By Annie Newcomer:
The Flapper Press Poetry Café features the work of poets from around the globe. It is an honor to share their work and learn more about their lives, influences, and love of poetry.
This week, we feature the work Charles Templeton.
After a career of coaching and teaching in Texas, Charles Templeton retired to timeless Eureka Springs, Arkansas, with his beautiful wife, Sandra. You can find him in the evenings with his wife and a glass of wine hidden away in some dimly lit bar binging on words or just fartin’ around. No longer singing at the Metropolitan Opera, he is currently the editor/publisher at eMerge, an avant-garde online literary magazine.
Please meet Charles Templeton!
Annie Newcomer: Charles, welcome to the Flapper Press Poetry Café. You are the editor-in-chief of an online publication called eMerge. What does being an editor of an online press mean to you? Please share how you came to the decision to add publishing to your many other talents. Do you have a mission statement for eMerge?
Charles Templeton: The concept for our publication was discussed with the Board of Trustees at the Writer's Colony in 2015 as a way to provide a service to the writers who use the Colony for inspiration and creation. Many of the writers are looking for a platform to share their work. Our mission has not changed much since that time. eMerge online literary magazine seeks to provide a platform for emerging and established authors to publish and promote new literary works. eMerge invites submissions from writers who persist in pushing the boundaries of literature while also acting as a wellspring of inspiration, direction, and encouragement for communities of writers whose voices may be overlooked. Writing is an ever-evolving journey, and eMerge magazine provides a space where both emerging talents and established authors can thrive amidst this constant growth and transformation. The work of all writers and poets who submit is carefully considered and honored at eMerge.
Also, I needed to justify all those late nights reading short stories and poetry instead of sleeping, you know, because curating culture sounds better than insomnia.
AN: I am drawn to titles, and "curating culture" is certainly a fine phrase. If a piece has an interesting title, I am ready to pick it up and give it a chance. I see titles as I see "first impressions." So digging further, I am curious about the title "eMerge." Does this title come with a backstory?
CT: There was discussion at a board meeting about what the online publication should be called during its development that impacted our use of this title. First, imagine nine people haggling over the possible name of the magazine. Luckily, our board president had the insight to select a smaller committee, which I am honored to say included me, to come up with what we felt was the best name for our magazine. Then it finally dawned on us that we would be providing a platform for writers to emerge and for their works to emerge. After a quick check, there was only one other magazine named Emerge, and it had ceased publication in 2000. We chose to spell ours eMerge, as a sort of double entendre for eZine and emerge and, voila, eMerge!
AN: That is, indeed, a great backstory, thank you. Share a little about what lessons you have learned in the role as editor-in-chief and what has surprised you the most about being in this role.
CT: One of the primary lessons for me that I have learned on this literary journey has been how deeply the literary community is interconnected and how much support eMerge receives from fellow writers. Also, being an editor requires gallons of coffee to accommodate being driven by existential dread.
AN: What are your top 3 goals for eMerge?
CT:
Financial stability (so I can retire back to writing!)
Building a more diverse group of emerging writers while expanding our readership
Winning the “Best Magazine to Read While Pretending to Work” Award
AN: How is eMerge structured?
CT:
Management:
eMerge Magazine, INC was designated a 501(c)(3) organization in December 2015. Our board is comprised of Sandra Templeton (Art Director), Cat Templeton-Christmann (Web Dev), Chad Gurley (Graphic Design/Social Media), and me (Publisher/Executive Editor).
Website:
We have been developing the website since 2017. We maintain that we are the most effortless online literary magazine to navigate. You can search the website by author or title. We maintain our archives online, which are also searchable.
Our featured pieces are located in the scroll on our homepage along with a "Letter from the Editor" and a Table of Contents each quarter (winter, spring, summer, and fall). You may also search eMerge by category. Submissions for contests and for one of our online issues can be done directly on our homepage. We also maintain a short bio on each author that submits as well an authors section, where all the bios may be found. We update the bios as the author’s request. The magazine also supports six different Featured Partners with links to their websites. Our website is responsive on mobile devices as well as desktop and tablets. We do not take ads or subscriptions at this time; we believe it is more important to maintain a strictly literary website without the ludicrous popups.
AN: What do you want poets to know before they submit to eMerge?
CT: READ! READ! READ! And when you finish, read some more! In addition, I would ask them to read the mission of eMerge first:
eMerge invites submissions from writers who persist in pushing the boundaries of literature while also acting as a wellspring of inspiration, direction, and encouragement for communities of writers whose voices may be overlooked.
