Gallery of Sol Magazine's

Poet Laureate 2000 Poets

Contents
Poet Laureate 2000 -- John E. Rice
SECOND PLACE -- SuzAnne Cole
THIRD PLACE -- Martha Kirby Capo
FIRST HONORABLE MENTION -- Lois Lay Castiglioni
SECOND HONORABLE MENTION -- Pat Tabella
THIRD HONORABLE MENTION -- Kathy Kehrli
FOURTH HONORABLE MENTION -- Roberta Pipes Bowman
FIFTH HONORABLE MENTION -- Lena Norman

POET LAUREATE
John E. Rice

John E. Rice

Perpetuation

Take a child for a walk in the wild.
Walk softly
where walk the bear and cougar.
Walk past
the wild orchid's purple pedestal
as it sips
morning mist from its own silken slipper.
Dislodge
no stone,
trample
no moss,
disturb only
the pond's smooth surface as
you cup the woody water and
drink from its fountain of truth.
Sit silent,
sensitized, until that child sees,
segregates cypress' knobby knees
from gators' snubby snouts.
Show a child
the Way
of water and wood -
give
that Gift to
The Wilderness.

John E. Rice, Houston, Texas

John E. Rice was born in Galveston, Texas, in 1941. He is married with
four children, and three grandchildren. John writes fiction, non-fiction
and poetry, and is also an artist working in several media. John's
publishing credits include The Writer's Forum, TEXAS Magazine, Sol
Magazine, TIDELINES II, Galaxy Literary Journal, the b.a.w.l. point pen and
others. John E. Rice lives and works in Houston, Texas.

SECOND PLACE
SuzAnne Cole

The Green Somewhere
Somewhere exists a virgin rain forest--
great green trees stretching to pure skies
trunks and branches dripping with epiphytes,
stubby lichen, hanging mosses, sturdy vines,
and adorned with birds--toucans perhaps
iridescent hummingbirds or scarlet macaws,
their song interlaced with the sound of
moisture--clouds condensing and dewfall--
slowly trickling downward to mingle
with braided streams ambling towards the sea.
Monkeys call and clamber through the canopy
above a sloth suspended from an angled branch
breathing a purer air than I will ever know.
If humans have traversed this wildness,
their passage has left no mark--no campfire
scars, no rusted cans, no Styrofoam
no soap scum to sully the landscape.
This forest by me may be unvisited
forever only a green somewhere
but my soul--harassed by officialdom,
assaulted by industrial roar, and
sickened by posturing politicians--
needs to know such wilderness exists.

SuzAnne C. Cole, Houston, TX

SuzAnne C. Cole, a former college English instructor, is author of "To Our
Heart's Content: Meditations for Women Turning 50" (Contemporary
1997). She's published essays, poetry, and short fiction in Newsweek, the
Houston Chronicle, the San Antonio Express-News, Troika, Personal
Journaling, Home for the Holidays (Papier-Mache, 1997), Bless the Day
(Kodansha, 1998), Family Celebrations (McMeel, 1999), Grrrrr (Arctos, 1999)
and many literary magazines. Her haiku won the Suraga-Baiki Festival in
Numazu, Japan in February, 1999, and she also was a winner in the Writer's
Digest Personal Poetry Contest in May, 1999. Her first play was produced in
August, 1999. SuzAnne lives in Houston, Texas.

THIRD PLACE
Martha Kirby Capo

Preservation
Old Bone Woman remembers stories
Told under a cold black desert sky
Sequined in summer stars,
When the children of Awitelin Tsita
Still lay deep in her red-ochre belly
And the golden grains of her hair
Sprawled across the wilderness
And the evergreen tips of her fingers
Reached up to tickle the puffy white
Soft underbellies of the Ancient Ones,
Whose laughter swirled between
Her rustling skirts like children
Running through the fields of corn.
Old Bone Woman tells me stories
And hopes I will remember
For I live in a time when
Wildernesses are protected,
Enclosed by manmade fences
Like weary creatures in a zoo
Visited by families on the weekend.
And the children of Awitelin Tsita
Forget their Mother's face
Under a cold black desert sky
Blanketed in summer smog
And the Ancient Ones laugh no longer.

Martha Kirby Capo, Houston, TX

Martha Kirby Capo's poetry has appeared in The Aurorean, Texas Poetry
Calendar 2000, and Curbside Review. Her work has been set to music and
performed at the International Choral Music Festival in Vienna, Austria,
and in churches throughout America, including the Virgin Islands. Member
of the Unitarian Universalist Poets' Cooperative, Ms. Capo lives in Clear
Lake, Texas, with her husband and sons.

FIRST HONORABLE MENTION
Lois Lay Castiglioni

No Retreat
Bands of wild horses stand planted
Like waxworks on the grassland
Caught in the shadows of sunset until
A silent signal from the lead mare
And once more the wilderness
Echoes with thundering hooves
Plumes of mist from flared nostrils
Rise like frantic smoke signals
While helicopters hover in icy air
Vultures plotting to snatch their prey
Unless we fold our minds around the notion
Of protection, these noble beasts
Live in constant jeopardy
Stampeding toward destruction

Lois Lay Castiglioni, Galveston, TX

Lois Lay Castiglioni, a dietitian at UTMB in Galveston, Texas, grew up in
the red clay hills of north Georgia with five siblings. Several members of
their clan are published writers and all are raconteurs. They recall or
invent stories as quickly as their grandmother spun wool yarn in 1864 for
passing soldiers. Lois echoes the told and retold family stories in her
writings. Lois Lay Castiglioni lives in Galveston, Texas.

