Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Richard Stevenson

 

The Music in Poetic Phrases

 

Richard Stevenson is the author of seventeen full-length collections of poetry, plus a CD of original jazz and poetry with jazz/poetry troupe Naked Ear, a forthcoming memoir, A YA novel, and a just-released children's picture book.

Richard teaches Canadian Literature, Creative Writing, Composition, and Business Communication at Lethbridge Community College in southern Alberta. Originally from Victoria, BC, he currently lives in Lethbridge, Alberta.

Offer your response to Richard Stevenson.

 

 

 

 

Tell him you saw this page at Big Pond Rumour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pete’s Dilemma

(for Peter Polet)

 

Do I cut ‘er down

for a view of Mt. Baker

and Georgia Strait

 

or do I wait until

we’re a pair of bad teeth

that need to be removed?

 

I’m thinking it’d be a shame,

but the view from the sundeck

would be vastly improved –

 

It’s just – well, holding the train

of her sumptuous green gown, just now

bumptiously flouncing up the path,

 

this cedar could be my daughter,

teetering on high heels,

out of breath, a little tipsy ...

 

What is she so anxious to say?

Why is she so out of breath?

Why must the wind cry Mary?

 

Haiku/ Senryu Sequence

 

 

cumulo nimbus --

as much time to say as these

clouds take to clump

 

*

 

these bare elms,

black dendrites against the sky --

tangles and plaques

 

 

*

 

hailstones --

packing peanuts

from ten years ago

 

 

*

 

breast cancer --

another dragon boater

paddles new waters

 

 

*

 

snowflakes --

my window or God's

own screensaver?

A member since July 2006.

 

All text © Richard Stevenson.

All rights reserved. No part may be reproduced without written permission from Richard Stevenson.

Contests:

 

Drowned. (3rd Place Poetry). Summer 2006 Premiere Issue: Big Pond Rumours.

 

Forthcoming:

 

The Emerald Hour: Haiku, Senryu, Tanka and Zappai. (2007) Ekstasis Editions.

 

A Tidings of Magpies. (2007, haiku, senryu, and tanka) Spotted Cow Press.

 

Selected Books:

 

Bye Bye Blackbird: An Elegiac Sequence for Miles Davis (2007) Ekstasis Editions

 

Riding on a Magpie Riff (2006, memoirs, Settlement Series) Black Moss Press

 

A Flicker at the Fascia. (2005) Serengeti Press.

 

Parrot With Tourette’s. (2004, Palm Poets series) Black Moss Press.

 

A Charm of Finches. ( 2004, haiku, senryu, and tanka) Ekstasis Editions.

 

Take Me To Your Leader! (2003, YA Verse) Bayeux Arts .

 

Hot Flashes : Maiduguri Haiku, Senryu and Tanka. (2001, poetry) Ekstasis Editions.

 

Live Evil: A Homage to Miles Davis. (2000, poetry) Thistledown Press.