Click Poet's Spotlight Archive to read the work of contemporary Virginia poets
showcased during Carolyn's term as Virginia's Poet Laureate.
Biographical Note:
Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda served as Poet Laureate of Virginia from
2006-2008. She has published five books of poetry, co-edited two poetry
anthologies and has two other manuscripts near completion.Her
poems have been nominated for six Pushcart Prizes and appear in numerous
magazines, including Nimrod, Prairie Schooner, Mid-American Review,
Best of Literary Journals, Poet Lore and An Endless Skyway,
an anthology of poems by U.S. State Poets Laureate.
Her awards include five grants from the Virginia Commission for the
Arts; a Spree First Place award; multiple awards in Pen Women
competitions; a Special Merit Poem in Comstock Review’s Muriel
Craft Bailey Memorial contest; a Passages North contest award; an
Edgar Allan Poe first-place award; and a Resolution of Appreciation from
the State Board of Education for her contributions as Poet Laureate of
Virginia.
In 2010-2011 she served as a Literary Arts Specialist with Claudia
Emerson on a Metrorail Public Art Project, which will integrate literary
works, including her own, into art installations at metro stations in
Virginia.
LiveWire Press Podcast
Take This on Authority
When the last cloud
leaves
nothing behind—no
history, no trace of error, no
basilica to shelter a man—
a hymn, as lonely as any,
will rise out of canyons
and at great heights
sing to every particle, to
every hint of light along the way.
In a temple, in another
universe, listeners will
bow down chanting.
By Tulum’s Sea
How easy to become a
part
of this fertile past: a sudden
desert of ruins beneath a vast,
amazed sky, gulls billowing
their small white sails, caught
in an impetuous breeze. To be
here on the edge of it all
between the Castle and Temple
of Wind, in a cliff-break where
a cove’s waters wash over
my feet, the Mayan blue, misted
with the aura of coastlands.
I call out from these ruins as if
expecting honey, vanilla, feather
and jaguar skins from the trade
of a passing ship to float ashore.
The clouds’ wealth opens up,
each drop cleansing the sea:
all at once a translucent wine.
What is it about the sea
that startles the heart?
copyright Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda
The Poet:
reading her work at the American Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria
The Artist:
showing her Paintings
The Educator:
teaching a Poetry Seminar at Virginia Beach
For more of
Carolyn's poetry in the r.kv.r.y. quarterly literary journal,
click the links below:
Carolyn
Kreiter-Foronda
