JC is delighted that California-based Silver Birch Press has featured her poem about the Grand Canyon in its new series on landmarks.
Here’s the link to the post to paste into your browser:
https://silverbirchpress.wordpress.com/2020/07/08/at-the-south-rim-by-jc-sulzenko-landmarks-series/
“I thank Silver Birch Press Editor Melanie Villines for publishing “At the South Rim” along with my explanation of how that one-time visit to the canyon affected and continues to affect me. I hope one day to return. Sharing this poem takes me to the moment I first took in the spectacle that is the Grand Canyon and felt somehow I had been let in on a secret beyond my imagination.”
Anthem
The Mountie sings “O Canada”—
a fine baritone in scarlet.
Odd how his stiff, brown hat stays put.
I strain to hear the others. Their singing jumbles
off high glass planes, transparent walls.
I make out “Des plus brilliants,
God keep,
Glorious and free.”
I hear my voice, small in the great room
“O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.”
I will the words to be true,
fear we are not up to it.
Many don’t vote,
squander their choices, our democracy.
Grumble at leaders in power almost by default.
Our fault, really.
Centred in little lives, blind to our need
to protect our Canada — beautiful, fragile.
We ought to know better, to know
what to do for our country every day
and in times of flood, plague, war and fire.
Could someone tell us how
or should we go out there, start somewhere,
work not only for ourselves
but for our Canada.
A half hour a day spent by
each of the 37+ million of us
(minus the sick, the too-young)
would sure buy a lot
of standing on guard.
JC Sulzenko
(CBC radio broadcast an early version of this poem )
JC, a Jane Austen devotee, just finished this Oakville author’s 2020 novel. JC gives it an 8.5/10 rating. Go to Bookends to see the review.
The June 12 Glebe Report carries JC’s review of this memoire by Whitehorse-based author Eva Holland. ALLEN LANE, an imprint of Penguin Canada published “Nerve” in May.
The review admits upfront that JC has known the writer since she was a child and has watched her career with an interest that is both a professional and personal.
If JC had reviewed the book on this site for her “Bookends” feature, what rating would JC have given “Nerve?” 9/10!
Here’s the link to the paper. The article appears on page 22.
https://www.glebereport.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/GR-June-2020_web.pdf
Right after Editor Melanie Villines ended this California press’s hiatus, JC welcomed the opportunity to contribute her poem “Deadbolt” to its new, online series.
“The Editor’s choice of ’my front door’ for the current series’ theme strikes me as inspired and evocative. During the pandemic, what happens inside or outside open or closed doors, whether metaphorical or physical, offers poets such scope to explore experiences real or imagined,” JC commented.
Silver Birch Press has published JC’s poems in a number of its anthologies and in various online series. She is the only Canadian whose work appears in its 2015 chapbook anthology, IDES.
Here is the link to “Deadbolt” to cut and paste into your browser:
https://silverbirchpress.wordpress.com/2020/05/12/deadbolt-by-jc-sulzenko-my-front-door-series/
zoom once defined a lens
now opens conversations
face-to-face-to-face
JC was delighted that Editors at VALLUM chose her found poem “Whether or not transference occurs” for issue 17.1, which launched at an innovative, online watch party on April 24, 2020. Here is the link that will bring you her reading.
https://www.facebook.com/VallumMagazine/videos/174245443751882/
“Whether or not transference occurs” uses words drawn unaltered from death notices and obituary articles published on a single day in the Toronto GLOBE AND MAIL. The poem is part of a full collection seeking a publisher.
“I thank VALLUM’S Editors for including my piece in the ‘home’ issue. It’s a privilege to appear in the magazine and to be in the fine company of other poets whose work is featured there,” JC noted after the launch. She took the opportunity also to read two centos.
Here is a link to VALLUM’s whole digital issue 17.1:
http://www.vallummag.com/current_issue_copy171.html
JC writes centos and found poetry under the pseudonym A. Garnett Weiss.
JC offers her deepest sympathy to the family of patriarch Ellis Marsalis along with her poem,”Like father, like son.” Written in 2003 after the Marsalis family played together at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, the poem has been published elsewhere, most recently in VERSE AFIRE (The Ontario Poetry Society.)
May memories of Ellis, as was his life, be a blessing.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON
Ellis Marsalis caresses the keys, releases melody.
His sons trombone, sax, trumpet, drum
into the music, explore its geography,
improvise new routes to the source of sound.
