May 2012, Poet of the Month: FirestoneFeinberg

A place for our favorite poetry posted by members. Nominate one of your favorites. Now included "Poet of the Month"!
This forum does not autoprune.

Moderator: heinzs

Post Reply
User avatar
heinzs
The Fat Cat
Posts: 8419
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2001 12:01 am
Tag line: Do no harm
Location: Novato, CA
Contact:

May 2012, Poet of the Month: FirestoneFeinberg

Post by heinzs » Sun May 27, 2012 2:35 pm

Congratulations David!

Upon being contacted, David kindly responded to these questions:

What is your age bracket: under 25, 25 - 50, over 50?

Over 50.

What is your name? Where do you live? What do you like to do? What is your occupation?

My full name is David Louis Firestone Feinberg.

I live in North Manhattan -- New York City.

I enjoy playing the piano, composing music, writing poetry, painting, making mobiles, reading poetry and mystery novels, and being with people I love. I am a retired music teacher.

How long have you been writing poetry? Do you recall what led you, if anything, to start writing? Have you ever been published?

Although I wrote poetry from the time I was a teenager until I was in my fifties, I didn't do it either regularly or seriously until 2008 -- when I was fifty-seven. That was about four years ago. I had had a life-threatening illness and had gone through major surgery; it was that experience which -- indirectly -- let to my now-strong commitment to writing poems. I have published some poems in small journals in print and self-published many poems on the internet at poetry websites.

What inspires you to write? Is there a certain setting where you like to write? Do you listen to music when you write?

My sources and levels of inspiration vary. It is usually experience that leads me to write: the more intense the experience, the more intense the poetry. I write in various styles: from traditional forms to experimental forms. I sometimes write humorous poems. I try to keep my poems short, 1.e., no more than twenty lines. I have been a musician all my life. Hardly a moment passes when I don't have music going in my head. Thus, I guess you could say I listen to internal music -- but general not live or recorded music -- while writing poetry.

What is one of your favorite poems that you have penned? Would you mind sharing why or the story behind the poem?

Here is a dark poem of which I am proud -- though it is was a hard one to write and is a hard one to read. I wrote it in 2008. It was originally titled, 'WE COME AND GO AS IF THERE WERE A PLACE' -- (that is, the first line of the poem)-- but later renamed it to 'WORLD TRADE CENTER PLAZA. The inspiration came from a TV news report that was filmed the day after the destruction. The report featured a man who had worked as a business executive at the WTC. He was talking about his inability to believe --to comprehend -- that this great tragedy had really happened. He mentioned that he and his colleagues had eaten lunch in the WTC plaza the day before. Tears flowed as he expressed his shock that now the plaza wasn't even there anymore. My poem took his statement a bit further into some of the more hidden dynamics that may have contributed -- however implicitly -- to the infamous event itself.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

WORLD TRADE CENTER PLAZA

We come and go as if there were a Place
Here; tho’ well we know the Emptiness that
Is-Here... We have held it in our hands. At
Lunch we have swallowed it. There is no grace
To be found Here; nor shred no shrug nor trace
Nor slightest-something of This Where: where sat
We yesterday. Sit we today. Nor chat
Of bursted-barrels spitting twisted space,
Lest reveal From-Elsewhere-Than-Without — come...
— Yet. Cold we our pain. Yet. Hold we our breath —
...Would to trudge Home but in-stead our-selves send
Back to trudge the stinking sinking loathsome
Roads. Twisted trails we trampled beyond death:
What. Crash. What. Shatter. What. Bleed. What. Flood. What. End.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**************************************
An' it harm none, do what ye will. Blessed Be.
Image
***************************************
My Poet's Page Archive | Topics I've started

User avatar
heinzs
The Fat Cat
Posts: 8419
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2001 12:01 am
Tag line: Do no harm
Location: Novato, CA
Contact:

Re: May 2012, Poet of the Month: FirestoneFeinberg

Post by heinzs » Sun May 27, 2012 3:41 pm

Here are some links to some of David's wonderful poems. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

We'd Rather Turn Away From Fact
A Cardboard Box
The Hospital of Rain
An Architecture Designed
Outside Eden
Tho' Never Tired is the Sun
Are Bridges


:cool:
**************************************
An' it harm none, do what ye will. Blessed Be.
Image
***************************************
My Poet's Page Archive | Topics I've started

User avatar
FirestoneFeinberg
Babbling Brook Poet
Posts: 317
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2011 4:05 pm
Location: New York City

Re: May 2012, Poet of the Month: FirestoneFeinberg

Post by FirestoneFeinberg » Fri Jun 01, 2012 6:44 pm

Thank you so much for naming me Poet of the Month [May 2012]. I am honored by the award and it makes me feel great. I have been bragging to as many people as possible, and threatening them that now that I have achieved POTM status I might not condescend to speak to them anymore :) Thanks again! -- Firestone Feinberg

User avatar
DarleneG
65 Roses
Posts: 769
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 5:29 am
Tag line: Encourage One Another
Location: San Diego, CA

Re: May 2012, Poet of the Month: FirestoneFeinberg

Post by DarleneG » Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:31 pm

Hi, David, Reading past posts, I just discovered you were May's Poet of the Month! Congrats! This pleases me because I always enjoy reading your poems. Darlene

User avatar
FirestoneFeinberg
Babbling Brook Poet
Posts: 317
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2011 4:05 pm
Location: New York City

Re: May 2012, Poet of the Month: FirestoneFeinberg

Post by FirestoneFeinberg » Wed Jul 18, 2012 1:44 pm

Thanks Darlene! It was a terrific honor to be named Poet of the Month May 2012. I've been bragging my head off about it! Now I'm ego of the month! Peace. --David

partialpoet
Clearwater Poet
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2012 7:36 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: May 2012, Poet of the Month: FirestoneFeinberg

Post by partialpoet » Tue Aug 28, 2012 1:08 pm

love the poem; thanks man.

User avatar
FirestoneFeinberg
Babbling Brook Poet
Posts: 317
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2011 4:05 pm
Location: New York City

Re: May 2012, Poet of the Month: FirestoneFeinberg

Post by FirestoneFeinberg » Wed Aug 29, 2012 6:08 am

[quote="partialpoet"]love the poem; thanks man.[/quote]

Thanks so much, partial. I'm not quite sure what poem you are referring to -- but I certainly appreciate the compliment. And wish you a great day! --David

Post Reply

Return to “Community Favorites, Poem of the Week and Poet of the Month”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest