Sol Magazine
September 2000 Edition

Sol Magazine © 2000
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Beginning with the month of September, we will no longer distribute Sol Magazine's Monthly Edition to individual e-mail addresses.  We will only send out a brief reminder when it and our Contest Issue have been posted to our website.
 

NOTE:  Sol Magazine's staff will be on vacation from  October 15 - November 15.  Because of this, we will have no contests in October.

The use of Sol Magazine's e-mail address for anything except entering a contest is not permitted.  Do not add us to any distribution list without our permission.
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Twice a month, Sol Magazine sponsors poetry contests.  From the results, we publish an electronic poetry magazine on our website near the last day of each month.  The winners are posted to our website at:

http://www.sol-magazine.com
 

Also posted are additional features and articles.
 

Our topics touch a variety of subjects about nature and the nature of humanity.  Our purpose 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.
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SPONSOR:  Kay Lay Earnest.  "In honor of Milton Earnest, husband, poet, sweetheart and friend, as we celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary."
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First Silent Auction For Poetry in the Arts
Saturday, October 7, 2000, 2 PM, LCRA Board Room, in the Hancock Building, 3700 Lake Austin Blvd, Austin, Texas

Hostess:  Peggy Zuleika Lynch - Musicians:  Barbara Carr & Rick Davenport - Boutique:  Susan Bright & Plain View Press  - Books & Amber - 40% of Sales Donated - See and Say - Bid and Buy - Support Poetry in the Arts.


CONTENTS:

WELCOME: Krys Jarvis, Laura Smith, Alberto Ugalino.


LETTERS
SAD NEWS: From our book reviewer and friend, Jean McAllister: "My father died (early in September) and I would appreciate prayers for going through the grieving process. Please don't trouble to send condolences. I know I have them from you all.  Just prayers are needed.  Many thanks."  Jean McAllister, Belleview, WA.
SAD NEWS:  Poet and mentor of many young poets, Joanie Whitebird died August 28, 2000.  "Joanie had light in her and a strong psychic gate that hung open to anything..."  Susan Bright, Austin, TX.
BACK TO BACK NOTES:  "I can't tell you how much I enjoyed J. Bruce Langley's poem Macaroni.  I, too, speak a spattering of five languages and am constantly confused because I'm not really fluent in any of them.  I loved the humor and wordplay, all I can say is BRAVO! Bruce!" Susan Ellis, Houston, TX.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

"Susan, thank you so much for your kind words about Macaroni.  It was fun to write and seemed to fill the bill for the Sol requirements.  I appreciate that you enjoyed it.   Keep writing."  J. Bruce Langley

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WISHING:  To Paula and Michael Bentley - The staff of Sol Magazine wishes you a wonderful welcome in your new home of Cary, NC.  May it be everything you ever wished.
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GOOD LUCK:  Best of luck to Peggy Zuleika Lynch, Carlyn Luke Reding, and Glynn Monroe Irby on the publication of your new book, 3 Savannah Blue.

LOOK FOR THIS MONTH'S SPOTLIGHT:
An interview with Michael Brown, by Paula Bentley.






NATURAL MOSQUITO CONTROL
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TREMENDOUS THANKS TO OUR JUDGES:  Martha Kirby Capo, Kathy Kehrli, Maryann Hazen-Stearns.
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Bon Appetite
 

Brought Fred on bout a month ago.
His one and only job, eat mosquitoes.
He just sits there, on his lily pad
oblivious to his work.
Seems he desires bigger prey.
My boy Junior is partial to Fred.
Lately, I am more partial
to Fred's legs.
 

Ron Blanton, Smyrna, GA
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  So much for that idea!  Delightful read!  Vivid word-pictures gradually help unfold this delightful story.  Conclusion with a humorous twist unexpected and charming.  Very nice approach to this particular theme.
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Secret Remedy
 

"I spray with Bugs-Be-Gone.
Mosquitoes don't get sick.
How come you're let alone?"
"Because I eat garlic."
 

