Hi All
It's an amazing day to shine the spotlight on someone I find highly talented. It is with great enthusiasm I, on the Jimmy Broccoli page and website, share with you the poetry of Nicholas Michael Ravnikar.
I was first introduced to Nicholas' writing a few months ago. From my (poetry reading) experience, most poetry (including mine) can be understood and appreciated equally by reading it on the page or reading it aloud. Nicholas' poems read well either way - but, when read aloud, they pop and sparkle and light fireworks into the sky - the reader gets to "feel" and experience his poems - something not often found in post-contemporary poetry.
In addition to be an outstanding writer, Nicholas is also a really great guy and I'm happy to call him friend. And - he's one of the poets featured in my upcoming anthology, "Encore" (Cover Reveal this Tuesday) - so his work is definitely among my favorites.
Here is Nicholas in his own words:
Nicholas Michael Ravnikar has been a dishwasher, college professor, substance abuse prevention agency success coach, newspaper copy editor, and marketing copywriter. Diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, ADHD and dysthymia-persistent depression, he has been sober since 2011. In addition to being an independent poet and playwright, Nicholas edits the small press Paper Knives and paints visual poems; his work has appeared in various independent small press venues over the years, and he holds an MFA from Naropa University’s Kerouac School of Poetics. Download free books, check out his paintings and submit your own work for publication at paperknives.art
Here are two poems by Nicholas Michael Ravnikar - and I know you'll love them as much as I do! ______________
LAVENDER
Revel and reveal — a de-leaved alder re-eared Evander. A dread raven davened larvae dead. A Daedalean ladle leveled a vernal, dander-ladened land: verve rendered venereal elan. An annealed veneer a lad earned develled an avellan veranda, and a venal vandal dandled a needle near a navel nerve. Addled reader: adrenal addenda endear. Learn lava redder.
***
SEASHORE
As a hero shears a horse’s ass, ere he hear assessors erase a rose so rare, he oars ashore, shares a hoarse ear. See her shoes? Her sores? Or her rash? She harasses seahorses: “Here, here! Shoo! Shoo!” She shears her hero’s roar — a rash error. Seers see, hearers hear. So he hearses her. Harsh. Oh! Here’s a rarer horror: Eros erases ash.
Photo: Nicholas Michael Ravnikar.
