Sol Magazine, A Poetry Journal: An international
organization of Members and Volunteers interested in the education of poets.
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SOL MAGAZINE
JUDGES:
CRAIG TIGERMAN
ROY SCHWARTZMAN
DEDICATION: In National Poetry Month, we honor all who celebrate and participate in the creation or appreciation of poetry, and we give thanks for all who raise a voice, share work, or are part of something bigger. Learn. Teach. Share. |
FEATURED ARTICLES - April
Note: These links are on separate web pages and will exit you from the current edition.
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CONTENTS of this page:
LETTERS FROM POET LAUREATE PARTICIPANTS-
Letters may be edited for length and relevant content. |
FROM -- SuzAnne C. Cole, Houston, TX, USA – My heart is full this morning after reading that I have been selected as Sol's 2004 Poet Laureate. What a honor! I am very proud and happy. The description of my poetry is superb—and very helpful to me! Thank you for your personal support and the support of Sol Magazine—not only for me, but also for many, many poets. Love, SuzAnne. |
FROM -- Shannon Riggs, Victoria, BC, CAN – Thank you so much! This has been such an honor. Please pass my thanks along to the judges. Shannon Riggs. (Second Place Winner of the 2004 Poet Laureate competition.) |
FROM -- Avonne Griffin, Greer, SC, USA – I am delighted to have been asked to participate in this year's Poet Laureate Competition. The competition was incredible, and to have placed third is thrilling. I have read and enjoyed each of the poets in Sol contests this year, and I have to say, it is an honor to be among such talent. And here's something else. They all seem to have soft clay and diversity. What is that magic ingredient? Perhaps some of it is creative energy and an eagerness to grow. But there's something more, and I am happy to have found this group of fine poets to stretch and grow with. Thank you and all the judges and staff at Sol Magazine. You are doing more for the art and craft of poetry than you will ever know... Thank you for your consistance and diligence, and thank you for the creative and inspiring challenges, and for keeping the standard high. That starts with you. Sincerely, Avonne Griffin. |
FROM -- Kathy Kehrli, Factoryville, PA, USA – I wanted to thank you and the rest of the Poet Laureate volunteers for all the hard work you put into this competition and the Website as a whole. It is always an honor to be included among such distinguished company. Sol is such a warm and welcoming place; it truly lives up to its namesake! Kathy. |
FROM -- Claiborne Schley Walsh, Montrose, AL, USA – My hardiest congratulations to the finalist in the 2004 Poet Laureate competition! I was pleased to have earned Honorable Mention and see I am in very good company! Well done one and all! Sincerely, Claiborne Walsh. |
FROM --Terrie Leigh Relf, San Diego, CA, USA – Congratulations to all the winners--and to the judges, too, of course! Great job. I'll be reading these {Poet Laureate poems} over and over again. Inspired? Yes, I am. Terrie. |
EDITOR'S CHOICE
EDITOR'S CHOICE
how to write a poemCOMMENTS: The microscopic focus on a single experience of inhaling honeysuckle captures how writers often overcomplicate the literary process. Effective contrast between the clinical medical process and intuitive inspiration. Creative approach, vivid portrayal, echoing sounds throughout. The brevity of this poem holds so much that it almost overflows with poetic essence, and indeed, does breathe. A memorable jewel of a poem with such interesting imagery, it immediately captures the imagination and demands another reading. So very well done. Brava, poet!find a pasture fence that sags with honeysuckle
breathe deeply hold the sweet scent in your
lungs exhale breathe the way you do
when the doctor listens to your heart
with a stethoscope linger by the roadside
until sunset once home take pen and paper
breathe in exhale your breath will be poetryCarol Cotten, Galveston, TX, USA
Each month, Sol Magazine's editors choose one favorite poem from that month's winners for the honor of EDITOR'S CHOICE. 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.
WORKING WITH ?
