Ascent Aspirations Magazine Print Anthology Five Spring 2008 Contributors

Becky Alexander is a Cambridge, Ontario poet. She has been published in Pegasus, Country Woman, Tower, People’s Political Letter, Zygote, Canadian Writer’s Journal, The Amethyst Review, and many other journals. She has four poetry publications. Her work has won many awards and has been included in national and international anthologies. In 2000 she founded Craigleigh Press, which has published eight collections to date. Becky has edited books for fellow writers, and served as a literary judge for various groups. She was the 2002 recipient of the Bernice Adams Cultural Awards for the City of Cambridge, and won for best poem in the 2004 One Book, One Community writing contest for the Kitchener Waterloo Region, based on Jane Urquhart’s book, The Stone Carvers.

Richard Arnold lives on a modest acreage near Errington, BC. He teaches English at Malaspina University College in Nanaimo. Besides writing and reading poetry, he likes spending time with his family, hiking, canoeing, and camping. His work has been published in many print and electronic places across North America. He has two collections of poetry to his credit: a chapbook from Leaf Press (2002) and a haiku pamphlet from Island Scholastic (2003).

Janet Barkhouse’s recent publishing credits are for non-fiction, as she has just retired from teaching English: curriculum for the Nova Scotia Department of Education (new English courses English 10 Plus and Advanced English 11), and articles for CRN (Child Research Net), a scholarly website that publishes in Japanese, Chinese and English. Earlier credits include a short story, “The Snare”, which she read for CBC Radio’s Atlantic Airwaves, and poems in magazines such as Atlantic Advocate. In 2007 a group of her poems placed second in the Atlantic Writing Competition sponsored by the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia.

Helen Bar-Lev was born in New York City in 1942. She has lived in Israel for 36 years. She holds a degree in Anthropology from California State University, Northridge, 1972. Since 1976 Helen has devoted herself to art: painting, teaching and writing poetry. From 1989 until 2001 she was a member of the Safad Artists’ Colony in the Upper Galilee where she had her own gallery. In January 2007 she and Johnmichael Simon moved to Metulla, the northernmost town in Israel. Helen is a member of Voices Israel English Poetry Society and The Israel Artists’ and Sculptors’ Association, of the Canadian Federation of Poets and Canadian Poetry Association. She is the global correspondent in Israel for the Poetry Bridge and Editor-in-Chief of the Voices Israel annual anthology.

Doug Beardsley was born and raised in Montreal. He has published seven volumes of poetry and three books on the game of hockey. Recently retired from the University of Victoria, he is currently doing a Masters of Theological Studies and working on a new book of poems entitled A Certain Truth.

April Bulmer has four books and a chapbook. She holds graduate degrees in creative writing, religious studies and theology. She is interested in women’s spirituality. She recently won first prize in the TOPS, “Second Time Around Contest.” April lives in Cambridge, Ontario with her puppy, Lichee.

Linda Lee Crosfield's poetry and fiction has appeared in Room of One’s Own, Horsefly, The New Orphic Review, Ascent Aspirations, WordWorks, and in several chapbooks and anthologies. She lives and writes in Ootischenia, in South East BC.

Caroline H. Davidson has been living and daydreaming story plots for more than half a century. She recently moved from Ontario to Ladysmith, BC to live in the pleasant climate. Her life is full of music, writing and friends.

Tatjana Debeljaèki is a member of the Association of Writers of Serbia UKS and the Haiku Society of Serbia HDS Montenegro - HUSCG & HDPR, Croatia. She has published three collections of poetry: A House Made of Glass, published by ART Uzice, Yours, published by Narodna Knjiga, Belgrade and Vulcano by Haiku Lotos, Valjevo, as well as a CD-book, A House Made of Glass by ART,Uzice. Her most recent book is AH-EH-EEH-OH-OOH! is published by POETA Belgrade.

