Atelier Hollace M. Metzger

NEWS:

2023

2023 – H.M. Metzger : POETRY, BOOK #8 Release

July 2023 – Collaborating in Viareggio, Italy.

21 June 2023 – Exhibition of new paintings, sculpture, poetry and live, in-progress music/poetry collaboration performance with musician/composer Francesco Munaò at the 2023 MATSDA Conference, at Enoteca Villa Poggio Reale, Rufina, Italy.

June/April 2023 – Collaborating in Marina di Massa, Italy.
May 2023 – Collaborating in Marina di Vecchinao, Italy.
February 2023 – Collaborating in San Gimignano, Italy.
January 2023 – Collaborating in Siena, Italy.

2022

December 2022 – Collaborating in Venice, Italy.

Current architectural design projects:
new ground-up, 2-storey single-family residence. Anchorage, Alaska (2022-)
café/bookshop interior design & adaptive re-use. Le Marais, Paris (2021-22)
private residence interiors & renovation. Tuscany, Italy (2020, 2022)

19-20 November 2022 – Collaborating in Viareggio, Italy.
6-7 November 2022 – Collaborating in Livorno, Italy.

November 2022 – Metzger has been invited to perform her Poetry / exhibit artwork at a multi-artist staged evening event proceeding the 2023 International Convention of English Language Schools & Linguists in Rufina, Italy.

1 November 2022 – Currently in collaboration (reactionary poetry, vocals) with Florentine multi-instrumentalist Francesco Munaò, in response to the production of his first major solo project. More to come!

13 October 2022 – “La Quête de l’Absolu”.
Currently in a revival collaboration with percussionist H. Meziane (France/Algeria)…  The underlying theme of this collaboration consists of the idea of how we communicate through common understanding of literatures without the use of language. More to come!

@ Pisa, Italy – August
@ Nice & Cannes, France – August

30 June 2022 – The Vogel / Metzger collaboration (see below), for a next studio album by Vogel, is currently being mastered in the studio in Berlin.

13 June 2022 – Metzger / hmmP Collaborations (vocals & poetry) will be featured in the forthcoming, new album by Hendrik Vogel (Germany). This release leans towards exploring the realms of solitude, human connection, and of space. Along with his many creative outlets and forms of expression, Vogel’s music releases & experiments in sound can be followed on SoundCloud. More to come…

2021

@ Paris, France – December

October 2021 – Currently writing new texts & Poetry pieces for the December 2021 exhibition of Italian surrealist photographer, Stefano Tommasi (Napoli, Italy)

@ Florence, Italy – 23 August
@ Rufina, Italy – 14 August

July 2021 – Metzger has been invited to participate in a special edition of World Women Writers, by humanist, author & professor Dr. Ajit Kumar (India), scheduled to be released later this year…

“Dr. Ajit Kumar is a scholar of gender studies and feminist theory. Holding his Ph.D. in English from Kurukshetra University, Kumar’s area of research involves modern literature and women’s writing, and he has written, presented and edited a number of research papers in the field of gender studies. Having interviewed many poets and writers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, France, Brazil, Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan, Kumar’s most recent interviews are published in the journals of Panjab University, Chandigarh, India; Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia; and Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi, India. He has four years’ university teaching experience, and has currently undertaken a major project about the writing of British women authors.”

18 July 2021 – Metzger & composer/sound-experimentalist Micka Luna (Spain) have continued their journey into another collaborative piece together, the two artists collaborating and exchanging ideas since 2006. This new collaboration was inspired by Luna’s release of his first solo album, “11”, last February when Metzger wrote a biographical piece about Luna’s music. More to come…

@ Florence, Italy – 17 July
@ Mestre, Italy – 15 July
@ Florence, Italy – 11 July
@ Paris, France – 10 July
@ Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 9-10 July
@ Erie, Pennsylvania – 27 June
@ New York – 27 June

25 June 2021 – Metzger’s poem “Rondine“ (from the book ‘Transcriptions of Time: The Collected Works of Hollace M. Metzger‘ (2009)), written in Paris while listening to a rendition of Vincenzo de Crescenzo’s romance “Rondine al Nido”, has been interpreted as the inspiration for a short opera, the poem sung and translated into Greek, by a Greek translator/composer in Athens and a Greek mezzo-soprano in London. The composer said, “Whenever I had lost hope I listened to this poem, …and I feel I can do everything, feeling strong and believed.” “I traveled half the world because of Metzger’s verses”. More to follow…