JUDGE: CRAIG TIGERMAN
SPONSOR: SOL MAGAZINE
In "Shoveling Snow with Buddha," a poem from Sailing Alone Around
the Room, Billy Collins used 48 lines and ten stanzas to develop the
idea of creating a situation where a famous person was his work mate. We
asked our members to use a similar idea. All of the entries were
wonderfully done, and well worth publishing, but only the single winner
appears here.
==========
FIRST PLACE
WINNER OF A $15.00 ELECTRONIC BOOK GIFT CERTIFICATE
Gardening with Van GoghCOMMENTS: This poem is both entertaining and well-written, built upon a delicious string of internal rhymes and alliterations couched in pleasing rhythms. All the while the reader feels planted in that garden, observing as the poet and the young child/old artist craft their masterpiece. Lovely use of very particular language, with phrasings that lift their petals to the readers ear and eye: "A thousand-seeded eye," "Dead plants among the dust," "bugs embellish zucchini," "hodgepodges / Of abstract abandon." At first read, each stanza seems carelessly tossed onto the fertile ground of the reader's imagination, but a second read shows the linking of the carefully developed enchanting metaphor of gardening and color that represents the two gardeners themselves. Delightful! It manages to perfectly capture the absolute "abstract abandon" that so characterized Van Gogh's work, and one imagines, his life as well. Beautiful word choices, imagery, and closing lines - truly a winner.Wonderfully warm, sunny day. Halfway to May and
Too late to plant potatoes, we work the garden:
Me; a Dutch child named Van Gogh. He chooses fat
Flat squash seeds to press into a mound of earth, tossing
The empty packet of seeds among the weeds we
Pulled and stacked inside the compost bin. It takes
A meeting of the minds to decideWhere to plant the cucumbers.
Everything must have its season even genius and
Gerbera daisies. Or tiny turnip seeds that are
Smaller than peppercorns. Or Bluelake Beans --
Long and lean unlike the Chinese
Radish seeds he spilled in hodgepodges
Of abstract abandonTomatoes overlook lima beans overlooking lettuces
Bereft of form or furrows a plot undisciplined
Where flowers adorn vegetables like
Crows adorn cornstalks or
Squash bugs embellish zucchini. Where
Color and contrast have more import than
Rigor or flavorToday
Only sunflowers remain bear
Testament to April/May transactions.
Our masterpiece of elbow grease and
Dedication played out, as gardens must …
Dead plants among the
Dust that once was fertile asA Dutch child’s imagination.
Van Gogh sketches the raised black
Of a thousand-seeded eye whose
Golden mane fans out like flames
Around its heavy head --
Number 2 scribblings in a
Big Chief sketchpadSatisfied, he takes a box of rainbow-hued
Crayolas, then colors outside the linesSJ Baldock, Lancaster, TX, USA
I WRITE
JUDGE: ROY SCHWARTZMAN
SPONSOR: SOL MAGAZINE
FIRST PLACE
WINNER OF A $15.00 ELECTRONIC BOOK GIFT CERTIFICATE
how to write a poemCOMMENTS: The microscopic focus on a single experience of inhaling honeysuckle captures how writers often overcomplicate the literary process. Effective contrast between the clinical medical process and intuitive inspiration. Creative approach, vivid portrayal, echoing sounds throughout. The brevity of this poem which holds so much that it almost overflows with poetic essence, and indeed, does breathe. A memorable jewel of a poem with such interesting imagery, it immediately captures the imagination and demands another reading. So very well done. Brava, poet!find a pasture fence that sags with honeysuckle
breathe deeply hold the sweet scent in your
lungs exhale breathe the way you do
when the doctor listens to your heart
with a stethoscope linger by the roadside
until sunset once home take pen and paper
breathe in exhale your breath will be poetryCarol Cotten, Galveston, TX, USA
Words Fail MeCOMMENTS: Excellent use of sharp antitheses through vivid metaphors and similes. The stark contrasts build to the fundamental opposition between dreams and reality. The quick alternation between "dream" and "write" is so like the process of writing where a poet almost dreams an image then almost looses it in translation into words. How apt are the three ending lines!I dream words snapping like sheets in March winds;
I write words sagging like linen in August.