They play together, yet play alone,
a composition so intimate it’s a surprise
when the jazz flows back to where it began.
What lingers is not only the music.
It’s Ellis. His voice soft,
he introduces each son
as though unwrapping a gift.
Did he know from the start how it would be,
sharing the same stage, each other’s rhythms
the joyful dissonance, harmonies?
He’d likely say luck had a hand in it, led
his boys past the usual rejection of a father’s
ways to choose such instruments
for the love of him, for the love of song.
COUNTING
First the children, immune to this assault,
their coughs and sneezes innocent for now.
Then their parents, our children —
not in the crosshairs, but still…
These tykes, their dads & moms feel well,
grateful for no symptoms, yet wide-aware
every breath’s a timebomb tick
if they’re carriers.
We, the elders/the old, keep distant, weave
sorry days around, away from those we love.
Cloistered, anxious, tethered to a hope for health,
we hold no expectation of normal.
A wall
transparent, translucent
Easy to walk through
if you dare
I don’t
I stare at the street
Sunlit, snow covered
empty
Put my hands up to the wall
Feel cold, cold
cold as hard as my choices
Be exposed or cocoon
Hyper-vigilant, yet numb
I want to run, don’t know where
JC is very pleased that her work will appear in upcoming issues of VALLUM: CONTEMPORARY POETRY and THE NAUGATUCK RIVER REVIEW. In May, Poetry Leaves, a poetry exhibition and anthology project of the Waterford Township Public Library (Michigan), was slated to feature her for the second year in a row.
“I’m delighted by the reception my found poetry has received and look forward, as well, to seeing an ekphrastic poem based on an image by Prince Edward County photographer Graham Davies in print.
JC continues to curate “Poetry Quarter” for the community newspaper,THE GLEBE REPORT, and serves on the selection board for ByWords.ca, an online, monthly poetry journal.
JC is very pleased that Jenny O’Grady, Editor and Publisher of The Light Ekphrastic (TLE), chose her to collaborate with Baltimore artist Leah Michaels for the August issue of the online journal.
The journal exclusively publishes ekphrastic collaborations.
JC is no stranger to TLE and welcomes the opportunity to write in response to works of art and to have her work interpreted by artists who use various media.
In “Recessional,” JC offered a poem originally written to incorporate words from a poetry challenge. Leah Michaels chose to create an image related to memory, relationship, language, and ruins in response.
In “I must bury sorrow,“ JC writing as A. Garnett Weiss, used the cento form and lines from Robert Browning to respond to Leah’s image of The Angel of Grief by 19th century US sculptor William Wetmore Story.
Here is the link to their work to cut and paste into your browser:
https://thelightekphrastic.com/august-2019-issue-39/michaels-sulzenko-august-2019/
JC thanked Leah Michaels and Jenny O’Grady for the chance to let art influence her poetry and for her poetry to influence art in such a forum.
“I find great joy in writing ekphrastic poetry,” JC admits. “I feel enriched by each experience.”
Working together, JC and writing partner Carol A. Stephen have developed a full collection of ekphrastic poems written collaboratively, some of which have been published. All they need now is a poetry publisher to help these innovative intepretations reach a wider audience.
Poet JC brought her impromptu poetry-writing to the Birds and Bees Fundraiser on Saturday, July 27 during two, 90-minute time slots.
For a $10 fee, she interviewed willing nature enthusiasts and turned what she learned into a poem with a minimum of 3 lines, which the buyer received in file form after the event. All proceeds benefitted PEPtBO in Prince Edward County, Ontario.
Use this link to access a poem JC wrote in response to a commission at the event by Tamara Segal:
https://www.facebook.com/324148114673039/posts/718871921867321?s=714679292&sfns=mo
“This tailored poem is a mini-version of the services I provide when I write poetry on commission,” JC explained.
JC only writes on subjects within the bounds of public discourse. There are no returns, and the copyright for each poem stays with JC.
“I just can’t resist the challenge: writing to a subject not of my choosing, suggested by someone whom I didn’t know beforehand, for the most part, to mark a birthday, an anniversary, a special event or person, or in memoriam,” JC admits. “That is why I launched “BESPOKE POETRY” to give me the chance to create new poems or poems to-go this way.”
JC began her love affair with poetry written on demand many summers ago at a showcase for artists, crafts people and assorted others in her neighbourhood. Wearing a lot of sunscreen and with paper pad and pen, she set up a table and offered to write poems for visitors at $2.50 each, the proceeds of which went to a charitable organization. She cannot remember to which one the modest take went that first year.