@ Florence, Italy – June

As part of the CD/DD team at Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW, Paris) for the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Foundation (SNCF) recently completed in Athens, Greece, the RPBW team is pleased to announce a series of project drawings as part of a new exhibition at Athens’s National Museum of Contemporary Art:

From 27 May 2021, RPBW will participate in the exhibition SYMBOLS & Iconic Ruins at @EMST.NationalMuseumofContemporaryArt.Athens with the project @snfcc – @RPBW architects
27.05. 2021 – 20.08.2021
137 artists, architects and και art historians from Greece and abroad present 110 works
Temporary Exhibitions Space (-1)

@ Venice, Italy – May

– “OUT”-Series re-Exhibition (recent work) / 5 works, SOLD – Alaska –

2020

@ Florence, Italy – 2 September
@ Rufina, Italy – January-August
@ Rome, Italy – 15 January
@ Athens, Greece – 8-15 January
@ Πάλαια Φώκαια (Palaia Fokaia), Greece – 1-7 January

2019

@ Κυψέλη (Kypseli), Athens, Greece – November-December
@ Piraeus, Greece – October-November
@ Poros, Greece – August-September

– H.M. Metzger — agάpe [simply love] – P o e t r y, Book VIII – (Athens, Greece) –

2018

– H.M. Metzger — OUT | TUO  – P o e t r y, Book VII – (Athens, Greece) –

2016

@ Portes Overtes – Paris, France – August
@ Athens, Greece – May
@ San Diego, CA – select works – May 10-13

– H.M. Metzger — S I X T E E N — a first Novel, in progress – TBA –

in collaboration with Santiago Lozano – April–May
@ Anchorage & Prudhoe Bay, Alaska – January…

2015

 @ Venice, Italy – December
@ Moscow, Russia – December

Metzger / De Oliveira collaboration, “Return To You” published @ PoetrySeen (Chicago) – September

in Anchorage – January…

2014

Painting Commissions #9 (UK) & #10 (USA) – November-December

 Guest feature / reading on WORLD POETRY : Bringing the World Together in Peace Through Poetry (Canada) – November, TBA

In collaboration with French photographer Vincent Zénon Rigaud – October-November

Fenêtres photo series publication – 20 October

 Photography featured on Irish websites Discover The Aran Islands and  Aran Islands Visitor – October

rep. @ Frankfort International Book Fair – 8-12 October

rep. @ Slice Literary Conference, Brooklyn, NY – 6-7 September

 @ NEW YORK – 27 August

@ Tap Root Poetry Slam, Anchorage, 6pm – 26 August

reading @ Tap Root “Yellow Umbrellas”, Anchorage (7-9pm) – 25 April

AM@RC “OUT”-series proposal – 1 April– 1 October

In collaboration with Stavro-Christo (Athens, Greece) – March-December

@ JUNEAU – 28-30 February

Featured in Turk’s Head Review – Prof. J. Esch, editor (Philadelphia, USA) – 5 February 

rep. @ ‘Art for Syria’ Exhibition (Cambridge, UK) – 1 February

Collaborative  EP (Reims, France) – TBA

Collaborative  EP (Vilanova/Barcelona, Spain) – TBA

Guest author/vocals feature on ‘TBA’ album release, Rarenoise Records – TBA

2013

published in The People’s Daily Newspaper – Arts & Culture (Abuja, Nigeria) – 27 November

In collaboration/commission with The University of Alaska, College of Engineering (Anchorage) – Oct.-Nov.

Paintings and an Interview, Featured Artist in Furies Magazine – September

Reading @ “Indigo Tea Lounge” – Anchorage, Alaska. 7-10:00pm – 22 August

Reading @ “S Lounge” – Anchorage, Alaska. 8:00pm – 13 August

@ FAIRBANKS, AK – 5 August, TBA

@ SEATTLE, WA – 4 August, TBA

@ ERIE, PA – 3 August, TBA

featured @ INFINITY’S KITCHEN  : “An Evening of Literary Experiments”, Brooklyn – 8:00pm – 13 June

