We are thrilled to let you know that on April 1 we had a pre-launch party on Zoom for Swarn Gill’s poetry book Love, Stars, and Paradigms. Thank you to everyone who joined. Literary Revelations plans to release Love, Stars, and Paradigms on April 6th. Please watch this space for more updates.
Let’s listen to Swarn, and his fellow poets who joined the party.
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Literary Revelations is thrilled to release the full cover design of Swarn Gill’s stunning poetry collection Love, Stars, and Paradigms. We are prepared to publish this poetry collection in early April. The cover art belongs to Magdalena Gill.
Please follow this space and the author @theedemaruh for updates on the release date.
Please read the foreword of the book:
Writing a poetry collection is one thing, but to write one in which every poem shines like the brightest star in the sky is to take the reader to an entirely different level, inside a universe in which words permeate hearts and transform souls. This is where the poems of Swarn Gill take you.
While within the pages of this book each poem stands on its own, one can notice thematic issues resembling circumpolar constellations. Swarn Gill’s poetry concerns itself with perennial matters such as: love, pain, identity, social justice, building a better self, rituals of daily life to name just a few. The depth and beauty in his poems are remarkable…. Continue reading here
Thank you for your support.
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Literary Revelations is proud to bring you the poetry of Tracey Anne. I hope you enjoy this feature.
BIO
Tracey Anne is an emerging poet from Westchester, New York.
Her writing often reflects life and human emotions. She likes to explore different sides of a given subject, as her readers can see in the poems posted on her Twitter account.
When she’s not busy working at an investment management company, she can be found wandering through nature to find inspiration to write her poetry. She is a dreamy and idealistic Pisces who loves being outdoors, power walking, hiking, or taking a long drive to enjoy beautiful scenery in upstate New York.
You can follow Tracey Anne on Twitter @Tre_Ce24
April Rain
An unexpected scattered shower
brings little gleam-drops of fresh water
nestled on once shriveled leaves
now starting to retrieve
sun rays break through the gaps in clouds
beaming spotlights to draw in the crowds
sparkly leaves mimicking stars from above
to reciprocate heaven on earth
April showers bring May flowers, they say
most butterflies wiggle out to witness bright new day
It’s time to part from old grudges and pains
my heart whispers to my brain
let April rain wash them all away!
Beautiful Moon
She graced the sky with warm milky glow
in return
we yearn to see her radiant shine
looking up at her like an innocent child
cradled in a mother’s arms
feeding from her breast
feeling pure love and contentment
for some
her mysterious phases make them crave
to witness her full illumination stages
most poet’s obsession
perfectly inked in poetic notions
often compared to long distance love affair
longing for unfilled urge in despair
love isn’t blind
we all love what’s pleasing to our eyes
the moon knows best
she has her eyes set
on just one – a cut above the rest.
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Literary Revelations is pleased to bring you two wonderful poems written by Verde Mar. The poems are thematically different: one speaks of love, the other speaks of tragedy. We hope you enjoy Verde’s poetical craft as much as we do.
BIO
Verde Mar resides in the United States. He is a technical writer who discovered his passion for writing enigmatic poetry during the start of the global pandemic. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from New Mexico State University, where he also worked as the lead peer writing tutor in the Writing Lab for ESL (English as A Second Language). As the oldest of seven children from New England, Verde grew up in Rhode Island just off the Wampanoag (People of the First Light) Trail by the Narragansett Bay. After college he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. Presently Verde lives in the Sonoran Desert in Rancho Mirage, CA.
Verde built a house by the ocean just as his family welcomed twin children into their lives. An avid vinyl LP audiophile and science fiction reader, Verde won first grant in the RI State Science Fair for his “Moon Cities” project. He loves to ski and to play golf. His poetry book Turbulent Waves: Enigmatic micro-writes cast ashore during a global pandemic was published in 2022. He also contributed to the #1 Amazon bestselling anthology Hidden in Childhood: A Poetry Anthology and maintains an active presence on Twitter,
Gorgeous Mind
All these words combine
saying that you’re
an angel in my dreams
on these lonely streets
only you command.
A glance takes my breath
a smile, a crush kept.
All these words scatter
like butterflies afraid
your gorgeous mind
devours them before
they tell you
you’re beautiful.
Newtown (Sandy Hook Elementary)
Ghosts live in Newtown
frozen in Summer
ceremonial priests chant
a haunting unlike any other.
Streets devour footprints
they all disappear
clouds race away like yachts
there’s no finish line.
Churches cry for prayers
despair paints skies
there’s no music here
even thought is gone.
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Intimate and intense, the poetry of Swarn Gill leaves the reader feeling awkward and vulnerable, torn apart and beautiful. Love, Stars, and Paradigms is a deeply spiritual work from a poet whose own spirituality remains elusive and out-of-reach. He proffers solace, demanding revelation while keeping sacrosanct some measure of his own self. I loved the constant companionship of science and art, how the natural world tangled and knotted and wove itself into every facet and cell of the inner world of being. This collection – I hesitate to say book, because books have endings, and collections are always being added to – washes over the reader like a storm, like a flood through an arroyo, and leaves them clean as the late August desert, open and aching for all the beauty they had forgotten there was in the world. Gill is not a romantic fantasist, though there is much romance in his writing – his work has political and social immediacy, and he is as willing to force the reader to the mirror as he is to open galaxial vistas. My absolute favorite? For reasons purely personal and unrelated to craft: Ghost In The Machine. And I’ll give you a line to look for in another poem : “I practice patience on hills.” You will be well rewarded when you find it. Search these poems, and you will find yourself.
