Christopher Bernard’s novel Amor i Kaos (second installment)

Christopher Bernard’s Amor i Kaos (part 2)

 

The prevailing winds, from east over the Atlantic, across gray, clammy tides, puling seagulls, their black caps and flexing, sickle-like wings, the terns’ small, quick arcs, the funny rushes and escapes along the skirt of the wave wash of the pipers hunting for small, nutlike sandcrabs. The tart briny scent, the yellow, scummy, impetigo-infecting gullies. The gray white sand grainy with tiny white and black crystals he could almost count as they separated in his palm. Clumps of salt grass covering the dunes like long green hair. The endless distant roll and crash of waves along the beach, the lulling confusion of whiteness, a serene and tranquil drama of the shore, raving and collapsing without pause from horizon to horizon.

When they met shyly in their swimsuits, the summer Christopher Pascal was sixteen and Sasha Kamenev fifteen, and their families spread their beach blankets and chairs and umbrellas under the tinkling shouts and laughter of swimmers and beachball players and sandbucket diggers and sandcastle builders not far from the lifeguard stand on the hot, white dry sand and the cool, gray wet sand along the edge of the playful lashing mindless formidable beautiful and frightening sea.

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Bruce Roberts reviews Christine Chatterton’s Courage of the Heart: An American Odyssey, 1915 to 1923

       courageoftheheartfrontcover Christine Chatterton’s Courage of the Heart: An American Odyssey 1915 to 1923  is a fine book, where small town, mid-west America meets the Great War in Europe. 

         Based upon a real cache of letters written by her husband’s grandfather, and upon interviews with elderly family members,  Chatterton has woven a tapestry of innocent small town romance and the courageous challenge of WWI, both for the soldiers who fought and suffered, and the steadfast love and loyalty of those who waited at home.   It’s fascinating family portraits—a treasure trove of memories mixed with a broad slice of American life and history.

         Joy, bravery, tragedy, and triumph–all play a part here, making Courage of the Heart  a book worth reading.

                                             Bruce Roberts

Courage of the Heart can be ordered here.

 

Short story by Sheryl Bize-Boutte

THE LAST COLLARD GREEN

collardgreen

Hello, my family name is Green and I am the last Collard in town.

Life was good in my rich patch of dirt at the corner of Rice and Roux.  Every year I would defy the winter frost and blossom forth from spring into the fall. My leaves broke away from my sturdy spine in clean lines and the pot liquor I produced was always a soft pastel green, affirming my lack of bitterness. I felt unique, included and loved. After all, I was individually planted with a soft glove and closely cared for unlike my cousins who arrived chilled in paper bags festooned with big red letters.

I spent my growing days in the sun hanging out with my friends Turnip and Mustard.  And even though we were different varieties, we were all Greens and lived together in familial harmony. All Greens were welcomed to share the soil and flourish along with us.

Then one day, Mustard suddenly disappeared.  At first we thought the gophers had gotten to her.  But there was no tale- tale hole where she had been, just the smooth dry ground.  Turnip and I talked about it and soon realized that we had not been watered in several weeks and were slowly losing our ability to stand. Tiny flowers were beginning to bloom on our leaves, a sure sign we were heading back to seed.

Then the unthinkable happened.  Turnip disappeared and I was suddenly alone.

And then I saw them.  New sprouts beginning to emerge.  I was only able to stay alive from the trickles of water allowed by their stingy runoff.  As I slowly wilted, I watched them grow tall and strong.  Soon they covered the entire garden.

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Poetry from Vijay Nair

Love a conundrum

 

She is my Conundrum

Of the existence of love;

Spurious in nature; a spunky

Squalid she; longs no love

Squaddie me a spurned lover

 

Cooked up with old coon; her

Copper-bottomed scheme

Copulation a game for fame

Bestows her as best-seller

Her bestiality get in woe betide

 

Copiously bleeding my soul

When defeated not in war,

Young indeed my Love a debt

Old weapon his strong; a wealth

Kills me off slowly slowly…

 

©-Vijay P Nair -2017

Poem from Rui Carvalho

Flower Reborn (In Pedrógão)

Stubborn; As only a woman knows how to be.
Knowledgeable; As only a Goddess knows how to be.
Feminine and beautiful among the black of death,
reborn, alive, dependent on strength and not on luck.

Beautiful is your strength that gives color to the Morning.
Sunrise agape renewing Hope.
And the wind packs it, shrouded in gray dust,
that everything around him contemplates her Dance.

It is she, the Flower, who rises on the mountain,
Again, to prove that, who sowed her, was right  …
To prove that a Goddess looks at us from the front:
without fear, despite the lives the wind took.

Slowly the human work is reborn in its surroundings,
but agile to the rhythm of green Grace,
it rises faster than all,
and sharp fits the future: Dull paint.

Goddess of the Morning, clothed with Hope,
dance in Grace; It balances in the air its Braid.

by Rui M.

