A Country Rag Occasional TreatsA Country Rag Occasional Treats| Harold Janzen, a Canadian poet of vividly unusual imagery and cadence, lives in the Southern Manitoba country on three acres of oak trees and the meandering Dead Horse Creek, just outside the small Town of Morden of which he is Parks Director. With his wife Lori, a grade 4 & 5 teacher, he has lived and taught school in Honduras for a year, explored most of the United States and parts of Mexico and Europe, and most recently spent five months travelling throughout southeast Asia. |
THIS PLACE I AM
on the endless trail of choices
on the less identifiable scent of decision
guided by this over-powering vision of reality
identity landscape
surrounding this place i am
this isolated me
this everyday maintenance
to remain focused on being
enacted
here
and now
as forever
after going into the world
of the heart
FEEL LIGHT TOUCH BRILLIANCE
feel light
touch brilliance
the body is no longer
a prison
nature and perception
all religions
interpretations
feel light
touch brilliance
the body is no longer
a prison
THESE REFLECTIONS
rivers reverse
mountains
to no end
these reflections
deep in the drink of this race
thru the crazy think tank
her sound waves
from the walls
of confined space
she’s standing by the rails
the train lights
disappear but
memory is a stone on water
skips forever
ripples endless
rivers reverse
mountains
to no end
these reflections
SPUN
she has a geometric investment in the dawn
this internal hum
the circle she draws in mid air
and sets spinning
a microcosm that totals the sum
a world that's soon to become
a slab of clay melting on a pottery wheel
upward into something
this vessel expanding at hand
her home from a shore
a sea that is born
from a rimless horizon
somewhere deep in the shade
of an unnamed tree
the balcony
an evident breeze only to these words
and leaves to the pages of legendary trains
thru asia
from between the railing the water
looks in
the spun sound of the surf
suspends from a thread
|
HAROLD JANZEN: "I have been writing seriously for the past twenty-some years, initially influenced by the music and lyrics of Bob Dylan and the Beatles, especially John Lennon. Later I discovered the Beat Generation, concentrating on Jack Kerouac and Gary Snyder. The poetry and writing of Octavio Paz, Paul Bowles and Malcolm Lowery are also a constant source of inspiration. My poetry has been published: in the hard copy Manitoba periodicals Prairie Fire, the Gopher and Paper Rainbows; in Pieces Of A Jigsaw Puzzle, a multi-cultural anthology; and on-line poetry websites including Recursive Angel, Olympus, Ygdrasil, Snakeskin and Poetry Cafe. Two self-published chap books are also available: The Cat Sleeps In My Head and Ultravisions, a collaboration with artist Marcel Debreuil." E-mail address: hjanzen@mb.sympatico.ca. |
| LinkExchange Member | Free Home Pages at GeoCities |