Linda Diver resides in the Comox Valley and is the present winner of the Pacific Region Arts Council award for short fiction. She is completing the final draft to her first novel but admits that poetry is her passion. When she is not writing she reads avidly and her book reviews have been featured in the Island Word.

Trisia Eddy lives and writes in and around Edmonton, Alberta. Her work has appeared on radio, in print, and online, most recently with Existere, fait accomplit, ditchpoetry.com, and Perspectives Magazine. She is the founding editor and publisher of red nettle press. Her chapbook, what if there’s no weather, was released in 2007.

Peggy Fletcher, a native of Newfoundland, now living in Sarnia, Ontario, is widely published in Canadian and international journals and has six poetry books, a short story collection and a play published. She recently won second prize at the Elora Writers’ Festival.

Joanna Gale is a pen name. In the past, under her other name, she published in an Alberta Chapbook, Tale Spinner, as well as co-authored lyrics on a CD which was nationally distrbuted. As Joanna Gale, she has been published in various newsletters, Poetry Cafe (Oakville, Ontario) and through TOPS (The Ontario Poetry Society), and also in anthologies. Recently she has published her first chapbook, Workshop Sketches, Beret Day Press. Joanna was born in Sudbury, Ontario and currently lives in Toronto.

Katherine L. Gordon lives to write in a secluded river valley in Ontario. She has two full collections, many chapbooks, and is an award-winning poet whose work has been published in many languages. Her latest book Myth Weavers, a collection of Canadian myths and legends, Serengeti Press, was released in April, National Poetry Month, 2007. She is the resident columnist for Ancient Heart Magazine, England. Katherine believes that poetry is the link uniting all cultures.

Greg Gregory works in educational media although his first love is language and the printed word. He was raised in Los Angeles, but now resides in Sacramento where he loves the seasonal changes, especially in the bird-rich marshes and rice fields that still haven’t yet been developed. He has been published in California Quarterly, Rosebud, Windsor Review (Canada), Poetry Depth Quarterly, Amherst Review, Poetry Nottingham (UK), and others.

Andreas Gripp is a London, Ontario poet who works at the University of Western Ontario. He is the author of 8 books of poetry and 7 chapbooks. His website can be found at http://www.andreasgripp.com

Jill Meriel Harrington-Fox’s poetry has been published in more than 30 anthologies and periodicals and has won prizes and honourable mentions. She works for the Region of Waterloo and lives in Cambridge where she has been an active member of the Cambridge Writers Collective for many years. Her first poetry chapbook is Where the Tide Changes (2005) Serengeti Press.

Sterling Haynes is a retired urban and country medical doctor. Mostly he writes humour. This summer a poem called “The Postal Telephone Blues” was published by the New Quarterly. A short story called “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” was published by The Medical Post. The two poems, “Touretting” and “Dementia Praecox” are dark. For fourteen years he looked after people who were mentally challenged, some in A.A. He sometimes writes about these people in his poetry and creative non-fiction. Perhaps the public, politicians and the legal profession will soon realize that addiction, mental aberrations and schizophrenic problems have to be dealt with in an understanding, humanitarian, non-criminal way.

Selections of Cuba Journal (Black Moss, 2003) as well as Cornelia Hoogland’s second and third books of poetry, You Are Home (Black Moss, 2001) and Marrying the Animals (Brick Books, 1995), and most recently Crow (2007), were shortlisted for the national CBC Literary Awards. Founder and artistic director of Poetry London (www.poetrylondon.ca) and 2006 guest editor of Descant’s Cuba Inside/Out, Hoogland also writes plays and fiction. http://publish.edu.uwo.ca).

I.B. Iskov is the Poetry Editor for The Outreach Connection Newspaper, sold by the homeless and the unemployed in Toronto. She is also the Founder of The Ontario Poetry Society, Ontario’s only provincial, grass roots, democratic, poetry friendly organization. Visit www.mirror.org/tops

Karen Luke Jackson is an educator and retreat leader who offers Connecting Role and Soul programs and retreats throughout the American southeast. Through these programs, teachers, nonprofit practitioners, human service providers and community leaders learn ways to integrate outer work and inner lilfe. Karen is on the faculty of Duke University’s Nonprofit Management Program. Being a grandmother and hiking in the mountains of Western North Carolina are two of her greatest joys.

