Sol Magazine, A Poetry Journal: An international
organization of Members and Volunteers interested in the education of poets.
E-mail us at Sol.Magazine@prodigy.net
. For Submission Requirements and Membership information, visit:
http://www.sol-magazine.org.
BEST POETRYZINE ON THE INTERNET CONTESTThe results are in:
Final Standings of the 2003 Preditors & Editors Poll - Category: Best poetryzine on the internet: Sol Magazine - Tied for 3rd place. Note that Sol Magazine was the only purely poetry magazine in the top three. http://www.critters.org/predpoll/tally.html
Thanks so much for participating!
SPONSORS:
DODIE MEEKS
SOL MAGAZINE
JUDGES:
ESHA B. NEOGY
DODIE MEEKS
JOHN E. RICE
MARY MARGARET CARLISLE
CRAIG TIGERMAN
BETTY ANN WHITNEY
DEDICATION: To six remarkable women: Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Maya Angelou, and Toni Morrison. Let the truth be known! |
FEATURED ARTICLES
Note: These links are on separate web pages and will exit you from the current edition.
|
CONTENTS of this page:
LETTERS - Letters may be edited for length. |
FROM -- CHUCK WEMPLE: Keep up the great work - sol magazine is a wonderful resource and web-based gathering place :) Chuck |
FROM -- JAMES M. THOMPSON: Thank you for the congratulations and for the gift certificate. I used the gift certificate to purchase "Black Zodiac" by Charles Wright and "Vigil:Poems" by CK Williams. Jim |
HAIKU Q&A
Thank you for your responses to the three questions we recently posed about Haiku. We've given careful thought to your suggestions, and have decided to allow the use of manmade objects in future contests, and to occasionally allow mention of people in certain contests. |
|
FROM -- KATHY PAUPORE: I find the current Haiku rules quite challenging. The challenge is a good thing though. It sharpens the skill. |
FROM -- CLAIBORNE S. WALSH: I think they are fine as they are. |
FROM -- JUDITH SCHIELE: I feel your current Haiku form rules are challenging, but ok as they are. They follow traditional Haiku rules that I am familiar with. |
FROM -- CINDY TEBO: Allow articles and manmade objects. |
FROM -- KATHERINE SWARTS: I have no particular opinion on the current rules. However, when I first heard of the form (in grade school English), I was taught that it was written in a 5/7/5 format. |
FROM -- SUZANNE C. COLE: Too restrictive in not allowing articles or punctuation, or not referencing people or man-made objects, and in saying "the middle line is longer than the other two lines." |
FROM -- STACEY WILCOX: I think the rules are challenging, but fine as they are. |
FROM -- SJ BALDOCK: I hope you won't change the criterion at SOL. That you don't compromise is important if we are to grow as writers. |
FROM -- ELIZABETH BARRETTE: Delete or make optional the requirement to use simple words and expressions. Delete the rule that says Haiku relate to things directly without metaphors or personification. Modify the rule about adjectives etc to "avoid overusing adjectives." Require a 5-7-5 form. Pick three other mandatory rules and make the rest optional. |
We asked our poets to write about love and disappointment,
longing and disenchantment. It is evident by the response that while
some folks are not shy about asking for what they want, others accept their
cruel fate with resignation and protestations of love. We wish we
could send every respondent chocolate! The judge says all were great
fun to read. Even though only one winner was to be chosen, the second-place
poems were impossible to ignore, while the honorable mention made the judge
laugh out loud.
============
FIRST PLACE Winner of a $10.00 electronic
book gift certificate.