‘3VOLVE’ feat. at BookExpo, New York – 29 May – 1 June

“9 Poems” from ‘3VOLVE’ published by Peripheral Surveys Magazine – March

@ CLEVELAND – February

 – ‘ 3 V O L V E ‘ RELEASE – THE 5th BOOK OF POETRY – 14 FEBRUARY –  

3VOLVE poems published in The Brooklyn Voice – 11 February

Video-realization collaboration ‘Mur Peint’, Paris – 1 February

“3VOLVE, a Review“ by author Rehan Qayoom – 19 January

Painting commission #8 completion, Reims – 15 January  

Painting commission #7 completion, San Francisco – 1 January  

2012

Painting Commission #5  completion, Reims – 1 January

In collaboration with Jean de Oliveira & Henry Hugo – January–February

In collaboration with Olivier Vaillant, Reims/Paris – 1 January–6 July

multi-artist Collaboration, Paris – January 27–31

exhibition of paintings @ Marche d’Art Contemporain, Paris – 26 April 

featured in NAU NUA Art Magazine‘s “International Literature Special” – April

exhibition of paintings @ Grande Marche , La Bastille, Paris – 12 May 

representing the USA/France at SPRING POETRY RAIN , Nicosia, Cyprus – 26 May 

guest appearance on premiere Nugath album release, Berlin – May

published in The Brooklyn Voice – 28 July 

In collaboration with Jean de Oliveira, for “3VOLVE” – 8-12 August

“H.M. Metzger, Photo-Poetry 2007-10″ – “THE LIVING BRIDGE” Multi-Media Exhibition,
Community Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand – 31 August-9 September

“H.M. Metzger, The Living Bridge” & collaborative music/poetry work with Olivier Vaillant – video projection
at “THE LIVING BRIDGE” Multi-Media Exhibition, Community Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand  – 3-9 September

H.M.Metzger & Vaillant, De Oliveira – “The Living Bridge” public video screening.
Community Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand  – 6 September

  – ‘ 3 V O L V E ‘ pre-RELEASE – THE 5th BOOK OF POETRY – 11 SEPTEMBER –  

published in The Brooklyn Voice – 25 September

@ BERLIN – 26 September–10 October

published in The Brooklyn Voice – 9 October

3 toiles @ eXpo, Paris – 12-14 October

2011

1 March – Painting Commission #4, USA

15-21 March – in Normandy
22-27 March – in Paris
28 March – in Madrid
29 March – in Brooklyn, NY

1 April – “INV3RSES” @ Theatre Durance, Saint-Auban, France (poetry, vocals)

1-22 April – in New York

1-30 April – recent work featured in NAU NUA Art Magazine

19 April – “INV3RSES” @ Ballet Preljocal, Aix-en-Provence (poetry, vocals)
20 April – “INV3RSES” @ Ballet Preljocal, Aix-en-Provence (poetry, vocals)
21 April – “INV3RSES” @ Ballet Preljocal, Aix-en-Provence (poetry, vocals)
22 April – “INV3RSES” @ Ballet Preljocal, Aix-en-Provence (poetry, vocals)

25-27 April – in New York, NY
28 April – in Boston, MA
21 May-8 June, 15 June – 17 July – in Reims
5 June – Cleveland, OH (group art exhibition)

18 July – New York Independent Artists’ Council music/art collaboration, Paris/New York

18-20 July – in Paris
21-29 July – in Normandy

26 July – Interview / Review with author Christina Westover (San Francisco)

15 August – rep. @ New York Poetry Festival (NYPF), Governors Island

21 August – collaboration #2-II with TRAUM Films (Berlin)

25 August – PERIPHERAL SURVEYS Magazine features Hollace M. Metzger in its 4th Edition, “Marginalia”

1 September – featured in NAU NUA Art Magazine’s “Exhibitions Special”

22 September – collab w/ Martin Philadelphy ‘TRENSCH’ album release (Austria) [ info ]

5-11 October – Ireland Road/Reading Tour

7 October – Live interview & Reading on Galway Bay FM Arts Show

8 October – “INV3RSES” @ Teatro Municipale Valli, Reggio Parma Festival, Italy (poetry, vocals)

9 October – Performance in Dingle, Ireland

9 October – “INV3RSES” @ Ballet National de Marseille (poetry, vocals)
10 October – “INV3RSES” @ Ballet National de Marseille (poetry, vocals)
11 October – “INV3RSES” @ Ballet National de Marseille (poetry, vocals)
12 October – “INV3RSES” @ Ballet National de Marseille (poetry, vocals)

11 October – Performance in Dublin, Ireland

12 October – in Paris, Group art exhibition

December – featured in NAU NUA Art Magazine’s “Art Inspired by NAU NUA”

News Archive:

2012

26 May 2012 … ‎11 of Metzger’s poems will be descending from balloons, upon the city of Nicosia, Cyprus, and performed by actors, musicians, collected and read aloud by the public… We don’t know on which side of the divided city they will land, but we hope their message of unity will be heard by the world.  The event (and an interview with Metzger) can be seen live on select European TV stations and online at  https://www.ideogramma-cy.com/video.html   There will also be a short, live radio interview, scheduled to air on Cyprus radio.

