ELECTRONIC EDITION *************************************

                         Northwest  POET

     The only quarterly devoted to the NW muse in all of us





If ever there was a hand to touch
Yours would be the one reaching 
Out for me.

And if ever there was the need
To wrap myself in the arms of love
Those arms would belong to you.




HANDS
By Zuriel
Dedicated to C. the Water Bearer.
CONTENTS

               ----POEMS----
HANDS                         BIRD OF PREY  
GADRIEL                       SLEEP 
SUMMER EXCHANGE               FEROCIOUSLY RAMPANT
SCANDINAVIAN BLUES            LESSON 
TO WAIT                       PAINFUL WISDOM 

               --Articles-- 
How To Sell Your Poems        Climbing The Literary Mountain

             --Departments-- 
Editorial                     Events & Connections 
Market Place 


NW POET is published quarterly.  Opinions expressed here are those
of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect editorial
policies.  All rights reserved.  No part of this magazine may be
reproduced without written permission from the publisher.

Copyright 1992 Sauvie Island Press, Publisher of NW Poet.
EDITORIAL


     The odds of a magazine like the NW POET being financially
successful are somewhere in the range of one in fifty million, give
or take a million.  So . . . why would any one want to publish a
magazine dedicated to poetry?  The answer is pure joy and the sense
of satisfaction from seeing a project through from a seed thought
to the printed word on paper.

     NW POET is certainly a labor of love.  Its philosophy is to
provide a means to express the beauty of words and expressions of
emotions.  Most of all, the aim of NW POET is to evoke the muse
within you, the reader.

     If you are an aspiring poet, we applaud you.  We encourage you
to read the works of both the past and contemporary poet masters
and to continue developing your own style. 

     In this premier issue of the NW POET you will find some of the
finest in contemporary NW talent. From the simple poetic structure
of Hands by Zuriel to the award wining poems by Juliann Alice Hart
you can read the diversity of emotions, thoughts, dreams and songs
that mark the NW as home to some of the finest poets anywhere. 
<P10M>NW POET strives for an integration of ideas and interests. 
We're always open to imaginative and colorful verse that attempts
to elucidate, explain, discover or otherwise untangle manifestly
complex emotions and circumstances.

     If you have written something and would like to see it in
print,  send for the NW POET Guidelines for Submission.  Include
$3.00 for postage and handling along with your name and address
clearly printed to:  

          NW POET Guidelines for Submission
          P.O. BOX 751
          Beaverton, OR 97075-0751


HOW TO SELL YOUR POEMS

Diantha Fatima,
Staff Writer

     There are innumerable publications in which an aspiring poet
can present his or her poetic craft for publication.  We are all
cognizant of the numerous literary magazines, as well as general
consumer magazines, that publish poetry.  However, finding a
publication that will pay for your poem is not easy.  Often
overlooked is the smattering of newspapers, radio stations, and
other  specialty media markets using poetry.  Unfortunately, these
markets are generally non-paying.

     Have you ever contemplated the calendar or greeting card
market?  The calendar and greeting card markets may be the best
source for financial remunerations.

     Poetry magazines come and go faster than the cycles of poetic
inspiration.  The market for a specialty magazine attentive to
poetry has a modest audience compared to other writing magazines,
many of which have already pledged a diminutive column to poetry.
The more immense the circulation that a magazine has the better its
position to capture advertising dollars.  Advertising revenue
generally compensates for the cost of postage, printing and labor
needed to manifest and distribute the publication to you the
reader.  If the magazine is robust, it can cultivate programs like
poetry contests, print an anthology, or advertise itself to a
larger audience.  All this, of course, adds up to the justification
why many  publications pay the contributor in published copies when
their poem or article is used.

     The narrow regional position of a specialty magazine, like NW
POET, frequently disinterest significant advertisers.  On the other
hand, less advertising satiates the majority of the special
interest readers. 

     The folks at Writer's Digest publish the Poet's Market but as
of this writing I'm not convinced that they are fulfilling the
needs of poets.  The Writer's Market is a respectable place to
investigate publication resources for poetry submissions but by no
means is it a definitive guidebook to all periodicals. Check local
and regional publications for their policy on using poetry.  Start
and continue writing and rewriting poems.  Send your favorite and
very best ones to paying publications first. If they do not want to
purchase your work, look at sending your poem to non-paying or
paid-in-copies publications. 