Not Sent=============My secret love oceans away,
You will not send a card or speak,
In a house and arms not mine,
I'll whisper it and will be
Taken by a butterfly beat-to you.Andrew McNeil, Fife, SC, GBR
Bending Cupid's Beau=============Each Cupid's Day for fifteen years in a row
You've brought candies and cards with sweet verses
You are attentive and sweet; a perfect beau
But this year not another heart-shaped thing - curses
I want a ring and wedding bells chiming in the springKay Lay Earnest, Smyrna, GA, USA
A Misplaced Plea to St. Valentinus=============Where is that Cupid that you promised? Oh right—
you don’t hail from Mt. Olympus…This year I would
like a man, one part hero and two parts Pan. Aphrodite
hear my plea—there must be someone who’ll love me!Terrie Leigh Relf, San Diego, CA, USA
Plastic
My birthday brought an ice cube tray
Christmas yielded a measuring cup
Take a little advice, my dear
Before Valentine's Day rolls around
Spare me, please, from plastic hearts
Betty Dobson, Halifax, NS, CAN
=============
OTHER ENTRIES
=============
My Dense Valentine
For my birthday I got golf clubs; for Christmas
I got a boat
I can neither golf nor fish - is this his idea
of a joke?
With Valentine’s Day forthcoming
I’ve been dropping innumerable hints
And I better be getting JEWELRY if he’s got a
lick of sense!
SJ Baldock, Lancaster, TX, USA
============
My Love Is Like a Red Red -- WHAT?
Call me a traditionalist,
But this year I want roses –
Real roses, not a wad of red lace
Cleverly counterfeiting a rose that unravels
Into panties.
Elizabeth Barrette, Charleston, IL, USA
============
New Prospect
Frank was fond of my fondue I cooked last Feb
14th
Hoping he would bring me a heart-shaped belly
button ring
He ate, then slept by the TV and I didn’t get
a thing
This year's February fellow is really rather
sweet
I think he'll be calling soon and ask me out
to eat.
Lois Lay Castiglioni, Galveston, TX, USA
============
Dear Valentine
Panties and p.j.'s and petunias--all red
Cards and cats and can openers--you've tried
Carnations and kisses and chocolates in boxes
gift wrapped.
This year could you just send a long coat? Brrr.
I'm cold.
Carol Cotten, Galveston, TX, USA
============
You Got Everything Right Except...
I'd like chocolate-covered caramels for Valentine's
Day,
The same as last year, but one change:
Could you have them delivered by someone else?
Of course I'm always glad to see you, but...
When you said good-bye last year, you left an
empty box!
Katherine Swarts, Houston, TX, USA
=============
Out of the Box
This year I'd like to think my just desserts
Perhaps is something different than the shirts
Although they all fit fine, the color's wrong
Perhaps a different idea wouldn't hurt:
Say, do you think I'd look good in a thong?
James M. Thompson, Baytown, TX, USA
=============
SOL STAFF ENTRIES
=============
FIRST PLACE============Florida, My Flora
A timeshare in the Keys
If you're seeking to please
Or love under Miami's moon
If you want to see me swoonCraig Tigerman, Rock Island, IL, USA
Request, Redux=============Some candy, or roses, violets, and posies,
Or even diamonds in a fine design
(For frankly, my dear, this is one year
I do not need my tires aligned!)Paula M. Bentley, Surry, VA, USA
Stunned Silence============Please. Honey. This year. This Valentine celebration. No wine.
Not roses handed me as I stand peeling onions at the kitchen sink.
We gals who’ve lived long through many home Valentine photos
Would rather pose for the camera at a Key West Beach--
Or the Stars Dinner Theater or even the downtown Flicks. Got it?Betty Ann Whitney, Wesley Chapel, FL, USA
No Roses...Back to contentsI want to be a country singer
to posses the song and sing
wear my hat, wear my boots
and dance across the stage
a timely two step into your heart...Bonnie Williams, Deptford, NJ, USA
cliche: a creature of habit
rewrite: experiencing a gravitational tug
Physicist-in-Training*
If fat cells equal mass, and mass affects the
gravitational
tug of X number of rotations around a stable
body in space,
and if that stable body is an ice-cream-filled
freezer, then
the existence of fat cells disproves the theory
that change
is the only universal constant.
*from the “Study Question Section” of the
Physicist-in-Training Manual, Vol. X,
”Special Appendix 47b” (a fictional work)
Terrie Leigh Relf, San Diego, CA, USA
COMMENTS: Wild, inventive, and lots of
fun! Well crafted, from title to poetic note at the end.
