Sol Magazine
December 2000 Edition

Sol Magazine © 2000


Our topics touch a variety of subjects about nature and the nature of humanity.  The purpose of our all volunteer organization is to educate poets, and to foster the reading and writing of short poetry.  We are not a vanity press.  Not every poem submitted will be published.  We are a family magazine.  Do not advocate the use of alcohol or drugs in your poetry then ask us to consider your work.  Please read our monthly rules before sending us your work.
 


CONTENTS:


WELCOME:  Bev Forbes, Sofia Mauja, Terrie Relf, Candace A. York.



 

SPOTLIGHT  - by Paula M. Bentley, Assistant Editor

This month's guest poet is Stazja McFadyen.  An interview with photo and poetry may be seen at:
http://pages.prodigy.com/sol_magazine/spot0012.htm


 


 

ON THE WEB  - by Craig Tigerman, Lead Editor

This month's article is about group of websites managed by editor Stazja McFadyen:  Map of Austin, Dream Forge, Poet's Porch.
http://pages.prodigy.com/sol_magazine/onweb.htm


 


BOOK DRAWING WINNER:  Each month during 2001 we will draw a name at random from among those poets who enter our contests that month.  The winner will receive a donated book of poetry.  The winner this month is James M. Thompson, from Baytown, Texas.  He will receive a copy of 3 Savanah Blue, recently published by Plainview Press.  Congratulations, James!



NATURE AT NIGHT

JUDGE:  BETTY ANN WHITNEY

============
EDITOR'S CHOICE
One Singing
 

One night
One singing
One breath mingling
 

Cradled in arroyo's arms
I join with
Humming mosquito
Booming bullfrog
Serpentine millipede
Clicking acro-bats
Wise-eyed night eagle
Hovering and dipping to drink
From moonlit, spring-fed pool
And we, encircled by shapeshifting,
Ageless, rock faces
Animal and human -
Lean against
Ochre hands ceremonially tattooed
On rock walls
One creating in the night sky womb
 

Lynette Bowen, League City, TX
JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Skillful use of alliteration, echoing sounds and near rhyme make this exceptional poem memorable.
============

FOURTH PLACE - TIE
Beautiful, Calm Possum
 

She came around when the light of the sun was out,
And she traveled through our garbage.
We heard rustlings outside
And saw through the light of the indoor the biggest rat's tail
We had ever
But we turned on the porch light
And it was a big gray marsupial with a long pink tail,
 

And the beautiful possum blinked slowly
And acknowledged us.
She seemed to smile, serene, and
Stood there motionless, looking up.
 

She didn't travel off
In a quick don't-want-ya-to-know-me...
She stayed and blinked her pretty pink eyes
And went for the garbage again,
And the light was not too much for her to experience;
In her sloth and hunger,
She stayed and said "Hello."
 

Coke Brown Jr., Fort Worth, TX

JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Marvelous narrative with a strong emotional tug.
============
Fate
 

On a moonless night, silver fox was slip sliding
Near the hen house door till squawking birds
Brought farmer Jones sailing out
The clucking brood settled back on their roost
Grateful to be spared from that perilous fate
Jones returned on the warm featherbed
Dreaming of fried chicken on his Sunday plate
 

Don Castiglioni, Austin, TX
JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Humorously written.
============
Lamp Light
 

The moon and I exchange stares
As Madam Opossum
        Pouch heavy with young
Makes her nocturnal rounds
 

Bats dart across a
Sky lit with lanterns
Viewed by the ancients
Whose genes I bear
 

Lois Lay Castiglioni, Galveston, TX
JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Vivid images, past and present melded in one brief moment.
============
THIRD PLACE

Winter Solstice
 

Winter dark need not depress us
we can trust its hushed waiting.
Under snowdrifts, roots
flourish to strengthen
the blooms of spring.
In the ashes, sparks glow
sufficient to rekindle fires.
In the stillness of our spirits
creativity quickens.
We learn to appreciate the light
by cycling through the dark.
We won't hurry spring.
Winter's quiet blesses us too.
 

