Posted on December 21, 2020 at 10:12 AM by Stephen Prestesater
Milton’s Poet Laureate, Marc Livanos, launched Issue V of the Blackwater Literary Journal at Milton High School and Milton Community Center on December 10th. This year’s issue is dedicated to Milton’s Honor English Teacher Rhonda Waters. The Journal offers the County’s best poets with submissions from Gulf Breeze, Navarre, Jay, Pace, East Milton and Milton, as well as the best of the teens poetry from Milton High School and Milton Community Center’s Poetry Workshop. Livanos, presented a plaque for best student poem on “Bullying and Bias” to our own football phenom Marquis Robinson and a plaque for best book to Milton resident Kery Jones for “God’s Words of Wisdom” that was published by Christian Faith Publishing, Inc. All five issues of the Journal are available on Amazon and local libraries.
Livanos started the Poetry Workshop for teenagers in 2017. They meet every Tuesday from 3:30 to 5:30 PM at the Milton Community Center. During the recent COVID restrictions, he holds the workshop at the Community Center’s skate park.
The best of the poetry was originally published on the City website’s Poet Laureate tab and is now seen on MiltonFL.org/Blog
Posted on November 9, 2020 at 8:12 AM by Stephen Prestesater
Dreamscape
In a boat steeped
with views of cedars,
ladyfish and pelicans,
the din of oar strokes melds
with the beat of my heart.
Marsh scents,
alligator nests,
swamp grass,
and distant views
set a course to happiness.
Wavelets pulsate
like a fifty's song,
breathing life
into every corner
of my small boat.
The anchor swing lazily
to the tune of wind and tide.
Slowly, I lay back
and take it all in.
My spirit lives in this place.
Posted on October 14, 2020 at 12:26 PM by Stephen Prestesater
American Dreamer
Like sunrise
Life has a rhythm.
Every day the same.
Always happy.
Always smiling.
Always been this way.
Sedation sets in,
sub-marginal goals
become acceptable.
Sally hit
and then
that ended that.
Worn Out
Dark days ahead.
Rain no longer a delight.
Roof no longer sound.
Still, waiting on my insurer,
Wondering how can you be so ugly
To Sally's down and out.
It's hard to get up
When gut punched
Don't they know-
you ream what you sow.
Marc Livanos, Milton's Poet Laureate