My Poem You Night Included in Vita Brevis Poetry Anthology, III

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Screenshot-754.png — Friedrich Wilhelm Theodor Heyser – Ophelia/ public domain

My Poem You Night Included in Nothing Divine Dies: The Poetry of Nature (Vita Brevis Poetry Anthology, III)

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.

Thank You and Happy New Year Everyone.

Gabriela Marie Milton
#1 Amazon Bestseller Author
Books:
Woman: Splendor and Sorrow :I Love Poems and Poetic Prose
Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings

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 …”

Please continue reading HERE

The Amazon link to my book:

and crossing oceans and sending love to everyone.

@Gabriela Marie Milton

My book Woman: Splendor and Sorrow is out!

My Dear Readers,

My book Woman: Splendor and Sorrow is out!

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.

You can read more below.

Poet Spotlight: Gabriela Marie Milton

Thank you.
Love.

@Gabriela Marie Milton

Vita Brevis Anthology, Brought to Sight & Swept Away, is out. My poem On Sacrifice and Meaning is included

I am thrilled my poem On Sacrifice and Meaning was included in Vita Brevis Anthology: Sight & Swept Away. Congratulations to the editor – Brain Geiger – and to my fellow poets who are published in this anthology.

On Sacrifice and Meaning by Gabriela Marie Milton
(snippets)

Because I love you, I learned the meaning of sacrifice.
…..

It is autumn; an autumn that came too soon and whose suicidal breath brought dust and diseases.
The lamb will be born in the spring.
…….

I try to advance but the liquid silver pulls me back.
I cut its hands with a knife.
Every cut fulfills the dreams of the knife; my dreams are still in the waiting room.
…..

I rub my cheeks with rosemary and wrap my body in the alphabet of love.
On my lips the unspoken words shine.
How beautiful they make me look.

…

I restore the degradation of our myth to its rightful fecundity.
The sacrifice becomes a festival, and the festival turns into creation.

I do not feed on things. I feed on ….

Announcement from the editor:

Day #2 Update

If you missed yesterday’s anthology announcement, you can find it here. Today, your poetry ranked as the #2 bestseller in the new release poetry anthology category!

I can’t thank the Vita Brevis community enough. This type of performance is what keeps Vita Brevis reading-fee free. Thanks for making poetry publication accessible to everyone, and for keeping this little publication running.

And congratulations on almost becoming bestselling poets — let’s get up to #1!

My book Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings featured in San Francisco Book Review and Manhattan Book Review.

@Gabriela Marie Milton

The builder of all things lives in me along with the seven disoriented ships he anchored in the port last spring.
The summer dried the sea.
The wood of the ships got rotten.
The masts got buried in the wickedness of empty sunsets.
It is winter.
It is Wednesday.
I was in the washing room. I saw you folded my laundry.
In the library the Orphic Egg suspends itself from the ceiling fan.
Under its pale light I study my hands with the same precision the child studies his.
I shed my clothes as snakes shed their skin.
I feel your index finger contouring my spine.
One by one your writings penetrate my mind.
The dimorphism of your poems spiral in two directions: torrential love and logical deductions.
They are both the product of your brain. I cannot kill them. I must allow them to exit.
The object of my poetry?
Not to concede…

Please continue reading here

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

or here

My book Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings featured in San Francisco Book Review and Manhattan Book Review.

@Gabriela Marie Milton

White.
We drank two lemonades sweetened with honey at the old terrace by the church.
My body arched like a branch under the heaviness of cherry fruit.
I read from a book by Odysseas Elytis.
You smiled and listened.
The skies sighed.
The bells tolled twice.
Flowers silhouetted against my blood.
Wishes blossomed in…

please continue reading with WP here
or
at Vita Brevis Press 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.

featured imagine: Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis – Spring Motif

@Gabriela Marie Milton

My poem Dark Love is now up at Vita Brevis Poetry Magazine.

green, you smell with your tongue
your thoughts pollinate mine
your fingers endanger the sailors
a water which opens its lips and drinks them
ah, hour of man
when did you become the hour of horrors?
a book cover reads: Dictionary of Superstitions
I see the girl who tears out…

continue reading with WP here.
or
at Vita Brevis Press here.

Thank you.
Love.
Gabriela

@Gabriela Marie Milton

featured image: Dmytro Vietrov; Shutterstock; [link]

My poetry book Passions: Love Poems and Other Writings coming soon at Vita Brevis Press under the pen name Gabriela Marie Milton.

From the back cover:

“This is a mesmerizing collection of poetry. Gabriela Marie Milton’s lines teem with life, passion, and introspective courage.”
Brian Geiger, editor of Vita Brevis

“With lush language and lavish imagery, Gabriela Marie Milton evokes a fantastic world ripe with emotion.”
Christina Schwarz, the author of the New York Times Bestseller “Drowning Ruth.”

I am deeply grateful to the Italian poet Flavio Almerighi for translating some of the poems included in this book in Italian.

I am also grateful to all of you for reading my work and supporting me in my journey of poetry.

Gabriela

pre-order April 14th
publication date April 20th

@Gabriela Marie Milton
please read my Spillwords Author of the Year (2019) interview here

nudes, born inside a gallery of souls
the night hangs on an iron wall
I am the limits of my pain
the loneliness of those who do not fit
inside…

continue reading with WP here
or
on Vita Brevis Press here.

image: Anna Ismagilova; Shutterstock; [link]

deification of the virgin nymph
within my palms
the flesh of violet sunsets flips like fish on land
my eyes, inheritors of light
singular sinkholes punctuating a low sky
your love…
continue reading with WP here
or
on Vita Brevis Press here.

@Gabriela Marie Milton