SuzAnne C. Cole, Houston, TX

JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Inspirational message with an undercurrent of calm rhythm.
============
Lake Laurel
 

A razor blade of moonlight
Slices across
The pewter colored lake
Reveals an old barn owl
Perched on a leafless limb
Tuning up to join the serenade
Of bull frogs and katydids
To lull the child to sleep
 

Kay Lay Earnest, Smyrna, GA
JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Skillful use of metaphor.
============
SECOND PLACE

Reflections In The Dark
 

such a rich palate of black and brown   umber and ochre
streaking madly across the pages of my life
 

I find joy in the blaze   however brief   of quiet firefly
spinning his simple tale lit bright with purpose   a
timeless sacrament to humming buzzing winged gods and
kings of silence   a deep abiding reverence
for natural things of leaf and stone
twig and the push and pull of rapid breath
in furred and feathered comrades
hiding in webbed skirts of Mother earth and
Father time   the man in the moon   and
blue brother Jack   the coldest relative of all
 

sienna trailing crimson
to a cluttered land I walk so deep into myself I
cannot see the warm spattering of vermilion
washed from cool cerulean
chasing dry ashes to windy spaces in the night
 

Beverly Forbes, Dickinson, TX

JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Painted images glide across this poet's canvas, with the vivid paint of metaphorical language.
============
The Majesty of Night
 

The blue hue of a subtle moon
lies dormant on the lake
Fog is generously paraded
in swirling eloquence
hung on the winds of fate
It is taunting me, haunting me
The shards of crisp, cold air
Feeling so small in this masterpiece
Adorned in silver gossamer
with humbled heart I care
so deeply
 

Roz Garay, Whittier, CA
JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Excellent use of metaphorical imagery.
============
A Matter of Relativity
 

Whistled trains
And siren screams
Pierce the urban night.
Rubber squeals
On asphalt streets
Jerk wide my weary eyes.
 

Cricket chirps
And bullfrog croaks
Float on soundproof wings.
Warbled trills
Sing reveille
And yet I never stir.
 

Kathy Kehrli, Factoryville, PA
JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Creative handling of the topic.
============
FOURTH PLACE - TIE

Old Man
 

snarling limbs
swaying in midnight's whims
tangled vines
wrapping in lovers' confines
heady arms
canopy of shadows' balms
cracking skins
telling of morning sins
 

deepened lines
craved forever in binds
gnarling feet
cooled tonight from heat
reaching fingers
needing Sun's tempers
 

cloaked in darkness
of wooden loneliness
 

Sofia Mauja, Singapore, SP

JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Rich metaphors and subtle rhymes.
============
Awake Winter's Nights
 

Northern lights sparkle brightly on cold winter nights
Wintertime creates a crystal candelabra of lights
Snowy tipped pinecones dangle from trees
Carrying the future's evergreen seeds
Cute little bunnies camouflaged in the snow
Deer skid on ponds performing a funny ice show
Big black bears are hibernating in dark caves
As squirrels run around looking for nuts they've saved
At the forest's edge, one can spot a deer
Under naked oaks, frozen motionless with fear
Snowbells peek their way up through the fallen dust
A beautiful bouquet growing in winter's frigid gusts
On the sill, a design spotted in the fresh fallen snow
Tiny footprints left by winter wren...three little toes
Winter winds blow, shriek soprano, whistle by
Pillows of white crystals contrasting ebony sky.
 

Denise Nichols, Freeport, NY
JUDGE'S COMMENTS: Good series of couplets with vivid images.
============
Echoes Of The Night
 

Do not hurry me through this starry night,
rather sit with me and watch the evening out,
the day was hazardous and tense,
this night is peaceful, warm, and safe.
The breeze that blows across the field
scents the yard with perfumes of its own,
I cannot recall a night more pleasant to my soul,
a night that echoes crickets' calls and
other nameless sounds.
If you are in a hurry, please continue on your anxious way,
but I must sit and linger just awhile,
perhaps until the night turns into day.
 

