The Tourist Visa by Sylvia Petter, WordCity Monthly Dec2020 Issue4
The Tourist Visa
“The North Pole is melting
so where do we go?"
"Why, off to the Jungfrau,
she's covered in snow.
I'll call myself Rudi,"
the last reindeer said,
"and we'll fly down to earth
and just park our sled."
"But what about visas?
They're sticklers, I hear.
We can't say we do chimneys
and spread loads of good cheer."
"No worries, Santa,
as tourists we'll go.
You'll clip your whiskers
and I'll turn off my glow."
"But the gifts from the North Pole,
so many, so fine?"
"We'll get us a laptop
and send them online.
Then we'll sit in the sun
surrounded by snow
and your beard will grow back
and I'll turn on my glow."
And so on the day the North Pole dissipated
Santa and Rudolph to Schweiz relocated.
First published in Ex Tempore, An International Literary Journal, Volume XII - December 2001
Third prize in the 3rd Annual Poetry Competition ‘Christmas in Switzerland’ run by Bergli Books, Basel; featured at https://miombopublishing.org/2020/10/22/literary-genius-sylvia-petter-spiritedly-walks-onto-the-podium-of-fame-carrying-poetry-candle-lights/
Vienna born Australian Sylvia Petter trained as a translator in Vienna and Brussels. Founding member of the Geneva Writers´ Group, she holds a PhD in Creative Writing from UNSW (2009). Her stories have appeared online and in print since 1995, notably in The European (UK), Thema (US), The Richmond Review, Eclectica, Reading for Real series (Canada), the anthology, Valentine´s Day, Stories of Revenge (Duckworth, UK), on BBC World Service, as well as in several charity anthologies, and flash-fiction publications.Her latest book of short fiction, Geflimmer der Vergangenheit (Riva Verlag, Germany, 2014), includes 21 stories drawn from her English-language collections, The Past Present (IUMIX, UK, 2001), Back Burning (IP Australia, Best Fiction Award 2007), and Mercury Blobs (Raging Aardvark, Australia, 2013), and translated into German by Eberhard Hain, Chemnitz. She has led flash-fiction workshops in Vienna and Gascony, France. Writing as AstridL, several erotic stories appeared in anthologies in the US (Alyson Books) and the UK (Xcite) and subsequently in her collection of 17 erotic tales, Consuming the Muse, (Raging Aardvark, Australia, 2013.) In 2014, she organized in Vienna the 13th International Conference on the Short Story in English. In March 2020, her debut novel, All the Beautiful Liars was published as a Lightning Bolt eBook by Eye & Lightning Books, UK. In July, 2020, she served on the jury for English-language flash fiction for the Vienna Poetry School’s second literary magazine to be issued in October. Sylvia works part-time at the University of Vienna in education science, and blogs on her website at http://www.sylviapetter.com where there is more on her and her writing.
An Internet-based Word Arts Culture and Writers Center- Archiving theme-based Digital Poetry Collections , Profiling Iconic Poets, Exhibiting Legendary Writers and Hallowed Artists .The Center hosts and publishes Word City Monthly(an Internationally acclaimed , a multi-genre monthly, publishing flash fiction, poetry, short fiction, folktales, book reviews, interviews, literary arts news and global opportunities. Word City Monthly is headed and edited by the highly versatile and profoundly spirited storytelling revolutionary, Commonwealth Prize nominated Canadian Author Darcie Friesen Hossack This Center is founded on the values of promoting word culture , diversity of writing ideas, dialogue, literary arts exchange and cultural and racial tolerance among other matters. TIME OF POET REPUBLIC was founded by UNESCO-RILA Affiliate ARTIST. Freedom of Speech Fellow PEN-Zentrum Deutschland, 2019 African Fellow (ihraf.org/international-fellows). September 2020 University of Glasgow Creative Writing Programme Guest Poet/Discussant. Author of LETTER to the President(2019) and acclaimed Literary Arts Activism Projects Diplomatie, Mbizo CHIRASHA.
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One thought on “The Tourist Visa by Sylvia Petter, WordCity Monthly Dec2020 Issue4”
Great poem that is touching on the contemporary world.
Great poem that is touching on the contemporary world.
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