The Heron Clan Congregates on Zoom

One of my longer poems “Cocks” was accepted this spring for an anthology called Heron Clan VII. The Heron Clan is a group headed by Doug Stuber of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Each anthology (this is the seventh) is about 300 pages. The expectation is that the printed book will appear in the fall of 2020 and will contain poems by 127 poets, including Valerie Nieman, Shelby Stephenson,  Andrena Zawinski, etc. What is impressive about the list of poets is that it is very diverse, including poets in Dublin, Ireland.

In May, Stuber set up a series of Zoom sessions to introduce with short readings those who will be in Heron Clan VII. On May 17, I presented three poems including the first section of “Cocks” which presents the story of a Jamaican youth and what happened to him when his father ran into trouble with the local police. I wanted to encourage curiosity and give the sale of the anthology a boost. Several of my friends attended the program.

Since the covid19 pandemic hit more readings of poetry have been popping up. One of the challenges of online readings, particularly on the Zoom platform, is making sure that the audience learn how to mute themselves or that the moderator does this for them. The listener is usually unaware of how low level noise is magnified on these platforms. I requested that everyone mute themselves before I started reading and when that didn’t happen I asked the moderator to do it and had to walk him through where to find the controls. As a consequence, I had a very successful reading.

The last session begins at 7pm EDT.

May 28^th.  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82610750045  

Zoom Meeting Identification: 826 1075 0045

More information about Heron Clan VII at https://dougstuber.wordpress.com/.

Instant Gratification

On Monday, April 13, 2020, I sent a single poem to Poetry Super Highway for their 22^nd annual issue of Holocaust Remembrance. By Saturday, April 18, 2020, my poem “what was hidden” was published. Granted the deadline for submitting was imminently close, but the editor/publisher Rick Lupert publisheda total of 59 poets, including three people I know Susana Case of New York, Judith Robinson of Pittsburgh, and Marianne Szlyk of Rockville, Maryland.

 

“what was hidden” is in Golden Shovel format, which means it uses a quote where each word of the quote is used as a writing prompt. The quote I use is “I know the dark delight of being strange, the penalty of difference in the crowd, the loneliness of wisdom among fools” by Claude McKay from his poem “My House.” These 21 words form the last word of the 21 lines of my poem about Anne Frank. Anne Frank, her family, and her diary are also mentioned by four other poets in this issue.

National Poetry Month off to a great start!

Someone upstairs loves me. On April 1, 2020, the start of National Poetry Month, I got notice, as promised maybe two months ago,  of my poem “Garden Sex” going live in Spank the Carp. 

Here is the link to the poem: http://www.spankthecarp.com/issue56_alenier.html

Not only is my poem published but I was featured in their “Mind of a Poet” series which you can see at the bottom of their table of contents page. On this 2^nd page, you will see a discussion of my poem which I wrote as well as my poem, bio and photo.

If you go back to the table of contents page and access the individual poems and short stories, you will see in the upper right hand corner a box that reads “Vote for your favorite work.”

The editor Ken Schweda likes to know from the audience what work is favored. I think it is a kind of beauty contest myself but it’s fun.

I also want to say that the month of March, despite its frightening news and restrictions coming at us/me, had some personal publishing bright spots.

I sent a sample of 12 poems from my unpublished manuscript when it drops you gonna feel it  to a publisher of the old school and he got back to me a few days and said please send me the entire manuscript. One of his reasons why he liked it was that anyone who loved opera and reggae has got to be an irresistible read.

I also got an acceptance from Katherine E. Young for her poetry anthology Written In Arlington. The poets in this collection (coming out she hopes by fall 2020 from Paycock Press) all have a connection to Arlington, Virginia. My connection is that for years I taught in the Pick-a-Poet program that sent poets into the Arlington county public schools to do poetry workshops. I also won a Moving Words contest that put  my poem “Neapolitan Love Song” https://www.arlingtontransit.com/about/programs/moving-words/2003-poems/ (OMG, in this time of Covid 19 this poem depicts being on a crowded bus!) and later I actually ran the Moving Words contest. Wisely, Katherine asked me for a poem set in Virginia if not Arlington.

On April 1, Katherine  starts promoting the anthology by featuring a poem from the collection on her website:  https://katherine-young-poet.com/written-in-arlington/   The anthology will showcase 150 poems from poets who are well accomplished as well as high schoolers, incarcerated, and speaking and writing in other languages. Do visit there frequently to see how this anthology is shaping up!

Publishing Flood

Let's call it a flood. Yes, I, the Steiny Road Poet, got another poem published.


"Hurt" is part of my circulating manuscript when it drops you gonna feel it. Of the 56 poems in this manuscript, there are 23 poems now published.

Find "Hurt" on pages 23-24 of Medical Literary Messenger Fall/Winter 2019. Yes, they published this edition in 2020 that reads 2019. Have  a look at  https://med-lit.vcu.edu. There are many fine poems by poets with impressive credentials.

Publishing Wave Continues

The publishing wave continues with two poems taken at Beltway Poetry Quarterly now under the stewardship Indran Amirthanayagam and Sara Chahill Marron but hats off to Venus Thrash who, along with Indran, were on the selection committee.

“sunset from the cliffs” and “when it drops you gonna feel it” (http://www.beltwaypoetry.com/sunset-from-the-cliffs-when-it-drops-you-gonna-feel-it-karren-alenier/) are from a small group of poems about Jamaica which are part of the manuscript when it drops you gonna feel it, that I am currently circulating. I’m particularly pleased  that “when it drops you gonna feel it,” a poem that was published in a print journal, is getting new attention.

Also included in this issue on the theme of revolutionary music (see Table of Contents http://www.beltwaypoetry.com/current-issue/)  are such others as Ethelbert Miller, Terry Winch, and Cliff Bernier.

Something I would call publishing love rolled in during the wee hours of Valentine’s Day—one poems from my Jamaican series, was accepted by a print anthology.