40 POEMS AT 40 by Ingrid Wilson – reviewed by Gabriela Marie Milton
40 POEMS AT 40 by Ingrid Wilson is the manifesto of an extremely intelligent, and talented, woman unafraid to explore her past and her inner and outer worlds. Ingrid’s poetry soars to the sky when the seasons change. It dwells in the most secret corners of the soul when dark moments knock on the door.
Ingrid has written 40 beautiful poems. 40 beautiful poems in which one comes face to face with yearnings to change the world, biographical notes, questions about the birth of the universe, pain, and love. Ingrid’s poems weave splendidly the ontological and the epistemological plans to create art. What, and how, come together in an unbelievable journey into the life of a woman in which children go to school and birthdays need to be celebrated.
Oh, and how the landscape plays a role in her beautiful poetry. Italy, England, Spain are not only used for decorative purposes. In Ingrid’s poetry they become intricate parts of the author’s soul.
The space and the time are perceived through intimate prisms. There is North and South, and there is the sea, with its majesty. There is a certain November sky with its colors. There are dancing ice queens and solstices of the heart. There are striking lines like: “I am the song unsung/the life unlived.”
One can almost hear the opening villanelle with her up and down tonalities. It sounds like the song of a nightingale.
The book will be released next month when Ingrid turns 40. Here are a thousand cheers for this stunning volume of poetry and for its author – a woman who knows how to ask questions about the real meaning of life. A woman who does not mince words and does not submit to stereotypes.
Read 40 POEMS AT 40. It’s a fabulous book. You will not be disappointed.
Publication date: February 11, 2022. The book will be available for pre-order before the publication date. You can find Ingrid’s work here.
Portrait d’amour – love poem by Gabriela Marie Milton
Flowers open like fresh young lips. I avert my mind from the memory of your arms which tries to drag me inside an abyss of naked love; a love blessed with the force of the mistral & the sensuality of linked fingers under the moonlight.#Portrait d’amour. #vss365pic.twitter.com/Kva49R48oo
Thank you to my wonderful followers who have supported my work and showed me love and respect during my almost 4 years of blogging. I am deeply grateful to you and beyond humbled by your kindness.
In this post, special thanks to Joni Caggiano [site link] and to Dave Williams [site link].
Joni is a published poet and author of The Path Toward The Light, available for purchase on Amazon (Paperback and Kindle). She recently posted a wonderful review of my book Woman: Splendor and Sorrowon Amazon. Joni’s gesture touched my heart. Below please find a snippet from her review. You can read the entire review on Amazon, and please do not forget to visit Joni’s blog.
I have discovered [in Woman: Splendor and Sorrow] an amalgamation of emotions that touch on every part of a woman’s existence.
Yet never have I experienced such a strong sense of compassion in every imaginable object as she transcends the physical world and relates to living entities, or nature, in the same way as she does human beings. Some examples that give us a taste of the extensiveness of these writing are as follows:*
“peaches will grow on one side of the moon Injured lambs will scream on the other”
“I am neither a gift Nor something you can keep I am the syllable forgotten on your lip”
Thank you, Joni. I do not know if I would ever be able to repay your kindness.
Before I get to the review, Gabriela Marie Milton is holding a poetry contest around her new book Woman: Splendor and Sorrow. Head on over to her blog post for details!
Now on to the review of her previous book…
Let’s say you’ve walked through a few houses with blank walls. Maybe these are show houses in a new development in town. The blankness of the houses reminds you of routines: doing the same things every day, eating the same foods.
Then you enter a house with tapestries hanging on the walls. The tapestries are filled with vibrant images and suggestions of senses. That’s the kind of feeling given by Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings. Each poem is like a tapestry.
You walk up to each tapestry and absorb the images woven into the fabric.
The poems are celebrations of language, locations, emotions, and senses.
Thank you, Dave. Repaying your kindness will be hard, but I assure you I will do my best. Everyone, please visit Dave’s blog.
Woman: Splendor and Sorrow Poetry Contest Reminder
The poetry contest Woman: Splendor and Sorrow is now open. This contest honors the literary community that has supported me in my writing journey, and celebrates my becoming a #1 Amazon best-selling author.
To participate, you should write one poem inspired by a piece from my #1 Amazon best-selling poetry collection Woman: Splendor and Sorrowand list the name of the piece that inspired your submission. A number of poems from Woman: Splendor and Sorrow can be found on this blog.
The deadline for submission is September 20, 2021. Please submit your work before September 20 at shortprose12@gmail.com.
Label your submission Poetry Contest Woman: Splendor and Sorrow.