In 1989, Harvey Jenkins moved from the Prairies to the beauty of Vancouver Island which inspired him to start writing haiku. He has published in the Western Producer and Manitoba Myriad. He received an honourable mention in the Word-Fires Literary Contest and an honourable mention for a haiku submitted to the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival in 2007.

Marcelle Kasprowicz was born in Niort, France and lives in Austin, Texas. She received an M.A. from UT at Austin (Foreign Language Education Department) in 1983. She was awarded first prize for her poem “House of Bones”, in the Austin International Poetry Festival Anthology Di-verse-city 2001. Marcelle also won an honorable mention in the Tri-language Poem Contest 2001 from Gival Press. In 2005 she was awarded second prize in the Ascent Aspirations Magazine for her poem “The Seer”. Her poem “Field Hospital” was published in the 2005 Texas Poetry Calendar. Organza Skies, her first book, was published in 2005.

Barbara Lefcourt grew up in New York City. She migrated to Canada with her family in 1963. A former teacher of Literacy and Basic Skills, Barb started writing poetry as she neared retirement. Her poems have appeared in a number of juried anthologies, chapbooks and magazines. She is a member of The Cambridge Writers Collective and The Ontario Poetry Society. In 2005, "The Power of Penmanship" won third prize in the T.O.P.S. Food For Thought Chapbook Anthology Contest and "Treasure" won Honourable Mention in their Simply Good Poetry Contest. Barb's muse quickens, particularly, during summers spent on Manitoulin Island (Lake Huron) and travels in Australia when she periodically visits some of her family there.

Bernice Lever, member and past executive on national writing organizations, has been publishing poems for decades, but she still gets high on words. From 1972-1987, she edited WAVES in Ontario; now she enjoys life on Bowen Island, BC. BLESSINGS, Black Moss Press, 2000. Find more about her on www.colourofwords.com

Paul Liddy has been published in several magazines such as Quill, CV 2, and an Irish magazine, Existere.

Norma West Linder was born in Toronto, spent her childhood on Manitoulin Island, and her teenage years in Muskoka. She is a member of The Writers’ Union of Canada, PEN, The Canadian Authors Association, The Ontario Poetry Society, The Canadian Federation of Poets and WIT(Writers in Transition). Linder is the author of 5 novels, 9 collections of poetry, a memoir of Manitoulin Island, a children’s book and a biography of Pauline McGibbon. For 24 years she was on the faculty of Lambton College in Sarnia, teaching English and Creative Writing. For 7 years she wrote a monthly column for the Sarnia Observer, and she is a regular contributor to “Daytripping in Southern Ontario”. Her stories have been published internationally and broadcast on the CBC. Her poetry has been published in Fiddlehead, White Wall Review, Room of One’s Own, Quills, Toward the Light, Prairie Journal, FreeFall Magazine, R & M Journal, Mobius, and other periodicals. In 2006 she compiled and edited Enchanted Crossroads for The Ontario Poetry Society. She has two daughters and a son.

Irene Livingston has been published in many lit mags, and has received awards such as the Leacock for Poetry. Her Finklehopper Frog books are published by Tricycle Press. Her website is www. irenelivs.com

Ellaraine Lockie writes poetry, nonfiction books and essays. Recently, she has been to Kenya on a poetry fellowship, to Centrum in Port Townsend, WA, for a poetry residency, has received her tenth Pushcart Prize nomination and has won the 2007 Elizabeth Curry Prize from SLAB at the University of Slippery Rock. Forthcoming are a Rooftop Chaplet from Adrienne Lewis’ series and a fifth chapbook, PWJ Publishing.

