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From the desk of the Managing Editor ~

Please join us in welcoming three new Assistant Editors to the staff of Sol Magazine: Mary Burlingame, Current Events Administrator Roy Schwartzman, Forms Investigator Gary Blankenship, Website and Book Reviewer We thank each new Editor for volunteering their time and talents to this effort. In addition, please help us celebrate our long time Editor-in-Chief Craig Tigerman's promotion to Special Projects Manager here at Sol Magazine.  Paula Marie Bentley, our skilled Features Editor, has taken on the daunting task of Editor-in-Chief in his place.  Our eternal thanks go to both Craig and Paula for their unceasing labors to not only promote the cause of poetry, but also to help educate poets.  We also wish to thank our Web Master, Leo Waltz; our Poetry Editor, Betty Ann Whitney; Assistant Editor Bonnie Williams; and our steadfast Proofreader, Janet Parker for all the many times you have worked, not only on weekdays, but also on weekends and sometimes even late into the night helping to put Sol together.  You are well loved and highly appreciated. Mary Margaret Carlisle, Managing Editor of Sol Magazine

 

 

FEATURED ARTICLES
Note: These links will exit you from the current edition.

Visit the clichéd muse for a special contest open to Members and non-members alike.
***	Poetry Works: "Best of the Best:  What Sol's Judges Look for"
Spotlight: "It's No Fun Being Normal" In-form-ed: "Bouts-Rimés & Same-Oh" Poetry Works: “How Would One Introduce Poetry to an Alien?” Poetry of Place and Memory at San Jacinto College South Writing Conference.

• LETTERS
• FIVE LAWS OF CATS
• ART & SOL:  LIMESTONE VALENTINE
• WHEN I WAS A CHILD
• EDITOR'S CHOICE
• Staff info

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FIRST PLACE - Winner of a $10.00 book gift certificate

Newsflash: Bast Repeals Laws of Physics

Repealed: Coulomb’s Law of Electricity
Static electricity shall henceforth remain static
Instead of leaping from fingertip to cat fur.

Repealed: Bernoulli’s Law of Aerodynamics
No manipulation of air over wing structures
Will ever again allow a bird to escape a cat.

Repealed: Einstein’s Law of Relativity
The speed of light now falls below
The speed of cats approaching the food bowl.

Repealed: Clausius’ Law of Thermodynamics
No longer is it necessary for cats to seek out heat.
Instead, heat now seeks out cats.

Repealed: Newton’s Law of Inertia
Henceforth, a cat at rest shall remain at rest
Until it pleases to move, regardless of force applied.

Elizabeth Barrette, Charleston, IL, USA

Heirs of Bast

a hand
with a can opener in it
leg curled by a cat

feline resting
on the one place without
her fur on it

window shades
should never be closed
cat batting the cord

the tabby
walking away
when called

opening
the bathroom door
to be rubbed

Cliff Roberts, Fort Worth, TX, USA

How to Be a Good House Cat

If you see an open door, go through;

It surely must be intended for you.
So what if you've changed sides ten times since two?

If you need a snack in the middle of the night,
Poke at heads and hips till they turn on the light.
Dish already full?--Well, company's a delight!

When your humans start to fill your dish,
Let them know loud and clear of your fondest wish.
If you're quiet a second, you won't get your fish.

If you see a bare couch, add some fur,
It's as decorative as your loudest purr.
If it's vacuumed up, go right back with more.

Cats have undisputed right of way,
Even if you just lie in the door all day.
They won't make you move--whatever they say!

Katherine Swarts, Houston, TX, USA

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EKPHRASTIC:  A work of art based on another composition.  In poetry, this type of work takes as its theme a particular piece of visual art of any genre, virtually representing through poetic description something originally represented visually.  To view the artwork upon which these poems are based, visit the feature ART & SOL for September 2002 (note that there are two artworks for Sept 2002).  If you are a Sol Magazine Member, and wish to contribute artwork for this feature, write to the Managing Editor at Sol.Editor@prodigy.net with your proposal.  Do not send artwork until given permission, please.