Janet Parker, Leesburg, FL
JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Luminous thoughts glowing in images that beg us to stay on through the night with this poet.
============
Night Sky Wonder
 

Darkness warmed up
In nighttime wonder--
Illuminated moon vapor
 

Craig Soderquist, Universal City, TX
JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Much said in few words using a sequence of power packed sounds.
============
through rustling leaves
 

through rustling leaves
and wisps
of clouds
you peek at me
shadow my every move
in strange
luminescence
and if I look
quick enough
perhaps
I will catch you
spying...
but alas
all I see
is the shadow
of a foolish man
gazing at the moon...
 

again
 

James M. Thompson, Baytown, TX
JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  whimsical and enchanting with a brief illusion before its surprise ending.
============
FIRST PLACE

Under Some Deity's Velvet Darkness
 

It is vulgar to suppose you've tasted what you've never plucked.
Ambrosia, nectar of the unseen gods,
is motionless, and skilled with evasion.
I like to dilate happiness with the honey of nocturnal wine,
to roll it past my lips
between sunset and sunrise
under some deity's velvet darkness.
 

Sometimes, I watch midnight like a vintner,
reveling under the arched arbor of the sky,
intoxicated by divine liquor.
Who says the draught, visibly grand in the night's eyes,
would sour if imbibed at dawn?
The duskiness of a titan's mead
is even sweeter when drunk by morning.
 

Candace A. York, Austin, TX

JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  An interesting journey inside the narrator's mind, alive, not only because of the message portrayed, but also the repetition of sounds throughout.
 
 


WINTER SEEN

JUDGE:  BETTY ANN WHITNEY

============
standing in a snowy field
northern lights sparkling bright
on cold winter nights
 

Joseph Boccalino, Freeport, NY
JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Clear images, and true, the sky somehow seems brighter in winter.
=============
HONORABLE MENTION

 
shot shatters air
woods quiver frigidly
whitetail drips crimson on snow
 

Lynette Bowen, League City TX

JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  This poem gives us both something to see, to hear, and to think about.  Tragedy, powerfully and clearly portrayed.
============
FOURTH PLACE
 
cotton tails
vanishing
in snowfall
 

Don Castiglioni, Austin, TX

JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Terse, vivid.  Though concise, images are clearly visible, leading the reader into a vanishing of white on white.
============
FIRST PLACE
snow
swallowing
saplings and shrubs
 

Lois Lay Castiglioni, Galveston, TX

JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Striking picture of the winter woods, in clear, precise words.  The compressed language of this haiku strikingly marks a picture of winter woods on our senses.
EDITOR'S COMMENTS:  Excellent use of the American form of Haiku.
============
EDITOR'S CHOICE
dark forest winter
wood mouse breathes the snowy owl
hare tastes the wolf pack
 

SuzAnne C. Cole, Houston, TX

EDITOR'S COMMENTS:  Beautiful example of classic Haiku.
============
clear winter night
sucks me toward the stars
arms outstretched
 

Warner D. Conarton, Zephyrhills, FL
EDITOR'S COMMENTS:  Wonderful triplet, beautiful word-choice.
============
morning snow
erasing
prints of evening explorers
 

Kay Lay Earnest, Smyrna, GA
JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Life does not stop, even on chilly nights.
============
Jewels in night skies
guide cold black crawling embrace
of the longest night
 

Beverly Forbes, Dickinson, TX
EDITOR'S COMMENTS:  A song in one verse, with an unspoken longing for longer, brighter days.
============
stark is the raven
gleaning upon sweet tidbits
on barren snow drifts
 

Roz Garay, Whittier, CA
EDITOR'S COMMENTS:  Beautifully written, vividly portrayed.
============
SECOND PLACE
 

amidst fields of frost
bittersweet unfurls its pods
scarlet berries' blaze
 

Kathy Kehrli, Factoryville, PA

JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Effectively shows the brittle colorful events of winter by showing where (amidst fields) when (winter) what (bittersweet) how (unfurling pods).
============
footprints criss-cross snow
icicles embellish trees
old men dream of spring
 

Celia Lawton-Livingstone, Colchester, UK
JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Faint stirrings of new life conveyed here.
============
thin brown polka-dots
fur thickens to silver grey
bambi's winter coat
 

Ted T. Leung, Derwood, MD
EDITOR'S COMMENTS:  Sweet picture.
============
HONORABLE MENTION

lone sliver
lightweight feather
over whitened field
 

Sofia Mauja, Singapore, SP

JUDGE'S COMMENTS: Capturing the essence of sound and silence, these clear images reveal subtleties on the blanket of snow.
============
shell cracks wintry air
deer falls in crimson snow
forest quiet again
 

