Sharon Chmielarz on Chopin (Vol. 2, No. 5)

At the end of February, a wonderful poet Sharon Chmielarz visited Southern California for a tour of poetry readings, including appearances at Ventura, Pasadena, La Canada, and Tujunga. She read her erotic poetry in Ventura and poems inspired by the art of painter Stephen Lindsteadt, not about Chopin. Her visit created an opportunity to ask her about Chopin. Chmielarz provided the following response to my inquiry about her interest in Chopin's music:

"Strangely my interest in Chopin began with a non-interest in Chopin. I’d always wondered what the hoopla was all about. That changed one evening in Krakow when my husband and I attended an all Chopin concert. That night I heard Chopin. Oh! “An American Hears Chopin,” a poem in CHOPIN WITH CHERRIES, tries to convey the experience."


"It was my husband Tad (Tadeusz), a refugee after WWII, who introduced me to classical music. I’d skirted its edges before, but with him I listened. It was a gift he gave when he was alive and which I treasure."

"I love music, but poetry is my thing. I have two new books out, CALLING and THE SKY IS GREAT THE SKY IS BLUE. Each has a few poems about music or musicians, place/ travel, history, women. I had a chance to read from them in Ventura and Tujunga. It was a great trip, especially after months of winter in Minnesota; to California, a parallel universe of ice and snow."

One of Chmielarz's contributions to the Chopin with Cherries anthology, entitled "Chopin: Apples" was recognized by a Pushcart Prize nomination for the year 2010.

Chopin: Apples

And what country hasn’t he lived in,
his music chilling the listener’s arms?

And when haven’t his glissandos
spilled over history, the colossus

that upsets lives like apple carts?
Apples rolling over cobbles.

God-fall we think,
finding among the bruised,

a handful of sweet apples.
The easy thank you is listening

to someone playing at a window
in Warsaw, turning the rumble

of despair into a mazurka.
“Beloved little corpse,” Sand called Chopin,

sitting beside him at the keyboard.
Her “angel.” His music, his wings.


We could hear that poem during the Chopin with Cherries reading at the Chopin & Paderewski 2010 conference held at the Loyola University Chicago in November 2010. Chmielarz appeared as a member of a group of poets, with Kathabela Wilson, Katrin Talbot, George Bodmer, and others.

Sharon Chmielarz's books include Different Arrangements, But I Won’t Go Out in a Boat, The Other Mozart (made recently into a two-part opera) and The Rhubarb King. She’s had poems published in magazines like The Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, The Laurel Review, The Hudson Review, Water~Stone, Great River Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Salmagundi and many others. She’s had one chapbook published, A Stranger in Her House. Two new books of poems are forthcoming from Loonfeather Press and Whistling Shade Press.

More information about her may be found on her website: www.sharonchmielarz.com

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Group photo from Village Poets Reading at Bolton Hall Museum, Tujunga, February 27, 2011. Sharon is in a red sweater in the front row, surrounded by other poets.

Chopin for Children in Pacoima (Vol. 2, No. 4)

On March 4, 2011, during the national "Read Across America" celebration, Chopin with Cherries found its way to Pacoima Charter Elementary School in Pacoima, California. As a volunteer reader, I decided to introduce California children (most of whom were Latino, speaking English as a second language) to the beauty of poetry. The readings were illustrated with Chopin's music from a CD of preludes and a PowerPoint presentation with the poems and illustrations from vintage postcards published in the book.

While having a guest in the classroom is always attractive and I did several guest readings in various schools already, so I was happy to face this young audience, the Chopin material had its challenges. It was potentially too "high-brow" for children who - most likely - have never heard a piece of classical music (apart from TV commercials), nor attended a piano recital, nor read a poem.

I thought I would give them a glimpse of the role of art and music in Polish culture. What do they do in the evening? "Watch TV!" - was the unanimous answer. What could Polish people do in the 19th century, when they had no TV, no radio, no phones, and no electricity? They could listen to the piano, like the man in the postcard of an evening in a salon.

The image of an elegant musician in a long gown, playing by candle light was a good introduction to Kerri's Buckley poem, Ruby and Sapphire. Just in case, I asked if the children knew what "rubies" and "sapphires" were - most of them did not. I also brought a silk scarf to illustrate the elegance of the noble ladies listening to Chopin playing the piano in a romantic salon.