Healing Touch

In the palm of your hand
you hold a twisted heart
of limestone relief

in the center a hole
where there is no oxygen
and red turns blue,
the distorted aorta
pumps this blue through
constricted arteries,

you examine the piece
turn it about, touch it, sculpt it,
your healing art complete
a limestone valentine.

Kathy Paupore, Kingsford, MI, USA

Stone Dream

A limestone turned
yearning water it bathes
in darkness and light
bright, smooth curves
and twisting shadows
to flow in imagined seas
soft white and submarine
saline wave-worn it peers
surfacing its periscope eye
skyward to a morning blue
only to awaken to lonely black
back on arid grounds.

James M. Thompson, Baytown, TX, USA

Eocene Epiphany

Slicksmooth emanates a
warmth unknown to stone;

invites a flowing touch sliding,
sliding, siding with the sensual.

A perception of veiled head melts
to hips with no hope found within

except from a sculptor's hand that
soothes its luminescent surface

Claiborne S. Walsh, Montrose, AL, USA

Becoming

Our two beings,
our separate karmas,
became one
intertwined existence.

We won’t go back to
who and what we were.

We will stay together
like limestone rocks
and eventually we will become
like marble;
smooth, polished, colorful
and inseparable.

Eileen Sateriale, Bowie, MD, USA
COMMENTS:  Lovely portrayal in conversational language of the sculpture as the ever-popular theme of art where two different beings or things come together, and become stronger in the uniting.  The title is excellent for this particular concept.  Good visualization of this particular piece of art as a yoking, an intertwining.  An interesting interjectory stanza in the middle, of "We won't go back to / who and what we were," almost as an aside.  The poem personifies the sculpture to a degree.
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HONORABLE MENTION

Poetry E Motion

Cherished limestone.  Porous, but rock solid - bold lines
To demonstrate a relationship chiseled by time?

Curved back upon itself, its circle is unbroken, but
Asymmetrical - no sharp edges to communicate disharmony.

Substantive and strong - an aesthetically designed
Celebration of an original, imaginative love.

What moment did the artist transcend
With simple grace and subtlety of form?

No heart-shaped cliché
The feelings here expressed.

SJ Baldock, Lancaster, TX, USA
COMMENTS:  The writing here is soft, yet strong like the stone.  Interesting questions posed, and left for the reader to answer.  Interesting description that might make a reader wish to view the artwork described here.

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FIRST PLACE - Winner of a $10.00 electronic book gift certificate.

Unexpected Gifts

My parents lived in two-week paycheck cycles
there was no waste, and though there may have
been want for trendy material possessions,
we never went without Christmas presents.

Simple things were appreciated, had value.
Imagination and creativity were friends of ours.
A box of Kleenex could become a room full of flowers.
We collected rocks, leaves, butterflies, art supplies.
A pen and paper were the moon and the sky.

Today there is a toy for every thing that money can buy.
I hope my children find in the chaos of modern life
that imagination, creativity, and appreciation are gifts,
and to make the most of what they have.  Less is more.

Kathy Paupore, Kingsford, MI, USA

A Mother and a Father

At three-and-a-half she sobbed,
an only child folded in her daddy's arms,
both facing the same wall.

When the star of the third grade
Christmas concert sang
forlorn as an orphan until
familiar navy coveralls filled
the light of the double doors
mothers cried.

A runaway trudged, star of nothing,
the drugged city streets.  Another car
skidded - this time she'd get in.  Eyes
to the floormat, she said:  hi daddy.

Tanya Ruth Larson, Kamloops, BC, CAN

Grandfather

I watched in silence.
Endless was his creativity.
A piece of old wood,
with patience,
turned into a rooster.
A barrel of apples, sliced, and stored
later became a tasty winter treat.
I sat on his lap as he plowed,
then came the food of his labor.
I saw a piece of lumber
become a corner shelf.
With all the meticulious care,
I also saw something greater
mirrored from the eyes,
a smiling heart.

