Child of Atlantis
Tangled Roots
Peace
Mephistopheles
Stone Flower
Nyet
Mohican
The King I Am
Sisters
Garchen Rinpoche
Saint Gertrude
Philippe Faraut has a degree in woodcarving and the construction of French fine furniture from Germain Sommeillier in Annecy, France, his boyhood home. He works in clay, stone, and bronze, and has worked in forensic reconstruction. For more examples of his work please see: PhilippeFaraut.com.
STET
Where come
the words we stumble upon?
All over the city it is known, concrete
a cover-up for dirt.
Much to be learned in the swirl,
non sequitur and metaphor.
For instance, to the Japanese
Mount Fuji, hawks, eggplants are lucky
dream subjects for the New Year.
Beginnings have a hand on the easer.
Today you witnessed a maroon car sliding through red.
A wink to what didn’t happen and that inspired
the novella. Chunks of one-way cell conversation.
Girl in tears.
Of that girl, a voice of piercings. ,
Can’t let go, can you?
Look up!
The sky is fashioned for raptures.
The word you seek finesse, crows (parting light) translate
as meal.
What’s in your hand? Friend, that is the symbol
for rodent.
Kit Kennedy co-authored Inconvenience (Littoral Press, Berkeley) and Constellations (Co-Lab Press, San Francisco) with Susan Gangel. Beyond the Human Voice: 7 poems inspired by the art of Susan Black is available as an e-book. While Eating Oysters is published by CLWN WR BKS, Brooklyn. (2012). Her work has appeared in Ambush Review, It’s Animal but Merciful, Pedestal Magazine, Runes, and Van Gogh’s Ear, among others. She lives in San Francisco. Please visit www.poetrybites.blogspot.com.
PLOT
grid of tree-lined streets on fire
don’t see any trees
the power lines the power lines
our breath the smoke
night air of ash and reticulation
our eyes the discharge
compromising definition
field of vision a map
the outline of locust shapes
goodbye lovely goodbye
Kevin McLellan is the author of Tributary (Barrow Street, 2015), and the chapbooks Shoes on a Wire (Split Oak, 2015) runner-up for the 2012 Stephen Dunn Prize in Poetry, and Round Trip (Seven Kitchens, 2010), a collaborative series of poems with numerous women poets. He has poems in journals including: American Letters & Commentary, Barrow Street, Colorado Review, Kenyon Review Online, The Puritan, Spoon River Poetry Review,Western Humanities Review, Witness, and numerous others. Kevin lives in Cambridge MA.
Photographs are the property and copyright of Xavi García Boix and used under permission the artist.
Austin Laine Walker is somewhat of a creative prodigy. At just twenty years old Austin is an Apple Certified Pro in their lead video editing software Final Cut Pro X as well as a writer, a director, an actor, a promoter, a teacher, and an aspiring comedian. After a brief internship at Hall Communications in Lakeland, FL Austin chose to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree of Science in Digital Cinematography at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL. During that time he held down jobs for companies like NBC-Universal and The Walt Disney Company. As of now he promotes acts like Poison, teaches high school age instructional television, and works closely with Lynn Herron from WFNZ’s Who Rocks Sports. He is fascinated with simple photography, as noted by his own which was mostly taken with his iPhone 4S. Austin believes harnessing one’s imaginative skill is imperative and that it’s truly as simple as wanting to do so. He encourages everyone to create whatever their heart desires.
4 a.m Insomnia Poem
lost in the never
never land of insomnia
a dark forest ravished by storms
where dreams go to perish
my mind hijacks my destiny
speaks in tongue
devours the silence
walks hunchbacked
like a gypsy tailor
pushing a garment cart
a sacrificial virgin
burns in volcano ash
a Tiajuana Jesus
nailed to a plastic cross
winks at the twelve wise men
making a return trip to the manger
after a shopping spree at Walmarts
a fortune teller
trades in her crystal ball
for a tarot card reading
the lone survivor of a shipwreck
floats aimlessly at sea
my love returns from
the bermuda triangle
in the disguise of a mermaid
the pope pleads for humility
god answers with lightning
jesus responds with thunder
a bee colony drips honey between
the legs of a dairy queena haunted house coughs up
an angry ghost drunk
on death
dante gives up his seat in hell
to Rosa Parks who recites
the lord’s prayer backwards
to a honky sheriff
in Selma, Alabama
Saint Peter empties purgatory
the FDA declares sleeping masks
a fraud
Van Gogh demands his ear back
a new born baby
is sacrfiiced at the Louve
a french Mistress closes her legs
in protest
the mirror mocks my image
twenty-plus years of sleeplessness
camp inside my skull
hot as volcano ash
satan recruits me
god makes no counter offer
a whisper of sleep camps
inside my eyeballs
I surrender with a whimper
drown in a series of Hail Marys
recited by sexy nuns
in see-through attire
For more on A.D Winans and his last post on Van Gogh’s Ear please see: In The Old Days
Sue Beatrice studied at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts before creating her own uniquely fabulous company All Natural Arts. Her wildly imaginative work ranges from tiny intricate sculptures to carved pumpkins and everything in between.