Though not a big fundraiser, JC found the experience exhilarating. “I used a number of the poems written at that festival in “Fat poems Tall poems Long poems Small,” my ekphrastic book of poems for families and children to which Ottawa artists contributed interpretative illustrations.” Several other poems found their way into chapbooks.
For a couple of years, JC returned to the venue. Each year, the price tag went up by a bit. The final year of her participation, she raised funds for a local hospital.
Then she stopped, overtaken by other writing projects including “Boot Crazy” and later by “What My Grandma Means to Say,” her book and play about Alzheimer’s disease.
Now she has taken up poetry on commission again with enthusiasm. The process begins with agreement on a base price for the poem, which can take the form of free verse or rhyme. The ‘buyer’ pays JC upfront. Then, there’s an interview which can take as little as 10 minutes over the phone or up to an hour face-to-face, where that’s convenient to the parties.
JC considers carefully what she has learned about the subject and writes the poem within the timeframe agreed to in the discussions. The length of the poem can vary depending the subject matter. Once she’s satisfied, she shares the poem and asks for comments as to accuracy only. If there are any factual inaccuracies, she corrects them and then provides a final text.
She asks that the poem not be published without her prior permission and then only with clear acknowledgment as to her authorship.
“I have written about a granddaughter’s graduation from high school on her birthday, the death of a child, a dog who dreams. It’s such an adventure, never knowing where a new poem will begin or to where it will take me.”
The Prince Edward County Arts Council’s inaugural Wind and Water writing contest gave JC the opportunity to submit her cento, “Sacred place where each thing speaks itself” for consideration. JC writes centos and found poetry using her pseudonym, A. Garnett Weiss.
She read the poem, which won the competition, during the Picton Art Crawl on Thursday, June 27 at the Art in the County exhibition.
JC thanked the jury for selecting her poem. “The cento is a poetic form which gives me great pleasure to write. It’s like a puzzle when I choose and use lines from the fine work of other poets from many eras to create a completely new work which both respects the original material yet takes its own path.”
JC’s centos have been successful in many contests and appear in a number of anthologies. Her lyric and narrative poems appear in “South Shore Suite, Poems.”
Information on the Suite is available from the publisher, www.pointpetrepublishing.ca.
JC is delighted that the poems she submitted to the 2019 Writers-Editor’s Network WrEN Award for Poetry took first place in the poetry for children category.
JC had put forward 5 poems from her suite, “Pelican Circus,” also the lead poem. The other titles were: “The Pelican and the pirate”, “In the Everglades”, “Signs and Wonders “, and “The Rescue.”
Here is a the link to the announcement: https://www.writers-editors.com/Writers/Contests/Winners/winners.htm .
The reason for the award? “Strong observation, skilful use of description and environmental awareness mark these poems.”
In addition to the comments posted there, Judge Mary Harwell Sayler wrote JC a letter in which she noted the following: “I appreciate your introducing a sense of story… Poems often excel when they help readers to ‘be there’, which your poetry certainly does.”
She added, “This type of writing will surely help young people to care about nature, and, hopefully, become actively involved in positive ways throughout their lives.”
JC thanks Judge Harwell Sayler and the Writers-Editors Network for honouring her work with this prize .
“Now all I need is a publisher to come forward so that children and families can enjoy the whole suite of poems which follows a child from the North country on his first visit to the south in winter.”
Just after the June 16 Sunday noon news, JC recommends a book that influenced her as part of a panel on Lynn Pickering’s The County Writes…The County Reads, 99.3 FM Prince Edward County.
Sworn to secrecy until the big reveal, JC welcomed the opportunity to hype her selection as a book from which every Canadian would draw benefits at many levels.
Selecting one title proved challenging. She almost chose Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” a book she revels in rereading. She also found it difficult to resist Anne Lamott’s “Bird By Bird,” which she considers one of the best primers on how to let oneself develop a writing process that is satisfying.
Tune into the show. Here’s a link: https://www.facebook.com/993CountyFM
On Thursday, June 27 JC joins in Arts Crawl festivities with a reading at the Armoury in Picton, Ontario at 6:30 PM.
