Legendary Writer and renowned Poetry Artist Richard Modiano, your poetry sizzles with the richness of ripe grapefruit growing out from the vast fertile lands around the great river Gariep. The incessant dance -inciting beat throbbing from your rhythmic verses is like ritual song passionately sung by motherly angels from the inner depth of San Fernando Valleys. The realities and complexities of living trends in human society as presented in your poetry set is a correct signal of how you as a doyen of truth speaks spiking truth against wrong revolutions and warped mentality. Your literary consciousness awakens us from the deep slumber of wrong life terrains and teaches us to walk so righteously. Your submission is a poetic baptism of our wretched earth gripped by the hard grit of paradox. Your head pricking spiking truth is revolutionary. And your loyalty to the poetry kindred is un-matchable. In this your prolific set of your poems have dedicated to another great wordsmith Rob Plath and acclaimed Writer Danny Baker. Wonderful. TIME OF THE POET REPUBLIC People are seized with great pride and are fervently tickling with profound joy that you agreed to be featured and profiled on this our up and rising digital Writers Centre. We are proud to publish great poetry and the rich profile of multi-gifted, award winning, internationally acclaimed, distinguished Artist and Legendary Poet Richard Modiano. Together We Rise– (Blurb by Mbizo CHIRASHA).
THE PERFECT ONES
The perfect ones
The beautiful ones
The right ones, the just ones, the nobles ones
The ones who never break
down crying in restaurants,
who never do anything in secret that they would be ashamed of
The normal ones
The healthy ones
The ones who always plan ahead
The content ones
The happy ones
The ones who work hard
and reap the benefits,
who brush and floss after every meal
The well-adjusted ones
The popular ones
The ones who never disappoint,
who grow up to be president
The lucky ones
The ones with perfect skin and perfect teeth and perfect figures
The ones who want what they have and have what they want –
They don’t exist
The ones posing as them
are even more fucked up than you.
POEM FOR ROB PLATH
Walk outside if you can –
or go to a window and open it.
Close your eyes
and sniff the air.
Listen –
What do you hear
calling on the wind?
Are the birds singing?
Are the crows cawing?
Do you hear
the rhythmic throb
of city traffic?
The cycling trill
of car alarms?
the cry of children
At play?
Open your eyes –
see the patterns
of light and shadows
the play of the wind.
begin your education
in the language
of nature.
POEM FOR DANNY BAKER
The world of real life, the raw urgency of the moment–
the taste of black coffee, of charred red meat,
the recoil of the Glock in your hand, the poem that forms in your brain–
waits for us beneath history,
its mysteries passed down through
generations in the currency of moments
so intense they annihilate time itself,
moments that can be suppressed, discouraged and denied by
the rules, laws, and regulations that hem us in from every side.
We adventurers track these moments through this world
as hunters track the most prized of prey.
As long as we have hearts in our chest
we will find ways to them again and again.
History is haunted by its own karma–
the moment of freedom, of real poetry
brings all its unsettled debts back into play,
to be discharged forever so life can really begin.
What we want now are moments so overwhelming,
so irresistible that
the entire control system of regulated life
melts before their scorching radiance.
RICHARD MODIANO became active in the literary community connected to the Poetry Project in New York City where he came to know Gregory Corso, Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, William S. Burroughs and Ted Berrigan. From 2010 to 2019, he served as Executive Director of Beyond Baroque Literary/Arts Center. Richard is a rank and file member of the Industrial Workers of the World. Richard Modiano was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley of Jewish-Irish parents. One younger brother, a gay activist, now deceased, inspires his commitment to human rights. At University of Hawaii, he became anti-war activist and read poet Gary Snyder‘s essay “Buddhism and Anarchism” and then was turned on to Paul Goodman poet/novelist/psychotherapist/anarchist and later joined New York City Branch of the Industrial Workers of the World while attending NYU (presently member of Socialist Party USA and Buddhist Peace Fellowship but still anarcho-syndicalist in outlook.)He works as a program manager for small Korean educational institute.
MEET THE TIME OF THE POET REPUBLIC CURATOR
Mbizo CHIRASHA, UNESCO-RILA Affiliate Artist. Freedom of Speech Fellow to PEN- Zentrum Deutschland,Germany. Alumni of the International Human Rights Arts Festival in New-York, USA. Literary Arts Activism Diplomatie. Globally Certified Arts Mediums Curator and Influencer. Internationally Published Page and Spoken Word Poet. Writer in Residence. Arts for Human Rights Catalyst. Core Team Member of the Bezine Arts and Humanities Project. His illustrious poetry, hybrid writings, political commentary, short fiction, book reviews and Arts Features are published in more than 400 spaces notably the Monk Arts and Soul in Magazine in United Kingdom. Atunis Poetry.com in Belgium. Demer press poetry series in Netherlands. World Poetry Almanac in Mongolia. Poesia journal in Slovenia. Bezine Arts and Humanities Webzine in USA. The Poet a Day in Brooklyn, USA. Litnet Writers Journal in South Africa. African Crayons in Nigeria. Poetry Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. Pulp-pit USA. The FictionalCafe international Journal, Texas USA. Best New African Poetry series in Zimbabwe, Zimbolicious Poetry Collections in Zimbabwe. Co-edited Street Voices International Publications with Andreas Weiland in Germany. Co-Edited Silent Voices Anthology, a Tribute to Chinua Achebe. Co-Edited the Corpses of Unity, solidarity collection to victimized Cameroonians with Nsah Mala. Curated and Edited the Zimbabwe We Want Poetry, Inside Digraceland speaking poetic truth to the Mugabe regime and other bad regimes. He owns the Time of the Poet blog zine, MIOMBOPUBLISHING that published the #GlobalCallforPeaceProject titled the Second of EARTH is Peace. A LETTER to the PRESIDENT his experimental resistance poetry collection was released in August 2019 by Mwanaka and Media Publishing. Co- Authored Whispering Woes of Ganges and Zambezi with Sweta Vikram in India. Good Morning President his first poetry collection was published in 2011 by Zimbabwean published based in United Kingdom, Diaspora Publishers.COVID 19 Satansdeadly fart is forthcoming. Chirasha is Founder and the Chief Editor of Brave Voices Poetry Journal, https://bravevoicespress.home.blog/ and WOMAWORDS LITERARY PRESS,https://womawordsliterarypress.home.blog/
MORE INFORMATION visit, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbizo_Chirasha
TIME OF THE POET REPUBLIC- An Internet based Writers Center, Archiving Theme based Digital Poetry Anthologies and publishing Iconic Poets ,Writers and Artists from around the globe. TIME OF POET REPUBLIC was founded by UNESCO-RILA Affiliate ARTIST. Freedom of SPEECH Fellow PEN-Zentrum Deutschland.2019 African FELLOW ihraf.org and Acclaimed Literary Arts Diplomatie,Mbizo CHIRASHA
