Ascent Aspirations Magazine Print Anthology Seven Spring 2009

Contributors

Becky Alexander is a Cambridge, Ontario poet. Her poetry and prose have been published in over 100 anthologies nationally and internationally, and in such periodicals as Canadian Author, Canadian Writer’s Journal, Guideposts, Zygote, The Amethyst Review, Hammered Out, and in all print issues to date of Ascent Aspirations. She is a member of Tower Poetry, Hamilton, the Kentucky State Poetry Society and Green River Writers of Kentucky. Craigleiigh Press is her publishing company. She has published five poetry collections, and was the 2006 recipient of the Waterloo Regional Arts Council Award for Best Poetry and the 2002 recipient of the Bernice Adams Cultural Awards for the City of Cambridge.

Richard Arnold lives in Errington on Vancouver Island. He enjoys being close to nature. He commutes to work at Vancouver Island University by bicycle as often as possible. This past summer he toured Texada Island for four days and biked to the top of Mount Shepherd, the highest point in the Gulf & San Juan Islands.

Beebe Barksdale-Bruner has an MFA in poetry from Queens University and a book of poetry from Press 53, published April 2007, It Comes To Me Loosely Woven. She contributed the design and typeface of the cover and is now combining digital art with short form poems called fibonacci in a second book. She has a background in fine arts, a BFA in painting from UNC-Greensboro and work and awards in ceramics. She lives in Charlotte, NC with husband and four irresponsible cats.

Julie Briese now resides in Qualicum Beach having moved from Revelstoke in June, 2008. Several years ago, inspired by Julia Cameron’s, The Artist Way, she began making time to write in the early mornings. She has always enjoyed writing journals, poems and songs which in a sense offer her a glimpse of who she is and allows her to reflect upon her connection within the universe. On occassion she has submitted entries to CBC literary contests. More recently she has been experimenting with Tanka and Haiku.

Howard Brown Howard Brown is a poet and visual artist who lives with his wife, Alice, in Falkland, BC. A studio artist at Gallery Vertigo, an artist run gallery in Vernon, BC, and member of the Shuswap Association of Writers, Howard has published two poetry collections and a chapbook and has been published in several magazines and anthologies including Ascent Aspirations , Agua Terra (2007) and Rocksalt: An Anthology of BC Poetry (2008).

Rebecca del Rio Rebecca del Rio lives and writes in Catalunya, Spain and Sonoma County, California. Her work has appeared in print and online publications in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Algeria including Press62’s The Loop #5, Ascent Aspirations Anthology Three/ AguaTerra, The Crazy Child Scribbler/ War and Poetry and Arabesques Review/Women in Literature.

Timothy Duncan is an elementary teacher living in Kingston, Ontario with his wife, son and his new daughter, Bronwyn. Poetry has become a way for him to openly express his observations about the human experience. His poetry has appeared in Down In the Dirt and Open Minds Quarterly.

Maureen Egan is a BC-based technical writer turned freelance editor who has recently rediscovered the poetic side of her right brain. She is slowly learning that poetry need not be grammatically correct.

Sile Englert is a writer, poet and artist from Southern Ontario. She is a mother of three and holds a certificate in ‘Writing For Publication’ from Mohawk College. Her work has been published in Canada and internationally in several literary journals, including: The Beltane Papers (US), Room Magazine, Misunderstandings Magazine, Crannog (Ireland), and The Canadian Authors’ Association (Niagara Branch) Saving Bannister Anthology.

Alvin G. Ens, a retired English teacher from Abbotsford, BC, writes short fiction, poetry, family history, professional articles and more. His pieces have appeared in religious and secular magazines and web pages. He has written five books. An award winning writer, he has won a Word Guild Canada (Guelph) award for his book, I Am the Poem (2006), the Clem Battye (Penticton) fiction award (2007), the West End Writers (Vancouver) poetry award (2007), the Utmost Christian Writers (Edmonton) Canadian Landscape award (2008) and the Clem Battye (Penticton) poetry award (2008).

