Finding the Colors: Recently published writing and photos, March 2022
Milkweed, Birds, Venice, Poems for Teens
So many mysteries in life - and death.
This poem titled Birdcharm’s End appeared January 20th in Tiny Seed Literary Journal, in their issue titled Apaja’simk—To Return.
More mystery - with milkweed and a gravestone. On February 7th, Eunoia Review kindly reprinted my poem Rely on Mystery, originally published in A3 Review.
Based on my own memories and photos of a trip to Venice, as well as those of a friend, this prose poem titled Unfinished Sketches appeared in January in Blue Mountain Review, a “journal of culture” that publishes “works that display humanity … that stir the heart, mind, and soul.” I hope you find that my poem does all of those things for you.
Unfinished Sketches
Early Sunday morning under Venetian clouds, the slap-slap of blue-black water against Renaissance palazzi. Ripples remember their ancient river’s course. High tide levels and artwork etched on worn Istrian stone, floating fruit markets.
History’s secrets in dim alleys. Shadowy maze-like tunnels open to bridges. The scirocco blows Adriatic seawater into the lagoon.
Dreams of returning twist into place like tangles of yellow flowers framed by sheer white curtains in an arched window high above the canal. A thought, heavy as a September fig—home as ‘when’ not ‘where’.
It’s all a matter of perception. I have another version of this photo titled “Reaching”, but this one titled “Diving In” was published in Barzakh Magazine, a “multi-genre journal with an internationalist stance” from the English department at the University of Albany, SUNY.
The Arabic word/concept “barzakh” means a connecting link, the “between” of something, such as different spheres of existence, and fits nicely with this image.
And finally, I was invited to contribute to the second volume of a poetry anthology titled Inspired Heart for Teens: Identity and Diversity, edited by Bruce Kauffman (Melinda Cochrane Publications Inc., 2021), and I hope all the poems included in this book may inspire some teens to write their own poetry.
Live with joy, love with empathy.
Thanks for reading!
Incredible