"And all the way home . . ." In Memory of Paul Stevens

Photo of Paul Stevens on the homepage of his online broadsheet, The Flea

I have just learned some very sad news. Paul Stevens, poet, critic, editor and friend, passed away yesterday, March 22, 2013.

Paul, who edited The Shit Creek Review, The Chimaera, and  The Flea, was one of my earliest and staunchest supporters, publishing my work in all three of the above mentioned venues. He also nominated three of my poems for the Pushcart Prize.  Most recently, he wrote a lovely testimonial for my book, This Sweet Order.

Paul was also one of the distinguished selection panelists for the online sonnet journal, 14 by 14, where sixteen of my sonnets have appeared.

A wonderful interview with Paul appears HERE.

Farewell, Friend. You will be sorely missed.


Map of Tasmania

From a cloud, drawn
To liquid trickle
To ferned wet gully
And rivulet’s fall,

I push through fen-sedge,
And bracken, through rich
Forest-scent of fertility,
Deep moss on bole

And boulder, down roiling
White cataracts,
Wineglass to Cradle,
And all the way home,

And all the way home:
At last to sail free
Between southern capes
Thick with kelp and wild foam,

With wave awash, surging,
Late sun on the headland,
And shadow down valley
Past all memory.



By Paul Stevens, Originally published in The Road Not Taken