Do not submit more than one poem.
Do not forget to include: the poem from Woman: Splendor and Sorrow that inspired you, your name or pen name, and the email address where you can be contacted.
Please submit your poem in the body of the email. No attachments or links will be open.
Prizes:
First Place: $300
Second Place: $150
Third Place: $75
Funding for the prizes comes from my royalties.
If you do not have a PayPal account, please open one.
All winners will be featured on my blog. So will those who finish in the following places: 4, 5 and 6.
It is my hope that the winners will use part of their prizes to buy two or three books of their favorite fellow poets or novelists in order to help our literary community strive. If you do so, please let us know what you bought.
How the selection will be made?
The selection method is similar to that of a double-blind peer review: the reviewer doesn’t know the identity of the author, and vice-versa.
To achieve that I will do the following:
Create a master document with all submissions. Remove the name of the authors and replace them with numbers.
Create a second document with the name of the authors and their assigned numbers.
I will not participate in the process of determining the winners. Winners will be determined by two of your peers.
However, I will disclose a piece of information and deviate a bit from the fully double-blind process: the editor of Vita Brevis Poetry Magazine, Brian Geiger, will be one of the reviewers.
The winners will be announced in mid-October. I will update you periodically.
Thank you to everyone who already submitted.
To the future winners: please remember to spread love in our community and buy some books written by your WP favorite authors.
A Snippet from Woman: Splendor and Sorrow
In the evening, the sky stretches itself from blue to dark violet. The silk of the gloves hugs my fingers. I feed my iguana with cookies soaked in champagne. She hisses at me. I open a package of silk stockings. The door opens by itself, and you step in. Then it closes. I stare at you. You are in by your own volition. One kiss, and you borrow my tears. One touch, and I borrow your pain. A passage rite. I keep a coffin adorned with lilies in my bedroom. I sleep besides death like Sarah Bernhardt.
Did you hear that noise? A rosary fell from the Spanish chest.
The wind slips between the petals of a rose and opens it.
Who am I? If I knew, I would tell you.
Did you say you love me? The twenty-four hours are up. Nobody is facing in the direction of the sea anymore.
Farewell to you Andalucía, to gypsy moons & to the music of your breasts. Frantic nights, wounds that never heal. White shirts, heated bodies, pulsing veins, rhythmic blood. A woman wears her wedding band around her neck. #Farewell to you my matador Te amo para siempre #vss365pic.twitter.com/ZQooDZXons
— Gabriela Marie Milton (@shortprose1) July 28, 2021
Updates on Woman: Splendor and Sorrow
Amazon US – on August 4 my poetry collection Woman: Splendor and Sorrow was in the top 17 new release bestsellers for poetry by women. Number 16 Louise Glück who won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature. Running right behind her like on August 2. Humbled beyond words.
–
Amazon Ca – Today, August 6 my poetry collection Woman: Splendor and Sorrow is in the top #19 new release bestsellers for poetry by women in Canada. Again humbled beyond words.
My dear followers, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind support.
My publisher Brian Geiger informed me that yesterday August 2 my poetry collection Woman: Splendor and Sorrow was in the top 20 new release bestsellers for poetry by women. Number 19 Louise Glück who won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature. Running right behind her. Humbled beyond words.
Special thanks to everyone who bought my new book. At the same time special thanks to Brian who worked so hard on the publication of the book.
From Brian’s announcement:
“A poem in itself is a marvelous thing, but a collection of poetry is something else entirely — like the broader beauty of an arabesque, it’s felt more than seen. Perhaps this is what T.S. Elliot meant when he said genuine poetry communicates before it’s understood. The nebulous beauty of art, the feelings it stirs …”
I am deeply grateful to my followers who have supported me. My gratitude to my publisher, Brian Geiger – Vita Brevis Press – for accepting my manuscript and making my dream come true.
Book marketing is exceedingly difficult for me because I write under a penname. As I pointed out in an interview when I publish: “There are no gettings together, no signing of books in bookstores, no flowers, no friends to buy a bunch of your books and start writing reviews.”
Yet I have you, my WP and my social media friends. You make my writing journey beautiful. You make my soul blossom with joy.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
From the back cover:
“Woman is a triumphant collection of poetry. Milton explores with sincerity and great craft the many faces of identity and womanhood. This is the sort of poetry collection that will resonate with any reader.”
writes Brian Geiger, editor of Vita Brevis Press
You can order the e-book and the paperback in the link below.
I am also grateful to Brian for featuring me on Vita Brevis Poet Spotlight a place where, if you wish, you can learn more about my publications, my awards, and you can read my most recent interview.
