Zoe Brooks's Blog, page 11

Friday Poem - Punch I

PUNCH I
In the beginningwhen God rested from his laboursAdam took a knife and cut down a young elm.This was his first act of destructionand Adam smiled at the sap in itand saw that it was good.
And Adam took again the knifeand carved in his own image a wife beater and a layabout,a preserver of sausagesand a counter of bodies.
And as Adam sat outside the closed gates of Edenjust for the hell of ithe gave his creationa stick to beat the Devil with.

Saturday Poem - The Memorial

The Memorial
Above the memorial"To those who gave..."a dead sparrowis huddledlike a smallclenched fist.

Update

I have just arrived back in the Czech Rpublic and am about to start work on draft 1 of the final book in The Healer's Shadow Trilogy. My access to the internet here is less efficient, plus I will be focusing on bookwriting rather then blogposts, so please bear with me.

Tuesday Photo Inspiration - TheWood Witch

I came across the witch in the woods above my Czech home. She is actually a stump of a tree which tumbled in a high wind. I was walking lost in thought when I turned a corner and saw her through the trees. She made me jump, I don't mind telling you. She's vanished now into the rich earth of the forest.

Friday poem - We'll Say No More

We'll Say No More
Let us understand each otherwell enough.There is an understandingthat exceeds the bounds.When in forgetfulnessmy tongue outstripsmy heartput your lips against my lipsand we'll say no more.In New Mexicoline upon lineof refined steel polessearch the airfor sudden southern lightning.and thus we aresearching in each other's mouthsfor gravesthat will crash upon usanyhow.

Poems for multiple voices

When Carolyn Howard Johnson reviewed my poetry book Fool's Paradise as "Very experimental. Wholly original" I was surprised. Of course I don't think of what I write as particularly original, what I write feels normal.  So Caroline's review made me think, after all Caroline is a multi award-winning poet.

As I have said in previous post I was blessed with being taught by an inspiring creative English teacher - Elizabeth Webster - who introduced me to the work of some wonderful and great poets. In particular she introduced me to the work of the British poets of the early to mid twentieth century - T S Eliot, Dylan Thomas and Louis MacNeice. And surprise, surprise the works she first introduced me to were all verse plays: 
Murder in the Cathedral by T S Eliot, Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas and The Dark Tower by Louis MacNeice. 

Those early readings were etched into my memory and, I suspect, my poetic DNA. Every year at this time on the cusp of winter I find myself repeating the lines from the opening chorus of Murder in the Cathedral:
Since golden October declined into sombre November
And the apples were gathered and stored, and the land became brown sharp points of death in a waste of water and mud

What is more under her direction I acted in a number of verse plays - including Under Milk Wood and plays by another British verse play writer Christopher Fry. Plays like Under Milk Wood and Louis MacNeice's Dark Tower were written to be performed on radio, the BBC was a major sponsor of verse drama. But the roots of poetic dramas are deep in the beginnings of theatre. When I was twelve or thirteen I performed in a production of Alcestis by Euripides, first performed in the 5th century BC. I can still remember some of the lines:
Daughter of Pelias fare thee well. May joy be thine in the sunless houses.
Just listen to the cadences in that one line.

And of course there was Shakespeare. I was playing Caliban in The Tempest at the age of twelve, loving the poetry in the play (Caliban has the isle is full of voices speech) and realizing how verse can by woven into drama. Later I was to play Viola in Twelfth Night - another character with some great poetry. 

The poetry group at the Arts Centre, which Elizabeth ran and of which I was a member, gave regular readings and in one of these we performed MacNeice's The Dark Tower and in another extracts of Blood Wedding by Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca. The poetry group with its emphasis on reading aloud taught me the importance of poetry as performance. Some of the best poems, even when not written to be read by different voices, are dramatic. And some, such as Eliot's Four Quartets, although not written as plays nevertheless have different voices woven into them. My long poem called Poem for Voices, is the same. 

You can see why writing poetry for different voices is so natural to me.  I don't always write for voices, many of my poems are to be spoken by one voice. But writing for voices allows me to explore textures, emotions and forms in a unique way. This approach, which was once so prevalent, is now so unusual that Carolyn comments on it. Have I developed it further? I don't know. It's just how I write sometimes. But then it does seem to me that if people claim their work is original and experimental it almost certainly isn't. 

EPIC Book awards - Finalist

Just heard that Fool's Paradise my long poem for voices is a finalist in the EPIC eBook awards. So fingers crossed. Fool's Paradise is available on Amazon on http://www.amazon.com/Fools-Paradise-ebook/dp/B0087EB5KA  and http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fools-Paradise-ebook/dp/B0087EB5KA

Poem for the Week - Light

Light
Light askantthrough ash leaveslike water shineon my empty sheets.I lean to smooththe cotton down.I am smoothing the seaand I smell you in it,as I would smell saltand the flood.

Love of Shadows Spooktacular Giveaway Hop

Love of Shadows, the second book in The Healer's Shadow Book and the follow-up to Girl in the Glass, is just out and will be officially launched in November. As part of the promotion for the new book I am giving away a bag of goodies to the lucky winner of my rafflecopter draw below. The bag contains a Girl in the Glass cotton t-shirt (available in small, medium and large), a Love of Shadows pen, a Love of Shadows keyring and a free copy of the Girl in the Glass ebook.

American reader can buy Love of Shadows from Amazon.com via the button in the left hand column. British readers should visit  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Shadows-Healers-Shadow-ebook/dp/B009PCG602/ .


This giveaway is part of the Spooktacular Giveaway Hop, hosted by I am a Reader, Not a Writer and The Diary of a Bookworm.  500 other blogs are part of the Spooktacular giveaway (see below), all giving away various goodies, so take some time to explore the links below. NB if you are reading this blog on 23rd October, some blogs will not go live until 24th October, so come back for more.
ENTER THE GIVEAWAY
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mother of Wolves Free Today

My historical fantasy adventure Mother of Wolves is going free on Amazon 22nd-24th October http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0082BT6G8 & http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0082BT6G8.
It's been getting some great reviews recently: here are some of them:
"Another fascinating tale of revenge and justice from a master storyteller. This well paced and exciting story set in an unknown place and time, with animals and the natural world playing a strong role - picking up on the animal imagery featuring in all cultures, their histories and literatures. The shape of the book is in two linked halves making a totally satisfying complete story - a book that stays with you for a long time as it is so multilayered. Can't wait for the next one!" 
"Mother of Wolves by Zoe Brooks will touch the chord of one's being that eclipses heart and soul. The work is a fictional tale, by the author's own pledge, but the happenings are nothing new to anyone who has studied Native history and interaction with the white military and society. The tales embedded within this work are heart-pumpingly enthralling.

The characters are wonderfully vivid and detailed, though a reader will not see the faces. The view is restricted to watching eyes that seek the forms out of the darkness of dreams. One will find the familiar literary guises of underestimated heroes, and villains who hold a banner of right and good; but will be, perhaps, pleasantly surprised to find a strong and effervescent warrior of a female hero by the name of Lupa. Thankfully, such power and humanity in a female hero is becoming more readily available to readers. Brooks has created a hero which is both wolf and chameleon, living her life as a warrior/leader exacting justice on those who think themselves above others and the karmic law that hold all accountable for his or her own actions.

The plot is well honed and written skillfully. The work encapsulates a number of stories, which are each an important portion of life experienced by the hero and those close to her. Mother of Wolves is an interwoven tapestry of life and all of the experiences and complications involved. A reader will view the landscape as those traveling the wilds, not for fun and adventure, but for continued existence and the life of all held dear."