Roberta Pipes Bowman, Fort Worth, TX
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  Nice contrast with the different voices.  Modern day science has nothing on garlic.  Good use of end rhyme and particularly good cadence.  Amusing conclusion.
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Petition
 

There ought to be a law against
Putting Frog Legs on the Bill of Fare
Because frogs eat countless mosquitoes
By flicking their tongues into the air
 

Lois Lay Castiglioni, Galveston, TX
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  Oh, the things you'll find on a menu.  Interesting notion implied in this quatrain.  Syntax appropriately conveys the irony of this scenario.  Great fun!  Love the title considering the subject matter.
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FIRST PLACE - Winner of a $25.00 book gift certificate.

Mosquito (Bite) Strategies
 

Compared to bats, purple martins, dragonfly and hellgrammite,
most human efforts have been disappointing, right?
Thinking "conservation" is better, some agree, panthers, rare birds,
frogs and you my tasty butterfly.  You inquire, "And me?"
Yes.  I've this delightful way of avoiding mosquito's
curiosity.  That's why.
I rub on citronella, load up on vitamin B and take you everywhere
I go with me, letting them miserable critters among themselves
agree - which of us is most mosquito-sweet, you see.
 

Warner D. Conarton, Zephyrhills, FL

JUDGES' COMMENTS:  Nice use of internal rhyme.  Echoing "tasty butterfly" with "mosquito-sweet" keys the reader in to who is going to lose this competition.  First line immediately engages the reader's attention. The movement continues to intrigue until the final three lines, which reveal the final solution. Fine use of counterpoint.
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Sure Shot
 

Single-handed slap
Double-handed clap
Swatter Swish
Silence
 

Helen David, Stamford, CT
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  Succinct, vivid image.  Excellent alliteration in final lines.  Great use of onomatopoeia and alliteration, including the title.
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West Nile Virus
 

No deaths yet,
The newspaper said.
Do not be alarmed.
Stay inside
from dusk to dawn -
wear long sleeves and pants
at all times.
Eventually
frost will kill
the mosquitos.
 

Diane M. Davis, Chelmsford, MA
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  Interesting rhythms move the piece along. Good use of near rhyme: "alarmed" and "dawn." The length of line "Wear long sleeves and pants" reinforces visual image.  This piece proves how current news topics make for interesting poetry.  Good use of structure helps move the eye along to the irony revealed in the poem's conclusion.
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HONORABLE MENTION
Re-match
 

All summer the Purple Martins
Swoop down to eat every bug in sight
Till they migrate in the fall
Leaving the mosquitoes and me to
Resume our perennial fight.
 

Kay Lay Earnest, Smyrna, GA
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  Seasonal help is better than no help.  Nice image of martins swooping.  Compact diction creates an understanding between reader, narrator and nature. Excellent phrasing and tone contribute to the feeling of coming full circle in merely five lines. Well done!
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Natural Food
 

Kiddies swimming in the sun
Mosquitoes came and joined the fun
Away they went to buy a fish
Wiggle tails would make a dish
Built a martin house above
Nature is the way we love
Birds to catch the flying ones
Mosquito wars can be won
 

Julia Jarmusz (Spirit Cloud), Fort Worth, TX
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  Excellent rhythm.  Effective use of rhyme.  Perfect end rhyme in this lovely summertime slice of life.
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Mosquitoes at 8 O'clock!
 

It dived in through my window, attracted by the light,
looking for a takeaway, a juicy little bite.
Rolled up paper in one hand, teatowel in the other,
should I try to splat it?  Or with my cloth to smother?
I opted for the former, then chased it round the room,
bashed my shins against the table, tangled with the broom.
Finally I had it cornered, up against the wall,
when a distant singing hum, came softly from my hall.
Now I'm a whirling dervish, I swat with all my might,
for it was just the vanguard, here comes the second flight!
 

Celia Lawton-Livingstone, Colchester, UK
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  Strong rhythms and attention to rhyme make this work sing!  Outstanding use of rhythm and rhyme.  The image "whirling dervish" conjures up is priceless.  Good use of diction and tone. Amusing conclusion. Using questions in the third and fourth lines helps create a sense of camaraderie between narrator and reader which is quite charming.
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THIRD PLACE - TIE
Power Plant
 

The clerk at Belwood Nursery
Recommended Citrosa plants
Told me the lemon fragrance
Keeps mosquitoes away
Without toxic sprays
Now I am ordering an aardvark
To lap up these bothersome ants
 

James W. Lay, Calhoun, GA
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  Guess those "experts" don't always know what they're talking about.  One thing leads to another and nothing could be more "natural" than an aardvark for another pesty problem.  Fresh approach with an amusing and unexpected twist at the end.
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The Hands-On Approach
 

When the summer sun goes down
Mosquitoes start to come around
I clap my hands fast in the air
Beginning my mosquito scare
If that doesn't do it, then I say
"Be warned, mosquitoes, stay away!"
And if they haven't flown with fear--
then loud mosquito splats you'll hear.
 