From the Spotlight:
An Interview with Gabriela Marie Milton
Gabriela Marie Milton is a poet of condition rather than profession. I wrote as much in the foreword to her collection of poetry, Passions, referring to the great Robert Graves’ suggestion that the art of poetry isn’t so much learned as it is lived. This is the first thing readers of Milton’s work will realize; this is poetry with soul.
What’s the Purpose of Poetry?
Gabriela Marie Milton: “My first impulse is to answer the creation of meanings. That which is not directly expressed impacts us differently than a simple narration. A table of contents informs us. It speaks to our reason. A poem takes us to the plans of our inner and outer worlds that lie beyond reasoning, such as for instance the oneiric plan.
“Of course, great poetry was written during the Enlightenment period: a period characterized by the celebration of reason.
or here is a direct link to Ingrid’s reading and the text of my poem.
destiny of this earth you are my destiny too I burn in wildfires and spin in the eyewalls of hurricanes that should never be I sit at the intersection of two bridges that lead nowhere wonder how many days this earth and I have left there is no more laughter in the eyes of the stars there are no more shells on the shore the waves leave behind the deformed plastic of heated summers echoes of drunken voices I vacillate between the poetry of broken glass and the memory of winters that do not exist anymore metallic noises breathe the air and eat from the shoulder of the mountain a curse floats in the horizon
you my earth in autumn when I used to break the fruit of the vines under my feet you nursed me under your shades of green dressed me in small shy roses covered my face in the first dew of your mornings now tell me how to heal the wounds of your forests placate the jaws of your non-ending storms erase the negative of love from the face of your cries
destiny of this earth you are my destiny too teach me what saviors do
Gentle reminders:
There are several new posts up at MasticadoresUSA. For me MasticadoresUSA is a labor of love. Thank you to everyone who supports this site. You can read the work of your fellow poets and follow the site here.
For those of you who are interested, my new collection of poetry Woman: Splendor and Sorrow will be published by Vita Brevis Press on July 31.
To briefly give you more information about my upcoming poetry collection Woman: Splendor and Sorrow, Vita Brevis Press, release date July 31. 2021, and share with you one of my favorite poems included in this collection.
Random Thoughts on Poetry
In an interview with New York Glamor Magazine, I stated: “Poetry is the magnificence which reflects upon the landscape of our souls.” My intent was neither to offer an exhaustive definition of poetry, nor to dive into the more complex realm of conceptualization, and try to explain of what poetry is composed. How arrogant of me that would have been. For those who did not get the news yet, arrogance is not sexy. It is not a precondition for talent and/or high intelligence.
However, back to my tentative definition of poetry. It suffices to say that, if one pays close attention to my words, the most obvious conclusion is that poetry is “out there” waiting to be recognized, and to reflect itself upon the landscape of our souls. Once recognized, the reflection happens only in the measure to which our souls can create a mirror image, albeit highly distorted and with the degree of distortion predicated on our sensibility.
As Nigel McLoughlin wrote: “Recognition depends not on linguistic criteria or on conscious thought, but on what is physically felt. It does not demand structure or form. It is beyond that.” [McLoughlin, Nigel F ORCID: 0000-0002-0382-6831 (2013) Writing Poetry. In: A Companion to Creative Writing. Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 40-55]
Poetry is indeed beyond structure and form and, if I may, is “out there.” All of us are poets when that which we gather with our sense starts having an emotional and physical impact on us.
[draft – Thoughts on Poetry will continue in an interview with me conducted by Brian Geiger, the editor of Vita Brevis Poetry Magazine.]
On Woman: Splendor and Sorrow
Woman is a collection of 63 love poems and 25 pieces of poetic prose. I talked in another post about the feminist and philosophical trends in my poetic prose. However, the main theme of my book is love.
Therefore, in this post I would like to quickly turn to my love poems. Out of the 63 love poems included in Woman, “The Biblical Sense Of To Know” is my favorite. The poem was first published by Spillwords Press under one of my pen names: Gabriela M on March 10, 2020. Below is the original text of the poem as published by Spillwords. In Woman, the text was slightly modified.
the biblical sense of to know born in a summer that never existed nailed to the cross of your poems I’m losing my mind inside the blue night I reach you in dreams you do not understand It hurts when I’m there It hurts when I’m not I ask for the help gravediggers can grant I wrote I love you on a note that I locked It wasn’t a snake, it was an iguana the night the tango nuevo played its guitar on fifteen decades I counted my prayers my fingers were naked my fingers were gloved
Why do I like this poem so much? Because in the moments I wrote it reality deeply reflected in the mirrors of my souls. I was hurting.
