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SIX POEMS BY FRANK BELTRANO, OUR SEPT. 4TH, 2013 READER (SEASON 2)

8/22/2013

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Picture
The second season of London Open Mic Poetry Night opens on September 4th, 2013. Frank Beltrano will be the featured poet.

 Frank is familiar to most London poetry aficionados, as he has been heavily involved in the scene here for the past eight years, ttending and organizing workshops and readings. He even made a large contribution to the success of the open mic by strongly suggesting (as did Andreas Gripp) that we use the Mykonos Restaurant as our venue. Otherwise, we might very well be meeting in some dingy bar. 

1.   On This Beautiful Day 
       to Jack 

Thinking of your death 
I imagined a sound 
amid the last of the firewood 
in the abyss between the garages 
I wanted to see you as a mouse 
dark and furtive 
alive in the blackness. 
On this beautiful day 
a butterfly struggled by instead 
against the gravity of it all, 
my thoughts of how 
you were depressed. 
You reminded me 
of my father near his end 
always a man’s man hunting, 
killing in a sacred way. 
Your son found you 
three days missing, in a field, 
rolled you over hoping a heart attack, 
found you faceless 
with one of your guns 
in the same field 
where his mother 
your first true love 
spent the last of 
her cancer-ridden days 
among monarchs. 

© Frank Beltrano 


2.   The Days of Angry 

I remember 
the days of angry. 
city speed for 
inches of advantage 
the rush and fuss 
of billing 9 or 91/2 hours 
into 8 hour days 
overtime racoons 
on fences 
down dark alleyways 
midnights motoring away from 
mangled mortise cylinders 
pager calls 
dim lit halls 
walkie talkie 
locksmith lingo 
knocking on doors 
locking up crack houses 
showing respect for whores 
taking orders from pimps 
home to read 
politically correct fairy tales. 
And sometimes to cry for tired 
wishing sleep 
shaking, still at the wheel 
of a parked truck 
no peace, no luck 
but big pay cheques 
and home at all hours 
up early 
customers difficult 
managers squirrelly 
picking cylinders 
slipping linkages 
jimmying latches 
retracting bolts 
delivering assurances 
supplying quotes. 

“If they want to get in badly enough 
nothing will stop them” 
Seldom asking who they are 
stopping them 
with long, shiny, stainless steel screws 
threaded through jams into 2 by 4s 
working with two by fours 

And working with words 
like pillars of belief 
giving support, relief 
to single moms 
locking in battered women 
and stolen cigarettes 
stopping cigarette smoking 
mostly men 
doing it again, for 
elderly women, widows and widowers
broken men 
with their own ideas 
about how this is done 
pussy cats all 
who ask, “Are you bonded?” 
For what it is worth 
I am trusted 
to fight fear with mirth 
by mobsters 
not pussy cats at all 
ex-KGB 
stripper lords 
slum lords 
real estate moguls 
proprietors of rentals 
VIP owners 
of Lincoln continentals 
and rusted out colts 
wanting at midnight 
doors with gaskets, magnetics 
push button bolts. 

And before morning 
come low voltage shocks 
testing electric locks 
(a coffee comes as much to warm the hands as drink ) 
oily at dawn 
delivering parts 
in brown paper bags 
hands wrapped in rags. 
And when this is done 
I go away, 
and to myself, I say 
“I have been 
here before 
been— there before 
I have therefore been 
before” 
I become a spinning dervish 
inscribing circles in the dust 
when I am done 
out comes the anger 
up comes the sun 
that propels the day 
I remember 
the days of angry. 

© Frank Beltrano 
Toward the Light, summer, 2007, with honourable mention


3. Terza Rima Sunset 

(Editor: Invented by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri in the late thirteenth century to structure his three-part epic poem, The Divine Comedy, terza rima is composed of tercets woven into a rhyme scheme that requires the end-word of the second line in one tercet to supply the rhyme for the first and third lines in the following tercet. Thus, the rhyme scheme (aba, bcb, cdc, ded) continues through to the final stanza or line. Dante chose to end each canto of the The Divine Comedy with a single line that completes the rhyme scheme with the end-word of the second line of the preceding tercet. Terza rima is typically written in an iambic line, and in English, most often in iambic pentameter. If another line length is chosen, such as tetrameter, the lines should be of the same length. There are no limits to the number of lines a poem composed in terza rima may have.)  

 Terza Rima Sunset 
       Bayfield Ontario July 17th 2013 

The evening ritual is our walk to the sunset 
Together we stroll in the heat swatting flies 
Long shadows of maples are a comfort you bet 

But it’s hot and the salt from our sweat stings our eyes. 
To the top of the stairs leading down to the beach 
The red sun setting becomes a surprise 

Though we’ve seen it before it is new to us each 
Night a little different falling from a height 
Tangerine pandemonium swirling and shaped like a peach 

With sunglasses we stare dumbfounded into bright 
in love with a wedge of moon 
To be frightened by the night.

