Hoping that the shut-down would not last more than two months, we rescheduled three Village Poets events - the official Passing of the Laurels Ceremony from Pamela Shea to Alice Pero, the reading by Alexis Rhone Fancher and Wayne Allen LeVine in March, and the reading by Cindy Rinne and Bory Thach in May. Since the meeting and mask restrictions are not being lifted fast enough, our next reading, presenting Beverly M. Collins and Ed Rosenthal, was scheduled for Zoom, on Sunday, June 28, 2020. Entitled "Close to Nature: On Survival" the reading was planned as a collaboration of Village Poets with Phoenix Houses of California, as part of their Dignity Health Foundation grant.
The new date and hour are as follows: SUNDAY, JULY 19, 5 PM ON ZOOM. Email Maja Trochimczyk at maja@moonrisepress.com, or the featured poets for Zoom details.
This presentation is partly sponsored by the Dignity Health Foundation, through a grant for "Close to Nature" Project for Phoenix Houses of Los Angeles, with the California State Poetry as one of the collaborating partners.
BEVERLY
M. COLLINS
is the author of the books, Quiet Observations: Diary thought, Whimsy and Rhyme
and Mud in Magic. Her poems have also appeared in California Quarterly, Poetry
Speaks! A year of Great Poems and Poets, The Hidden and the Divine Female
Voices in Ireland, The Journal of Modern Poetry, Spectrum, The Altadena Poetry
Review, Lummox, The Galway Review (Ireland), Verse of Silence (New Delhi),
Peeking Cat Poetry Magazine (London), Scarlet Leaf Review (Canada), The Wild
Word magazine (Berlin) and many others. Winner of a 2019 Naji Naaman Literary
Prize in Creativity (from Lebanon). Collins is also a prize winner for the
California State Poetry Society. She has been twice nominated for the Pushcart
Prize, once for Independent Best American Poetry and “short listed” for the
2018 Pangolin Review Poetry Prize (Mauritius).
With eyes like emeralds…Its
voice blows fire until lives change shape.
Many are like clouds drug by the claws of the
wind, in new directions. Notice when a
pillow-like surface bears the tell-tale
pitter patter that something more lurks ready
to plant itself sweet as carbon monoxide’s kiss.
A quiver felt by one of the 5 senses while
completely undetected by the others.
It exists as a pre-warning and an aftermath
In the same casing. Pregnant with storm
Yet calm in appearance.
How many of us remember being part
of thunder’s story as it grew lightening?
Each new day-dreaded as gun powder’s scream.
Living through moments that cause one to feel
as muted and as an unfinished thesis
in a side cabinet.
The Dragon invites all to warm up
near the fires that will sting some into ashes.
Its promise presents a haven that is;
the “I” in team just out of view,
soft lips on a chicken and a bear that never
craps in a wooded area-believable.
Yet, pressure is one factor that grow muscle.
And, life is empty without the thrill of a
possibility to step upon the rocks that could burn.
So, we soldier on.
Published in We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology, 2020.
Ed Rosenthal, photo by Maja Trochimczyk, 2013
ED ROSENTHAL
Poetbroker Ed Rosenthalʼs real estate poetry has been featured in the Wall
Street Journal, the LA Times and Urban Land, the national magazine of the
Urban Land Institute. He is known for performing poetry at Community
Development Agencies, Los Angeles City Council investitures and gatherings of
real estate developers. His nature/environmental poetry is found on Sierra Club
sites and in California poetry journals. As a survivor of a desert ordeal,
Rosenthal has been featured on “Fight to Survive” on The Outdoor
Channel, and several Weather Channel presentations, LA Magazine, and “The
Story” on National Public Radio. His volume of poems inspired by this
experience, The Desert Hat, was published by Moonrise Press in 2015. He will read from his newest book, Salvation Canyon - A true Story of Desert Survival in Joshua Tree, published in June 2020.
At this reading, he will present fragments from the memoirs, he earlier featured as a poet with work from The Desert Hat, copied below for your enjoyment.
At this reading, he will present fragments from the memoirs, he earlier featured as a poet with work from The Desert Hat, copied below for your enjoyment.
