For 2000, 1999, 1998, and 1997 letters, please see page 00lr , page 91lr , page 81lr and page 71lr
Clark Ashton Smith's Nero page jur01a2.htm (Editor's note. The biography on Clark Ashton Smith has been corrected,)
To the Editor of the Central California Poetry Journal:
As an admirer of the work of the Auburn, CA poet and writer Clark Ashton Smith, I was very happy to see the extensive coverage given to one of his greatest poems, "Nero." The late Edwin Markham selected the following lines from that poem in a symposium on the most powerful lines in Anglo-American poetry that appeared in The Literary Review of The New York Evening Post on September 12, 1925:
Were I God,
What rapture it would be if but to watch
Destruction crouching at the back of Time.
However, one small correction might be made. You listed four volumes of poetry as having appeared in Smith's lifetime. You failed to mention Nero and Other Poems (Lakeport, California: The Futile Press, 1937); The Dark Chateau and Other Poems (Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1951); and Spells and Philtres (Sauk City, WI: Arkham House, 1958). In addition, Smith prepared a volume of his Selected Poems in the late 1940's, although it didn't see publication until some ten years after his death.
Thank you again for publishing this wonderful article. As the co-editor of Smith's forthcoming Selected Letters, and one who is actively engaged in writing a critical biography of the bard of Auburn, I would be most interested in learning of the reaction of your readership to this piece.
Sincerely yours,
SCOTT CONNORS
Marysville, California
FERNANDO RIELO WORLD PRIZE OF MYSTICAL POETRY
July 12, 2001
Dear Sir/Madam:
Please be advised of the following literary event:
RULES FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL AWARD OF THE FERNANDO RIELO WORLD PRIZE FOR MYSTICAL POETRY
The FERNANDO RIELO FOUNDATION is sponsoring and announcing the Twenty-First World Prize for Mystical Poetry, which shall be governed by the following Rules.
1. Previously unpublished works of poetry originally written in either Spanish or English or translated into one of these two languages shall be eligible for the Fernando Rielo World Prize for Mystical Poetry.
2. Each entry must be presented by its author. The minimum length for entries shall be 600 lines, and the maximum length, 1300 lines. The text of the entry may be a single poem or a collection of poems. A given work of poetry may be presented only once for this yearly award.
3. The Prize shall be awarded for mystical poetry expressing the profound religious significance of man's spiritual values.
4. The Prize shall consist of 6,000 euros ($7,000) and the publication of the entry selected.
5. The Prize is indivisible and shall be awarded for single entry. It may not be awarded in the absence of suitable candidate.
6. A single printed or typed copy of each entry, securely bond, shall be presented. If possible, entries should also be sent in an electronic version on a diskette or as an email attachment. The cover or first page shall bear the title of the work and the author's name, street address, telephone number, and email address, where applicable. The use of sealed entries and pseudonyms is thus prohibited.
7. The deadline for submitting entries shall be October 15, 2001, and all entries postmarked on or before that date shall be accepted. Entries should be sent to the following address:
FUNDACIÓN FERNANDO RIELO
Jorge Juan, 102 – 2º B
28009 MADRID - Spain
(34) 915 75 40 91
The identification “Mystical Poetry Prize (21st Annual Award)” should be added in the lower left-hand corner of the envelope. The e-mail address for the Prize is frielo@adenle.es, and the Foundation's website is www.rielo.com.
8. The founder of the Prize, Fernando Rielo, shall constitute and chair the Jury.
9. The Jury's decision shall be made before December 15, 2001, and both the winner and the media shall immediately be informed thereof.
10. There shall be no correspondence with the authors of entries, and the entries themselves shall not be returned, but shall be destroyed ten days after the Jury's decision.
11. The decision of the Jury is final.
12. The sending of entries for consideration signifies full acceptance of these Rules for the Prize.
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FERNANDO RIELO WORLD PRIZE OF MYSTICAL POETRY
The World Prize was created by Fernando Rielo in 1981 with the aim of promoting mystical poetry and finding and making known those poets that unite an elevated spirituality to an authentic literary expression. When this double-premise is not fulfilled, the Prize is awarded, rather than declaring it void, to true poets who, though they cannot be considered mystics in a strict sense, contribute a work worthy of note. The works submitted to the World Prize of Mystical Poetry must be written in Spanish or English or translated to one of these two languages. The entries must be unpublished and have an extension which is not to be less than 600 verses nor longer than 1,300. The Prize is awarded annually, and is endowed with 1,000,000 ptas., and the publication of the winning work. The worldwide renown enjoyed by this Prize has made it possible for the awards ceremony to be celebrated in prestigious international settings such as the United Nations in New York, the Senate of France and UNESCO in Paris, the Municipality of Rome, The Gothic Hall of Cologne, the Museum of El Prado, the Municipality of Madrid, The Council Chambers of the Province of Bologna, and the Embassy of Spain before the Holy See. Former editions of the Prize have been, among others, awarded to: Blanca Andreu, Manuel Álvarez Ortega, José García Nieto, Montserrat Maristany, Luis López Anglada, and Miguel de Santiago (Spain); Marin Sorescu (Romania); Alain Bosquet (France); Charles Carrère (Senegal); Daniel Ben Rafael Stawski (Israel); Takis Varvitsiotis (Greece); Laureano Albán (Costa Rica); Mateja Matevski (Macedonia); and Liubomir Levtchev (Bulgaria).
