Sol Magazine's
Poet Laureate 2004 Edition
© 2004 SOL MAGAZINE
http://www.sol-magazine.org


HONORABLE MENTION

S. J. Baldock, Lancaster, TX, USA

SJ Baldock

BIOGRAPHY

S. J. Baldock has been writing since grammar school as a means of communicating what she is otherwise unable to communicate.  She has been published in Cigar Lifestyles, International Toastmistress Magazine, Emotions Literary Journal, Scribe and Quill, SEEDS and The Fisherman's Guide, and in these E-Zines: Sol Magazine, A Writer's Choice, and WritersBlock.  Ms. Baldock and her husband live in east Texas on a small acreage she affectionately refers to as: “our little cottage in the woods.” 

Favorite Quote: 

“Though his burial was slated (meow, meow, meow), he became reanimated…” —Anon., "Señor Don Gato"

COMMENTS 

S. J. Baldock brings to the table emotions ranging from moody to pessimistic to morbid, and honestly exposes opinions of those aspects of life that most keep secret.  This poet is not afraid of harsh topics. Spare, clean language and imagery add to the elegiac quality of this work, and she clearly understands the power of the last line.  Unflinching attention to life’s less pleasant details, from the personal to the historic.  Profound skill in transforming something destructive into something creative.  Good use of enjambment to carry the flow.  Gripping images remain plastered to the reader’s eyeballs long after turning the page.  Tightly woven sentences, with good line breaks and pauses.  Sensational, contrasting, sometimes shocking hyperbole combined with alliterative language creates interest.  Serious, strong work, well thought out and planned.  Very good use of simile and metaphor. Internal rhyme plays a part, as well, in moving this poet's work. Nice choice of descriptive words. "Of Cats and Canaries" is a well developed, insightful and sharply allegorical story of past love that has now fallen.  Within the parallel between man and beast, the poem flares with stellar writing.  Unusual twists of phrase, such as "I was burned into his bones," bring a feeling of pain to the reader, if only for the brutal honesty. So very well written within the spirit of enjambment, this poem shows a very creative use of language, a fine use of alliteration, simile and metaphor, topped with a masterful closing sentence.  We read this powerful emotional piece and hope it's not autobiographical, but know it must be...yet poets are not above taking the lives of their friends as grist for the poetry mill.  How is the reader to tell, when a story is told so convincingly?  This poem was voted "most favorite individual poem," by a majority of the judges.


Of Cats and Canaries

He loved me once.  More than he loved himself for

I was burned into his bones, imprinted upon his
Cells and spliced into his DNA--as fundamental
To his existence as eating, sleeping, breathing,

Believing.  Back then; I thought that fairy tales sprung
Full-grown from his thighs…but now?  Each morning
Brings more pain into the house:  “I love you but you

Don’t love me!” we think, floundering about
Like fragile, fallen birds whose wings have not yet
Learned to fly.  Divorce waits like a patient cat

Hoping to devour us

© 2004  S. J. Baldock, Lancaster, TX, USA


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