     At first you may be satisfied seeing your work published. 
Later, when an editor asks if you've been published you can pull
out a long list of publications your poems have been printed in. 
Remember, the editor doesn't ask how much money did you make off
your poems last year he asks where have you been published?    
                                                  ---- DFYou see them in most literary and writer's magazines.  Gala Poetry
Symposium . . . Win Big Bucks if you attend . . . Poetry Contest .
. . Win $1,000 . . . Win $6,000 . . . No purchase of any kind
required to enter this contest . . .   

What about contests?  Are they a scam for the desperate or the
benevolence of an artistic institution?  In the ensuing issues of
NW POET I'll examine Poetry Contests in minutia.  If you have any
comments or stories you'd like to share write me. I'd love to hear
from you.

               NW POET
               Diantha Fatima,
               PO BOX 751
               Beaverton OR 97075-0751 








CLIMBING THE LITERARY MOUNTAIN:
     Beginner Level

Juliann Alice Hart, 
Poet and contributing
writer

     When I first became interested in mountain climbing I wanted
to know it all at once.  However, as with life, it doesn't work
that way.  In climbing a mountain you're not at the top first. 
You're at the bottom looking up and thinking to yourself, How in
the world am I going to make it?  So, you focus your thoughts on
your feet and your breathing and start taking one step after
another.  Surprisingly enough, before you know it, you're halfway
there.  Not much later you're standing on the top!
That's the same approach I've taken with writing.  I have the
desire.  Now I just have to learn the equipment, terrain,
technique, acquire a few good climbing friends and start a new
climb - all on step at a time.  Each of us will approach the
literary mountain differently (there are so many routes) but here's
my start:

     I set a goal.  Every day I do at least one thing that has to
do with writing.  Whether it be to make one phone call or inquiry,
go to a meeting or the library, do research or write, edit or type,
go to the post office or make extra copies, organize my desk or
enter a contest . . . anything.  No matter how small, it's still a
step.  And I keep a daily log of each of these steps.  It helps me
see how far I I've come and also to remember what I've done.  I'm
not at the top yet, but I've taken a lot of these steps.  Pace
yourself.  Don't get frustrated or over exerted.  As in climbing,
you never want to push yourself beyond your limit.  If you do, it
takes all the fun and adventure out of it and that's something that
I never want to lose in mountain climbing or in writing.
BIRD OF PREY




How powerful thy look this morn
Poised upon my gloved hand
Thy eyes are keen, thy feathers sleek
Another dawn begins the day
Now to flight my bird of prey!
And as thou into the heavens soar
A thought to mind draws me away.
What be that visitation in the night?

Your cry doth call me in my sleep
The sound chills my bones
The pain doth make me weep.
I search for thee, but find so few
And thy homes thus too destroyed.
Thou canst another build, I say
But in truth it cannot be
For thou can only one kind build
You've not the choice, as me.
Man can want, and suit his need
So need a room for thee I say
And in his house included be
For what is every living creature unto another
But another way to see.
Shall man's eyes be blinded?
I pray it will not be
For in thy hour of need I know
I alone cannot save thee.

So take this soldier in thy wings
Fair falcon and fly away
Show me what thy sharp eyes see
That I may teach my fellow man
And keep thee here with me.
If come the day thou be no more
It shall to man thus prove
That one day too his time will come
To answer all that he has done
And miss forever what he had to look upon.



Juliann Alice HartGADRIEL



O'sweet Gadriel,
Angle of Chimera,
Soft as midnight rain.

Was it another dream
Or a vision of warning
on a flight of fantasy
ending with the approach
of morning?

I know not but the dream
Of my sweet Gadriel
And the love I chase.





From Missing Pages,
published by MoonStar Books. SLEEP

Sleep
Blissful sleep
Pulls firmly on my soul
Like the moon upon
The ocean waters

The tide of slumber
Washes away all my pain
All my worries 
All my troubles

What a healing balm 
Is this thing called sleep
For pain and sorrow
Are slowly taken away
With each nights visit
Of Doctor Nocturnal 
And Physician Sleep

Come
Come to my bed
And let me drink
Of your healing ways.


From Winter Charms and Other Love Spells,
published by Dejha BooksSUMMER EXCHANGE

What destiny decided that now our paths come together
that we may meet to talk, to laugh, to love,
to feel that we may rise aboveto soar on love's tender flight
forever?

Who forsee's what deeds done today will do,for tomorrow's plans
which have yet to unfold.

Should we always do what we are toldor listen to our instincts of
what you are to me and I to you?

Is not life always a time of learningand sharing with others the
secrets that we've found,to feel a need to ones that we are boundby
a secret bond that binds us by our yearnings.

