First Literary Review-East

 

 

FEBRUARY 2011

Editor's Note:  This eclectic issue contains a Baker's Dozen:  poems about love (both sentimental and cynical), poems about lust, a cameo appearance by Abe Lincoln (who was reputedly a poetry lover), and of course, the brutal winter weather.  We hope these poems warm the cockles of your heart!. (And if anyone knows what "cockles" really are, please write in and let me know!)  We hope you enjoy this issue - - and if you do, please tell us!!

**********************************************************************

Haiku

Pitch black outside
They can start without me
Resetting the alarm

                                       -Linda Rothstein

Linda Rothstein likes to try her hand at various types of poems - funny, serious and sad.  She has been published in The Iconoclast, Blue Unicorn, Mobius, West View, and by The Haiku Society of America.  She also has a chapbook of children's poems about animals.  She lives in Manhattan with her accountant, poker-playing husband.

 

**********************************************************************

Tears

The tears we cry water seeds of Love
that have planted in our Hearts
and flowers of Grace bloom
and feed our Soul

                                           -Peter Aaron Myhre

Peter Aaron Myhre currently lives in New York City.  Born in 1967 in Seoul, South Korea, at a month old he was orphaned and adopted by an American couple from Minnesota.  Peter has been writing and performing poetry across the USA since about 1998 Peter published a chapbook in 2003 and released it in New Orleans, Louisiana.  Peter performs as "Crow".

 

 

**********************************************************************

Love Poem

How did you slip so effortlessly
into my shut canyon of a blue heart?
How did you get past Cerberus,
that old bulldog who guarded the pretty gate?
Well, now that you're here, you're here.
Bundle up!
Bring flowers!
Stay!

                                -Cindy Hochman

(previously published in Erato and Freefall)

(Well hallelujah, the cranky editors at FLRev finally accepted my work! As for my bio, you can click on Meet the Editor at the top of this page!)

**********************************************************************

Class

     Pamphlet
     Pin
Pointless
     Puddle
     Quatrain

mmm . . .

lovebirds x x x

                                  -Mark Sonnenfeld

Mark Sonnenfeld is an experimental writer, a collaborator, and a publisher. He is active in the international small press scene, having to his credit numerous chapbooks, broadsides, give-out sheets, and spoken-word sound collages on cassette and on compact disc. He is greatly inspired by The Beats and current innovative artforms. His work has appeared in a plethora of underground magazines, and in 2006 he was featured in an anthology of avant-garde American poets titled INSIDE THE OUTSIDE. His work is archived at more than a dozen U.S. university libraries, as well as sites in Europe and South America. In a recent article, Eric Greinke of Presa Press, said, "Sonnenfeld embodies the true spirit of the small press movement".

**********************************************************************

Pink Velvet Robe

The bride donned her pink velvet
robe, and admired her new zircon
band. Her man presented her with
his prenuptial agreement, granting her
20% of his future royalties from publication
of his poems and autobiography. They
then toasted each other with a drink from
a bottle of Pepsi, before each retired to
their sleeping bag. Yes Virginia, marriage
is OK.

                                                                -Jerome Brooke

Jerome Brooke was born in 1949. He now lives on the coast of Siam - Paradise. He has written Mirage : Dance of the Sun - and many other works - available from Amazon Books.

**********************************************************************

Enduring Strength

Yesterday I brushed away a cobweb
while cleaning a hard-to-reach corner;
a tinge of remorse passed in my thoughts
as the thin, geometric threads dissolved.
In this shiny, symmetrical edifice
the spider snares creatures greater than she;
the web she weaves has a tensile strength
far exceeding its flimsy appearance.
I've seen this same kind of strength in love,
which, indeed, can be abused and destroyed;
but behold its strong, resilient structure
and marvel at its power to endure.

                                                              -Ted Badger

Ted O. Badger: native Texan, graduate of Baylor University, veteran of World War II, author of five books of poetry, published in manyjournals over years. Editor of the Lucidity Poetry Journal since 1985, founder of the annual Lucidity Ozark Poetry Retreat in 2001. Life member of both the Poetry Society of Texas & Missouri State Poetry
Society.

**********************************************************************

Passing Through the Steppe

It is a vast steppe and
the night is frozen, icing
down my window silently.

It is snowing on the past,
no breaks.

Neither the Mediterranean
nor the sky, small as a palm
in my memory, remain.

Junction after junction,
cross-roads, all roads
vanish as I pass
through the steppe.

                                       -Ali F. Bilir

(Translated by M. Ali Sulutas
Edited in English by Susan Bright)

Ali F. Bilir is a Turkish poet and author. He attended the School of Medicine for a year, but graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Istanbul, in 1969. His poems, short stories and articles on various subjects have been published in local, regional, national, and international periodicals, magazines, and journals. His work has won many awards. Bilir's poetry book "Migration Ballads" is being granted by the Turkish government as one of the significant examples of Turkish written heritage. Migration Ballads is published by Plain View Press, U.S.A, in 2008, within the scope of TEDA project.

 

 

**********************************************************************

My Old Soul

My old soul has sung before.
It has lain many hands in mine;
I reach for yours, and link it to he
who needs. He stands in Bergen-
Belsen in the rain, waiting his turn
to expire. He takes hands he cannot
save and sighs and breathes
the gas. He is a petal;
I see inside his heart. I love you as
he and they who follow down
the stairs. My hand takes yours and hers
and his. Be careful of their souls, they
are little suns. They rise in me and flame
the sanctuary where we stand, betrothed.

