Archaic Torso of Apollo

Archaic Torso of Apollo
by Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Stephen Mitchell
We cannot know his legendary head with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso is still suffused with brilliance from inside, like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low, gleams in all its power. Otherwise the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could a smile run through the placid hips and thighs to that dark center where procreation flared. Otherwise this stone would seem defaced beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders and would not glisten like a wild beast's fur: would not, from all the borders of itself, burst like a star: for here there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life. It's been another wonderfully odd and normal day for me.  I've encountered votives, unicorns and Rilke.  Happy New Year readers! May it be magical!

Love is...

I'm not sure why I'm posting this but the words came into my head so I looked the quote up.  I like the first part but the second part becomes a bit archaic and fire-and-brimstone-like?  How would you rewrite the second part?

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

New International Version (NIV)

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

What happens to a dream deferred?

 

 

Hi blog.  What a day I've had.  I wrote a poem yesterday and went to finish it this morning only to discover that I hadn't saved it.  I was raging for a while but I took a poetry book out and fell on Langston Hughes' lines of this blog post title:

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore -
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over -
like a syrupy sweet?
 
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

So then today I went looking for poems.  It was touch and go but I've just written a villanelle that I am excited about.  It's good work.  Anyway the long and the short of it is that I had to work for it.

HeadSpace Issue 2

HeadSpace Issue 2 will be launched on Friday, 17th January in Sweeneys on Dame Street. The launch will feature performances from HeadSpace contributors, and some musical acts. Line up TBA over the next few weeks. Towards the end of the night we'll have an open mic session - sign up on the night.

Doors 7 pm, show starts 8 pm. Free in.

HeadSpace is a creative magazine dedicated to mental health which is distributed for free in psychiatric wards and mental health support services around Ireland. This issue is generously supported by Rehab Ireland's Visual Arts fund.

 

I have a poem included in this issue. 

 

Find out more here http://www.headspace-magazine.com/

 

 

WOW Awards Fiction Longlist

 

I recently made the fiction longlist for the WOW (Wordsonthewaves) Awards.  I'd written a story over the summer past called 'The Boy with the Amber Eyes'.  Alas my story didn't make the shortlist of seven stories.  The judge for fiction is Elizabeth Reapy, the editor of Wordlegs magazine, which is currently being guest edited by Kate Dempsey. http://wordlegs.com/magazine/index.php

The longlist and shortlist can be viewed here: http://www.wordsonthewaves.com/index.htm

Well done to those shortlisted and good luck!