How it Seems to Me
In the vast abyss before time, self
is not, and soul commingles
with mist, and rock, and light. In time,
soul brings the misty self to be.
Then slow time hardens self to stone
while ever lightening the soul,
till soul can loose its hold of self
and both are free and can return
to vastness and dissolve in light,
the long light after time.
—Ursula K. Le Guin
… And work. Spell it in capital letters. WORK. WORK all the time. Find out about this earth, this universe; this force and matter, and the spirit that glimmers up through force and matter from the maggot to Godhead. And by all this I mean WORK for a philosophy of life. It does not hurt how wrong your philosophy of life may be, so long as you have one and have it well.
– Jack London
Magic art by Edward Gorey.
Invincible artistry in Christine‘s words:
“blue and white capsules
ingested daily
devour my melancholy, baby
always ravenous
unsatisfied
they strip protective coating
off vulnerable neurons”
https://suddendenouement.com/2019/02/19/red-tides-christine-e-ray/
You can find Christine lurking about Brave and Reckless and Indie Blu(e) Publishing. She is the author of Composition of a Woman and The Myths of Girlhood.
“There is no place for arrogance in the arts, but neither is there room for doubt or a perpetual need for affirmation. If you come to me with doubts about a particular move in a piece, or if you come to me and ask if what you’ve written has truth and power in it, these are doubts I can handle and respect. But if you come to me and moan about whether or not you really have a place in the dance or the theater or in film, I’ll be the first person to pack your bags and walk you to the door. You are either admitting that you lack the talent and the will, or you are just looking for some easy attention. I don’t have time for that.
The world doesn’t have time for that. Believe in your worth and work with a will so that others will see it. That’s how it is done; that’s how it was always done.”
–Martha Graham/Interview with James Grissom
Art by Brad Kunkle.
Morning Mist – Iulia Halatz – for the Sudden Denouement Literary Collective
The mist that
covers my heart
is thick
numbing mornings
and evenings
with the sagacity
of a cubist artifact.
It comes in layers
clinging with fetid fingers
on to the gargoyles
of the old mansion
our love has become…
Read more: https://suddendenouement.com/2019/02/22/morning-mist-iulia-halatz/
“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
– William Butler Yeats
Painting by Adam Elsheimer, The Flight into Egypt.
Excerpt from the Sudden Denouement Anthology Volume I: Fall Flings/Aurora Phoenix
Sudden Denouement Publishing
a press for divergent writers fluent in the secret language
‘But why will he not dance again?’ asked the Infanta, laughing.
‘Because his heart is broken,’ answered the Chamberlain.
And the Infanta frowned, and her dainty rose-leaf lips curled in pretty disdain. ‘For the future let those who come to play with me have no hearts,’ she cried, and she ran out into the garden.”
― Oscar Wilde, The Birthday of the Infanta and Other Tales
Painting by Viktor Ivanovych Nizovtsev.
“We’ve been through the same routine, you and I:
me, coming home in a prescription haze with slurry speech
and a numbing nonchalance,
and you, broken and infuriated
to see me ‘waste my life away.’”
Nitin Lalit Murali is a poet, flash fiction writer and essayist from Bangalore, India. He also enjoys reading literature of different genres and listening to jazz and neo-classical music. He started writing seven years ago and art has consumed him over the years. He blogs regularly at Fighting the Dying Light
“What would you do if you could do anything?”
Create my own Republic of Imagination. I wanna write and write to turn the straw of my existence into the gold that can be lived on.
The strange story is bold and wild. But it unlooses the witch-ink that turns straw into tangible possibilities.
If wishes were horses, then beggars might ride.
If wishes were words, then beggars would be writers…
Aren’t we all?
Art by Marvin D. Cone.
I am delighted that some of my poems have been included in the Sudden Denouement Anthology Volume I. The anthology is available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.