Call for Submissions: Lost Hills Books

Back in January of '09, I did a review of a wonderful James Wright tribute collection published by Lost Hills Books, entitled From The Other World. I was contacted last week by Stephani Schaefer from Lost Hills about a Call for Submissions they were putting out. Turns out they hadn't even seen the review (and liked it when they did) but, since I know Stephani as a Lilliput subscriber, she made the connection. I promised I would pass this call on to folks who read the blog. Guidelines follow, with the 6 photos following them (you'll get it once you read the guidelines).

Following the photos are three poems to round out a healthy, nutritious post.

*********************************************

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Lost Hills Books is seeking work written in response
to the six photos attached below. We are looking for
variety: free verse, forms, prose poems, and mini-
stories. You may write to a blend of more than one
image, or respond to photos separately, and you may
send more than one piece to one photo. If the work
opens out to something beyond the photo in front of
you it's more likely to be accepted.



GUIDELINES

Create a new email and address it to

steph AT chiconet dot com (spelled out to avoid bots)

Put your title(s) in the subject line.

Include a brief bio if you like, or wait to send it
and your mailing address after work is accepted.

Tell us the photo (or photos if it's a blend) that
prompted the work.

We can use poems up to two pages and stories up
to four. Put the title and your name on each page.

You may submit up to 6 pieces, one at a time as
you finish them, or several with one email.

If you prefer to send one at a time, you can attach
it as a word document or paste it into the body of
the email.

When sending several with one email, please attach
each as a separate word document named with the
work's title.

Snail mail is acceptable if it's your only option. Email
me and we'll discuss how to handle it.

___________________________________

DEADLINE for submissions is June 1st. Final
responses will be sent out no later than September 1st.

Contributors will receive one free copy and a 50%
discount on extra copies.


Stephani Schaefer, Lost Hills Books


*********************************************

Roadside Marker

Fog and Woodsmoke

Pavement Ends


Blackbirds at Dusk



Flyway


Flooded Road


----------------------------------------


I ran across this Lorine Niedecker poem the other day, it'd been years since I last read it. It certainly could serve as a motto around these parts, so I thought I'd share it:

Poet's Work

Grandfather
---advised me:
-----Learn a trade

I learned
---to sit at desk
-----and condense

No layoffs
---from this
-----condensery

Lorine Niedecker

And this little beauty by Richard Wright:






#459

--------I am paying rent
For the lice in my cold room
--------And the moonlight too.

Richard Wright

And, at least for tonight, a companion for Mr. Wright:

by the next room's lamplight
eating my rice...
a cold night

Issa
translated David G. Lanoue

best,
Don

Roberta Beary: nothing left to say

Roberta Beary is one of the finest modern haiku poets I know. She was the winner of the 1st Annual Bashō Challenge here at Lilliput, which is probably the most modest of her many honors. With her 2009 chapbook, nothing left to say, pictured above, she joins an esteemed lineup in the King's Road Press low frills "Hexagram Series." Each of the volumes in the series is 16 pages long; nothing left to say contains 35 of Beary's haiku.

The hexagram from the I Ching on the cover is #63, "Completion." As annotated here, it is described thus:

The transition from confusion to order is completed, and everything is in its proper place. After a long and difficult period, it is finally time to rest and remain quiet.

The poems, themselves, are of a characteristic high quality. The opening haiku, from which the title derives, is a fine example modern English language haiku:

nothing left to say
an empty nest
fills with snow

This poem breaks in an one of traditional ways for modern English language haiku; the first line posits "the conclusion," with a 2 line image that follows that either describes or evokes the thought. Flip the poem around, though, for another traditional approach; with the 2 line image first and the 1st line as the conclusion the poem doesn't work nearly as well. Even with the present tense, making the 1st line the last gives it a finished feel that diminishes the power and nature of the experience. What is happening is ongoing, it is now; the reversal would undermine the continuous moment.

Next, an 8 word little poem, with considerable emotional power:

breakup—
my daughter's voice cracks
across two continents

With one word ("breakup"), the poet has encapsulated the whole situation. With its description in the 2nd and 3rd lines , the breakup is shown to have a power which geographically spans a tremendous distance, a distance which no doubt is exacerbated over the phone. Further, the use of the verb "cracks" lends the poem a tone of an almost seismic nature. The effect conjured is figuratively earth shattering, at once telling a narrative and presenting it with perfect metaphoric resonance, incredibly, without the metaphor.

in and out
of the lovers' quarrel
fireflies

I love this little poem and it probably is purely a matter of personal taste; this is what I think of as a "big picture" haiku. Placing the lovers in the midst of nature, the artist may simply put down her brush and walk away. She's done her job to perfection. There may be other movement implicit in the poem: the weaving in and out of the lovers' words, the possible physical movement of the lovers themselves as they speak. In this case, however, the unstated is just that, for a reason; the most important movement here is that of the fireflies, the how and why of them moving. All else is unimportant.

Why is the fireflies' movement so important? Is there something in it to be learned of the how and why of our movement? Does that movement mirror the lovers themselves?

Obviously, I think all of these evoked questions give the poem its intended resonance. Whether you agree that all that is important here are the fireflies really is a matter of opinion. But this little poem, which appears in 1st Annual Bashō Haiku Challenge Chapbook, is one of the highlights of a fine collection of haiku by Roberta Beary.


---------------------------------------------------

Erie poet Lonnie Sherman is one of a kind. In the early years of Lilliput, I published two chapbooks of his work, a couple of broadsides and numerous shorter poems. It was my great privilege to publish that work. Lonnie is one of the genuine post-Beat voices; not one false note about him. He works in longer forms, so he is not a natural for Lilliput. His work, however, is a natural for my heart. This week's featured broadside poem is from issue #114, which saw the light of day back in November 2000. It is one of 3 poems in that issue. Lonnie's work is done in all caps so I thought, rather than reproduce it here, I'd scan in the pages so you might get a feel for the look, a mental tactility, if you will.

As a bonus, the page also contains a drawing by a world renowned artist, making for what I hoped was a fine complementary presentation. If anyone can guess who the artist is, I'll give them a free 6 issue subscription to Lilliput (or a 6 issue extension to a current subscription) or copies of Lonnie's two chapbooks and 3 broadsides.

Click to enlarge

And a final note from Master Issa:

if my father were here--
dawn colors
over green fields

Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue

best,
Don