May 2015 RCLAS Wordplay at work E-ZINE

LITFEST NEW WEST 2015

Look for a LITFEST Special Edition coming up in our June e-Zine.

RCLAS WRITER OF THE MONTH

Deborah L. Kelly

Deborah Kelly currently hosts and features with Poetic Justice in New Westminster throughout the year. Deborah has also Featured for Poetry in The Park, World Poetry, Holy Wow Poets, and Edge of the Page Poetry.

She has also been on World Poetry Co-Op Radio twice.

Deborah has been the recipient of the International Society of Poets, Poet of Merit Award, and has had her works published in numerous anthologies, the News online, and also various book collections of poetry over the years.

She has also been published in the Taj Mahal Literary Review in India.

Deborah is one of only two Canadians chosen internationally, (recently), whose work will be included in two anthologies from India (Sponsored by the Tagore Society), “Heavenly Hymns,” and “Duet Symphonies,” Quill Books in the USA, Royal City Poets Anthologies, 3 and 4. Deborah is also published with the Canadian Federation of Poets.

Deborah recently had her debut book of poetry, “Through My Eyes,” published by Silver Bow Publishers, which will be launching in April 2015.

She was also the 4th Place Winner in the Rabindranath Tagore Awards, 2015.

Deborah was on the Board of Directors for Royal City Literary Arts Society (2013-2014), and continues to work with them as Board Assistant.

In Review: THROUGH MY EYES by Deborah L. Kelly As I listened to Deborah L. Kelly read at the launch of her new collection of poems Through My Eyes, it was clear to me that the poet has a close association with her Creator. In fact, it was commented later that these poems could be read as part of a liturgy at a church service.

Reading through this sensitive, beautiful collection, I felt the poet’s close association with nature and Mother Earth.

Each poem is like a hymn transporting the reader to quiet, serene scenes in forest glades, surrounded with ‘the quiet of the night, velvet blue ‘on white of moon,’ transporting us on wings of angels and eagles. In “Peacock Feathers, Crystal Wings” we fly on wings of crystal, a tiny hummingbird. The title poem “Through My Eyes” is particularly poignant; a beautiful tribute to the poet’s dying mother. ‘I have touched your brow as you suffered, placed my kisses upon your cheek as I bent to whisper in your ear, “I love you, mom, now, forever and always.” For anyone who has lost a loved one this is sure to bring tears to your eyes, just as it did to mine.

Deborah L. Kelly’s poems are tender and spiritual, and clearly demonstrate the healing power of poetry.

- W. Ruth Kozak

(‘Shadow of the Lion: Blood on the Moon’, MEDIAARIA CDM Publishing)

Passionate and spiritual the visual landscapes reveal the ugliness of pain and its infliction on each other and our mother earth. This is what Deborah L. Kelly shows us in her book of poems, Through My Eyes (Silver Bow Publishing 2015). All is there for the reader to see and feel on a deep level that sinks into our being like warm water into dry soil.

Her words provide nourishment for our psyche as well as giving us freedom and hope. In her poems nature is a strong liberating spiritual force and we begin to realize the oneness of us all with our Mother Nature. In her, “Skagit’s Splendour,” “sounds of the wilderness soothe me, while breezes of June cleanse away the wrinkles of time.”

There is healing power in her words. I look forward to her next book. Congratulations Deborah on a job so beautifully done.

- Margo Prentice (Writer, stand-up comedian, Short Story Open Mic host)

Deborah L. Kelly’s debut book launch, presented by Silver Bow Publishing and held Sunday April 12, 2015 at the Heritage Grill in New Westminster, was a great success. Congratulations, Deborah from all of us at RCLAS. Many of our RCLAS members were in attendance including Candice James, Ken Ader, Toni Levi, Ruth Kozak, Margo Prentice, Franci Louann, Ashok Bhargava (all pictured above)as well as George Chris Michas, Kyle McKillop, Una Bruhns, Jenny Getsinger, Janene White, and many more including members of Deborah’s family! We are all so happy for you, Deborah. BRAVA. – Janet Kvammen

Photo: Janet Kvammen, Deborah Kelly and Candice James, WIN Festival 2015

Through My Eyes by Deborah L. Kelly available for purchase here: http://www.alibris.com/stores/silverbow

Deborah Kelly will be a Featured Poet Sunday May 3, 2105, 3 PM– 5 PM at Poetic Justice, The Heritage Grill, 447 Columbia St, New Westminster http://poeticjustice.ca/event/poetic-justice-deborah-l-kelly-and-lilija-valiswith-host-candice-james/ Contact Deborah at poetrybydeborah@gmail.com Facebook https://www.facebook.com/heartworks.poetry