I would also suggest that they read the guidelines before submitting their work and right before they push DONE, read them again.
Don’t be boring! We are looking for pieces that move us, challenge our perspectives, and bring something fresh to the table. Basically, if it makes us cry, laugh, or call our therapists—it’s in!
AN: I so appreciate this advice, for it reminds me of Emily Dickinson's quote, "If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that it is poetry." Charles, my brother John Klier, who died with misdiagnosed cancer, is my motivation for contributing to Flapper Press Poetry Café. John was a beloved professor at University College London and lived by the motto "Don't ever be boring." So what you advise poets and writers who submit to your magazine resonates with me.
I will never abandon a poem unless, after reading several times, the poem feels boring, which by definition means not interesting and/or tedious. I strongly believe that this is also the best advice you can give any writer—don't bore your reader.
You curate an annual poetry contest to honor the memory of your dear friend Woody Barlow. Why do you recommend poets submit to this contest that you offer each spring? What is involved in sponsoring a Memorial Contest?
CT: In my description of the Woody Barlow Poetry Contest (WBPC), I talk about Mark Twain’s short story "Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven." When the Captain arrived in heaven, they were having a parade for God’s favorite poet. The poet was a blacksmith from Tennessee no one had ever heard of who was selfless in helping others and whose poetry made God cry. This was Woody.
A poet should enter the WBPC because it’s an open contest; there are no themes to write to or forms to adhere to. There is a small fee for entering the contest, which provides a "purse" for the five winners of the contest. The more poets who enter, the greater the prize money. There are not first, second, etc., places, just five winners! This gives each poet the right to say they were a winner of the Woody Barlow Poetry Contest. Winners all become eligible to be nominated for Best of the Net and a Pushcart Prize. All of the entries will be eligible for inclusion in an issue of eMerge, based on the needs of the magazine and the whims of our poetry editor (TBD).
AN: I love how you describe your friend Woody Barlow not just as a poet but a poet who lived a life with a poetic soul and who cared for his community. What has surprised you the most in your role as an editor?
CT: Having to explain to my wife why I sit around in mu jammies reading all day. No, really, what has surprised me most is the authenticity of the works submitted to eMerge. Oh, occasionally we receive a poem comprised of emojis that promptly finds its way to File 13, but not that often. Ninety-nine percent of the work has something meaningful to say to our ever-expanding understanding of humanity.
AN: In what ways does publishing affect your own writing?
CT: I am a notorious thief of ideas. Sometimes we will receive a poem or short story that contains a plot twist or a different perspective and I say to myself, “I wish I had written that.” It is difficult to keep the writing of others from being fused into your own. I call this Con-Fusion.
AN: Ah, this reminds me of the T. S. Eliot quote, "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." I know this isn't meant to be literal. I "think" it is a continuation of your advice to "read, read, and then read" some more because we learn and are inspired by one another. Indeed, writers and poets do not exist in a vacuum. Which brings me to this question: What is the benefit in having poets as friends?
CT: Friends help me better understand my emotions and experiences and seem to articulate my feelings much better than I can.
Conversations with poets are never dull. They express themselves in imaginative and thought-provoking ways. They can be the impetus for deeper discussions and metacognitive analysis.
Their ability to find beauty, meaning, or humor in everyday moments is inspiring and helps me to view life from different angles.
AN: How is eMerge different from other online publications?
CT: I would say, from my own observations, that eMerge has the easiest online website to navigate. It is appealing, with clear typography and strong visuals matched to the writing. eMerge also contains works by new and emerging writers as well as established writers. We have a diverse and engaging selection of content from different communities that offer different perspectives on the world. We are currently developing our social media and will eventually have a comment/feedback section for our authors.
AN: What is your superpower as an editor?
CT: My superpower is also my kryptonite, so I will not reveal it at this time.
AN: Now you have me curious, but I can wait for another time for the big reveal. You are the author of Boot: A Sorta Novel of Vietnam. Although a novel, in what ways did poetry influence this book?
CT: When I could not come up with a succinct way to explain an emotion or I wanted to provide the reader with a greater understanding of the surreal nature of combat I would use poetry as a substitute. My first encounter with poetry being used in this manner was when I read Homer’s The Illiad. Early on while writing Boot, I began each chapter with lyrics from music representative of the era to foreshadow what was about to take place in the forthcoming chapter. When I found out how expensive this endeavor was going to be, I dropped that idea. I had a couple of poems I had written, already placed in the book. Then I came across The Smell of the Light by Bill McCloud and fell in love with his poems about his time in Vietnam. He offered to assist, and after about a month’s worth of correspondence, we had a beautifully enhanced story.