Ruby and Sapphire

by Kerri Buckley

Evening belongs to Chopin,
crimson silks and sparkling wines, trails of smoke

From balconies, stiff, rustling fabrics of
tailored suits, perfume, chocolate truffles rolled in

Waxed paper cones, shiny as diamonds, as pearls,
and the music — notes one breathes in, holds fully

So it might never
be forgotten, sound of richness, of ruby, of sapphire,

Elegant nod to all refined things,
to the ivory on a piano key, thrown from a window

Into a golden glitter of leaves by Russian soldiers

The destruction of Chopin’s piano occurred during one of the battles in the tumultuous period after the January Uprising in 1863, when Russian soldiers ravaged a Warsaw palace where the piano was housed and threw the historic instrument out of the window. This moment became a symbol of savage destruction of beauty by violence, the polar opposition of art and war. References to this symbolic brutality appear in three other poems in Chopin with Cherries: by Charles Adés Fishman, Leonard Kress, and Cyprian Kamil Norwid (in Kress's translation).

Both groups of children were responsive to the idea of music;s association with peace, beauty, and inspiration, especially that they could hear such inspired sounds right then and there. The fifth-graders also heard poems by Nils Peterson (After Listening to all the Preludes and my A Study with Cherries and the second-graders were introduced to Maxine R. Syjuco's humorous and surreal Chewing Chopin.

The centerpiece of both presentations was the poem about my village childhood, Harvesting Chopin. I thought that these first-generation Angelenos would be spending their summers abroad, with their grandparents, living ten months here and two months in a different world, different culture. A show of hands confirmed my assumption. I, too, used to spend my school years in a big city, Warsaw, and the summer vacations in two distant villages of my grandparents: Bielewicze of the Belarussian Grandma, Nina Trochimczyk, and Trzebieszow of the Polish Marianna and Stanislaw Wajszczuk.

I thought it would be interesting for the children to hear about life on a Polish farm in the 1960s and 1970s, without running water and heavy machinery to harvest the fields of rye or wheat. The harvesting technology there did not change in a thousand years, until the rise of the machines. (The illustration, "The Harvesters" by Pieter Brueghel The Eldest is from 16th century Netherlands; the harvest technology and tools were the same four hundred years later in Poland).

While describing the harvesting scene, I drew pictures of a rake and a scythe. The latter one was greeted with smiles of recognition: "That belongs to the Grim Reaper" - the children said. "Reaper" means "harvester" - I explained,finding a connection between American Halloween and Polish village customs. There is one huge difference, though, in my youth Chopin's music could be heard daily on radio broadcasts reaching the whole country. Is there any music that all of them know as well as we knew Chopin then? I did not ask that question. The answer would have been too obvious.

Harvesting Chopin
 
The straw was too prickly,
the sunlight too bright,
my small hands too sweaty
to hold the wooden rake
my uncle carved for me.
I cried on the field of stubble;
stems fell under his scythe.

I was four and had to work –
Grandma said – no work no food.
How cruel! I longed for
the noon’s short shadows
when I’d quench my thirst
with cold water, taste
the freshly-baked rye bread

sweetened by the strands
of music wafting from
the kitchen window.
Distant scent of mazurkas
floated above the harvesters
dressed in white, long-sleeved shirts
to honor the bread in the making

The dance of homecoming
and sorrow – that’s what
Chopin was in the golden air
above the fields of Bielewicze
where children had to earn their right
to rest in the daily dose of the piano –
too pretty, too prickly, too bright

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Photograph of "The Harvesters" by Pieter Breughel the Elder from Wikimedia Commons, postcards of Chopin at the piano and a romantic salon from Chopin with Cherries. Poems published in Chopin with Cherries (Moonrise Press, 2010), copyright of the authors.

The End of the Chopin Year (Vol. 2, No. 3)

We spent a very special year in the company of Fryderyk Chopin, his music, his thoughts, his friends and poets writing about him. In February 2010, Chopin with Cherries was officially unveiled at the Third International Chopin Congress in Warsaw. In the past, there were many studies of Polish poets associated with Chopin: friends whose poems he set to music, and those writing about him and his music after his death. The Chopin with Cherries anthology and presentations of various aspects of its contents is the first effort to gather and study English-language poetry about Chopin. Our year-long journey was filled with exciting events and publications, leading to an increased recognition of the lasting value of this collection. The next step will be issuing a version for e-book readers, but it is time to celebrate what has been accomplished so far.


The Poets

I am the most grateful to all the poets who submitted their work to this anthology and helped me find more poems to include. John Z. Guzlowski’s assistance has been invaluable in publicizing this collection through his Polish-American blogs and contacts. He also told me of Margaret C. Szumowski’s wonderful poem and connected me to Charles Fishman, who in turn sent me an inspired poem by William Pillin. Kathabela and Rick Wilson attended each of the four Chopin with Cherries group readings, in Pasadena, Los Angeles, Venice, and Chicago. At Venice and in Chicago, Rick played Chopin on historical flutes from his collection. They also hosted a Chopin Salon in Pasadena, helping local poets connect to Chopin's music. Dr. Mira Mataric has faithfully participated in all California readings and is working on Serbian translations of selected poems.

