https://lothlorienpoetryjournal.blogspot.com/2023/12/four-poems-by-arthur-turfa.html
So pleased and honored to be here again! Two are new not only in age but in style. And two have been searching for a home. Thanks, Strider!
Below are some links to more poetry books and a novel!
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The Botleys of Beaumont County is a dramatic, literary novel with one foot in the past and another in the future, seeped in the rich tradition of Southern fiction. Turfa weaves a rich tapestry of characters from a once-prominent family forced to face the future, themselves, and the possibility that change will open doors instead of closing them. A remarkable novel, highly recommended.
Goodreads review from Author Martin Ott
Many thanks!
Get your copy!
https://www.blurb.com/b/10799783-the-botleys-of-beaumont-county
https://www.amazon.com/Books-Arthur-Turfa/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AArthur+Turfa
https://www.blurb.com/b/10799783-the-botleys-of-beaumont-county
Poetry and literary fiction/southern fiction for you! Perfect for gifts or for yourself! Thanks!
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My fifth-grade class had returned to the classroom from lunch and recess. It was a bright, crisp Friday afternoon in the Monongahela Valley. Our energy had been spent running around. As we settled in our seats, our teacher was crying.
Mrs. Bedogne cried several times a day. Someone gave an incorrect answer, made an error at the board in Arithmetic, or something like that. My first thought was that someone had fallen on the playground and scraped a knee.
But she announced that the President had been shot and was dead. Silence descended over the classroom. About a year earlier John F. Kennedy visited our valley and received a warm reception. The teacher asked who our President now was. My hand shot up with the correct answer.
Three generations of my family met for Friday dinner. Everyone was a staunch Republican, but all were shocked. Not Grandmother Turfa. She complained that her program (soap opera) was not on TV that afternoon. She refused to believe what happened in Dallas. Grandma immigrated about 60 years before from Austria-Hungary (we were Hungarians) with two of her brothers. Her news came from an American-Hungarian newspaper.
One day we will know what really happened on that terrible day in Dallas. The Warren Commission covered up a lot. JFK was hitting his stride in the Oval Office, and we will never know what he might have accomplished, or how the 1964 election could have turned out.
It is a day for reflection, sorrow, and to remember a time when the United States was not so divided.
RIP, Mr. President
I'm very honored and pleased to have three poems here, two of them relatively new. Click on the above link, then click on the next above link to access the first poem. For the other two, at the right-hand bottom side click for my two other poems, one after another.
The first poem is about my paternal grandfather. Inspiration for the second one came from a wine course I watched on Wondrium. And the last came from our Viking Danube cruise this past summer.
Last weekend I went to an exciting event- the South Carolina Writers' Association Annual Conference. I led a Poetry Roundtable with Ed Madden and Glenis Redmond, attended by some outstanding participants who added so much. There were other events, and I was blown away by how many people remember me from last year's event. At the Open Mic I read the first two pages of "The Botleys of Beaumont County," my novel.
Thanks to all who were at the conference, Storyfest, and thank you for reading/listening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwCpBPwkuMQ&t=774s
https://www.myscwa.org/event-5216727
I will be on a Poetry Round Table with two excellent Poets Laureate, Glenis Redmond and Ed Madden on Saturday afternoon.
This will be a wonderful opportunity to network, learn, and be inspired. Saturday night will have an Open Mic, and I need to figure out what I will share. Some of the novel first, or a poem?
https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Botleys_of_Beaumont_County.html?id=uIqYzgEACAAJ
The Blurb site is down, but try again. The novel is available only on Blurb!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwCpBPwkuMQ&t=256s
The opening from my novel has been well-received in public. I hope that carries over here.
https://www.blurb.com/b/10799783-the-botleys-of-beaumont-county
The poem is about Eastern Europe and a professor of mine.
Link to my poetry books:
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My wife and I returned last month from a splendid Viking Cruise on the Danube from Passau, Germany, to Budapest, Hungary. Although I took a small notebook to jot down some ideas for poems, I hardly used it. But so far I have two good drafts of future poems.
Poetry books
https://www.blurb.com/b/10799783-the-botleys-of-beaumont-county
Novel
Part of the old city wall in Bratislava, Slovakia
St. Martin's Cathedral
A view of the Danube from the Castle parapets
Interview with Natalie Marino, Poet and Physician
-with Arthur Turfa,
poet and writer
1.
What attracted you first to poetry?
I
have enjoyed reading poetry since I was introduced to Sylvia Plath's poetry in
high school. As I entered my 40s, I found that in addition to working as a
physician and being a mom to my two daughters, I needed to do something
creative, and writing poetry seemed like a good fit for me.
2.
You are in a
long line of physician poets (including William Carlos Williams, Gottfried
Benn, and Jenna Le). How does your profession impact your poetry?
