Your Poet Is Thomas Kemp Presents "Stormy Weather" Powerful Words During National Poetry Month

Stormy Weather

In those days my hopes were black and twisted

And only my night time dreams

traveled on a traditional course.

But, deep in my soul, 

knowing I could not make babies anymore

And give you the children you wanted badly,

You had to go out the door of my reveries.

You were taken away to be a mother

More than you were chosen to be my wife.

Love is simple and always true

you were to be a mother,

With all the details 

that goes with it,

I was not in that design.

Children can go on forever

 and me as a husband would have just been an indulgence.

The years have distributed to you two fine sons.

But, I have never forgotten you.

Thomas Kemp/poet

The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness -- Sometimes The Lady Flew Without Me....

www.flickriver.com

edinburghnapiernews.com

"The lady flies for a lifetime and more, landing when the growing earth calls to her, flying when it does not. Both are enjoyable, and enjoyment is, despite her tears, something she seems to have an aptitude for. She grants absolution wherever she lands, piercing hearts with her forgiveness, for of what do we ever ask forgiveness if not our offences against joy?

"The world enters its adolescence, the land stitching itself together into a recognizable whole, though not without its pains and eruptions. She does not avoid the volcanoes when they spew, recognizing in them the same anger as the water, of effort directed outward, into nothing...

"Not long, she tells the volcanoes. 'Not long before your reach will dig its long muscles into the earth, binding it tightly as a world. One arm clasping another clasping another, holding the burden of life on your collective shoulders. Not long."

~~~

The Crane Wife

By Patrick Ness

An original Japanese folk tale of the crane wife was the basis upon which Patrick Ness penned his latest novel, with added inspiration from the Decemberists, The Crane Wife 1 and 2, as well as the 

unique work of Sue Blackwell, although her work in no way correlates with what is described in the novel. While the front cover more nearly represents, and perhaps is, her work, the work described in the novel was with feathers and word cutouts...but there was also magic therein...

"There was no solution then. It was too cold. He
was too cold. The arrow obviously too thick and
strong. It might as well have been made of iron.
The crane was going to die. This reed made of
stars was going to die right here, in his sad little
back garden.
"A tidal wave of failure washed over him. Was
there another way? Was there any other way at
all? He turned back to the door to his kitchen,
still open, letting out every bit of meagre warmth
from the house. Could he carry the crane back
inside? Could he lift it and get it there without
hurting it further?
"The crane, for its part, seemed to have already
given up on him, to have already judged him, as
so many others had, as a pleasant enough man,
but lacking that certain something, that extra
little ingredient to be truly worth investing in.
It was a mistake women often seemed to make.
He had more female friends, including his ex-
wife, than any straight man he knew. The trouble
was they'd all started out as lovers, before
realizing he was too amiable to take quite
seriously..."
~~~

I say that sometimes the story flew without me, because the fantasy, the story line will never, I don't think, be truly interpreted from what the author intended. It is complicated, intense, and moves, really, from one story to another. One almost an unworldly fantasy; the other attempting to fantasize within the world... Both about love, I was told, but I could not always see nor relate to that other world.

A world where a crane and a volcano share a life--a love/hate relationship that can never be, but also seems not to be able to be terminated... Perhaps it is a tale of the earth itself? Still, in my fantasy unworlds, I would probably have an ocean loving a volcano rather than a bird...LOL...

The crane was born of a cloud... add that to your contemplation of this part of the story... if it works for you, leave me a comment as to your thoughts... I couldn't fully interpret the need or reason for this alternative story...

Now the worldly story is quite imaginative and intriguing. The crane, it seems, was hurt by an arrow, and arrives in the garden of a man, George, who runs a print shop. George awakes one night to hear something, a kind of keening... Finally, he goes outside and sees the bird, but she is no longer making a noise. Still he thinks that it was the bird and moves to help her... He breaks the arrow, pulls it free, and with little delay, the crane attempts to use her wings and flies off... But not never to be seen again...

Quite soon a woman came into his shop; her name was
Kumiko...

And, that day, everything changed...

George is divorced with a daughter who is also divorced. Amanda has a son, J.P. who is obviously the center of their world and loved tremendously. J.P.'s father lives in France, so they don't see him frequently, but he, too, works to keep in touch...

