10/01/2018 Marvin R. Hiemstra features

10/01/2018  Marvin R. Hiemstra hosted by Jan

Marvin R. Hiemstra appeared a valiant Leo in the Year of the Rabbit and was instructed by a tiny prairie grass frog on his wrist at age three.  Honors Graduate from Iowa Writers Workshop and founding Editor-in-Chief of the Bay Area Poets Seasonal Review with work in Caveat Lector, Amsterdam Quarterly, The Satirist, North American Review, and elsewhere Marvin publishes and performs around the world. Dana Gioia called the DVD French Kiss Destiny, “superb work.” Shawn Pittard, The Great American Pinup, said, “What I hold closest to my heart is Marvin’s reminder of the importance of human affection in this totally terrifying 21^st Century.”  Library Journal reported, “Whimsical poet/humorist Hiemstra shares his thoughts and observations on society: a very agreeable addition to contemporary American literature.”

AUTUMN DAZZLE

The last bowl of red cherries

for this year means autumn.

Oops!  One clever cherry escaped

the bowl.  Everyone laughs.

I am carefully arranging wildflowers

in a boat-shaped basket.

Wind hits verandah, twists

arrangement.  It looks better.

Pure wind from the North

transforms a quiet hill of flame

maple brocade into a shimmering

spirit forest, all ablaze.

It’s time to put fresh white paper

on all the shoji.  No more

patches!  Oldest tree in the garden

wears brilliant persimmons.

“Pearls!” shouted Yogi when snow fell

through a ruined thatch roof.

Pearls tumble through our sun yellow

wisteria leaves.  It makes me blue.