FERNANDO RIELO’S CONCEPTION OF MYSTICAL POETRY
I understand mystical poetry under two aspects.
a) The specific or full sense consists of conveying with sufficient poetic skill the different modes of the soul's intimate personal experience of union with God in love and pain-in the case of the Christian poet, in relation to the Most Holy Trinity; in that of the non-Christian poet, in relation to God alone. The fullest exclusive consecration to Supreme Love, insofar as possible in this life, is what distinguishes mystical poetry from other poetic genres. If religious poetry and, along with it, the remaining poetic genres are not formed by this union of love with the Absolute, they are reduced to a religere which is deformed, rather than merely formless. This deformation is the departure point for what I term "antimystical poetry" and “antireligious poetry.” It is quite certain that this deformity cannot totally annihilate the transcendence which defines the poet: all poetry is openness to the mystery of suffering that is man.
b) The general or incipient sense consists of conveying with supreme mastery the intimate experience of love with the Absolute in the various modes of searching presented by the human being's spiritual cor inquietum. In this regard, I consider mysticism to be open-that is, incipient in all human beings because of the ontological fact that, rather than rational, political, or symbolic animals, they are "mystical beings." On account of their mystical or ontological status, human beings, from the first instant of their conception, are betrothed to God-that is, united, constituted, and related. Mystical life, in keeping with this definition of man, is the incrementing, by way of grace, of the immanent constitutive presence of the Divine Persons in the human person: this is what the elevation of mystical life to its greatest possible intimacy consists of.
The aim of mystical poetry is to confess one's faith. The human word, as the image and likeness of the divine word, with a mystical brushstroke must trace out a language of hidden perfumed essences summoning up man's heavenly destiny unevasively.
Mystical poetry is not at all reductive; eminently creative, it is capable of engendering new stylistic recourses, new forms, and, in general terms, inexhaustible wealth for conveying the soul's mystical union with the Creator by means of the aesthetic image. Mystical poetry is also a universal, transcendental vision of a humanity journeying towards its celestial goal. Nature and the cosmos are added to this mystical march, offering themselves to human beings for the purpose of illuminating the noblest sense of their unitive experience of love.
Mystical poetry differs from religious poetry in that, unlike the latter, it possesses a vast horizon through which it passionately recreates the multiform values of human spirituality. So-called "religious poetry"-often mixed up with "antimystical or antireligious poetry," which is ranting, brazen, condemnatory, and even blasphemous-generally exhibits the traits of searching and feeling on a cultural level, rather than creative inner experience. What poet has not posed the subject of religion, even if only tangentially? The property defining mystical poetry is not to deal with God as a theme, as an "existential" description, as a stylistic recourse, or as a kind of experimental choice, but rather to raise loving union with the Absolute to art to such a degree that the constant of that poetry must evoke this mystical union in a most lofty manner.
The experience of the union of love with God is so intimate, so vital, and so definitive that the mystical poet, as opposed to the so-called religious poet, will never wonder about the existence or non-existence of God, not even as an aesthetic recourse, just as the existence or non-existence of the air one breathes is never questioned.
Fernando Rielo
Lady MacDuff Poetry Contest
July 5, 2001
Dear Editor:
Below is information which you may find of interest for your newsletter, e-zine, or website. Please feel free to use it as you feel appropriate.
Rexdale Publishing Company of Hackensack, NJ invites all poets, published and non-published to enter The 2001 Lady MacDuff Poetry Contest. The winner will receive $500 and 12 copies of his/her published poetry book. Details may be found at http://www.RexdalePublishing.com.
Thank you,
Elaine Rexdale
Poets for joy
May 16, 2001
Call for Submissions
Larry Jaffe and Michael Levy are getting together to compose a new book code name Poets for Joy. We are asking for submissions of inspirational poetry, stories and essays. Twenty guest soul mates will be published.
Send for submission details to: joy@poetix.net The new book will be published in the fall.
In Love & Joy Michael Levy http://www.pointoflife.com
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