A Poem from Alicia Salabert

     I admire a poet/writer who writes in a language other than the language he or she originally learned. At times I write in German, but usually not.

    My good friend Alicia Salabert excels in her poetry. Whether she also writes in Spanish, I do not know. She has my admiration for her poetry and for so much more. With her permission, I psot this one: 

Love
happens.

Time
dilates
magically.

A powerful light breaks
within.

You understand.
Without struggle.

Full of gratitude,
you breathe.

And you sing.

You sing.

~A
(Reworked poem)

Thanks so much, Alice! And write some more! 

A Timely Poem

Normally I avoid current events in my poetry. Anyhting I mention is well after the fact, and usually indirect. But several things converged today, and while I was working out at the gym, saw somehting on CNN that put this on my heart.

I was fortunate to have seen Clemente play at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, and then at Connie Mack after he moved near Philadelphia. Off field he was also tremendous, and I mourn him each New Year's Day.

When the earth shook in Nicaragua
Roberto Clemente cancelled his plans
and intended to assure that aid would
not be denied to destitute people.
With cargo incorrectly-loaded, his
plane crashed off the coast of his beloved
island, becoming his watery grave.

What millionaire athlete flies to San Juan
or elsewhere on that shattered, sad island?
A barrage of tweets from private gold club
belittles the island and her people.

Arthur Turfa, ©2017

In Upcoming "Military Experience & the Arts"

     There was a time when I thought the two were incompatible. How that has changed over the years.  As a Retired (Army) Reservist with Veteran Status, I find myself culling poetry out of those nearly 23 years I spend as a National Guardsman, Reservist, and when mobilized, Active Duty Soldier.

     This publication was kind enough to accept a poem I wrote for their February-March online publication, which will feature only poetry. More when it comes out! 

Impressive Poet

     Istvanne Juranyi is an artist whom I met on Google. She is from Budapest, where I have family. Through her I learned about Miklos Radnoti and his tragic life. He is one of Hungary's greatest 20th century poets, but died during the Holocaust. I have below a link tow a short bio and two poems. I really want to read more of him. Sadly,  do not know Hungarian aside from some basic phrases.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/miklos-radnoti

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074RM6XMH/ref=sr_1_1?tag=geolinker-20&ie=UTF8

I have two poems in this anthology. It's a worthy cause. Thanks.

Market Tea Room Fall Festival

I will be there with both books. This promises to be a splendid event and is well worth attending!

http://wis.eviesays.com/event/6924499/market-fall-festival?tid=48991454

HA Callum Interview

https://karenannwirtz.com/2017/09/17/author-interview-%F0%9F%93%9A-h-a-callum/

One fellow Blue Deconian interviewing another! Learn more about the fine authors at Blue Deco Publishing!

    An exciting day, and I hope to return to Augusta to this venue, perhaps finding new ones! the best part was to see how people connected to my poetry. Whether it was a place we had in common, or ethnic connections, or the appreciation of language.....it was awesome! Thanks to all who made this possible!

https://www.facebook.com/aturfa/media_set?set=a.10213982046366873.1073741841.1281784341&type=3&pnref=story

At Augusta, GA tomorrow!

https://www.facebook.com/events/999685380168936/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%223%22%2C%22ref_newsfeed_story_type%22%3A%22regular%22%2C%22feed_story_type%22%3A%2217%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D

    Tomorrow is the day! I see it as a regional debut for me!  

At the Book Tavern for Arts in the Heart of Augusta

https://www.facebook.com/events/999685380168936/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%223%22%2C%22ref_newsfeed_story_type%22%3A%22regular%22%2C%22feed_story_type%22%3A%2217%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D

This is my first out-of-state event; it's only across the Savannah River, but it still is in Georgia, not South Carolina!

Both Accents and Places and Times available!  

Featured on New Site!

https://hlc027.wixsite.com/inthecomingtime/single-post/2017/09/11/Poetry-by-Arthur-Turfa


Thanks, Heather Hall Cassaday! This is an impressive site and it is wonderful that you have started it! I am honored to be it is debut!

Don Williams RIP

    When my future wife and I were dating, I learned to appreciate Don Williams. She had an eight track (all right, laugh if you want to) or two of him, and we would play them as we talked and got to know each other.

     I liked his easy style, the stories he told in a song, and liked his kind of country. I already liked what we would called Outlaw, but I did not like the slick, orchestrated kind of what some called Country & Western.

     About two years ago we saw Don at the Newberry Opera House in Newberry, South Carolina (a neat venue). He sat down for the concert but still gave an impressive show. At the end of the concert, he and his band bowed to the audience, which was giving him a well-deserved ovation. We were even more impressed by his action.

    Don belongs to a long tradition of story-telling songwriters. I use the present tense because what he did will endure. Thanks, Don!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdZuodp3ZZM

From Pete Townsehnd and Ronnie Lane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiQPlW-jm90
(C

heck out the entire album!)

John Ashbery, RIP

     New York Times obituary, I will do so. I like the connections he made between poetry, art, and music. And he certainly counted among his friends and associates some poets I admire.

While I have read a few poems of his, I confess that I do know know much about them or him. But after reading the


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/03/arts/john-ashbery-dead-prize-winning-poet.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

Three poems Appear in This Journal

https://issuu.com/tanhinhthucviet/docs/poetry_journal_5


And this is the first time I have been translated into another language.

New Recordings from "Accents" on soundcloud

For your listening pleasure:   https://soundcloud.com/arthur-turfa-1/accents

Maybe We Forget Why We Have Labor Day

    Labor unions have a bad reputation in some quarters these days.  belong to a teacher association, since South Carolina prohibits unions. In Pennsylvania it was a union.

     Labor Day holiday started to honor the dignity of workers, and to celebrate such things as the 40-hour week, compensation insurance, the eight hour day, etc.  ow ti is the end of summer, but we can remember... listen to John Denver's version of the song that reminds us there is more to life than work.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0q6hePqHAE