EDITOR'S NOTE: While this poem seems to
fudge on the "five line max" rule, it actually follows the "titles and
footnoes are not counted as lines" rule. Since no particular form
was given in this particular contest, the footnote was permitted.
EDITOR'S CHOICE
EDITOR'S CHOICE - TIE
Sol Magazine's editors usually choose one favorite poem each month for the honor of EDITOR'S CHOICE. Although no prize is associated with this, each EDITOR'S CHOICE will be automatically entered in the FAVORITE POEM OF THE YEAR 2004 competition, voted on by Sol Magazine Members at the end of the year. This month we had a tie, so two poems are spotlit.
From the GRAVESTONES IN WINTER contest comes this elegent Haiku:
Winter ravaged plainsCOMMENTS: Well thought out. Careful word selection gives us a clear image of the triumph of immortality in a harsh environment. Excellent contrast between the plain wood and the scoured countryside.
Simple wood transcending
AnonymitySJ Baldock, Lancaster, TX, USA
From the GIVE BIRTH TO THE DREAM contest:
Harriet Tubman, When Wolves HowledCOMMENTS: This Narrative poem shows a dramatic writing style with good internal rhymes and great diction. Very precise physical imagery mirrors the harshness of the physical and spiritual struggle. Well done!Wolves, not hounds
Her heart leaps with relief and
Simultaneously her body collapses with same.
Fingers draw snarls into river-mud
Striped with leaf mold.
Dreadlocked curls welcome the civil coolness
Of clay against her cheek
Dampness seeps into the curl of her ear
So weary, each muscle weeps.
Her father’s image tumbles into focus
His blindfolded eyes when she said goodbye,
Last time this life.
He’ll answer The Man, integrity intact,
“No Massah, I ain’t seen Harriet tonight.”
Her jaw tightens with courage
She levers herself up on shaking forearms
And plots the path to the nearest sycamore
Refusing to feed the dream
To an animal so menial
It sings for its supper.Heather Jensen, Cheyenne, WY, USA
TOPIC: WHEN I GOT DRESSED:
POST DIAGNOSIS
JUDGES: ESHA B. NEOGY,
DODIE MEEKS, BETTY ANN WHITNEY
SPONSOR: DODIE MEEKS
FORM: DIALOGUE IN 2 STANZAS
FIRST PLACE - PRIZE: A copy of "When I Got Dressed Again," by Dodie Meeks, published by The Arts Alliance Center at Clear Lake, Houston, TX. (C) 2001 Dodie Meeks.
Chilly FingersCOMMENTS: Light humorous verse, skillfully portrayed with a variety of rhythmical humorous sound echoes. This poem has great immediacy. It also has wit, a rare and precious commodity.The doctor says:
"Looks like you have a hernia
could you turn your head
and cough for me?"I reply: "Considering what you're holding
how can I refuse?"
Cough, cough.James M. Thompson, Baytown, TX, USA
Radiology Dept Scores CoupCOMMENTS: Rhythm, meter, and rhyme add strength and unity. Funny. It was the Internist who pulled on rubber gloves to track down the flu and helped radiology to meet their quota for the month!We need to establish baselines. You should have these tests:
A sonogram, endoscopy, colonoscopy and your breasts
Should undergo a mammogram since you’ve turned forty-nine
Without having this done before, it’s really well past timeGallbladder, pancreas, liver? Stomach, intestines, boobs?
To think I thunk when I came in
I only had the flu!SJ Baldock, Lancaster, TX, USA
From The Next RoomCOMMENTS: Interesting and comic narrative is a mix of rhythmical pattern and near rhyme. A novel in seven lines! Cleverly engages its audience by making the reader wonder why the narrator did not go in sooner.The doctor said
your symptoms are challenging, let us take blood,
try these pills they are bitter, come back in 3 months
and we'll see.I said excuse me
I've been feeling fatigued for 4 years
my husband expects a faster cure.Kathy Paupore, Kingsford, MI, USA
Looking Overweight
The nurse looked up and kindly said,
After months of watching what you ate
I’m glad to see you’re overweight.
