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| COPYRIGHT © 2006-2021 rosalienebacchus.com. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS PAGE WAS LAST UPDATED ON: 13 JANUARY 2021 WEB SITE DESIGNED WITH YAHOO! SITEBUILDER BY ROSALIENE BACCHUS |
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| No Island Is an Island, & So Forth by John Sibley Williams |
Sign your name to ruined Civil War
forts. Next time, use a Sharpie when
listing your demands to god. Instead
of touching forehead to ground as if
in supplication/ecstasy/grief, set fire
to the old battlefield & let the winds
unsever your strings to the past. In
dust & degrees, redraw boundaries.
This is what happened & this might
be what we let happen again. When
writing your obituary, make sure to
leave some space for grandfather's
casual racism. Keep stringing your
old tennis shoes over power lines &
don't heed the complaints of crows.
Testify against earth & sky alike.
Lost luminosity is a gift. Like tele-
vised violence. Like tectonic plates
scraping together, birthing islands.
No island is an island; no body just a
body, & so forth. When the South
rises again, carry your father with the
rebel flag tattoo to the window to
watch the burning. Let the world
laugh at itself. Break from tradition.
To men who want & want & want,
admit you've tried so hard not to be
one of them.
SOURCE: As One Fire Consumes Another
by John Sibley Williams, Orison Books, North
Carolina, USA, 2019.
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| Poetry Corner |
ARCHIVES FEATURED POETS BRAZIL CARIBBEAN GUYANA UNITED STATES |
JOHN SIBLEY WILLIAMS is
an award-winning American
poet, educator, and literary
agent born in 1978 in
Massachusetts. In 2003, he
earned his bachelor's degree
at the University at Albany in
New York. Then, in 2005, he
received a master of fine arts
in Creative Writing from
Rivier University in New
Hampshire.
Williams moved to Portland,
Oregon, in 2009, where he
earned a master of arts in
Book Publishing from
Portland State University. He
teaches poetry for Literary
Arts as part of their Writers in
the Schools program. He is
also the poetry editor and
mentor for The Poetry Barn
and WriteByNight.
In 2013, Williams and fellow
poet A. Molotkov started The
Inflectionist Review, an
international poetry and art
magazine.
Williams' books of poetry
include:
~ As One Fire Consumes
Another (2019), awarded the
2018 Orison Poetry Prize;
~ Skin Memory (2019),
awarded the 2019
Backwaters Prize;
~ Disinheritance (2016); and
~ Controlled Hallucinations
(2013).
A twenty-six-time Pushcart
nominee, Williams has won
numerous literary awards,
including the Laux/Millar
Prize, the Philip Booth
Award, the American Literary
Review Poetry Contest, the
Phyllis Smart-Young Prize,
the Nancy D. Hargrove
Editors' Prize, the
Confrontation Poetry Prize,
and the Vallum Award for
Poetry. His poetry has
appeared in over 500
journals and various
anthologies.
He lives in Portland, Oregon,
with his partner and twin
toddlers.
an award-winning American
poet, educator, and literary
agent born in 1978 in
Massachusetts. In 2003, he
earned his bachelor's degree
at the University at Albany in
New York. Then, in 2005, he
received a master of fine arts
in Creative Writing from
Rivier University in New
Hampshire.
Williams moved to Portland,
Oregon, in 2009, where he
earned a master of arts in
Book Publishing from
Portland State University. He
teaches poetry for Literary
Arts as part of their Writers in
the Schools program. He is
also the poetry editor and
mentor for The Poetry Barn
and WriteByNight.
In 2013, Williams and fellow
poet A. Molotkov started The
Inflectionist Review, an
international poetry and art
magazine.
Williams' books of poetry
include:
~ As One Fire Consumes
Another (2019), awarded the
2018 Orison Poetry Prize;
~ Skin Memory (2019),
awarded the 2019
Backwaters Prize;
~ Disinheritance (2016); and
~ Controlled Hallucinations
(2013).
A twenty-six-time Pushcart
nominee, Williams has won
numerous literary awards,
including the Laux/Millar
Prize, the Philip Booth
Award, the American Literary
Review Poetry Contest, the
Phyllis Smart-Young Prize,
the Nancy D. Hargrove
Editors' Prize, the
Confrontation Poetry Prize,
and the Vallum Award for
Poetry. His poetry has
appeared in over 500
journals and various
anthologies.
He lives in Portland, Oregon,
with his partner and twin
toddlers.
There’s a reason “keep writing, keep reading” has become
clichéd advice; it’s absolutely true. You need to study as many
books as possible from authors of various genres and from
various cultures. Listen to their voices. Watch how they
manipulate and celebrate language. Delve deep into their
themes and structures and take notes on the stylistic and
linguistic tools they employ. And never, ever stop writing.
Write every free moment you have. Bring a notebook and pen
everywhere you go (and I mean everywhere). It’s okay if
you’re only taking notes. Notes are critical. It’s okay if that
first book doesn’t find a publisher. There will be more books to
come. And it’s okay if those first poems aren’t all that great.
You have a lifetime to grow as a writer.
~ JOHN SIBLEY WILLIAMS ON ADVICE TO A YOUNG ASPIRING POET IN
INTERVIEW WITH PHIL TREAGUS, THE READING LISTS, 2019.
[T]he poems in “As One Fire Consumes Another,” seeks to
position poetry as a means to create dialogue about cultural
silences, marginalized communities, societal gender
expectations, and my own inherent privilege. The themes in
these poems were emotionally demanding for me to write. I
found myself questioning not just my country, culture and
history but nearly everything that defines me. I struggled to
faithfully explore the extent of my personal privilege as a
white, CIS, able-bodied male whose labors and strains are so
trifling compared to others. I struggled when writing about my
family, especially when interrogating my lineage. I wanted to
stare guilt and complicity square in the eye.
~ JOHN SIBLEY WILLIAMS IN INTERVIEW WITH JEANNE HUFF, IDAHO
PRESS, 21 JULY 2019.
AS ONE FIRE CONSUMES ANOTHER JOHN SIBLEY WILLIAMS ORISON BOOKS NORTH CAROLINA/USA 2019 |
