Poem by Viginia Mateias, Art by Hikari – #poem #art

My Dear Readers,

I would like to share with you a fabulous story of friendship and beauty. Several months ago, Virginia Mateias, a Romanian-Canadian poet and journalist, sent me a poem she wrote for me. She entitled the poem, “When an angel becomes unhappy.” I was touched. I was in tears. I read and re-read the poem several times.

After a while Virginia wrote to tell me she sent the poem to a fantastic Japanese painter – Hikari – to make an illustration for it.

Soon after, while traveling in Europe, the art of Hikari came to me in an email. It was a time of gratitude, and a time to kneel in front of friendship and beauty. It was a time of silence.

Below please find Virginia’s poem for me. The featured image belongs to Hikari whom I’ve never met. I hope one day I will get to meet her and thank her personally for her beautiful art.

When an angel becomes unhappy by Virginia Mateias

On a long winter afternoon 

The woman with a childlike laugh 

Told me

When an angel becomes unhappy 

and collapses  

tuberoses grow on earth.

Wrapped in loneliness 

She suddenly conceded  

Half of her sky  

Of such a deep blue

To me.

With the strength of a rock and  

With the delicacy of a tuberose stem 

She analyzed the distance between 

The soul of a child and the horizon line 

The distance between the collapse and the rebirth 

Cover yourself with the blanket, she said,  

By night we will be drinking stars. 

Bios

Virginia Mateias is the result of two cultures and draws her creative inspiration from her European roots and her North American perspective. Passionate about almost all art forms, she published two volumes of poetry: “The Persistence of Memory “and “In the Shadow of the Angel.” Her poetry has been called by literary critics “original and unique”. Her poems share the three fundamental values: truth, goodness and beauty. Virginia loves nature, travel and all the little things that give life beauty and meaning. She tweets at https://mobile.twitter.com/mateiasvirginia.

Hikari is an award winning Japanese painter. She lives in Tokyo, Japan. In 2022 she was recognized during the Grand Prize Exhibition of Platinum Art Association, and she exhibited with Jiyugaoka Gallery. Hikari’s art is inspired by the spirit of Japanese Nohgaku, one of the traditional styles of Japanese theater passed down from generation to generation for more than 650 years. In 2001 Nohgaku was proclaimed by UNESCO a “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.” [https://www.unesco.emb-japan.go.jp/htm/nogaku.htm]

About her passion for drawing and colors Hikari says that she “would like to convey a beautiful world in harmony with nature through the gradation of colors and the pattern of the costumes.” You can find Hikari at https://twitter.com/hikari2162554

An interview with the Nobel Prize Nominee Gaetano Camillo was just published in the Literary Revelations Journal. You can read it here: https://literaryrevelations.com/2022/11/07/interview-with-gaetano-camillo-nobel-prize-nominee/

Have a wonderful week everyone.

Gabriela Marie Milton
Pushcart Prize Nominee
Award Winning Author
#1 Amazon Bestselling Author
Books:
Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women (ed.), Experiments in Fiction, 2022.
Woman: Splendor and Sorrow :I Love Poems and Poetic Prose, Vita Brevis Press, 2021.
Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings, Vita Brevis Press, 2020

Now Open for Business: Literary Revelations Publishing House – Call for submissions: Hidden in Childhood: a poetry anthology

Now Open for Business: Literary Revelations Publishing House

Dear Readers,

I am thrilled to let you know that Literary Revelations Publishing House is now open for business. We are dedicated to publishing the best poetry, short stories, art, interviews, and novels.

Our Motto:

“Audentis Fortuna iuvat.” Fortune Favors the Bold.
Literary Revelations favors the bold and the talented.

From our mission:

We publish most poetry genres: epic, lyric, narrative, or prose poetry.  We expect work that dazzles the intellect, and delights the soul; work that makes feelings blossom into symphonies of love, beauty, and sorrow. Interpret the silence. Find the place where love was born, and tears are entombed. Be the voice of prophets. Be the soft whisper of Sakura.

Dream, create, suggest. Avoid cliches. Avoid the banal and the explicit, even if both have become trendy.  Remember “To define is to kill. To suggest is to create.”(Stéphane Mallarmé).  

We also publish fiction such as mystery, romance, fantasy, and other types. We do not publish erotica.

Please explore our website, and read about us HERE.

Call for submissions – Hidden in Childhood: A Poetry Anthology

Our first publication is a poetry anthology entitled Hidden in Childhood. We are now open for submissions.

Are you ready to explore your childhood and tell us what you see there? Are you ready to bring us the magic, the joy, and perhaps the pain of your childhood?

Every life is a miracle. Every child is a spring bud. Bring us the whispers of the spring bud you were, the mysteries and the happiness of any festive days celebrated in your culture. Remember your mother’s lullaby, your innocence, and the eagerness with which your eyes absorbed the world. Remember your father, and your grandparents. Behind your childhood memories is the person you are today. Childhood always comes first. Maturity comes later. Childhood is the pit of the fruit. The fleshy part is maturity … Read more on our site.

