I have had some correspondence the past few days with online poetry rings, pffft, who knows. It started out:

--- Maryvonne Martin wrote:
> Good morning,
>
> I am the editor/publisher of the monthly, Poetry
> Sharings Journal Magazine
> and e-mail version.
> http://editorps.tripod.com/

Be the skeptical type, I did some poking around before I took the bait. What a joke. If you have absolutely nothing else to do, go ahead and backup my disgust by following the links.

Maybe I don't get it. One example to be found on this "site"(sic.):

PoemsbyValerie

The "Famous Poets Society" is obviously something special. Try reading one Valerie's poems????

Read her bio.
" '... I never really thought about submitting any of my poetry until 1999. But my skill in writing poetry was recognized by The Famous Poets Society, and also, The International Library of Poetry.'"

Can a person who is so uncritical actually be a noted research librarian?
The "Famous Poets Society" you just have to be kidding me. I leave it to the reader to make sure the screen on your crap detector is clean before you enter this space looking for good research.

Check out this site for info: PoetryScams.com


"I don't get it." Who would put this person on TV or have them speak (Maybe they made her promise not to read any of her poetry.)? The work of the middle school poets is better than this drivel.

Well, my curiousity got the best of me. There is a person named Glen Williams that hosts a program "Its all about the arts" on BNN which is a community access TV in Boston. I guess everybody deserves a chance. A real live Cheers person, I guess.

On the other hand there is something to be said for quality and high standards.

I still don't get it!

This stuff couldn't make it on Jeopardy.

Then again, Maybe I do.

">8<"

I discovered a poet work in the past few days the I want to announce to others. It is related to my fascination with Chartres. Sometimes things just fit together.

His name is Doug Tanoury and he published his work online. I like that concept and I admire is allusion to art and Greek mythology. I have not had enough to explore in detail--it is too good to rush, but it will be a place to return often. I hope everyone has a chance to see his work.


"00>=43"

About two years ago I began to seek the muse with first hand experience in Europe. We visited Chartres Cathedral which as Malcom Miller says, "Chartres is a library." It bridges the progression of civilization from the pagan past of Pythagoras to the medieval cults of Mary in its architecture but its message is timeless. One cannot go there without being changed.

I have returned to the study of its wonder in the past few days. I can see the many influences of this cathedral has had on my poetry and on my view of the current world situation. I think the key word is "sacred" but that one word really only is a hint of what is implied by this special place. It was recognized in the deep past as a place of special energy and so it remains today.

Man contemplating God

Chartres
Pythagoras
Medieval labyrinth
from Virgo to Mary. Suger rose
splendour

"Suger introduced, perhaps really invented, the Gothic style of architecture" according to Sir Kenneth Clark's Civilization. What is unique about Chartres is that it has survived and it is the finest example of "the bridge between Romanesque and Gothic, between the world of Abelard and world of St Thomas Aquinas, the world of restless curiosity and world of systems and order."

Chartre recognizes the role of the ancient philosophers in sculpture, Pythagoras is on the west portal of the cathedral. Chartres was the location of a well known Pythagorean center of learning beginning in the 10th century.

I would recommend the Virtual Chartres Cathedral for an excellent virtual image tour. There is also a DVD which is well done, although a rather iconoclastic perspective, in my opinion, much can be learned from it.

The new blogger. Comments enabled. Lets see if it works. I don't see any changes yet but maybe soon.

I got it working and I tested it with an anonymous post. It works well so:

Readers are invited to make and post comments if so inclined

Feedback and interaction are basic to communication and I welcome them.

Feel free to comment on previous posts as this is the first time it has been enabled.

HL "&-)*(-"

The revelations of the past week are a abysmal affirmation of why "War is not the Answer"

War and oil are the instruments of a dehumanizing spiral that are too powerful for individuals to resist. I composed and read this poem for the first time about a month ago:

US Declaration of Delusion



We are the barbarians

We thought it was something

indigenous to our new land

but it was merely

in the eyes of we

the beholders

then as now

we make big boom

the world falls at our feet

our delusions restored

forever amen

O - U - I ?

We are the barbarians



and after all those generation, our delusions haunt us, and we stand naked with a fool to defend our honor.

A bit of doggeral to begin the month of May.

Word Bird Twist

Wordpecker
typing
song

tap
tap
tapping
wood would


and a word of global warning that came like fury in the dark of night---


Global Makeover One Degree at a Time


The wind up there screams
through crowded pressure pathway contours.
Great tropospheric waves
fighting to hold direction against thermal
mountains of tropic heat and polar vortex cold.
The writhing jet stream monster goes meridional balancing
between poleward adventure
and the slackening calm of doldrums descending dryness.
Onward it journeys in a furious quest,
feasting on the rising moisture from ocean waters and raining on the surface bounty.
Old Sol’s greenhouse step child grows out-of-control.
The teeming greenness holds the planet crust in its clutches,
breathing in and breathing out by season,
nurturing its children who release the planet carbon horde
from eons of incarceration.
Together they will conquer the finely tuned,
thermodynamic climate miracle
and return our home unknowing to the chaos
from whence it sprung.


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