I dream words dazzling readers blind;
I write a bare-wire strand of 25-watt bulbs.
I dream words clinging to sense as wisteria to a tree;
I write the deaf signing to the blind.
I dream what I cannot write. . . .
and yet still I write.SuzAnne C. Cole, Houston, TX, USA
On the DefensiveCOMMENTS: The brevity of this poem reinforces the surprising conclusion that the absence of words sometimes speaks loudest.Of all the weapons in the war against worry,
I find words the most effective,
not mental words,
aimed (usually to little result)
at negotiating a settlement based on reason,
but written words on screen or paper,
weapons that either lure the enemy into the open
or ignore it to death.Katherine Swarts, Houston, TX, USA
CalderaCOMMENTS: The disturbing alliterative image of the erratic volcano illustrates the uneasy relationship between writers and their own writing. The literary volcano is beautiful, dangerous, yet ultimately mysterious.I write
Like volcanoes vomit
Activity seems abnormal
Sputtering spewing and producing little
On rare occasions
plumes arching fire fan the darkness
Collapsing into dormancy I wonder
How did I do thatNeil Crenshaw, Marietta, GA, USA
Berry PickingCOMMENTS: Vivid visual imagery is enhanced by onomatopoeia: mush, plunk. The conclusion completes the analogy between berry selection and word choice: a symphony of sound. This use of a nature metaphor to explain the writing experience without actually mentioning writing is quite subtle, but wonderfully refreshing.My fingers are stained blue from picking
berries all morning. There's a knack to it though:
If one is too teal it will tart the tongue,
too dark and it will mush. Powder-blue berries
taste best. These are what I search for, push
leaves and twigs aside for. I love to hear the plunk
in my white bucket. I smile with blue teeth
and lips. Lazy bees love me. We hum. We hum.Maryann Hazen Stearns, Ellenville, NY, USA
With such charms my days are filled:
Watch me turn lead into gold.
With each door opened and closed,
This key grows ever more prized.
A wooden bridge, battered boards:
My chewed pencil splinters words.
Call me wizard, of a kind,
For this is my magic wand.
Elizabeth Barrette, Charleston, IL, USA
COMMENTS: The metaphoric image of the pencil as wand links the magical
components that otherwise would have little in common: charms, magic keys.
Excellent use of alliteration and assonance in lines five and six.
The phrase, "wooden bridge, battered boards" evokes a fine image and its
sound is wonderful as it moves the mouth and tongue. This poem simply
must be read aloud.
==========
I love the sound of words on pulp
that cling and curve with a rise and a fall;
My eyes have a feast and my nerves do jump
to the 'drama', the writer's call.
Words tease and tickle, the play of grass and the sickle,
they cut through; Now my emotions are aloud.
Tears and rains are soon, after the thundering cloud.
Aparna Belapurkar, Feltham, EG, GBR
COMMENTS: The lilting rhythm captures the rise and fall of productivity
as well as the emotional highs and lows of writers' experiences.
==========
Hearing Burns
Ayrshire's early childhood days
hearing what the teacher says,
then Burns Suppers every year,
served to fashion poetry's ear.
Sitting here many years later
putting poetry's pen to paper.
Writing little poems of mine.
Really got to make them rhyme.
Colin William Campbell, Kunming, YP, CHN
COMMENTS: Interesting interior dialogue of the poet captured
as a summary of the poet's literary training. The poet questions while
illustrating the relationship between literary discipline and formulaic
strangulation.
==========
Keepers
I never leave my hive
Without pen and paper in my pockets
To collect phrases that flow
Across pages like golden nectar
Future industrious workers
May comb through my harvest
To cross pollinate their poesies
Perpetuating word-keepers
Lois Lay Castiglioni, Galveston, TX USA
COMMENTS: Unusual metaphoric angle here uses the "queen
bee" concept but not as readers are accustomed to encountering it.