I do not believe poets know only that which comes “by observation of themselves.” The observation of ourselves is only one of the preconditions of poetry. The multiple faces of reality is perhaps another one.
I discover myself in my own writings. I dwell in the beliefs stored in my subconscious when I was a child, and in all experiences that followed.
Yet, my work is neither that of a psychologist nor that of an epistemologist. Beyond psychology and epistemology, I try to establish a metaphysics of love. That may make some think of Thomas Aquinas, but that is not what I am talking about. I do not want “to explore the ontological structure of the human person.” My work is not about how I experience love. It is about how I allow love to experience me. That is the very definition of my work.
Passions was a work of the heart. So is Woman: Splendor and Sorrow. Yet, Woman has more dimensions to it. Some pieces are constructed via reconciliation between rationalism and some of its rival thoughts: idealism, and/or surrealism. It depends on the matter at hand.
I like Woman because in it I do not only allow love to experience me. I also give permission to feminism, and to other societal concerns to explore me.
From Woman: Splendor and Sorrow :
The day I understood I can win, I stepped into hell. That day was the day I lost my innocence and with that the paradise.
Oh, femininity! You are the goddess of vines, the mother earth, the chalice, the blood, the fertility of the womb. I mull over these desperate efforts to equalize the feminine with the masculine. There is nothing in these symbols that points to the intellect of a woman.
–
Early morning. I was in elementary school. A basic arithmetic problem was on the blackboard. The teacher asked M. to solve it. He did not know how. I was shocked. That day my entire life changed.
Late afternoon. Home. After much deliberation Mama asked: Gabriela, again, do you believe that everyone understands everything that you understand, and everyone can do what you can?Do you believe we all think the same?
Highly distraught, I answered:
Yes. Everyone can do what I can, and we all understand the world in the same way. Something wrong happened to M.
Papa was stunned. I could not grasp why. I was trying to make my parents understand a simple truth: we all feel and think the same. They did not want to listen. What was wrong with everyone?
That night in my bedroom I started questioning everything.
These days questioning is my second nature. My first does not exist anymore. Life experienced me.
draft
MasticadoresUSA update
There are several new posts up at MasticadoresUSA. For me MasticadoresUSA is a labor of love. Thank you to everyone who supports this site.
You can read the work of your fellow poets and follow the site here.
Here are some of my summer reading recommendations. I haven’t ranked-ordered them. They are all excellent choices.
Summer recommendations:
Midnight With Words: Late Night Conversations in Poetry.
An anthology in which you will find poetry of stunning refinement, of beauty, and subtle meanings. An exceptional recital of verses that enchants the mind and the senses. This is one of the most impressive anthologies I’ve ever read.
Author: Lisa Alletson, Joe Barca, Cynthia Capri, Delilah Doe, Mark H. Fitzpatrick, Ty Gardner, Jeffrey Haskey-Valerius, Rebecca Hooper, Andy MacGregor, Jared Mulhair, Antonia Wang, and Wanjiku Wanjiru.
A Ferryman and the Sea Witch by D. Wallace Peach
Enter a world of fantasy, and with that the mesmerizing writing style of D. Wallace Peach. The book has a fascinating plot, passages of powerful imagery, and emblematic characters; in short the real ingredients of a bestseller.
Please do not forget that you can order now The Anthropocene Hymnal anthology. The Anthology is “a poetic response to the joint crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.” (Ingrid Wilson, ed.) Read more on Ingrid Wilson’s site.
Crossroads (Winds of Love) by Jude Itakaly
A dazzling collection of poetry written by a young author. Let’s listen to him:
“I wrote Crossroads for all who have not found romantic love and are on the threshold of giving up on it, for all who have love and may be about to give it up, and for all who have been wounded gravely by love and are scared of ever trying it again. It is a companion that stirs memory in reminiscent and also horrific ways only to finally awaken hope and new life in us, where the best love may come to us.”
Update on my upcoming collection of poetry Woman: Splendor and Sorrow
For those of you who are interested in my upcoming collection of poetry Woman: Splendor and Sorrow my publisher and I decided we will not open it for pre-order. The book will be published on July 31. Both versions e-book and paperback will be available via Amazon. I will post the links on July 31.
MasticadoresUSA updates
There are several new posts up at MasticadoresUSA. For me MasticadoresUSA is a labor of love. Thank you to everyone who supports this site.
You can read the work of your fellow poets and follow the site here.
