I. Vol. 1, Issue #4,
II. Date: June 30, 2005, Thursday Home - Menu
III. Table of Contents
A. Editorial Message
B. Poem of the Month
C. Poem Review
D. Interview
E. Announcements
F.. Advertisements
A. Editorial Message
Greetings to poetry lovers! This is the fourth issue of Muses Speak -Poetry newsletter.
Our poem for the month of June 2005 is entitled "Marooned" by Mark Stellinga. I chose this poem because this poem reflects a grain of truth in the lives of many people.
In this issue, our featured poet for the month of June is Lisa Suhair Majaj from Cyprus. Lisa is the author of the poetry chapbook - These Words - which was released in 2004.
Yours truly,
Andrew C. Angus
Editor-in-Chief
Muses Speak Newsletter
B. Poem of the Month
Marooned
by Mark Stellinga (Iowa)
Source: Phonetical Imagery (2004) Poem# 11.
Dawn is beyond what I face today
I stretch, as his land, to the sun.
My journey is long, but I rise for the day,
as another attempt is begun,
Where will I be when the moon lights my way,
when the chapter I travel is done?
As a ship with no rudder or comapass,
o'er the miles of unending I'm tossed,
Observing my path disappear just behind me
all's gone but the print where I'm paused.
I try to believe that somehow I can make it,
but fear, in my heart, I am lost.
Down with the sun, I will rest 'neath the stars,
but the dawn will begin a new race
Nothing to show me how far I have come,
and nothing to calculate pace.
Nothing to indicate shortest direction,
and no other footprints to trace.
Poised at the helm of a ship with no rudder,
on a a sea of not water, but land
I captain a ship with no sail, and no compass,
I have not a crew to command
Drifting on waves of perpetual nowhere
on an ocean of nothing but sand.
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C. Poem Review
How many of us can relate to the poem "Marooned" by Mark Stellinga. Who has not experienced losing direction in his or her life? The poem "Marooned" is about a person who is lost in the desert. He has no instrument or tools like a map or a compass to help him determine his location. The person in the poem is "drifting on waves of perpetual nowhere".
Teenagers may experienced temporarily or permanently lose their direction in life as they start to find a suitable course in college. Adults may also experienced temporarily or permanently lose their direction in life when they lose their jobs or they lose their family in divorce. I can relate to the poem " Marooned" because I experienced several times losing a direction in my life when I dropped out of college, losing one job after another, etc.
Losing a direction in life is one of the worst thing that can happen to an individual. If a person has no guide or road maps, an individual will end up not realizing one's full potential in life and end up disillusioned or worse a loser.
This poem is nominated as Best Poem of the Year 2004 for 2005 Muses Prize - Poetry.
D. Muses Speak - Interview
Our featured poet in Muses Speak- Poetry Newsletter is Lisa Suhair Majaj from Cyprus.
1. AA: Why do you like to compose poetry?
LSM: Poetry is my lifeblood. It gives me a chance to express myself yet also to figure out what I'm feeling and thinking. It's a way to integrate my perceptions and my thoughts and my emotions, and to reach out and hopefully touch people at the same time. Poetry is one way to speak in the world. It's also one way to learn how to be a better listener.
2. AA: Can people make a living by being a poet?
LSM: Hmmm. Pretty hard, as far as I can tell!! Unless you have a secure university job teaching poetry.
3 AA: What makes a poetrybook a bestseller?
LSM: I hate to say it but I suspect that poetry which is somehow more obvious or appealing to mass sentiment might have a better chance. However I don't think writing poetry with money considerations in mind is a good idea. It is wonderful to reach large audiences, but not if you have to change your language or your message. A poet should stay true to his or her vision, language and experience.
4. AA: What are your favorite themes in writing poetry?
LSM: I write about Palestine, about my experiences in the Middle East, about being Arab-American, about my children, about nature, about my perceptions of life. I write about the small moments which offer themselves to me as I go through my days - like nursing my baby or examining the wrinkles in my hands. I also write about the larger moments which impress themselves on me even when it would be easier to turn away. We are citizens of our own daily worlds, but we are also citizens of the world at large. I want to write as a citizen of both realms.
5. AA: Why should people read poetry?
LSM: No one should read anything they don't want to read. However, I think that people can learn a great deal from poetry. Not only in terms of factual material. Certainly, when I write about Palestine I may possibly educate people about a part of the world they don't know much about. But I also think people can learn, through poetry, to look more closely at the spaces between things. They can learn to see beauty in unexpected places. They can notice that every part of our human existence is worth observing, is worth honoring. And they can learn to make connections, to think in ways they hadn't thought before. Poetry doesn't spell things out. The reader has to do that. In making those connections, we expand our human knowledge.
6. AA: What makes a poem an extraordinary poem?
LSM: Voice. Imagery. Subject matter. All of these together. A poem blows me away when it brings a freshness of language and voice to a subject matter so compelling I can't turn away. Poetry isn't an intellectual game. I want it to challenge me, but not just on the level of the mind - also on the level of the heart.
Legend: AA is Andrew Angus, LSM is Lisa S. Majaj.
About Lisa S. Majaj
Lisa Suhair Majaj is a Palestinian-American writer. Her poetry, creative prose, and academic articles have been published in a wide range of journals and anthologies. She has also published three collections of critical essays on Arab and third world women: Going Global: The Transnational Reception of Third World Women Writers, coedited with Amal Amireh (Garland 2000), Etel Adnan: Critical Essays on the Arab-American Writer and Artist, coedited with Amal Amireh (McFarland 2002), and Intersections: Gender, Nation, and Community in Arab Women's Novels, coedited with Paula Sunderman and Therese Saliba (Syracuse University Press, 2002). She now lives in Cyprus with her family.
E. Announcements
Charles P. Ries is a featured poet in Muses Review for June -Spring 2005 at www.musesreview.org.
1. Books
a. Buy this poetrybook "Phonetical Imagery" by Mark Stellinga (Iowa)
www.billiard-antiques.com. Contact by email for orders: [email protected] .
b. Buy this poetrybook "The Beginning of the Tumbling" by Katie Davis-Steward (California)
www.katstu2.biz. Contact by emal for orders: [email protected]
c. Buy this poetrybook "Tears rolling down the heartstring" by Randy L. Redmond (Illinois)
www.authorhouse.com. Contact Muses Review at [email protected] for orders.
2. Advertise in this Poetry Newsletter of Muses Speak
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