Eric Akbar Manolson is a composer, musician and poet living in the beautiful Eastern Townships region of Québec. His acclaimed CD of solo piano music, Healing Piano:The Aramaic Prayer - music to energize & restore balance is available at AkbarsMusic.com.

Stella Mazur Preda, a retired elementary teacher, is owner and publisher of Serengeti Press, now based in the Hamilton area. Her poetry has appeared in many Canadian literary journals and anthologies. Her poem “My Mother’s Kitchen” was purchased by Penguin Books, New York and published in an anthology entitled In My Mother’s Kitchen, which was released in May 2006. Stella’s first book of poetry, Butterfly Dreams, was published in 2003 and she is working on getting her second book out. Stella is the past-president of the Tower Poetry Society and a member of the Cambridge Writers Collective. She also serves on the Advisory Committee of the Kairos Literary Society in Hamilton.

Susan McCaslin is a poet and educator, the author of eleven volumes of poetry, including her most recent, Lifting the Stone (Seraphim Editions, 2007). She also edited the anthologies A Matter of Spirit: Recovery of the Sacred in Contemporary Canadian Poetry and Poetry and Spiritual Practice: Selections from Contemporary Canadian Poets, is on the editorial board of Event: the Douglas College Review, and the advisory board of The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion (Harvard Divinity School). Susan lives in Fort Langley, BC. She is a full-time writer, giving poetry workshops and readings.

Michelle McLean currently works as a night auditor at the Howard Johnson hotel in Woodstock, N.B. While she has written poetry her entire life, it has only been in recent months that she began sending some of it out into the world. A collection of her children’s poetry placed second in the 2007 Writers Federation of New Brunswick literary competition, and she received third place in the fifth annual Open Minds Quarterly BrainStorm Poetry Contest (2007). Michelle and her husband live in Lower Brighton, New Brunswick.

Adrienne Mercer is a former journalist and a member of the Nanaimo-based Big Picture Window Writers’ Group. She is the author of a young adult novel, Rebound (Lorimer, 2002) and has been published in Monday Magazine, Lost Magazine, and the poetry anthology Sincerely, Elvis (Hot Biscuit Productions, 2005).

Claudia Meyer is a new writer. She is perfecting her craft at The Writers’ Garret, a literary center in Dallas, Texas and is working on her first chapbook. She also enjoys the visual arts and working in watercolor, pen and ink, printmaking and ceramics. When not reading, writing or painting, she is involved in environmental issues.

Mary Ann Moore is a poet, writer and creativity facilitator in Nanaimo, B.C. A single word, a book title or lunch with a fellow poet can bring on a poem.

Don Mulcahy: Born, Clydach (Swansea), Wales. Canadian citizen since 1969. A late (literary) developer, having taken up writing following an academic career in an applied science field. Previously published in technical journals, The Edmonton Journal, the CHS Newsletter (Wales), The Prairie Journal, Matrix, Coffee House Poetry (U.K.), iota (U.K.), Verse Afire, fait accomplit, The Antigonish Review, blood ink, Tower Poetry, the anthology Butterfly Thunder and in countless letters to editors. His immigration anthology, Coming Here; Being Here, in which 59 diverse authors write on themes involving immigration and Canada, is under consideration by two publishers at present. He is founder of the new Strathroy Writers Group. He also paints, and had a show in the Strathroy Public Art Gallery in August, 2007.

Annebelle Murray lives, works and writes in Uxbridge, Ontario. She is a graduate of Queen’s University. Her poetry has received recognition and awards in Canada and overseas. A number of her poems were performed in the play Musings on Motherhood (Ontario/2006).

Madeleine Nattrass has been a full-time mother, a full-time student, a full-time teacher and is now a full-time poet. Her work has been published in Tower Poetry, Other Voices, Quills and on the internet. Her poetry has been short listed and honourably mentioned in various competitions.

