November 2016 Vol. I No. V
Not your ordinary poetry magazine!
If good coffee (or just the concept of coffee), great books, sharp wit, and great authors excite you, we are for you!
Now with Four Full Pages of Poetry!
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General Poetry with Suzanne Robinson
Haiku with Kevin McLaughlin
Formal & Rhyming Poetry with Vera Ignatowitsch
Translations with S. Ye Laird
Featured Poem of the Month
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NEAR FUTURE
My life is a floating red feather
or wind-blown seed
or slowly growing tree trunk
or healing wound from a fall -
feelings waver
until feather finds bird
or seed ingratiates itself with soil
or tree trunk adds another hardy year
or the scar doesn't overwhelm
the skin around it -
and then it's love
or a hawk's breakfast
or the heart of a drought
or the blade of a lumberjack
or your fingers slicing me open
to see what you did the last time.
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John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident. Recently published in New Plains Review, Stillwater Review and Big Muddy Review with work upcoming in Louisiana Review, Cape Rock and Spoon River Poetry Review.
Erren Geraud Kelly is a Pushcart nominated poet from Los Angeles and widely published. He is also the author of the book, " Disturbing The Peace," on Night Ballet Press and the chapbook, " The Rah Rah Girl," forthcoming from Barometric Press.
He studied writing at Louisiana State University.
The BTS Interview with Erren Geraud Kelly
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BTS: You seem to be a “conquest poet,” not just a conquest poet, but one, none the less. Is that a fair assumption? What is that about?
Erren Geraud Kelly: [ laughs, imagines himself planting a flag on the moon !} Maybe I could stop the war in Afghanistan with a sonnet ?…funny you should see it that way…the only thing I ever wanted to “ conquer “ was language..i like to find ways to manipulate it, make it do what I want…paint pictures with words, make music with it..see how it affects others…I don’t consider myself an “extremist,” I have no dogma to beat anyone over the head with..i’m just showing people the world through my eyes; how I see things…I may write about social issues or about love or about my family or about my travels, but I never lock myself into one particular thing. I love it when people try to put me in a box or stereotype me. I always disappoint them :-)
BTS: You live in California, but you are from Louisiana. You went to school in Baton Rouge, at LSU. Are you from Baton Rouge?
Erren Geraud Kelly: I was born and raised in Baton Rouge. I have a B.A. in English-Creative Writing from Louisiana state University…I spent the first 31 of my 49 years there. My dad was a cement finisher/construction worker. My Mother was a nurses’ aide; my Grandparents made me read to the family when I was a kid; I would read the backs of cereal boxes or when I went shopping with them, they would have me point at billboards and read them…My mom took me and brothers and sister to the library when we were kids…My dad gave me a typewriter when I was in college…My first published poem was about that…
If you know a literary sort, a poet, an author, a teacher of literature, or just a truly all around interesting character, and you think it might be fun to get their thoughts down on "paper". Let us know, if you have contact info, all the better, but we have our ways....