Contents of California Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Spring 2026) edited by Konrad Tademar Wilk

 

 California Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Spring 2026), ed. Konrad Tademar Wilk 

Cover photo: "Freedom" by Maja Trochimczyk

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Shameless  — David Moreland   — 7

Family Mathematics    — Ilene Millman     —   8

On the Mountainside   — David Moreland   — 9

This Now    —   Doreen Beyer   — 10

Flopper Wish so Sudden   —    W. C. Gosnell     — 11

Wintertime    — James Cronin   —     12

Neighborhood in Heat   — Anne Stone  —   13

Mendocino National Forest –  Blue’s Birthday  —    Anne Stone   — 14

Night Ride   — Günther Bedson  —  15

Rough Magic   — Catherine Fletcher   —  16

Connemara   —  Günther Bedson  —  18

Muffin Clouds   — W. C. Gosnell  —  19

Betrayal —  Amirah Al Wassif   — 20

The Compliment   — David Romanda   —  21

Sonata Theory    —  J. Alan Nelson   —   22

If I Were a Painter   — Lin Wen Chao    —   23

What Can Anyone Tell Anyone?   — J. Alan Nelson    —  24

Bridge of Sighs   — Carlo DiOrio  —  25

The Last Speech    —  Lin Wen Chao  —   26

Summer and the Full of It   — Charlene Langfur   — 27

El Encuentro, or A Moth’s  Wings Under Glass   — Amy Nocton  —   28

La Mujer libélula, or What She Could Not Do   — Amy Nocton   — 29

Samalon Bird   — Fhen M.  —   30

Mozart’s Final Summer 1791   — Byron Beynon   — 31

Cosmic Latte  —   Gavin Kayner  —   32

Open, Sesame  —   Amirah Al Wassif  —    34

Throwing Pebbles in a Pond — John Cole   —  35

Unnamed Brook  —    Russell Rowland — 36

Rough in the Age of Smooth  —   Matt Thomas  —  37

Without a Womb   — Amirah Al Wassif  —   38

Death and Godless Lands —    Leon Amanda   —  40

Brynmawr  —  Byron Beynon  —  43

Ozymandias Remanded  —    Don Palmer   —  44

The Unseen Light — Walt Franklin — 45

When Your Mother Dies, Say the Belgians  —   Laura Walter   —  46

Slowly, Slowly, He Was Carrying   —   Ravi Sonakia    —  47

Balance  —  Matt Thomas    —  48

It Beckoned Me, and I Was Lost --  Ravi Sonakia  —  49

Converted into Poem     —   Ravi Sonakia   — 50

Given Voice  —   Doreen Beyer  —  53

The Tower’s Shadow  —   Catherine Fletcher  —  52

The Fruit of the Blue Tree —   Konrad Tademar Wilk  —  54

Contributors in Alphabetical Order      —  55

 CSPS Contest Opportunities       —        55

CSPS Newsbriefs 2026, No.1 by Maja Trochimczyk    —   58

Publishing Opportunities with CSPS  — 61

2024 CSPS Donors, Patrons, and Membership — 63

Membership Form   —  64

EDITOR’S NOTE 

There are some poems, a handful, that call out to you from the page, and you must come back to them, slowly, slowly, as if carrying a heavy sense of wintertime. You can hear their ink as it boils with ideas and feelings. I was dismayed when I glanced at the verses that I could not hear the words at once. Then I looked again through the mist of letters and spaces, between commas and periods, and the poems cleared up with meaning. It was a sign that “This street knows my name.” 

A start then, and then I walked the street of words, between dreams and trees and found myself looking up the word “frapple” in the Urban Dictionary (a bizarre cosmic disturbance) – which is what editing any collection of poems really is, rippling through time and space, just on a smaller scale, that of a page. It was a tug of war between my soul and my curiosity. One verse eluded me, I had to hunt the name of the poet down, another verse called me back after I rejected it, and then I realized I had misread all the lines. There was, as there always is, a lot of rough magic in such work. 

Editing and selection is by its nature eclectic, but also electric, you will get a shock every now and then by the juxtaposition of words. It’s also vast, as it takes you from Japan, through the Philippines to Egypt, in the shadow of the first tree, through Wales, Virginia and Waco in Texas. I stopped by an Unnamed Brook in Meredith, New Hampshire, listened to Mozart in 1791, and realized how loneliness shapes chaos. And then rested, as the final poems filled the final pages. 

