YGDRASIL: A Journal of the Poetic Arts

February 2004

Editor: Klaus J. Gerken
Production Editor: Pedro Sena
European Editor: Moshe Benarroch
Contributing Editors: Martin Zurla; Rita Stilli; Michael Collings; Jack R. Wesdorp

ISSN 1480-6401


TABLE OF CONTENTS


   INTRODUCTION
   
      Preface: Word Sonnets...Seymour Mayne
   
   CONTENTS
    
      Word Sonnets
   
      by
   
      Seymour Mayne
   
      BELOW ZERO
      RICOCHET
      TOBOGGAN
      JESTERS
      ARMISTICE
      CALENDAR
      GROUND
      JUNE HEAT
      NEW CEMETERY
      HELLBENT
      FOSSIL FUEL
      NORTHWARD BOUND
      SALISBURY CRESCENT WOOD
      SLEEP
      GHOST
      LATTE
      EARFUL
      YIDDISH
      ABSENCE
      GARLIC
      MOTHER LODE
      CAT
      SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA
      CONNECTIONS
      GOLF
      ISTHMUS
      WHITE BIRCHES
      OMENS
      GUEST
   
   POST SCRIPTUM
   
      Bio note: Seymour Mayne
   

INTRODUCTION


   Word Sonnets
   
   Seymour Mayne
   
   Preface
   
   The word sonnet is a relatively new variation of the traditional
   form.   In essence, it is a fourteen line poem, with one word
   set for each line.  Concise and usually visual in effect,
   this "miniature" version can contain one or more sentences,
   as the articulation requires.  
   
   Each of the word sonnets in the following sequences attempts
   to be a pithy and suggestive poem in its own right.  Many draw
   on the seasons and also aim for a compact resonance that may
   attract the reader to return to them again and again.


Word Sonnets by Seymour Mayne BELOW ZERO ~~~~~~~~~~ Where do the wily birds perch when it is past midnight and below zero?
RICOCHET ~~~~~~~~ Go find something in the dark: snow reflected off itself, a ricochet of illumination.
TOBOGGAN ~~~~~~~~ The tongue is a toboggan barely resting long enough on ledges of frozen slope.
JESTERS ~~~~~~~ This is the checkered light which augurs the foul execution of fools and jesters.
ARMISTICE ~~~~~~~~~ Enjoy the dawn's enlightening armistice before our neighbours awake to plunder and despoil again.
CALENDAR ~~~~~~~~ She awoke Monday, it was April on the calendar, December on the snowcovered ground.
GROUND ~~~~~~ Who claims this honed silence where ice and rock have ground each other down?
JUNE HEAT ~~~~~~~~~ A flashback of snow shadows this thick lingering wind and curtain of humid light.
NEW CEMETERY ~~~~~~~~~~~~ The fresh green fills with stone carved names, each rising upright for immediate notice.
HELLBENT ~~~~~~~~ When Heaven got too crowded, a gang of griping angels headed for the basement.
FOSSIL FUEL ~~~~~~~~~~~ A million years of beetles take us north in convoys for one short weekend.
NORTHWARD BOUND ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A blur of green, lakes, middle sized mountains, asphalt-- and the border rushing closer.
SALISBURY CRESCENT WOOD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ for Larry and Karin Eldredge Who can hold long the sliding slant of light angling green lustered holly leaves? Oxford
SLEEP ~~~~~ Reluctant to leave and holding on for dear life, sleep pulls shut our eyelids.
GHOST ~~~~~ You have slept thousands of nights without the tentative ghost of touch waking you.
LATTE ~~~~~ What exquisite sad taste, this latte thick with the mixed bittersweet chocolate of regret.
EARFUL ~~~~~~ Eerie, that earful of early sound and the sun silent floating up into dawn.
YIDDISH ~~~~~~~ Echo of whisper as distant ghosts in their millions dream the living into speech.
ABSENCE ~~~~~~~ The spirit returns like the light after long absence, after darkness and craving silence.
GARLIC ~~~~~~ Pungent to all things live, you revive the tongue to the praise of taste.
MOTHER LODE ~~~~~~~~~~~ Whose tart apple was it that suddenly brained Isaac Newton? Not God's but Eve's.
CAT ~~~ You look up, trying to figure me out. I've been at it for years.
SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ God knows, what streaks down from the skies-- a brave band across fallen flags. February 1, 2003
CONNECTIONS ~~~~~~~~~~~ Even with a lucky break or two, you can't get there without good connections.
GOLF ~~~~ A Martian may wonder, why wield shaped sticks just to bag a wee ball?

ISTHMUS ~~~~~~~ Ruffling the majestic winds of summer, cars briefly cross the isthmus of Lac Parent.
WHITE BIRCHES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ for Linda and Neil Toulch Darkness need know no refuge as dawn uncovers the white birches sheltering Lac Parent.
OMENS ~~~~~ Birds script the auspicious calligraphy of flight as they arc, link sky and earth.
GUEST ~~~~~ You arrrive, book in, and no sooner learn to master the facilities you're leaving.
All Poems Copyright 2004 Seymour Mayne

POST SCRIPTUM


   Bio-note:
   Seymour Mayne is the author, editor or translator of more than forty 
   books and monographs.  His writings have been translated into many 
   languages, including French, German, Hebrew, Polish, Russian, and 
   Spanish. 
   
   A selection of his biblical poems, The Song of Moses  (1995), 
   published in Canada and the U.K, was one of the earliest illustrated 
   books to appear in an electronic (Internet) edition.  His most recent 
   collections include Carbon Filter: Poems in Dedication  (1999),  
   Light Industry  (2000), a volume of humourous and satirical poems, 
   and Hail  (2002), a sampling of word sonnets. 
   
