I learned how to read in the mint forest under a pale October moon. My eyes, blueberries mama gathered in her wicker basket. The unassuaged yearnings of a golden autumn spread under my skin. I found the rivers where fish were born, and nightingales sang. I thought to myself: you, night, how beautiful you are crowned with black poppies and nursing ancient lovers at your chest. A boat sailed straight through my heart. The earth stretched its arms to pick up stars. Then a war started. A bat-eyed wind blew, and the earth turned toward itself. And I thought to myself: you night, how painful you are. Tell me something after I die and before tomorrow’s departure. Let me wear twelve sage leaves on my lips. Let my body blossom on the Hill of Slane when the breath of sleep rises from the empty crypt. You night, how wise you are.
The Anthology
From the publisher:
“From a shaft of sunlight warming the kitchen floor to a lush forest by Walden pond, what is it about experiencing nature that pleases and fulfills us? In the third volume of the Vita Brevis Poetry Anthology, established and emerging poets from around the world show what nature means to them. This is nature poetry at its most precise and moving, continuing the long tradition of Transcendentalism, deciphering ourselves and the world that sustains us — with art.”
Vita Brevis Anthology
Announcements
There is exciting news published in MasticadoresUsa. Please visit the site Here. Like and follow to support our literary community.
On a different note, this month I will features two poetry collections published or to be published by two of your fellow poets. Please stay tuned for more news.
Congratulations to those who entered the poetry contest Woman: Splendor and Sorrow: | Love Poems and Poetic Prose and won Honorable Mentions. I am most grateful for your contribution. The beauty of your poems filled me with joy. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
The authors, their sites, and their poetry:
Honorable Mentions – Poetry Contest Woman: Splendor and Sorrow: | Love Poems and Poetic Prose [in no particular order]
Joni Caggiano, inspired by The child to be, You Were The Best of Us
Daylilies and lavender fall from a sky of bright eyes, in the silhouette of a boat, under a quarter moon. Born on the month of the ram with your right fist on your pink cheek. I was twenty, and you were my gift from God and my second love. My milk came like a white river on the third day. Red, your color, dwelling within the passion where fire seared black, my white peasant dress. Burning away the smell of gardenias and honeysuckle, a miracle fashioned within our fervidness. Meeting your father in an arid desert on foreign sand, oh, how I was craving dreams, escape, and freedom. He was to be my savior, but he was only a man. Like the red coral of the sea, our child was the best of him and me.
Cindy Georgakas, Inspired by Self-Indulgence, Chance Meeting
We sat at the coffee shop and chatted, eyes riveted drinking in the rose hips of winter in February, where children run in the snow. We escape from hardships and cold. Electricity between us like thunder of the night. Steam escaping… sent shivers up my spine. Different silhouettes in denseness, yin and yang. worlds apart, but one species. We scan each other; Small-town country to city slicker. Voices echoed, through the caravan of the room. A chance meeting, where tight spaces took distance away. Mountains etched with grooves on either side, sandwiched between the icicle cafe, where bodies collide. Cupid piercing the heart. Sweetness found wrapped In foil like the chocolate waiting at our chairs. We sigh, our coffee cold. Country song on the radio singing “Live like you were dying”
Jeff Flesch, inspired by and…love… and… love… is seen.
is not the end this story may commence like petals on a flowers recompense
and… as love breaks the moon in two I’m reminded of you tranquility among stormy seas the key
you… me….
and… the dreams cast far out into the wild we idly stand by regarding each other for a while
then… what is distant can be seen shapes and figures cut from trees earthly figures caught in a blissful underwater scene as
hope… becomes something familiar caressing the tree tops with delicate fingers made from years of turmoiled laughter transfigured into something adjoined to the hereafter
and… love… is seen.
Karima Hoisan, inspired by Sahara, The Stars of Wadi Rum
After the devoured lamb licking our fingers clean 2 million stars of Wadi Rum pulling our eyes up to the sky You hooked my little pinkie with yours as we lay in the sand hearing the adolescent boy playing the Oud until he made us cry.
Purple mountains pink sand, fake feet fights laughing undercover we muffled our laughter with your sleeve. No-one has the right to be this happy
All I need is you.
Your profile, a Persian princess framed in embers from a dying fire…. My honored one, I trace your nose with my feather, wrap the blanket tighter, those gelid desert nights. are swirling swirling.
“Tomorrow I’ll buy the best gold to adorn us. You always laugh when I am serious. I’m really serious!”
Some masks with silver tooling and hanging coins, We’ll tinkle and impress next time we buy bread, but tonight…. I just need you alone. Cling to me, we are a shipwrecked life raft for each other on this rolling sea of sand.
* * * * * *
“The caves are so beautiful in morning light “Come sleep up above with us” “You’ll miss it all”
Beneath the golden wattle We meet again to read poetry The spring wind pays us a visit I pick yellow out of your tawny locks and brush them off your lips with a kiss Your freckles bloom like pansies
Announcements
The poems of all other finalists will be featured immediately after the New Year.
Thank you once again for entering the poetry contest Woman: Splendor and Sorrow: | Love Poems and Poetic Prose.