In the selection for this quarter, the first of this year, walk slowly, savor each word, and if necessary, retrace your steps in case you’ve missed a moment of pure Welsh Spring. It would help if, while you read, you kept company with a cup of Cosmic Latte. Enjoy.

 Konrad Tademar Wilk, Los Angeles, California

California Quarterly, 2026

ABOUT THE EDITOR 

KONRAD TADEMAR WILK

Konrad Tademar Wilk is an American poet living in Los Angeles. His works range from single sonnets to epic poems on themes including current events, myth, and philosophy. In addition to American subjects, his work is strongly informed by international events and history, especially those of freedom and oppression. His early childhood was spent in Poland where he was particularly influenced by the rise of the anti-communist Solidarity labor union. Following his return to the U.S., he studied philosophy and literature at Los Angeles City College where he was president of the Poet's Platform. He then went on to graduate from UCLA. His poetry book Fifty Sonnets, titles like labels only get in the way... is available for purchase on-line. Other poetry chapbooks in Polish and English, listed below are out of print.

He has appeared in Los Angeles venues such as the Onyx, Ground's Zero, Magicopolis Theater, Wilshire Art Gallery, Bolton Hall Museum, and Pig and Whistle. In 1991, he founded the Witching Hour Poetry Gathering which has met continuously for over 30 years. In 2020, he joined the Board of Directors of the California State Poetry Society, as one of the Editors of the California Quarterly. He is also an active member of Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club and was a member of Krak Poetry Group in Los Angeles while it was still active. 

Additionally, he is a founding member of the Pecan Pie Organization, dedicated to artistic promotion and stage performances.  Mr. Wilk recently served as the artistic director for Warsaw 80/75 performance of poetry, dance and music, celebrating the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of WWII (German attack on Poland), and the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.  The event was held at the Santa Monica Playhouse in September 2019. Personal web site: tademar.com. 

Chapbooks:  Agrest – and other poems (23 poems , 2001); November Sonnets (22 sonnets, 2002); Mnemonic Sonnets (1997); Belgian Waffles (2001); The Rose Petal  (14 sonnets, 1997); Samizdat z Los Angeles (21 sonnets, 2024); Troika (27 poems, 2024).  

Books in preparation: Prometheus (a 500-page novel); three collections of poems -Harlequinade, Order of Magnitude, and Anahit and Artemisia, and the second edition of November Sonnets, expanded to over 50 sonnets.

Poems in magazines: Three issues of the Citadel – 1992, 1998, 2006; about 60 poems and stories in Angie’s Diary, sonnets in Poetry Letter (featured poet in No. 1 of 2024), California Quarterly, vol. 49, no. 1, Spring 2023. 

THE FRUIT OF THE BLUE TREE

Know truth when it co-mingles with laughter, freely

Like honey added to hot tea, sugar melting —

—in the mouth… white stones to walk on across space-time

For she kisses as if she is gasping for air

And I take the fruit from the blue tree, half dreaming

Half knowing what has befallen me, the clocks stop

I can hear her heart beating, feel her blood rushing

Sense the fire beneath her skin kindling my flesh

There is no water now to quench the thirst, pure flame

It consumes us, and then I hold on to the space

A precious moment lost in between breaths, quiet

Solitude of sacred words, what now do I know?

What do the branches hold? Taste of the fruit lingers

I sit beneath the tree, with the storm raging on….

July 28, 2024 - For “Engarde”

Konrad Tademar Wilk

Los Angeles, California

NEWSBRIEFS NO. 1 OF 2026, SPRING 2026

by Maja Trochimczyk

The first issue of the California Quarterly in the anniversary year of our great Republic, celebrating its first quarter of the millennium has a suitable cover with a photo of a patriotic balloon floating up into a clear, azure sky (“Freedom” by Maja Trochimczyk). “Liberty” for those who forgot, is the core value listed in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, approved by 13 former colonies on 4 July 1776: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

These words were amended several times. First, to expand the definition of “men” from white land-owners to all men who are citizens, after abolishing slavery (the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, 1865) and expanding citizenship to former slaves. Then, to implicitly add “women” to that definition of “all men… created equal” (the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, 1920). The definitions of rights continue to be honed and clarified as our pioneering Constitution remains the model for the free World, the paragon of freedom. The reality is imperfect, still plagued by corruption and fraud. But real.