Guidelines for Submissions

Email your submission at literaryrevelations@pm.me

Title your submission Literary Revelations Anthology Submissions. Please note that any other title will land your submission in the wrong email folder, and your submission will not be read.

Do not submit more than 3 poems.

Submit your poems in a Word Document, together with a short bio written in the third person. Each poem should not exceed 150 words. We reserve the right to shorten your bio if it exceeds 40 words. For your submission you should use Times New Roman 12, double space.

Continue reading HERE. Do not submit before you finish reading.

We look forward to your submissions. Submissions will close in early January.

Follow Literary Revelations Publishing House. Next week we will bring you an interviews with a Nobel Prize Nominee. Please stay tuned.

Have a beautiful November.

Gabriela Marie Milton
Pushcart Prize Nominee
#1 Amazon Bestselling Author
Books:
Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women (ed.), Experiments in Fiction, 2022.
Woman: Splendor and Sorrow :I Love Poems and Poetic Prose, Vita Brevis Press, 2021.
Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings, Vita Brevis Press, 2020

The Metaphysics of My Writings by Gabriela Marie Milton #prose #poetry collection

 Liliya Kulianionak; Shutterstock

The Metaphysics of My Writings

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.

@Gabriela Marie Milton

Will you vote for me? My piece Dematerialization runs first for Publication of the Month at Spillwords NYC

My Dear Readers,
My piece Dematerialization (by Gabriela M) runs first for Publication of the Month at Spillwords Press. Will you please vote for me? You do not need a Spillwords account to vote. You can vote using your Facebook or Twitter account. The window that opens below allows you to do so.

Please vote here.

Publication of the Month

  1. Publications are nominated 100% based on the popularity within the last 30 days
  2. The voting will begin on the 26th of each month at 12:00am Eastern Time
  3. The voting will last for 4 Days

You can read my piece here.

My poetry collection Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings is available on Amazon here .
Passions featured in San Francisco Book Review
Passions featured in Manhattan Book Review.

Thank you!
Love.
Gabriela

@Gabriela Marie Milton

Professions #poem #poetry #love poem #poetic prose #poetry collection

Motto
I get drunk on love, charity, and passion. These are my professions.

*

I walk into the three days we spent together.

On the first day, a nude silence wraps around my lips. Shortly after I can hear the noise of wine poured into glasses.
The hour to get drunk on love has come.
I touch your skin and another you is born.
Birds invade the sky.
A banquet of candles floods the streets.
A white thread ties my blood vessels at the exact moment when a religious procession walks by.

 

On the second day, drunk on charity, my sights descend upon the earth.
The dirty hands of the woman who owns wells touch my skin.
I hear your voice.
I will not counsel her or belittle her desires.
All she will do is sell her fake dreams in the corner of an empty street for her entire life.
I forbid you.
By punishing her you would have ruined the very thing you set out to safeguard: our love.

 

On the third day, stars melt in our palms like soft grapes in winepresses.
The intimations of you and I, with their smell and softness of grass and late autumn roses, invade the room.
A convulsive joy impregnates your eyes.
Words have no pigments and no form. Their register sinks in gravity, shiny coil by shiny coil, musical key by musical key, sleepy touch by sleepy touch.
The perfection of the afternoon’s poplars blesses the air.
Possessed by passions, under the wing of a bird, we died three days ago.

 

My poetry collection Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings is available on Amazon here .
Passions featured in San Francisco Book Review
Passions featured in Manhattan Book Review.
image: Sandratsky Dmitriy; Shutterstock; [link]

@Gabriela Marie Milton

My piece “Dematerialization” published by Spillwords Press #prose #short prose #Gabriela M #Gabriela Marie Milton

It was a sort of dematerialization that left behind the scent of orange blossoms and the vague memory of sultry afternoons growing by the margins of the pond: those afternoons in need for seed germination. I am sure you can remember them.

You and your love for me which have always looked for my blood. I told you I am air and therefore I do not have a body. I fill the space in which other bodies manifest themselves.

I am every breath you take in your nights of love when …please continue reading here

[This poem will be included in my upcoming poetry collection: Woman: Splendor and Sorrow: Love Poems and Poetic Prose]

You can read my Spillwords Author of the Year Interview here.
My poetry collection Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings is available on Amazon here .
Passions featured in San Francisco Book Review
Passions featured in Manhattan Book Review.

Thank you.
Love.
Gabriela.

@Gabriela Marie Milton

image: Anna Ismagilova; Shutterstock; [link]

Launch of Liars and Thieves by D. Wallace Peach #Book Tour #Novel #Guest Post

My Dear Readers,

I am delighted to host Diana on my blog today. Diana is a fantastic novelist and a wonderful friend to those who know her.

Please stop by to congratulate Diana on the launching of her novel Liars and Thieves, the first book in her new Unraveling the Veil series.
Global Link Purchase http://a-fwd.com/asin=B08FGQ2W3Q

Blurb:

Behind the Veil, the hordes gather, eager to savage the world. But Kalann il Drakk, First of Chaos, is untroubled by the shimmering wall that holds his beasts at bay. For if he cannot cleanse the land of life, the races will do it for him. All he needs is a spark to light the fire.

