From Lady Nyo's Weblog
Good News!
June 9, 2009 by ladynyo
Dr. RK Singh has given me permission to post some of his poetry on my blog, and this will be the beginning of our new round of poetry contributions and comments.
I have invited some poets I really admire, most from the ERWA website I happened upon three years ago, but that has expanded. I hope to have some surprises here on the blog.
For those interested in some incredible poetry and poet, I am going to post some websites that will lead to a knowledge of Dr. Singh’s poetry.
” You may write to the publisher Prakash Book Depot, Bara Bazar, Bareilly 243003 India for a copy of The River Returns. You may also email them at:
prakashbookdepot@gmail.com
Some of the tanka poems are also available on my blogs, and/or:
http://rksingh.blogspot.com/2006/10/im-no-river-tanka-collection.html
http://www.geocities.com/profrksingh/tanka.htm
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-River-Returns—A-Collection-of-Tanka-poems&id=538863 “
Very Good News, Indeed!
Lady Nyo….with a poem of my own this morning.
Plum Blossom Snow
The present snowstorm of
White plum blossoms
Blinds me to sorrow.
They cascade over cheeks
Like perfumed, satin tears,
Too warm with the promise of life
To chill flesh.
Jane Kohut-Bartels
Copyrighted, 2009
Tags: Dr. RK Singh, India, more poets coming.., Poet, tanka, websites to find Dr. Singh's poetry
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Dr. RK Singh is a Poet to Love.
June 9, 2009 by ladynyo
Sometime last fall I received a comment on this blog about my poetry.
I was surprised because my poetry is not of a long duration, only having written various forms for the last 3 years. I received excellent tutelage from Gary Russell on ERWA (Erotica Readers and Writers Association), who is the Poetry Expert there. Gary, from his base in England, put us through our paces on sonnets, cinquains, chokas, haiku, tanka and other poetry forms. Some of us there took to it like starving dogs. We wrestled with the different forms, compounding our mistakes and errors, stretching the ‘rules’ but overall…..learning at a fast clip.
One writer who became a heart friend, Nick Nicholson in Canberra, AU, pushed us both for those years into more and more exploration. I was more timid about forms, he though, ended up coloring outside the lines. I got braver from his example. Soon we were writing mirror cinquains, ghazels, sonnets (the hated sonnets actually…we struggled over those a lot…) and tons of haiku and tanka. Especially tanka. I was privately known as “Tanka Teela” amongst certain friends.
But I am going far afield. I was contacted by Dr. RK Singh, a noted poet and author in India. He happened upon my blog (how do these things work??) and left me some encouraging comments. We have become friends, and I have been reading Dr. Singh’s recently published work: “Sexless Solititude and Other Poems”, and am looking for his newest work: “The River Returns” . (RK, if you read this….give me a hint where to find it, please.)
I came upon a review of Dr. Singh’s work tonight. Very good glimpse of this author’s amazing body of work (11 volumes I believe) and many, many critical reviews.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1417027
They are awaiting the monsoons to cool things off right now, and Dr. Singh and I send poems back and forth. Today he wrote me something in an email I will dare to post here, because I find Dr. Singh has so much beautiful sense and sensibility about poetry.
” There is no end to improving ones poems. One can write and rewrite. In fact writing means rewriting, be it prose or poetry.
But what you sent me to read was good and I enjoyed it. What is important is your innate sense of rhythm with thought. “
Oh, dear Dr. Singh. My innate sense of rhythm is only developing. It falters a lot. Right now it’s become more of an issue because it’s become evident in my poetry: this beguiling issue of rhythm, not just a cobbling of imaginative and descriptive words. It’s become very much an integral part of the work at hand. It certainly is a challenge because in freeverse, which I will post a piece at the end of this entry, I see how it completes the work. Reading it aloud helps, but there is more than just that. There is a question of syncopation, repeats, other more ‘musical’ things I am finding. Perhaps the safety of tanka form has been a security blanket I am beginning to venture away from.
But! I certainly agree and support his words on “There is no end to improving ones poems!”
I think we can become too in love with our words. We hold on to them like they are babies falling over a rail, or about to leave the planet, but they don’t, do they. Some times they look ‘good’ right out of the box (mind…end of the pen) but after awhile, perhaps when we are less invested in them or the poem, we can go back and ‘improve’.
I published a book this Winter: “A Seasoning of Lust”. A LOT of poetry, tanka, freeverse, haiku, sonnets I think….and now I wish I had a chance to rework many of them.