     

At California State Poetry Society, fully independent from any other society as of 31 December 2025, we also adhere to our certain “unalienable rights.” First: the right to publish, read and promote the best poems that we can find in California and elsewhere. Second: the right of the Editor of each issue of the California Quarterly to select poems based on their personal taste and interests, and adhering to their vision of excellence, not political ideology, as the main principle of this choice. Third, the right of our Contest Judges – Alice Pero who oversees all Monthly Poetry Contests and a different Judge invited every year to adjudicate our Annual Poetry Contests – to select and honor the best poems on the basis of their personal criteria of excellence, without undue and unnecessary intervention or influence of the Board, CQ Editors or anyone else. 

I described these principles in part in an interview published by Duotrope concerning the editorial principles of the California Quarterly. In response to a question: “What sets your publication apart from others that publish simi lar material?” I wrote: We seek to publish California poets, and to focus on positive, inspirational, and inspired poetry of technical and linguistic mastery, devoid of platitudes, banalities, and silly ideologies, like climate change and other such nonsense. We avoid political themes and seek to celebrate the richness and diversity of human life, with a full scope of emotions and experiences, as well as the joy and beauty of the natural world. If you write rants, screeds, and complaints, please do not submit to us. But if you want to commemorate greatness, describe inspiration, especially with art and the natural world, and if you fondly remember the past, think of the California Quarterly. 

Another question, “How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?” received the following response: We are not interested in cover letters, bios, or any background information. Only the poems - they speak for themselves. Each editor has a different taste and picks what they love, so the issues are quite diverse. We have a Buddhist, Catholic. and an agnostic among us, and we also invite guest poets, such as Deborah P Kolodji who filled her issue with various haiku, haibun and related genres. While discussing submissions, I described the three-month submission windows (January-March for issue no. 2, etc.) and explained: We prefer Submittable, though mail, and uploads to our website are also accepted. We receive about 600 poems to pick about 55-57 per issue, so we are quite selective. It is best to have poems that fit on one small page and the lines are not too long, so they do not wrap around. i.e., about 20 lines - the best length, up to 80 lines - acceptable. 

Finally, the question “What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?” received the following answer: They submit garbage with profanities, drug/alcohol abuse, or smut. Automatic rejection. Occasional f-bombs may be appropriate, but regular use indicates a definite lack of talent. The poets submit without including names, addresses, and emails and then their work cannot be reviewed. They submit and then withdraw their work, even though it clearly says in our submission instructions that we do not accept simultaneous submissions.

Previously published poems are welcome in our second quarterly publication, the Poetry Letter issued as a PDF attached to an email, posted on our website in PDF format and on the blog in two parts.  The Poetry Letter No. 4 of 2025 presented selected haiku by Deborah P Kolodji, a well-known poet and member of the CSPS who edited one issue of the California Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 4 in the Winter of 2023; she died in 2024. Recently, the California State Poetry Society received an anonymous donation in her memory, for which we are incredibly grateful. Debbie’s haiku were published in different anthologies and journals, they were chosen by her son Sean Kolodji, plus those from the CQ. With her talent, dedication, and ability to nurture others as editor and poetry event organizer, Debbie will be greatly missed. 

The other “feature” of the Poetry Letter consisted of poems about classical music, especially piano performances of Chopin and Paderewski. Two poems come from online submission by Brady Rhoades of Fullerton, California, and book reviews rounded up the issue. The illustrations were paintings by Andrzej Kołodziej (d. 2025) whose artwork also graced the cover of the CQ, Vol. 51, No. 4. 

            

PERSONALIA. The Chair and Judge of Monthly Contests, Alice Pero had a poem published in the CA Poets in the Schools anthology "I'm Here to Change the World" and three of her students also had poems in the anthology. Two of her poems were published in Winter 2025 California Quarterly. She resumed teaching at The Fair Oaks School in Pasadena after several months hiatus. 

