Congratulations to Arlice Davenport of D5 on his first book of poetry, Setting the Waves on Fire. (Meadowlark Press, October 2020)

Below are two offerings from the book.

Robert Dean has three new works in the new online issue of MacQueen's Quinterly. (from Connie White, D5 President: For those of you who think ekphrasis is for poetry, I've copied the third offering below. Now, D5, let's get back to writing, as I know many have paused these last few months.)

MacQueen’s Quinterly: Poetry & Hybrids: Robert L. Dean, Jr.: Doppelgänger
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MacQueen’s Quinterly: Poetry & Hybrids: Robert L. Dean, Jr.: Eyes on You

MacQueen’s Quinterly: Poetry & Hybrids: Robert L. Dean, Jr.: Impresssion  To see the painting, click on the link below.

By Robert L. Dean, Jr.
Impression
 

Woman and Child on a Balcony by Berthe Morisot *

Look! Napoleon’s tomb! That great, golden Dôme des Invalides, over there, across the river!
They ignore us, silly tourists that we are. That’s old news to these two. The Belle Époque has just begun. The Commune recedes into the rubble of memory. No, something is happening down there, below them, on the street. A funeral cortège? The woman is clothed in waterfalls of black. Someone she knows? Her face, gently rouged but clean of lip paint, without turning, speaks to us: If I were in mourning, you would not see flesh through the sheer sleeves of this gown. I would not have drawn up the fullness of my skirts into a puff. And I would not be dangling a salmon pink parasol. No, this is not a sad day. Neither is it an extraordinary day. It is a day, and we are in it. It is our reverie, and we prefer you not intrude.
And so, we hang back, lost in thought. Does the parasol mean they have just come in, or were they just going out, when the whatever-it-is caught their attention—a noise in the street other than the usual peddlers, pedestrians, and omnibuses? We inhale the hazy scent of sky, Seine, distant buildings. Note the flowers in full blood bloom, the russet leaf on the balcony tile, the yellow-brown blur of the landscape the girl is overlooking, the short sleeves of the girl’s dress, wonder what season we are in. The girl grips the balustrade as if she were at the zoo, at the lions’ feeding time; the woman, we decide after much dithering, has her one visible eye on the child, as if to make sure the little one does not slip between the bars.
Shall we leave them alone like this, then, a daydream lost to time? Or shall we, on impulse, brush them into history, since we seem to be situated at artist’s-eye vantage? Will it make any difference to our palette if we intuit what the painter knows? That the woman is our sister, Edma, the child our other sister Yves’s daughter, Paule, home for a visit to our parents at 16, Rue Franklin, and that the view below is the family garden? That what enraptures Paule is the ruin of the studio Father built for Edma and us, wrecked by who knows which side during Semaine sanglante—Bloody Week? That this is simply an intimate domestic scene, an any day, perhaps even common, occurrence—no ballerinas, water lilies, boating parties, we leave those to the men—a theme we will paint throughout the course of our career, despite the great Corot having declared Edma, who has traded brush for husband, the better painter? That we, the soon-to-be wife of one Manet and already bosom friend and model of the other, will not only keep our bristles, but launch Impressionism, and, in the 1880 exhibition, be judged the best of them all by the fierce critic of Le Figaro? That, less than a quarter century from this daydream, this reverie, this impression, the poet Mallarmé will inform Renoir, Degas, Monet, in cold, clicking dots and dashes: “I am the bearer of terrible news: Berthe Morisot is dead.” That, when all else is dust and bone, it is the intimate, the utterly domestic, the unabashedly gilt-less, which remains.
Edma’s face says: Hush now, and paint.

* Publisher’s Notes:

1. Woman and Child on a Balcony (painting, oil on canvas, 1872) by Berthe Morisot (1841–1895) is held by the Ittleson Foundation (New York, USA). Image above was downloaded from Wikimedia Commons:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Berthe_Morisot_001.jpg




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Two D5 members have poems published in the September 25, 2020 annual publication of the I-70 Review (a magazine featuring poetry and short prose.) The I-70 Review is a print-only publication. However, they do have a website and a Facebook page. If you will search for the FB page, there is a video of  a recent evening of readings at The Writer's Place in Kansas City, MO, where Bob Dean read "The Fisherman's Handbook". Kelly Johnston's poem "Circles" appears also in the magazine. Congratulations to Bob and Kelly.