The Raven trilogy was previously published in Through My Eyes (Silver Bow Publishing 2015)

I Love to Watch You Jack, Resurrection, Middle-Essence, Black Gaia all previously publishedin Roal City Poets Anthology 2013 (Silver Bow Publishing)

The Hungry Heart and Winter Harvest previously published in Royal City Poets Anthology 2012 (Silver Bow Publishing)

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MAY 2015

View Calendar and Bios at www.poeticjustice.ca

HERITAGE GRILL, BACK ROOM 3-5 pm Sunday Afternoons—two features and open mic 447 Columbia St, New Westminster, near the Columbia Skytrain Station CO-FOUNDER & BOOKING MANAGER—Franci Louann flouann@telus.net Website & Facebook Manager, Photographer—Janet Kvammen janetkvammen@rclas.com Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/poeticjusticenewwest/

May 3 Sunday 3 – 5 pm Poetic Justice featuring DEBORAH L. KELLY and LILIJA VALIS Host: Candice James, Poet Laureate of New Westminster http://poeticjustice.ca/event/poetic-justice-deborah-l-kelly-and-lilija-valis-with-host-candice-james/

May 10 Sunday 3 – 5 pm Poetic Justice featuring JONINA KIRTON & LAUSANNE YAMOLKY

Host: Franci Louann http://poeticjustice.ca/event/poetic-justice-jonina-kirton-lausanne-yamolky-franci-louann/

May 17 Sunday Closed for VICTORIA DAY weekend

May 24 Sunday 3 – 5 pm Poetic Justice featuring MEAGAN SCHLEE-BEDARD & BERNICE LEVER

Host: Franci Louann http://poeticjustice.ca/event/poetic-justice-meagan-schlee-bedard-and-bernice-lever-with-host-franci-louann/

May 31 Sunday 3 – 5 pm Poetic Justice featuring NATASHA BOSKIC, BONNIE NISH and DAVID O’MEARA

Host: Franci Louann

http://poeticjustice.ca/event/poetic-justice-natasha-boskic-bonnie-nish-david-omeara/

Venue To Be Announced.

Please check our Facebook Page for an update.

Royal City Literary Arts Society

About the Letter © Margo Prentice Girlfriends are forever. Boyfriends are often not. We were three friends, Rusty, Joyce and Margo. It was our glorious late teen years when our lives were ahead of us and we were formulating our dreams. Mine was to get out of Winnipeg and go to Vancouver. I wanted to go to that wondrous tropical part of Canada near the Pacific Ocean. A warm place that wasn’t frozen all year. We had great times together, going to dances and dinners, drinking in our special club. Joyce and I called each other buddies. She was my buddy, Joyce, and I was her buddy, Margo.

Rusty was my boyfriend, but I liked him more as a friend, and even though we did go on dates we never even kissed. Rusty assumed we were a couple, and although I liked him I wasn’t ‘in love’ with him. Joyce had confided in me that she thought he was really nice. After one of our evenings of partying I announced at one of our late night Chinese dinners, I had decided to go to Vancouver. I was to leave in a few weeks.

They were both at the Greyhound bus depot as I boarded the bus, a few tears shed as Joyce and I said goodbye. This was to be Rusty and my first and only kiss. It was the time of letter writing and expensive long distance phone calls. Joyce and I wrote long, wonderful letters to each other. It was the letter from Rusty that was a surprise the day it came. It started like this.

“Dear Joyce, We have been friends for awhile, and although we both miss Margo, I would like to ask you out just as a friend. Let’s go to the Avalon for a beer. Is Friday after work okay?”

The envelope was addressed to me the letter inside started ‘Dear Joyce’. I phoned Joyce and asked if she got a letter from Rusty.

She replied, “Yes, odd though, it was addressed to me but the letter started dear Margo.”

“Would you mind reading your letter to me and I will read mine to you? I think Rusty put the letters in the wrong envelopes. That’s so funny, and sure, I’ll read you my-- oops your letter.”

“Dear Margo, I was kind of sad you left; I thought we were great as boyfriend and girlfriend. I think that now you are in Vancouver we should break up.”

After reading our letters we both laughed until tears ran down our faces. We agreed never to tell Rusty about his mistake. Our friendship could handle his indiscretion and keep it secret. We both agreed Rusty was a nice guy and it would be terribly embarrassing for him to know what he had done.

