Ariadne’s note: The World Poetry Café with Hosts Ariadne Sawyer and Vivian Davidson, along with our great tech Medhi welcomed the well known, poet, artist and visionary Carolyn Mary Kleefeld to the show. The opening welcome was by Carolyn from a beautiful and inspiring CD included in her book Vagabond Dawns A truly magical show with poems and insights! E-poem by Cliff Milne on peace, the birth of a new book , The Journey to the Archangels by Mutiu Olawuyi and news on the upcoming World Poetry Canada International Poetathon. CLICK HERE for a link to the show and enjoy.
CAROLYN MARY KLEEFELD
Born in Catford, England, Carolyn grew up in southern California, where she studied art and psychology at UCLA. In 1980 she moved to her cliff-side home high above the Pacific Ocean in Big Sur, California, where she studies, writes, and paints amidst the surrounding wilderness. *
A passion for creative expression and a lifelong fascination with spiritual transformation have ignited Carolyn to become an award-winning poet, writer, and artist. She is the author of eleven books, a variety of which are used as inspirational texts in universities and healing centers, and are featured along with the writings of seven other acclaimed woman writers in a continuing course, “The Other Half of the Sky: Eight Woman Writers,” taught at Swansea University in Wales. *
Carolyn’s books have been nominated for The Pushcart Prize, and her first book, Climates of the Mind, was translated into Braille by the Library of Congress. Her writings have been translated into Korean, Romanian, Arabic, and Bulgarian. Her latest poetry book, Vagabond Dawns, is published in both a Korean bi-lingual edition and a Romanian bi-lingual edition. Carolyn’s book of philosophical aphorisms, Soul Seeds: Revelations and Drawings, will be published in a Korean bilingual edition in the fall of 2013. *
Over the past two decades, Carolyn has created an extensive and diverse body of paintings and drawings, ranging in style from romantic figurative to abstract. The Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University exhibited a retrospective of Carolyn’s paintings and drawings in 2008 and published an exhibition catalog, Carolyn Mary Kleefeld: Visions from Big Sur, with art from the exhibit and a commentary by museum curator and director, Michael Zakian, PhD. Carolyn’s art appears on book covers and is featured internationally in galleries, museums, private collections, and multimedia presentations. * info@carolynmarykleefeld.com. www.carolynmarykleefeld.com
THE DIAMOND BUCKLE
for Leonard Cohen
She was partly turned on
and partly turned off.
And in between
was her diamond buckle
sewed onto an old leather belt.
Yes, partly turned off
and partly turned on—
passionate in dream,
a discomfort with life.
Yes, on and off with
a diamond buckle
and the old leather belt,
demanding she live.
Then blossomed a springtime
when her rhythms swept her
beyond her belt—
and threw away the buckle.
She ran free as a child
dancing with the wind.
And the wild beasts
devoured her discomfort.
Life had digested her anew
And by some mysterious token,
lent beat to her once-withered heart.
She rode on the back
of a white egret’s tail.
And dropped her
fallen self to the sea . ..
Watching it dissolve into salt.
Carolyn Mary Kleefeld (C)