I do! I am going to publish another book, only poetry this time, and very little of it erotica. I woke up this morning knowing the title: “White Cranes of Heaven”. I haven’t a clue why that title, but it’s something tanka- like because the first line is 5 syllables. I’m feeling on comfortable ground….
Every new (and old) poet needs a Dr. RK Singh in their life. Not just for the lovely encouraging comments by this generous man, but to see how a mature and amazing poet handles it all. I would rather read Dr. Singh’s work than my own. Many times over.
Lady Nyo
(this is the poem I sent to Dr. Singh. I wrote it two years ago, and find that the best part of this poem is the change to rewrite. It gets fuller and some of the rhythm begins to develop, but there is still a lot of issues and the words…they seem rather ‘thin’ in the last stanza. But there is always next year. Like cheese, with age it will improve.)
QUEEN OF SHEBA
She walked right by me, the Queen of Sheba
black skin glinting like steel in the sun,
proud breasts topped with prouder nipples
pointing east to west, jutting dark rubies,
her turbaned head hitting the North Star
her jeweled feet skimming the South Pole.
All space between
guarded by curved fangs,
dangerous territory, alien ground.
Tattooed ribbons flowed down arms
black snakes with sensuous intent,
the sun shone on gold- tipped teeth
beacons between her dark, stained lips,
showing rarely a smile, more of a sneer.
Black-kohl eyes flashing disdain,
measuring her vast urban jungle
from the cracked sidewalks littered
with broken shards of broken lives,
to the burnt out neon signs of closed pool halls.
I offered the most honeyed of fruits,
the celestial music of spinning spheres
the jewels of exploding stars
captured in baskets for her fondling,
brought down to earth to surround with
their undeniable glory-
an aura of delight, honor, cosmic majesty.
Ah! Cruel Queen of Sheba
she walked right by me,
no glance in my direction.
She had other fish to fry
though I promised her the wealth
of Solomon.
Jane Kohut-Bartels
Copyrighted, 2009
Tags: poetry, "A Seasoning of Lust", tanka, erwa, India, "Sexless Solititude and other Poems, Dr. RK Singh, Gary Russell, freeverse
June 9, 2009 by ladynyo
Dr. RK Singh has given me permission to post some of his poetry on my blog, and this will be the beginning of our new round of poetry contributions and comments.
I have invited some poets I really admire, most from the ERWA website I happened upon three years ago, but that has expanded. I hope to have some surprises here on the blog.
For those interested in some incredible poetry and poet, I am going to post some websites that will lead to a knowledge of Dr. Singh’s poetry.
” You may write to the publisher Prakash Book Depot, Bara Bazar, Bareilly 243003 India for a copy of The River Returns. You may also email them at:
prakashbookdepot@gmail.com
Some of the tanka poems are also available on my blogs, and/or:
http://rksingh.blogspot.com/2006/10/im-no-river-tanka-collection.html
http://www.geocities.com/profrksingh/tanka.htm
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-River-Returns—A-Collection-of-Tanka-poems&id=538863 “
Very Good News, Indeed!
Lady Nyo….with a poem of my own this morning.
Plum Blossom Snow
The present snowstorm of
White plum blossoms
Blinds me to sorrow.
They cascade over cheeks
Like perfumed, satin tears,
Too warm with the promise of life
To chill flesh.
Jane Kohut-Bartels
Copyrighted, 2009
Tags: Dr. RK Singh, India, more poets coming.., Poet, tanka, websites to find Dr. Singh's poetry
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Dr. RK Singh is a Poet to Love.
June 9, 2009 by ladynyo
Sometime last fall I received a comment on this blog about my poetry.
I was surprised because my poetry is not of a long duration, only having written various forms for the last 3 years. I received excellent tutelage from Gary Russell on ERWA (Erotica Readers and Writers Association), who is the Poetry Expert there. Gary, from his base in England, put us through our paces on sonnets, cinquains, chokas, haiku, tanka and other poetry forms. Some of us there took to it like starving dogs. We wrestled with the different forms, compounding our mistakes and errors, stretching the ‘rules’ but overall…..learning at a fast clip.
One writer who became a heart friend, Nick Nicholson in Canberra, AU, pushed us both for those years into more and more exploration. I was more timid about forms, he though, ended up coloring outside the lines. I got braver from his example. Soon we were writing mirror cinquains, ghazels, sonnets (the hated sonnets actually…we struggled over those a lot…) and tons of haiku and tanka. Especially tanka. I was privately known as “Tanka Teela” amongst certain friends.
