Kathabela Wilson's "Figures of Strange Beauty" Visit Village Poets on February 28, 2021 via Zoom

Kathabela Wilson, Photo by Tom Clausen, 2018

Village Poets of Sunland-Tujunga are pleased to present long-time friend, poet and artist, Kathabela Wilson, whose book "Figures of Humor and Strange Beauty" is the topic of Zoom reading on February 28, 2021.  Maja@moonrisepress.com and DMH@gmail.com can be contacted to get the link, and to be added to the mailing list for these readings. Two segments of open mic for poets are available. 

Video recording on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZkO-daV168

KATH ABELA WILSON lived and wrote mainly in Santa Barbara, California for 30 years, and still maintains a residence there, where the Ocean infuses her poetry with  salty enigmatic inspiration.  She lived for years  on a street that led to stairs to the sea and walked there every day.  Her poems and art are intimately linked with the tides, waves, stones and driftwood.

Her free verse, and Asian short form poetry is published in hundreds of journals worldwide. She travels the world with her husband Rick, a math professor and historical and world flute collector and player, performing  together. Hosted poetry meetings and salons at her home and the local Storier Stearns Garden and museums. for many years, now she hosts three zoom meetings a week for community sharing, consolation and inspiration.

Her first book, Figures of Humor and Strange Beauty, was written over two years, 1998- 2000, as a spontaneous serial odyssey naturally forming itself into 18 poems. The poems were written as  free verse, the short prose chapters were written in 2018. It was published by Glass Lyre Press, 2019.

It is in their "Quitab Editions" series, which features the back story, with archival material related to the book. Some chapters tell the story of the process of writing. And finishes with a chapter called Archeology.

Kathabela and Rick Wilson perform at a poetry reading

Her chapbooks Driftwood Monster, Haiku for Troubled Times  and The Owl Still Asking, Tanka for Troubled Times are available from Lulu, published by Moria Press, 2017.

Since writing this work, her writing has progressed in many directions. She is currently writing other serial poems in  poetic prose, and haibun form  as well as short forms, cherita, haiku and tanka. She especially loves collaborative poetry and collaborates and publishes with many local and faraway poets.

Kathabela at Scenic Drive Gallery of Susan Dobay, with Maja Trochimczyk

One of Kathabela's haiku won third place in The Santoka International Haiku Contest, 2017 on the theme of "Peace",  Her tanka won first place in English language Tanka in the Fujisan Contest, 2017. 

She is secretary of the Tanka Society of America and leader of her own group Poets on Site since 2008.

Kathabela with the monument of James Joyce on a bridge in Trieste, Italy.

PHOTOS FROM THE ZOOM READING

Village Poets Present Maura Harvey, Poet and Artist, on Zoom, January 24, 2021 at 4:30 pm.

 

Village Poets are pleased to present poet and artist Maura Harvey on Zoom. Two segments of open mic readings will be available for poets in attendance. The feature will take place on Sunday, January 24, 2021 at 4:30 pm. Zoom invitations will be sent to Village Poets email list and upon request sent to Maja Trochimczyk maja@moonrisepress.com .

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. 

Video Recording on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VfQMHkUfzM

Ethiopian Guardians by Maura Harvey

Maura Harvey is an award-winning bilingual poet, whose work has appeared in collected works and venues  from San Diego to Venezuela.  Her art has been exhibited internationally from México to Istanbul. She feels at home in the world because her home is where her art takes her. More information: MauraHarvey.com

El jardín de los recuerdos

de mi padre aprendí a amar

el cactus de orquídea

con sus flores suntuosas color magenta

las que apenas duran tres días

en su último año de vida

mi padre cantaba

romances tradicionales todas las mañanas

para espantar el porvenir

resucito sus plantas

por debajo de donde colgaban 

olvidadas entre la maleza,

con manos seguras las planto en nuevas macetas

con mi madre aprendo

de los días en el jardín de la familia:

cactus, naranjos, adelfas,

tíos, tías, primos, rosas rojas

luego se adormece

sueña con su infancia

las plantas cantan su sueño de primavera eterna:

tierra, lluvia y sol

Maura Harvey

Julio, 2020

Aix-en-Provance Fountain, by Maura Harvey

Garden of Memory

from my father I learned to love

the orchid cactus

epiphyllum with sumptuous magenta blooms,

the ones that last just three days

in his last year my father sang 

traditional ballads every morning

to frighten away the future

I resuscitate his plants,

pull them down from where they've hung

forgotten in the overgrowth,

with sure hands plant them in new pots

with my mother I learn

about days

in the family garden:

cactus, orange trees,oleanders,

uncles, aunts, red roses

then she nods off,

dreams of her childhood

the plants sing their dream of eternal spring:

soil, rain and sun

Maura Harvey

July, 2020

2021 Pushcart Prize Nominations from the "We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology"

                                      

We are pleased to inform you that the editors of "We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology" - Maja Trochimczyk and Marlene Hitt - nominated to the Pushcart Prize 2021 the following poems included in the anthology:  

• Sharon Alexander, “Wheatfield with Crows” -p.8
• Katerina Canyon, “Feet” -p. 171
• Joe DeCenzo, “Conversing with Shadows” p. 181
• Georgia Jones Davis, “Monumental Dog” – p. 63
• Rick Lupert, “Heat” – p. 87
• Mariano Zaro, “Synapse” – p. 157

Given the choice of 80 poets included in the anthology and the incredibly high artistic level of all their creations, the editor decided to follow their hearts and select poems that "resonated" with them in a personal way, and represented the diversity of poems and poets in the volume.  Congratulations to all! 

Marlene Hitt writes about her choices: "No one knows whether a poem is 'good.' The response of the reader is the important judgement. I chose Wheatfield With Crows because, at first, I was reminded, with emotion, of my own father's death. Upon reading I found enjoyment the dreamlike inward journey of the author. Sharon Alexander's language is more than pleasing and her images inspiring. Rick Lupert in Heat brings the reader into his world on a hot, hot day as he exaggerates a bit, then teases and pleases us as with a tall tale. Joe DeCenzo, with Conversing With the Shadows points toward the mystery of one woman' state of frailty in a memoir of her life as it has encapsulized in her failing memory as that memory then failed. It renders a kind and loving tribute to all life as it begins to end.  Poetry is for the poet, yes, but more for the reader and the connection of thought and emotion between the two. A poem speaks to each person with the beauty and passion which only words can do."

Maja Trochimczyk explains her selections: "I was really perplexed about the nominations from our anthology. I know it is a service to poets, and should be done, but in We Are Here there are so many amazing poems by incredibly talented poets that I was at a loss, wondering, what to do? In poetry, I am not interested in competitions and awards, but rather in expressing the infinity of human experience. When Marlene sent me her three titles, I realized I could simply pick poems that I love and that resonate with me at this particular time. I've always loved Georgia Jones Davis's Monumental Dog - the compassion for the hapless animal, sent by her trusted caretaker into the orbit, to certain death; the vivid portrait of a communist country, where life is not valued at all. I'm from Poland and I remember stories about this dog on our national news; though, back then, nobody eulogized her sacrifice. There was just praise for the technological triumph of Soviets over Americans in the space race... Katerina Canyon's Feet is another perennial favorite, perhaps because my Mom had not washed my feet like that, and neither did I wash hers. I guess it was through the longing of an abandoned child that found such intense beauty in filial love and devotion, captured so vividly by Canyon. Finally, Mariano Zaro's Synapse about the poignant last days of his father, expertly weaves personal emotion with scientific descriptions of the mystery of the brain at the end of life." 

Village Poets at the Passing of the Laurels Ceremony in 2017.

ABOUT THE ANTHOLOGY

Edited by Marlene Hitt and Maja Trochimczyk, and entitled We Are Here: Village Poetry Anthology, this collection celebrates the 10th anniversary of Village Poets Monthly Poetry Readings. The volume presents 80 poets featured during the monthly readings at Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga, CA as well as the group of current and former Poets Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga who organize the readings. 