A new literary initiative will be announced after Thanksgiving.
Finalists of the Poetry Contest Woman: Splendor and Sorrow: | Love Poems and Poetic Prose
My Dear Readers,
Congratulations to the 13 finalists of the poetry contest Woman: Splendor and Sorrow: | Love Poems and Poetic Prose!
I am thrilled to present you with their names, the titles of their poems, and the title of the poems from Woman: Splendor and Sorrow: | Love Poems and Poetic Prose that inspired them. The finalists are listed in no particular order.
Ingrid Wilson, Event Horizon, inspired by the poem You in Another Life.
Eric Daniel Clarke, Somewhere Stations, inspired by The Train to Vienna.
Cindy Georgakas, Chance Meeting, inspired by Self-Indulgence.
Virginia Mateias, Crystals from the absurd, inspired by Moonlight love.
D. Wallace Peach, Eclipsed, inspired by The moon and I.
Joni Caggiano, You Were The Best of Us, inspired by The child to be.
Jeff Flesch, and… love… is seen, inspired by And.. love…
Karima Hoisan, The Stars of Wadi Rum, inspired by Sahara.
Carrie Yang, Yellow, inspired by Yellow.
Vipul Vij, Hues of Emotions, inspired by September Tango.
Timothy Price, One Side Sacred The Other Side Profane, inspired by Between Sacred and Profane.
JayaAvendel, I met you before, inspired by The Orphic Egg.
Eunice Aformanor, Let your heart …, inspired by Daughter of this Earth.
Thank you to everyone who enter the contest. It was no easy task for the reviewers to come up with 13 finalists. Yet, they did. The next stage in the process is for the reviewers to select the winners. I will feature all poems on my blog after the winners are announced and their work is featured.
As a reminder here is how the selection of the winners is done:
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 the following steps were taken:
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.
Prizes:
First Place: $300
Second Place: $150
Third Place: $75
Funding for the prizes comes from my royalties.
The winners will be announced soon!
Reminders:
Please help our literary community strive. Do not forget to read, like, and submit to MasticadoresUSA.
Richard Westall, “The Artist’s Wife, As Sappho”- Public Domain
Poem by Gabriela Marie Milton
pearls braid themselves onto my dress yesterday’s departure sign I shed sweet tears on the tip of the old oak oh, cross, you burn the skin he so much loved rosy moons turn water into wine she came again tonight the nightingale who sings of Sappho’s suicide
Woman: Splendor and Sorrow: | Love Poems and Poetic Prose by Gabriela Marie Milton featured in San Francisco Book Review
Woman: Splendor and Sorrow: Love Poems and Poetic Prose by Gabriela Marie Milton is a touching poetry collection centering on love, philosophy, and heartbreak. Packed with rich imagery and figurative language, Milton’s poems color the pages with beauty, inspiration, and sincerity…
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
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 included in 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.
Good luck to everyone who wishes to participate and thank you again for your support.
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.
Our sun ripped apart by the gallop of an Arabian horse. Sand & blood. Memories of our Sahara: the Sahara in which fate played games. Spaces, times, light crawl upon each other like flapping fish in a net. The enigma of to be. The simplicity of me. I #miss you. #vss365#poempic.twitter.com/XtPMANNis9
— Gabriela Marie Milton (@shortprose1) July 22, 2021
Poetry Contest
My Dear Readers,
To honor the community who have supported my writing journey and my work I plan to have a poetry contest in September. I will ask you to write one poem inspired by a piece from my #1 Amazon Best-Selling poetry collection Woman: Splendor and Sorrow and to 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. There will be prizes. More info about the contest coming up in September.
MasticadoresUSA update
Thanks to Juan, MasticadoresUSA has now a new beautiful theme. There are several new posts on the site. For me MasticadoresUSA is a labor of love. It is a way of giving back to the WP community. Thank you to everyone who supports this site.
You can read the work of your fellow poets and follow the site here.
Love to everyone.
#1 Amazon Best-Selling Poetry Collection (August 9&10) Woman: Splendor and Sorrow: Love Poems and Poetic Prose by Gabriela Marie Milton:
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 …”
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.
Summer sunsets with their cruel debaucheries of orange and purple. Concentrated scents of saffron and roses in the hallways. Dates filled with marzipan. I crave sweetness like I crave you.
Nightmares. A sailor drowned a cat at sea. Someone paid him to do it.
I cannot breathe anymore.
Last night in one of the upstairs bedrooms the child’s toys changed places. A candle lit by itself.
I do not wish you were here. I am beyond that. My blood flows in the opposite direction. I am the plenitude of my febrilities. I am incandescent.
Remember that scene from Jane Eyre? Bertha: beautiful, exotic, insane, locked in a room. Bertha whom Rochester married in Jamaica. Every time he tried to open the door she would rush to tear him apart. Why am I thinking Bertha?
I can see you walking in the streets of another continent. I can hear your murmurs by the sea.
I still cannot breathe.
My darling, “will you still be loving me when the summer is gone?”
MasticadoresUSA Update
There are several new poems up at MasticadoresUSA. Please visit the site here and support your fellow poets. Do not forget to follow the site.