Three unlikely allies stand in his way.

A misfit elf plagued by failure—

When Elanalue Windthorn abandons her soldiers to hunt a goblin, she strays into forbidden territory.

A changeling who betrays his home—

Talin Raska is a talented liar, thief, and spy. He makes a fatal mistake—he falls for his mark.

A halfbreed goblin with deadly secrets—

Naj’ar is a loner with a talent he doesn’t understand and cannot control, one that threatens all he holds dear.

When the spark of Chaos ignites, miners go missing. But they won’t be the last to vanish. As the cycles of blame whirl through the Borderland, old animosities flare, accusations break bonds, and war looms.

Three outcasts, thrust into an alliance by fate, by oaths, and the churning gears of calamity, must learn the truth. For they hold the future of their world in their hands.

Q & A

How many books have you written? Do you have a favorite of your books and if so, why?

My goal, years ago, was to write 15 books. With the addition of this trilogy, I’ll have reached 19 total books! What a surprising journey it’s been. I actually don’t have a favorite. When I write, I get intimate with my characters. I experience their challenges, sorrows and longings, their tragedies and victories. They become people I’ve known and cared about, part of my life. Are all my books equally well-written? Of course not, but to me they’re all special.

Trailer:

Author Bio:

Wallace Peach started writing later in life after the kids were grown and a move left her with hours to fill. Years of working in business surrendered to a full-time indulgence in the imaginative world of books, and when she started writing, she was instantly hooked. Diana lives in a log cabin amongst the tall evergreens and emerald moss of Oregon’s rainforest with her husband, two dogs, bats, owls, and the occasional family of coyotes.

Author Links:

Website/Blog: http://mythsofthemirror.com

Website/Books: http://dwallacepeachbooks.com

Amazon Author’s Page: https://www.amazon.com/D.-Wallace-Peach/e/B00CLKLXP8

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Myths-of-the-Mirror/187264861398982

Twitter: @dwallacepeach

Thank you!
Gabriela

@Gabriela Marie Milton

My poem “Son of the Desert” nominated for Publication of the Month at Spillwords Press #poetry #vote

My Dear Readers,

I was not planning to post today but news came last night that my poem “Son of the Desert” (by Gabriela M) was nominated for Publication of the Month at Spillwords Press NYC.

Congratulations to all nominees!

You can read my poem here.

Please vote here.

You don’t need a Spillwords account to vote though it is easy to open one. You can vote with your Twitter or your FB account.

I will be delighted to have your vote. However, you should feel free to vote for whomever you think is deserving. All nominees are fantastic writers.

The voting will begin on the 26th of each month at 12:00am Easter Time
The voting will last for 4 Days.

On November 2019 my poem The Breath of Love and Death was voted Publication of the Month at Spillwords.
In the beginning of 2020 I was voted Author of the Year at Spillwords Press. You can read my Author of the Year interview here.

Thank you.
Love
Gabriela

@Gabriela Marie Milton

My new piece “Exiled” published by Indian Periodical #poem #prose poem #short prose

You, evening of ours, how beautifully your lips tasted; stars in your unbraided hair spread over still waters like lily pads; rosy skin like the flesh of a pink grapefruit freshly open.

I still can breathe in your aromas of cherry flavored cigars and sleepless expectations.

Exiled under this oak tree…

Please continue reading here.

My poetry collection Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings is available on Amazon here .
Passions featured in San Francisco Book Review
Passions featured in Manhattan Book Review.

Thank you.
Love.
Gabriela.

image:  Anna Ismagilova; Shutterstock; [link]

@Gabriela Marie Milton

A beautiful poem by Ishita Gupta #guest post #poetry

My Dear Readers,

I am thrilled to introduce you to a wonderful writer Ishita Gupta.

In her own words Ishita “is a girl who chooses to explore and experience her life through words. Born and brought up in India, she is an avid reader, feminist, and a biology student. Ishita is also trained in a form of Indian classical dance, Kathak, and is currently learning contemporary dance style. When she writes, Ishita channels her hidden emotions, and tries to create a change in the society. She shares her thoughts at her blog Thoughts Resonate.

Please take a minute and visit her site. It will make me and Ishita very happy.
Thank you.
Gabriela

Who am I?
by Ishita Gupta

A wilted flower on the sidewalk
A lone tear amidst many
I seem to have lost my essence
In life’s unfair journey.

Who am I?

A thorn in a basket of flowers
A black smear on white
In my relentless pursuit of happiness
I’m stuck somewhere between the lines.

Who am I?

A bug drenched in rain
A torn page of a book
I can only see grief
Everywhere I look.

Who am I?

A dove without wings
A lock without a key
I am on a lost track that leads
To the inner depths of the seas.

Who am I?

featured image provided by Ishita.
@Gabriela Marie Milton