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Indie Lights Book Parade – Chris Bodor, author/publisher
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| A.C. PAPA Editor-In-Chief Chris Bodor spreading the message of poetry and the spoken word. |
The next reading period for Ancient City Poets, Authors,
Photographers & Artists (A.C. PAPA) will be April 01, 2015 to June 30. The
focus of this Saint Augustine, Florida based journal is to spotlight Florida
artists and art that references the Sunshine State. They will accept
submissions of poetry, fiction, fine art and photography. A.C. PAPA is looking
for writing and artwork that speaks of Florida, from all angles and all
perspectives. They would like to hear from locals, tourists, travelers and
residents. Special sections in issue #2 will include: “Saint Augustine
History—the first 450 Years” and a number of articles on Florida writers such
as Harry Crews.
The next issue of A.C. PAPA will appear in November, and
will feature the best work from Florida artists as well as national and
international writers who have something to say about Florida. Poet Plant Press
is best known for their 2014 title Florida Speaks, an anthology featuring more
than thirty writers musing on the Sunshine State. Please email your submissions
as a RTF Microsoft Word file as an attachment to acpapalitmag@gmail.com. For more info
and guidelines please go to the Poet Plant Press website at www.bodor.org or purchase a copy of issue #1
on Amazon by searching for the title of the publication.
A.C. PAPA Literary Journal, Issue #1
by Barbara Pyles Barker, writer
Reading this inaugural issue of A.C. PAPA was a special
treat for me, because the many wonderful poems and stories evoke a world from
my own memories. Like Robin McClary who wrote the foreword, I grew up in the
Sunshine State and know many of the same things: palmettoes; TVs you actually
had to cross the room to change; three local (and only) channels; locks not
used, because they were not needed. On Vilano Beach, where I was raised, the
sand dunes were tall, the ocean gave up the most perfect shells after tropical
storms, and August meteor showers were brilliant because there was no
competition for the light.
My sister and I walked together between our street and
Boating Club Road to visit our grandparents practically daily—no worries about
what lay between those two homes. We knew the neighbors, and there weren’t a
great many. The beach community is filled now. The world is so connected, and I
suppose we’re safer now in a way because of it, but there’s also more we need
to be safe from. Something has been lost, and that makes it all the more
important to remember these details of our childhoods and family histories here
in St. Augustine.
The poems in A.C. PAPA capture Florida in works that
celebrate cities such as Saint Augustine and Saint Petersburg, as well as the
state’s varied landscape. They share the authors’ own memories, as well as what
they love of our state and town in contemporary times. Salt-river views, beach
glass, Egrets, sea turtles are all here in verse. “Florida’s Environmental
Heritage” speaks of those things that have been lost from Nature, but of our
attempts to recapture. Haikus capture slivers of Florida.
My state has always provided inspiration to artists. In
this collection Larry Baker recalls his inspirations for The Flamingo Rising,
how the A1A coastline provided shape and grounding for the acclaimed novel.
Another essay, authored by Susan Bennett Lopez, takes us back to her journey to find Jack
Kerouac in Florida. She recounts her search for Jack, her attempt to get to
“the core of Kerouac’s psyche.”
Another theme in this volume is the inspiration we
writers find in Nature’s most dangerous and awesome forces. There is something
about storms that draws us, and lights our imagination. “Fakahatchee Bay
Crossing”, by Jim Draper, is a gripping account of a struggle to survive, and
the character’s transformation in the stormy bay along a coast of mangrove
trees, buoyed above the hazard of razor sharp oyster shells.
In a special section called Coast Lines, three of the
poems relate the power of hurricanes; Mother Nature’s signature Florida force.
Ann Browning Masters gives us a glimpse into the Oldest City’s history with these
storms. “Hurricane Winds”, by Gigi Mischele Miller and Tovah Janovsky’s “Impressions
of Arthur” relate beautiful imagery of how we natives dealt with Mother Nature
at Her most fearsome and awe inspiring. These poets give all due respect where
it is deserved to this stunning and destructive power.
The talented artists in this volume capture the beauty,
mystique, and history of this special place, in verse and prose and photos. It
is a jewel of a collection.
The inaugural issue of Ancient City Poets, Authors,
Photographers and Artists (A.C. PAPA) is available on Amazon by search the
title or going to this link:
Article author bio: Barbara Pyles Barker is a writer living in
her hometown of Saint Augustine, Florida. Her published work includes stories
in Thema Literary Journal and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and essays in
two collections from Greenwood Press that explore themes in detective fiction.
A former English professor, she is now an Instructional Designer in the Defense
industry. She has written a mystery novel featuring what she hopes will become
a series character, set in a small, fictional Florida town.
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