For you were obese before.
I’ve got to ask, does my bum look big in this?
For the answer it used to bring
was yes, it’s big in anything.
Colin William Campbell, Kunming, YP, CHN
COMMENTS: Delightful and humorous with
good visual emphasis. Nice punch line. Poem has a nice lilt.
This poet makes the reader emphasize with the narrator's plight by the
use of self-depreciating comments.
============
HONORABLE MENTION
Affairs of the Foot
As I pulled on my shoes and shocks
The podiatrist explained, "I can chip off this
bone
Or give you a sponge pad to relieve the pressure
Causing pain in your big toe."
I answered "When it comes to surgery I
don't have the nerve to take that plunge
I'll be happy with a little roll of sponge."
Lois Lay Castiglioni, Galveston, TX, USA
COMMENTS: Echoing sound is pleasurable.
Cleverly crafted and rhymed and a poem most people can readily identify
with. Note the nice play on words at the end of the first line adds
both punch and foreshadowing to this snappy piece.
============
HONORABLE MENTION
Percentages
Stethoscope swinging and wearing a big smile
Doc waltzes in as I tie my shoes
"Well, old fella, we've gotta replace both knees
Not to worry, we have a 90% rate of success"
"Easy for you to say 'Nimblefoot'
It's not the surgery that freaks me out
But that I'll have 100% pain"
Kay Lay Earnest, Smyrna, GA, USA
COMMENTS: Well put! This piece brings
the reader both a groan and a smile. Former national Poet Laureate
Billy Collins does this in the same way, puts you in the scene then ends
with a zinger.
============
OTHER ENTRIES
============
Stop Needling Me!
The doctor said,
I really think you'll benefit from this steroid
injection
in your knee - and being quite young, insisted
-
Pain? Oh...no...it's not really painful.
I, being old and wary, said, Oh. Hm.
Really?
You sure it's not painful? Have you ever
had one?
No? Well, it pains me to say I'm not going to
find out.
Lynne Craig, Terrell, TX, USA
COMMENTS: Shows that even subtle patterns
of rhythm can create a tighter poem. This addresses a universal problem:
The eager medico, a pain in ancient Greece.
============
On My Knees
Looks like osteoarthritis,
the doctor said with a smile,
but we should test you
for rheumatoid as well.
Lovely, I said, showing my teeth.
I'm so glad you allowed for
an alternative diagnosis.
Betty Dobson, Halifax, NS, CAN
COMMENTS: Sardonically and ironically wise,
this poem brings a wry smile to the reader's face. Nicely planned
poem that ends on a rather "bitter" note.
============
Thunderation, I'm Dying
“Old friend,” said Doc Spear,
“You might not be here
when Fall rolls around,
sad but true.”
“Give up now, son,
Afore harvest is done,
And you don’t get paid, joke’s on you.”
Heather Jensen, Cheyenne, WY, USA
COMMENTS: This quick piece shows how some
folks find the grace to make light of even potentially fatal news.
We hope the poet made this cute story up.
============
After My Physical Exam
My doctor said
Those aching joints are not from arthritis
just signs you are getting older
a pain killer should fix you right up.
I said that's nice to know
I was concerned why you have a limp
and move so much slower lately.
Jeanette Oestermyer, Roswell, NM, USA
COMMENTS: Brief examination of the human
condition from the patient's side.
============
When I Say: “No More Doctors!”
The surgeon says,
“We should really open you up again--
that’s the only way we’ll see what’s
really going on…”
“Slice me open *again*?” she replies
“I’m beginning to feel like a fruit bowl—
which way will you cut me this time?”
Terrie Leigh Relf, San Diego, CA, USA
COMMENTS: Cute but deadly serious, this
poet approaches the topic in a very engaging way.
============
Pap Smear
He said, you're just fine
but I wish you'd try to relax
and not be so stiff
while I'm performing the exam
I said, "try to relax" is an oxymoron
and so is relaxing while a cold steel rod
is tearing your insides out
Katherine Swarts, Houston, TX, USA
COMMENTS: Been there, felt and said that!