Lynne Remick, Nesconset, NY
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  Nice use of near and perfect rhyme.  Man-made solution, but definitely as natural as Mother Nature!  Good end rhyme and rhythm. Clever use of title to the obvious solution presented.
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THIRD PLACE - TIE
Resignation
 

Woe the mosquito much maligned,
on its eggs and larvae Gambusia dined.
Dragonflies with goggle eyes munch and
crunch them in morning skies while bats and
swallows, nighthawks, swifts, sonar tracking
on the fly, scoop them from the evening sky. Yet
with all those killers on the list -
Ouch!   Smack!!
there's always one they all have missed.
 

John E. Rice, Houston, TX
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  Lots of rollicking rhythms and strong rhymes keep the reader's interest. The penultimate line is wonderful; the short, sharp words really bring to mind the immediate response the victim of a mosiquito bite has. Last line works well with the title.  Great use of internal rhyme.  "Goggle eyes" is a great descriptive.  This poem starts out like a classical sonnet and ends with a decidedly modern slant.  Very good use of assonance, alliteration and onomatopoeia with a humorous conclusion.
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Bug Bite Blues
 

I looked out my window and what did I see?
Swarms of wings headed right for me.
I looked o'er the fence and my neighbor was free
from the ole slap dance that was getting to me.
 

When the bugs bite, and the skin swells
and I'm itching too.
I simply brace up and fill in the bog
and then I am mosquito free too!
 

Chantaclair Rose, Roseville, CA
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  What a scene "the ole slap dance" brings to mind.  Entertaining first stanza sets the stage for an obvious solution to a mosquito dilemma. Excellent title.
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SECOND PLACE
Beach
 

Diaphanous sheets drape from
ceiling knot, protecting, touching
our bed's edge - around us -
moist miasma of Mexican seas
presses. Pigs root outside
our thatched dark place
to harmless bugs' buzz.
 

Adelaide Socki, Houston, TX
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  Excellent alliteration in line four.  Wonderfully descriptive phrases used to create refreshing, vivid images.  Particularly pleasing when read aloud. Succinct alliteration enhances the scene without being overdone.
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HONORABLE MENTION
Summer Ambush
 

Airbrush ambush
first wave attack,
hatched and launched,
they won't hold back.
 

Then angered, seething rage
turned inside out,
until slap and scratch,
my blood revenge--
my own.
 

Craig Soderquist, Universal City, TX
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  The twists and turns in this piece, both in imagery and with near and half-rhyme, are wonderful.  A delightfully deceptive  piece, with a lot going on in a very little space.  Nice contrasts of rhythm between stanzas.  Excellent metaphor sustained throughout.  Nice structure and use of consonance. Good end rhyme and cadence in first stanza.
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HONORABLE MENTION
Mosquito Bites
 

Itchy bug bites, Nasty red bites,
buzzing in the children's ears
creeping around
getting stung here and there
But catching more mosquitos
The little child's natural mosquito patrol
 

Maggie Stearns, Wilmette, IL
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  "Itchy, nasty, bites," it's all part of the fun!  Nice, playful quality to this poem.  Wonderful description creates an extremely vivid summertime portrait.
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EDITOR'S CHOICE
Dive Bombers
 

Zinging, zooming, zealous insects dive directly downward,
barest flesh their targets, sucking in such sweet red elixir,
causing hot, itchy lumps, summer evenings' legacy,
require vigilance with swatter aimed with a certain
r
u
t
h
less
ness.
 

Beverly Steward, Santa Barbara, CA
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  Excellent use of alliteration.  The "concrete" symbolism of the ending ties in nicely with the title.  Good alliteration. Fast moving action words and shrewd division of last word make an entertaining read.
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The Salty-Sweet
 

In my incessant buzz
barely perceptible flight
night brings the salty-sweet
of a delicate taste.
Then dart the slap
and escape.
 

