Poetry - Arlene Bice

anthology, booksigning, First Friday Poetry Night, New book release, Poetry

WARREN ARTISTS’ MARKET RELEASES SECOND ANNUAL ANTHOLOGY

November 4, 2015 Arlene

The Warren Artists’ Market (WAM) founder, Thomas Park has announced the completion of Preserved Life: Memories, a 2nd annual anthology. The book features 52 writers, at least 13 from Warren County, including poems from the late, respected, hometown writer Edwina Rooker. Submissions came from as far away as India.

The Book Release reception is scheduled to blend with WAM’s traditional First Friday Poetry Night on November 6, held at Warren FoodWorks, 108 S. Main Street, Warrenton, from 7 until 9 p. m. Local writers have been invited to read from their work. The event is open mic. Others who are not in the anthology are welcome to read also.

The 253 page book will be available for $15 each. Refreshments will be served. There is no admission fee.

The Artists’ Collective hosts First Friday Poetry Nights, book readings/signings for local authors, mural workshops, writing groups, drumming, and after-school tutoring.

family, genealogy, Poetry

Random Act of Poetry Day

October 6, 2015 Arlene

Grandfather Harry Daniels, Rachel Ann Daniels Philkill, Mahlon Philkill
WHO I AM & WHERE I COME FROM
Arlene Sandra Bice
Pre-internet years-chasing down the paper trail;
census, taxes, death certificates, birth, marriage,
and divorce. Name changes for many reasons.

Finding parents info, for they’ve been gone,
rarely spoke of their parentage or heritage;
information long gone before me.

Their grandparents-an interesting layer of ancestry,
coming & going, who is who, enlistments, uniforms,
cavalry, War Between the States; desertion, why?

A few stories remain, questions stay unanswered;
family secrets hide in dark corners. digging, digging, digging,

Filling in details, personalities emerge, talents, failings,
lies told, for what reason, what were their lives like,
what was happening in their world to influence their
decisions.

Ah-h-h, history revealed, folded into daily life as it was.

I found a source of my genes, a mirror to hold up,
career, marriages, adventures, a survivor of life, self-made,
keeper of the keys.

It was in a public library, where the original Wills & Testaments
of Rachel Ann Daniels and her mother Sarah Ann Martin
were brought forth; holding the original documents in my hands,
touching the paper they held a hundred years ago.

Unembarrassed, I wept; tears streaming; my roots exposed at last.

This is who I am and where I come from.

American History, Bordentown, historical taverns, Poetry

AMERICAN HOUSE TAVERN PICTURES

September 17, 2015 Arlene

Bill-the owner, Roger the hoagie man, Mike-former owner, and The Candy Man Bill

Scenes from the American House Tavern-the subject for The Afternoon Crowd. Bill-the owner is a basic who threads in and out of the stories. Roger, the hoagie man-who made the best hoagies ever, ever, ever, will appear in another volume. Mike will appear in the next volume, too. Bill- the candy man has his bit of story in the book.

Every town and every house has its own stories to tell. Taverns are the best places for learning about human nature, how people think, and sometimes why they think the way they do. It was a job between careers and I loved it!

Signed copies of The Afternoon Crowd can be found at Randy Now’s ManCave at 134 Farnsworth Ave. or at the Old Bookshop at 200 Farnsworth Ave. in Bordentown, NJ. Or, you may order it from me if you want an inscription, or from Amazon.com. $10 wherever you buy it. Enjoy!

First Friday Poetry Night, Poetry, Warren FoodWorks

AN EXCEPTIONAL FIRST FRIDAY POETRY NIGHT

September 7, 2015 Arlene

The September First Friday continues to exceed my expectations! I thought that the holiday weekend would bring us a small group dedicated to our efforts of bringing poetry and oral expression to Warren County. Instead, the Warren Food Works (WFW) was packed with a diverse crowd from 18 to 80 mingling, enjoying each other while eating, drinking, and soaking up the words cast out into the atmosphere.