One of our California Quarterly Editors, Nicholas Skaldetvind continues his doctoral studies at the University of New Mexico. His recent publication include articles in Tupelo Quarterly, IYYU Mozaika, and Restless Messengers, and poems in Open Doors Review and The Poet’s Billow. He was recently awarded the Larry Morris Memorial Scholarship to continue researching American poets and their spiritual practices. 

CSPS President Maja Trochimczyk was honored with the 2025 Polonia Award by the Polish American Congress of Southern California for 30 years of volunteering in service of Polish American community and its organizations. Her book Paderewski Essays & Poems, published in 2025, includes one of her poems among 52 dedicated to the great pianist, composer, statesman, and philanthropist Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941). These English-language poems were preserved in archives and written mostly in 1890-1940 by poets from the U.K. Scotland, Ireland, Australia, Canada, and the U.S. The book also features four essays by Trochimczyk about Paderewski’s poetic portraits and two about his reception by female audiences that worshiped him not just as a celebrity, but as an “archangel” and an “immortal.” These poetic portraits of the pianist were quite different from those penned by Polish writers. Like snails, poets everywhere carry "shells" of language and national/ethnic experience...

Maja Trochimczyk, CSPS President

PUBLISHING OPPORTUNITIES WITH CSPS

CALIFORNIA QUARTERLY (CQ)

The CQ accepts submissions via Submittable.com and by mail (for poets without email & internet access). Submission requirements: 

• Name, address, and email address on every page of every poem; 

• One-page poems are best; a two-page maximum for any poem 

• Email address or, for mail submissions without emails, SASE with sufficient postage for requested response 

• No biographies or résumés, as only the poems are judged 

• The poems must be original unpublished work of the poet 

• Six poems per submission, max.one submission per quarter.

• Foreign poems with translations are encouraged 

Poems are not returned, so keep copies, if mailing! Simultaneous submissions are NOT accepted as of January 1, 2023. Poems considered for a given issue are generally collected during the previous calendar quarter. Upload or submit only one set of six or fewer poems per calendar quarter; poems without names and addresses of poets will not be considered. 

Payment consists of one copy of the California Quarterly; all rights remain with the poet. Upload poetry submissions via the Submittable link on our website, californiastatepoetrysociety.org. You may also go directly to:  californiastatepoetrysociety.submittable.com/submit, or send poems by mail (if you have no email) with an SASE to: CQ Editors, Post Office Box 4288  Sunland, CA 91041-4288. 

CSPS POETRY LETTER

The CSPS Poetry Letter, (Online ISSN 2836-9394; Print ISSN 2836-9408) posted on our website, blog and emailed to poets, is a venue for previously published or award-winning poems that otherwise might not see re-publication due to restrictions on previously published works in the poetry world. 

You may submit poems and poetry book reviews to CSPS Poetry Letter through email to Editor, Maja Trochimczyk, maja@moonrisepress.com, or by mail to: CSPS Poetry Letter,  Post Office Box 4288, Sunland, California 91041-4288

All balloon photos by Maja Trochimczyk from International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 2025, presenting over 800 hot-air balloons and about 80 smaller, unmanned balloons.

Contents of California Quarterly Vol. 51 No. 3, Autumn 2025, edited by Maja Trochimczyk

   

California Quarterly, Volume 51, Number 3, Autumn 2025

Cover Art: Pacific Coast Highway by Andrzej Kołodziej (Andy Kolo), oil on canvas.  

          

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Bakersfield  — W. C. Gosnell       —   —    — 7