The Prince Edward County Arts Council held its inaugural Wind and Water Writing Contest, which JC won. JC will read the winning cento, written using her pseudonym A. Garnett Weiss, and a selection from her debut collection, “South Shore Suite…POEMS,” from Point Petre Publishing (www.pointpetrepublishing.ca)
Here’s a link to the FB posting from the Council about the event and the Crawl around town.
https://www.experiencepicton.com/picton-art-crawl?fbclid=IwAR3Kh_BYE7_7jR01jx3OxTP1I6_N6jbYqxfS39qlSOX50naYTd5eA-vUaGs
JC is very pleased that her cento “Sacred place where each thing speaks itself” won first place in the inaugural Wind and Water Writing Contest convened by the Prince Edward County Arts Council. She writes found poetry and centos using the pseudonym A. Garnett Weiss.
This is how the Arts Council website describes the Jury’s rationale for selecting “Sacred place where each thing speaks itself”:
“The winner was chosen from dozens of entries in a wide variety of genres, yet Sulzenko’s piece stood out for eloquent use of imagery, a clear and confident voice, and unique line breaks that made for a stunning and powerful read. Sulzenko’s creativity perfectly captured our theme of Exploring, creating an image that speaks to anyone familiar with the County and nature itself. JC Sulzenko has published poetry widely, in national and local award and has published in many other literary magazines.”
JC thanks jury members playwright Marianne Ackerman, publisher Leigh Nash of Invisible Publishing, and writer Sarah Selecky for choosing her work and local author Kelly Thompson for short-listing the poem.
Here is the link to the Council’s site, where the cento is posted:
https://countyarts.ca/wind-water-writing-contest/
County readers and nature enthusiasts celebrated the release in print of the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory’s 46-page, full colour poetry chapbook “For the Birds,” first published on its website in January, 2019.
The collection of 20 winning poems written by 17 poets from the County and away and complemented by fine images taken by local photographers Ian Dickinson and Hélène Tremblay came together as a result of the Observatory’s first poetry contest. Poems by County writer and publisher Brian L. Flack and by Walter H. Watt of Richmond Hill shared first place in the contest.
As part of PEPtBO’s May 11- 20 Spring Birding Festival programming (www.peptbo.ca), this special event included the awards ceremony and readings by poets whose work appears in “For the Birds.” Prince Edward County Public Library CEO Barbara Sweet welcomed the poets and friends to the launch and spoke of the value of the relationship the Library enjoys with PEPtBO. PEPtBO Vice-President and Municipal Counsellor John Hirsch awarded prizes to the winning poets.
Copies of “For the Birds” @ $12 each are available at the Observatory during the festival, from PEPtBO’s online store and at Books and Co. and the Local Store in the County. Net proceeds from the sale of each chapbook benefit PEPtBO’s migration monitoring and reporting work at the County’s South Shore.
JC congratulated the finalists at the May 14 Awards ceremony in Ottawa. Here’s the link to the Canadian Authors Association (Ottawa Branch) announcement of winning writers and poems.
http://canadianauthors.org/nationalcapitalregion/contests/ncwc/
JC felt honoured to judge the poetry entries in this year’s writing contest. “I recognize how idiosyncratic the process is: one judge’s selections are particular to that judge.
“Judging the work blind is a blessing, so that the identity of the top entrants remained unknown to me until the announcement. I was delighted with the results! The winning poems by Sylvia Adams and by Susan Atkinson were both memorable and incomparable, which is why I recommended, and the CAA accepted, that these poets share first place in the competition.”
Texts of the winning poetry and short stories will be published in “Byline”, the Branch’s newsletter.
With sadness, JC read today of the death of master poet Patrick Lane.
JC, writing as A. Garnett Weiss, created a cento for her manuscript which uses lines from individual poems in Lane’s collection of 40 poems, “Winter.”
She offers the poem here to pay homage to Lane’s legacy and in his memory.
In that certain darkness decided
He is the dream man, given to her by the snow;
a sharp, lean hero, immaculate and alone
where the weak have no place.
She knows their flesh is a repetition.
It is the story about grief and music
scored with myriad tiny cuts
so perfect no one will ever know
to listen to their singing, the voices,
the shouts, the lamentation after
their wild impossible crying for more.
Everything is ready to begin
that impossible dream of beauty
because it resembles the unfolding we call love.
