Al Rocheleau's work is published on THE PROPHET homepage www.the-prophet.net and in the E-magazine. 

"The original raison d’être for these articles was practical.  In my work as an editor / mentor at various workshops sponsored by magazines, professional writer’s sites, and America Online, it occurred to me that new and even working poets lacked specific resources or instructions that could help them BEFORE their work stalled, and AS they were writing. In explaining to a new poet why something wasn’t working for them or their readers, I found myself having to resort to the detour of actual  instruction to fulfill the requested commentary or critique. In short, I wanted these hard-working people, regardless of their intent or style, to succeed, not only for the sake of that poem in front of us, but more important, for themselves as they continued in their craft." -- AL ROCHELAU

 

 

 

THERE WILL NOT BE ANY FURTHERANCE OF HUMANITY'S MORE ENNOBLING QUALITIES, BY WHICH BOTH LION & LAMB CAN BECOME HUMAN LIONS AND LAMBS, UNTIL THE PRESIDENT'S CABINET INCLUDES A SECRETARY OF CULTURE (AS IS THE CASE WITH MOST CIVILIZED NATIONS OF THE MODERN WORLD), AND THAT SECRETARY OF CULTURE AUGMENTS THE NATION'S PUBLIC-SCHOOL CURRICULUM WITH A DAILY, ONE-HOUR CLASS IN HUMANITIES, ITS IMPLEMENTATION TO COMMENCE IN GRADE 1 AND CONTINUE THROUGH GRADE 12. I WOULD NICKNAME A WORKING OUTLINE FOR SUCH A CLASS, "30-20-10":  "30 MINUTES OF MUSIC , 20 MINUTES OF ANCIENT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE (incl. logic and at least a smattering of philosophy), 10 MINUTES OF FINE ARTS."

As Flaubert writes: "... the human word is like a cracked cauldron, upon which we beat out melodies fit for making bears dance, when we are trying to move the stars to pity." [a] – Modern semiotics teaches us the same: circumstances often arise in interpersonal discourse when the words we choose result in meanings altogether different from those we had intended. The discord resulting from two harmony-seekers' "good intentions" while conversing is usually due to their different geographical and social backgrounds.