I don’t remember what was in the rest of my letter. I vaguely remember that there was a lot of reminiscing of our few years together as friends. I wonder if Joyce remembers what was in her letter. Rusty was never told of the mix up of the letters and it has been our sweet lifetime secret. Rusty did date Joyce. They married and had three children.

---------------------------------------------------------- Copyright Margo Prentice Margo Prentice has been published in the Vancouver Sun, Canadian Stories Magazine.

She is the artistic director of the Golden Age Theatre. She has hosted, “Short Story” open mic at Renaissance Books for the past few years. Margo has written over one hundred and fifty stories. She is a stand-up comic who has worked extensively in Vancouver and surrounding area. She writes all her own material and enjoys writing comedy.

The Chemicals and Senses of Love © Claire Lawrence Sharp I see myself in a silver mirror as light enters the rods and travels along a fragile optic nerve to my unproven, incorporeal essence.

Proprioception allows for mindless body movement.

I bullseye the location of my eyebrows and pluck.

A warm palm, full of fragrant talc, pushes under the peaches of my youth and into unwashed armpits.

Heady sweat, saturated with pheromones, announce the follicular phase of my moon cycle.

Sweet and Salty My lips—both—are are awash in briny wetness.

I rub—both—and wait for the curling waves of endogenous morphine to relax my cherry pout.

Sweet fantasy leaves me wanting.

Oh to taste with all ten thousand of my tastebuds my lover’s epidermis.

Bitter Sitting on a musty café couch.

A ringed mug announces hourly hope, then disappointment.

Tart, sour, acerbic words coat my tongue, and trigger my medulla,

my vomiting reflex.

Then denial.

I refuse to believe I was dumped.

The passage of time is notched in the su-pra-chi-as-ma-tic nu-cle-i of my internal clock.

And the circadian rhythm tells me to go home and sleep.

Hot The searing heat of betrayal cooks my humiliation.

Nociception detects painful stimuli as a phantasmal visceral ache.

My heart is breaking.

Love evaporates as my autonomic nervous system makes me breathe.

Consolidation of long term memories emerge along dendrites of neurons.

He is a metaphor of an animal I will never devour.

I erase him.

My neurotransmitters are depleted. I feel empty.

Comfort is found in a warm cup of chocolate dopamine.

--------------------------------------------------------- Copyright Claire Lawrence Claire Lawrence is a writer, nurse, entrepreneur and slayer of bucket lists. She is a graduate of the Southbank Writer’s Program from Simon Fraser University, British Columbia. She is a member of the Port Moody Writers’ Group, and the Royal City Literary Arts Society. Claire Lawrence lives in Port Moody with her four boys, husband, and a beastie little dog named Guinness.

Workshops in Review: "Presentation and Memorization"

Facilitator: Candice James April 11, 2015 New Westminster

Photos by Janet Kvammen & Ken Ader

"Presentation and Memorization" Workshop with Candice James, April 11, 2015

Testimonials from Workshop Attendees…

“The Memorization and Presentation Workshop with Candice James was one of the best I've experienced, and I've been to many of various kinds. Candice is a natural teacher, with her relaxed, encouraging, and well thought out style, seizing teachable moments along the way. She enthusiastically modelled her techniques with a variety of poems and forms. Participants repeatedly practised "steps and chunks" to successful memorization, complete with lively expression. As promised, the learning was not as difficult as is so often presumed. In Candice's workshop, quality learning was accomplished with lots of encouragement, and shared laughter. All participants were well supported with the use of both oral and written guidelines and great mutual modelling. Candice strengthens her students' beliefs in the power of individual Will and self confidence. I would highly recommend this experience with RCLAS's multitalented poet laureate.”

- Carla Evans "I found Candice James' "Presentation and Memorization" workshop very helpful and informative.

Her lessons and exercises on memorization were fun and easy to put into practice. The techniques she used were very adaptive and she provided great support to assure that memorization can be a great advantage towards a more captivating performance."

– Sonya Furst-Yuen "Presentation and Memorization" Workshop "I remember looking forward to poetry class in high school as if it were another dose of poison; or at least the equivalent of a dose of nasty tasting medicine. I didn't know there were techniques which made memorizing easier and more fun. That is I didn't know until I attended a presentation and memorization course offered by New Westminster's Poet Laureate Candice James. Learning there is actually a method that takes some of the pain and hard work of memorizing and turned out to be fun along with a group that gave forth both laughter and inspiration. Thoroughly enjoyable.’’