But I am going far afield. I was contacted by Dr. RK Singh, a noted poet and author in India. He happened upon my blog (how do these things work??) and left me some encouraging comments. We have become friends, and I have been reading Dr. Singh’s recently published work: “Sexless Solititude and Other Poems”, and am looking for his newest work: “The River Returns” . (RK, if you read this….give me a hint where to find it, please.)
I came upon a review of Dr. Singh’s work tonight. Very good glimpse of this author’s amazing body of work (11 volumes I believe) and many, many critical reviews.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1417027
They are awaiting the monsoons to cool things off right now, and Dr. Singh and I send poems back and forth. Today he wrote me something in an email I will dare to post here, because I find Dr. Singh has so much beautiful sense and sensibility about poetry.
” There is no end to improving ones poems. One can write and rewrite. In fact writing means rewriting, be it prose or poetry.
But what you sent me to read was good and I enjoyed it. What is important is your innate sense of rhythm with thought. “
Oh, dear Dr. Singh. My innate sense of rhythm is only developing. It falters a lot. Right now it’s become more of an issue because it’s become evident in my poetry: this beguiling issue of rhythm, not just a cobbling of imaginative and descriptive words. It’s become very much an integral part of the work at hand. It certainly is a challenge because in freeverse, which I will post a piece at the end of this entry, I see how it completes the work. Reading it aloud helps, but there is more than just that. There is a question of syncopation, repeats, other more ‘musical’ things I am finding. Perhaps the safety of tanka form has been a security blanket I am beginning to venture away from.
But! I certainly agree and support his words on “There is no end to improving ones poems!”
I think we can become too in love with our words. We hold on to them like they are babies falling over a rail, or about to leave the planet, but they don’t, do they. Some times they look ‘good’ right out of the box (mind…end of the pen) but after awhile, perhaps when we are less invested in them or the poem, we can go back and ‘improve’.
I published a book this Winter: “A Seasoning of Lust”. A LOT of poetry, tanka, freeverse, haiku, sonnets I think….and now I wish I had a chance to rework many of them.
I do! I am going to publish another book, only poetry this time, and very little of it erotica. I woke up this morning knowing the title: “White Cranes of Heaven”. I haven’t a clue why that title, but it’s something tanka- like because the first line is 5 syllables. I’m feeling on comfortable ground….
Every new (and old) poet needs a Dr. RK Singh in their life. Not just for the lovely encouraging comments by this generous man, but to see how a mature and amazing poet handles it all. I would rather read Dr. Singh’s work than my own. Many times over.
Lady Nyo
(this is the poem I sent to Dr. Singh. I wrote it two years ago, and find that the best part of this poem is the change to rewrite. It gets fuller and some of the rhythm begins to develop, but there is still a lot of issues and the words…they seem rather ‘thin’ in the last stanza. But there is always next year. Like cheese, with age it will improve.)
QUEEN OF SHEBA
She walked right by me, the Queen of Sheba
black skin glinting like steel in the sun,
proud breasts topped with prouder nipples
pointing east to west, jutting dark rubies,
her turbaned head hitting the North Star
her jeweled feet skimming the South Pole.
All space between
guarded by curved fangs,
dangerous territory, alien ground.
Tattooed ribbons flowed down arms
black snakes with sensuous intent,
the sun shone on gold- tipped teeth
beacons between her dark, stained lips,
showing rarely a smile, more of a sneer.
Black-kohl eyes flashing disdain,
measuring her vast urban jungle
from the cracked sidewalks littered
with broken shards of broken lives,
to the burnt out neon signs of closed pool halls.
I offered the most honeyed of fruits,
the celestial music of spinning spheres
the jewels of exploding stars
captured in baskets for her fondling,
brought down to earth to surround with
their undeniable glory-
an aura of delight, honor, cosmic majesty.
Ah! Cruel Queen of Sheba
she walked right by me,
no glance in my direction.
She had other fish to fry
though I promised her the wealth
of Solomon.
Jane Kohut-Bartels
Copyrighted, 2009
Tags: poetry, "A Seasoning of Lust", tanka, erwa, India, "Sexless Solititude and other Poems, Dr. RK Singh, Gary Russell, freeverse
posted by Ram Krishna Singh at 7:22 AM
1 Comments:
yo. thanks for post
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