The profession of medicine necessarily
involves paying close attention to what patients are saying, to their stories.
Often sitting with these stories also involves carrying heavy emotional weight,
and writing poetry helps me process this heaviness.
3.
You have a chapbook out now with Finishing Line Press. Tell
us about it!
My chapbook Under Memories of Stars is a collection of
lyric poems that address love,
grief,
and acceptance. Each poem involves stars and how they are simultaneously every
present
and unreachable. You can order my chapbook here:
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/under-memories-of-stars-by-natalie-marino/
What poets influence you?
Sylvia
Plath continues to influence my poetry. I also greatly admire the work of Jack
Gilbert, Louise Glück, Linda
Gregg, and Charles Simic.
4.
What lies
ahead for you poetically?
I am currently trying to get my next chapbook
published. It is a collection of twenty
poems addressing America. The poems work together to
show our collective need for a a
new American Dream.
https://manicsylph.com/lit-ezine-vol-3-front-page-contents/
I cannot find the words to say how much I appreciate this. Manic Sylph has created a wonderful publication. the first two volumes have some of my poems and a short story as well. Many thanks to her!
These days keeping any sort of publication afloat is very difficult. Since I started my poet/writer career, I have seen them come and go. That was going on even before the pandemic, which of course did not help at all.
It is nice to have a "home." Read Volume 3, and when you can,go back if this is your first time reading this wonderful publication.
Links to my works:
https://www.blurb.com/b/10799783-the-botleys-of-beaumont-county
This might not be the best introduction to Sir Ray or the Kinks, but it does not have anything that assumes extensive prior knowledge of either him or the bands. Sir Ray has long been a favorite of mine; "Waterloo Sunset" really sold me on his abilities with language. His talents carry over to prose; each chapter opens with lyrics.
As I read I was struck by his brutal honesty concerning his failed marriages/relationships and the long-term sibling rivalry with Dave. Ray does not point the finger at anyone except himself. He does not wallow in self-pity, but it is all there for the reader to experience.
This is a very insightful read and I would hope to see a continuation of it eventually.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pete-brown-cream-lyricist-dead-obit-1234739205/
This is several weeks late, due somewhat to my lethargy, but also to my recuperation from successful hip replacement surgery.
I so wish that Cream and Blind Faith had lasted longer than they did. Cream played blues, progressive rock, and some jazz. Blind Faith had so much promise. But the record labels and managers wanted to make more money, and the bands wore out
Jack Bruce collaborated with Peter Brown, "Pete the Poet" for years. Pete went on to become a singer in various bands, and so was more in the public eye than other superb lyricists like BernieTaupin and Keith Reid.
The Rolling Stone link has two of my favorites by him: "White Room" and "Theme From an Imaginary Western", which Mountain covered.
Will any of today's lyricists be so heralded? Taylor Swift might, but of course, she is a star in her own right. What about the lyricists/poets who remain more or less in the background?
A student asked me to contribute some lyrics for his band. Not a complete song, but it's a start!
https://www.amazon.com/Who-Am-Memoir-Pete-Townshend/dp/006212725X
Most Rock and Roll autobiographies are little more than a litany of sex, drugs, and perhaps rehab,. And most are "As told to" someone who can write. Not this one,
Townshend speaks honestly and with clarity. He talks about the creative process, and gives insight into the music he has written,. This book is worth one's time.
I also include a link to something from his solo work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOFyO6IqYk0
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I have to confess some jealousy here of Keith Reid and also of Bernie Taupin. Their lyrics have made them millionaires. Not usual for poets, by any means. Taupin stays in the background; we did not see him last year when we saw Elton John. Reid traveled with Procul Harum and felt part of the group.
What impresses me is that Reid wrote the lyrics first. He considered them to be poems, which someone else put to music. While some of Taupin's could stand on their own, all of Reid's could, and do so.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/31/arts/music/keith-reid-dead.html
I am going to speak about only one, Broken Barricades, the title track to the fifth album, from 1971. It is a short, almost minimalist poem, but one that fits in so well with the music. Give it a listen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76BO4FIkhu4
A Festschrift consists of chapters by different authors on subjects relating to the lifework of an academic on the occasion of hir or her retirement or reaching a significant milestone in age. A friend and colleague is going overseas soon to honor one of his mentors. My 70th birthday is next month. The three-score and ten (Psalm 90:10) , four-score if one is very fortunate, was not easy to attain prior to medical advances.
What would be in a Festschrift for me? I have had several careers, often concurrent, and varied interests. I would not want to inflict trying to oversee such a volume for me on anyone.
A Festschrift for me would include chapters on:
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https://alienbuddhapress.wordpress.com/author/alienbuddhapress/ I am so thrilled about this short story collection,, my first one. Ali...
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