| a short biography Born in 1959, Bernard Alain resides in Ottawa Ontario, Canada where he has spent most of his adolescent and adult life. His writing started at a young age in the late 70's as a musician and songwriter performing in the local clubs and bars. It was here he likely festered his contemporary voice, influenced by various artists like Cohen and Dylan, attracted to the raw and kinetic tones of folk music. During this time work in the local entertainment industry was sporadic and unrewarding and Bernard left the dead-end bistros of the Ottawa Market area for the west coast in search of a more appreciative audience. After a brief and unsuccessful campaign with the clubs and promoters in Vancouver B.C., Bernard left the arts altogether, returning to the security of a thriving computer industry in his hometown. He did not start writing again until the age of forty, giving up song writing to tap the inner-workings of the silent psychotherapist, channelling his artistic energy into poetry, a powerful aesthetic he has come to respect as a universal grammar. There were many stylistic changes as Bernard's poetry evolved, from the artistic and minimalistic to the verbose and microscopic. Though finding his experimentation with various genres rewarding, he regards most of his earlier work as no more than lyrical etudes, having fallen into the same trap as Voltaire time and time again, satisfying prescribed form as opposed to expositing fact and realistic emotional textures. Bernard feels he has redeemed himself as a contemporary poet in recent years, reacting to day-to-day events with a feral blend of urbanalia and abstract text. The change in style most evident in 'At Different Points in the Triangle' as he revisits the Golden Triangle where he documents the events of a compressed metro lifestyle. Bernard hopes to find a home for this collection with a publisher in the near future. His current book 'Mammoth Bones and Contemporary Beef' has been accepted for publication and will be made available this year. The anthology is a humorous take on the thoughts of a budding poet coping with a lack of acceptance and understanding for contemporary poetry in a pregnant and unjustly opinionated online community. Bernard believes expression should not be inhibited by form and reflect honestly, though enjoying a wide scope of appreciation for the many shapes the art provides, it is a personal mandate of his to increase readership for contemporary poetry by encouraging more organically formed and conversational text that reacts to and captures everyday events. He is the founder of two online sites, 'The Ink Blot' and 'The Cartier Street Review' where artists can submit their contemporary art and poetry for publication and feedback. |
| Bernard Alain has been published and/or featured in a few online journals recently such as the Orange Room Review, Madswirl, Pirene's Fountain, Mississippi Crow Magazine/RiverMuse Press, International Poet, The World Poets Society Electronic Catalog, Bywords, Bywords Quarterly Journal, Smoking Book and others with an upcoming publication in Wood Coin. Bernard will be a guest on talk radio with Stone Reality Media Productions November 13, 2009, please check it out. |
Sunday, November 1, 2009
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Shopping Mall Playland

Above is a poster selected from the upcoming 'The Notes of a Digital Ghost' collection by Don Schaeffer, the words on the poster are hard to read in this resolution so I have provided the text below:
Diane Recapitulated So heavy when she lifts herself from the electric legs into a flesh and blood chair. "This damn corpus," came into my mind from hers. But then her face opened at the corners of her broad mouth, like a deep Irish red-head. And she could dance memories of Diane next door in our Pennsylvania days, before we found paradise.*Don's blog is listed on the right along with some other favorites.
