The Paperback of Apart From Love Comes Out February 15, 2012

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Late Lover

A diamond short, a decade late
I come to stand outside your gate
Unlock and open, let me in
Forgive me, love; what is my sin?

I fled from you across the land
But now I ask you for your hand
A decade late, a diamond short
I can't imagine why you snort

My limbs are frail, my breath is cold
I must admit I may look old
I fall, I kneel, why—I implore
You are the woman I adore

I feel so weak, I feel so brittle
Don't touch! I may be impotent a little
You loved me once—or so I thought
Stop! Take your fingers off my throat—

I painted Late Lover from the point of view of the girl he had left behind. She and you, the observer, are one. He is yearning to come back home. A blue cape is flung around his shoulders, which allows the eye to stay with him, rather than drift off to the background, seen in the spaces between his flimsy ribs. More importantly, you can see the withered flowers he lays at your feet, and the ring being cast off your finger, straight onto his head. The words 'A diamond short, a decade late' are carved into the door frame, perhaps with your fingernails, scratching letter after letter over the long-drawn-out years of waiting for him... 

Having painted him all day, the voice of Late Lover came to me at night. The next morning I wrote his poem down in a single breath, and never made any corrections, never replaced a word or adjusted the rhythm--because it came to me completely ready.

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Cover Design for a Poetry Book

When my father passed away I found his poems, written in Hebrew during his late eighties and early nineties. It has taken a few years to organize them into a coherent whole. The book is now available on Amazon and you can 'Look Inside' to read the first few poems.

Don't Open Your Eyes

Don’t open your eyes Try not to see Things are no longer Where things ought to be That voice—is it her? Behind a closed door She calls you a stranger Your mother no more Breathe through the moment Turn, turn your eyes The past you imagined Was all lies, lies, lies Things are no longer Where things ought to be Who is this stranger Is it still me? Get my poetry book, Home.

Cover Design for Apart From Love

Being new to the printing process of book covers, I've learned that it can be a challenge to get graphics with the contrast and vibrancy you would expect. Here is an excellent article about it, a must read for anyone interested in getting the best result of their cover in print: Better Color from Print on Demand. 

The Kindle cover of Apart From Love has the original colors, with a dark blue background as in the original artwork. But I had to come up with a different color scheme for the softcover version:

Below is my three-panel oil painting called Tangled, from which I chose the cover image.

This Tissue Is Me

Shimmering luster, let me try, let me reach you

Layers beyond layers of red, all aglow

With trembling fingers I touch... Flimsy tissue

It comes down upon me, folding high into low 

I dance with abandon, with no inhibition,

Entangled in fabric, I can no longer flee

Can't breath, for now I can see the strange fusion

Now I know: this tissue is me

My poem is inspired by my art: here is a set three panels, three oil paintings. I offer it to your interpretation, if the figures are dancing out of joy, or getting themselves tied in utter frustration... When I painted the picture, I likened the red fabric to chewing gum on the floor, into which you step and can never release yourself. The more you fight to free yourself, the more you become entangled. 

I did the preparatory work for them by drawing sketches of a nude model, who posed with a silky, red piece of fabric. Then I created a composition out of these sketches, a composition which I arranged as a triptych (an arrangement similar to paintings on an altar.) I did a version of this arrangement in a different color scheme, in watercolor. You can see this version on my facebook page. Then I created the version presented here, in oil. Later, the panel on the right provided the inspiration for the cover of my novel, Apart From Love (available on Amazon in its paperback and Kindle editions.)

This poem will be included in my poetry book, Home.

e-Book Publishing Made Easy

I would like to give credit to the website of writer Helen Hanson, for walking me through some of the pitfalls in converting my book, Apart from Love, to its Kindle format. If you are a self-published writer, and would like to convert to Kindle format, this is a good place to begin: The Killer Whale: .Mobi Dick