We’re pleased to announce a small tasty treat for the summer — Summer 2015 Issue 6 can be downloaded here.
Red Wolf Journal Summer 2015 Issue 6
The poets with work in this edition are:
Marilyn Braendeholm
Gabrielle Bryden
Dah
Christopher Hileman
Annette Ozolins
Alan Toltzis
Richard Walker
You’re welcome to submit new poems for our upcoming Fall 2015 issue. Theme to be announced.
With pleasure,
Irene Toh and Tawnya Smith
Summer 2015 Editors
Revealed
by Marilyn Braendeholm
I stood by the waves, they stooped white
with foam, their crest
flecking midday
sun, stars of cool
sea caught on breeze, and not a cloud
specked the sky, not
a gull, nor jib blown.
The day shimmered
brighter than song. And I stood there,
bone-tired, and
to me – nothing
was sorrowful.
Process notes: After a very unpleasant day, I stood at the end of Eastbourne pier, and felt refreshed by the sea breeze. This poem form is a “Minute Poem” — a total of 60 syllables. Sometimes it only takes a minute to find yourself again.
Marilyn ‘Misky’ Braendeholm lives in the UK surrounded by flowers, grapevines, bubbling pots of sourdough starter, and always keeps dog biscuits in her pocket for her blind Springer Spaniel. She never buys clothing without pockets. Her work is published by Waterways Journal, Gnarled Oak, Poetry Quarterly, Curio Poetry, Mouse Tales Press, three international print anthologies, and placed in the top 5 Writers’ Digest Chapbook Challenge twice. She blogs at The Chalk Hills Journal.
the old man and the parakeet
by Gabrielle Bryden
the parakeet squawks dis-ease
the owner is rusty and the cage old
the door is full and the bowl is open
the newspaper is stale and seed corrupt
the wings are cracked and the beak is clipped
the old man moans his shrinking world
the parakeet is mouldy and the house is deaf
the door is empty and the plate is closed
the phone is loud and the parakeet mute
the pain is not working and the drugs flare
it’s time said the parakeet to the old man
Gabrielle Bryden is an Australian poet published in a range of anthologies; print and online journals; and on Local and National ABC Radio. She has been published in Australia, the USA and the UK. In 1999 she won first prize in the Ripple’s Magazine poetry competition.
Blogs at https://gabriellebryden.wordpress.com/
A dive so deep
by Gabrielle Bryden
on that unbearably hot day,
humid air visibly simmering,
dark blue water summoning,
summer weariness and nothing to lose.
Who hasn’t dreamt of the deep dive,
where we are too deep to resurface,
too deep for unaccustomed lungs –
sinking fast to the bottom,
like a dropped anchor,
trying to make our way back to the top,
toward that world we are supposed to live in,
aching arms pressing though heavy water,
waking in gasps as the air runs out.
The great realisation
on waking from a dream,
you have a second chance.
Gabrielle Bryden is an Australian poet published in a range of anthologies; print and online journals; and on Local and National ABC Radio. She has been published in Australia, the USA and the UK. In 1999 she won first prize in the Ripple’s Magazine poetry competition.
Blogs at https://gabriellebryden.wordpress.com/
Graduation
by Annette Ozolins
No one gets out alive
On and on and on and on
Moving into adulthood, in his own right, attached to a screen, in love–the third of
her kind–pretty and funny and not so bright
Their bodies into orbit at every close encounter
They are a tribe now
Touching one another, languid and confident
gossip of who banged who, who did who
I wish to impart some sort of something
To him, to them–subtle or overt–but age and indifference and criticism and
misunderstanding get in the way
My breast hurts
A reminder that Life with a capital L is not forever
There’s only one space and time continuum and I am on it
So are you
He is too, all of us, whether we like or not, know it or not, we are involved
There was a season to listen to voices other than our own
But that season has gone
We can no longer pretend the Mother of all mothers is invincible
We can no longer pretend
What if? How? I can’t. I will. One day.
None of that exists
It is time to fly or drop to our knees and never arise
Either way there is no time for anything else
Annette’s Process notes: “Graduation” is a piece about time and aging and mothering and letting go. While attending graduations, from high school, college, even middle school, one begins to use these passages as a time for reflection. The poem came out of one such moment. While watching high school students at their graduation party, huddled in the corner, completely self-contained, gossiping and enjoying each other’s company, it was clear that the adults, me included, were left out of these exchanges. Perhaps this is rightly so, each generation leaves the next generation behind, but it did illustrate the divide which happens over time between children and parents. It also illustrates what happens with time in general: Time moves on. It waits for no one. There is only now to do and be what we dream of.
Annette Ozolins is a filmmaker and actress with an education in Women’s Studies and Philosophy from Duke University. She was a founding member of The Downtown Playhouse in Los Angeles and has worked with activists, writers and directors such as Mike White (Enlightened, School of Rock), Luis Alfaro (Bitter Homes & Gardens, Black Butterfly) and Miguel Arteta (Star Maps, Six Feet Under). She produced the award-winning indie movie (www.perfectionthemovie.com) which highlights the contradictions between self-injury (a mostly hidden and shameful activity) and plastic surgery (a socially acceptable form of cutting and disfigurement). The movie was awarded the Adrienne Shelly Award for Female Filmmakers.
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