I'm in Strange Horizons

My poem 'Home, as always' is published in Strange Horizons last month.



Read it HERE

❤

Creative Writing Competition (Carers UK)

I am glad to announce that my poem, For Ted, is highly commended in Creative Writing Competition (Carers UK).

The competition aims to give a different "perspective on what it means to care".

I'm happy to be included in their upcoming anthology. Also, I know that the simplicity but weight of the winning poem, After Diagnosis by Fiona Ritchie Walker, deserves to win.

Interestingly, I feel that this news is an early birthday gift for me (my birthday's tomorrow! :-0), and this news signals my lucky writing career in 2016!

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I am on Eastlit

I am really glad to be  published in Easlit, an online  journal that focuses on Asia and Southeast Asia. I have few poems about and based on my memories in the Philippines, the country where I was born. Please check them out and I hope you enjoy your literary adventure to the Southeast! :)



copyright of Eastlit

 click here to read Eastlit

Our Own Future

I am delighted to take part in Our Own Future and Black Country Writers Project and perform my poetry at their launch on Valentine's Day at Wild Bytes Café.

 

Presenting Poetry: The Last Christmas Carol

I'd like to give my avid readers and followers an early Christmas present, so I have decided that each month, I will share a poem written by me, whether it is published or not. And I will call this section in my blog, "Presenting Poetry".

 So for the month of December, I'd like to share with you my poem, The Last Christmas Carol, which was published by Ink, Sweat, & Tears last year.

 Please enjoy and I hope that this simple poem brings you joy this holiday season!

 

 

The last Christmas carol

 

She sits on the cold asphalt -
In the middle of a square,
Strumming a wooden guitar
That will brittle soon.
Velvet poles are dazed,
A copper centaur listens
And the glimmer of distant houses
Are her thousand spotlights.
Perhaps this would be the last year
She’ll breathe the icy air
Or see the stars melt
Across the silky sky.
Life is the tiny candle
Flaring beneath her face
But tonight her music will reach -
The edges of the winter moon.

 

© Romalyn Ante, 2014

I am in Firewords Quarterly

My latest publication is in Firewords Quarterly, a magazine that showcases "fiery new writers". Surely, this magazine looks and feels good. From its bold design to powerful poetry and fiction in it.

I am so delighted to have my work included in this magazine.

 

The lovely magazine, autumn edition



I am one of the contributors in this issue!



The beautiful design accompanying my poem, The Bicycle



A mini author's bio

 

Me? A 'queen'?

At a recent poetry reading in Wolverhampton I bumped into the very well-respected poet Jane Seabourne. She is the author of Bright Morning which is one of the top ten poetry books recommended by Poetry on Loan.

I asked her to sign my copy of Bright Morning. She had heard me recite my poetry before and read a couple of my works. I was really humbled when she wrote these words for me.

It is very humbling when somebody praises my works but for a well-respected poet to actually tagged me as "The queen of images" it's a different story! It's very overwhelming!

I am very thankful. These kind words just make me want to improve my writing even more!





Using visual arts on creative writing

Ekphrasis : The word comes from the Greek ek (out) and phrasis (speak).

Nowadays ekphrasis is used by many poets/writers. They derive ideas or get inspiration from any visual work of art (i.e. painting, sculpture,) to  compose creative pieces, most usually, poetry.

I help to run the Blakenhall Writers Group and last Saturday we went to Wolvehrampton Art Gallery to write some poems about or inspired from the artworks exhibited there. The two paintings below were the ones that caught my attention. 

The Lady of Shalott

Midday Rest, Seville

Writing responses has been a new experience for me and I hope those two poems I'd written would get to be published in the near future. Well, our group member, Cherry Doyle, has a brilliant idea of collecting a new anthology of Blakenhall that shows our written responses to our chosen art from Wolverhampton Gallery. That would be very beneficial for the group and I can't wait to work with them on materializing such an exciting project!

To learn more about ekphrasis and read some poems inspired by art, click here

The Cherry Trees of Wyre

I am currently reading this lovely poetry book called ' The Cherry Trees of Wyre' written by Simon Fletcher and illustrated by Ian Emberson. Wyre is a district in Lancanshire England named after River Wyre. 