Martina Reisz Newberry is the author of a collection of poems Running Like a Woman with her Hair on Fire, published by Red Hen Press 2005. She is also the winner of i.e. magazine’s Editor’s Choice Poetry Chapbook Prize for 1998: An Apparent Approachable Light. She is the author of Lima Beans and City Chicken: Memories of the Open Hearth — a memoir of her late father—published by E.P. Dutton and Co. in 1989. She is also the author of The Star Jasmine Club - an Adult fable, a novel purchased by E.P. Dutton & Co. She has written four novels and several books of poetry and has been widely published in literary magazines such as: 5 AM, Amelia, Atom Mind, Bellingham Review, Black Buzzard Review, Cape Rock, Caprice, Catalyst, Connecticut Poetry Review, Context South, Descant, Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Hob Nob, i.e.,Innisfree, International Poetry Review, Iowa Woman, The Ledge, My Legacy, New Laurel Review, Passages North, Piedmont Literary Review, Snake Nation Review, Sonoma Mandala, Sonora Review, Rectangle, Southern Review of Poetry, Touchstone, Visions International, Willow Review ,Women’s Work, Yet Another Small Magazine, and many others. Martina lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband Brian and their benevolent dictator and cat, Gato.

Debbie Okun Hill Since the fall 2004, Debbie Okun Hill has had two short stories and over 60 poems published in over 25 different Canadian and US publications including Quills, MOBIUS, North American Maple, Rhyme and Reason: Modern Formal Poetry, Reportage (Cranberry Tree Press), and all print editions of Ascent Aspirations Magazine. Her poems have won awards from The Ontario Poetry Society, the Canadian Poetry Association, the 2006 Toward the Light Poetry Contest, and most recently the 2007 WCDR Dan Sullivan Memorial Poetry Contest. Read her most current work in the chapbook Executive Sweet: A Collection of Poetry by TOPS Executives.

Diane Attwell Palfrey Diane Attwell Palfrey was born in Toronto and has lived in Cambridge for the past sixteen years. She is a poet and prose writer. Diane is a member of the Cambridge Writers Collective and has poetry published by the Waterloo-Wellington CAA, Serengeti Press, Craigleigh Press, Hammered Out, The Ontario Poetry Society and Ascent Aspirations.

Amy Postma is currently a 3rd year English student at Mcmaster University. She has been featured in the University’s literary paper twice, once as a second place winner in their poetry contest. She lives in Burlington, Ontario and currently works part time to support her studies. She hopes to enter the publishing field or write professionally when she graduates.

Born and educated in Ireland, Nora Ryan immigrated to Canada with her husband and two small children in 1981. She spent sixteen years in rural Manitoba working as an educator and health promotion specialist. Her special interest area is in mentoring and family life. Two years living on a small island in the Caribbean provided the inspiration for Ryan’s first two works. Cracked Conch, a collection of short stories and poems delivers a series of vignettes into the lives of a colorful cast of misfits and mischief-makers all shaped by that exquisite tapestry of life woven on sun-drenched islands. Across the Great Divide, a novel set in the same landscape examines the divide caused by race and socio-economic circumstances and the ability of the human spirit to bridge the divide. Ryan’s second novel, Marie’s Story, is told in the first person, through the eyes of a child. This story puts a human face on AIDS and brings the reader into the lives of children, illuminating their struggles and triumphs in a haphazard and uncertain world. Ryan’s ongoing research and travels in Haiti and her love and concern for the plight of children in this the western hemisphere’s poorest country is the motivating influence behind her latest work. Nora Ryan is a pen name. The author has chosen this name to honor her paternal grandmother who was born in an age when women did not have a voice.

Alan Scott is a native and continuing resident of California. The serpentine course of his life has wound from honor student to hippie dropout to office worker to science student to political activist, and most recently taken the form of unemployed non-profit administrator. He has been a closeted writer all the while, and Ascent Aspirations is the first to publish his work.

