Gary Lehmann

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=95 BGCOLOR="#CC99CC" TEXT="#080000" background="006265f1ezuady.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>FootHills 2011</B></FONT><B>  </B><B> </B><B>|   </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FootHills 2011"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FootHills 2011"><U>FootHills 2011</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id13.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Books 2011"><U>Books 2011</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id14.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FHP Poets Alphabetically"><U>FHP Poets Alphabetically</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wheeler Hill 2011 Readings"><U>Wheeler Hill 2011 Readings</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id12.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Martin Burke"><U>Martin Burke</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ann E. Michael"><U>Ann E. Michael</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Paul Hapenny"><U>Paul Hapenny</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Laury A. Egan"><U>Laury A. Egan</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Justin Evans"><U>Justin Evans</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jon Mathewson"><U>Jon Mathewson</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mischelle Anthony"><U>Mischelle Anthony</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Monty Campbell Jr."><U>Monty Campbell Jr.</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dale Hobson"><U>Dale Hobson</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bill Lavender"><U>Bill Lavender</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Nancy Couto"><U>Nancy Couto</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dwain Wilder"><U>Dwain Wilder</U></A>   |   <B>Gary Lehmann</B>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Karey Solomon"><U>Karey Solomon</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Carmine Dandrea"><U>Carmine Dandrea</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Vincent Golphin"><U>Vincent Golphin</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michael Arve"><U>Michael Arve</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Wanda Schubmehl"><U>Wanda Schubmehl</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Iris Miller"><U>Iris Miller</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Martha Treichler"><U>Martha Treichler</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tom Jones"><U>Tom Jones</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mary Jackson"><U>Mary Jackson</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Kerwick"><U>Kerwick</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id10.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Anthologies"><U>Anthologies</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ordering By Mail"><U>Ordering By Mail</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact"><U>Contact</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=385 BGCOLOR="#DDDDDD" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Gary Lehmann</I></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Gary Lehmann</div> <div> <B>American Portraits</B></div> <div> Gary's previous FootHills books:</div> <div> <A HREF="#public_lives_" TITLE="Gary Lehmann"><U>Private Lives & Private Secret</U></A>s<FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Lucida Handwriting" > <A NAME="american_sponsored_torture_1_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="#american_sponsored_torture" TITLE="Gary Lehmann"><U><B>American Sponsored Torture</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0ce2ce90.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="489" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>From the book:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Upon Opening the New School</B></div> <div> <B>After Cinders from the Train Crossing </B></div> <div> <B>Burned Down the Old One</B></div> <bR> <div> “What do I remember of my early education?  Well, not much.</div> <div> I do remember when the new one-room school opened in 1912, </div> <div> and we all sang <I>Marching through Georgia</I> to celebrate.</div> <bR> <div> It may be have been Mrs. Hartfeld's idea to sing that song,</div> <div> but it was Sparky and Slim who got the idea of marching and </div> <div> pounding on the desks so the whole place would rock and sway.</div> <bR> <div> The girls yelled <I>Stop! Stop! You'll bring down the whole school,</I></div> <div> which just made it all the more fun.  The pictures swayed,</div> <div> the floorboards joined in the chorus. The potbelly laughed out loud.</div> <bR> <div> The teacher didn't seem to mind, and I guess we did no damage </div> <div> as the school remained standing for two whole years more</div> <div> before cinders from the train burned it down -- again.”</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Slabsides:</B></div> <div> The Country Home of John Burroughs</div> <bR> <div> Today, Slabsides is way out in the woods,</div> <div> hidden off a half dozen woodland lanes.</div> <div> John Burrough's country home above the Hudson River</div> <div> wasn't any less far out in the woods a hundred years ago</div> <div> when he invited President Theodore Roosevelt to dinner.</div> <bR> <div> While these two huddled over a rustic table to talk about</div> <div> the rising fear that first stand timber was being stripped out of the</div> <div> Adirondacks and what it would take to establish </div> <div> a National Parks Service</div> <div> to protect America's vanishing wilderness, </div> <div> the distance between civilization</div> <div> and that remote cabin in the woods shrank with each word.</div> <bR> <div> What's really at the center of the world depends</div> <div> on what's most dear to the heart.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Gary Lehmann's essays, poetry and short stories are widely published. Books include The Span I Will Cross [Process Press, 2004] and Public Lives and Private Secrets [FootHills Publishing, 2005] and  American Sponsored Torture [FootHills Publishing, 2007].  Visit his website at www.garylehmann.blogspot.com</div> <bR> <div> <B>American Portraits</B><I><B> </B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Garamond" >is a 76 page hand-stitched paper book with spine - $16.00. </FONT></div> <bR> <div> TO ORDER  <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Garamond" ><B>American Portraits</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ordering By Mail"><U>To order through mail click here.</U></A>     </div> <bR> <div> ON-LINE          <A HREF="id11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ordering By Mail"><U> </U></A>                              </div> <bR> <div> From the US      <B> <form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/sc-but-01.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!"