- Neall Ryon

Introduction Workshop Video by Ken Ader:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdWHADe32vw&list=PLsQ3Z_53RTwghxVncrRSoX0uw-w4lvRhH&index=1

I just pulled out all my notes and the handouts that Candice gave us. I found the poem "Insomniac" we were to memorize from Maya Angelou. I worked a few minutes on that and had it. Then I wanted to find the "hard poem", the one almost all of us in the course had problems with. I rifled through the material, and then realized, it was the Maya Angelou poem that I had just memorized! I want to find some other poems to do now. So, this workshop really works. I am going to come to all her workshops.

– Heather MacKenzie “Her enjoyment of her craft comes through in the way she presented and conducted this workshop.

Everyone in attendance had an opportunity to participate directly in the exercises she provided, and her feedback was always encouraging and positive.

I was able to take notes but was pleased also to find that she had handouts outlining the material covered in the workshop, due to the fact that there were times I was so involved in listening and digesting what she was telling us that I forgot to take notes.

I came into the workshop wondering about the similarities and differences in the presentation and memorization skills between music and poetry. I left with clear answers to those questions, and most importantly how to present and memorize spoken word pieces in public.

I would highly recommend Candice James’ Presentation and Memorization Workshop to both novice and experienced writers in any genre, as all of us will need to aurally present pieces of our work at some point along the way.”

– Glenn Wootton Very practical presentation, animated, Candice is an excellent communicator, contact with participants, she models what she teaches. A master, and a privilege to take this workshop.

Excellent! Spectacular. Just fabulous. Candice is a poem. So clear, helpful & encouraging & inspiring.

Thank you so much!

– Celeste Snowber Honest opinions, practical, useful advice, sense of humour, organized info. Wonderful workshop and appreciated that the info was presented in an organized way showing respect for those who paid to attend.

– Lilija Valis

Workshops In Review "Bypass Writers’ Block” Facilitator: Bernice Lever April 21, 2015 New Westminster Public Library

Photos by Sonya Furst-Yuen and Deborah Kelly

"Bypass Writers’ Block" with Bernice Lever, April 21, 2015

From Notes Compiled by Sonya Furst-Yuen The most powerful ways that our writing can come out is through the least number of words.

"Haiku" (3-line) poetry can be a good way to start.

Our brain does not like to be in a rut, so sometimes our best written work comes from challenges or the most unpredictable times/places.

Some of the ways our writing goals can be speeded up is by contest deadlines or by a guaranteed publication.

Since personality and plot can be difficult to create, we may need our character to do something impossible to get the story going.

Any thought/action should have a reaction and effect.

Good techniques to use to avoid writers' block: By putting your story in a different creative format such as Photoshop or drawings you can help aid in the development.

Use a different voice Include all 5 senses Add layers through emotions

"Take the Right to Write" "It is written in the stars for you to do so."

- John B. Lee Bernice Lever, Poet, Freelance Editor, Award-Winning Writer https://colourofwords.wordpress.com/

FEEDBACK & E-ZINE SUBMISSIONS

Drop us a line – Janet Kvammen, RCLAS Director/E-zine janetkvammen@rclas.com Antonia Levi secretary@rclas.com

Open Call for Submissions - RCLAS Members Only Poems & Prose Call for Submissions on the following themes/features: June: “Poetry in the Park”, “Summer Memories” Open Call: Poems, Short Stories, Book excerpts & Songs are welcome for submission to future issues of Wordplay at work.

Submit Word documents to janetkvammen@rclas.com RCLAS Members: Please send us your latest news, feedback on our e-zine and any ideas or suggestions that you may have.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! RCLAS Volunteer Coordinator: Sonya Furst-Yuen If you would like to participate in a single event, or make an even bigger contribution, please contact our volunteer coordinator. sonya.yuen@rclas.com

Best wishes to Debra Nelson who is retiring after 31 years with the New Westminster Public Library!

Kyle McKillop, Janet Kvammen and Debra Nelson, LitFest New West 2015

Thank you to our Sponsors 

Arts Council of New Westminster



Judy Darcy

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The Heritage Grill



New Westminster Public Library



Chuck Puchmayr

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City of New Westminster



Renaissance Books



Wayne Wright



Saddlestone International

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Silver Bow Publishing

May 2015

Painting is silent poetry, and poetry is painting that speaks.

- Plutarch

Wordplay at work

ISSN 2291-4269

Contact: janetkvammen@rclas.com RCLAS Director/ Newsletter Editor & Design