Faubourg St. John Neighborhood Association

Local Poet publishes collection set around Bayou St. John

Mar 31, 2003

APRIL IS NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!!!!


Pipers?’ Ash LTD
Chippenham Wiltshire England, SN15 4BW
phone:(UK) 11249 720563, international +44 1249 720563
email: www.supamasu.com
NEWS ITEM

You may be interested in the launching of a new book by local New Orleans poet, Brian Federico. His book entitled 'The Sea And Galilee' is a collection of poems which captures the spirit and mood of the sea and the tropical sun and the hot nights in New Orleans. Brian is a highly original American poet with flair and energy. He joins an international team of authors and poets from the UK, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Italy, Botswana and Thailand. His UK-based International Book, Chapbook and Internet Publisher, Pipers' Ash Ltd. was set up to discover new authors, writers and poets with talent and potential from all parts of the globe.
Mr. Federico was born in New Orleans. He grew up along the Mississippi River batture and the jagged shores of Lake Pontchartrain. As a child he had secret clubs behind the levee in the weedy banks and built on the pilings of storm ravaged piers. He spent many an afternoon contemplating the sparkles on the lake and absorbing a setting sun. Because of his proximity to the lake and the river, it was only natural for him to take to those vessels plying them. In his teens he trawled for lake shrimp on Lafitte Skiffs, then sailed on river boats, assisting his grandfather who played Dixieland guitar by lifting his amplifier on and off the scalloped paddlewheelers. Mr. Federico then went on to receive his bachelor's degree in Journalism at a small country Liberal Arts college. To pay for his schooling, he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard where he sailed cutters, encountering his first hurricane winds on the Mississippi River while searching for a lost fisherman. After writing for several newspapers, he tried his hand at fiction. He worked at various low jobs which gave him more time to write, but after too many rainy Novembers and rejection slips, the call of the sea called once again. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and sailed the blue waters of the Pacific and Indian Oceans After serving he came back to New Orleans, this time to write the history of the New Orleans Jazz Festival called ?‘Our Heritage in the Making'. Then without realising it, one day while frying chicken in his kitchen as Hopper Jack, his cat, stretched against his shadow by the screen door, he began to compose small poems without any thought of publication. These poems, unlike anything else he had written, rang true. From then on the poetry of ?‘The Sea and Galilee?’ kept coming.
Further details and review copies may be obtained from the poet himself, who will also be available for interviews, talks and signings Brian Federico, 3054 Fortin, New Orleans, LA 70119 USA Tel:596-2572 Email: btfederi@yahoo.com .
The recommended retail price of 'The Sea and Galilee' by Brian Federico is $12. United States residents may order the book from the publisher or at www.supamasu.com (carriage free).
Pipers Ash LTD can be reached by Post: Chippenham Wiltshire England, SN15 4BW, phone:(UK) 11249 720563, international +44 1249 720563, or email: www.supamasu.com
A. Tyson
Publisher Pipers?’ Ash LTD
Excerpt from The Sea and Galilee
Essex

like sailors
surviving on a
launch
after the shipwreck
in the mid-pacific
I?’m committed
to the deep
although I maybe drifting
into the darkening depths
my thoughts of you continue
like wind in sails,
ya see, I know
I drew lots along time ago
when in the focsle
I confessed my abiding love
for you
and now starving
with all the others
I cannibalize
my heart
so when I kiss
someone else
I might taste
you on
their
tongue