> <input type="hidden" name="add" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart"> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="fhp@foothillspublishing.com"> <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="American Portraits"> <input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="11-13"> <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="16.00"> <input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD"> </form>  </B></div> <bR> <div> From Canada      <B> <form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/sc-but-01.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!"> <input type="hidden" name="add" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart"> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="fhp@foothillspublishing.com"> <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="American Portraits"> <input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="11-13"> <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="16.00"> <input type="hidden" name="shipping" value="2.75"> <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD"> </form>  </B></div> <bR> <div> From Other Countries           <B> <form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/sc-but-01.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!"> <input type="hidden" name="add" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart"> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="fhp@foothillspublishing.com"> <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="American Portraits"> <input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="11-13"> <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="16.00"> <input type="hidden" name="shipping" value="5.00"> <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD"> </form>  </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>******************************************</B></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> <A NAME="american_sponsored_torture"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B><B>American Sponsored Torture</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>We Don't Know </B></div> <div> <B>What We Don't Know</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>A Long Poem in Twelve Parts</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0c82cd20.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="466" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> <div> Gary Lehmann</div> <bR> <div>      In 2006, the United States Congress passed legislation enabling agents of the United States to use what human right organizations describe as torture to obtain information from anyone they deem as harboring information they believe might be helpful to them in the War on Terrorism.   In the past, we have always opposed state sponsored terrorism -- when other countries did it.  Now we have passed legislation to enable torture on our own behalf, and we don't even know where or when it is being conducted.   The government attempted to cover its tracks by redefining the word torture to exclude the practices named in the legislation, but no one has been fooled, least of all those who will suffer physical abuse as a result.</div> <bR> <div>      We blithely accept that there <I>is</I> a War on Terrorism even though no state of war has been declared in contravention of the War Powers Act. How do we ask other nations to treat their people humanely when we use torture ourselves?  The argument for this radical change of policy is that it will protect our rights, but the means used to protect our rights violate what are commonly defined by our Constitution and by International Human Rights Organizations as the basic rights of all people.   This state of perplexing contradiction is distressing enough when it occurs in the traffic laws or in tax regulations.   It is a call to action when it involves the violation of basic human rights.</div> <bR> <div>       <I><B>American Sponsored Torture</B></I> is a twelve part poem exploring these issues.   </div> <bR> <div>      <I><B>Gary Lehmann</B></I>     Twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Gary Lehmann's poetry and prose is published in literary and popular journals all over the world.  He is the director of the Athenaeum Poetry Group at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Rochester, NY and a member of a small but productive group of poets who call themselves <I>Five in the Afternoon</I>.  Their most recent poetry book is<I> The Span I Will Cross </I>[2003].  <I>Public Lives and Private Secrets</I> [Foothills Publishing, 2005] is a book of poems which profile secret moments in the lives of famous people. For updates on recent publications, visit <A HREF="http://www.garylehmann.blogspot.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.garylehmann.blogspot.com"><U><U>www.garylehmann.blogspot.com</U></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> From the Book:</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>I</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B>A big gray bird</B></div> <bR> <div> A big gray bird is flying overhead in my sky.</div> <div> It looks very much like a military troop transport,</div> <div> but it has no insignia, no windows, and no tail numbers.</div> <bR> <div> It is seen near U.S. Air Force bases and flies to foreign places.</div> <div> It contains detainees who have no name.</div> <div> They are not arrested or charged.</div> <bR> <div> They are stateless persons without the protection of the law.</div> <div> They are flying to places that can torture them</div> <div> without my knowledge or consent.</div> <bR> <div> They are stateless birds which are evidently invisible.  </div> <div> You'll see them all over the country, near Air Force Bases.</div> <div> Henceforth, you are instructed not to see them.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>American Sponsored Torture</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Comic Sans MS" > is a hand-sewn chapbook - $7.00</FONT></div> <bR> <div> TO ORDER  <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Perpetua" ><B>American Sponsored Torture</B></FONT><B>  </B>ON-LINE </div> <div> <B> <form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/sc-but-01.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!"> <input type="hidden" name="add" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart"> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="fhp@foothillspublishing.com"> <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="American Sponsored Torture"> <input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="06-07"> <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="7.00"> <input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD"> </form>      </B> <form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart"> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="fhp@foothillspublishing.com"> <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/images/view_cart.