Denise Nichols, Freeport, NY
EDITOR'S COMMENTS:  Something to see, hear, and feel.  Excellent Haiku.
============
a path of sunlight
cuts a narrow way across
the frozen grass
 

Janet Parker - Leesburg, FL
EDITOR'S COMMENTS:  Crisp writing, all of winter seen in narrow view.
============
HONORABLE MENTION

predawn on snowy stoop
old black cat dozes atop morning news
until door cracks open
 

Sarah Quigley, Galveston, TX

JUDGE'S COMMENTS: This amusing narrative poem visually lingers in
the mind.
============
HONORABLE MENTION
flowing through branches
conduits of rain
spin strings of leaves to earth
 

Carlyn Luke Reding, Austin, TX

JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Tranquility and quiescence.
EDITOR'S COMMENTS:  The beginning of each short Texas winter is usually rain, the rain that protects the earth from a promised freeze that rarely follows.
============
gray on charcoal sky
chimney smoke rising high
on cold desert night
 

Craig Soderquist, Universal City, TX
JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Signs of preparation for a cold spell.
============
THIRD PLACE

 
cold north wind
flurries on windshields
wiped away
 

James M. Thompson,  Baytown, TX

JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Face to face with the marvels of winter, this poet uses quick, clear imagery to make us shiver and appreciate technology with a vivid image of intrusive nature.
============
dripping icicles
shed tears on a snowy face
grieved by Autumn's death
 

Jade Walker, New York, NY
JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Good use of overlapping via the tool of  personification.
============
ice capades
squirrels skating figure-eights
on clay tile rinks
 

Candace A. York, Austin, TX
JUDGE'S COMMENTS:  Intimate observation of nature right outside the window.
 


Sol Magazine will mail no book prizes to poets outside the United States of America.  Book gift certificates from Barnes & Noble will be substituted.  No exceptions.
============
Have a comment?  Want to be added to our list?  Want to be taken off our list?
 

Write to us at:  Sol.Magazine@prodigy.net
 

Or at:
Sol Magazine
P.O. Box 580037, Houston, TX  77258-0037
Phone number:  (281)316-2255 weekdays 8-5 Central Time

Sol Magazine's Website:  http://www.sol-magazine.com
============
So you want to be judge, guest editor, interviewee?  Tell us.  We may have just the spot for you.  Judges are asked to write a guest editorial on a topic we set before being asked to judge a contest.
============
All poetry remains the property of the poet, except Sol Magazine reserves the right to publish all poems (once) at a future date, and/or to post them to a web page.  NONE may be reproduced without permission of Sol Magazine.  Electronic forwarding is permitted as long as no portion of this magazine is changed and all credits are given.
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DO NOT SEND US:  We do not accept entries that make use of graphic or sexually explicit language, touch on partisan politics, support particular religious views, or mention figures out of any holy book unless we ask for them.  Archaic words, such as "Tis," "Thine," and "Thou," will not appear in Sol Magazine except in articles or essays.  Phrases such as to "till the soil," or a "cash register till," are acceptable, but abbreviated words used in an effort to sound classical, such as "'til you return" or 'til the sun rises" are not.  Mixed case entries only.
 

We do allow poems about God, mythological gods or goddesses.  See our contest website or last contest for current guidelines.
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We may correct grammar, tense, spelling errors or change punctuation without asking for permission or forgiveness.
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Sponsors in 2000:  Don Castiglioni, Lois Castiglioni, James Lay.
============
Angels in 2000:  Martha Kirby Capo, Lois Lay Castiglioni, Leo F. Waltz.
============
Book donors in 2000:  Lois Lay Castiglioni, Sharon Goodwin, Peggy Zuleika Lynch, Carlyn Luke Reding, Kathleen Elizabeth Schaefer, Craig Tigerman, San Antonio Poets Association.  Corporate book donors:  Flying Cow Productions, Bookstop.  New sponsors and angels always welcomed.  Thanks for your support.




Sol Magazine, P.O. Box 580037, Houston, TX  77258-0037
Phone number:  281-316-2255       Call weekdays 8-5 (CT)
Send comments, questions, advice to:
Sol.Magazine@prodigy.net

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