                                                              -Charles Bane, Jr.

Charles Bane, Jr. is a globally published poet. His work has appeared online and in print, including: museumviews.com., Clutching At Straws,The Criterion: An International Journal in English, The Indian Diary, Durable Goods, Word Pond and in "I Was Indian: An Anthology of Native Literature" (Foothills Publishing) He was the only non Native-American included in the volume. His work is the subject of critical review, most recently in " Charles Bane, Jr., Introduction to a Poet", in the web/print journal , The Calliope Nerve, and in "When Words Glow And Glide: The Poetry of Charles Bane, Jr." by web journalist Tim Buck. His first Chapbook is being prepared for publication.

 

**********************************************************************

Often Do I Slip...

Often do I slip, when the present fails,
into the past, which seems so rich of hue
and there, have wandered down old rabbit trails
where hills are always green and skies are blue.
And we -- forever young and pure and true -
ride friendship, ever faithful, as it sails
along the rocky shore of life and through
the end of day as cloud-rimmed shadow pales
upon horizons far. Here, the future's peak,
from afar, seemed to glint with promised light,
to offer every prize that I might seek,
to shine with riches that were rainbow bright.
But it is love's sly ways on which I slip -
and only memories, etched upon your lips.

                                                                       -Leigh Harrison

Leigh Harrison is a writer, poet, singer/songwriter, and teacher of poetry and writing. Her CD's (Eclectic Chanteuse and Oh, Wow!) were released by SongCrew Music. Her books include Tour de Farce (Poet Tree Press) and Our Harps Upon the Willows (Cross-Cultural Literary Editions). Her book reviews have appeared in American Book Review and On The Bus; her poetry has appeared in numerous publications, in the US and internationally. She is the creator of the 20th century poetic form, the "pentina," and has taught writing at several schools, colleges, and universities. www.leighharrison.com.

Editor's Note:  Leigh Harrison is also my business partner at Harrison/Hochman "100 Proof", and we stand ready, able, and willing to proofread and edit your manuscripts.  (Now how's that for a cheap plug?)

**********************************************************************

The Mad Girl Goes Easy on Wine When Ice Glazes the Ragged Branches

And even pewter
bark glows. His words
transform the pale
living room. Air
between them blazes.
She feels where
she stood slide away,
feels like a car sucked
over glass rails above
a highway when he
touches her between
her thighs. What
had been water
frozen in a pipe
cracks, gushes so
neither can stand
where they thought
they could.

                                      -Lyn Lifshin

Among Lyn Lifshin's recent books: THE LICORICE DAUGHTER: MY YEAR WITH RUFFIAN, Texas Review Press and from Black Sparrow at Godine: ANOTHER WOMAN WHO LOOKS LIKE ME, PERSEPHONE, BARBARO, BALLROOM. Her Web site is http://www.lynlifshin.com/.

**********************************************************************

Elizabeth Playground

the subway is like the end
of a rollercoaster we get off
hear the sounds of a city
crying children vendors
puzzle  hustle around the square
become its crib and Lincoln its
patriarch the stark trees
its pacifier canopy wires
any heat the squirrel the drifter
the whirl wind at the end
an enclosed compartment attached
fenced off behind privilege
and Broadway children in
designer strollers moms arms
as holder burberry teddy bear
fill the air lock tight light a
ziploc the park is closed
at night

                                                -Robert Gibbons

Robert Gibbons is a writer living in New York City. He has published in Uphook, Stained Sheets, and Nomad's Choir.

**********************************************************************

Valentine's Day Haiku

Valentine's Day
     no roses
          on her desk

Valentine's Day
     not a holy day
          of obligation

Valentine's Day
     after the wedding
          Divorce 101

Valentine's Day
     finding comfort
          in cupcakes

Valentine's Day
     Cupid can't shoot straight
          no wonder I'm still single

                                              -Patricia Carragon

Patricia Carragon is a New York City writer and poet. Her publications include Poetz.com, Rogue Scholars, Poets Wear Prada, Best Poem, BigCityLit, CLWN WR, Chantarelle's Notebook, Clockwise Cat, Ditch Poetry, MÖBIUS, The Poetry Magazine, The Toronto Quarterly, Marymark Press, Maintenant, Mad Hatters' Review and more. She is the author of Journey to the Center of My Mind (Rogue Scholars Press). She is a member of Brevitas, a group dedicated to short poems. She hosts and curates the Brooklyn-based Brownstone Poets and is the editor of the annual anthology. Her new book is Urban Haiku and More (Fierce Grace Press, 2010). For more information, please check out her Web sites at http://brownstonepoets.blogspot.com and at http://patriciacarragon8.wordpress.com/.

**********************************************************************

 

Mother Earth Is Not Dying No No

she is not dead she is only pretending
to be dead the empty soup cans of her
eyes are really lilacs they are getting
ready to blossom

the big wind beating against her ribcage
is no murderer's heart no assembly line
for automobiles or picklejars her empty
gaping mouth no

factory gate swinging empty as dawn no!
the dying furnaces of her breasts are not
withering in the cold at all no no they are
the promise of spring

                                                    -George Wallace

George Wallace is author of nineteen chapbooks of poetry and host of poetry events in New York City and Long Island. He teaches at Pace University and is writer in residence at the Walt Whitman Birthplace. He served as the first Poet Laureate of Suffolk County, and is the editor of several online and print journals, including PoetryBay , the Long Island Quarterly, and Walt's Corner in the Long Islander.