New Classic Poems – Contemporary Verse That Rhymes

New Classic Poems
Poets’ Biographies
married her American pen-friend, Scott, and
moved to rural USA. The following years she
spent raising their three children and writing
humorous stories about family life and living
abroad. Ms. Ghan and her family currently
reside in Germany. Although she had always
been fond of poetry, she began writing in this
genre only recently. Most of her work is
either inspirational or humorous. Her poem,
The Ballade of the Bulge, was one of the three cowinners
in Contemporary Formal Poetry's on-line
contest in 2004.
Peter G. Gilchrist is a lawyer who resides in
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with his wife, son
and daughter. He describes himself as an avid
canoeist, poet, soccer player and soccer coach.
He most enjoys writing rhyming, narrative
poetry. His poetry has previously been published
in a variety of Internet and hard copy media.
The Sparrow and the Hawk was previously
published in Saucy Vox Review xii. The Guide was
published in Saucy Vox Review and Literati. Both
poems were also published in the book, Paddle
Tracks (Edmonton: Kakwa River Press, 2004), a
collection of paddling poetry by Peter Gilchrist,
Peter Karwacki and Ken Corbett. Gilchrist has
won awards for poetry and photography in the
Net Poetry and Arts Competition. His moving
narrative, The Gift, which appears in print for
the first time here, was another one of the three
co-winners in our on-line contest.
Karen Godson says that she is a 40-year old
poet from Toronto, Canada. “Having survived
breast cancer seven years ago, she is now living
life to its fullest and using the power of her
words to make a difference. Karen writes about
love and life as a lesbian. Her anti-war and
women’s rights poems speak with conviction,
while her environmental poems shake their fists
at the ignorant abuse of the planet.”
D.L Grothaus is a police officer in Boise, Idaho,
USA. After a career in law enforcement for 30
years, he says he can think of nothing he likes
better than being a “street cop.” He writes: “In
my work I meet people from every segment of
society. I find each comes from different
circumstances, but struggle with nearly the same
difficulties in life. All are equally interesting.
My wife of 31 years, Shirley, and I have a small
farm at the desert’s edge, where we raise cattle,
most recently Highland Cattle. My heritage
includes Scottish culture. I play Highland
bagpipes in two pipe bands, including the City of
Boise Police Pipe and Drums, which I helped to
form. I write about the people and things that I
see from my own experiences. In my poetry, I
strive to paint a complete picture in the mind’s
eye of my reader, in 14 or so lines.”
Keith Holyoak, Ph.D., is a professor of
psychology at the University of California, Los
Angeles. He has published over 150 papers and
books. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship,
and is a Fellow of the American Association for
the Advancement of Sciences and the American
Psychological Association. His poems have
been published in literary magazines including
The London Magazine, Envoi, Candelabrum Poetry
Magazine, The Lyric, Red Rock Review and Edge City
Review. The Happy Trout first appeared in The Lyric,
2003; 83:2:58. Prof. Holyoak says that in
addition to Yeats, Frost and the landscape of the
Pacific Northwest, he has been influenced by the
classical Chinese poetry of Li Bai and Du Fu,
which he has translated.
I.B. (“Bunny”) Iskov is Editor of the Outreach
Connection newspaper, sold by the homeless and
unemployed in Toronto, Canada. She is the
founder of the Ontario Poetry Society.
(www.mirror.org/tops) Her work has been
published by the Canadian Mental Health
Association, and it has appeared in numerous
literary journals and anthologies. Her most
recent collection of women’s poetry (co-edited
with Katherine L, Gordon and Misty Elliott) was
published by Black Moss Press. Iskov says that
her other interests include needlepoint and Tarot
card reading. The Sea of Silence, which appears in
this collection, was inspired by reading Obasan by
the celebrated Canadian novelist, Joy Kagawa. It
was previously published in After the Rain, ed. by
Vanna Tessier, Snowapple Press, 2000.
Tan Kar-hui is a 22 year old student who lives
in Malaysia. Our most distant correspondent to
have his work included in this Canadianpublished
collection has been writing poetry for
about two years. He says that he prefers to write
about romantic and nature subjects. His other
interests include swimming and archery.
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