Roy Beckemeyer is another poet who is often published by I-70 Review, though he did not submit this year. It is worth noting and encouraging the rest of us to continue working on short prose and poetry and searching for submission opportunities. We cannot win prizes or accolades if we don't submit our works.

Here is a huge standing ovation for D7's excellent Convention 2020! Special thanks to Duane Johnson for his faith to take up the technological challenges, and to Tracy and others for the tremendous number of extra hours they spent learning the new procedures!  Now, the rest of us need to also step up and learn so that KAC can continue to be the vibrant organization it has always been. 

​D5 member Robert L. Dean, Jr. has been nominated for The Best of the Net Anthology for his poem "Pete & Bella," which appeared in the September 2019 issue of Shot Glass Journal (Issue #29). Shot Glass Journal is an online journal of short poetry, 16 lines or less, edited by Mary-Jane Grandinetti, and published by Muse-Pie Press, R. G. Rader, publisher. You can read the poem at
Shot Glass Journal - Robert L. Dean, Jr.

Kelly Johnson, State Treasurer, sent this notification today, having heard from "a mutual friend."

Diane's husband, Pat, really wants to talk to her friends, especially about the last few hours of her life when they experienced some good time together. His phone number is 265-6564 but Pat asks that you phone after 4 pm. An obituary is available on the Cochran Mortuary (Wichita) website, and the last I checked there were no published plans for services. Diane asks that donations be sent to the American Society to Prevent Cruelty to Animals.
    
 

Diane Wahto graduated from the Wichita State University MFA program in 1985. That year, her poem, “Somebody Is Always Watching,” won the Academy of American Poets Award. Since that time she has continued to write poetry.
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She taught journalism at Winfield High School, then taught English Composition and creative writing at Butler Community College.

Her book of poetry, The Sad Joy of Leaving, was published by Blue Cedar Press and came out in October 2018. The book launch was held at Watermark Books and Café, where she read with Michael Poage and Kelly Johnston.

Other recent publications include “Empty Corners” in Same, “Persistence,” in The Ekphrastic Review, and “Yellow Music,” in Heartland. She was co-editor of two issues of the 365 Days Anthology.

Diane joined Kansas Authors Club in 2014 and served in several positions, including two years as District 5 president and as the Awards Chair for the state 2018-2020. She was co-chair, along with Connie White, of the state convention in Wichita in 2019. 

She is survived by three children and five grandchildren, all of whom she enjoyed seeing as often as possible. She, her husband Patrick Roche, and their dog Annie lived in Midtown in Wichita, Kansas.

Diane’s website: Poet of a Certain Age

Time: Sep 12, 2020 01:30 PM Central Time  Via Zoom.US
 
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://wichitastate.zoom.us/j/98981484582?pwd=eDhpQWxLSURrRE9Zb1dsaDliTGpHUT09
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 BECCY TANNER will speak on Travel Writing.
(If you are still confused about how to use ZOOM, please call Connie White at 316-210-2917, and I will try to help,).
 
“Why I write about Kansas — Forty years of following the back roads”
 
These days, veteran writer and history buff Beccy Tanner does a little bit of this and a little bit of that. After working for The Wichita Eagle for nearly 35 years, she does freelance writing for KANSAS! magazine, the Kansas Leadership Center’s Journal and, occasionally, The Eagle. She also teaches Kansas history-related classes at Wichita State University and, when not restricted with COVID worries, leads bus trips with WSU. In 2018 she was named one of Kansas’ Finest by the Travel Industry Association of Kansas.
 

 

Click on the link above to go to Submittables to register,

  After September 1, the price is $85, so register soon, and enjoy the workshops, panel discussions, and check out KAC authors and presenter's books in the virtual bookroom. No need to travel and pay hotel fees.