A sincere thank-you to all the poets featured in Chopin with Cherries: Millicent Borges Accardi, Austin Alexis, Lucy Anderton, Sheila Black, George Bodmer, Lia Brooks, Kerri Buckley, Allison Campbell, Peggy Castro, Sharon Chmielarz, Victor Contoski, Clark Crouch, Beata Pozniak Daniels, Jessica Day, Diane Shipley DeCillis, Lori Desrosiers, Charlie Durrant, T. S. Eliot, David Ellis, Donna L. Emerson, Charles Ades Fishman, Jennifer S. Flescher, Gretchen Fletcher, Linda Nemec Foster, Emily Fragos, Jarek Gajewski, Helen Graziano, John Z. Guzlowski, Lola Haskins, Shayla Hawkins, Elizabyth A. Hiscox, Marlene Hitt, Roxanne Hoffman, Laura L. Mays Hoopes, Ben Humphrey, Carol J. Jennings, Charlotte Jones, Lois P. Jones, Georgia Jones-Davis, Christine Klocek-Lim, Jean L. Kreiling, Leonard Kress, Emma Lazarus, Marie Lecrivain, Jeffrey Levine, Amy Lowell, R. Romea Luminarias, Rick Lupert, Radomir V. Luza, Mira N. Mataric, Ryan McLellan, Anna Maria Mickiewicz, Elisabeth Murawski, Ruth Nolan, Cyprian Kamil Norwid, Rosemary O'Hara, Dean Pasch, Nils Peterson, Richard Pflum, William Pillin, Kenneth Pobo, Carrie A. Purcell, Marilyn N. Robertson, Susan Rogers, Alison Ross, Mary Rudge, Russell Salamon, Gabriel Shanks, Marian Kaplun Shapiro, Joseph Somoza, Lusia Slomkowska, Kathi Stafford, Maxine R. Syjuco, Fiona Sze-Lorrain, Margaret C. Szumowski, Katrin Talbot, Taoli-Ambika Talwar, Thom Tammaro, Mark Tardi, Cheryl M. Thatt, Tammy L. Tillotson, Helen Vandepeer, Devi Walders, Erika Wilk, Martin Willitts, Jr., Kath Abela Wilson, Leonore Wilson, Meg Withers, Anne Harding Woodworth, and Marianne Worthington.

Three poets have responded to my requests for personal comments about Chopin’s music and their inspirations: Mark Tardi, Tammy L. Tillotson, and Ben Humphrey. It would be nice to hear from more poets…

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Pushcart Prize Nominations

As the editor of the collection, I took the liberty of nominating some of my favorite poems to the 2010 Pushcart Prize for Poetry. It was a very hard choice since I love all the poems in this anthology. I picked those who could “use” a nomination, so to speak… The Pushcart Prize and publication in the annual collection of the best poetry published by small presses and literary journals nationwide has become one of the most prestigious honors in the poetry field. The nominations are made by editors and publishers who select the best of the best from amongst the work that they have published during the past year. We are proud to present the following Pushcart Prize 2010 nominees:

• Lia Brooks for "During Nocturne"
• Elizabeth Murawski for "Polonaise"
• Diane Shipley DeCillis for "Postcards of Home and Homesick"
• Sharon Chmielarz for "Chopin: Apples"
• Katrin Talbot for "It's been a tough symphony week," and
• Leonard Kress for "The Piano of Chopin," a translation of Cyprian Kamil Norwid's poem "Fortepian Szopena"

Congratulations to all the poets! It would not be amiss to mention here that some of our poets have received other nominations and prizes. Elizabeth Murawski won the prestigious 2010 May Swenson Award (read her blog entry) Lois P. Jones and Millicent Borges Accardi were nominated for Pushcart Prizes by other small-presses.

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Reviews

CHRISTOPHER WOODS: “For those who have been moved by the music of Fryderyk Chopin, this new international anthology will be a treat… one breathtaking aspect of the anthology is the diversity of voices, both stylistically and geographically. .. One of the striking aspects of the anthology is the way in which the editor, Polish born Maja Trochimczyk, arranges the various sections, not only by musical forms, but also into sections like beauty and death, words that often come to mind when considering Chopin’s life, his passions and his early demise.” Christopher Woods in Contemporary World Literature 5 (Feburary 2011).