2011

July … Two of Metzger’s poems from the book Why the WilloW (2010) will be included collaborations in September’s forthcoming premiere solo album release by Martin Philadelphy, “TRENSCH“. The album will also feature poetry by another Brooklyn poeta, Jane LeCroy, and the talents of Chris Janka (bass) and Gustavo Costa (percussion) in addition to Martin’s own soulful lyrics and poetry. The “TRENSCH” Tour will commence in Austria with the album release in September. >> A previous, vocal response to Philadelphy’s music by Metzger, “Thursdelay”, was also included in the 2010 album “I Hear You” (Giant Dwarf: Philadelphy & Carlstedt + guests Cuzme & Metzger) available through Philadelphy’s website.

This month, Ms. Metzger was also interviewed about her latest book, Eternal Story, by San Francisco novelist Christina Westover. The full dialogue can be read HERE. >> More about Ms. Westover, her book reviews, incredible insight and her latest novel, Precipice, are available through her website.

After being incredibly moved by their opening performance for Catherine Ringer last May, Hollace has relocated to Reims to continue full-time development of a theatre project with L’Amour is the Answer‘s frontman Olivier Vaillant. The production will be a type of classically orchestrated rock-opera where the main character ventures on a quest for true love, Metzger’s voice and writing accompanying Mr. Vaillant throughout this narrative. More about L’Amour, including their just-released album “BLIND“, HERE.

Please also have a read of the talents of multi-lingual British poet Rehan Qayoom who has just released a new volume of poetry, About Time. The prologue was written by Ms. Metzger as well as the cover of the book donning her painting “Citystorm” (2010). About Time is available through Lulu. >> More about Rehan Qayoom, including his review of Metzger’s latest book Eternal Story, HERE.

In (a new type of) collaboration, Metzger has also begun a new project with film director, producer and writer Jean de Oliviera (Berlin) and Swiss author-composer Henry Hugo. This one’s under lock and key, so that’s that. A previous project with Oliviera, Marta Collica, Metzger and other artists, “5X“, can be viewed on Vimeo.

And yes, Canada and Germany are still dancing to poetic fusion in their club scenes!
Many thanks to Jeff Gold (Montreal) and Hendrik Vogel (Karlsruhe, Stuttgart) for continuing to mix and spin recordings from “TranSynPhony” this spring/summer, beautifully fusing poetry with soulful house music.
Jeff Gold – Hendrik Vogel

Thanks for reading!

A U G U S T   2010

BOOKS 

We  are  pleased  to  announce  the  availability  of  all  Metzger’s  books  in  San Francisco’s  ‘Mission’, the  home  of  fire-eating  poetry!

All  four  books – OBSERVING THE LABYRINTH FROM HEAVEN (2007-8),  TRANSCRIPTIONS OF TIME : THE COLLECTED WORKS (2009), WHY THE WILLOW (2010)  and  ETERNAL STORY (2011)  can now be purchased at:

VIRACOCHA SHOP 

Need a T-shirt? Hollace  is now featured in the gallery of modern artists claimed by Parisian graffiti artist “PLAZ” as contemporary inspirational figures in modern art, film and literature.  All T-shirts are tagged/painted by the artist, washable and also come in those figure-flattering French female sizes.

The “METZGER” design features a portrait by PLAZ on the back (also featured in the book Why the WilloW) and Hollace’s enlarged handwriting on the front, stating “My World Exists”, and is also signed by Metzger.

Go to PLAZart  for more details and designs to come.

COL-LAB

First, the Jean Montag / H.M. Metzger collaboration of the poem “Twitch” was featured on BBC radio in April 2010. Hollace and Jean are working on a second piece, their alchemy hopefully resulting in Hollace inventing another language again, or something to that effect. Follow Montag on Soundcloud, Reverbnation, Facebook or MySpace.