I never studied Creative Writing or such course and I do not really know how to 'technically' review or study poems but I must say, there are a lot of nice images, words, and honesty in this collection. And I believe 'honesty' is very important in poetry. Most people I know, including myself, can tell if a poem evokes honesty or just a total make-up crap. The former, I must say, is the one which everyone prefers. 

Anyway, this is a 35 page book of poems , all of them are very personal to the poet, I would say, even though a lot of them have references to nature or natural surroundings. I am very bad at writing a 'nature' poem. I think I only had one published as I haven't been attempting to write about it. On the other hand, I am very lucky to have known this very good poet and learn more about his poetry. You can learn more about Simon Fletcher here. 

translating poems

Recently I have tried translating poems from my mother tongue, Tagalog, to my 'second love' English. I found literal translation quite easy as I am fluent in both languages; however, choosing the right/most appropriate words to use in poetry translation is a different matter. You must ensure that the translated poem doesn't lose its linguistic grace, art and musicality. 

So today I traveled to Shrewsbury to meet up with my mentor (a prolific poet) whom I'd like to call 'Mr S' to talk more about translating poems. I recently suffered from pneumonia, today is actually the first time I've been out and about for weeks! I'm still managing to smile and put some make up on; after all the problem is my lungs, not my face!

A view from the train window

a little mayfly joined us during mentoring session

 The ever so lovely, historical river Severn

Yes, this was what I had for lunch!

Robert Frost once said, "Poetry is what gets lost in translation."  I can't really say if I agree or not. I won't elaborate what I really think about that statement. The point is, recently I find translating challenging, it's quite  an enticing break from reading or writing poems! 

Today these are what I learned about translating poems

• stay close to the original poem as ,much as possible - certain words are there for a reason, no need to add or remove adjectives, adverbs, etc. Once you start adding stuff in a translation, it becomes your own poem, only inspired from that original poem or others may actually think it's just an ugly, unethical act of plagiarism. 
• the poet is the master, and you as the translator, is the servant - i need not say more.
• read the poem again and again - until you memorize the words by heart or until you learn its rhythm and its flow so the sounds become a graceful dance. The poem is the lead and you just follow instinctively.
• if possible, know the poet- what does he/she really want to say when the poem is written? what does the poet think of your translation? what could be improved? some words give certain meanings/imagery to the readers; however, traditions and cultures could have a big impact to the significance of these words. For example, in Urdu, a word 'peacock' may symbolize boastful artists/poet, whereas in English, it may just give an impression of something extravagant or beautiful. 
• Lastly, enjoy the process. Never give up, breathe and relax...

Farm and anything bucolic

When I was a kid we used to visit our grandparents in the province during weekends. They owned so many farming fields and animals. I remembered when my grandad taught me (and my siblings) how to plant corns. It was very sunny and sweltering but we enjoyed the process. We used to live in the city of Lipa and going to the farm in Batangas was such a change. Fresh air, fresh fruit, and fresh faces. When I went back this year in January, there were of course some changes as life itself is ephemeral. Having said that some things will always remain the same. 

mangoes my cousins picked straight from the trees

cloudy? only for a while!

corns being dried

mmmmmm.... so fresh, so scrumptious! That's not my hand by the way ;-)

From east to west - a fragment of my provincial memory can now be seen in a historic farm in Shropshire, England. My poem is displayed at the Poetry Fence of Acton Scott. It is a project by the poet in residence, Jean Atkin. Read the beautiful poems tied along the Poetry Fence HERE and visit the historic farm HERE

And below, my dear readers, is my simple poem. 

whilst I'm off sick

There's nothing more dreadful than being sick. And while I have been coughing up and getting high temperature for weeks, I find solace in reading poems and writing some. Since last week I have been writing a poem a day. Hope some of these will get to be edited and proof-read soon (once I feel more better) and someday find their home on the pages of good magazines.

remembering my first publication

'We're All In this Together' an anthology by Offa's Press. This is where my first publication appeared. Ever since a kid my teachers from school had always told me that I could be a writer, I didn't realise I could -  until this day. This was published late in 2012 and I haven't really been writing much this year and so haven't had much publication; though I swear to be more productive and industrious in terms of my writing. Hope I could see some results in 2014 :) After all if someone wants to be a writer they must write!

Launch of We're all in this together (2012), reading my poem, The Log.

To obtain a copy click here ♥