Month: June 2023

Charles Simic – Summer Morning

/ Bill Schulz / Leave a comment

Charles Simic Memorial Prize

Hole In The Head Review has established the Charles Simic Poetry Prize to honor our late friend and mentor. First prize will receive $1,000 and publication in our November 1 issue. Winner will be announced at our October 26 poetry reading, on social media, and in our November 1 issue.

Poet David Rivard, who taught with Charlie in The University of New Hampshire MFA program, will judge.

Submissions accepted April 21 through July 31 through our submission portal: Hole In The Head Review Submission Manager submittable.com

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Discovery by Wislawa Szymborska

/ Bill Schulz / Leave a comment

(I went to a 12 step meeting in a prison the other night. I found the collected poems of Wislawa Szymborska in a drawer of the desk where the meeting documents are kept and turned to this poem.)

I believe in the great discovery.
I believe in the man who will make the discovery.
I believe in the fear of the man who will make the discovery.

believe in his face going white,
His queasiness, his upper lip drenched in cold sweat.

I believe in the burning of his notes,
burning them into ashes,
burning them to the last scrap.

I believe in the scattering of numbers,
scattering them without regret.

I believe in the man’s haste,
in the precision of his movements,
in his free will.

I believe in the shattering of tablets,
the pouring out of liquids,
the extinguishing of rays.

I am convinced this will end well,
that it will not be too late,
that it will take place without witnesses.

I’m sure no one will find out what happened,
not the wife, not the wall,
not even the bird that might squeal in its song.

I believe in the refusal to take part.
I believe in the ruined career.
I believe in the wasted years of work.
I believe in the secret taken to the grave.

These words soar for me beyond all rules
without seeking support from actual examples.
My faith is strong, blind, and without foundation.

Bob Herz (1948 – 2023)

/ Bill Schulz / Leave a comment

(From syracuse.com)

Sharon Dellinger

Robert E. Herz, 74, of LaFayette, died May 28.

He was born in Syracuse and was a 1966 graduate of Christian Brothers Academy.

In 1971, he graduated from Hobart & William Smith Colleges with a bachelor’s degree in English. He received his master’s in fine arts – poetry from University of Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop.

Herz embarked on a career as editor of the Central New York Business Journal. He later worked for a short time as editor-in-chief of the Syracuse New Times.

He went to work as a legislative aide to state Sen. Tarky Lombardi Jr., where he spent 17 years developing legislation, policy and programs. While working for the senator, he met Sally Berry, who was the executive director of Vera House at the time. Their meeting eventually led to them lobbying for the passing of the state Domestic Violence Act in 1987.

Herz and Berry married in 1996.

When Lombardi left the Senate, Herz went to work as a legislative aide for state Sen. Roy Goodman. He stayed in Albany for another 10 years.

When Herz left state government in 2002, he stayed busy as a business owner, consultant and published poet. He and his colleagues Steve Kuusisto and Andrea Scarpino published the Nine Mile Books and Literary Magazine.

From 2010 to 2012 he ran South Side Innovation Center, a business incubator that won the National Business Incubator Association Incubator of the Year Award in 2012.

From 2013 until 2017, he served as director of the NYS State Senate Select Committee on Science, Technology, Incubation & Entrepreneurship. He developed incubator, life sciences and digital game legislation and policy in New York and played key roles in developing elder and arts and cultural affairs laws in the state, according to his obituary.

He began operating his own business incubator, Insourcing, in 2012 and served as president until his death.

You can read Bob’s contributions to Hole In The Head Review here: https://www.holeintheheadreview.com/txtv1i4-1/bob-herz

and here: https://www.holeintheheadreview.com/post/robert-herz