ELIZABETH KANSKI: "In Poland, June is the month for Bing cherries (czeresnie) and July for sour cherries (wisnie), but it is Chopin season year-round, especially in 2010, the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great composer. Maja Trochimczyk, Polish American music historian, poet and photographer, decided to celebrate Chopin's birthday in an unconventional manner: with 123 poems by 92 poets, gathered together into a handsomely produced and exciting new anthology." Elizabeth Kanski in the Polish American Journal, September 2010, p. 21.

ALISON ROSS: "What is most striking about this verse tribute is how deftly the editor weaves together the various themes, treatments and styles within the volume, meticulously detailed in the introduction and then presented format-wise in the book... All in all, I am immensely pleased with how this anthology turned out. In fact, it exceeded my expectations, because it is so comprehensive and cohesive. The poems are fascinatingly diverse in voice, topic, content, and style, and the poems reveal such richly individualistic interpretations of Chopin's powerful pathos. . . "Chopin with Cherries" is an anthology to treasure as intimately as one might cherish Chopin's compositions. Alison Ross, in the Clockwise Cat, May 2010

JOHN Z. GUZLOWSKI: "Maja Trochimczyk's Chopin with Cherries... is a masterful celebration of this composer and the complex range of emotions, impressions, memories, and dreams his music evokes... Finally, let me say that I cannot remember reading an anthology of poems centered around a single-theme that I liked more. The poems Maja Trochimczyk has gathered together to commemorate Chopin's 200th birthday are inspiring and exhilarating, as I have already noted, and - I don't know how else to say this - fun to read." John Z. Guzlowski in The Cosmopolitan Review 2 no. 1 (Spring 2010).

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Poetry Readings and Conferences

Annual Meeting of the Polish-American Historical Association, Boston, Mass., January 8, 2011. Maja Trochimczyk’s paper "The Image of Chopin's Death in Art and Poetry".

Semi-Annual Conference of the Polish American Historical Association, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, June 26, 2010. Maja Trochimczyk’s paper "Chopin in Polish-American Poetry: Lost Country, Found Beauty." Publication forthcoming in the Polish American Studies.

Chopin with Cherries IV - Anthology Reading at Loyola University Chicago, part of Chopin & Paderewski 2010 Conference, November 13, 2010.

With poets: Sharon Chmielarz, Gretchen Fletcher, George Bodmer, Ben Humphrey, Katrin Talbot and Maja Trochimczyk. The photographs from the event are posted in a Picasa Web Album.

Chopin Lecture, Recital and Poetry Reading at Polish Fest LA, Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, September 25, 2010, at 1 p.m. - featuring poets Maja Trochimczyk, Mira N. Mataric, Susan Rogers, and Lois P. Jones. www.polishfestla.com

Chopin with Cherries III - Anthology Reading at Beyond Baroque, Venice, CA, September 12, 2010 at 3 p.m.

With Maja Trochimczyk, anthology editor, Rick Wilson, flute (historical crystal glass and ivory flutes) and sixteen poets, appearing in person: Marlene Hitt, Georgia Jones-Davis, Lois P. Jones, Marie Lecrivain, R. Romea Luminarias, Radomir Vojtech Luza, Rick Lupert, Mira Matric, Ruth Nolan, Marilyn Robertson, Susan Rogers, Kathi Stafford, Taoli Ambika Talwar, Maja Trochimczyk, Kathabela Wilson, and Erika Wilk. A full program with the list of poems and the poets' biographies was included in this blog: Chopin at Beyond Baroque and photos are on Chopin III Picasa Web Album.

Chopin with Cherries II: An Evening of Poetry and Music. Ruskin Art Club, Los Angeles, CA, Saturday, May 8, 2010, 7 p.m. Chopin recital by eminent Polish pianist Dr. Wojciech Kocyan with readings by poets from around the country.

The poetry reading and concert by pianist Wojciech Kocyan was hosted by Maja Trochimczyk, editor and featured 14 poets: Gretchen Fletcher, Millicent Borges Accardi, Georgia Jones-Davis, Donna Emerson, Erika Wilk, Laura Mays Hoopes, Mira Mataric, Maja Trochimczyk, Kath Abela Wilson, Kathi Stafford, Marian Kaplun Shapiro, Beata Pozniak Daniels, Taoli-Ambika Talwar, and Susan Rogers. The festivities ended with a polonaise to Chopin's music, led by Edward Hoffman, choreographer of the Krakusy Polish Folk Dance Ensemble. See photos at Picasa Chopin II Photo Album and the PDF flyer with more information: Chopin at the Ruskin.

Chopin with Cherries I: An Evening of Poetry and Music. South Pasadena Library Auditorium, 1115 El Centro St., South' Pasadena, CA, 91030; Sunday, April 11, 2010, 6 p.m.