It is a life without color, with joy coming only from the young child. There is a past, perhaps not totally of bitterness, but not one that can lend joyful memories to bring out when needed.

The alternate story, of the crane representing forgiveness and the volcano representing the heat of anger is basically an easy correlation, So, when Kumiko comes into their lives--a shapeshifter, you know, LOL--it is easy to follow her magical touch of forgiveness.

But forgiveness can only fulfill some part of a human... There is the search for, the seeking of love, the love of two individuals for each other. From the past, we can surmise that George will easily give his heart to Kumiko,.. But can Kumiko love in return?

There is one amazing scene that still disturbs me, when George breaks into see Kumiko pulling feathers from her body, it bleeding in response... which is similar to the original story, and she flies away, ending the tale. You see, here, she had brought miniatures to his shop to frame in some way, and when she saw a book cutting made by George, she immediately saw the potential merge of the two works--and they became quite famous and wealthy... But did this represent her love for George? Was she leaving her former world behind, thus using her own feathers? I ponder this, even now, after the book has ended...

For me, an individual who looks to the words to tell me the "total" story, I wanted more, even as symbolically, the story ended... I wanted words, her words...but never received them... or I want to believe she's out there...

still flying...

GABixlerReviews

http://www.polarimagazine.com

As a child
I was born on an army base called Fort Belvoir, near Alexandria, Virginia, in the United States. My father was a drill sergeant in the US Army, but much nicer than that makes him seem. I only stayed at Fort Belvoir for the first four months of my life and have never even been back to the East Coast of America. We moved to Hawaii, where I lived until I was almost six. I went to kindergarten there, and we used to have field trips down to Waikiki Beach. I once picked up a living sea urchin and got about a hundred needle pricks in the palm of my hand. I made up stories all the time as a kid, though I was usually too embarrassed to show them to anybody.
As an adult
I've only ever really wanted to be a writer. I studied English Literature at the University of Southern California, and when I graduated, I got a job as a corporate writer at a cable company in Los Angeles, writing manuals and speeches and once even an advertisement for the Gilroy, California Garlic Festival. I got my first story published in Genre magazine in 1997 and was working on my first novel, The Crash of Hennington, when I moved to London in 1999. I've lived here ever since. I taught Creative Writing at Oxford University for three years, usually to students older than I was.
As an artist
So far, I've published two books for adults, a novel called The Crash of Hennington and a short story collection called Topics About Which I Know Nothing, a title which seemed funny at the time but less so 10,000 mentions later... Here's a helpful hint if you want to be a writer: When I'm working on a first draft, all I write is 1000 words a day, which isn't that much (I started out with 300, then moved up to 500, now I can do 1000 easy). And if I write my 1000 words, I'm done for the day, even if it only took an hour (it usually takes more, of course, but not always). Novels are anywhere from 60,000 words on up, so it's possible that just sixty days later you might have a whole first draft. The Knife of Never Letting Go is 112,900 words and took about seven months to get a good first draft. Lots of rewrites followed. That's the fun part, where the book really starts to come together just exactly how you see it, the part where you feel like a real writer.
Things you didn't know about Patrick Ness
1. I have a tattoo of a rhinoceros.
2. I have run two marathons.
3. I am a certified scuba diver.
4. I wrote a radio comedy about vampires.
5. I have never been to New York City but...
6. I have been to Sydney, Auckland and Tokyo.
7. I was accepted into film school but turned it down to study writing.
8. I was a goth as a teenager (well, as much of a goth as you could be in Tacoma, Washington and still have to go to church every Sunday).
9. I am no longer a goth.
10. Under no circumstances will I eat onions.
*******
Patrick Ness is the author of the Chaos Walking trilogy. The Knife of Never Letting Go, Book One of the trilogy, won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Booktrust Teenage Prize. The Ask and The Answer, the second book in the trilogy won the Costa Children's Book Award 2009. The third book, Monsters of Men, is released in September 2010.
He has also written a novel (The Crash of Hennington) and a short story collection (Topics About Which I Know Nothing) for adults, has taught Creative Writing at Oxford University, and is a literary critic for the Guardian. Born in Virginia, he lives in London.

Thomas T. Kemp Shares New Poetry Book...