How can I refuse a gift given from the soul.That gift being love
given freely to me and by me.

I cannot wish something away I wish to be,something that myself
wants to know.

Whether it be right or wrong will make no differencefor who shall
say what's right for me but me aloneand finally when ones life is
donewas not life enriched by living each experience.


Aleas Anglais
FEROCIOUSLY RAMPANT

Alone
I reach out
In the darkest
Night

No one
Is there
To take Hold
When I'm in need

Dreams
Run rampant
Fever 
Burns ferociously

Body is damp
As consciousness
Returns
With the light of day

And here
I'll face
Another Journey
Lost in emotion

From State of Confusion,
published by Dejha Books.SCANDINAVIAN BLUES


I walked out into a Scandinavian sunset
And my heart screamed and wailed with pain,
But the pain was not as loud as the tracks
Of your nails burning across my bloodied back.
The wheels in my brain cut very deeply
Through my muddied dreams, the night
Is getting longer and the champaign;
Pretty pink and pretty stale.

Meanwhile, the surf comes crashing
All around me as I stagger through the sand
Toward the waters edge and your words
Breathe into my ears jasmine and myrrh.
But, the rabbit did not die and Saskia waxes
Rhapsodic with trappings of youthful wealth 
And the pillow you lay your head on 
Is to small for my head anyway, and
All I hear is Scandinavian Blues.


Now on a motorbike in Madrid,
I spied the bitch in furs and nets.
Her kiss was bourbon and coke
Her breath jasmine and myrrh.
She says "Come to my room and
I'll Lick your wounds and you can lay
By my fire where it is warm."

"Now, you know very well," I said
"It is hard to refuse when you
Look the way I feel, and the infection
You gave me is only three weeks gone."
She says, "bring a bottle of champagne along
And a raincoat if you must."
Says I "Ah, well, Yeah, I think it might rain some"
So she dusts me off with a wink of her eye
And says "You know very well there ain't
No cure for Scandinavian blues"

To  blonde hair, blue eyed Vanirian Freyja
from  your former holleous lover Derek SanzhielLESSON


"Dear Teacher," said the student,
"There's logic in all you say.
You find a reason for why things are
and why they happen that way."

"Dear Teacher," said the student,
"It's all so clear and fine
when analyzing physical things
but what of things in mind."

"Dear Teacher," said the student,
"You sit and think and ask
but do not do what is you,
please let me touch your grasp."

"Dear Teacher," said the student,
"You've taught me much of living
but now's my turn to teach you
the things in life worth giving."

Aleas AnglaisTO  WAIT

The evening approaches
And there he is waiting
For the one he loves
The one he desires so
Night falls after twilight
And there she is driving
Headed for the arms
Of the one she truly loves

There he is drinking
Sliding into silent depression
Amidst the laughter of
A smoked filled bar
Trying to hide the tears
That begin to show

His head rests upon the table
and his heart cries in vain
Dark are his thoughts of pain
When suddenly he looks above
And there she stands with a look
of relief for a journey's end

Morning light breaks the dawn
Dreams of passion spent with 
A gentle embrace, a loving kiss
And all is right for now


To:   Jessica and the Witches of the crimson field.
From: the Candle BurnerPAINFUL WISDOM

There once was a man,
In love did he fall.
He gave all to her, but,
Happy not was she at all.

Now he knows only
What was her name.
Her love is gone,
But the pain remains.

He puts on a smile,
As he goes on by.
But deep down inside,
He loudly cries.

The day fades away,
With dreams never to be.
Another meal is missed,
Another night is free.

Haunting his very soul,
The feeling will never end.
Memories are always there,
Of his only friend.

He must keep living,
Even now.
He keeps it inside
Somehow.


C2/I6AEVENTS  &  CONTACTS

The 10th annual 49th Parallel Poetry Contest
First Prize $150, second prize $100 and third prize $50. 

Poetry may be in any style and any subject but must be postmarked
between Sptember 15, and December 1. For a complete list of rules
write to:

The 49th Parallel Poetry Contest
1007 Queen Street
Bellingham, WA 98226

For a free listing of events or contacts send your information to
Events & Contacts, NW Poet, P.O. Box 751, Beaverton, OR 97075 
  
Washington Poets Association 
Lower Columbia College, P.O. Box 68, Longview, WA 98632

Oregon State Poetry Association
1645 S.E. Spokane St., Portland, OR 97202

Pacific Northwest Poets
P.O. Box 45637, Seattle WA 98145

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