How could one not commiserate with the universal plight of any woman forced
to sit through one of these dreadful exams. Said in a matter of fact
way that adds irony to the work.
FIRST PLACE - WINNER OF A $10.00 ELECTRONIC BOOK GIFT CERTIFICATE
Winter ravaged plainsCOMMENTS: Well thought out. Careful word selection gives us a clear image of the triumph of immortality in a harsh environment. Excellent contrast between the plain wood and the scoured countryside.
Simple wood transcending
AnonymitySJ Baldock, Lancaster, TX, USA
black bird guardianCOMMENTS: This traditional Haiku presents us with excellent imagery in simple black and white. Very well done. The cemetery is evident in the language of this piece.
eternal silent slumber
blanketed in snowM. E. Wood, Belleville, ON, CAN
withered flowersCOMMENTS: A stark and chilling scene. Nicely done.
chilling winter wind
mark unkempt graveEileen Sateriale, Bowie, MD, USA
northern wind bears down
brittle markers lean away
shelter faded lines
Betty Dobson, Halifax, NS, CAN
COMMENTS: Well done traditional Haiku.
Good contrast with the words "brittle markers lean ..."
============
EDITOR'S CHOICE
ancient oak
encased in ice bends over
fresh grave
Lois Lay Castiglioni, Galveston, TX, USA
COMMENTS: Very nice. Clear snapshot imagery.
Excellent use of duality, with a nice contrast between old and new, ice
and dug ground, tall and deep. Very well done!
============
OTHER POEMS COMMENTED UPON BY OUR JUDGE AND/OR
OUR STAFF.
============
foot prints
in new snow
rose on granite
Jim Applegate, Roswell, NM, USA
COMMENTS: The aftermath of a visit to a
lost loved one provides the reader with good imagery.
============
leaves long gone
new snow falls on ancient stones
arranged in rows
Colin William Campbell, Kunming, YP, CHN
COMMENTS: Subtle use of alliteration enhances
this depiction of an old cemetery. Good duality between the new snow
and the ancient stones.
============
icicles sparkle
carved granite leans burdened
dripping epitaph
Curtis E. Cole, Seabrook, TX, USA
COMMENTS: Good choice of words in
"dripping epitaph." Nice contrast between the sparkle of icicles
and the granite.
============
hoary frost lights
lichen covered lamb resting
above infant's grave
Kay Lay Earnest, Smyrna, GA, USA
COMMENTS: Good use of alliteration
in this sad, sweet image.
============
Under leaden skies
Valentine roses droop
White marble headstone
Mary E. Gray, Newport News, VA, USA
COMMENTS: Nicely done tribute to
a lost love. Good color contrasts, with a nice duality between sky
and ground.
============
cardinal
flits from granite name
to white bough
Avonne Griffin, Greer, SC, USA
COMMENTS: Stark yet graphically colorful imagery.
============
fake red rose
atop cold gravestone
pink through light morning snow
Jeanette Oestermyer, Roswell, NM, USA
COMMENTS: The words "light morning snow"
subtly shade the scene.
============
white with frost
names in dark granite
frozen breath
James M. Thompson, Baytown, TX, USA
COMMENTS: Whose breath? The last
breath of those names or that of a visitor bending close to the dark granite?
Lovely writing.
GIVE BIRTH TO THE DREAM
JUDGE: ESHA B. NEOGY,
ROY SWARTZMAN, CRAIG TIGERMAN
SPONSOR: DODIE MEEKS,
SOL MAGAZINE
FORM: NARRATIVE POEM
We applaud all those who entered this difficult
competition, and salute the winners. What excellent work!
====================
FIRST PLACE - WINNER OF A $30.00 ELECTRONIC
BOOK GIFT CERTIFICATE
Harriet Tubman, When Wolves HowledCOMMENTS: This Narrative poem shows a dramatic writing style with good internal rhymes and great diction. Very precise physical imagery mirrors the harshness of the physical and spiritual struggle. Well done!Wolves, not hounds
Her heart leaps with relief and
Simultaneously her body collapses with same.