Poetry I Wrote For You



By Thomas T. Kemp





It seems like I've been reading Thomas' poetry forever... Well, it is well over five years since I met this online poet. At that time, you would often find Thomas in online poetry chat rooms and if you chanced to interact, you soon had a poem coming your way! It was surely his fans that suggested that he compile and publish a book. I've shared my thoughts on that first book. And now he has published another!

Thomas has a gift with words. I don't profess to be trained in poetry and I don't review poetry books often. But Thomas Kemp's words speak to me and will speak to you I believe. His words are beautifully presented and flow as if thoughts on the wind...

He writes of daily activities, but most of the time he's writing just for you... Oh yes, he might have written the poem years ago, but when YOU read it, it will come across as if he were sharing those very words with you. Let me illustrate:

The lawn mowing is finished,

a perfect time to sit and rest now, 

a home can be so demanding. 

My own sweat cools off my forehead and chest… 

with the help of a breath of breeze 

off the blue waters edge. 

Then in a moment on a summer's day,

 the gray and black gather 

and stir the soul of my green pond. 

A fussy white spider comes back

from patrol Across the springs 

of her trampoline web 

And we both discover each other 

before the coming storm. 

Come Love discover me before I go.

For instance, if I were reading the last line in the above poem, I would think it surely should have a little punctuation: Come, Love, discover me before I go. LOL Of course, it is correct as is, as he finishes his daily work and then turns to thoughts that he still wishes for love to enter his life. But, if you're like me, you will automatically think he's written the poem for you and seeks your love...

OK, I might be romanticizing his work a little and maybe you'll not feel that connection I do. But if you're curious about his poetry, just do a search on my blog to read some other selections he has allowed me to share at Book Readers Heaven...I think the key for poetry is whether you enjoy reading it. For me, it's like they say about art--I don't know much about it, but I know what I like... Thomas Kemp shares his life through his poetry. It's written simply, honestly, and openly. We may, of course, interpret it as the reader, and while we might read "seduction," and enjoy it that way, he is sharing a secret, special part of himself. You may come to know him as a friend, like I do, and never have any other interaction with him except through his words...

A truly gifted storyteller, his poems are simply short stories or part of a conversation he's having with you. Highly recommended... Oh, and he includes two excerpts from upcoming books!

Come, readers, discover me, Thomas T. Kemp... He wrote his poetry for you...

GABixlerReviews

About the Author:

Freely I admit my mind was a desert and I had no desire to write poetry. A desert can be beautiful I know, but my mind was without any separate place for green gardens or empty streambeds. I was just not interested in words. My one and only girlfriend had died at seventeen; killed in an automobile accident and I had become a devoid abandoned young man. It was as if I never had any attachment to a living thing and nothing could help ease my grief. Then one of her best girlfriends who had always accepted me and who had a gift for putting me at ease told me. She bluntly said to me, Nancy saw something in you Thomas. When we talked, she would tell us girls that you had a quality in your voice and it was like Poetry. Did I, it was kind of her to say so; it pulled me back from the sorrowful edges and help me to focus again. On a winter Sunday morning, I wrote my first poem. It was about burning an old Apple tree in a beautiful grand fireplace and going outside in the cold raw wind to watch the smoke come up the chimney. I guess that is when I learned that words are capable of healing as well as hurting us. Poetry chiseled away the pain word after word.

"Thomas Kemp is a sixty-seven year old divorced man and the father of two grown sons, a daughter, and two lovely daughter-in-law's. He started writing poetry for his own enjoyment when he was nineteen years old and a Marine stationed in the Far East. When asked what compelled a young service man to write poetry he would say “There was something inside of me that made me write every chance I got. I wrote on anything I could find in those days; napkins, coasters—you know, those ones made of paper—even tablecloths.” 

Thomas finally sat down long enough to write his first novel starting in 1993 which he finished and published in 1996—a book called The Road From Here To Where You Stay, a poetical thriller and love story woven within the murder plot of former President John F. Kennedy. Cleverly written to intrigue and seduce? Thomas, as Poet, clearly shows his ability to weave the violence of war and the murder of a president with cleverly placed poems and words whispered among the pages with loving grace and romance. Be enriched and enthralled and read the romantic words from a man who has become a familiar poet to many, who is today called…YOUR POET IS And POETRY I wrote FOR YOU"

Poetry and Pictures...by Adolfo...

