Lit eZine Vol 3 | p-21 | AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT | Article by Arthur Turfa – Manic Sylph Writes… Poetry & Thoughts by Mona Soorma

We bring to you our featured writer Arthur Turfa
with two of his short poems
and his article
GEMINI: A Contemplation of Duality and My Love for Literature
plus
AN INTERVIEW with Arthur Turfa

ARTICLE

GEMINI: A Contemplation of Duality and My Love for Literature
by Arthur Turfa

Prologue to Gemini

Maybe because I am a Gemini
have I found myself between two somethings:

English and German, opposite ends of
Pennsylvania, ecumenical views,

Atlantic and Pacific coasts, two nations,
Wahlberliner und Wahlunterfranke,

academic departments, pursuing
bi-vocational careers long before

such blending ceased to appear scandalous
to those not attuned to duality.

Nowadays such pairings appearing in 
confusion over headlines and sound bites,

the unavoidable cacophonies
between news and fake news: Babel’s Tower

casting a shadow the horizon round.
Release comes to me in creative realms,

in Castalia or in the morning
where inspiration makes everything new.

Like the albatross whose wings are restrained
but surrounding pressures, I yearn to break

free and soar to that place I can see
sun and moon at the same time, where both sides

of the coin meld perfectly into one
and the counterpoint plays in unison.

Whitman, Song of Myself: Do I contradict myself?
Very well, then, I contradict myself; I am large — I contain multitudes.”

I was born in late May, which makes me a Gemini, but I really do not hold to astrology or the Zodiac. My Christian faith conflicts with all that. However, as a metaphor, it works. I have long been attracted to and interested in things which to some people seem contradictory.

For example, a glance at my music collection shows that I have Wagner and Zappa, Beatles and Folk, Blues and Country. My bookshelves and now Kindle show a similar diversity. When I determine that something is good, it does not matter if it seems to conflict with something else in the collection.

Although I was already this way to some extent before my senior year in high school, that year proved to be life-changing for me. Until then I had plans to eventually become a lawyer. Part of it came from my family, but not with any pressure. My brother and I are second-generation Americans, and the natural assumption was that we build on those who came before us. There was pressure, or at least strongly-voiced expectations, that my brother would become a physician, given his abilities in the sciences and mathematics. Those were certainly not my strengths. I loved history and languages. Law seemed a good fit; I was active politically as much as a teenager could be involved.

My English class was the last one of the day. On the first day of school I saw my teacher, Mr. John Herrmann on lunch duty and told him I looked forward to the class. Mr. Herrmann said, “Art, I’ve spoken to your other English teachers…” A shudder ran over me and before I could defend myself, he continued, “There’s nothing I can teach you. Go to the library, read and write to me about it. When I want you in class, I will let you know.”

(That could never happen today. When I eventually became a high school teacher, there was strict accountability.)

So I sat in the library, actually the Instructional Materials Center, and read voraciously. I devoured novels by Hardy, Huxley, and Grass, discovered poetry by Auden and Rilke, and gradually realized that my interests were shifting. I read more than what I list here and more than I can remember. As I did so, I knew that I wanted to read more, especially in German (Hesse and Mann) and that I wanted to write. I never totally abandoned my love of history or the political scene, and kept reading those things also.

Eventually, I became bi-vocational (like a true Gemini) with pastoral ministry and teaching. For good measure, I also had a military career that usually was at the same time as my civilian ones.

While I never thanked Mr. Herrmann for the opportunity he gave me, I tried to be the teacher who did his best to inspire students to extend their horizons and to become enthusiastic about something the way that I did so long ago.

Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus, Part One, XII

Bless the spirit that makes connections,
for truly we live in what we imagine.

“Only he whose bright lyre
has sounded in shadows
may, looking onward, restore
his infinite praise.

In the connections we make, we experience joy, understanding, and the creative spark.

Read more from Arthur Turfa in LIT eZINE Vol 2

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Living in the Midlands of South Carolina, Arthur Turfa ventures far and wide with his poetry and literary fiction. Published in many print and electronic journals, he has six published poetry books (most recently Saluda Reflections from Finishing Line Press) and a literary fiction novel, The Botleys of Beaumont County on Blurb. He was in the Top Ten for the Pangolin Review contest in 2019. Drawing some of his ideas from professional and personal experiences, he focuses on the concept of place and how it influences lives. He is a poetry reader for the South Carolina Writers Association’s Petigru Review and a fiction reader for the Northern Appalachia Review.