Asymmetrical Me Remembered
(for Edita)
how certain lonely nights
spanning nearly a lifetime,
sometimes collude on the field
of dreams, as a collection,
an ongoing angst that lingers
there, and in other spaces
and places throughout
each day and night.
There is nothing linear
about them, only distortions
of trusts, of enduring love,
of almost everything of value
held so dear.
On Contemplating Just A Bit
Of My Growing Up
On certain days, I wished to know
what Mother thought as a means,
however temporary, of coping
with each day, the things I imagined
she must have had to do to get
through the complications,
the miseries of her failing health,
the scheduled and unscheduled work,
the almost certain chaos of a brood
of children, her outside jobs,
demands of Dad, and a less than
perfect house . And then,
there were the passions
of her own beliefs to factor in,
some not shared with Dad.
What did she think that made her work
tirelessly on? Or did she really have
time for much reflection? Did she
just know, by some magic mothers
often have, how to walk the paths
she trod, to finally get us through,
to turn us loose to fly?
Why Am I The Way I Am In Poetry?
by Laverne Frith
Books have played pivotal roles in my life’s picture from the earliest beginnings—preschool through my early education in Muskogee, Oklahoma schools (including Phillis Wheatley Elementary, Paul Laurence Dunbar Junior High School, and Manual Training High School, schools of excellence in instruction, values, engagements, schools that demanded the best and gave the best in return.
Why I write is probably inseparable from what I write about. I say this, knowing full well that the complex roots of why we write are deeply entrenched, widespread and entangled. Why indeed am I not able to control the impulses to read, to explore, to examine, to reflect upon and about the world around me, or, as R.W. Emerson might have said as in his essay, Nature, how do I somehow grasp firmly the relationships I cannot fail to sense with the natural world, the natural order of things? A near-lifetime adventure with photography has been of inestimable value for me in this area. And I certainly do not mean to exclude other valuable genres, such as music, dance, theater, et al.
So I share, and attempt to share the sheer joy that poetry in all its most sentient aspects unveils, uncovers, reveals, the doors to which are open and available to all with the will and impulse to let poetry happen all over again, ever deeper, ever more abundantly, and in so many new and often unexpected ways.
This is only a function, a small function of the motivation, the sine qua non, of why I must continue to write, to encourage others through my poems, my suggestions for unblocking the writing process, with ideas for new approaches, all of which I have personally explored, and through which I have achieved results. I have pursued this through presentation of workshops, through editorship of journals, through the writing of columns for Senior Magazine (now SeniorMagLive) through its extensive distribution and presence on the Worldwide Web. This particular monthly column has been the source of directions in poetry continuously since February of 1996.
In addition, my wife, Carol, and I, edit the poetry journal, Ekphrasis, focused on poems about art, perhaps the most rapidly expanding genre in poetry. Our journal was founded in 1997.
There is no one answer, no one source, for poetic inspiration and guidance, but a multiplicity of them. The poet, however, must be of an exploratory nature, must be inquisitive, experimental, and open to finding his or her own true way.
Read, read, read, or take whatever path you might, but be open to the ideas that have framed the scene as we know it, ideas that will still be valuable wherever that path takes us in the future.
These are just a few of the things that come to mind when I consider the who, the why, the what I personally represent in poetry—as I struggle to be the poet I really want to be. Test, test, test you own work. Work to become your own best editor, your own best critic. Learn through process to be a fair judge of your own writing. And I would be remiss indeed if I did not draw particular attention to the many years of sharing the wonderful adventure of poetry with my loving wife, Carol, and with so many welcoming and supportive poetry communities broadly.
BIOGRAPHY: LAVERNE FRITH
Laverne Frith is co-editor of Ekphrasis, a journal of poetry in which each poem focuses on a single work of art. He is a long-term poetry columnist for the widely circulated Senior Magazine (now SeniorMagLive). Laverne has chapbooks from Talent House, White Heron Press, and three chapbooks from Finishing Line Press—Drinking The Light and The Range Of Seeing, both of which were nominated for The Commonwealth Club of California’s California Book Awards, and Swimming In A Southern Reservoir, which has just been released. Another chapbook, Celebrations: Images and Texts, was released from Rattlesnake Press in 2009. Celebrations: Images and Texts features Frith’s photography as well as his poetry. Laverne was runner-up for the 2004, 2005, & 2006 Louisiana Literature Prize in Poetry. His poetry has been accepted or appeared in Poetry New York, Christian Science Monitor, Song of the San Joaquin, Tiger’s Eye, Sundog, Comstock, Montserrat, California Quarterly, Dalhousie, and numerous other publications. He has a Pushcart Prize nomination and honors and awards in many poetry competitions. His full-length collection from Cherry Grove Collections (WordTech Communications) was released this spring. He and his wife, Carol, authors of Practical Poetry—A Guide for Poets, have presented many workshops on poetry subjects over the years. They have co-authored reviews for the national Literary Magazine Review.
