I have two poems in the current issue of Shot Glass Journal, January 2017, Issue #21. It published the beginning of February. I thought I’d posted this. . . but it turns out, you can have too many drafts in your WordPress dashboard. Thank you Shot Glass Journal for taking a chance on my work! Especially on “If Anyone Can : Say Anything” which is in unconventional form. A little gloss on each poem is below.
For some time now, you’ve probably seen the “coming soon” notice for science fiction short stories on my publications page. The first, Plug & I, is now available in ebook on Amazon. It’s about 6500 words– a short read of 20-25 pages. Because it’s short, it’s available for $0.99. Or you can read it for free if you are part of Kindle Unlimited. It won’t be available in physical form until there are some stories to bundle with it. It is the first new science fiction Offworlders story available.
Selections of Ou-Yang Hsiu’s poetry appear in the collection “Love & Time, The Poems of Ou-Yang Hsiu,” translated by J. P. Seaton, 1989, Copper Canyon Press.
This post is part 1 of 2. Part 1 will cover form and background. Part 2 will cover content, and look closely at one translated poem.
Ou-Yang Hsiu lived from 1007-1072 in Sung Dynasty China. Raised in poverty and primarily self-educated, he became both a scholar and a government administrator. He was known for his strong code of ethics.
Ou-Yang Hsiu didn’t follow the approved pattern of highly formal poems on limited, conventional subject matter, full of obscure allusions.
Which sounds like about what the non-poetry reader thinks of poetry today. Hard to understand, needing someone to decode it for the reader. Something only for the in-crowd. You can’t really blame people. Schools tend to reinforce this approach. A student deciphers a poem to figure out ‘what it really means’ instead of understanding it, at least on one level, without overly-educated interpretation.
As previously mentioned, my poem Wormhole was published in issue 92 of Apex Magazine, earlier this month. Now it’s printed on their site, too.
My poem, “Wolf,” appears in this month’s Linden Avenue Literary Journal — the January 2017 issue, no. 56.
You can read my poem here, as well as poetry and prose by Rosie DeSantis, Edinson Shane Tolley, Stephen Wack, and Diane Bonavist.
I really like the selections Linden Avenue Literary Journal makes — reading through the back issues is a treat, if you have some time to browse.
Wolves are hard to study, but via radio collar and other methods researchers are making progress. You can read about the study of wolves in Alaska’s Denali National Park here in a National Park Service report. The report shows some great photos of Denali’s wolves.