Sharon Espeseth is a retired teacher and freelance writer. Her writing has been published in The Edmonton Journal, Western Producer, Grainews, Western Catholic Reporter, ATA News (teacher’s magazine), Devozine, Fellowscript, Celebrate Life, and Chicken Soup for the Canadian Soul.

Michael Estabrook has a new mission in his life: His apprenticeship as a poet over the past 20 years has prepared him for his latest project – The Patti Poems, poems (and some prose) about his wife. This project will be his magnum opus, what he will spend the rest of his life on. It is all he cares about, all that is important to him. It (and she) has become a bit of an obsession. And, oh woe is him, it definitely has a mind of its own, pulling him all over the place, so far becoming a collection of 21 books. But well, so often we do these things simply because we must. Patti is his climb up Mount Everest. Michael must try his best to capture the pure, ethereal beauty of this most incredible woman, not only the most beautiful woman he has ever known, but the most beautiful person he has ever known. He is not certain, quite honestly, if he is up to the task, that he has the talent and poetic apparatus to be successful, but well, what choice does he have really? Where is Dante when he needs him? He has sent Michael off through Purgatory and into Paradise all by himself.

Peggy Fletcher, Sarnia, Ontario, has written poetry for many years, and her work has appeared in literary journals such as Mobius, Room of One’s Own, Antigonish Review and others, as well as in book form. She is married with five grown daughters, and she also paints and dabbles in photography.

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.

Keith Garebian is an award-winning poet who recently won a Works In Progress Grant from the Ontario Arts Council to complete his fourth book of poetry entitled Children of Ararat. He has been long listed for the Re-Lit Award (Frida: Paint Me As A Volcano) and the Lambda Award (Blue: The Derek Jarman Poems) and is the only two-time winner of the Mississauga Arts Award for Writing of Mississauga, Ontario.

Kim Goldberg's poems have appeared in Geist, Prairie Fire, Tesseracts, Event, Prism and many other magazines and anthologies around the world. She is the author of five books. Her latest, Ride Backwards on Dragon (Leaf Press, 2007), was short-listed for Canada’s Lampert Memorial Award for poetry. Her forthcoming collection Red Zone, about homelessness and drug addiction in Nanaimo, will be released Fall 2009 from Pig Squash Press.

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. Her newest book, Translating Shadows, was released by Craigleigh Press in May, 2008.

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

J. P. Gritton’s fiction has appeared in such journals as Thieves’ Jargon, NOÖ Journal, and Juked. His poetry has appeared in Barnwood Magazine andParadigm, where his work was recently named among that journal’s best of 2008.

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 Quurterly. A short story called “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary” was published by The Medical Post.

Julia Herzog is a beginning writer who focuses on short fiction. She sees writing as her creative playground. In the summer, she spends her time planting trees in British Columbia or Alberta, and in the winter, she explores the world or hibernates in Montreal.

Keith Inman’s work has appeared in: Event, CV2, New Quarterly, Quills, and www.robmclennan.blogspot.com/. An associate member of the League of Poets, and former poetry editor for synapsemagazine.ca, Keith helps run a ‘TeenWrite’ seminar, provincial short story and poetry contests, and was an adjudicator for Cranberry Tree Press’s 08 Poetry Contest. His manuscript, A Stone with Sails is forthcoming from Sigilate Press. Keith lives in Thorold, Ont.

Tyler Keevil is a freelance writer from Vancouver, Canada. He is currently living in the U.K., where he has been fortunate enough to receive several awards for his short fiction - most notably a Writer of the Year Award from Writers Inc. of London. His work has appeared in a variety of magazines and anthologies, including On Spec, New Welsh Review, Planet, Black Static, Dreamcatcher, Transmission, and Front & Centre. His first novel is due to be published in 2010.

Carol L. MacKay lives on Vancouver Island. Recently her poems and essays have shown up on CBC Radio and in Prairie Journal and Crannog (Ireland). Her work has also appeared in White Ink: An Anthology about Mothers and Mothering (Demeter Press, Toronto) and in Writing the Land: Alberta Through Its Poets (Blue Skies Press, Grande Prairie, AB). She also writes for children’s magazines.