Alice Keck Park — Paul Willis        —  —    —   8

High Above La Cienega  — Carlo DiOrio      — 9

Blueberry Parade  — Jenny McBride         — 9

Still Life in Red Smoke Light  — David Rosenheim — 10

My Rustic Italian Loaf   — Christine Leistner  —10

 Acreage  —  Sarp Sozdinler           —   —  —    11

Knives and Noodles   — Ellice Jeon       —  — 12

Couple  — Jianqing Zheng           —  —  —   13

Unbecoming   — Daisy Bassen         — —     — 14

Photograph  —  Rustin Larson     — —     — 15

reading    — Gregory Cecil         —       —     — 15

A Special Moment    — James Piatt      —       16

The House    —  Jenny McBride     —     —     16

Fossils and Footprints  —  Sarp Sozdinler     —     17

Dear Apology,  —    KM Kramer          —     —   —  18

Fragmentationv —    Carolyn Jabs      —     —   —   19 

Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle  —  W. C. Gosnell  — 20

Museum of Broken Hearts  — D. A. Hosek     —  20

In That Room, Again   — Peter J. Kahn         —   21

Ave Maria —    Livingston Rossmoor   —   —   —    22

Carmen Philomelaicum  — Eugenius II of Toledo  —    24

Carmen Philomelaicum     — Trans. D. A. Hosek  25

Listening to the Refrigerator    —  Kathryn Gessner Calkins 26

Made History —    Daisy Bassen   —     — 27

Spaghetti Western Villanelle  —Deborah H. Doolittle  —28

Jubilate Mammonæ    —   D. A. Hosek      — 29

Ти Знаєш Відповідь     —  Dmitry Blizniuk  — 30

You Know the Answer  — Trans. Sergey Gerasimov  —31

Survivor’s Guide  — R Haines    —   —  32

After Diana Der Hovanessian  —  Laura Walter  —34

Crow Dog  — William R. Ford Jr.   —  —   — 35

Manners  — Peter J. Kahn          —     —  — 35

Riding the Big Waves at   Rockaway   — David Rosenheim   —36

Early Morning Thoughts    —   Sarah Baker  — 36

Eclipse  —   KM Kramer      —    —      — 37

Free Man Minus Umbrella  — Ace Boggess  — 38

Wind  —  Deepak Dubey     —        —       — 39

What Is It About   —     Andrena Zawinski      —    40

 The Inconstant Moonv  —   V. P. Loggins      —    41

Paper Mansion  — Ellice Jeon        —    — 42

Dream  — Sarah Baker          —       —      — 43

Oczy Picassa   — Andrzej Kołodziej      —   — 44

Picasso’s Eyes  —  Tr. Maja Trochimczyk      —      45

Unexplained Journey   — W. C. Gosnell    — 46

The Cherry Treev      — Lenore Myers  — 46

A Tree Speaks:        — Angelika Quirk  — 48

Amidst the Pines   — Kieran Duffy   — —     —   49

Stream of Consciousness  — Carolyn Jabs  — 50

If I Were a Dronev  —Livingston Rossmoor  — 51

With the Eyes of a Falcon  — Angelika Quirk  —    52

One Moment:  — KM Kramer       —  —    —  53

Funambulist   — Carlo DiOrio       —   —    — 54

A Turquoise Story  — Maja Trochimczyk     — 55

Origami: Folded Light  — Shahrzad Taavoni  — 56

When the Prophet Comes Home  — Livingston Rossmoor  — 57

The Splendor of the Ever Gate  — William R. Ford Jr.  — 58

Born Wrong Century   — Michael J. Galko  — 58

Tycho’s Star    — Christine Candland     —   — 59

Contributors in Alphabetical Order      —   — 60

CSPS Contest Opportunities         —   —  —       60

CSPS Newsbriefs 2025, No. 3 by Maja Trochimczyk  — 63

Publishing Opportunities with CSPS  — — 65

2024 CSPS Donors, Patrons, and Membership — 66

Membership Form —   — —      — —      68  

 

Turquoise from Neyshanbur, Iran, The Turquoise Museum, ABQ, NM.

                                                     EDITOR’S NOTE

While visiting the Turquoise Museum in Albuquerque, NM, I found that my turquoise pendant I inherited from my Mom— perfectly smooth, more green than aqua—mostly likely came from a Nishapour mine in Iran. My Dad bought the jewel in Mosul, Iraq, when he, a Polish engineer, was overseeing the construction and operation of a power plant in the Kurdish city of Mosul, Iraq (yes, the same power plant that Americans reduced to rubble during their war of “Weapons of Mass Destruction”). Indeed, I watched the annihilation of his work on American TV; that plant had provided electricity and jobs to Mosul residents… I felt distressed and strangely relieved that my Dad did not live to see the ruins himself…

Turquoise from Neyshanbur, Iran, the Turquoise Museum.

