Submit for the Hillary Gravendyk Poetry Prizes

2020 Hillary Gravendyk Prize Announcing the 2020 Hillary Gravendyk Prize, Sponsored by the Inlandia Institute! One National and one Regional Winner will each be awarded $1000 and book publication, and additional books may be chosen for publication by the editors. The Hillary Gravendyk Prize is an open poetry book competition for all writers regardless of the number of previously published poetry collections. The manuscript page limit is 48 - 100 pages, and the press invites all styles and forms of poetry. Only electronic submissions accepted via Inlandia’s Submittable portal. Entries must be received online by April 30, 2020 at midnight Pacific Standard Time. Reading fee is $20. The winners will be announced late Summer/Fall 2020, for publication in 2021. For more details or to submit, visit the Submittable portal. Inlandia Institute | Inlandia Literary Journeys CONNECT WITH US! ‌ ‌ ‌

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Who was the REAL "Shakespeare"?

WJ Ray (wjray.net/shakespeare...); Wikipedia edit

Martin Droeshout portrait of "Shakespeare" (hand held mask)

Edward de Vere, Welbeck portrait (the Miller Family)

For every reader of the First Folio, from Sir George Greenwood and W.W. Greg to Leah Marcus, the Droeshout portrait of "Shakespeare" has been an unsolved puzzle, symbolic of the disturbing mystery: Who wrote the Shakespeare canon of plays?

Emerson considered this “the first of all literary questions.” Nor have we solved the riddle as “to the reader” on the facing page.

Without an understanding of these blatant challenges, the most knowledgeable follower of “Shakespeare” is kept from the author and how he lived, essential to appreciating any work of art. The key that turns the lock opens the door.

Secrets of the Droeshout Portrait in Shakespeare’s First Folio
by WJ Ray

The Droeshout portrait, frontispiece of the First Folio, was contrived as a collection of linguistic and visual puns to impart the name and title of the Shakespeare plays’ author, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.

The ulterior use of such puns — foreign language, typographical, numerical, and visual — are evident throughout the introductory materials. Historically, the title page and facing poem have been taken at face value and the anomalies shrugged off.

Consensus belief, commercial promotion, and analytic neglect, perhaps intimidated by tradition, together perpetuated the original deception and gave it credibility by default.

• Full essay with detailed illustrations and appendices: PDF
• VIDEO: "The Secret Evidence of Who Wrote the Shakespeare Canon" from Willits Community TV Inc. on Vimeo. More

It's Shakespeare's birthday today (April 26)

Shakespeare?

William Shakespeare (baptized April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616) was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as "the greatest writer in the English language" and the world's greatest dramatist [2, 3, 4].

He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard") because he is from Stratford-on-Avon [5].

His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship.

• In fact, everything attributed to him is of uncertain origin. Whoever wrote it, it was almost certainly not this poorly educated bumpkin with no way to know the things covered in the plays and poems. The Earl of Oxford or a woman, as the evidence indicates, are the likely actual authors using the pseudonym "Shake-spear."

His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright [7].

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna and twins Hamnet and Judith.

Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men.

At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive.

This has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others [8, 9, 10]. These things were definitely written by others. More

Happy Birthday, Shakespeare (April 26)

Lance Davis (The Parson's Nose Theater)