In addition, continued work for the next album release of UK dub-artist Ashtech is underway…

Next, the Metzger/Hendrik Vogel (Germany) duo were featured in TheBasement podcast showcasing Vogel last May, including Hollace’s poem “Your Eyes Will Change Tonight (and I am not there)”.  The two will also extend their growing list of collabs with a new piece due later this season.  –  Stay Tuned!

Finally, a collaboration for the poem “It’s Tuesday and New York is Alive” with Dynamic (UK) is nearing it’s close and will be featured on this website shortly. This poem captures the essence of New York’s underground passages, chance meetings and, together with the music, the essence of the city’s living movement that makes it all happen.

ART

A recent collaboration of video, music and texts has been completed and is searching for its gallery home… The trio of Jean de Oliviera (Traum Films), Marta Collica (music) and Metzger (texts, voice) have joined into a beautiful five-part film, “5x” and ready for its public debut…

WORDS

In addition to a double-book review in the next BOWL Quarterly (UK), “Poppies”, here are some new responses to the ‘TranSynPhony’ DVD, Transcriptions of Time, Why the WilloW, The Labyrinth and their respective medias:

“We’re big fans here at Clinicality” – Clinicality Press

“a great inspiration! …your poetry was one of life creations that kept me going.” – Dr. R. Cabral, historian and physicist

“brilliant and luminescent” – Pagan Neil, author

“a truly gifted artist… I think when it comes to art, yours will be a name which goes down in history, and I feel I am witnessing something truly great” – C. Westover, author of Precipice

Proceeded by her review on Amazon.com:

“While reading Transcriptions of Time by Hollace M. Metzger, one has the feeling of witnessing history in the making. Her emotionally descriptive prose proves that she is one of the greatest existentialist writers of our time.

Transcriptions of Time is a journey without a definite destination, an open-ended book, because time is infinite. Brutally honest, the richly colored prose paints living breathing pictures, and makes tangible the intangible.

Written from the viewpoints of various cities, one experiences the feeling of being invisible, insignificant, yet free all at once. It is a tale of remembrance, bringing to mind the various individuals a person comes into contact with in a lifetime. It beckons one to remember the sacred ancient places in this world now hidden by factories and concrete–for they still stand, and magic is all around us.

Hollace M. Metzger reminds us of the moon’s influence–its gravitational pull of one’s soul, one’s body, one’s mind. Like the moon, it is difficult to resist the gravitational pull of Metzger’s poetry.”

Why the WilloW

“I have read your wonderful book, Why the WilloW – So beautiful…” – O. Ohio, artist

TranSynPhony

“Waking up in the morning and hearing your voice is a real gift. Thank you for your art and making the road beautiful and pleasant.” – D. Elorz, actor

Transcriptions of Time

“Just watched “Under Parisian Streets” (video) again and I have to say, I think it is a masterpiece.” – M. Bratton, poet

Observing the Labyrinth from Heaven

“If one looks up “acerbic” in the OED they will find “Observing the Labyrinth from Heaven” in its entirety. Hearing that poem turned my stomach into a sarcastic smile. I felt like I was reliving Huxley’s ‘After Many a Summer Dies the Swan’. – A.D. Wiegert, author

HER CIRCLE EZINE CONTEST

Last but not least, the POSTCARDS FROM PARIS CONTEST has come to a close. Thanks to everyone who bought books, downloads, dvd’s and entered the contest, and Thanks to Her Circle Ezine for the wonderful interview and everything else they are doing over there.

The following contest winners will receive a hand-written postcard from Ms. Metzger.

The runner-up (2) will receive a signed photo-art print.

The Grand Prize winner (1) will receive a signed photo-art print, a “My World Exists” T-shirt and a signed copy of Why the WilloW.

1 – Carolina Littinay – Rome, Italy

2 – Lutz Junker – Bottrop, Germany

3 – Eva Hechtova – Ostrov, Czech Republic

4 – Christina Westover – San Francisco, USA

5 – Jacqueline Christine – Portland, USA

6 – Jonathan Siegel – San Francisco, USA

7 – Brittany Kunkle – Saint Louis, USA

8 – Lorenzo Pagliei – Paris, France

9 – Shana Morris – Clarksville, USA

10 – David Elorz – Spain

REVIEWS

Closing, a preview of Garry Frank’s review of Why the WilloW, to be printed in the next issue of BOWL Quarterly :

Why The Willow

a review, by Garry Franks – Beauty of Washing Lines / BOWL Publishers

August 13, 2010

I do not want to emphasise the “modernity” and “now” of Hollace Metzger’s poetry, an American poetess living in Paris, but there is something that roots though her feet and grows branches out of her hands.

