Snapshot in Time

I have received the proof of "Shadows on the Carpet II" and need to make just 1 small adjustment.  While I do that, I will share 'Snapshot in Time' from the Torment section of the book along with the photograph that inspired it.  The photo was taken by my photographer friend, Michaela Varekova.

Snapshot in Time

photo by Michaela Varekova

Nature’s cruel

Parody

Of her life

Kodachrome

Excerpt from

Her journal

Above pale

Gold lit high

Strung wires

A gray and

Angry sky

Spilling blood

© Alice Vedral Rivera - 2008

Illusions in Shades of Lust

SCII cover approved!!!  The 3rd time was not the charm, but I finally figured out what was wrong with the cover and resubmitted it yesterday.  I ordered the proof today and should have it on Friday.  In the meantime, I will share a poem from the 'Torment' section of :Shadows on the Carpet II".

Illusions in Shades of Lust

photo art by AVR

Flights of fanciful
Delusional dreams
Of two souls in the
Throes of love - prone on
Opaque blue and gray
Stained tangled sheets of
Invisible lives
Splashing ruby red
Passion onto a
Canvass of ecru
Tinged with broken hearts

© Alice Vedral Rivera - 2009

Featured Reader - Tamale Hut Cafe Reading Series

I will be May's Featured Reader at the Tamale Hut Cafe Reading Series!  I will be reading from Shadows on the Carpet I, The T. Collection - A Retrospective and one selection from Dearest and Most Precious: A Love Journal.  I will have books available for purchase at a special price of $10 + some additional perks if you buy more than one of my books.  This way I will have something for those who like my dark poems and something for those who like my love and sensual poems/poetic prose.

Check out the THC Reading Series Blog

Audio Valentine

Sharing my audio version of 'Valentine' from the "Intimately Yours" cd with Chuck Berglund's soundscape with you on this Valentine's Day 2014:

 Audio version of Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day

Christmas Tree

Sharing a photo of our tree this year and sending love and light and joy around the world......

Available Now - The T. Collection

The T. Collection: A Retrospective s now available on Amazon (including in Europe)!!!  As promised, the link to my cousin, Ciba's demo version of  "I Think of You" - my lyrics from the back cover of the book with his music. 

I Think of You audio

Buy the book here

Actual book cover

Christmas Wishes

To all my friends around the world - wishing you peace, joy, wonder, love and health this Christmas season and throughout the coming new year - One Love!!!

Heart ornaments made by my friend Vera from Cedar Rapids, Iowa (originally from the Czech Republic) many years ago.

T. Collection approved for printing

Finished adjusting the cover and uploaded the tweaked interior and cover for approval.  Approved for printing!  Now to proof read it online again and order a proof copy to see if the formatting needs to be adjusted more.
 

Project Priority - The T. Collection

I have decided to make the 'T. Collection - A Retrospective' project a priority above the 'Shadows on the Carpet' at this time.  I have been sitting on the 15 poems in this series for a long time looking for someone to illustrate it for next to zero money as I have been on a shoestring budget and my efforts to raise money via Fund Anything for 'Shadows' fell flat. 

I am tapping into my own creativity and creating 'photo art' to go with the poems because I have specific images in mind to go with most of the poems.  My writers' group authors are using Create Space (Amazon)  to self publish their novels and have encouraged me to use that resource as well.  I don't know how well it will work for poetry, but they do mention poetry in their publishing info and images as well.

Soooo..........  let me share 'Marigolds' with you now.  There is an audio version of it as well for those that are interested - link provided - click here

MARIGOLDS

photo art by AVR

When I see marigolds

I remember the time

We strolled down the alley

Hand in hand

Stopping to kiss

You stooped down

Picked some marigolds

Gave them to me

A sign of your love

And then I get

A flashback

Of the pain

On your face

As I walked

Out of your life

Not knowing then

It would be forever

Imagine - Ciba, Kačka and Filip Ješina

Sharing a you tube 'treat' - my cousin Ciba and his children - Kačka and Filip singing 'Imagine'

Click Here

Photo by AVR

Autumn - Besieged, Bewildered and Bewitched

I have been busy so I hadn't had time to post for a while. Today I would like to share a poem about my favorite season - Autumn.

Besieged, Bewildered and Bewitched

I taste woodsy

Smells of autumn

photo by AVR

Mixed within his

Sublime essence

Stand in the black

Light of his dance

Consummate lust

Driven tango

Touch the sound of

His breath breeze past

Hot open wounds

Taken hostage

See melodies

In eyes that pierce

Drench us in sweat

Leave me moon struck

Hear fine wine tease

My tongue - caress

Soft curves, valleys

Body and soul

Feel image

Time locked spirit

Love aura orbs

Arrest my heart

© Alice Vedral Rivera - 2009

Puppy Love - The Camp Series

Puppy Love is one of 2 new poems I wrote today to add to my camp series of poems and I have 3 more in the works. I had previously written 15 poems (6 in 2006 and 9 in 2010) that are part of The Camp Series. I have written these poems in the third person - the adult me looking back at me, the child.

The Camp Series was written about my experiences at Camp Hostýn in 1961 & 1962.  Camp Hostýn was about 50 miles outside of Montreal – the closest town was St. Calixte du Nord.  It was founded in 1954 by Father Bohuslav Janicek, a Czech Jesuit, for children of Czech and Slovak descent.  I almost didn’t get to go to camp in 1961 as I tried to swing on a clothesline and cracked my collarbone a few weeks before we (my younger brother and I) took Greyhound buses from Chicago to Montreal. 

The very first ‘publication’ of my poetry was in the official camp ‘pamphlet’ in 1962 (I was 11 and the poems were in Czech).  Both of the poems was republished in the 1979 25^th anniversary issue. 

Puppy Love

One of the

Older girls

photo art by AVR

Would take her

When she went

To meet with

Her boyfriend

And he would

Take Peter

And so these

Ten year olds

Chaperoned

The two teens

On their walks

On the path

Through the woods

Laughing and

Talking and

Holding hands

Peter let

Her wear his

Cap for that

Whole summer

And made her

Believe that

He liked her

Her first crush

First love at

Camp Hostyn

Summer of

Sixty-one

© Alice Vedral Rivera – 9/1/2013 6:15pm