Daisy Autry Worrock,  Abingdon, VA,  USA

Extracurriculum

I learned that mulberries taste best
sun-warmed and straight from the tree,
and that they stain clothes and fingertips.
I learned that fuzzy kittens and puppies
sometimes pretend to be tigers and wolves,
and that they bite if you pull their tails.
I learned that fresh-mown grass smells sweeter
than perfume and feels softer than goosedown,
and that it can give you an almighty rash.
I learned that fireworks make sparkles in the sky
but even they can’t outdo a thunderstorm,
and they hurt your ears if you don’t wear earplugs.
I learned that what you do comes back to you and
that the world in its wonder is not always safe,
and I would not want it any other way.

Elizabeth Barrette, Charleston, IL, USA
COMMENTS:  Well-constructed catalog of five precious truths best learned in young years.  Lovely word-choices bring a sparke to this poem.
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HONORABLE MENTION

Why Worry?

When all I had to do
was open my big mouth
and I was fed till I had my fill.

When all I had to say
was gaa-gaa goo-goo
and people thought, that was so cool.

When where I had to go
was in my diaper
and that was well taken care of.

When all I had to be
was me
and that was enough.

Alma Philbert Linton, Lachine, QC, CAN
COMMENTS:  To just be yourself is a vital thing to learn and remember!  Nice use of repetition in stanza structure.
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OTHER POEMS COMMENTED UPON BY OUR JUDGE
===========
The Spoon

In the drawer to the left of the sink,
There is a special spoon that provides a link.
It's quite simple really, not sterling or gold,
But is a childhood memory that loves to be told.
Outside the Spring air breathed lilacs in bloom,
Across the yard, through the window, she sits in a room.
On the floor as I lay, she laughs through her tales,
Of pirates, oceans deep and my excited wails.
Every Spring was the same in that cool garden room,
Her tales of adventure, the cup and the spoon.
So much love did she have for me,
As Nana spooned sugar into her tea.
She has now since passed, the cup also is gone,
The spoon I have kept, the tradition lives on.

Steven Hull, Leona Valley, CA, USA
COMMENTS:  Uses rhythm and rhyme to reinforce the air of down-home familiarity.
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Osmotic Edification

Tales of lore upon his lips, wild florae in hand,
Grandpa pressed upon me a reverence toward land.

Each task she chose to undertake, in every snap-pea picked,
Grandma reaped the rich rewards of discipline most strict.

Integrity at the forefront, Mom walked upright and just,
Never preaching, always teaching; garnering full trust.

Body ravaged, organs weak, yet still Gramp’s heart did beat,
Palpitating to the love that made his life complete.

And though perhaps not realized, each in their special way
Osmosed the lessons to me I hold most dear today.

Kathy Kehrli, Factoryville, PA, USA
COMMENTS:  These nicely done couplets about three very dear people and the legacy they left behind are touching in their details.

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Healing Touch

In the palm of your hand
you hold a twisted heart
of limestone relief

in the center a hole
where there is no oxygen
and red turns blue,
the distorted aorta
pumps this blue through
constricted arteries,

you examine the piece
turn it about, touch it, sculpt it,
your healing art complete
a limestone valentine.

Kathy Paupore, Kingsford, MI, USA
COMMENTS:  A literal translation of this sculpture, this poem most captures the spirit and letter of the Ekphrastic form.  Instead of seeing a sculpture, the poet perceives a living, beating heart and its works, and creates a most intriguing contrast between the white solidity of the sculpture and the warm fluidity of the heart and blood.  Interesting twist in the phrase "twisted heart / of limestone relief," and excellent parallels throughout between the sculpture and the heart.  Wonderful intermingling of two seemingly dissonant concepts through careful word choices.  Terse style sketches powerful images.  Tactile, colorful, touching.

There is no immediate prize associated with a poem having been picked as Editor's Choice in a particular month, only the knowledge that our editors picked it over all the other prize winners of that month.  However, all poems chosen for EDITOR'S CHOICE of each month in the year 2003 will be automatically entered in the EDITOR'S CHOICE OF THE YEAR 2003 competition, voted on by Sol Magazine Members at the end of the year.

Questions?  E-mail Mary Margaret Carlisle, Managing Editor: Sol.Editor@prodigy.net
Please refer to this page for Sol Magazine questions & email contacts:
http://sol-magazine-projects.org/prodigy/sol.magazine/question.htm
 

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