Like my turquoise story, poets featured in the Autumn 2025 issue of the CQ capture a full range of emotions— joy, grief, melancholy, child-like wonder, and serenity found in nature and among people. We start our exploration of everyday delights in Bakersfield (Gosnell), then visit a park (Willis), eat freshly-baked bread (Leistner) and taste some noodles (Jeon). We watch children in real life (Bassen) and in old photographs (Larson). The passing of time attracts the poets’ attention (McBride, Sozdinler, Calkins). Some pry open their broken hearts (Hosek, Kahn), others mourn the dead (Bliziniuk, Haines, Ford, Kramer). Nature, as always, provides solace—via birdsong (Rossmoor), wind (Duvey), or the singsong of trees (Myers, Duffy, Quirk)… No sorrow is eternal: consolation may be found in dreams (Baker), flights of fancy (Rossmoor), humor (Doolittle), stars (Candland), being Irish (Walter), or “folded light” (Taavoni). 

Continuing the tradition initiated by Margaret Saine, this CQ includes three translations along with original poems in Latin (Eugenius II/Hosek), Polish (Kołodziej/Trochimczyk), and Ukrainian (Blizniuk/Gerasimov). It is perhaps the flavor of the times that five poets feel compelled to hide their gender in initials (D. A., KM, V. P., W. C., and R). This reminds me of a certain belief in reincarnation: timeless souls have both feminine and masculine aspects, but become embodied to go through their lessons in the school of the Earth, one trial after another: first a victim, then the abuser, first a woman, then a man…Thus, the circle turns and the spiral ascends, propelled by wisdom and love.   

Maja Trochimczyk, Editor

Los Angeles, California

SAMPLE POEMS

​A TURQUOISE STORY

 

 ~ after visiting the Turquoise Museum,

    Albuquerque, New Mexico

 

A rock. A white rock with a vein of blue.

An axe. A pickaxe. A shovel.

The bulging muscles of the miner,

covered in dust, stained with the earth.

Earth to earth. Dust to dust.

From earth, they dig out the vivid hues

Of aqua – tranquil sea and azure – summer sky.

 

They dig, they polish, they arrange

small pieces into sets. Here – a necklace,

there – a bracelet, belt buckle or brooch.

From chalk-white, to verdant, to ice-blue, to navy,

almost indigo – clear and smooth, or covered with

a spiderweb matrix of gold lines – fool’s gold,

mind you – or black, or white, or sienna.

 

No two pieces of turquoise are the same –

no two persons – unique and so different,

yet connected, with brilliant minds,

flexible bodies, compassionate hearts.

 

Like turquoise, we, too, are from the Earth.

We, too, carry the sky within.

(c) Maja Trochimczyk

ORIGAMI: FOLDED LIGHT

A quaint square paper—
reconstructed
into the limitless space of imagination.

Materializing
volumes of boxes.
Shaped like
curved ships
jagged stars
elongated vases
symmetrical flowers.

A magician puffs air—
a three-dimensional balloon
swells, stretching into existence.

A folded crane sleeps.
The journey of dreams
imbues it with celestial life.
Come dawn, the crane flies—
its skin’s creases shifting and shimmering
with blue-blossomed patterns.

 (c) Shahrzad Taavoni

WIND

Lying I am in a makeshift bed under the stars in the noise of daylight broad, watching the clouds scud across the sky blue and witnessing an emotion whole new in the air this day. I am dumb struck by its expression and wonder why just it breezed into a tapered envelope of gestures windy and fallen with sounds crunchy as if nothing but the solitary, windy, and Earth deserted is there to greet it. What are its intentions—bluff contempt or a reflection good? 

In the blatant silence, it howls in the trees, touching the cheeks of leaves and the spines of crooked branches, embracing their waists. Down the hill, it then blows across grassy meadow pastures, often boggy and near a river, to the village, past oak walkways. In a confused rush along the narrower, winding gravel walks shaded by lindens, it sent up dust clouds and crouched itself in the room's corners while bursting in through the window sashes. It fell for a moment silent as if waiting for a bit of a blow. It shrugged and took a deep breath, expelling air through lips pursed as if by a dreamy languor its whole being was pervaded. With a sigh of boredom in its steps and the heaviness of long-standing existential angst on its chest, it thereupon ran past the puddles, rustling through the low-lying hedge and fallen leaf debris and leaving a moisture-filled trail behind it. Then it blew past in a flurry of activity, fleeting through the ears tiny of seedlings and letting the wildflowers blooming in the herb-rich meadow flutter and dance. Eradicating the long-term layers of musty odour with its freshness, the formless and desireless whispered chanting discreetly, making the welkin blush.