 

 In addition to its home base at the Bolton Hall Museum, the Village Poets have also had occasional visits to the McGroarty Arts Center, the former home of the California Poet-Laureate in 1933-1944, John Steven McGroarty. His Poet-Laureate title inspired the local Poet-Laureate program, established in 1999. The anthology's editors are both former Poets-Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga: Marlene Hitt was the First, in 1999-2001 and Dr. Maja Trochimczyk served as the Sixth in 2010-2012 when the readings were initiated.  

The volume includes work by: 15 Poets Laureate from California; 20 Pushcart Prize nominees – Accardi, Askew, Byrne, Canyon, Collins, Dobreer, Dove, Ford, Fancher, Luza,  Leland-St. John, O’Brien, Jones, Pero, Reyna, Rinne, Rogers, Rummel, Skiles, and Terzi; 12 current and former college professors – Campbell, Kirby, Dove, Lipkin, Lummis,  Peterson, Rummel, Rizk, Talwar, Trochimczyk, Saine, and Zaro; and eight poets with doctoral degrees – Dove, Lipkin, Mataric, Meyer (honorary), Peterson, Reyna, Saine, and Trochimczyk. Poets from the states of California, Illinois, New York, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington are represented along with those who have roots in 18 different countries: Argentina, Armenia, Chile, China, Cuba, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, the U.K., the U.S. and Vietnam.    

The colorful cover, designed by Maja Trochimczyk, features artwork by Polish American poet and painter, Andrew Kolo, who appeared at the readings to present both his art and his poetry. The painting, entitled “Landscape with the Palm Tree” (oil on canvas), is a mosaic of vivid, saturated colors, contrasting, yet somehow in harmony with each other. This is a great metaphor for a poetry reading filled with numerous, distinct poetic voices.  

The book consists of two parts: Guests and Featured Poets, represented by 1-3 poems each; and PoetsLaureate, with 10 local poets, represented by 6-8 poems each. A list of Village Poets Readings, a brief history of the program, and biographies of the poets are included as well. The 290-page anthology is published in two versions, as a paperback and an e-book in ePub format.  More information and list of poems: moonrisepress.com/village-poets-anthology.html 

 

ABOUT PUSHCART PRIZE XLV

Edited by Bill Henderson, with the Pushcart Prize Editors, "the 45th edition of the most celebrated literary series in America, Pushcart Prize XLV is continuing evidence that much of today’s vibrant writing appears only in small journals and book presses. The series has been selected for Publishers Weekly Carey Thomas Award, the National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandrof citation, and the Poets and Writers/Barnes and Noble “Writers For Writers” award among others.  The current issue includes 70 authors from more than 50 presses, selected from the nominations of 220 distinguished Contributing Editors and 800 participating presses."

SHARON ALEXANDER - Nominated for "Wheatfield with Crows"

SHARON ALEXANDER recently relocated to Benissa Costa, Spain overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Her chapbook, Instructions in My Absence, won first place in the Palettes & Quills 5th Biennial Chapbook Contest and was released May 2017. Voodoo Trombone, Sharon’s previous chapbook, was published by Finishing Line Press, 2014. Her poetry appears in several publications including Barbaric Yawp; Caliban On-line; Idyllwild Life Magazine; Naugatuck River Review; Pearl; Pinyon; Redheaded Stepchild; Santa Ana River Review; Slipstream; Subprimal Poetry Art; and Tiger’s Eye. You can also find her work in the following anthologies: Beyond the Lyric Moment (Tebot Bach, 2014); In the News (The Poetry Box, Summer 2018); Poeming Pigeons (The Poetry Box, 2015); and Spectrum: 140 SoCal Poets ( 2015). 

KATERINA CANYON -  Nominated for "Feet"

KATERINA CANYON is a 2020 Pushcart Prize Nominee. Her stories have been published in New York Times and Huffington Post. From 2000 to 2003, she served as the Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga. During that time, she started a poetry festival called “Shouting Coyote Poetry Festival” and ran several poetry readings. She was featured in the Los Angeles Times and was awarded the Montesi Award from Saint Louis University in 2011, 2012, and 2013. She has published multiple chapbooks and an album. Her recent books include Changing the Lines, a volume of poetry, and Los Angeles Nomad, a novel.  She hosts weekly readings on Zoom, called Canyon Poets. You can find more information about her on her website, poetickat.com. 