Milton Mannix has been writing for five decades. Recently, he has written three novels, two vampire and one fantasy creation as well as three plays. He has tried to not write but he can’t help himself. Thoughts are endless and doodles invariably turn into composition. He has traveled most of the USA, Mexico and Canada on a motorcycle which has fueled much of his written expression. People and situations are his favorite themes and poetry usually arises out of the most deeply felt moments. His artistic goal is to reach people in a way that confirms we are part of the universal whole.

Roneen Marcoux grew up in Nanaimo, and at 21 she left the island to move to the big city. While living in Vancouver she raised a son, earned a graduate degree at UBC, trained as an actor, and taught English, Creative Writing and Geography at community colleges in the Lower Mainland. She also wrote and produced two plays, “Que Sera,” and “No Regrets,” both of which garnered encouraging reviews from Vancouver theatre critics. An alumnus of The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University, she is currently working on a collection of short stories recounting her most recent two year adventure in Cambodia. Now back on the island she is working on another play and plugging away at her first a novel.

Kate Marshall Flaherty's poetry has won several awards, including Word Magazine, THIS Magazine, Shaunt Basmajian Award for 2006 and was shortlisted for Descant’s Winston Collins Best Canadian Poem 2006 and Nimrod’s Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry. In Toronto she teaches yoga, meditation and leads teen retreats and workshops for Children’s Peace Theatre.

Rosemary McCallum is a retired high school Mathematics teacher. She holds a glider pilot’s license. Rosemary and her husband brought up three daughters on the Niagara Escarpment in Ontario. The family sails, skis cross country and soars, anything without a motor.

Tara McDaniel works in a rare books archive specializing in Western Americana. It is here among the dusty books that she writes her fiction and poetry. Her work has appeared in Bellowing Ark, Ascent Aspirations, and Right Hand Pointing. She recently won 3rd place in Marginalia’s 2008 poetry contest.

Trish McFalls grew up in Southwestern Ontario, and currently lives in Mississauga. She has had work published in Ascent Aspirations and Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine. Professionally, she works in hospice care, and has a background as a funeral director and reporter.

Gary E. Miller: Long retired from teaching, Gary E. Miller lives in the country near Richmond, Ontario, where he reads, cuts wood and occasionally writes stories and poems.

Jude Neale lives on a small island outside of Vancouver. She is a gifted educator, a classically trained mezzo-soprano, and a poet. She is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers, where, after working with Elisabeth Harvor for a year, she learned the power and eloquence of brevity. She has published one book of poems, The Perfect Word Collapses. Recently, she was published in Ascent Aspirations Fall 2008 Anthology, Erotica Edition.

Steve Marshall Newton: After studying literature with C. D. B. Bryant and poetry with Jon Anderson at the University of Iowa, and creative writing with novelist Philip Roth, at the University of Iowa Creative Writers’ Workshop, Steven Marshall Newton studied creative writing and English literature in the undergraduate program at the University of New Mexico, and poetry with Gene Frumkin in the graduate program. He later became a professional songwriter, part-time artist and photographer, poet, novelist, and short story writer, His short story “Nothing But A Kis” won first place in the Santa Fe Reporter annual short story contest and was later published in the Amarillo Bay Literary Magazine, “Somewhere in LA” received honorable mention in the ALIBI Magazine Short Story Contest, and his short story “Dust Devil” won the First Place Award in Ascent Aspirations annual flash fiction contest. He has also had short stories published in the Amarillo Bay Literary Magazine, Evergreen Review, Juked, Gator Springs Gazette, Hot Metal Press, Ascent Aspirations, and BLINK.

Debbie Okun Hill is an executive member of The Ontario Poetry Society (TOPS) and a former public relations specialist with Fanshawe College, Lakehead University, and The Winnipeg Art Gallery. Over 115 of her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in over 50 different publications in Canada and the US including Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine and all former print editions of Ascent Aspirations Magazine. Her first chapbook Swaddled in Comet Dust (Beret Days Press, 2008) is a compilation of her award-winning work.