Deepak Dubey

Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

NEWSBRIEFS NO. 3, AUTUMN 2025

This summer, I had an opportunity to attend the annual convention of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was the first appearance of anyone from the California State Poetry Society in the past ten years. The CSPS laboriously pays the NFSPS annual dues of $3 per member, in exchange of lower fees for members who wish to participate in the NFSPS contests. The NFSPS Convention featured two events for State Poetry Societies’ Presidents where I gleaned some new ideas, for instance to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our great country’s by organizing a special anniversary poetry contest – that would focus on “persona” poems written in the voice of any great historical figure from the past.

        It was also interesting to hear about the many ways in which the State Poetry Societies have been managing their poetry readings and in-person meetings. This was interesting that, since becoming the CSPS President in 2019, I had learned that our Society, spread out over the great distances of California, has little to no interest in live readings, neither in person, nor via Zoom. Here, each area has a number of long-standing in-person readings organized by various local groups and there is no reason for CSPS to compete with them. Instead, our focus has always remained on the written word – the excellent California Quarterly, which continues to be enjoyed by its readers and contributors, and the colorful, art-filled Poetry Letter with featured poets, monthly contest winners, and book reviews. In particular, the CSPS Board has confirmed its lack of interest in  getting involved in “slam poetry” – improvised, live events, mostly by young, politicized, and often very aggressive poets. 

        After attending the finals of the Blackberry Peach Slam during the NFSPS Convention, I realized that the CSPS Board’s focus on the “printed word” poetry and contests is contrary to the priorities of the NFSPS and may necessitate departing from this Federation. The NFSPS brings together over 30 State Poetry Societies, publishes a quarterly Newsletter with brief reports from the states, manages a website, organizes numerous poetry contests, and creates a variety of national policies. Alas, their recently promulgated policies are quite divergent from our society’s preferences, and therefore cannot be adhered to. Thus, after seeking approval for the separation of California from NFSPS by the Board of Directors this fall, we will bring this to the vote of the membership via online ballots. Please note that the NFSPS does not group all 50 states, and the membership occasionally fluctuates, for instance the state of Wisconsin (where the NFSPS was incorporated) recently left the Federation. This necessitated changing the NFSPS Bylaws that mentioned the state of incorporation (the change was approved). 

Poets participating in the haiku death contest, where poets "fought" 

with 3 haiku each, to advance to the next stage...

       In other news, we continue to commemorate the great poet and poetry activist Deborah P Kolodji (1959-2024). The CSPS received a $10,000 Anonymous donation in her memory and we are now deliberating about the best way to honor her. Debbie was a CSPS member and served as Guest Editor of one issue – which was completely sold out. We will print additional copies, then.  Since we love books and journals, we may create a memorial anthology of poetry genres she loved – haiku, haiga, haibun, and other Eastern genres, as well as poetry of science-fiction and the fantastic. Currently, due to many CSPS members not renewing their membership on time, the Society is losing about a thousand dollars per year – due to increasing costs of printing and mailing of our journal.  So, we may need to save the bulk of the gift to ensure the future viability of our beloved CQ. 

Acrobats by Andrzej Kołodziej, oil on canvas.

        The cover of this issue is a copy of a painting by Polish-Californian painter and poet Andrzej Kołodziej  (known also as Andrew Kolo; d. 2025). The intense hues imbue the geometric landscape of “Pacific Coast Highway” with unusual vitality. In 1981, Andrzej founded KrakArt Group of Polish-born Californian painters, that have held many joint exhibitions in the U.S. and in Poland.  His own artwork frequently featured stylized puppet-like figures of acrobats, musicians, or sun-bathers on the golden beach. The “Eyes of Picasso” poem reveal his affinity with artists who transform and deform what they see into their unique, original artworks. Among Andrzej’s writings, his play The Trial of Dali was the most popular, as it was performed in Australia, Poland and at the Hollywood Fringe Festival (2019). As a promoter of poetry, Andrzej organized the Krak Poetry Group that held bilingual readings in California and Poland. As one of two surviving Krak Poetry Group’s members, I’m glad to be honoring Andrzej’s memory with  hiscolorful art and words.

Maja Trochimczyk, CSPS President

Dance by Andrzej Kołodziej