Cento gloss: In that certain darkness decided
Title: Patrick Lane, “Winter 4”*
Line 1: Patrick Lane, “Winter 40”
Line 2: Patrick Lane, “Winter 43”
Line 3: Patrick Lane, “Winter 32”
Line 4: Patrick Lane, “Winter 36”
Line 5: Patrick Lane, “Winter 35”
Line 6: Patrick Lane, “Winter 8”
Line 7: Patrick Lane, “Winter 21”
Line 8: Patrick Lane, “Winter 10”
Line 9: Patrick Lane, “Winter 42”
Line 10: Patrick Lane, “Winter 11”
Line 11: Patrick Lane, “Winter 6”
Line 12: Patrick Lane, “Winter 22”
Line 13: Patrick Lane, “Winter 29”
JC is thrilled to participate in READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY in Beaufort.
Here’s a link to what is spearheaded by the United Way of the Lowcountry from 10:00 AM until 1:00 PM on the anniversary of Dr. Seuss’s birthday.
https://uwlowcountry.org/read-across-america-3/
The free program of readings, games and food is aimed at children from Pre-K to Grade 3 and takes place at 801 Carteret St., the Center for the Arts at the University of South Carolina Beaufort.
JC learned about this celebration through local author Elizabeth Belenchia and welcomes the kind invitation of the United Way to share her poems and stories with Lowcountry children and their families.
Wait ‘til you see what JC wears to help her explain what makes a poem a poem and as she reads from “Boot Crazy” and “Fat poems Tall poems Long poems Small.”
She may even try out some new poems to get feedback from the kids.
When JC read of the death of poet Mary Olive, she paused to remember very fine words by Oliver that will stay with her always.
“As A.Garnett Weiss, I wrote the following cento a few years ago, which I offer in recognition of Oliver’s craft and soul as a poet. May her memory as was her life be a blessing,” JC stated.
HOW DOES ANY OF US LIVE IN THIS WORLD
In every language, there is a word for it—
the dark heart of the story that is all.
Like a hinge, like a wing, like the part of a song
about the great wheel of growth,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
aches to be peaceful finally and at any cost—
a dream that would never breathe air.
How the mind clings to the world it knows, rushing
by the notion of oblivion:
all those gleaming and reasonless lives
in the crease and spasm of the thing about to be done
in those dark halls of honey,
with the reason for the wind forever a secret.
Cento gloss: How does any of us live in this world
Title: Mary Oliver, “Consequences”
Line 1: Mary Oliver, “The River”
Line 2: Mary Oliver, “The Chance to Love Everything”
Line 3: Mary Oliver, “Dogfish”
Line 4: Mary Oliver, “Stanley Kunitz”
Line 5: Mary Oliver, “Wild Geese”
Line 6: Mary Oliver, “Members of the Tribe”
Line 7: Mary Oliver, “The Swimmer”
Line 8: Mary Oliver, “Robert Schumann”
Line 9: Mary Oliver, “Bowing to the Empress”
Line 10: Mary Oliver, “Whispers”
Line 11: Mary Oliver, “The Shark”
Line 12: Mary Oliver, “The Moths”
Line 13: Mary Oliver, “Orion”
JC Sulzenko welcomes “For the Birds,” the 46-page collection of winning poems in the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory’s first contest, complemented by full-colour images taken by local photographers.
Published online (www.peptbo.ca) by the Observatory (PEPtBO) on January 15, the words of 17 poets and photos by Ian Dickinson and Hélène Tremblay offer a unique celebration of bird life in the County. Poems by Brian L. Flack and Walter H. Watt took the top prize in PEPtBO’s first poetry contest.
“We held this contest and are publishing this beautiful chapbook online to keep a focus through the winter on the importance of bird migration and habitat to Prince Edward County, “ PEPtBO President Peter Fuller explained.
JC judged the entries and edited the chapbook. “”For the Birds” features poems about songbirds and raptors, waterfowl and scavengers which honour the wonders of nature in the County in a unique way,” she added.
“I thank PEPtBO for this opportunity and appreciate, in particular, how Borys Holowacz’s elegant layout and Peter Fuller’s webmastery contributed to making this fine collection a reality.”
PEPtBO will hold an award ceremony and public reading from “For the Birds” in conjunction with programming during the Spring migration period.
[PEPtBO, a registered charity, has the mandate to monitor and report on bird migration along the South Shore of Prince Edward County. The organization’s volunteers also act as official caretakers of the South Shore Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) through which millions of birds and thousands of Monarch butterflies migrate.]
JC led an interactive discussion of why, when and how she writes award-winning poetry under her own name or using a pseudonym.
