Ghazals galore for Valentine's day!

Valentine's Day month, is also very appropriately the month several of my ghazals about famous pairs of lovers are appearing:  first, "Maid Marian's Many Silences" was published by Quarterday Review in their Imbolc issue.

This poem, as I mentioned in an earlier post, was inspired by the film "Robin and Marian" starring Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn as an older Robin Hood and Maid Marian.

Another pair of ekphrastic ghazals, "On Viewing 'Dante and Beatrice' by Henry Holiday, 1884" was republished by The Ghazal Page, in their Issue 58.

These ghazals are companion persona ghazals, written in the voice of Beatrice, then Dante, and inspired by the painting by Henry Holiday:

First acceptance of the New Year!

Ah, how sweet it is!  The first acceptance of the year comes from the Quarterday Review for their Imbolc issue. (The editor also offered candid feedback from her and her staff readers, so that was very helpful.  It's always interesting to see what other readers focus on when reading your poems.)

They accepted my latest ghazal Maid Marian's Many Silences!  This poem was inspired by the film "Robin and Marian" starring Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn which must have made an impression on me since I have never forgotten it!  Contrary to most portrayals, this film showed an older Robin Hood and Maid Marian.

Right now I'm working on a free verse poem entitled Plague Graffiti and another one about Joan of Arc.  I guess I'm sort of mentally stuck in the Middle Ages right now!

My latest ghazal in The Quarterday Review

http://nebula61.tumblr.com/post/128271704766/clippedonissuu-from-the-quarterday-review-august

Review of Shining from a Different Firmament

A review of my chapbook by Editor Lucy Johnson of the Quarterday Review

http://nebula61.tumblr.com/post/128270359556/clippedonissuu-from-the-quarterday-review-august

Also, it's been added to the FIU libraries' catalog!

The Quarterday Review to publish my latest ghazal and review my chapbook!

I'm happy to have a new ghazal, "Thirteen Days and Nights" upcoming in the new journal The Quarterday Review: Poetry of Mythic Journeys. This is an ekphrastic ghazal inspired by the painting “The Amazon Queen Thalestris in the Camp of Alexander the Great” by Johann Georg Platzer, with thanks to Adrienne Mayor’s article on the subject in History Today 1/15. Her article and Platzer's painting really brought the encounter to life for me.

Quarterday's editor also kindly agreed to review my chapbook, Shining from a Different Firmament!