Florentia Scott spent many years of her life masquerading as a public relations specialist while secretly pursuing her passion for poetry and fiction. She now lives in Port Alberni, BC where she writes for the Westcoaster.ca news web site and continues to indulge her secret passion, most frequently with the Rainwood Writers Group. Her poetry and fiction has appeared in various local publications, with one poem being reproduced on the Canada.com website. In July 2007, she performed at The Spoken Word Festival at Forest Fest.

Johnmichael Simon was born in England in 1938 and raised in South Africa from the age of ten. He has been living in Israel almost continuously since 1955. He currently lives in the village of Metulla, Israel on the border of Lebanon, with fellow poet and artist Helen Bar-Lev, their cats and a dog. John writes poetry every day; some of it wins prizes and honorable mentions in anthologies in Israel and abroad. He is a member of the board of ‘Voices’ the Israeli English speaking poetry group and has published several illustrated books of poetry including Silly Wishes, a book of children’s verse and Cyclamens and Swords and Other Poems About the Land of Israel (Ibbetson Press, Boston, Mass., USA) in collaboration with Helen. John has been guest poet at readings in England, the US and Canada and contributes to numerous Internet publications and print Anthologies. He is member of the Voices Israel Anthology editorial board and also a member of the Canadian Poetry Association and the Canadian Federation of Poets.

K.V. Skenehas appeared in numerous Canadian, U.K., U.S., Irish and Australian publications. Two of her chapbooks, Only a Dragon (2002) andA Calendar of Rain (2004), won the Shaunt Basmajian Chapbook Award . A further chapbook Edith (a series of poems on Nurse Edith Cavell) was recently published by Flarestack Publishing (UK). A long-term expat Canadian, K.V. Skene grew up in Lachine Quebec and has lived in various parts of Canada as well as England and Ireland. She is presently ensconced in Oxford.

Nellie P. Strowbridge is a free lance writer and former newspaper and magazine columnist. She is the author of two collections of poetry: Shadows of the Heart and Dancing on Ochre Sands (short-listed for the E. J. Pratt Award 2005). She is also the author of a story collection Widdershins, a novel Far from Home (short-listed for Newfoundland’s Historic Award 2006), tri-author of a story and essay collection Doors Held Ajar and a story, essay and poetry collection The Gift of Christmas (2006).

Lynn Tait lives in Sarnia, Ontario. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Lichen, Windsor Review, Quills, Contemporary Verse 2, Carousel, No Love Lost III, and Ascent Aspirations Magazine Anthology Two, Windfire. She has published a chapbook titled Breaking Away, 2002.

Sheldon Thomas was born in Winnipeg and has been writing for seven years. His work has appeared in the Collective Consciousness and Open Minds Quarterly as well on the Open Minds Website.

Wendy Visser lives in Cambridge, Ontario. She has been published recently in Ascent Aspirations Anthology Three, AguaTerra,2007, Hammered Out # 11, Peter Street Publications, Hamilton, On. Street # 5, Serengeti Press, 2007, Myth Weavers: Canadian Myths and Legends, Serengeti Press, 2007, Tower Poetry, Vol 56, No.1, Tower Poetry Society Press, Summer 2007, and in Cloud Shine, launched in 2007 by Craigleigh Press. Wendy’s haiku are currently featured on the dailyhaiku website where she is one of six contributors for the spring/summer sessio, 2007. Her book, Riding A Wooden Horse, Craigleigh Press recently won the WRAC (Waterloo Regional Arts Council) best book award.

S. J. White is a retired photographer. He writes non-fiction, short stories and poetry. He has published three books and is published here and there in the North American literary press. He lives with his wife in Brantford, Ontario, and is a member of the Cambridge Writers’ Collective and the Hamilton Poetry Centre.

Ed Woods is a Hamilton area writer currently involved in the entertainment business. Inspiration for writing evolved from life experiences through employment, travel, and daily challenges originally related in storytelling. Near future plans include publishing an anthology.