Cassondra Windwalker
Poet of the full-length collections “The Almost-Children” and “tide tables and tea with god.” As well as the Helen Kay Chapbook Award-winning work “The Bench”.
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Literary Revelations is thrilled to bring you the poetry of Allison Grayhurst. We hope you enjoy this wonderful feature.
BIO
Allison Grayhurst is a member of the League of Canadian Poets. Four of her poems were nominated for “Best of the Net” in 2015/2018, and one eight-part story-poem was nominated for “Best of the Net” in 2017. She has over 1,375 poems published in more than 525 international journals and anthologies.
In 2018, her book Sight at Zero, was listed #34 on CBC’s “Your Ultimate Canadian Poetry List”.
In 2020, her work was translated into Chinese and published in “Rendition of International Poetry Quarterly” and in “Poetry Hall”.
Her book Somewhere Falling was published by Beach Holme Publishers, a Porcepic Book, in Vancouver in 1995. Since then, she has published twenty-one other books of poetry and twelve collections with Edge Unlimited Publishing. Prior to the publication of Somewhere Falling she had a poetry book published, Common Dream, and four chapbooks published by The Plowman. Her poetry chapbook The River is Blind was published by Ottawa publisher above/ground press December 2012. In 2014 her chapbook Surrogate Dharma was published by Kind of a Hurricane Press, Barometric Pressures Author Series. In 2015, her book No Raft – No Ocean was published by Scars Publications. Also, her book Make the Wind was published in 2016 by Scars Publications. As well, her book Trial and Witness – selected poems, was published in 2016 by Creative Talents Unleashed (CTU Publishing Group). More recently, her book Tadpoles Find the Sun was published by Cyberwit, August 2020. She is a vegan. She lives in Toronto with her family. She also sculpts, working with clay; www.allisongrayhurst.com
Collaborating with Allison Grayhurst on the lyrics, Vancouver-based singer/songwriter/musician Diane Barbarash has transformed eight of Allison Grayhurst’s poems into songs, creating a full album entitled River – Songs from the poetry of Allison Grayhurst, released in 2017.
Against Gravity
He sings because he is song,
essence-song –
potent life, potent death forever.
He dreams salubrious dreams,
fatter at the core and needle-hard all around.
He lost the need for enchantment
and exhibition. The inveterate intensity
within him is mastered, absorbed into his every cell.
It is not that he is better, only more genuine
in his connection, metaphors advancing,
infiltrating his pulse.
He knows because he is wild, dangerously free.
Break him with poverty and he will break every rule.
He will burst into flight, dancing against gravity,
against a blood-moon.
Tin-foil wrap him into a put-upon routine
and he will make music from the crackling –
laid out flat, pressed down,
he will transform his form, rising
whole in an inspired reverie.
Learning
Because I said
it was not enough,
the emptiness came
like a hard beat plummeting
me into doom.
Because I cared to record
each pain, betrayal and fracture,
I could not walk fast and glinting,
dragged back and down.
Because I lost my worship,
I lost my joy and the heat of life
that inspires.
Because I took heed of these pitfalls
and take one section of the day at a time
to do and explore both service and favour,
I am uncovering a mosaic beneath my feet,
smelling scents I thought disappeared with my youth.
Because I keep the rituals that keep me sane,
in storm or shade, I pray more than I dream
and when I dream it is about abstractions,
about tree branches, blankets, about
the hair’s breadth distance between sea and stars.
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Literary Revelations is happy to bring you the beautiful poetry of Ash Douglas.
Ash in his own words: “Writing is a huge part of my life. It is something I do everyday and consider it not only my passion but also my therapy. Over the years, I have collected many paperback journals which have done an excellent job of capturing my thoughts, feelings, and emotions to the world around me. But it wasn’t enough. I needed to share my works of heart with others. Transcribe this world of ours through my eyes so to speak. And my way of doing that is through my poetry.”
Come Rise, My Sun
my winter retreat was lonely
flurries turned into storms
dark skies seemed always
cold bit me every second
ice through my veins stiffened from life
sharpen gales to cut me away
I was polar from everything
sitting barren
until her voice
her light
all that warmth from beyond
chiseled me free of that void capsule
I am her sun
she is my days
Falling In Place
It is cold where I linger
my body numbs to something sharp
all I can do is watch like I am in the clouds
only I walk amongst those but they don’t see me
heart beating so fast it deafens any cry I make
the world goes around with me no longer attached
because I float between realms of real and dreams
waking up in neither
any rest I get is a gift
like cheddar to keep me in hiding
away, under… behind
on this journey along an unmarked trail
in a story between the lines
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Literary Revelations is thrilled to let you know that we are preparing for the launching of Swarn Gill’s poetry collection Love, Stars, and Paradigms early to mid-April. As the launching date approaches we are delighted to bring you a video of Swarn talking about the art we will use in the design of his book cover and reading one of his poems entitled It’s not obvious.