JOE DECENZO -  Nominated for "Conversing with Shadows"

JOE DECENZO grew up in Los Angeles and majored in theater and English Literature.  From 2004-06 he served as the poet laureate of Sunland-Tujunga. He produced  the  “Shouting   Coyote” Performing   Arts Festival and was a Department of Cultural Affairs grant recipient. His published works include The Ballad of Alley and Hawk and the Study Guide and Poetry Primer for the same collection. His poetry appeared also in Meditations on Divine Names anthology (Moonrise Press, 2012). He currently serves on the planning committee for the Village Poets of Sunland-Tujunga, as Chair of the Poet Laureate Search Committee, and as Chair of the Arts and Recreation Committee of the Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council.

GEORGIA JONES DAVIS - Nominated for "Monumental Dog"

GEORGIA JONES-DAVIS grew up in Northern New Mexico and Southern California. A former Los Angeles Herald Examiner editor, Los Angeles Times Assistant Book Editor and former free-lance journalist, Georgia’s poetry has appeared in various publications including West Wind, The California Quarterly, Brevities, The Bicycle Review, Nebo, Eclipse, poethicdiversity, Ascend Aspiration and South Bank Poetry, London. She served as a board member of Valley Contemporary Poets for three years.  Georgia was honored as one of the 2010 Newer Poets by the Los Angeles Poetry Festival and the Los Angeles Public Library ALOUD series. She is the author of two chapbooks, Blue Poodle (2011)  and Night School (2015), by Finishing Line Press. 

RICK LUPERT - Nominated for "Heat"

RICK LUPERT has been involved in the Los Angeles poetry community since 1990. He served for two years as a co-director of the Valley Contemporary Poets. He created the Poetry Super Highway ( http://poetrysuperhighway.com ) and hosted the Cobalt Cafe reading for almost 21 years. He’s authored 25 collections of poetry, including “God Wrestler” and “ The Tokyo-Van Nuys Express!”, and edited  “A Poet’s Siddur”, “A Poet’ s Haggadah”, the Noir anthology “ The Night Goes on All Night.” and “Ekphrastia Gone Wild” under his imprint Ain’t Got No Press. His poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and literary journals, including The Los Angeles Times, Rattle, Chiron Review, Zuzu’s Petals, Caffeine Magazine, Blue Satellite and others. He edited A Poet’s Haggadah: Passover through the Eyes of Poets anthology and is the author of thirteen books: Sinzibuckwud!, We Put Things In Our Mouths, Paris: It’s The Cheese, I Am My Own Orange County, Mowing Fargo, I’m a Jew. Are You?, Feeding Holy Cats, Stolen Mummies, I’d Like to Bake Your Goods, A Man With No Teeth Serves Us Breakfast (Ain’t Got No Press), Lizard King of the Laundromat, Brendan Constantine is My Kind of Town (Inevitable Press) and Up Liberty’s Skirt (Cassowary Press). . He is regularly featured at venues throughout Southern California and works as a music teacher and graphic designer for anyone who would like to help pay his mortgage.

MARIANO ZARO - Nominated for "Synapse"

MARIANO ZARO is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Decoding Sparrows (What Books Press, Los Angeles, CA) and Padre Tierra (Olifante, Zaragoza, Spain). His poems have been published in anthologies and literary journals in USA, Mexico and Spain. His translations into Spanish include Poemas de las Misiones de California by Philomene Long, Buda en llamas by Tony Barnstone and Cómo escribir una canción de amor by Sholeh Wolpé. He is the winner of the 2004 Roanoke Review Short Fiction Prize and the 2018 Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing Short Fiction Prize. Since 2010, he has been hosting a series of video-interviews with prominent American poets as part of the literary project Poetry.LA. (More information here: www.Poetry.LA). He is a professor of Spanish at Rio Hondo Community College (Whittier, California).  Website: www.marianozaro.com. 