Reading by 20 poets with Chopin's music played by American pianist, Dr. Neal Galanter and by students of Prof. Roza Yoder from Azusa Pacific University. pianists Kristi Chiou, Stacy Chiou, and Anna Nizghorodtseva, Dr. Neil Galanter and Sue Zhou, poets Mira N. Mataric, Erika Wilk, Lois P. Jones, Kathabela Wilson, Marilyn N. Robertson, Rick Lupert, and Radomir Luza poet Russell Salamon,. Maja Trochimczyk, Susan Rogers, artist Monique Lehman, Peggy Castro. Photo album from this event is at Chopin I: Picasa Web Album.

Concert of Romantic Music, Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, CA, Tuesday, Feburary 16, 2010, 7:30p.m. With Roza Yoder, Director. Piano music performed by APU students. Readings from Chopin with Cherries by Maja Trochimczyk and local poets. Erika Wilk, Mira Mataric, Susan Rogers, Taoli-Ambika Talwar and Maja Trochimczyk

Bicentennial Chopin Celebration, Colburn School of Music, Los Angeles, CA, Saturday, February 27, 2010, 8 p.m. With eminent pianists John Perry, Wojciech Kocyan and actress Jane Kaczmarek reading poems from Chopin with Cherries. Presented by the Paderewski Music Society and Helena Modjeska Polish Arts and Culture Club. All proceeds will be used to support the first International Paderewski Piano Competition in California, May 2010.

3rd International Chopin Congress, Warsaw, Poland, February 25 - March 1, 2010. Congress organized by Fryderyk Chopin Institute and the University of Warsaw.

The official presentation of the book during Maja Trochimczyk's paper "From 'Eternal Eloquence' to 'What Does he Know' - Images of Chopin in English-language Poetry." University of Warsaw Old Library, Warszawa, ul. Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28, Poland. See pictures in the Chopin Congress Photo Album.

Chopin Salon for Poets on Site – Pasadena, August 1, 2009. Maja Trochimczyk’s presentation at Kathabela and Rick Wilson’s Poetry Salon for poets and friends of poets interested in Chopin’s image and place in Polish history, including reading of several poems from the first round of submissions.

67th Annual Meeting of the Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, Jersey City, New Jersey, June 2009. Maja Trochimczyk’s paper "From 'Eternal Eloquence' to 'What Does He Know?' - Images of Chopin in English-language Poetry."

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Poetry Reprints

Poems from the Chopin with Cherries anthology were reprinted in this blog, but also in other venues:

Wyspa Kwartalnik Literacki, A Polish literary quarterly (December 2010) featured a translation of "Rubies and Sapphires" by Kerri Buckley, by a Polish poet, Mira Kus ("Rubiny i szafiry").

The Cosmopolitan Review (February 2010) featured a selection of poems from the book, i.e., works by: Kerri Buckley, Ryan McLellan, Rick Lupert, Elizabeth Murawski, Ruth Nolan, William Pillin, Katrin Talbot, and Maja Trochimczyk.

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... and our Readers

Gifts of Chopin with Cherries were received by, among others:

Lech Walesa, Polish politician, former Solidarity leader and winner of Nobel Peace Prize, got his copy of Chopin with Cherries on December 17, 2010; with a photo to prove it.

Jane Kaczmarek, Polish-American actress who read a selection of poems at Chopin Bicentennial Celebration in February 2010 received her copy during the First International Paderewski Competition in Los Angeles, June 2010.

The Polish Museum of America, a gift accepted by Ms. Malgorzata Kot, Librarian, during the Loyola University Chicago Chopin & Paderewski Conference in November 2010.

Chopin in Colorado with Ben Humphrey (Vol. 2, No. 2)

The last 2010 group reading from the Chopin with Cherries anthology took place at the November 2010 Chopin & Paderewski Conference at the Loyola University Chicago.

A lively and lovely group of poets gathered, including guests from Chicago who listened to visiting poets from around the country. George Bodmer, Sharon Chmielarz, Ben Humphrey, Gretchen Fletcher, Katrin Talbot, Maja Trochimczyk, Kathabela and Rick Wilson were there in person, sharing the poems by others.

Photos from the event may be seen at the Loyola University Chopin Album, and, to those who are friends of Kathabela, on her Facebook page, but a more substantial review still waits for its completion.

Each of the poets presented their work in a different way. Colorado-based Ben Humphrey decided to write out little introductions to his two poems and allowed me to reprint them, along with his poems.

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Ben Humphrey - Introductions and Poems

Introduction to An Invitation in D-flat Major

When I go to a reading, I like to know a little about the poet and how a poem came to be written, so I’ll trouble you with a few comments about my own work.

