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Helen
Bar-Lev
Report from
Israel
12 December,
2006
Johnmichael Simon
and I returned from a two-month tour of the Northeastern USA and
Canada , the Northwestern USA and Canada on 5 October 2006.
While there we were guest poets of the CPA at the Chocolate
River Festival in New Brunswick 25.8.06 – 27.8.06 organized by
Donna Allard, CPA President; in Hamilton Ontario 2 September
where we met with Katherine L. Gordon, James Deahl, Ellen Jaffe
and wonderful others; in Boston, guests of Doug Holder of the
Ibbetson Press at the Newton Free Library; in Vancouver, guests
of the World Poetry people, Ariadne Sawyer and Alejandro
Mujica-Olea.
We returned elated
from these wonderful meetings and readings and down to business
immediately with getting the Voices Israel Annual Anthology
submissions organized. Two plus months later this is continuing,
and I, as Editor-in-Chief, have scheduled a meeting on the 26th
of the month with the six members of the editorial board for
discussion of those submissions which still have question marks
as to their acceptance into the Anthology.
Another exciting
project was a brainchild of mine – to have an exhibition for
poets who are also fine artists at the Jerusalem Theatre – this
is the most prestigious venue in Israel; tentatively we have
fifteen people who will participate and a date in October 2007.
Each artist will hang two paintings and a poem, and books of our
poetry will be sold at the bookstore located in the lobby of the
Theatre. Johnmichael will probably be putting out a catalogue of
the show.
The Reuben Rose
Annual Poetry Contest is currently being judged by Vera Rich of
London (of Manifold fame) and the awards presentation will take
place here in January, with a week of accompanying workshops.
Vera, unfortunately, will not be able to come due to health
problems, so other local poets will head the workshop this year.
Possibly she will be able to make it later on in the year. Doug
Holder will be judge for next year’s Reuben Rose Contest.
Johnmichael and I
have been published in a wonderful variety of publications;
Johnmichael has received a high distinction award for his poem
PEANUTS from the John Reid Poetry Contest and will be published
in the forthcoming Anthology SAILING IN THE MIST OF TIME. And I
was awarded third prize in the Dancing Poetry Contest of the
Artists’ Embassy International based in San Francisco for my
poem THE ENCHANTED DANCER.
We are moving up to
our new home in Metulla, right on the Lebanese border, the
middle-end of January and pray for peace.
To Pretend
Peace
Once we pretended
there was peace
We pulled the peace
over our eyes
so as not to see
how porous it was
Then a whirlwind of war
blew in from the south
from the north
blew out our peace
our crops
our forests
our optimism
We fled from cities
ate bloodied eggs
slept in strange beds
and prayed to a god
turned deaf
Fragmented
A fragment now
a word yesterday
a phrase tonight
between sirens and warplanes
and falling rockets
between forests turned to ash
and abandoned cities
Poetry cannot push through
among all the rubble
of our thoughts
our homes
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