Moonrise Press Presents "An Alphabet of Birds" by Toti O'Brien on Zoom, December 5, 2020 at 3 pm

 

AN ALPHABET OF BIRDS

≈≈≈☼≈≈≈

Moonrise Press is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Moonrise Press Presents Toti O'Brien's "An Alphabet of Birds"

Time: Dec 5, 2020 03:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting: Link provided by email to guests. Contact Maja@moonrisepress.com.

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. 

Link to the recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYti3hBLs1Q

ABOUT THIS BOOK

http://www.moonrisepress.com/alphabet-of-birds.html

Buy it now: ISBN 978-1-945938-41-2, paperback, 184 pages, $15.00

Buy it now: ISBN 978-1-945938-42-9, ebook in ePub format, $10.00

Not quite hard to decipher… on the contrary, friendly and familiar sounding, An Alphabet of Birds is a prose collection inspired by “daily nature,” by those kerchiefs of landscape gracing us through a kitchen door, a car window, in the middle of our urban, busy life. They are glimpses and fragments, fugitive and yet poignant, loaded with surprise, magic, lessons to learn or else mysteries for the heart to treasure in secret, in awe. 

~ Toti O’Brien, author

An Alphabet of Birds encompasses an entire bestiary, from its namesake birds to the squirrel that owns the narrator’s backyard to the bears that own the salmon streams. The ground of these short prose pieces is everyday life, the “daily display of splendor.” Toti O’Brien invokes a world where what is wry and wise meets what is whimsical and surreal. Questions tumble, pile on top of one another, full of possibilities and speculation. O’Brien’s language has a rolling rhythm that unspools like an incantation. Fall under her spell and journey with her into the  mysteries of the quotidian.

~ Cynthia Anderson, author of Now Voyager and Route

This prose collection of 34 short stories describes the vagaries of birds, animals, plants, seen and described by a keen and talented observer. The author has patience, a gift of attentive focus on their behaviors and transformation, and a talent to write down the reflections on the meaning of these behaviors and transformation in the constant flow of daily life. Toti O'Brien author is a multi-talented poet, writer, artist, musician, and a friend of all living beings, the whole Earth.

~ Maja Trochimczyk, Ph.D., Moonrise Press 

TOTI O’BRIEN is the Italian Accordionist with the Irish last name. She was born in Rome, Italy, raised in Sicily and France. After touring Europe and Brazil with her itinerant theater, in the early nineties, she established herself in Los Angeles where she makes a living as a self-employed artist, performing musician and professional dancer. O’Brien’s first book of stories, Africa, was published in 1990. It was followed by another short story collection, Reversed Memories, two illustrated children books and an essay collection, Lanterna Magica, gathering selected work out of her long-term collaboration with Italian journals and magazines. O’Brien started writing in the English language in 2004. Since then, her poetry, fiction and non-fiction were published in hundreds of journals and anthologies in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, India, Australia, and all over the world. 

Her most recent appearances include The Moth, The Hamilton Stone, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and World Literature Today. Her poetry collection Other Maidens (BlazeVOX, 2020) and a prose collection, Pages of a Broken Diary (Pskj’s Porch, 2021), are about to be released. Her work was nominated for Best of the Net, Best Small Fiction, Best American Essay, the Pushcart, and various other prizes. Her memoir ‘Nicotine’ won a nonfiction prose award in 2018. 

Her essay ‘Blur In The Front Line’ won the Anthony Award in 2016. Besides her creative writing, she contributes articles and reviews about art, music, film, literature and civilization to several magazines. She also translates poetry and prose from the Italian, the Spanish, and the French. O’Brien’s multimedia artwork was exhibited in group and solo shows in Europe and the US, since the early nineties. Her paintings, sculptures, collages and textiles were featured in many publications, and she has produced book covers and illustrations.