 

This poem is spiritual and feminist to honor Janine Canan, a feminist writer from California.
Pedrógão is a locality in Portugal where 64 people died this June
during a wild fire.
This and other poems will be in a new book, Pieces of Hope (in English,
Portuguese and Spanish).
For more info about the book contact
synchchaos@gmail.com

Poetry from Rajnish Mishra

Sic semper [evello mortem] tyrannis

 

‘Still waters run deep’.

 

Clichés are good to begin a poem with.

I love justice and hate tyranny.

I love justice more than

I love my country, its people, my people, fame or wealth.

Sometimes, truth sounds clichéd.

 

Quid est veritas?

 

At first it seems not easy,

not quite, but then, as it’s natural to kill, so natural,

in fact, that they need to write,

sometimes on stone, sometimes on paper:

‘Thou shalt not kill!’

 

Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

 

He rose high, and masses called him God.

He’s not alone, but caput gone triumvirate kaput.

It’s unnerving to feel within – a fierce, feral,

beast, unnamed and ferocious, rise and fill

all the space up under the skin

of a citizen: civilized, harmless and tamed.

 

Hoi polloi

 

The masses, sheep, sons and daughters of apes,

imitate, submit, follow and yield liberty

to tyrants, despots, usurpers with power,

for their patch of pasture or bunch of bananas.

 

‘But here I am to speak what I do know’

 

I am an honorable man, not a butcher.

You are an honorable man, no accomplice.

We are all honorable and good men.

They are not honorable.

 

Ehyeh asher Ehyeh.

 

You are what you are,

and masses are ‘them’, not ‘us’.

Strangely though, it’s them, not you,

who lust for blood tonight, my blood.

Bloodthirsty sheep? Lion-apes? Always?

 

‘Fearful symmetry’

 

Tiger’s fire is sheep’s death.

Thy blood my brother bought death for me;

Thy blood ‘cries out’ to them ‘from the soil’

brings vengeance, seven fold,

Insane at night, sane at dawn.

No, Caesar never cried ‘Et tu Brute’,

nor I ‘Sic semper evello mortem tyrannis’.

 

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Elizabeth Hughes’ Book Periscope

Madam of My Heart by Gini Grossenbacher
madamofmyheartcover
 
Madam of My Heart, by Gini Grossenbacher, is a historical romance based on true events. It is the story of Brianna Baird. A teen girl in the 1800’s who lives with her pastor father, who has become a mean and abusive drunk, her mother who has become so beaten down through the years by her husband she can barely function and her older sister Annie, who tries to protect her curious younger sister from the wrath of their father.
Brianna becomes very curious and falls in love with a musician Spenser Brown. He leads her on and takes advantage of her. When she becomes pregnant he acts as though he does not know her. She also finds out he is married. Brianna’s father beats her and kicks her out of the house for her sins. Brianna goes to New Orleans. She becomes a seamstress in a brothel and meets Edward Spina, a gambler. He falls in love with her from the moment he meets her. Madam of My Heart is the story of their love, a love that is so deep it reaches their heart and soul. It is also the story of their hardships and how they work together to pull through whatever life throws at them. This is the first book in what looks to be a really exciting series of two people whose love is so deep it will take you breath away. I absolutely loved it and look forward to reading the next one in the series.
Chrysalis and The Woven Flag by Margaret Goka
Chrysalis is a must have for the poetry lover. My favorites are Shelter, Evening Scene, Below Great Falls, Chrysalis, Hearts, Illuminated Leaf and Water. Although all of the poems are extremely good. I know poetry lovers will enjoy this book as much as I have.
The Woven Flag is a book of poetry and must have for the poetry lover. My personal favorites are The Children, This Evening, Ode to School, At Kay’s, Words for Children, Riddles, Family Stones and Aunt Mary’s Soiree. I highly recommend The Woven Flag. If you have never really been into poetry, I know you will like this book. It is a must have for the poetry lover. It would also make a great gift.

 

The Revelation Unlocked by Carolyn M. Prince

 revelationunlockedfrontcover
The Revelation Unlocked is an extremely interesting book on the book of Revelation in the Bible. This would be an excellent source of study alone or with a group of others. I like the way she cross references everything to show how other passages in other books of the Bible lead up to the message in Revelation. Ms. Prince explains what the symbolism means in Revelation with the cross referencing of other books and verses. She will give the Greek word and then the complex definition or definitions and how to tell which meaning it is. I have been interested in studying the book of Revelation for many years, but, have not really been satisfied with answers that I have been given until now. Thank you Ms. Prince for your very informative study of this very complex yet interesting book of the Bible.
Slicker McQuicker by Jennie Wren
What a fun children’s book! The illustrations are bright and delightful. The message in the two stories in the book is absolutely wonderful. Slicker McQuicker and Friends teaches children that it is okay to look different. It teaches children just because someone looks different it is not nice and can hurt other’s feelings to make fun of them. I absolutely loved this book. It would be a great gift for your child or the child of someone you know. It would also make a great gift for a day care or elementary classroom.