Up by Four More in the First Quarter

Well, the first quarter of 2012 has gone well!  In addition to the three poems published in The Copperfield Review, I just got word that I'll have two poems in issue # 4 of Symmetry Pebbles-- "Walking Along the River Fuji, the Poet Basho Finds a Child Abandoned by Its Parents" and "Patuxent River Story."  Although the word "river" in each poem's title suggests some symmetry, the two are quite different.  "Walking Along the River Fuji," consists of two tankas, with the whole poem inspired by a passage in Basho's "Records of a Weather-exposed Skeleton" in which Basho and his traveling companion come along a small child abandoned by its parents.  I've read Basho's book a couple times, but what struck me this last time was the matter-of-factness with which Basho leaves the child behind rather than taking it with him.  "Patuxent River Story" is from my U.S. Route 1 series, and is about the prostitutes that are pushed from one county to another in the Laurel, MD area.

I've also got two poems that will appear in an upcoming issue of Poetry Quarterly-- "The Food Truck," which also is part of my U.S. Route 1 series, and "Outside the Abundant Life Chapel," which draws upon a brief moment when I stopped outside the Abundant Life Chapel in Charleston, WV while walking to the Charleston Friends' (Quakers') Meeting.  Given how clearly I could hear the thumping bass while standing on the sidewalk, I can only imagine the amplitude of spirit that must have been present in the chapel.

You can find these poems here on my blog.  I'll post the links when the journals are published.

Three more poems at The Copperfield Review

I seem to have found a home in The Copperfield Review.  Three more of my Skimino Cycle poems have been published in the Winter 2012 issue:  "They Rode on Borrowed Horses," "John's Lament," and "She Will Not Thirst Again."  These poems fit temporally with the three poems published in the Summer 2011 issue as all focus on John and Mary Ratcliffe.  The three poems published in the Fall 2011 issue represented a step back in time, as they were set in the 1700s and early 1800s.

Many, many thanks to the editors at The Copperfield Review.  If you want read my poems there, see http://www.copperfieldreview.com/poetry/Ratcliffe%202012.htm

WINTER WALK IN WOODS

[Published in Three Line Poetry]


WINTER WALK IN WOODS


Winter walk in woods--
cold wind rattling through beech leaves
brings warmth to my mind.

A Look Back At 2011

I can't believe how good a year 2011 was in terms of publishing.  I had 18 poems published!  The year started off with Do Not Look At The Sun accepting "Thoughts While Viewing Van Gogh's Fishing Boats..." for publication in its spring issue.  That was quickly followed by acceptance of five poems for inclusion on The Beatnik's blog.  Three Line Poetry published seven poems, distributed across issues 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8, with the sixth and seventh poems being accepted and included in issue 8 just days before the year ended.  And, I was especially pleased to finally publish poems from my Skimino Cycle.  The Copperfield Review published six poems from this group-- three in the Summer issue and three in Autumn issue.

What does 2012 have in store?  Too early to say, but I do have poems out for consideration by the Baltimore Review, The Copperfield Review, and Poetry Quarterly.

Two More Poems in Three Line Poetry

What a nice way to finish off the year!  I have two poems in Three Line Poetry, issue #8.  This brings my total to seven published in Three Line Poetry.  The poems are:

It is enough to sit
and watch yesterday's rain
drop from the leaves of trees.


Dead roses lie on the table,
still bundled as they came from the store.
For want of water, they withered.

DAVID SANG IN WELSH TODAY

[Published in The Copperfield Review, Spring 2012]


DAVID SANG IN WELSH TODAY

Phebe Williams, 1856, as she and her husband, David, and a small group of fellow Mormons travel eastward from Utah to Kansas.  They had already crossed the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains the year before, as part of a group of Welsh Mormons migrating to Utah.

David sang in Welsh today—
faced the rising sun and sang;
his voice, so strong and clear,
we stopped our work and listened,
the women by the breakfast fires,
the men hitching up the mules,
even the soldiers escorting us—
all stopped and listened to him sing:
Arglwydd, arwain trwy’r anialwch—
Lord, lead me through the wilderness—
O, his voice, like a sweet fountain flowing,
clear and strong across the prairie.
David sang in Welsh today—
how good to hear him sing again.

He never sang in Utah—

not with the other men
while working in the quarry.
He would not join the chapel choir,
saying he could not sing
while the Saints were in darkness;
would not sing as long as humble Saints
were forced to give their possessions to the Church;
to work first for the leaders,
and then for themselves.
This was not the Zion we expected—
the communal life he preached in Wales.
He would not sing while the Church
preached polygamy,
or all the temple rites,
or blind obedience to the priesthood.
He would not sing while rule in Zion
was no better than the ironmasters’
grips on the valleys of South Wales.

And when we left Utah
traveling east through the mountains,
he still would not sing—
No sounds that might help
the Destroying Angels find us;
no praises sung to heaven above;
no songs to ease the hiraeth we felt—
the longing for life back in Wales.

David sang in Welsh today,
faced the rising sun and sang.
We stopped our work and listened,
and then a rising chorus,
the men hitching up the mules,
the women tending the fires,
voices rising in harmony—
pilgrims of poor appearance,
singing in this barren land.
We felt our anxious fears subside,
and the spirit of God and hope flowed through us,
like the River Jordan in the desert.

David canodd yn Gymraeg heddiw.
David sang in Welsh today.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER

Dawn and dusk define
my days at this time of year;
moments of beauty
framing hours indoors in one
meeting after another.