New York Pitch Conference Reviews, Algonkian Writer Conferences, and Poetry Forums

Frank---

2 poems here, me, i take the first verse as the first poem. then stop, maybe a second "political" poem later, somewhere else....


benie

FRANK--- BADLY LOST. Kanuda. did he once flirt with Red China? Kanuda, i presume, of Zambia. came to visit two or three us Presidents. one party rule for a long time. think he deserves =better then your last verse. here is Kippling: We've fought with many men acrost the seas, An' some of 'em was bra...

I----


sure like the revised version.

descriptive lines like this fly by and grab me almost without my noticing:
,
Halfway through class
a Nigerian girl,
bold as Grace Jones,
glosses her lips
sign painter’s red,


just a grea job.


bernie

Bob--- on the road, no time to look at this carefully....but two impressions: this is too plain--- Drink was his last refuge, something to disappear into. compared with this: across his face, spread as obvious as winter's pale light also, fasten on the man, did he stumble? any friends? his speech pa...

Bob---


the image of an old school bus, so powerful as a metaphor for so much that has come before, so much that now lies wounded and disabled.



love the image of the old woman.


i join Ken and offer a second IBPC nom for this far reaching poem.



bernie

The white spell of the tub.
Your lean ballerina foot
clean as the winter Bolshoi,
the water’s fevrille glass surface,
anise-scented goldenrod,
oatmeal soap. Your breasts
float weightless as a cosmonaut
and the gargoyle moon breathes
into my mouth.

ah, W. C. Fields....


humor....imagine him a parrot....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOHGr8r5Cs4


nice line:

feathers, and gilded cages
of all shapes and sizes.



bernie

La Wally---two versions: Maria Callas--- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJKpYnMMKKM and from French big ht film, Diva: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJKpYnMMKKM "...then I will go away...as far as the echo from the church bell... and here, the woman that inspired my Japanese umbrella lady. https:...

K--- haunting. knocks me down, again and again. breathtaking imagery, so original: If only for the sake of Tuesday, I should go out for a walk with my one trick knee, laces undone for the edema. great opening. love this: I lay out my morning meds by color: azure, oyster, salmon, It is thirty seven ...

Frank-- - Near the Thames a parrot sanctuary rests on stone haunches as double bass toots from river tugs drift over. Psittaciformes: parrots, parakeets, macaws, parottlets, amazons, rosellas, lories, lorikeets and cockatoos too. Money to open the sanctuary came from the gold rings found in the ear...

wonderful review of Sarah Sloat chapbook:


https://www.vianegativa.us/2009/12/in-t ... h-j-sloat/

I see your photograph in a magazine,
wistful as a heavy girl in high school,
violet parasol blown sideways
in the Zephyr wind, a rainy languor
as you read the iris-white pages
of the Osaka Shinbun news,
metal glasses like the goggles
of an Imperial pilot sighting
American carriers for the first time.

Ken--- magical subject. illusive, almost abstract. the male bets everything on one big night out, talk about Saturday Night Fever, drops back with his memory of a grand eloquent encounter to age and die alone. firefly with a pale yellow lantern. fascinating take on this marginal subject. bernie

I am talking
about spectacles
convex or concave.
My German glasses
heavier than Indian.

I was named 'soda bottle'
but the clarity I forget,
except that I was proud
flaunting foreign glasses.





this line made me think you were looking in a mirror.



bernie

common shoe worn by junior and senior high school girls.

Frank---

industrial graphic.

a brave new telling of the industrial story, rich and highly visual.

i found myself just saying wow as this freight train roared by





bernie

Ken---


utterly stunning.


change nothing.


bernie

Siva--- a shocking, sad glimpse into Tamil education methods. the vivid images stick deep in my brain. I heard uncle panting. This was the game of a school-hating kid. Uncle fetched my shoes as i knew he would, my school girl trick that found him returning with my saddle oxford, exhausted. but grea...

Siva--- need i see the film first? Appa (English: Father) is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language independent drama film written, produced and directed by Samuthirakani. A sequel to Saattai (2012), the film features Samuthirakani in the lead role with Thambi Ramaiah in a supporting role. Featuring music co...

Bob---


so original and refreshing to read.


might review the final verse---


a north star that to this day
my heart's compass
turns to.


two to words....for example...

a north star permanently pointed to the heart's radiant core.


etc....


but a terrific poem just as it is.


bernie

Ken:


no, i just used her title.



bernie

F---


i like this note:

I love his Mussolini pout,
his windswept hair that flaps
in the wind.


bernie

Rains wash across the grain carriers, the massive ships lumber the glassine sea, the occasional whistle like a woman speaking a secret wish. The softened glimmer of their passage glows on the black ocean, I face the rains and my memories of you trail out to wrap me in restless night. The yellow ship...

Bob---


love it.



as you brush past
on the way to an aperitif table.

You pause, swinging around
slowly, sleek

and as striking as any sailboat
during Race Week.


gorgeous.


bernie