SECOND HONORABLE MENTION
Pat Tabella

A Visit Near Extinction
Sea birds rise, then dip, in a scalloped path above us, leading us out into the cold Atlantic. The boat suddenly seems too small as it slips farther from land. We huddle for warmth and for conversation, hot drinks warming our hands, eyes darting the horizon. Dolphins ride the bow for a while, then go on ahead. The scientists ready their cameras; a record must be kept. We hear there have been whales sighted just beyond the Cape. Wind whips the tips of waves to froth, as the last point of land recedes. Do we shiver more with anticipation than from the cold October air? I cannot say.

At last, a water spout! Someone shouts, "Thar she blows!" The humpbacks break the surface, emerging from the rolling green wilderness, a shield from extinction that still keeps their secrets safe. A young one, rocked by the waves, swims beside it's mother. Cumulus clouds lumber over, as ponderous as the whales below. Just beyond the pod, a narwhal is spotted, sunfish, jellyfish dot the expanse. The whales approach, watching us watch them and we admire their grace and beautiful black and white flukes. We are awestruck as the largest breaches slapping the brackish water hard as it falls. We savor the time with them, some of us watching through tears. Abruptly, all dive, each unique tail pattern visible, to depths most of us will never know, into the wildness of the sea.

Patricia A Tabella, Providence, RI

Patricia A. Tabella's writing reflects her love of nature and animals, and
she has submitted poems to Sol Magazine for several years. She was raised
and currently resides in Rhode Island. A graduate of Southeastern
Massachusetts University (now U. Mass. at Dartmouth), majoring in Visual
Design, she worked in advertising for several years. In 1978, Pat and her
husband, Dennis, founded Defenders of Animals. Patricia A. Tabella lives
in Providence, Rhode Island.

THIRD HONORABLE MENTION
Kathy Kehrli

A Solitary Quest
The lavender blooms of the lilac bush
Harbor cardinals and blue jays in their boughs.
The fertile earth churned by plows gentle push
With golden wheat and butter corn endows.
The maples long after copper leaves fall
Drip sweet sugary syrup from their taps.
The overgrown brambles skirt the stone wall
Amongst their prickers hide luscious black caps.
The rushing water of the spring-fed pond
Cleanses the spirit, purifies the mind.
Nature encapsulates me in its bond
To preserving its beauty I'm resigned.
One entity can make a difference.
I hold this wilderness in reverence.
Kathy Kehrli, Factoryville, PA

Kathy Kehrli enjoys the outdoors and is an avid reader.
She is a book reviewer for Inscriptions magazine,
a contributing editor for Suite 101 under the category
"Books You May Have Missed"
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/books_missed
and is a co-moderator for Kalliope Poetry Workshop.
Her poetry has been featured in An Eclipsing,
Fantasy Folklore and Fairytales, Sol Magazine,
and The Romantic Bower. Her work will also appear
in upcoming issues of Thy Word Publications and
Spellbound magazine.
Kathy Kehrli lives in Factoryville, Pennsylvania.

FOURTH HONORABLE MENTION
Roberta Pipes Bowman

No One Cares
Spring is bustling here
where grazing Herefords munched
and flowers splashed their colors.
These hills have been forgotten.

Emerald tents of cedar
stunt the grass, erase
old cattle trails. Rough weeds
fill remaining space.
This wilderness shelters dens
of snakes and spider webs.
No mockingbird is heard
or hum of working bees.
People dare not enter.
The keeper cares no more.
He rocks in nursing home.
His sons are dwelling far
in urban concrete maze.
Their sons are soaring high
in mysteries of space.

One day someone will claim
these hills and tame this wild,
unloved, neglected land.

Roberta Pipes Bowman, Fort Worth, TX

Artist and poet, Roberta Pipes Bowman began writing and publishing at age
eleven. She has published eight books of poetry, and her collection of
poems "Welcome to Today" won the 1995 Lucidity Chapbook Publication
Award. Published internationally, her poems continually receive prizes at
local, state and international levels, including the World Peace Award in
1994, where her work was read at Lincoln Center. She has held numerous
offices in local and state poetry clubs. She was nominated for Poet
Laureate of Texas in 1996 and received the Hilton Ross Greer Service Award
from Poetry Society of Texas in 1998. She also writes stories which are
published. Her paintings have won prizes including State Fair of Texas
awards. Roberta Pipes Bowman lives in Fort Worth, Texas.

FIFTH HONORABLE MENTION
Lena Norman

Conservation Activist
Emulate a reverence
For nature, beauty and waterways
Preserve the habitat for water fowl
In marshlands for their nesting days.
Waterfalls ease weary souls
Keep nature's playground clear
Skyscrapers must not invade
Scenes we hold so dear.
That our lakes will be well-stocked
Fish hatcheries guarantee
Providing fishing pleasure
For enthusiasts like me.
Limit mining excavation
Don't permit land piracy
Natural resources face depletion
We must protect them legally.
State and National forests
Are a part of our great nation
Do what we can to nurture them
For a future generation.
Write to lawmakers to support
Measures you want to see
Save the wilderness, shelter wildlife
And make this land pollution-free.

Lena S. Norman, Saginaw, Texas

Lena S. Norman was the youngest of three children. She loved school, and
graduated in 1940 at the age of fifteen as her high school class
salutatorian. She was employed in the jewelry industry for two
years. Mechanical drawing lessons replaced evening Art lessons, and in
1942 she joined defense industry workers as a draftswoman in the Tool
Design department of an aircraft assembly plant. She loved the work, which
led to a scholarship in Aeronautical Engineering at MIT from
1944-1946. She loves art, poetry, photography, gardening, homemaking, and
people. Lena lives in Saginaw, Texas.

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