21st-Century Romance
Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
Andrew Marvell To His Coy Mistress
Darling, switch off your tablet for a sec.
I want to touch the swan-curve of your neck.
My love, turn softly from your phone’s embrace.
I want to feel the landscape of your face.
Had we but world and time enough, my dear,
I’d like to kiss the conch shell of your ear.
Had we but world and time enough, dear heart,
I’d like to fondle every body part.
Had you but world and time to look at me,
You’d find a big fan of your corsetry.
Release your fingers from those tiny keys.
I want to sit upon your perfect knees.
Sweet lady, lift your eyes up from the screen.
My thoughts about you verge on the obscene.
Your constant blogging fills me with despair.
I fantasise about your underwear.
Is all that cyber-hugging so fantastic?
I want to test the tug of your elastic.
But now I see you’re otherwise engaged
Texted, tweeted, skyped and pinged and paged
I’ll simply dream about you nude in bed
And message you and email you instead.
Are you available another day?
That’s all for now. (I love you, by the way.)
Robert Wilkinson is a poet who hales from the midlands in the UK. He loves reading, writing, walking, travelling, poetry, gardening, cookery, nature, art, music, and Marmite. He is also interested in languages, philosophy, myth and religion; and Buddhism in particular holds a strong appeal. He can be found blogging about all of those things at The Solitary Walker.
With Bret Michaels and Mike Hammond in Knoxville, TN, November 1, 2014
Lynn Herron is best known as an international concert promoter and from his work in radio. He learned the ropes of the music industry from his father Ledford Herron. He started working as a drum tech for some county music acts in 1988 and moved on to merchandise in 1990. While selling merchandise he expanded to booking shows as well. He recently created the show Who Rocks Sports; Where Music Meets Sports with Lynn Herron, on WNFZ 94.3, starting January 10, 2015, Saturdays 2-3 Eastern time out of Knoxville, TN. After 25 years in the business Lynn continues to help create first rate shows for artists and fans alike. In addition to expanding into radio and television, he is currently promoting Bret Michaels to sold out crowds, in addition to working with Rick Springfield and Rodney Atkins among others.
When did you first develop your love of music? Who were some of your earliest influences?
I’ve loved music forever. My father has toured with many artists so I grew up around music and concerts.
How did you first get your start in radio?
In radio, as a music promoter you have to have radio help your concerts. You’ve got to do interviews pumping up the shows and I decided to kinda dive in. I love talking about sports and today’s issues.
What do you love most about being a radio personality?
The show is new so I’m still working on that. But having music friends in all areas of music I thought it’s the perfect world to mix music and sports.
Why do you think rock music and sports mix so well?
It mixes well because music and sports just walk hand in hand. We will be featuring country music too.
How did Who Rocks Sports come about? Can you tell our readers what to expect from the show?
The show title came from help from the flagship station in Knoxville,TN. The listening audience can expect up to the minute scores and a mixture of comedy and music.
You also have worked as a concert promoter. What is the most challenging thing about that? What does it take to put on a truly great show? Do you think the public underestimates how much hard work it takes to keep the masses entertained?
Wow! We could talk a lot about being a concert promoter. The fans have no idea all the work that goes into it. From the venue, catering to feed the band and crews, Advertising, hotels, the buses, trucks, and planes, it is a lot of hard work making the music happen.
Any moments from over the course of your career that stand out most in your mind?
There are a couple. One was several years ago at Sony Signatures, a merchandising and licensing company being tapped to run the Nashville operations for that division. A couple others we getting the coin to the city in Yakima, Washington and as of late Bret Michaels and I got the boot to the city in Ft. Smith.
What advice would you offer others wishing to pursue a career in the music industry of today?
Advice. You gotta believe you can win to win!
What do you see yourself doing when you finally decide to retire, or is this something you plan on doing until you die?
I wouldn’t mind being a football recruiter for a major college.
Starting December 6 you can catch Lynn Saturdays from 2-3 Eastern on Who Rocks Sports; Where Music Meets Sports with Lynn Herron, at WFNZ 94.3 Knoxtalkradio.
Promo video via Austin Walker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbfVxerQbO4&feature=youtu.be
Metastasis
Light drifts on a wave as it flows through
The point where space and time converge,
A sea from which images are disassembled
And reconstructed
The waves converge with the maelstroms
Spinning in your eyes
And the point of the sea blossoms,
Blossoms—a model assembled
Inside you, a moment reflected and
Filtered by you
Then you reject it: you cast light onto
A wave and watch the current
Drag it away from you
More models assemble and
Disassemble
And the points where space and time
Converge
Shift and transform
They alter you
And you, them