I live at 9,300 ft in the Rockies. I’m six miles from a paved road, so it’s quiet, and except when I’m listening to music, there is only the sound of the weather or “the sound of silence.”

I’m never annoyed by the weather. I have a dog; she always has her coat. So we go for walks whatever nature has to offer. Rain, snow, sleet and hail are a blessing; we need water for the trees and wild flowers.

I like to watch the snow fall and my dog loves to romp in snow drifts. One day in watching the swirling snow, the idea of the wind whistling a waltz can to mind and that lead to Chopin’s Minute Waltz.

An Invitation in D-flat Major

Snowfall over, sun’s out,
wind whistles a Waltz,
refracting flakes whirl in triple time.

My focus limited
to page, paragraph.
Sun warms my cabin’s roof.

A crescendo of clattering slabs
Awakens me from my book
calls me – to take a Minute for the dance.

* * * * * * * * * *

Introduction to: A Pastoral Piece in D-flat Major

It’s quiet where I live, and I enjoy the sound of the weather, rain, wind, sleet or hail. Poor Chopin, his vacation in Majorca was ruined by rain.

One morning, I was enjoying the sound of rain against my windows. I started to write a poem, cited the repetitious notes and then Chopin’s: The Raindrop Prelude, came to mind.

I reworked the poem and included as many musical terms as possible: motif, pianissimo, figures, grace notes, theme and cadence.
Finally it occurred to me, if the solo piano can take center stage, so can the weather.

A Pastoral Piece in D-flat Major

Gently beating on a window pane,
a rain storm’s motif
usually a patter, pianissimo
like repetitious figures of a Chopin prelude.

There are grace notes in raindrops,
a passing pastoral theme and a final
closed cadence. An atmospheric disturbance
has occupied center stage.

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NOTE: Photos from the Loyola University Chicago Conference include all poets present in person with musician Rick Wilson. L to R: Rick Wilson, Sharon Chmielarz, Kathabela Wilson, Gretchen Fletcher, Maja Trochimczyk, Katrin Talbot, George Bodmer, and Ben Humphrey. The second photo depicts Ben Humphrey in conversation with Gretchen Fletcher. Ben provided the following biographic note for the book:

"In his somewhat wasted youth, G. BENNETT HUMPHREY received a MD and PhD from the University of Chicago, a disfiguring experience that turned his head into an egg. In his not so wasted youth, Ben studied piano, trumpet and later the banjo. Music was and still is an escape into solitude. Ben is pleased to have an opportunity to participate in this tribute to Chopin. He has been a guest on several occasions in Poland and wishes to express his gratitude for the hospitality that was extended to him by the Polish people. A retired Professor of Pediatric Oncology, Ben has been writing poetry since 2005. His poems have been published in American and British Journals and anthologies. He is an active member of Poetry West and serves on its Board of Directors."

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Happy New Year 2011! (Vol. 2, No. 1)

Our Chopin adventure is coming to a close, with the festivities of the Chopin Year largely completed. In January 2011 at the Polish American Historical Association's Annual Meeting held in Boston, Mass., I will read a paper based, in part, on poetry and illustrations from Chopin with Cherries. The topic will be more sombre than other ones: the association of Chopin and his music with morbidity and death in popular culture and poetry. The vintage, turn-of-the-century postcards, like the one reproduced below will provide some of the most radical and kitchy illustrations of the fin-de-siecle spiritual malaise.

A report from this event will have to wait, as I have not even written about our fantastic group reading at the Chopin & Paderewski 2010 Conference at Loyola University Chicago back in mid-November 2010. In the backlog, we also have a guest blog by Ben Humphrey who wrote introductions to both of his poems presented at the conference.


The new year will bring new amusements and divertisements... I hope it will be healthy and happy for everyone. Among hundreds of wishes in my inbox this year (Christmas, Holiday, Birthday and New Year's Wishes), the following one in Serbian from Mira Mataric, a wonderful Serbian-American poet:

Živeli zdravo, radosno, radoznalo, raskošno, razumno i razborito, povremeno se okliznite u avanturu i ne zažalite za onim što odlazi!

I do not know exactly what it means, but it certainly looks good! I also liked very much the anumated wishes from two Polish friends, "Happy New Year Everybody" from Krysia Kaszubowska and "Happy New Year" from Eva Matysek Mazur. It seems that paper cards have been replaced with lovely animated ones these days, just as books are slowly giving way to electronic "reads" on things like I-Pads, Kimbles and other electronic book readers. I like cleaning the frost flowers off the electronic window to see the village covered in snow outside - just like the villages and the frozen flowers of my (and Chopin's) Polish childhood. The flat fields covered in a white blanket, snowflakes swirling in moonlight, the allure of warmth inside the homes, lights shining from their windows into the cold darkness around... Feeling nostalgic for real winter yet? I must admit I like electronic snow much more than the real one, and that's why I live in Southern California...