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!"> <input type="hidden" name="display" value="1"> </form>  </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ordering By Mail"><U>To order through mail click here.</U></A></div> <div> ***********************</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Lucida Handwriting" ><B>(2005)</B></FONT><B> <A NAME="public_lives_"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Public Lives </B></div> <div> <B>& </B></div> <div> <B>Private Secrets</B></div> <bR> <div> <I><B><IMG SRC="0cb04a50.jpg" border=0 width="260" height="421" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I>We all admire great people, but we often don't understand what it is about them that we admire.   Their private lives are hidden in dusty autobiographies which only occasionally reveal an instant which illuminates their greatness in a moment that lasts no longer than the flash of a paparazzo's camera.  </I></div> <div> <I>     </I></div> <div> <I>     This book of poems gathers up a parcel of those moments, first in great people's lives and then in the lives of ordinary people, to reveal something of what makes them of interest to us.     </I></div> <bR> <div> <I>     Each of us has experienced secret moments which have exposed, if only for a heartbeat, our true character.   Sometimes we have hurried away from these naked moments, but at other times, we have had the courage to look at them fearlessly, trying to see what magic alchemy they might hold which can turn them into personal gold.   </I></div> <bR> <div> <I>     Public Lives & Private Secrets is an invitation to explore the meaning of the secret moments in your life.</I></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><B>From the book:</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I>Cubist Nightmare</I></div> <div> <I>Paris 1914</I></div> <bR> <div> Picasso returned from Spain</div> <div>      his arms loaded with cubist canvases,</div> <div>             the best he ever painted.</div> <bR> <div> He filled his apartment on rue Schoelcher,</div> <div>      relishing walls that shouted out a new vocabulary</div> <div>                    that explained the way people really live.</div> <bR> <div> But his old apartment house seemed empty and dreary.</div> <div>      His buddies Georges Braque and Andre Derain</div> <div>                    deserted him to join the madmen in the trenches.</div> <bR> <div> As if this weren't enough, his only remaining friend,</div> <div>      Guillaume Apollinaire, joined up too.</div> <div>           The season of emptiness descended.</div> <bR> <div> Picasso moved to Montrouge</div> <div>      where there was at least some life</div> <div>           in the cabarets and coffee houses.</div> <bR> <div> He skulked about like an old man</div> <div>      sipping cognac and coffee into the late night</div> <div>           and brooding on the masques of war. </div> <bR> <div> He returned to Montrouge to discover that a thief had </div> <div>      stolen a bolt of linen cloth he had not yet stretched.</div> <div>                   The insult hit him like a machine gun bullet.</div> <bR> <div> The world it seemed stood so upside down</div> <div>      that it could not differentiate a cubist painting</div> <div>           that explained the whole impending disaster </div> <bR> <div>           from a blank bolt of linen cloth. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I>Lord Byron Takes a Swim</I></div> <bR> <div> Shelley's drowning was terrible enough, but </div> <div> his cremation on the beach was unbearable.  </div> <div> Soldiers split his skull with a spade </div> <div> digging the body out of the sand.   </div> <bR> <div> His skin was chalky gray from the quicklime.</div> <div> The water-soaked corpse took hours to burn.  </div> <div> The fire was very hot and slow.</div> <div> Children gathered from the town to watch.</div> <bR> <div> Byron was on edge because he knew that </div> <div> Shelley had dared the storm only to taunt him.   </div> <div> He refused to be guided by good sense.</div> <div> Had he drowned himself just for spite? </div> <bR> <div> Then Shelley's skull split open and </div> <div> the brains ran out into the upturned </div> <div> skull plate dancing and boiling in the fire.</div> <div> Byron could endure no more.</div> <div>  </div> <div> He stripped his clothes and swam into the sea.</div> <div> If only he had refused stupid competitions.</div> <div> Shelley's small boat was too fragile for storms.</div> <div> Lord Byron swam for miles, all alone. </div> <bR> <div> As the cold began to inhabit his chest, </div> <div> he wondered if he had the courage to drown.  </div> <div> Did he deserve to live now that Shelley </div> <div> had found such a heroic end to life?</div> <bR> <div> Byron turned back toward shore.  </div> <div> More wood was being added to the fire.  </div> <div> Everyone was bored with burning dead poets. </div> <div> Lord Byron emerged from a heartless sea.   </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I>Anais made love...</I></div> <bR> <div> Anais made love all wrapped in irony.</div> <div> She stroked her lover like a pet boa, </div> <div> the snake within and the tigress without.</div> <bR> <div> Anais made love in willful uncertainty,</div> <div> always aware of the tentative touch, the quotable caress, </div> <div> the trespass between raw nerves and the gift of words.</div> <bR> <div> Anais made love like a cellist,</div> <div> never knowing for sure whether she was the musician </div> <div> or the sonorous body that made the sound.</div> <bR> <div> ISBN 0-941053-59-8</div> <bR> <div> Public Lives & Private Secrets is an 80 page hand-sewn paperback with flat spine - $15.00</div> <bR> <bR> <div> TO ORDER  Public Lives & Private Secrets<B>  </B>ON-LINE </div> <div> <B> <form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/sc-but-01.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!"> <input type="hidden" name="add" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart"> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="fhp@foothillspublishing.com"> <input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="Public Lives & Private Secrtets"> <input type="hidden" name="item_number" value="05-03"> <input type="hidden" name="amount" value="15.00"> <input type="hidden" name="no_note" value="1"> <input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD"> </form>      </B> <form target="paypal" action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"> <input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_cart"> <input type="hidden" name="business" value="fhp@foothillspublishing.com"> <input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/images/view_cart.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!"> <input type="hidden" name="display" value="1"> </form>  </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ordering By Mail"><U>To order through mail click here.</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>