Memorial Day, 2011

Adolph Caso

Rhododendrons abounding

In full bloom along the graveyard

With stones going back:

from the Revolution

to the Civil War

and from World War II

to the present conflict:

Our emotions registering

Over the names of each fallen brave

Kept close to our hearts

By our right hands

In sync with the rhythm

Of the Star Spangled Banner,

Pondering:

How the Revolution

Created the nation,

How its Civil War

Preserved it,

And how the second war

saved the world

From threats

By Communists and Nazi.

With the mention

of the fallen from Iraq,

The metaphor of the madras

Ripped my heart apart

Envisioning the next conflict

To save and preserve the human soul,

confident,

in view of the gatherers,

that America will,

once again

come through

to fulfill the incipient principles

on which this country was founded.

Wingless Flight

Adolph Caso

If you had wings

I could not teach you

How to fly,

Even if one loves

And the other does not.

or better,

if both are in love.

Birds soaring toward heaven

On wings spread wide

Never reach it

No matter how hard they try.

But,

When two people fall in love

Heaven

Mysteriously

Comes down to them

And teaching how to love

All but becomes un-necessary.

Not possible to birds,

Wingless flights

Will abound,

Each time,

We truly fall in love!

Review: Pressed Pennies Inspiration Romantic Novel!

Pressed Pennies

By Steven Manchester



Luna Bella Press, Inc.
ISBN: 9780984184200
235 Pages

 
 

 

 
 
Steven Manchester's Pressed Pennies gives readers so much more than several wonderful love stories, but I must admit I got caught up into the lives of the two main characters that I just have to start there!

Abby Gerwitz was the child of an alcoholic, abusive father. While her mother was very loving, Abby saw how she was treated by her husband and prayed that somehow her mother wouldn't have to be hurt so much, even knowing that she took the abuse so it wouldn't fall on Abby.

But when her father went to work, Abby belonged to a gang of kids that constantly played and ate together. One of those kids, Richard Giles, had saved her from a "hissing squirrel" and they were now even more inseparable, which angered Abby's father even more!

Richard lived with his father and grandmother and both of these individuals played a very important role in the lives of those children. But then Richard's family had to move because they could no longer pay the mortgage on the house.

Abby and Richard were devastated... Especially Richard, since he had lied and told Abby that his father got a promotion and that was why they were leaving.

But, in fact, all of the children who had lived and played on that street had been affected by childhood. Reading about their lives was fun--but it was not surprising how each of these individuals became as adults!`

While the book focuses on Abby and Richard's lives--both of them are now divorced, having made mistakes in their marriages--a beautiful minor love story features Richard's grandmother and a man she married late in life. Highlighting multiple relationship stories is one of the reasons the book becomes so intriguing. Readers read about the mistakes we all have made; but there is also a message of hope for each couple...

I had already decided long ago that the changes that have evolved in America have affected the American family but must they affect our dreams? I think Steven Manchester in Pressed Pennies has effectively highlighted the darkest worries and fears of today's adults and emphasizes that we do not have to lose our dreams--that allowing ourselves to love others and then making sure we work to maintain that love is the most important thing that we can do in our lives.

Aside from the excellent writing and storyline, I must add a note about the use of poetry to complement this novel! Each of the poems was added to highlight exactly what was happening to the individual, whether it was to express hope, fear, or the magic of love. It was not the least bit intrusive, but rather added a dimension to the feelings expressed far beyond what could be done by any romantic scene, although there are lots of those too!

Only you will know whether Pressed Pennies by Steven Manchester is for you--those of you who have become bitter or deeply hurt by relationships in your life. You decide...from my point of view, the book is well above 5 in a 1-5 rating! It spoke to me personally in many ways--I hope you allow the novel to speak to you as well...



G. A. Bixler

Review: Spotlighted Bettie Corbin Tucker Reviews A Woman's Lover

A Woman’s Lover

Yvonne Hampden





A Ymah Rivera Publication
ISBN: 0-9744086-1-1
74 pages



In Writing A Woman’s Lover, author Yvonne Hampden has elegantly shown the power of word structure in her poems. The selections effectively convey thought, feeling and action, emotionally tugging at the heart. Love is a theme that many poets will concentrate upon until the end of time, but the author intensifies the theme with her style and choice of words. I particularly appreciated the figurative language that is specific and ignites the imagination. There is little rhyme but the free verse is written in words that create powerful images with form and line length.