Fingers draw snarls into river-mud
Striped with leaf mold.
Dreadlocked curls welcome the civil coolness
Of clay against her cheek
Dampness seeps into the curl of her ear
So weary, each muscle weeps.
Her father’s image tumbles into focus
His blindfolded eyes when she said goodbye,
Last time this life.
He’ll answer The Man, integrity intact,
“No Massah, I ain’t seen Harriet tonight.”
Her jaw tightens with courage
She levers herself up on shaking forearms
And plots the path to the nearest sycamore
Refusing to feed the dream
To an animal so menial
It sings for its supper.Heather Jensen, Cheyenne, WY, USA
Billie Holiday -- Tasting Bitter FruitCOMMENTS: Beautifully crafted, the poem reflects many of the ideas in the highly controversial and haunting ballad, “Strange Friuit.” The reader can almost hear Billie herself mournfully, throatily singing these words. Each repeated line re-emerges with a nuanced sense, artfully crafting difference from sameness. Superb intertwining of theme and form.Billie have you dreamt the dream, could you see
Magnolia blossoms turning black in smoke
The black man hanging from the poplar tree?From smoky bar rooms your rough harmony
Echoed rhythms of the dark words you spoke
Billie have you dreamt the dream, could you seeA gallant South burning in anomie
Tasting the bitter fruit that made you choke?
The black man hanging from the poplar tree.Through car windows you watched the agony
Then with your voice the silent ghost awoke
Billie have you dreamt the dream, could you seeDark crowded tables heard of destiny
Where black man felt the savage, deadly stroke.
Billie have you dreamt the dream, could you see
The black man hanging from the poplar tree?James M. Thompson, Baytown, Texas, USA
EDITOR'S NOTE: Although Billie Holiday's
signature song was later named song of the century by Time Magazine, and
was called both the beginning of the civil rights movement and a declaration
of war, she did not write it. "Strange Fruit" was adapted to music
from a poem written in 1938 (under the pseudonym Lewis Allen) by Abel Meeropol,
a schoolteacher who later adopted the two sons of "atom bomb spies" Julius
and Ethel Rosenberg after their 1953 execution. Billie Holiday sang
the song until her death in 1959.
=============
THIRD PLACE
Ms. Tubman, Where Did You Find That Voice?COMMENTS: Increasingly short lines make for increasingly breathless plea,So, Harriet, in the deepest, darkest warring days,
Of brother against brother, father against son,
Owner against slave, North against South,
How did you reach into the depths of your soul
To become the Sister who could say,
“Come to me, for I will save you;
Come to me, for I will show the way
To the dream of freedom”?
Can we find our voice alone?
Do you have instructions?
Whisper them to me now.Monica Martino, Plano, TX, USA
Will Truth Set You Free?
Sojourner Truth had a voice that nothing could
silence.
When the black men overlooked women,
And the white people overlooked blacks,
She stood in the middle, born female and ebony,
With monumental voice demanding,
And ain’t I a woman?
She dreamed of freedom and equality,
And beat out the words of the dream on her heart’s
drum.
She drove people with uncomfortable truths
And still they listened, came back for more.
Now I listen to the echoes of those words
Still ringing down history’s canyon, and I ask
myself:
Is there freedom in truth?
Is there truth in freedom?
Something in me senses that this job is not finished,
That liberty’s bell is cracked but not broken.
I want
A heart as strong as her drum, a quest as great
as her
Sojourn, and words to rock the rafters as high
as hers, for
She had a voice that nothing could silence,
Not even time.
Elizabeth Barrette, Charleston, IL, USA
COMMENTS: Inspired and inspiring.
A fitting tribute to Sojourner’s eloquence and forcefulness.
============
HONORABLE MENTION
Lena Horne Never Grows Old
She walks into the room, looking as beautiful
as when she was just sixty-five.
Her voice lifts in song, she belts out
Stormy Weather - strong, tenacious
in demeanor, those high notes touch
the ceiling. She stops at random tables
chats with diners, personable, confident.
