Palabras Press

Editorial

Edges

There is nowhere to go

but we go anyway;

we go to the desert, to the hill

imagining great climbs and meditation.

We seek out every place where ‘it’ may live,

then, when we’ve found that no-thing-at-all,

we laugh and hang our feet in the stream.

We go to our edge,

to be alive.

Blossoms and Bloom: Poems that Reveal and Heal

Dear Readers:

Poetry is that edge. And in this month, the one chosen to be the month for poetry, here we are then: Alive. Alive. Alive. And why not? Without water we cannot live. Without hanging our toes in the streams of the words, images, metaphors, the ever-birthing stories that poke us and prod us to acknowledge them, how do we get to the desert, the hill, to the great climbs, and the meditation. The communities of those who yearn to scrape new poems into being, taste recognition, not just merely in the month of April. No. Every month. Every waking moment is a time of journeying, trusting the journey. A time of seeking every place, every face, every page, which fills us with a knowing that we are the rhythm of our laughter, the shape of tears, as ever are vital, vital, vital. There on the edge.

When you read the exquisite panoply of poetry set before you this month, you will read the words of several of my students, individuals who were uncertain of their voice, barely believing they had one! You will see that they do. Powerful, inspired, and inspiring voices. You will read the poetry of long-time poets, whose offerings speak meditation and might. Loudly, quietly, inviting you to hang your feet in the streams. And you will read a brilliant prose poem from my eleven-year-old niece, Emily, I Was Born to Run, which is poetry’s very metaphor. Born to run. Free. Alive. Into the open waiting spaces of possibility, where freedom is recognized for what it is, a choice. A brilliant and ever-present, ever-pressing choice to partake of life’s call.

I wish to share with you the name of each poet whose work you will read:

Bonnie Roll. Eric Ashford. Leanne Myggland-Carter. Ty Ragan. Eveline. Brenda Peddigrew. Nicholas Varias. William McCarthy. Conrad DiDiodato. Norman Cristofoli. Ahmed Waheed Sarmed. Elyssa Claire Martinez. Genevieve Nolet. Thomas Dirkse.

Emily Lowe-Wylde. Filomena Costa.

Our Feature Article, Why Poetry Matters, written as well by my student, Nancy Gerber, shares with you an intimate look at the journey with language that seeks to befriend and honour you; not to alienate and cast out. The myth that poetry is for the chosen, for a small handful of particular people, is rapidly melting into vast oceans where it melds with aqua beauty and lush potency.

NM Rai’s Artwork is poetry. Is a dance with colour, with form, with dialogue. In spending time with each of NM’s pieces, you might be, as I was, inspired to ‘dance with words’. Her piece entitled, Venice Memories, compelled me to pen.

Venice Memories

Plaster me where visions
Swirl in contemplative
Joy, as you, saturated
City melt like crystal
Cubes into the awaiting
Arms of the sea. Drench
Me with your ancient stories,
Your giddy nights of fire
And arcing calamity,
As I thrash about with
Dancing fishes,
Skimming the surface,
Shining in silver-steeped
star-light. Let
My eyes behold myth, magic,
Merriment, swallowing
Memories of too much wine,
Secret seductions, ruby-red
Desire, pearls hitting marbled
Archways. Let me drown with you
In this soaked city of unfathomable
Dreaming. Never to wake.
© Margot Van Sluytman

We at Palabras Press bid you pleasure reading and spending time with the gifts of creativity that we have shared this month, journeying with your words, hanging your feet in icy streams, laughing for all you’re worth.

Sincerely,

Margot and The Palabras Press Team

Books Published by
Palabras Press

Dance With Your Healing

Cracking Up and Back Again: Transformation Through Poetry

Run, Run Because You Can

Dancing on the Skins of Time

Morning Tasting Whispers

Speaking Through the Opening

Of Dark Night

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