Table of Contents

In the Moonlight — 3 

The Lawn — 4 

The Staircase — 9 

The Leaf and the Butterfly — 14 

Darwin —17 

Pavo Regina — 21 

Terra Firma — 29 

Speculum — 33 

Milagros — 37 

Sunset Walk — 39 

Doves — 42

Precious — 47 

The Decadence of Grapefruit —49 

Spectrum — 58 

Dog Days — 61 

The Salmon and the Bear — 64 

Beautiful Bones — 69 

Creation — 72 

In the Garden — 81 

Lunacy — 84 

September — 93 

November — 99 

Peacocks — 102 

Engraved — 105 

Five Senses — 109 

At Risk — 127 

The Statue —129 

Augur — 134 

The Flowers — 139 

The Fountain — 141 

Part Out — 158 

An Alphabet of Birds —164

The Volvo and the Bike —168 

Gardener’s Companion — 172 

About the Author — 174

Village Poets and CSPS Present Cindy Rinne and Bory Thach on Zoom, November 22, 2020 at 4:30 pm

Village Poets join California State Poetry Society in presenting  poets Cindy Rinne and Bory Thach with their collaborative book "Letters under Rock" during Virtual Village Poets Monthly Reading on November 22, 2020 at 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm. Open Mike segments included before and after the features. At Bolton Hall Museum, we would have had snacks, cookies, fruit, cakes and coffee, especially for our Thanksgiving Feast. Alas, the Museum is closed, so, instead, bring your own refreshments and enjoy them at home!  

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. 

ZOOM READING INVITATION

Maja Trochimczyk is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Village Poets and CSPS Present Cindy Rinne and Bory Thach

Time: Nov 22, 2020 04:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting: Link provided by Email to Invited Guests

Cindy Rinne and Bory Thach with their new book

ABOUT THE POETS

Cindy Rinne creates fiber art and writes in San Bernardino, CA. Represented Poet by Lark Gallery, LA, CA. She was Poet in Residence for the Neutra Institute Gallery and Museum, Los Angeles, CA. A Pushcart nominee. Her poems have appeared in literary journals, anthologies, art exhibits, and dance performances. Cindy is the author of several books: silence between drumbeats (Four Feathers Press), Knife Me Split Memories (Cholla Needles Press), Letters Under Rock with Bory Thach, (Elyssar Press), and others. Her poetry appeared or forthcoming: Anti-Heroin Chic, The Poetry Barn, Verse-Virtual, LitGleam, and others, plus several anthologies including: “Feminist Pilgrimage” edited by Stacy Russo and We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology edited by Maja Trochimczyk and Marlene Hitt (Moonrise Press, 2020). www.fiberverse.com

 Bory Thach was born in a refugee camp located on the border between Thailand and Cambodia. His family immigrated to the United States when he was four years old. He served in the U.S. Army and deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He holds an MFA from California State University San Bernardino. Fiction and creative nonfiction fall under the art of storytelling, while poetry for him is more of a study of language, an art form. His work appeared or is forthcoming in: Pacific Review, Urban Ivy, Arteidolia, and Sand Canyon Review, plus We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology edited by Maja Trochimczyk and Marlene Hitt. In 2020, Thach joined the Board of the California State Poetry Society as one of the Editors of the California Quarterly, to serve along with Maja Trochimczyk, CSPS President, Maura Harvey, Terry Ehret and Margaret Saine. His first volume to edit will be CQ vol. 47 no. 1, Spring 2021.

SAMPLE POEMS

Dear Nomad,                                                                               Ancestors/Dream

         

I lean sideways in front of the cypress mirror and

brush my hair one hundred times as my mother

 taught me. Soak this dress with three figs

across the bodice on powder blue cotton, in the oasis,

 

squeezing water into my mouth. Beyond my reach,

the inherited dress floats through the layers of stacked

 

beings encased in clouds while light brown rabbits,

sensitive and kind, scamper like gusty winds in four

 

directions. Heavenly and earthly realms join.

Ashen wolf and deer my origin.  Date palms

 

reach, attempting to grab the dress which dodges

like a balloon. I set the brush down, smooth my dress,

 

and watch rabbits leap in salt grasses.

Tell me the truth.

 

Be my witness.

 

The dress. The dress. The dress.

 

 

Dear Wanderer,

 

Love deserves an aftertaste

 

before night fades into the sunrise.

Purple lightning through dark clouds,

 

sage green sky over dead tree.