Lacking means
with no control
I became the buzz
in evening's ear.
 

James M. Thompson, Baytown, TX
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  Lovely ending phrase.  Good use of precise language to paint a clear picture.  Nice contrast of taste and feeling.
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Right Off The Bat
 

Not only mosquitos fly, you know.
I have been spotted, unbitten and undotted,
Boarding an immense,
Proboscisized, prototype
Of those noisy, nasty beasts,
Buzzzzzzzzzing
Off to Paris during their season.
The reason?
To never miss them
In the least.
 

Claiborne S. Walsh, Montrose, AL
JUDGES' COMMENTS:  Good cadences, good internal rhyme, nice use of alliteration. The multiple "z"s in buzzing are a clever way not only to make the transition, but to link the drone of the airplane with the drone of a mosquito.  Unique use of rhyme.  Love the adjective, "proboscisized."  Fun title and good use of assonance. Entertaining conclusion.




 
GLOSSARY
More Than the Arrangement of Three Lines
By Betty Ann Whitney, Assistant Editor
(Example poems penned by Betty Ann Whitney.)
Haiku is a never-titled poem on the theme of nature.  Its form is three lines, with a general syllable count of five, seven, five.  In the classical form, poets do not clutter these lines with prepositions, connectives, or personal pronouns.  Metaphors are merely suggested.  The aim of the Haiku is to express delicate insight through a central image presented in the first two lines, with the last line revealing its meaning.
 

Example of a Haiku:
 

ablaze with splendor
red maple's foliage is
strewn across the path
 

The Tercet is three lines of verse that form a group.  The term is used synonymously with Triplet, but often distinguished from it as applying to three lines that do not have the same rhyme.
 

Example of a Tercet:
 

Subliminal Message
 

Where the watch synchronizes every thing
setting life to a metronomic rhythm
freedom is lost to the pendulum's swing.
 

A Triplet uses the same rhyme throughout.
 

Example of a Triplet:
 

Portrait of the Mind's Eye
 

Of his own nimbus moon drawn against night
the artist works layer upon layer of white
Into blackened canvas, blending circles of light.
 

The Terza Rima, also a traditional form of poetry, is a series of Tercets with interlinking rhymes which give a strong effect of continuity with a pattern of aba, bcb, cdc, etc.  An extra line is sometimes used to close the poem.
 

Example of a Terza Rima:
 

At Various Times--In Various Ways
 

In the quantity of things unmentionable
perhaps it is for you, as it is for me
in the less than vivid actual
 

where builds suspense and mystery
beyond commas and words and sentences
combining personal flair and creativity
 

to punctuate the mind's activity.
 

Though the Terza Rima is often used as a three line poem, Dante created it as a three line stanza for his long poem, "The Divine Comedy."
 
 

Betty Ann Whitney, Assistant Editor

THE ALPHA POET'S CONTEST:  September Songs

SPONSORS:  LOIS LAY CASTIGLIONI, CRAIG TIGERMAN, PEGGY ZULEIKA LYNCH

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Autumnal Hymn
 

A melody of
reds, yellows, browns, golds --
the debris of summer
swishes and crunches underfoot,
weeps into puddles.
North winds
in penny-whistle harmony
scrape branches clean
with razor sharp strokes,
mingle with the spit and crackle
of woodsmoke.
The thwack
of vinegar hard conkers
thunk triumphant
in grubby hands.
 

Celia Lawton-Livingstone, Colchester, UK
 

"Conkers" is a game played with the mature seeds of the Horse Chestnut tree - conkers.  Hence an autumnal game. You thread them on to a length of string and take turns in aiming and swinging them at your opponents conker.  The one who smashes his opponent's conker is the winner.  One way to make your conker nice and hard so it doesn't break so easily is to soak it in vinegar and bake it in the oven; this is cheating but we used to do it all the time as kids.  It's most often played by children, but they hold the Annual World Conker Championships every year in a pub just outside Kettering in Northants, for kids aged 5 - 100+. The conkers are picked that day to prevent cheating.



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.
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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.

Sol Magazine's Website:  http://www.sol-magazine.com
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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.
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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, James Lay.
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Angels in 2000:  Martha Kirby Capo, Lois Lay Castiglioni, Leo F. Waltz.
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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 (CDT)
Send comments, questions, advice to:
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