One of my beta readers thought I should remove the poetry, that it interfered with the flow of the story. When I related this story to my writing group, their responses were, as near as I can remember, “Would you take the poetry out of Alice in Wonderland (here they all started reciting, " 'The time has come,' the Walrus said, / To talk of many things: / Of shoes—and ships—and sealing wax— / Of cabbages—and kings!") or Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter?" My personal favorite by Douglas Adams, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, contained some awful poetry. If you are talking about the third-worst poetry in the universe, then providing a sample is the perfect way to let the reader know. Bill McCloud contributed seven poems to Boot. In chapter thirty-three, page 273 of Boot, Bill McCloud adroitly applies his poetry to the paradox of Schrödinger's Cat (SC). SC was basically a thought experiment. If you had a box and you told someone there was a cat in the box, then asked is the cat alive or dead? Well, of course, you have a 50/50 chance of answering correctly, but the truth is that the cat is neither alive nor dead until you open the box. This paradox is juxtaposed against the naming of things. Why do parents spend so much time on naming a child? It bestows dignity upon the child. It says you are an individual among the herd, and it will give meaning to the child’s existence later. It also gives meaning to the namer’s existence and becomes a mode of sacramental communion with the world. I loved the irony of this poem because my protagonist is named George Orwell Hill. But even more than the observation that they are both Hills, only different, is the fact that George Orwell was known for all the new words and concepts he named in his novel, 1984.
That hill has a name to
separate it from all the
other hills that have their
own names or no name
It’s just a hill What we
gave it is just a name
But it’s hard to separate
the deaths on that hill
from all the other deaths
on all the other hills
And all the names of all
the dead on all the hills
Boot: A Sorta Novel of Vietnam is available on Amazon!
AN: Charles, since you were in a class that Barbara Siegel Carson and I moderated at The Writer's Colony at Dairy Hollow in Arkansas, I know that you have some poetry to share. Might you include some of your poetry, their backstories, and a poetic passage from your novel for our readers?
CT: Well, since you insist! Here is my latest, that came about as a response to the absurd notion that immigrants are eating our pets.
Shootout at the Clark County SPCA
Ms Ruth was half-watching Judge Judy
When he burst
The door
Tattoo on his deltoid
of Jesus on a Harley
With a crown of thorns
And carrying
The bespoke signature cross
He was waving
A silver plated
Forty-five caliber pistol
Like a magic wand
Hollering
“Where’s them Haitians?”
Zeke a small black man
A man so calm, he could out-mellow
Bob Marley
Steps in with his mop and bucket
After a chihuahua party
Mr. Harley
Swings the forty-five
In Zeke’s general direction
“You Haitian, boy?”
“No, mon, I’m from Jamaica.”
Harley man squints,
“Do eat the animals?”
Zeke grins,
“Nah, mon, I’m vegetarian.”
“Well, I think you’re lying,”
And commenced firing
He hit Zeke’s
Bucket twice
Door to the shelter three times
Zeke? Had disappeared
Ninja style
Ms Ruth
Who hasn’t fired a weapon
Since the Crimean War
Pulls out her Glock
Closes her eyes
And begins firing
She hits
The floor
The ceiling, takes one for the team
And the kennel door?
Seen better days
Mr Harley bolts
To the parking lot
Ms Ruth hot on his heels
Sirens wailing steadily louder
The first police cruiser
Skids in
Goes full Tokyo Drift
Knocking over an old Harley
Oops.
The cop jumps out
Levels his weapon at the perpetrator
Mr Harley raises both hands
Ms Ruth opens both eyes
“Joe Bob, is that you?”
The officer asks
“Sure is”
“Are you working undercover now?”
“No, I was just looking for them pet eatin’ Haitians.
Could you give me a ride to the station? I’m on duty in an hour.”
One of my earlier poems was a tribute to Langston Hughes based on a form developed by Gwendolyn Brooks, the Golden Shovel. A Golden Shovel borrows a line from the existing poem and uses words from each line as the last word of each line in a new poem. After you read the poem, go back and read the last word in each line. Then, ask yourself how this juxtaposition creates two separate views on one of humanity's dilemmas.
