About the Poets
Summer 2012
Meg Baird: I wrote this poem (Studio model (pregnant nude)) as something I would have to remember a
night at life drawing/sculpture drop in at Turnstile Pottery studio in Halifax, NS, Canada. The gal offered to waive the fee
if we wanted to give her something we did of her that evening. Having this poem published triples my pleasure. Art, so like
a garden grows - vive la poetry!
Conrad A. Balliet (Poetry? (one intentional cliche)): Retiring
after thirty years as an English prof, i did not miss committee or faculty meetings, or grading students and freshman themes.
I missed sharing my love of poetry. I found a local NPR station (see below) who accepted my idea of reading poetry on Conrad’s
Corner, and I have been reading traditional and some wonderful local poetry for over fifteen years. Recently, I am having
local poets read their own works on air.
Conrad's Corner, broadcast on WYSO, 91.3 FM, weekdays and Sunday, 7:59 p.m., Saturdays,
2:20 p.m., some Wednesdays 12:40 p.m. Streamed and sometimes archived on WYSO.org. "The
poet's pen gives to airy nothingness a local habitation and a name."
William Wright Harris (ode to corn on the cob): My poetry has appeared in such literary anthologies
as Immortal Verse and Favourite Memories, through such online publications as Poet's Ink and Languageandculture.net,
and literary magazines such as Write On!!! and Ascending Aspirations. I am a student of English Literature and
Creative Writing at the University of Tennessee- Knoxville, and have been fortunate enough to study poetry in the workshop
setting from Marilyn Kallet, Arthur Smith, Jessie Janeshek and Marcel Brouwers. I have also been lucky enough to receive several
awards, such as the Editor’s Choice Award from Poetry.com as well as be published in three countries: England, Canada,
and of course my native United States of America.
(Editor’s note: we published this poem in the December 2011 issue of Apollo’s
Lyre, but the cyber-trolls ate the formatting, leaving a mess of kernels behind. So, we’re sharing it again, this time
the way it should be.)
Edward Harsen (People are Most Like Mountains) works in New England and the Mid Atlantic, where he manages
commercial properties. Edward spent fifteen years in the printing trade, during
which time he worked for Street Magazine and Street Press. He moved to Portland
OR in 1991, and began work in Facilities and Property Management. Since 2001,
he has been researching business relationship methods, supply chain management and absolute competitiveness.
Edward’s poetry has been published by Long Island Press, Oak City and
Street Press. He has also written several white papers on contract management. He lives in Valatie, NY, with his wife Jeanine and two children, Johnathan and Sebastian.
Ruth Hill’s "Sufi" is a spoken word poem for stage performance with props. The galaxy is spinning, the clock hands are spinning,
the dancer enters their backyard
spinning under the moon, so entranced their arms take the sheets off the line, and that
becomes the sufi costume.
Ruth is from upstate New York, traveled North America, and lives in BC. She is a Design
Engineer, and tutors ESL. Her work appears in Ascent Aspirations, Decanto, Level 4 Press, Little Red Tree, Litchfield Review,
New Millennium Writings, Ocean Magazine, Poets for Human Rights, Rose & Thorn, Song of the San Joaquin, and many others.
She welcomes email at ruthhill@joiedevivregardens.ca
Carrie Hume (Ruby): I am a 54 year old college student. I returned to school after being laid off and
am going to school at Central Oregon Community College, in Bend, Oregon. I will be graduating with an associates degree in
Health Information Technology on June 16, 2012. I am taking a creative writing poetry course and my instructor has encouraged
me to submit some of my poems for publication. I am a mother of two grown children and a grandmother to an 8 year old girl
and a 5 year old boy. This is my first attempt at publication. I wrote “Ruby”, about my mother, who passed away at the age of 92 in 2007.
Michael Keshigian (Thief), author of six poetry chapbooks, has been widely published in numerous national and
international journals. Recently, his collection of poems entitled Lunar Images, was set to music for Clarinet, Piano,
and Narrator by Boston composer Dennis Leclaire and premiered at Del Mar College in Texas on November 5, 2010. A Boston premiere took place on March 7, 2011 at the Berklee College of Music and a September 2011 performance
occurred in Moleto, Italy. (michaelkeshigian.com)
Mark Lario (Geometry): I write poetry because I enjoy it and have thoughts and feelings to express. I have written poetry for the past seven years and am inspired to write by life’s
blessings, relationships, and especially nature and how they make me feel. This
is my first published poem so thank you very much for choosing it.
It seems to Stan Long
(No No) that in order to escape reality, he's spent most of his life living in his head, the Imagination of
course now recognized as the place of the Virtual, a cyber world where a man can tell his beads daylong and not be ashamed
of his feelings of wonder.
He calls this poem’s invented style flash libre - a flash fiction at 220 words.
The story behind the poem: Why/How -- I had a niece who actually heard the click of that latch and the sound of it must
still haunt her as it has my imagination these last two decades. Such was the cruelty of the act that the only way to come
to understanding it was to write my way in and then out of it as cold as I could lay down the words.
Afzal Moolla (The Elasticity of Love) was born in Delhi, India while his parents were in exile, fleeing
Apartheid South Africa. He then travelled wherever his parent's work took them and he still feels that he hasn't stopped travelling.
Afzal works and lives in Johannesburg, South Africa and shares his literary musings with his most strident critic - his 12
year old cat.
David Michael Schmidt (Tree Abuse) has been writing poems since 2010, he has been a retail entrepreneur
since 1964, owning 8 different stores in 3 states, at separate times. He is working
now in retail sales in a major dept. store full time and then writing poetry and short stories in any spare time. He is 70.
He has self published a book called Rhymes For The Times. This book contains 50 rhyming poems along with some cartoons
and sketches that he created. Many of his poems are cynical and humorous. They are about politics and religion and observations
of life. There are NO love poems. He works hard to create poems that make you think. His websites are www.davidmichaelschmidt.net and www.noahsarkbook.com.
Nancy Scott (High School Graduation Photo, for Jimmy) is an artist and the author of two full-length
books of poetry: Down to the Quick (2007) and One Stands Guard, One Sleeps (2009), both published by Plain View
Press; and three chapbooks: A Siege of Raptors (Finishing Line Press, 2010), Detours & Diversions (Main
Street Rag, 2011), and On Location (March Street Press, 2011). She is the managing editor of U.S.1 Worksheets,the journal
of the U.S.1 Poets' Cooperative in New Jersey. More at www.nancyscott.net
Linda Woolven (Night Sky): I have published over 75 poems
in journals across Canada, the United States and the U.K.. The poems have appeared in Journals like Dana Literary Society,
Amethyst Review, Write On, Sepia Poetry Magazine, New Mirage Quarterly, The Kaleidocope Review, Canadian Writer's Journal,
Pink Chameleon and Fullosia Press. One of my poems received an award from Dana Literary Society. I published a
chapbook, called "Life's Little Lessons" 2 summers ago that featured 26 poems.
I have also published a short story in Happy, and a story in Characters.
Three more stories are due out soon.