"Oh then I see! Queen Mab hath been with you!" Mercutio is one of Shakespeare's most fascinating characters. He's often played, mistakenly, I believe, as a wildly undisciplined, boisterous libertine. He's the opposite. Yes, he does love life, but he's not the indulgent Falstaff. In fact, caution is his plea to Romeo. He is neutral, like his relative, the Prince of Verona. He is both on the invitation list for the Capulet dance, and pals with the Montagues. But Romeo is living in a dream world. Mercutio warns him several times of the dangers of walking the streets in a woolly-headed daze. He knows Tybalt and the Capulets are on the prowl. His Queen Mab speech, sometimes interpreted as the product of a drug trip, is, rather, a demonstration of the danger of daydreaming. He leads both of his friends into a cautionary tale of a mysterious queen of the fairies who drives her carriage over parts of the body as we sleep, stirring dreams of our particular fancy. Romeo finally cuts him off, saying "You're speaking nonsense", which Mercutio immediately seizes. "Yes! Dreams! Nonsense! Get your head out of the clouds!" His warning goes unheeded. Romeo later steps into the middle of a fight - a rash breach of protocol that causes Mercutio's death. "Why did you come between us!? A plague on both your "houses"! The feud will continue. Irresponsible, however well-intended, decisions will bring about the tragic end. Or was it fated in the stars, after all? John Barrymore as Mercutio and Basil Rathbone as Tybalt in "Romeo and Juliet" Romeo: I dream'd a dream to-night. Mercutio: And so did I. Romeo: Well, what was yours? Mercutio: That dreamers often lie. Romeo: (Yes) In bed, asleep, while they do dream things true. Mercutio: O! then I see! Queen Mab hath been with you! She is the fairies' midwife! And she comes In shape no bigger than an agate-stone (bauble) on the forefinger of an alderman, drawn by a team of little atomies (teenies) athwart men's noses as they lie asleep. Her wagon-spokes made of long spiders' legs. The (carriage) cover, of the wings of grasshoppers. The (horses') traces of the smallest spider's web, The (horses') collars of the moonshine's watery beams. Her whip? Of cricket's bone. The lash? Of film. Her wagoner, a small grey-coated gnat, not so big as a round little worm prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid. Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut, made by the joiner (carpenter) squirrel or old grub - time out o' mind "the fairies' coachmakers". And in this state she gallops night by night. Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love. O'er courtiers' knees, who dream on curtseys straight. O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on fees. O'er ladies ' lips, who straight on kisses dream. (Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues, because their breaths with sweetmeats (candies) tainted are. (Now Mercutio really revs up into 'dream world') Sometime she gallops o'er a courtier's nose And then dreams he of smelling out a suit! And sometime comes she with a tithe-pig's tail, tickling a parson's nose as he lies asleep, and then dreams he of another benefice (donation). Sometime she driveth o'er a soldier's neck, and then dreams he of cutting foreign throats! Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades! Of "healths" (toasts) five-fathom deep; and then, anon, drums in his ear! at which he starts and wakes and being thus frighted swears a prayer or two and sleeps again. This is that very Mab who plats the manes of horses in the night, and bakes the elflocks (tangles) in foul, sluttish hairs which, once untangled, much "misfortune!" bodes. This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs, who presses them and learns (teaches) them first to bear, making them women of "good carriage". This is she... Romeo: Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace! Thou talk'st of nothing! Mercutio: True! I talk of dreams! Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain Fantasy, which is as thin of substance as the air, and more inconstant (fickle) than the wind. Who woos even now the frozen bosom of the North and, being angered, puffs away from thence, turning his face to the dew-dropping South. "Sometimes she gallops o'er a parson's nose. And then dreams he of another benefice (donation)!" ( Artwork by George Cruikshank) And just for the fun of it, imagine Queen Mab racing her team through the night, tagging her subjects with her magic, as you listen to Berlioz's Queen Mab from "Romeo and Juliet." Hope you enjoyed the Parson's Nose "Noseletter." PNT is developing new, creative ways to reach out. Please stay tuned for the launch of The Parson's Nose Radio Theater of the Air! "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame adapted by Lance Davis performed by Lance Davis and Mary Chalon sound by Dave Bennett See Facebook Page. Do tell friends. And please consider a donation (benefice). parsonsnose.org/donate PNT looks forward to being with you again soon. Call Lance at (626) 403-7667 or email: lance@parsonsnose.com for information about any programs. Stay well!

Copyright © 2020 Parson's Nose Productions, All rights reserved. Parson's Nose Productions 95 N. Marengo Ave., Suite 110 Pasadena, CA 91101

Grand Park: Our LA Voices 2020, April 25-26 (LIVE)

GrandParkLA.org via youtube.com

Los Angeles' Spring Pop Up Arts + Culture Fest
It's live at Grand Park all day April 25-26, 2020. The fest has gone online due to some illness going around. It's free and can be seen from anywhere, like the grandparkla.org website or YouTube, and see the Music Center. Look out for the first Los Angeles Poet Laureate Luis J. Rodriguez (tiachucha.org) among the performers.

Reading Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" (1984)

British Burmese soldier, journalist, and essayist George Orwell via NMTV Audiobook