First some facts about the Willow Tree. The Willow Tree is cross fertile with many hybrids. The Willow Tree’s Latin name is Salix sepulcralis. It is a cross between the Peking Willow (Salizbabylonica) and European White Willow (Salix alba). The trees roots are remarkable for toughness, size, tenacity to life, with roots readily growing from aerial parts of the plant. It has both male (staminate)  and female (pistilate) flowers which make it diocious.  These flowers are known as catkins, which appear either just before or with leaves in spring. Its fruit is dispersed widely on the wind. The Weeping Willow is planted on the borders of streams so their interlacing roots may protect banks against the action of water. They notoriously block French drains.

On opening this volume, there is a faded black and white photo of a Weeping Willow reflected in water, followed by the title poem (its French version closes this intensely lyrical collection) with its bowing/mirroring;

“The Willow bows

to see itself closer

in its own fallen tears,

puddles on the ground”

(“Why the Willow”)

Hollace is not afraid to use archaic words if they are the best way to accurately record (and sing) the experience;

“As each day

descends to evening

it’s luminous tresses

fill with color

before sleeping.”

(“Why the Willow”)

In “Lava” Hollace is listening to John Dowland’s 3rd book of Songs 1603 (“The Lowest Trees Have Tops”) when suddenly death’s

“prison bars…”,

with its echoes of the metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell, do not seem so far away, where the poet must at last face

“our shadowed willow’s eaves.”

(“Lava”)

Poem titles add to the mirror theme of the opening poem. A poem has a title “Looking Glass” which automatically suggests Lewis Carroll “Looking Through The Looking Glass” and his mirror theme of opposites, time running backwards, poetry of Jabberwocky that can only be read if held up to a mirror.

Hollace also alludes in her volume notes to the 2009 animation film ‘Coraline’ an update on the Looking Glass story (Coraline steps through the mirror and is met by evil alternative parents with buttons for eyes), and of course the poem “Whorescope” a running joke on the internet – an instrument like a periscope or telescope- or type of horoscope – to forecast finding of “women” in a particular area of town- but is there also  a deeply intellectual  allusion to Descartes via Samuel Beckett’s “Whorescope” a philosophical egg riddle poem about time and reality about how a philosopher can only have an egg cooked after so many days after being laid –does that then link to the earth as “ovalyn” (beautiful egg) mentioned later on in the volume –do you know how the roots and branches grow?

Hollace expands (the/a) Looking Glass theme;

“We must seek something

beyond our lost half,

our missing other…”

(“Half-Cent ipede”)

The centipede “mon frère”, her lover, her reader, is addressed in Zen-like love moments of impressionistic poetry ;

“Have you watched the sky

in a day refusing clouds?

Have you, my dear friend,

hunched beneath the oak tree

and watched its shadows

change the redness of apples?”

(“Half-Cent ipede”)

Hollace is not afraid to hold a conversation with an A-listed poet;

“Ginsberg asked flowers

why they ‘seek the sun'”

(“Once Was”)

I scurry to my well thumbed City Lights pocket book of “Howl” via Hollace’s end of volume notes. The answer is;

“The music descends, as does the tall bending

Stalk of the heavy blossom because it has to, to stay alive

To continue to the last drop of joy”

(Allen Ginsberg “Transcriptions Of Organ Music)

Remember the Willow in the opening poem?

“The Willow bows

to see itself closer

in its own fallen tears,

puddles on the ground.”

There are allusions and allusions and echoes and echoes, branches and leaves, branches and leaves, rustlings;

“The ‘Brambly Briars’ bow

to winds that move them”

(“Half-Cent ipede”)

Hollace informs us in her volume notes the phrase “brambly briars” are from 60’s folk group The Incredible String Band’s “October Song”

“Beside the sea

The brambly briars in the still of evening,

Birds fly out behind the sun

And with them I am leaving”

(The Incredible String Band)

Variation and difference, being equal choices, root and grow in <span>WWW</span>. Hollace has;

“…seen beauty

in tree trunks

that chose to grow

in opposite directions”

which naturally and organically leads her to her lover’s face, the other, the missing half, time’s breath-steamed looking glass mirror held her against her face;

“I’ve seen beauty

in your face again,

like yesterday

only differently

than today.”