ABOUT THIS BOOK
from Amazon Smile
Ed Rosenthal was Jewish kid from the mean streets of Rockaway, Queens who became a real estate broker in Downtown Los Angeles. His passion is poetry, writing about the historic buildings he sells and advocates to preserve. He hates slumlords, is fed up with his buyers, but finally closes The Big Deal and saves a century’s-old icon: Clifton’s Cafeteria. It is fall of 2010 and he’s ready to not to talk to anyone for a week. After the ribbon cutting he skips town and makes his way toward the Mojave to bathe at a natural spring and take his favorite hiking trip in Joshua Tree National Park. But his vacation soon turns into a nightmare. Over six grueling days without water, food, or hope, he discovers a well of perseverance in the snippets of his life that play over the deadly but inspiring landscape, in which he finds himself utterly and inexplicably lost. The God of Random Chance has, despite his best efforts his whole life, finally caught up to him. He describes his ordeal and its setting in intimate, vivid detail: surreal visions mix with wayfinding and intuitive wisdom in a poet’s-eye view of the life-lessons and magic that the desert can hold.
Rosenthal’s shocking ordeal was covered on The Outdoor Channel, local broadcast, The Weather Channel, in Los Angeles Magazine, and interviewed by Dick Gordon for “The Story” on National Public Radio. In 2014 he was the subject of an episode of “Fight to Survive” with Bear Grylls on The Outdoor Channel. www.poetbroker.com
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733957979?fbclid=IwAR3o4N-Ah70Kf-icBKbj1d5i8mDnK-CpLeD70tOzQ9YVA65T16yBnDdKMPo&pldnSite=1
Ed Rosenthal was lost in the desert for almost seven days. The lyrical result of his ordeal, "The Desert Hat," consist of 36 poems illustrated with 12 photographs of his hat and Salvation Canyon where he spent most of his time. Rosenthal’s poetry does not recount his experience in detail; it is not replete with maps, photographs, and a day-by-day account of his adventures. Instead, we gain an insight into what it means to be truly lost and found, to survive the strangest of desert nights and return to the heart of the city… with a newly found wisdom and zest for life. With an introduction by Ruth Nolan and photos by Maja Trochimczyk, and Ken and Wendy Sims. For more information visit Moonrise Press Blog.
Ode to a Fly
Wonderful insect
may I never see you
stuck to a glue strip
on yellow paper.
My sole companion
in Salvation Canyon
you cheerful orange-faced
slender friend
Loyal voyager, we escaped
sand flies, slept on the black rock
and returned to the cliffs,
when my Mother in Law
woke up us both
screaming my name
under a black sky
The evolved one
each morning
you hovered to let me
apply lotion then sat
back on my wrist
Dearest Horsefly
Canyon Homemaker
Odd Couple Member
Skinny Legged Friend
I got to the place out of the sun after a three day search
the first day looking for an exit, the second hiding
under a tree, the third morning of survival
A cold moon follows the blistering vision of day
I went downhill for succor, for a friend to lean against
from sun and night wind
In short-sleeve shirt and shorts I had to hide
under a clamshell rock with a split orange face
till the sun slapped me to wake again
I ran in here to the blessed salvation canyon of shadows
Seeing I would outlive that day’s sun and maybe
only another, I turned my hat to a mirror,
my pen to my blood’s red artery
“My dear wife and daughter, I lost the trail of celebration
of deals. I may never see you, read my wish and will.”
Out in a desert canyon my love poured onto nylon flaps
inside seams and creases as the mirror turned into
a bouquet of pomegranates and apricots
for a circle of friends gathered by the barbecue of stewed tomatoes,
candied rice with roasted meats and broiled fish at my wake
of smoking and carousing, with the clink of vodka glasses,
per my will, written on my desert hat
to be executed by my beloved
for my only child.
MARIKO KITAKUBO
A special guest from Japan will enrich our poetry offerings on July 19, 2020 at 5 pm. Mariko has previously featured for Village Poets and will be with us, presenting new tanka in English and Japanese, with musical accompaniment.
MARIKO KITAKUBO is a tanka poet/tanka reading performer, born in Tokyo and living in Mitaka-city, Tokyo, Japan. She has published six books of tanka including three bilingual ones, On This Same Star, Cicada Forest, and Indigo. She has also produced a CD of her tanka entitled Messages. Mariko is an experienced performer who has presented her poetry at 234 poetry readings, events, and conferences, 177 of them overseas. She presented tanka in 51 cities in the world, in such countries as the U.S., Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, India, Portugal, Tanzania, Switzerland, and the U.K. She hopes to encourage more poetry lovers worldwide to appreciate and practice tanka. www.en.kitakubo.com.
I'm looking forward to this zoom reading - Beverly M. Collins is such an exciting writer to co-feature with. But thankfully, I am only reading prose.
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