In this poem, the readers become the workers, a fascinating spin on reader
response and the theories of literary criticism.
=============
Writing on the Block
Let me just put down my pen
and the voices begin,
pulling me here, pulling me there,
showing me visions
in every pool of light.
But let me take up my pen again,
and the voices are stilled
in perfect silence.
Lynne Craig, Terrell, TX, USA
COMMENTS: This poet provides a succinct description of writer's
block: the paradox that inspiration and productivity rarely work in tandem.
=========
Night Write
night
I write
by candlelight
casting shadows and giving sight
reveal a clearer form of sight
break through the night
my light
write
Betty Dobson, Halifax, NS, CAN
COMMENTS: The symmetry of this poem's construction enacts the
writing cycle itself, building and the waning in intensity. A tantalizing
ambiguity: should readers consider final two lines a gentle homage or a
desperate command?
=========
Taming the Page
Thoughts swirl wildly,
A fog of ideas,
spiral out, then tighten back in.
Taking shape as characters form,
ideas take root.
Stories spring to life.
Taking a bit of me,
into each and every one.
Jennifer Galvin, Stafford, VA USA
COMMENTS: The metaphor of sense emerging from the fog of ideas
shows how the writer's fundamental task is to order chaos. Well done.
=========
a matter of degrees
not nearly so difficult
as reading
easy to follow
like a favorite recipe
a matter of degrees
not the result
of obedience
to prescriptive rules
Neil Greenberg, Rockville, MD, USA
COMMENTS: This poet insists that forms need not be formulaic,
that the mark of originality is disciplined creativity.
=========
Come With Me
If I could find the perfect sound
to share the rush of sight within
this swirling tide of inspiration,
I might pen a flawless verse
to capture all your senses
and lead you to my heart.
Come with me, inhale the light,
discover my camellias.
Avonne Griffin, Greer, SC, USA
COMMENTS: The Synesthesia of inhaling light and communicating
inner sight via audible sound add depth to what on the surface appear to
be conventional metaphors.
===========
Getting It Right
Counting syllables on fingers
too many, not enough.
Now to my thesaurus, precious tool
but it’s only a poem in the rough.
A metaphor or simile
devices of artistic craft
upon the page in gel-pen ink
small boat afloat on sea, bereft.
Jeanette Oestermyer, Roswell, NM, USA
COMMENTS: This sparse yet accurate description of the "tools
of the trade" gives a concrete idea of how humbling writing can be. Amid
our high-tech world of wonder, writers still count on fingers, prowl paper
pages, and inventory poetic devices.
==========
To Escape The Dark
This word insomnia will not let me sleep;
the words mumble in my mind, search
for a way out - paper to be expressed
upon, a place to be remembered. I try
to hold them in until morning, but they
will not quiet. I rollover, click on the light,
fumble for my fine point and a page,
to escape the dark I write.
Kathy Paupore, Kingsford, MI, USA
COMMENTS: The first line is striking: the very word for sleeplessness
prevents sleep, and unspoken words seem to scream.
==========
This Writing
Even if nothing ever comes
of This - this Writing, I will
have experienced that
astonishing moment when
words arrive from whatever
cosmic place - and a poem
begins to write itself
unbidden.
John E. Rice, Houston, TX, USA
COMMENTS: Readers are re–reminded that the important part of
writing is the process itself, regardless of the outcome or rewards.
==========
ink and morning
the savage steps
as I question my soul
the pen an enemy
cutting harsh lines
in brusquely lettered failures
that bloom to flowers
beneath my tears as ink
and morning fade away
James M. Thompson, Baytown, TX, USA
COMMENTS: Sharp metaphoric contrasts preserve the tension and kinship
between agony and artistry.
SOL MAGAZINE'S 2004 VOLUNTEER STAFF
Sol Magazine, P.O. Box 580037, Houston, TX 77258-0037
Phone number: 281-316-2255
Call weekdays 9-5 (CT) (1500-2300 GMT or UTC)
Send comments, questions, advice to:
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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. |