, found its admirers among reviewers. 

Paperback Edition: ISBN 978-0-578-00166-1
Preview on Google Books: Miriam Preview
Hardcover with Color Photos: ISBN 978-0-9819693-2-9 

EBook (PDF) from lulu.com: ISBN 978-0-9819693-2-9

"Rarely does one find a book of poetry which holds together as well as Miriam's Iris. Although presented as a collection of individual poems, it reads like it was composed as a whole, as a single poem of multiple parts. . .Miriam's Iris is a strong demonstration of how poetry can evoke emotion without getting bogged down in the details of one's affairs. Along the way it provides some wisdom about finding one's place, accepting what one is given." (G. Murray Thomas in Poetix.net, Feburary 2010)

Amor 6 

 the more I love

 the more dangerous 

life becomes 

in its graphic beauty 

carved with a dagger 

stolen from time 

 the blade cuts 

old wounds open 

 it slides on the skin 

of the moment 

 pierced by knowing

 © 2006 by Maja Trochimczyk

For lovers of life itself, and the miracle of living on our planet, surrounded by the loved ones that we sometimes appreciate only if we are truly lost, Ed Rosenthal's The Desert Hat will be a delight, with its incredible story of a true loss - wandering through the Mojave Desert for six days, he wrote love messages for his wife and daughter on his hat. He somehow had a pencil with him, and not a piece of paper or a notebook. The hat is destined for a museum of human spirit. The book - for your shelf or some reading device.

Paperback edition, ISBN 978-0-9819693-7-4

eBook for iTunes or Nook, $10.00: ISBN 978-0-9819693-9-8

"Ed Rosenthal's The Desert Hat not only recounts an incredibly vivid story of survival, but maps out the dangerous journeys of the heart and the imagination in that hallucinatory place between mind and body, between nature and man, between the past and the future. Like poet James Wright, Rosenthal "goes/ Back to the broken ground" of the self and finds a stranger there trapped in the cosmology of an endless, unpitying desert. As the stark "sun burns holes/ into the sky" the psyche'€™s true-north compass finds salvation'€™s shade. Rosenthal climbed out of "the busted monster'€™s mouth" with a beautiful, moving book."

 ~ Elena Karina Byrne, Executive Director of AVK Arts, author of The Flammable Bird Masque and Squander

If all this is not enough, readers may found lots of love poems, and roses, at the following issues of blogs.

POETRY LAURELS

Maja Trochimczyk blog, first documenting her tenure as Poet-Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga, and later whatever catches her poetic fancy, including a series of post on love, the Valentine's Day, and roses.

poetrylaurels.blogspot.com/2013/09/rose-poems-from-shadows-leaves-roses.html

http://poetrylaurels.blogspot.com/2013/06/on-irony-and-love-songs-with-grapefruit.html

http://poetrylaurels.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-history-of-love-and-roses.html

http://poetrylaurels.blogspot.com/2011/05/roses-and-roses-without-end.html

http://poetrylaurels.blogspot.com/2011/02/timeless-after-desire-love-on.html

http://poetrylaurels.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-is-love-valentines-day-reflections.html

CHOPIN WITH CHERRIES

Stories of Chopin's love letters, his interests in roses, violets, his failed love affairs and sublime music. Illustrations include Redoute's engravings of roses.

http://chopinwithcherries.blogspot.com/2014/02/chopins-roses-and-violets-and-spring.html

http://chopinwithcherries.blogspot.com/2013/02/on-chopins-roses-for-valentines-day.html

http://chopinwithcherries.blogspot.com/2012/02/chopins-valentines-and-his-letters.html

Announcing Ed Rosenthal's The Desert Hat - Survival Poems after Being Lost in the Mojave

Moonrise Press's next publication will be a volume of poetry inspired by a six-and-a-half-day ordeal of Ed Rosenthal, a Poet-Broker, who survived alone after being lost in the Mojave Desert in September 2010.  An experienced hiker, he unexpectedly veered far away from his usual route and could not find his way back. He found refuge in Salvation Canyon, was several times missed by search-and-rescue aircraft and helicopters, and finally, miraculously was found by San Bernardino Sheriff's Deputies.

The wry, surreal, and reflective poems in The Desert Hat: Survival Poems describe the spiritual trajectory of a survivor living through a close encounter with death, starting from alienation in a corporate urban environment and ending with the post-trauma reflections about life and natural environment.

The book consists of over 30 poems organized in four sections, reflecting the distinct stages in the spiritual and personal journey, from getting off track, through searching for a way back, hallucination in a hostile desert environment, finding shelter in the shade of Salvation Canyon, being rescued, and experiencing the world after the return from the brink of death.  The title alludes to a canvas hat that Rosenthal used as a notebook and helped the lost poet control his thoughts, capture emotions, and write down his last will and a farewell to his wife and daugther.

This is Ed Rosenthal's first book-length publication. Forthcoming in 2013.

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From a review of  Meditations on Divine Names published online on Deacon's Blog in August 2012.

"The poets belong to different religions or religious denominations. They see the manifestations of the divine in many aspects of life – personal prayer, religious ceremonies, singing of psalms, family relationships, nature, sun, sky, bread making, loving, and love making. They admire the colors of the sky and the liquid nourishment of water. The clarity of mountain air and the gentleness of human touch. From the four letters of YHWH to Lada or Pele, the anthology catalogs some unusual divine names. Poets reflect on the act of naming, the facts of knowing and unknowing of our God(s). They give testimony to their hopes and beliefs, and share what they find beautiful and inspirational, or, sometimes, disturbing. There is darkness around and death, but the poets look for ways to ascend above, to illumination."

Deacon Jim on the Deacon's Blog, August 2012.