Having fallen across the sky since apogee at noon 
Our star strikes the cold lake to the call of a loon. 

© Frank Beltrano 


4.   Exact Sentences

(Editor: This poem is in the form of a glosa, a relatively unknown poetic form, except for here in Canada, thanks in large part to P.K. Page who published a book called Hologram, A Book of Glosas. The form originated in the Renaissance Spanish court of the 14th and 15th centuries. In a glosa, tribute is paid to another poet. The opening quatrain, called a cabeza, is by another poet, and each of their four lines are imbedded elsewhere in the glosa. The opening quatrain is followed by four stanzas, each of which is generally ten lines long, that elaborate or "glosses" on the cabeza chosen. Each ending line (10th line) of the four following stanzas is taken from the cabeza. The usual rhyme scheme of a glosa is final word rhyming of the 6th, 9th and the borrowed 10th lines.)

Exact Sentences

Come to me, said the world.
This is not to say 
it spoke in exact sentences 
but that I perceived beauty in this manner. 

                                                                     October #3 from 
                                                                Averno by Louise Glück 


A child, I played out of doors 
with butterflies and caterpillars 
built fake fires of burnt match sticks
made mud bricks and tepees, 
above these childish Indian homes 
raised pirate flags unfurled 
sang nursery rhymes, ate popcorn 
had time for joy until 
into the fray I was hurled. 
Come to me, said the world. 

And in my teens all music was 
the thing, fashion and youthful society,
the distancing from the norm, parents,
family, and home, the taking up with 
friends. Late evenings of partying 
staying out past the end of the day 
discovering sex, 
imagining independence, a new 
adventure and home of my own away. 
This is not to say 

I disliked my childish pursuits 
or would soon forsake them 
to be truly, truly mature, responsible, 
independent out in the world 
but I did delude myself 
with false modesty and shallow repentances 
into believing I heard a voice 
of wisdom, vision and premonition 
leading me triumphantly covering great distances 
it spoke in exact sentences. 

And I was determined defective 
perhaps schizophrenic or manic depressive 
living in valleys and on mountain tops 
both passively and actively aggressive 
grazing on pharmacological disaster 
when all that I needed was dexterity of grammar 
to express my pent-up elation 
or to climb from the depths of despair 
with words and phrases hard as a hammer 
I perceived beauty in this manner. 

© Frank Beltrano


5. Klimt T-Shirt  

There is a woman today 
in the café with a Gustav Klimt 
painting on her weathered t-shirt. 
It is nowhere near as golden 
and splendid as the original. 
“A lovely thing,” I say, nonetheless. 

I try to be friendly, not more or less
don’t want trouble from her husband today. 
I am in love with the original 
a masterpiece of the Viennese Klimt 
resembling the Byzantine mosaic art, golden.
This is not new, a washed-out t-shirt 

that has travelled with dignity, a t-shirt 
that undoubtedly cost a lot less 
than the 135 million dollar painting, gorgeous and golden 
the second most expensive painting in the world today. 
Why so much for a work by Klimt? 
Has value been added to the Viennese original 

by the Nazis confiscating the original 
leaving its Jewish owners with barely the shirts 
on their backs, storing the stolen loot in bunkers? The Klimts 
were traded for exit visas and less. 
A fortunate few descendants of the owners survive today 
having escaped the S.S. by paying with paintings of gold. 

It is the Viennese Mona Lisa, that I love, the Golden 
Lady as named by the Nazis, ashamed of the original
Jewish name, Adele Bloch-Bauer— the painting’s title again today. 
It is made famous by the court case, the posters, t-shirts 
notoriety in the press and less 
the skill and genius of the painter, Klimt. 


What might Klimt 
think of his golden 
masterpiece now? Less 
a work of original 
genius, more a subject for a t-shirt 
seen in the cafe today 

worn today in tribute to Klimt 
well worn t-shirt not quite as golden 
as the original but inspiring nonetheless. 

© Frank Beltrano 



THE EVENT

WHERE: All of our reading events except the April one are held in the Mykonos Restaurant at 572 Adelaide St. North, London, Ontario. The restaurant has a large, covered terrace just behind the main restaurant, which comfortably holds 60 poetry lovers. Mediterranean food and drinks are available. The terrace is open to the parking lot behind. Overflow parking is available across the side street and in the large lot one block north, in front of Trad’s Furniture.

WHEN: September 4th. Music begins at 6:15, poetry at 7:00. 

LIVE MUSIC: The Light Of East Ensemble, a group of up to seven internationally-inspired musicians, will open the event at 6:15. The group will also play during the intermission and at the end of the event. The Light Of East Ensemble, a London-based instrumental group, performs music from the Near and Middle East, including traditional, folk, classical Arabic, Greek Rembetika, and modern urban music of the 20th century from regions such as Armenia, Greece (Asia Minor - Smyrni, and Konstantinoupoli), Turkey, and other Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria. 