   He has also co-edited the award-winning anthology A Rich Garland: 
   Poems for A.M. Klein  (1999), a celebration of one of Canada's most 
   resonant poetic voices.  He is the recipient of the J.I. Segal Prize, 
   the Lockshin Memorial Award, the Fuerstenberg-Aaron Prize and other 
   literary honours and distinctions.  In 1990 he received an ALTA 
   (American Literary Translators Association) Poetry Translation Award 
   for his translations from the Yiddish.  Seymour Mayne has given 
   hundreds of lectures and readings at universities and other 
   institutions across Canada, the U.S., and abroad.
   
   At the University of Ottawa where he serves as Professor of Canadian 
   Literature and Creative Writing, he has supervised the publication of 
   a series of sixteen annual anthologies of new writing.  Over the 
   years he has helped sustain the Ottawa  and national capital literary 
   community.  Founder of the Sandy Hill Gang, he also co-founded the 
   poetry monthly Bywords, the poster magazine Graffito, and for a 
   number of years he served as mc of the popular poetry reading venue, 
   Bard. 
   

CENTIPEDE

A New Age: The Centipede Network Of Artists, Poets, & Writers
An Informational Journey Into A Creative Echonet [9310]
(C) CopyRight "I Write, Therefore, I Develop" By Paul Lauda

       Welcome to Newsgroup alt.centipede. Established 
       just for writers, poets, artists, and anyone who is creative. A 
       place for anyone to participate in, to share their poems, and 
       learn from all.  A place to share *your* dreams, and philosophies. 
       Even a chance to be published in a magazine.

       The original Centipede Network was created on May 16, 1993. 
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YGDRASIL PUBLICATIONS LIST

  . REMEMBERY: EPYLLION IN ANAMNESIS (1996), poems by Michael R. Collings

  . DYNASTY (1968), Poems by Klaus J. Gerken
  . THE WIZARD EXPLODED SONGBOOK (1969), songs by KJ Gerken
  . STREETS (1971), Poems by Klaus J. Gerken
  . BLOODLETTING (1972) poems by Klaus J. Gerken
  . ACTS (1972) a novel by Klaus J. Gerken
  . RITES (1974), a novel by Klaus J. Gerken
  . FULL BLACK Q (1975), a poem by KJ Gerken
  . ONE NEW FLASH OF LIGHT (1976), a play by KJ Gerken
  . THE BLACKED-OUT MIRROR (1979), a poem by Klaus J. Gerken
  . JOURNEY (1981), a poem by Klaus J. Gerken
  . LADIES (1983), a poem by Klaus J. Gerken
  . FRAGMENTS OF A BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1984), poems by KJ Gerken
  . THE BREAKING OF DESIRE (1986), poems by KJ Gerken
  . FURTHER SONGS (1986), songs by KJ Gerken
  . POEMS OF DESTRUCTION (1988), poems by KJ Gerken
  . THE AFFLICTED (1991), a poem by KJ Gerken
  . DIAMOND DOGS (1992), poems by KJ Gerken
  . KILLING FIELD (1992), a poem by KJ Gerken
  . BARDO (1994-1995), a poem by Klaus J. Gerken
  . FURTHER EVIDENCES (1995-1996) Poems by Klaus J. Gerken
  . CALIBAN'S ESCAPE AND OTHER POEMS (1996), by Klaus J. Gerken 
  . CALIBAN'S DREAM (1996-1997), a poem by Klaus J. Gerken
  . THE LAST OLD MAN (1997), a novel by Klaus J. Gerken
  . WILL I EVER REMEMBER YOU? (1997), poems by Klaus J. Gerken
  . SONGS FOR THE LEGION (1998), song-poems by Klaus J. Gerken
  . REALITY OR DREAM? (1998), poems by Klaus J. Gerken
  . APRIL VIOLATIONS (1998), poems by Klaus J. Gerken
  . THE VOICE OF HUNGER (1998), a poem by Klaus J. Gerken

  . SHACKLED TO THE STONE, by Albrecht Haushofer - translated by JR Wesdorp

  . MZ-DMZ (1988), ramblings by Igal Koshevoy
  . DARK SIDE (1991), ramblings by Igal Koshevoy
  . STEEL REIGNS & STILL RAINS (1993), ramblings by Igal Koshevoy
  . BLATANT VANITY (1993), ramblings by Igal Koshevoy
  . ALIENATION OF AFFECTION (1993), ramblings by Igal Koshevoy
  . LIVING LIFE AT FACE VALUE (1993), ramblings by Igal Koshevoy
  . HATRED BLURRED (1993), ramblings by Igal Koshevoy
  . CHOKING ON THE ASHES OF A RUNAWAY (1993), ramblings by I. Koshevoy
  . BORROWED FEELINGS BUYING TIME (1993), ramblings by Igal Koshevoy
  . HARD ACT TO SWALLOW (1994), ramblings by Igal Koshevoy
  . HALL OF MIRRORS (1994), ramblings by Igal Koshevoy
  . ARTIFICIAL BUOYANCY (1994), ramblings by Igal Koshevoy

  . THE POETRY OF PEDRO SENA, poems by Pedro Sena
  . THE FILM REVIEWS, by Pedro Sena
  . THE SHORT STORIES, by Pedro Sena
  . INCANTATIONS, by Pedro Sena

  . POEMS (1970), poems by Franz Zorn

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  YGDRASIL: A Journal of the Poetic Arts - Copyright (c) 1993 - 2001 by 
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