The book is unique as it contains historical photos and documents that give readers insight into the author’s genealogy. She indicates that A Woman’s Lover will have readers thinking about their love stories as well as those of their ancestors. And she is correct! On a dresser in my bedroom is a picture of a beautiful woman who is wearing a long flowing dress and sitting on a tree stump in the forest. The woman is my grandmother who died at the age of 32. When I look into her eyes, I can visualize the love she had for my grandfather. After reading this book, I immediately wanted to write a book about this love and why death had to separate them. My grandfather eventually remarried, and I ask myself if any love can ever be as great as the first. Another thought…another poem?

The first two lines of the first poem in the book are ones that I shall always remember. The author states: “What is love but the soul’s (line break) Cry to be complete with God?" I found myself pondering these words over and over, realizing that she had created an influential verbal image in my mind. There are many other philosophical lines that show her creativity of mind and soul.

Though the poems all deal with love, there is much variety in the selections. She covers rejection, abuse, understanding, loneliness, anger, desire, state of mind, loving a junkie, passion, presence, absence, healing, etc. Yes, these subjects are covered in many poems; however, she writes with a fresh and thoughtful perspective. Yvonne ends the book with a letter entitled “True Womanhood” which her aunt gave to her in 2005. The salutation reads: “Mr. Chairman and members of the Sunday School Convention of the Houston District.” It is a wonderful letter that all readers should and could learn from.

For poetry lovers who want to read about love and the way that feelings and heartaches stemming from such a small word do not change through generations, I recommend this book as an excellent read.

Bettie Corbin Tucker
For Independent Professional Book Reviewers

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Review: She's My Dad Provides Provocative Drama!

She’s My Dad

By Iolanthe Woulff
Outskirts Press, Inc.
ISBN: 9781432743772
457 Pages

"Reverend Shorr sipped a glass of water. 'Sometimes I think that the scientific community has taken us all much too far, much too fast. Life was complicated enough before...But we mustn’t second-guess our Lord...'"

What a powerful suspense drama! She’s My Dad by Iolanthe Woulff is a provocative hold-no-bars book that successfully illustrates the power of both love and hate. Woulff does this through characters that are so alive with their emotions that readers are immediately caught within the honest reality portrayed. Fascinating!

By nature of the material covered, readers should be aware that some content might be offensive. Personally, I didn’t find it so because the characters that were offensive were those I enjoyed hating! Then, too, as Reverend Shorr admitted in the book, there is too little written and taught about today’s sexuality and our technological world. I believe this type of fiction is one of the ways by which it can be shown how love can triumph over hate. The novel is somewhat based upon the true experience of the author. She has my admiration for her courage.

Nickie Farrell graduated from Windfield College and then came back many years later to apply for a temporary position replacing an English professor. During her college years, she had participated in an affair with a local resident and a child had come from that relationship. Nickie was the father of that child.

During her absence, Nickie had undergone a medically monitored sex change and was now a beautiful woman. At least Alex Steward thought so since upon their first meeting, Nickie and Alex had been immediately attracted to each other.

Beautiful love story? Not!

There was an excessive amount of town-gown tension between Windfield students and local residents. There was sufficient history that was still remembered by residents, especially, Ambassador Eamon Douglass, of how the free-thinking liberal college had been started and the students who arrived in town were either ignored, hated or worse.

As Nickie became involved in teaching, one particularly zealous journalism major started noticing and wondering about Nickie’s background and started to investigate. In many ways, her news article set off much that occurred, but it was hate and fear that fed the major events, which finally culminated in a terrorist plan to bomb the College!

This book is about hope. Hope for a time when those who are different in some way are not automatically hated. There will always be evil people, but they cannot be stereotyped. They could be your neighbors or your supposed friends. As proclaimed several times in the book, “Hate destroys everything. Don’t let it destroy you.”

Thank you Iolanthe Woulff for She’s My Dad—a highly recommended, truly remarkable book!

G. A. Bixler