The Light of East Ensemble is the winner of the 2013 Jack Richardson Music Award, and the 2013 London Music Award in the category of World Music, also the winner of the 2011 Jack Richardson Music Award in the category of World Music and a London Music Award in both 2011 and 2008. The group’s music may not be what Western listeners grew up hearing, but the rhythms and melodies are instantly captivating and listeners are quickly drawn into the intensity of the music. 

For many audio and video samplings
Audio tracks:From a Greek folk song 
From a traditional Arabic song

THE FEATURED POET, Frank Beltrano, opens the poetry portion of the event with a reading that begins at 7:00, followed by a Q&A.

OPEN MIC: Following the featured poet, there is about 1.5 hours of open mic, ending about 9:00 pm. Each poet has five minutes (which is about two good pages of poetry, but it should be timed at home). Names are selected at random, so there is no need to come especially early just to get on the list of readers.

RAFFLE PRIZES: Anyone who donates to London Open Mic Poetry Night receives a ticket for a raffle prize, three of which will be picked after the intermission. The prizes consist of poetry books donated by Brick Books and The Ontario Poetry Society. Donations are our only source of income. We still haven't paid off our initial debt.























The Wisdom of Birds 





The birds don’t know


that Osama Bin Laden 


is dead, and don’t care. 


They are singing 


their mating songs, 


turning up wet leaves 


in search of worms— 


life goes on— and 


a man who kills men 


is no news to birds. 


They have no knowledge 


of the words of the Koran, 


the Bible, the Torah 


and what’s more 


I’d rather hear birds sing 


than those people who cheered 


in the Arab world on 9/11 


or those who sang American anthems 


in Washington last night because 


Osama Bin Laden is dead. 








© Frank Beltrano 








Before I Write





After the lighting of a beeswax candle


held aloft by the cast iron mouse


I return to my chair


although turned around I turn it back


as if to invite myself to sit


as long as I can


as though I cared


because before


I write


even if I pause


even though I do 


how wonderful it feels 


if only I knew 


since I don’t know 


that which will be 


though it will most assuredly be 


unless I pause 


until a pause becomes a stop 


when push comes to shove 


whatever time it takes 


where do good words come from


while I paused and stopped 


it seems to have written itself. 





© Frank Beltrano

even if I pause
even though I do 
how wonderful it feels 
if only I knew 
since I don’t know 
that which will be 
though it will most assuredly be 
unless I pause 
until a pause becomes a stop 
when push comes to shove 
whatever time it takes 
where do good words come from
while I paused and stopped 
it seems to have written itself. 




© Frank Beltrano








THE EVENT

WHERE: All of our reading events except the April one are held in the Mykonos Restaurant at 572 Adelaide St. North, London, Ontario. The restaurant has a large, covered terrace just behind the main restaurant, which comfortably holds 60 poetry lovers. Mediterranean food and drinks are available. The terrace is open to the parking lot behind. Overflow parking is available across the side street and in the large lot one block north, in front of Trad’s Furniture.

WHEN: September 4th. Music begins at 6:15, poetry at 7:00. 

LIVE MUSIC: The Light Of East Ensemble, a group of up to seven internationally-inspired musicians, will open the event at 6:15. The group will also play during the intermission and at the end of the event. The Light Of East Ensemble, a London-based instrumental group, performs music from the Near and Middle East, including traditional, folk, classical Arabic, Greek Rembetika, and modern urban music of the 20th century from regions such as Armenia, Greece (Asia Minor - Smyrni, and Konstantinoupoli), Turkey, and other Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria. 

The Light of East Ensemble is the winner of the 2013 Jack Richardson Music Award, and the 2013 London Music Award in the category of World Music, also the winner of the 2011 Jack Richardson Music Award in the category of World Music and a London Music Award in both 2011 and 2008. The group’s music may not be what Western listeners grew up hearing, but the rhythms and melodies are instantly captivating and listeners are quickly drawn into the intensity of the music. 

For many audio and video samplings
Audio tracks:From a Greek folk song 
From a traditional Arabic song

THE FEATURED POET, Frank Beltrano, opens the poetry portion of the event with a reading that begins at 7:00, followed by a Q&A.

OPEN MIC: Following the featured poet, there is about 1.5 hours of open mic, ending about 9:00 pm. Each poet has five minutes (which is about two good pages of poetry, but it should be timed at home). Names are selected at random, so there is no need to come especially early just to get on the list of readers.

RAFFLE PRIZES: Anyone who donates to London Open Mic Poetry Night receives a ticket for a raffle prize, three of which will be picked after the intermission. The prizes consist of poetry books donated by Brick Books and The Ontario Poetry Society. Donations are our only source of income. We still haven't paid off our initial debt.
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