She read from her collection, South Shore Suite…Poems, which Point Petre publishing in Prince Edward County published in late 2017 (pointpetrepublishing.ca) and gave an overview of her experimental writing and experience in judging poetry contests and in editing.
She also responded to questions about her use of the pseudonym A. Garnett Weiss and about the challenges of writing for children. Participants used the occasion to pour over her books and even to purchase copies.
JC thanks Abbotsford House for the opportunity to speak to its members.
Ontario poets joined together to celebrate the legacy of Canada’s Confederation Poets on Sunday, October 14 at the Old Ottawa South Community Centre for the Poets’ Pathway awards in response to the 2018 Lampman Challenge. Each winning poem related in some way to Ottawa and to Archibald Lampman’s sonnet,”Winter Uplands,” written in 1899. Poets’ Pathway Press released the chapbook of winning poems at the event.
The Poets’ Pathway honours Ottawa’s 19th Century poets on the land that inspired them. Copies of the chapbook are available through the Poets’ Pathway (poetspathway.ca) for $10 each.
JC’s found poem, “Winter@Uplands,” sourced from Lampman’s sonnet and submitted under her pseudonym (A. Garnett Weiss), received Honourable Mention in the competition.
Poets’ Pathway committee members Jane Moore, Ben Glossop and Carolyn Malchy organized a full and satisfying afternoon which began with the presentation of awards. Participating poets read their work, and Ronnie R. Brown hosted an open mic session.
Music by Ben Glossop and by Noah Landers provided moments for reflection. Excellent nibbles created by Carolyn Best spiced up the proceedings.
Contest judge and chapbook editor JC Sulzenko welcomed many fine entries from Prince Edward County poets and visitors. She is in the process of selecting poems for the collection and in contacting the poets who submitted their work. “We received poems of such quality. I look very forward to seeing them in print.”
PEPtBO monitors and reports on bird migration along the County’s unique South Shore and acts as official caretaker of the IBA (Important Bird and Biodiversity Area.)
In January, PEPtBO plans to publish For the Birds, a chapbook of winning poems with photographs taken by local enthusiasts, on its website and to celebrate the chapbook launch with a prize for the top poem. The winner will be announced upon publication of the virtual chapbook.
JC explains.”It’s a great way to ring in the winter of 2019 by focusing on birds and nature with poems rooted in the County.” For questions about the contest, write to: info@peptbo.ca.
JC welcomed the September 21 launch of the Alzheimer Society of Prince Edward Island’s awareness campaign that features her book What My Grandma Means to Say and materials related to it, including the one-act play from which the book is derived. This website features a video performance of the play, as well as a PDF of the Discussion Guide which can be downloaded for free.
This is the third year the Society has used JC’s story for elementary school-aged children and their families in its educational outreach programs. Here’s the link to local media coverage at the start of the new school year: http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/news/local/pei-campaign-aims-to-empower-individuals-and-family-members-of-alzheimers-243712/
JC explains: “I wrote the story and the play to encourage discussion among children and their families about dementia when it affects someone dear to them.
“So often, adults find it hard to include kids in conversations about health issues. The story and the play enable the openness so important to children who otherwise may feel left out in the cold. Reading it gives children the chance to learn more about dementia and to develop their own strategies for coping with changes that affect their relationship with someone living with such diseases and conditions.
“I wish success to the Alzheimer Society of PEI’s campaign in schools in 2018-2019 and am very happy that What My Grandma Means to Say plays a part in it.”
JC’s poem “Ode to a wine-lover’s friend” featured in Silver Birch Press series PRIME MOVERS
This new, online series from California-based Silver Birch Press gave JC the opportunity to write about someone she met in the context of restrictions imposed by the pandemic who is, in his unique way, a prime mover among ‘front line’ workers. She is grateful to SBP for favouring her work with publication.
Embarrassed about the boxes of wine bottles accumulated while recycling options were unavailable, JC learned about David and his family’s novel approach to raising funds for his favourite charities.They come to the house, take away the bottles, and donate the proceeds from the returns. David’s mother, enthusiastic and warmhearted, shared his story and championed her son’s services, with emphasis on his abilities and commitment.
In “Ode to a wine-lover’s friend” JC captured the moment of their meeting and this young man’s positive disposition. She hopes David and his family will welcome the tribute.
Here is a link to the poem to cut and paste into your browser:
https://silverbirchpress.wordpress.com/2020/09/06/ode-to-a-wine-lovers-friend-by-jc-sulzenko-prime-movers-series/
Share this: