New Book! In Her Terms by Toti O'Brien!

From Alturas:

My apologies for condoning the hawk

for not holding its predating nature

against it. We all hunt, just

in different ways.

The hawk does it beautifully

as large birds do, sunlit

and in plain sight.

. . . I seem to have been wed

to the hawk time ago, in prehistoric eras

our tie as indissoluble

as a sacrament. Let me

celebrate the rite of the hawk,

hawk and I, hawk and eye, the long gaze

the telescopic vision.

- - -

Toti O'Brien is the Italian Accordionist with the Irish last name. Born in Rome, living in Los Angeles, she is an artist, musician, poet, and dancer.

Click here to order In Her Terms ($5) 

Recent Books:
An Alphabet of Birds (2020) $15
Other Maidens (2020) $16
Today In The Forest, with Cindy Rinne (2021) $12

 

New Book! The Desert by John C. Van Dyke

John Charles Van Dyke (1856–1932) was an American art historian, critic, and nature writer. He was born at New Brunswick, New Jersey, studied at Columbia, and for many years in Europe.

In 1878, Van Dyke was appointed the librarian of the Gardner Sage Library at the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and in 1891 as a professor of art history at Rutgers College. He was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1908.

When visiting the western deserts, Van Dyke brought his years of Art experience with him when composing this book, The Desert. The result is the visual language of light, air, and color which gives his writing a vivid poetic imagery loved by generations of readers.

Click here to purchase on-line ($6.00)

New Book! Calendar Girls by Tobi Alfier!

Calendar Girls can be imagined as a poetry book with a 2022 calendar, or as a 2022 calendar with poetry to help you make it through each month. The calendar has plenty of room to write doctor's appointments, readings you're attending, pta meetings, and everyone's birthday. The words and pictures will keep you inspired as you visit the life of a different woman each month through the eyes of Tobi Alfier. 

Tobi Alfier is co-editor of San Pedro River Review (www.bluehorsepress.com), an international semi-annual print journal of poetry and art. Her chapbooks include The Coincidence of Castles from Glass Lyre Press, Romance and Rust from Blue Horse Press, Down Anstruther Way from FutureCycle Press and Grit and Grace from Orchard Street Press. Her newest full-length books are Somewhere, Anywhere, Doesn't Matter Where from Kelsay Books, Sanity Among the Wildflowers from Cholla Needles, Slices of Alice & Other Character Studies from Cholla Needles and Symmetry: earth and sky from Main Street Press.

Click here to order Calendar Girls on-line ($8).

a peek inside (true size 11" X 17"):

 

Open Poetry Reading October 6, 5-7 PM!

Cholla Needles Open Poetry Reading

October 6, 2021 5-7 PM

at

The Joshua Tree Folk Stage

Bring a mask and a lawn chair for comfort!

Map:

October issue released! Cholla Needles 58!

 The theme this month - Terra - comes from the book selected to be read throughout our community for the 2021 BIG READ: An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo. The BIG READ is presented locally by Arts Connection and the Arts Council of San Bernardino County. The authors and artists for this issue were asked to present a personal understanding of Terra. We're tremendously blessed by how well they help us visualize our earth from so many viewpoints:

Leslie Shaw

Cynthia Anderson

John Brantingham

Caryn Davidson

Jeffrey Alfier

Tobi Alfier

Ruth Nolan

John C. Krieg

L. I. Henley

Dave Maresh

Tony Soares

Simon Perchik

Click here to purchase Cholla Needles 58 on-line ($5)

New Book! Dreams I've Held: Uncollected Poems (1943-1979) by Simon Perchik

This volume includes the full edition of Simon Perchik's very first book, The Bomber Moon, which was self-published in 1950, and is long out of print. Poems between 1943 & 1979 published in many literary magazines have also been collected, and appear in book form for the first time. These include The Lambert Castle Poems from 1943-49, two hundred and fifteen poems called "The "A" Poems, a set of five prose poems, and a rare long narrative poem entitled Misha's Funeral.

Simon Perchik, an attorney, was born 1923 in Paterson, NJ and educated at New York University (BA English, LLB Law). His poems have appeared in various literary journals including Cholla Needles, Partisan Review, Poetry, The Nation, and The New Yorker.

excerpt from A215:

I always walk in afternoons

when heat beats hard for me

and bangs the sides of grass

against the heat and me.

But then in the cool evening of my mind

I grip the moon's long hair

and braid the dreams I've held

with tears from everywhere.

Click here to purchase Dreams I've Held online, 400 pages ($15) 

New Book! The Land Of Little Rain by Mary Austin

Mary Austin graduated from Blackburn College in 1888 and moved to California. Her family established a homestead in the San Joaquin Valley. She was a prolific novelist, poet, critic, and playwright, as well as an early feminist and defender of Native American and Spanish-American rights. Austin and her husband were involved in the local California Water Wars, after which the water of Owens Valley eventually was drained to supply Los Angeles. When their battle was lost, they moved to Death Valley, California. For 17 years, Austin made a special study of the lives of the indigenous peoples of the Mojave Desert. Mount Mary Austin, in the Sierra Nevada, was named in her honor. It is located 8.5 miles west of her longtime home in Independence, California. Mary Austin is best known for The Land of Little Rain (1903), her tribute to the deserts of California.

Click here to purchase The Land of Little Rain online ($6)