An arm-like hand to hold up the Milky Way.

 

Infinite stars conquer storm

and preside over turmoil.  A cloud of empty ghosts

 

moves toward the crows. Lacking strength

I see another trembling

kiss by your lips separated by yin and yang.

Break away from the spider’s web. Awaken

 

to truth without intoxication

like tornado over water,

 

the red afterglow above ionosphere,

I become helpless as drifting

 

leaves of lavender.

A dreamland I miss and regret

 

where we borrow happiness…

 

 

Dear Nomad,                                                                               Hush/Unchanged

 

Blue dawn brightens

Pleiades, icy sun,

And hibiscus like snowflakes

Planted as totem.

 

Against the drifting fog,

Three guardian trees

Imprint the shrouded mountain.

 

I vibrate in the unbroken

Starlight as mist,

 

As angel.

 

Hush.

Dear Wanderer,

                                                                                               

The past comes back, gathering like a flower

Withered wishes.  It’s amazing how sea, sky                        

Share the same color.  I watch you fly

Up into that seafloor, 

 

So endlessly wide and eternal.                                              

We reach the flooded sky—

Widespread wings.

Love unchanged.  My tears flow back to you.

As burning incense turns to snow, and lightning

Bolts dance in our palms.                                                      

 

One yields a lotus                                                                  

The other a red string.

 

 

Dear Nomad,                                                                     Haunted/Vibrations

 

How many tomorrows?

 

Earth mother, my skin splits like textured

flakes of an old oak tree. Sunken eyes.

My hands unknot the webs. I sit cramped

in the corner radiating pyramids.

 

I mourn the loss

maiden to crone

alone in an ice cave, an entrance

guarded by Garnr.

Fever

chills

encompass me.

 

Is this not baptism by thorns?

You would salve my wounds.

Instead, I drink tea of holly

leaves trying to heal.

 

Where are you?

 

River runs beyond my stomach.

I wear a death mask. Is Hel,

one-half bones, the other divine

preparing the transition of my soul?

 

Seers and shamans will travel

for my counsel. I will give them

holly for strength and wisdom.

 

I need

                           to see you.

Dear Wanderer,

 

Born from the Earth, a child of nature

among purity and innocence.  Spiritual

happiness. Tranquil love between you

and me. Face paler than snow

with ember eyes.

 

Why do you seem so familiar?

 

I’m in a stream of stars at night,

reflecting on the waves.

Delicate lilacs cover your wounds.

            Sharp eyes transform into fire.

 

Birds, paper the sky, only to leave star

trails. Calm, my mind as passionate

mountains where twilight dawns

into late spring, and time itself

spikes non-linear.

 

Unable to turn away, I stare, moon-eyed

Underwater while a bromeliad emerges

from vibrations of mantras.

 

You

                        take away my sorrow.

 

 

Cindy Rinne and Bory Thach in Costumes made by Rinne, photo by Edwin Vasquez

ABOUT THE BOOK AND THE POETS

Published in October 2019, "Letters Under Rock" is a 82-page volume of Performance Poetry co-authored by Cindy Rinne and Bory Thach and structured as a series of letters exchanged by a Nomad and a Wanderer on their spiritual journey through life. 

ISBN 978-1087421926

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Letters-Under-Rock-Cindy-Rinne/dp/1087421926

Letters Under Rock is part poetry, dance, and wearable art—beyond that it is a rare glimpse of artistic intimacy. Cindy Rinne and Bory Thach move with a sense of purpose and sincerity that leave the audience awed by the power of beauty, love, and friendship. 

        ~ Nicelle Davis, author of The Walled Wife

It’s basically spirit through the medium of body in action.

~ Michael Thomas Cooper, author of Speaking Through Sediment

Cindy and Bory transformed the Lancaster Museum of Art and History - MOAH into a sacred space by being in perfect harmony with each other. There was something intangible that emanated from their words and choreography that transported the viewers beyond time and space. They produced a unique moment of grace where all the distractions of the world disappeared. Thank you, Cindy and Bory for sharing your sacred choreography with the audience.  

~ Marthe Aponte, mixed media artist who specializes in Picoté