At a recent Haiku Party of the Southern California Haiku Study Group, chaired by Debbie Kolodji at the welcoming home of Wendy and Tom Garen, I read two new haiku celebrating the change of the year, from the tumultuous Year of the Tiger to the placid Year of the Rabbit. These are my first poems of the year, expressing the hope for a serene and content future, or, at least, some rest. The first one got accidentally printed on four lines. The white rabbit is the one from Monty Python, of course. Enjoy! Even without Chopin or cherries...



Happy New Year! Dosiego Roku!

Christmas and New Year's Wishes (Vol. 2, No. 16)

Everyone loves "Chopin with Cherries" - even Lech Walesa! He came to California for a brief, unofficial visit, on behalf of his foundation, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Solidarity movement. There were lectures and receptions and an opportunity to present him with a copy of our anthology, inscribed "to a wonderful hero of our times." If he does not lose it on the way, scholars of political history will find the book in his library and wonder how on earth did it get there...

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For the holiday season, I was asked to write something "Christmasy" for the party of Little Landers Historical Society at Bolton Hall in Tujunga. I thought that a recent poem for a married couple celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary would fit it quite well, if there was a carol in the text. I chose to quote a carol that remains one of the most beloved Polish carols, cited by Fryderyk Chopin in his Scherzo in B-minor, op. 20.




Married Christmas

May your path be smooth,
and your sunlight mellow
~ an old blessing

He said
“You are the apple of my eye”
She said
“Let us have tea for two”

Steam rises from bronze liquid
freshly-baked szarlotka waits its turn
scent of cinnamon sweetens the air
the music box plays an ancient carol

Lulajże, Jezuniu, moja perełko,
Lulaj ulubione me pieścidełko
She does not have to finish –
one glance and he knows
after thirty-five years together
faithful like cranes on a Chinese etching

Their looking glass is hidden away
in a box of treasures they don’t need
to find blessings
among daily crumbs of affection



The carol's text incipit means: “Hush, hush, Baby Jesus, my little pearl, my lovely little darling…” – This ancient Polish carol is a simple lullaby, filled with tender love for the infant, held in the arms of his gentle mother. There are many lullabies among Polish carols; the focus of Polish Christmas is on the baby and his mother, on the familial love that binds them. The Lulajże Jezuniu carol is sung throughout the Christmas holiday season, from Christmas Eve to February 2nd, the Candlemas.

Last year, I was traveling close to Christmas, and the empty airports were full of fake cheer, recorded Christmas carols blaring from the loudspeakers and tinsel with childish decorations everywhere. The poem I wrote about that is similar in tone to the "Married Christmas" - extolling the virtue of the subtle affection, gentle understanding of a shared life, the true family virtue...


Rules for Happy Holy Days

Don’t play Christmas carols
at the airport. Amidst the roar
of jet engines, they will spread
a blanket of loneliness
over the weary, huddled masses,
trying not to cry out for home.

Don’t put Christmas light on a poplar.
With branches swathed in white
galaxies, under yellow leaves, the tree
will become foreign, like the skeleton
of an electric fish, deep in the ocean.

Clean the windows from the ashes
of last year’s fires. Glue the wings
of a torn paper angel. Brighten
your home with the fresh scent
of pine needles and rosemary.

Take a break from chopping almonds
to brush the cheek of your beloved
with the back of your hand,
just once, gently. Smile and say:
“You look so nice, dear,
you look so nice.”


This is the poetry of a moment in the kitchen, home cooking meals of the season and sharing a togetherness and affection that is quite beyond words, yet forms the very fabric of life.

Thanks to all poets and friends who have shared our Chopin with Cherries journey through the Chopin year. Happy New Year with Chopin, Music and Poetry!

Tammy Tillotson on Chopin and Cherries

Time to return to Chopin with Cherries, the fruit of the season! After Mark Tardi's responses to my four questions back in October, we had a hiatus of two months, but finally have a contribution from another poet featured in the anthology, Tammy L. Tillotson.

Her poetry has appeared in Sweetbay Review 2008 and won an honorable mention in the Writer’s Eye 2008 and the 2009 Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest. She is the editor of the Writers Studio Young Authors Anthology, entitled Bull Bay Review. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Old Dominion University and her Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Hollins University.