(“I’ve Seen Beauty”)

Or put in a more painterly, different way;

“Two artists finding colors,

new colours

in an unknown place

of unfamiliar name”

which becomes

“…in this moment in time,

in this precise moment.

I feel more alive

than I ever have been.”

(“Spring in Sceaux”)

You can hear her loving heart knocking through her ribs, rooting in her thinking hand, writing down poetry.

But in the same poem (the defining “Spring” of this four-seasons collection of poems ) she throws her lover and us the ambiguous curve-ball, a downward opposite branch from the same root; the dark side of the looking glass of opposites;

“I am not sure who I’d rather be,

You, wanting to live in time

You know cannot exist,

or me, hoping to find it.”

Where her companion’s finger;

“…terminates at a vase

we taped your dying flower

upright to.”

(“Spring in Sceaux”)

With its allusion to Ginsberg’s “flower of joy” reversed.

Suddenly there is childhood’s nightmarish fairytale atmosphere;

“GIVE ME

five-hour journeys

between trees of an endless

forest, fence posts boasting

their survival under hot

summer sun, outliving

horse’s teeth that anxiously

ate them alive.”

(“Give Me”)

The opening poem’s theme reappears in the same nightmarish hue;

“Leave me

beside myself, in a Pond

where tadpoles find no

reason to grow,

or in a de-frosting winter

puddle widening its eye

upwards towards

approaching golden color”

(“Leave Me”)

but counterpointed chin-up,  with the metaphysical “Dew-Drop” of Andrew Marvell,

“Leave me

beside myself, in a single Drop

of an April’s rain shower,

in the shining bead of Dew

claiming its fortune

on a magnified thistle,

refusing to evaporate.”

(“Leave Me”)

Through the seasons from Winter to Spring the loss of time becomes increasingly plaintive as well as a yearning for Hollace to put roots down like the Willow Tree;

“As I’ve passed through

seven more nights

to your day, the gray-

ness between us,

your youth and my day,

your Toulousian youth

seems carved in stone

whose surrounding willows

I watch grow downwards.

I wish to be a part

from your life.

But, I am apart

from your life.”

(“Man, aged”)

Autumn becomes a time for remembering towards a possible future,

“wood crying sap”

with this unforgettably tender mystical image, which also introduces the egg/fertile earth image;

“This earth we’re on is ovalyn.*

Cubist Zen-cirlce in motion, vibrations-mystical,

Your horseback ride across open-arched field;

Your love found on the curve of Time’s shoreline”

(“Ovalyn”)

*(hybrid word –”ova” egg –”lyn” beautiful)

Hollace’s Autumn takes that disturbing image (to me) of the horses eating the fence post into something more homely, more loving;

“I dine with you, eating wood

chipped from the ladle”

(“Witness to Beauty, Fading”)

Hollace concludes in this volume that there is;

“…neither one singular answer

nor one independent epicentre”

(“Ovalyn”).

Hollace Metzger is still unfinished, her heart knocking through her ribs, her thoughts rooting out of her hand – Poetry.

But for now she is “home”;

“Now, I saturate my eyes

with sight and sound.

The two coexist

as I exist in this.

I am seated on plastic,

weathered chairs

adjacent

to a puddlle of vomit.

I am “home.

This is it.”

(MannheimTo Paris)

Ah, and with a puddle of vomit we are back to here and now, the modernity. And I am, like the reader, the lover, all roots, and knots, and branches.

Here is the French version of the title poem that ends the volume.

Why the Willow

Le saule salue bas

pour se voir de plus près

en ses larmes tombées,

flaques sur la terre.

Sa loupe

révèle un torsefier

auréolé du soleil,

et l’ailleurs différemment.

Plus les saisons passent,

puisent cette tristesse,

plus son miroir

révèle sa beauté.

Et comme chaque jour

descend dans le soir,

ses tresses lumineuses se sont remplies

avec les couleurs d’avant-couchant.

C’est pourquoi il pleure

et pourquoi le saule,

simplement, reste

salut bas avec désir de grandir.

Hollace’s poetry is a dying fall, uprising within, fully engaged with the world, getting to know where she has come from – Where art thou, little bird, going to?

© 2010 Garry Franks, Beauty of Washing Lines

[ a r c h i v e s ]

APRIL 2010

P U B L I C A T I O N S

C O L L A B O R A T I O N
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