Lena Horne stops at our table,
unbelievable for me - this woman
of such stature and fame. Her smile
genuine, like the dream recalled when
I was a child, to see and touch someone
such as this. We shake hands, she talks
about where she came from - Brooklyn,
her first job on stage at the Cotton Club,
New York City. Then later a few movies-
two of which had speaking roles in those days.
Oh, but the way she moves, her still radiant
voice - she is exactly ninety years of age.
Jeanette Oestermyer, Roswell, NM, USA
COMMENTS: The reader is immediately drawn
into the great singer's presence. Endearing and enduring. The elusive
descriptions with simple adjectives capture Lena’s ghostly presence. The
reader also yearns to learn from this specter’s brief visit.
============
OTHER POEMS COMMENTED UPON BY OUR JUDGES AND
OR OUR EDITORS
============
Maya Angelou Defines Feminine Phenomenon
When 1930’s pennies counted for much more
Than just a contemplative thought,
You envisaged your own New Deal
Where “nappy black hair” Kafka-esqued
To uncoiled locks of gild.
Overnight a sleight of hand
Detextuized and luminized
Each ebon-blasted strand
And morn begot a brand new you
Whose bisque-kissed skin reigned superior
To yesterday’s coffee carapace.
When 1970’s nuclear race pit Americans
Against a block of Soviet Reds,
I waged my own Cold War
Where “chubby plain girls” Brinkley-esqued
To popularity and supermodel stardom.
Though born quad decades asunder,
The dream we shared continues to haunt
Our gendermates still unable to see
The “Phenomenal Woman” inside.
Kathy Kehrli, Factoryville, PA, USA
Poet’s Note: This poem was inspired by the following
true account from Maya’s biography: As a child she dreamed of waking
to find her “nappy black hair” metamorphosed to a long blond bob because
she felt life was better for a white girl than for a black girl.
COMMENTS: Inventive neologisms of proper
nouns rendered as verbs. Internal rhymes and alliterations preserve continuity
in a poem that spans several decades. Wonderfully creative, almost
experimental word use in "Detextuized and luminized."
============
Harriet Tubman and the Book
Long wanted by the law
for her work in the cause of freedom,
she sits by the train station unnoticed.
Then two men begin studying her suspiciously.
Quickly she opens a book,
holds it in reading position,
focuses her eyes on it.
The men shake their heads:
"Not the right woman after all;
the one we want can't read or write."
"I was praying I had the book right side up,"
she would say later.
Harriet, you who were raised a slave,
barred from all education,
even among your own people,
did you see the dream on that day,
the vision of a time to come,
a time of freedom and justice
and equal education for all?
Katherine Swarts, Houston, TX, USA
COMMENTS: Interestingly told. Effective
concentration on a single, precise image. This focus expands to shed light
on the more abstract, universal themes of freedom and justice.
============
Eleanora Blossoms into Billie Holliday
Little Eleanora crouches in a corner
unseen by everyone except me. Men and
women around her laugh, dance and
carry on in this little house of “ill repute.”
Little Eleanora is all smiles, entranced not
by what she sees but by the vocal strengths
of Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith
thundering from my victrola. Some day
my little errand girl will break from her
shy seedpod, grow up and blossom into a
sweet-smelling gardenia, become her own
“Lady Day” on the airwaves for other little
girls hiding in corners mesmerized by
the dream of soul and jazz desires.
M. E. Wood, Belleville, ON, CAN
COMMENTS: The image of the crouching child
allegorically captures the smothered talents of so many African-Americans
whose accomplishments lie buried in unwritten histories. The metaphor of
the blossoming flower is a reliable symbol for potential eventually realized.
PAULA MARIE BENTLEY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
|
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We hate to ask, but providing prizes for our winning poets is an non-ending task. Over the years we've offered many locking diaries, hundreds of book gift certificates and bookmarks, uncounted books and chapbooks, and even a few picnic baskets! Only about one-fourth of our prizes come from Sponsors, and the rest are donated by co-founders Leo F. Waltz and Mary Margaret Carlisle. Please consider adding your name to the list. Become a Sol Sponsor. Write to Sol.Editor@prodigy.net for more information. |