Ms. Tillotson contributed three epistolary poems to Chopin with Cherries. These letters are ostensibly written by three different people, protagonists in Chopin's personal drama concerning his failed marriage plans to Maria Wodzińska. His personal documents contain a packet of letters to/from Maria Wodzińska, marked "moja bieda" ("my sorrow") - it was one of his great personal tragedies and Ms. Tillotson dramatizes it in her three poems:

• A Letter from Countess Wodzińska to her Daughter Maria, Winter, 1835
  
• A Letter from Maria Wodzińska to F. Chopin, September, 1836
  
• A Letter from Fryderyk Chopin to Himself, September, 1836

INTERVIEW WITH TAMMY L. TILLOTSON

[Maja Trochimczyk]: What is your earliest or most intense memory associated with Chopin's music?

Tammy L. Tillotson: My earliest memory associated with Chopin’s music is connected to my suffering through piano lessons as a child. Since my mother wanted my sisters and I to learn to play an instrument, she arranged for a private teacher, who was also a family friend, to come to our house and teach my sisters and I one afternoon a week. My turn was always last as I was never very good and I dreaded the lesson, especially because it took me away from whatever book I would rather have been reading that afternoon.

Before my lesson would begin, the teacher would sometimes take a moment to play something himself. At first, I thought he did so because I was a difficult student and it helped him be more tolerant of my not-so-gentle touch. He was very patient with me, even while his ears were cringing and his bushy eyebrows were wrinkling up. He repeatedly, yet very kindly, often admonished, “Tammy, you must practice, practice, practice, and then, one day, you will play like this...” He would close his eyes and his fingers would dance across the keys, transporting him somewhere else entirely. Once, he stopped playing abruptly and I saw there were tears glistening in his eyes. In awe, I clapped and asked what he had just played. He answered, “Chopin.” Then he quickly closed the lid over the keys and announced, “Today’s lesson is over.”

MT: Why do you like Chopin's music and what does it mean to you?

TLT: It was during those brief moments of listening to my piano teacher play, that I felt, in his own way, he understood me. I felt the piano, for him, was like what writing and escaping into a book was for me.

I was some years older when I learned my piano teacher was of German/Polish descent. His closest relatives had been killed during the Holocaust, and he alone had survived because somehow he had been sent to another town a day ahead of his relatives. His wife once told me how he came from a family that had been very talented musically and how, when they were courting, he used to play Chopin, Bach, and countless others for her. She loved to hear him play though she thought he didn’t play as often anymore because the songs made him so very sad.

Because of these early experiences, I saw how people sacrifice a piece of themselves for beauty, art, and music to exist in the world...I suppose this is more vital to our making sense in a nonsensical world than we will ever truly realize or appreciate.

MT: What is your favorite piece by Chopin and what do you like about it?

TLT: “Romance-Largetto” – the inclusion of this particular Chopin piece is still what I love the absolute most about “The Truman Show.”

MT: Do you like cherries, if not what is your favorite fruit?

TLT: While I like cherries, they will never be my favorite fruit. If I am completely honest, this is partly because both my older sister and my younger sister can tie a cherry stem in a knot with their tongues. I am still a bit jealous, but I can humbly admit that it is not due to lack of effort on my part. Yet, I could always hull strawberries twice as fast as they could and especially in the summer, they still prefer to come to my house for daiquiris. I’d have to choose strawberries any day of the week over cherries!

MT: What are your current poetry projects?

TLT: Since Chopin with Cherries, I continue to write in-between keeping up with a busy three-year-old and a strong-willed kindergartener who remains convinced it is infinitely better to stay home with his brother than go to school!

Most recently, I’ve had poems included in Volume 26 of The Poet’s Domain and Sweetbay Review 2010. Several others are forthcoming. “Scare Crow” will appear January 1, 2011 in Beltway Poetry Quarterly’s special theme issue celebrating the legacy of Langston Hughes. “Overlooking the Blue Ridge Parkway” will appear in The University of Nebraska Gender Programs / Women's Center Becoming anthology. Also, a short poem and nonfiction memoir will be included in the Silver Boomer Books Flashlight Memories anthology.

MT: Now, that's a lot of work! You are one busy poet! You mentioned your sons, I'm just curious, do they like cherries? What is their favorite fruit?

TLT: Both my boys love blueberries and one of their favorite books is Blueberries for Sal. This summer I took them blueberry picking for the first time and pretty much they just sat down and ate berries! They were both a bit disappointed we didn't see any bears, though my youngest laughed and laughed, "Mommy, me full up with berries for the winter!" I owe Robert McCloskey the biggest bear hug ever.

MT: That's a lovely story and congratulations, again. This time, for being a wonderful mother. The portrait with blueberries is very cute. In time, someone will play Chopin to your sons, too...