Katie O’Sullivan is a writer living in Houston, Texas where she moved after she had spent 15 years living in the Middle East. Her poems, short stories and essays have been published in journals and on-line magazines. and two of her poems will shortly make an appearance in a Damascus based on-line magazineT.

Kamal Parmar is an emerging writer, who has been passionately involved in writing for the last ten years. Having done her Masters in English , she worked as a freelance journalist for weekly newspapers and journals. Her genre is poetry and she has a number of poems published in several journals and anthologies in Canada. Her poems are simple though poised and evocative enough to set the reader thinking. To her poetry is a reflection of the ‘spiritual realms’ of Nature and a manifestation of God. She has had a few Honorable Mentions in Haiku poetry.

Gerard Sarnat is a physician, past CEO and Stanford professor, and virginal poet at the tender age of sixty-two. During the first half of 2008, he was accepted, published or forthcoming in sixtysome journals and anthologies worldwide; in the second half, Gerry was listed, commended or won twentyish poetry competitions and prizes in and outside the US. California Institute of Arts and Letters’ Pessoa Press will publish his first book, The Jonestown Homeless Chronicles, in 2009.

K.V. Skene's publications include Only a Dragon (2002) and A Calendar of Rain (2004), winners of the Shaunt Basmajian Award, Edith (poems on Nurse Edith Cavell) published by Flarestack (UK) and Love in the (Irrational) Imperfect, launched by Hidden Brook Press, May 2006. A Canadian, she currently lives in Oxford, England.

Lynn Tait is an award winning poet/photographer living in Sarnia Ontario. Her poetry has appeared in Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine, 5 Ascent Aspirations anthologies, Windsor Review, Cahoots, Contemporary Verse 2, and Inscribed and in over 50 Canadian and American anthologies. Her photography can be seen in Inscribed, Towards the Light, Sounding the Seconds, The Ultimate Cat Lover and The Ultimate Gardener .

Mildred Tremblay's latest book of poems is The Thing About Dying, published by Oolichan Books. Oolichan has also published a book of her short fiction as well as other poetry books. She has been widely published in literary magazines in Canada and the U.S.A. She has won many awards for her writing, including the Arc National Poetry Prize, the League of Canadian Poets prize, and the Leacock Award for Humour.

Beatrice van de Vis was born in Buenos Aires, of Dutch, Spanish and Berber descent, and now lives in London – UK, with her husband. As well as doing live readings, her poetry has appeared online and in print, in Blithe Spirit – Journal of the British Haiku Society, and in the Erotica issue 2008 of Ascent Aspirations Magazine – Canada; she is now working on a Haiku and Tanka Collection.

Wendy Visser: A Cambridge, Ontario writer, Wendy Visser is past president of the Cambridge Writers Collective and is a member of The Valley Poets, Tower Poetry Society, and T.O.P.S. Her work has appeared in the last four print editions of Ascent Aspirations and she is a current contributor on the ‘ daily haiku’ website.

Vernon Waring: The poetry of Vernon Waring has been published in Anthology, Stylus, Alabama School of Fine Arts Quarterly, Midwestern University Quarterly and The Writer. On-line credits include the Prairie Home Companion, Starving Arts Literary Magazine and poetic inhalation web sites. His short fiction and poetry have also appeared in Ascent Aspirations online literary journal. He resides in Philadelphia.

Cristina Watson is a teacher and aspiring poet who lives a mere sixteen blocks from the Pacific Ocean. She loves to take walks down by the water and strolls in the urban forest. She has enjoyed seeing a few of her poems in local publications. She is grateful to her poetry group for their continued support and inspiration.

S. J. White S.J. White is a retired photographer. He has written non-fiction all his life and more recently, poetry and short stories. He is published in anthologies and literary magazines. He lives in Brantford, Ontario, with his wife.

Yee Ling Wu is a creative writing major at UBC. Currently, she`is taking Fiction with Steven Galloway and Poetry with Rhea Tregebov. She lives with her husband, son and guinea pig in the Lower Mainland of BC.