A Golden Shovel for Mr. Hughes
Inspired by "Harlem" by Langston Hughes
Here I hang from this high tree, say, What,
While the Big G just sits up there, who happens
To be punching holes in Cheerios to
The tune of a
Melodic Everly Brothers song, All I have to do is Dream
Hey Mom! Has my sentence been deferred?
No? Well, Say ‘Hi’ to Pete and all the guys, Does
This mean they have forsaken me, or does it
Mean the forgiveness well has run dry
I didn’t really expect to be up
In this Dogwood like
All forlorn and shriveled and hanging like a
Grape going to raisin
Hey, where’s that guy going with that spear in
His hand? He’s going to poke me? Does the
Roman know why there is no splendor in the sun?
Excuse me, Centurion or
Is it miles? Don’t let your hatred fester
Where did you get those sandals? They are like
The Kingdom of Heaven a
Manly pair of footwear, do your feet get sore --
Really? And
What did you pay then
Before you found out you couldn’t run?
Ugh-h-h-h … Does
That ever smart it
Is supposed to help me die faster? Mom, don’t make a stink
Will my kingdom be like
This weather that has turned rotten
Or like pork the new white meat?
No mom, it’s just a story... Or
Should I say a parable What? you got more crust
Than a Pharisee and
A Roman asking me to sugar
Coat the story for this over
Zealous group enthralled by the idea of death like
Watching a man take a
Last breath while his mom asks in a syrupy
Voice ain’t he sweet?
What? Why would I tell an absurd story Maybe
I don’t know? Maybe I wonder why it
Is so important why it just
Takes my mind from a body that sags
As gravity pulls me toward death like
Diminishing space eliminates time a
Burden I must bear that weighs heavy
On my mind the sins of man are a load
That must be shared Or
We will all be crushed you ask does
It have to be this way does it
Why can’t the Kingdom of Heaven just explode?
I was doodling one afternoon after the death of my stepfather and thought about a moment we shared together during the old TV sitcom Gunsmoke.
The Old Man
The Old Man looked up at me
He waved for me to come closer
Translucent fingers like discarded shrimp
No longer the cocky seventeen-year-old
Parachuting into the Philippines
Or the quiet man that talked my mother into saying
I do
I leaned down
Ear close to cracked lips
As he tried to draw a breath from somewhere in his lungs
That had been ravaged by fifty years of chain-smoking
Luckies
LS/MFT
Lucky Strikes Mean Fine Tobacco
Loose Straps Mean Floppy Ta-tas
Let’s Screw My Finger’s Tired
The Old Man’s words gurgled in his throat
Then surfaced in a soft whisper
“Matt shot first.”
Huge smile
at my awkwardness
Still throwing curves
No softballs
I look deep into those dying eyes and see a reflection
Dad and son
Sitting together watching the tube
Waiting for Marshall Dillon
The scene opens
The thunder of kettle drums
Matt stalks out on the street
Dad and son stand and face each other
In their best gunfighter poses
When the music crescendos
Four plow-handle hands
Faster than light
Draw and throw lead
Father and son
Always won
Matt and the man in black
Never had a chance
I smile back
Lean in close and whisper…
And lastly, from Boot, the first page contains a free-verse quintain.
Poetry is used here and throughout Boot as a literary device to remind the reader that this is a work of fiction, and it symbolizes both the necessity and difficulty of understanding and articulating human emotion. G.O.’s lustfulness is hollow and insincere, even though he yearns for moments of tenderness, vulnerability, and connection.
Ah, Prudence,
Princess Loving Fox,
Mother of the Horned Dream,
Scintillating lady with the 1956
Cadillac tits.
AN: Thank you so much for visiting with us today in the Flapper Press Poetry Café.
CT: It has been my pleasure, Annie. And when you are once again in Eureka Springs … lunch is on my wife, Sandra!
AN: Charles, Your ability to come across as both a writer with a great sense of humor and yet serious and providing such wonderful insight and quotes for the readers and myself are intriguing qualities. I can tell that you will definitely never be boring. And I do believe that it is my husband's and my turn to treat you and Sandra to lunch at the Local Flavor restaurant in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Until then, all my best to you and yours.
Annie Klier Newcomer founded a not-for-profit, Kansas City Spirit, that served children in metropolitan Kansas for a decade. Annie volunteers in chess and poetry after-school programs in Kansas City, Missouri. She and her husband, David, and the staff of the Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens are working to develop The Emily Dickinson Garden in hopes of bringing art and poetry educational programs to their community. Annie helms the Flapper Press Poetry Café—dedicated to celebrating poets from around the world and to encouraging everyone to both read and write poetry!
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