What does the art cover mean for Swarn? How much does Swarn relate to it? Listen to Swarn talking. You will be fascinated by his words.
We hope everyone enjoys this feature.
It’s not obvious by Swarn Gill
it’s not obvious that the stars aren’t revolving around me
that I’m the one who’s actually moving
even when I’m sitting here, there is no disproving.
and you’re moving too
it’s not obvious that I’m not static
as life evolves around me, that time’s dissolving into me
that I too am just another object subject to vast forces
shaping me to some point in a universal scaffold
that is shaping itself
it’s not obvious that my life isn’t planned
that it isn’t canned
when there is seemingly no event in my life that didn’t depend
on an amazing number of low probability occurrences
subject to the subtlest of disturbances, making each moment a miracle
in a myriad of possible timelines
I want things to be clearer maybe hold things nearer
I’m happy and willing to be the first one
to try and really look at themselves in the mirror
why is it when one person has a bad day, he’s able to tuck it away
another wants to do good to compensate
and yet another spits bile and hate
is it all just too late? or did we never really stand a chance?
because it should be all a little easier to follow
but there are sharp turns and hard truths to swallow
with little time to wallow
so if I say that I want to sit here and pretend that the stars are going by
and that the moon is smiling, beaming, radiating
not reflecting
and that I like it that way because it makes beautiful poetry
then let me
because it’s not obvious to me that that’s a bad idea
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Literary Revelations is pleased to feature the beautiful poetry of Audrey Semprun: sadness and hope. Enjoy.
Bio
Audrey Semprun lives in the heart of Prescott, Arizona with her husband, Al, their large dog, Duke, and a parakeet she named Snow, but who she calls Little Blue, who is mostly white, with just a little blue. Audrey enjoys the peacefulness that living in Prescott allows. She gleans inspiration from not only her small-town community, but also from the beauty that surrounds her in her mountain-desert home.
Audrey’s debut novel, ‘An Angel of Mercy’ is available for purchase on Amazon. Audrey is not only a writer, but she is also an Independent Publisher who publishes under her umbrella company called Joyful Noiz Ministries, LLC. Her domain AudreySemprun.com is now live.
Audrey has been a contributing writer to several Anthologies, including ‘VSS365 Anthology: Volume One.’ Her work was also published in the #1 Amazon bestseller ‘Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women’ [EIF 2022] and the #1 Amazon bestseller poetry anthology, “Hidden in Childhood” [Literary Revelations, 2023], both collections edited by Gabriela Marie Milton.
Audrey gets great pleasure in sharing her poetry on Twitter @audreysemprun. She is busy looking for sponsors for her own monthly neighborhood magazine, ‘South Prescott Neighbors’, which went to print with the first edition in August 2021.
Hallow
Hauntings of the tender kind
those silent heartbreaks
that land on lonesome walks
and deserted heartstrings
that can only play the blues
and that only know the emptiness
that we share in the quiet places
of the unsaid somewhere in-between
the sounds of heartbreaks and tears
and the want of something more than dreams
The want to hold longer than a moment
The want that stands the winds of goodbye
and withstands the fears and doubts
of not being enough
The kind of desperation
that can withstand the loneliness of me
Sunset Years
Her:
I saw you on the shadows of a dream
so young and strong looking at me
Why you even care
Can’t you see
I know you can see me standing here beaten and abused,
not by the fist but blows to the heart
I am not young, I stammered
find some young thing that still has a mind to dream
and please don’t you – don’t you look at me
Him:
Don’t you see, oh, can’t you see
I too am beaten and broken past redemption,
yes, older than dirt, as old as the hurt
that I carry I carry to you
the broken and abused
as I see the young in you
and I know the pain you carry – let me carry you
to a place no more broken or abused
to the green of forever young
and to the sunset of our dreams
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This week Literary Revelations brings you the stunning poetry of Steven Andrew Westby. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Bio:
Steven Andrew Westby is a poet and a clinical psychologist. Originally from Brookings, SD, he attended St. John’s University before going on to earn a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Dakota. Steven now lives in Omaha, Nebraska with his fiancée, Nicole, and his two sons. He began writing poetry around 2008 as a creative outlet to balance with his job. His first collection of poetry By Way of Introduction was published in 2022.
Room
how I remember the laugh
announcing your presence
a whole day transformed
by the mystery of you
we basked in your theater
and joined in your song
until moon’s hidden sadness
eclipsed your bright sun
and we left in darkness
cried out for the starlight
so desperate to find
any memory of you
Luscious
so soft the skin
around her eyes
that frames a gaze
of promised hope
heart’s joy leaps
at unspoken truth
that stole my heart
to luscious ruin
Class
we spend days, perhaps years
in climbing the mountain
seeking guru’d truth
to dispel the soul’s dark
yet find teacher’s wisdom
already within us
the heart asking simply:
our response to this pain?
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