A wide range of poetic subjects seeping from the hearts of writers-Warren County writers, and Virginia writers, too, silenced the room with absorption. The always-welcome songs sung so beautifully by Shavon Russell Jones and afterwards, her sister, (forgive me I didn’t get her name.) A big surprise to everyone when volunteer from behind the bar, Cris Hunter ended the evening with the most beautiful rendition of Nature Boy. It brought some tears for the beauty of it. Their voices were like melted chocolate, velvety smooth and mesmerizing to everyone.

Miranda Medlin offered a stirring presentation, taking all into her realm. Devonte, a poet from our last year anthology Sitting with a Drunken Sorceress gave us his words and Travis Bullock continues to bring people in just to hear what he has to tell us.

So many others came to read, to share thoughts, feelings, and to merely listen. It was a very full night; a night to show Thomas Park what his dream has wrought; a night to make him proud for all his efforts.

American History, historical taverns, Memoir, New Jersey history, Poetry

READY FOR YOU TO READ!

September 2, 2015 Arlene

Shown in these pics are Lynn, Bernadette, Me, Kathy. Mike Walsh & others. roger-dodger & Bill. Stories from my younger days about the people I met tending bar. Meet Alabama Bob, Rodger-dodger, Johnnie Reb, the French-Canadians, the Horsey Set and more. These are stories of one person’s visions from the other side of the bar. The Afternoon Crowd is based at the American House Tavern in the rural, historical, New Egypt, New Jersey.

American History, booksigning, Memoir, poetic narrative, Poetry

The Afternoon Crowd at the American House Tavern *new book out

August 22, 2015 Arlene

A bolt of lightning came out of the sky and struck me in the spring of this year. This book is the result of that moment. I have no idea which of my deceased ancestors dredged up these old memories and sent them to me or why it came, but it lifted me out of a gloomy week, filling me with so much laughter while I wrote it and again, when I re-wrote it.

This easy-to-read poetic narrative is of my few years tending bar at the American House Tavern, in the middle of the horse country of New Egypt, New Jersey, in the 70s. I share my take on the people who came into my life at that time, in that place. This is my interpretation of those sitting across the bar from me while I scooted around, pouring beers, mixing cocktails, and playing amateur psychologist, sometimes matchmaker.

The books are being printed up now and available on Amazon in hardcopy and e-mode. If you would like a signed copy, or one inscribed to your best friend, lover, relative, etc. please send $12 (includes shipping) using Paypal or a check in snail mail.

If you enjoy it, please write a review.

First Friday Poetry Night, Poetry, Warren FoodWorks

FOR THOSE WHO MISSED FIRST FRIDAY POETRY NIGHT AT WARREN FOODWORKS

April 7, 2015 Arlene

A friend, who missed coming to FFPN at the Warren FoodWorks last week, asked me what I read. Attempting to step into the absent Thomas’ shoes, not an easy task-he is a natural emcee, I read a bit more than usual. As he is always asking everyone “Why do you write?” Reading one of my pieces from Jyoti Wind’s, The Creative Arc, An Anthology on Writing, seemed appropriate. My well-read copy is pictured here. Reading again and since WH Auden is one of many favorite poets, I read:
W H AUDEN QUOTE
“A poet is, before anything else, a person
who is passionately in love with language.”
W.H. Auden (1907-1973)
This quote from one of my favorite poets
sits with truth on my lips, slides down to
my heart and nestles there, as it finds a home.

In love with language, words that tickle me,
making me laugh; sometimes outright giggle
words can impress me with their sincerity
depress me without any reason just because
they are a word that forms an unhappy picture.

Poets take these words and move them around
write one higher on the line to make it jump
or rest quietly to let you sigh, take a deep breath
be happy to see it, special words can be italic
to touch you, you will remember those words
so precious that they imprint on your mind
and stay there

Bards play with accents as in persona poems
where you use the voice of another, allowing
your words to come from their mouth or is it
their words from your pen, after stepping into
their shoes, testing their waters, feeling how
someone else thinks. Is that possible?

Or is it guesswork and misunderstanding.
Playing with words on paper is part of that
love of language; moving them around
forming an outline of a heart or a tree
simply for pure delight. The power of a
printed word is image, to impress another
or catch their eye while playing like a child
hoping to leave a mark on the reader.
Arlene Sandra Bice © 3/2015