The second release for National Poetry Month is a bit different for Dumpster Fire Press. FOR SVETLANNA is a collection of poetry compiled by Rita Marie Recine who was not intended to be the sole author and there’s a story there, just like there’s always a story.

You DFP has always sort of prided itself as a home for counter-culture and being kind of edgy in an attempt to be a voice for the voiceless or at least get some seldom heard voices out there.

So, when Rita Marie Recine contacted me via email, I wasn’t certain this was right place for the manuscript but there was story that I’m not fully qualified to tell and she tells it way better than me and you’ll get that after you endure my absurd point of view.

Rita had a friend by the name of Svetlana. Both contending with MS. Both forming a bond in a hospital room and embarking on what would have been a shared volume of poetry. Unfortunately Svetlana passed away before it could be completed and Rita endured to see this completed and came across me.

Now I admit, I was hesitant at first…I mean who hasn’t read a DFP title with something a bit unsettling or low life but after a few exchanges and reflecting on certain aspects of my life. We embarked on this together.

I’ll be honest, I took care of my mother for several years before she died of Stage 4 Renal Failure, administering her dialysis, cooking her meals, helping her bathe while my dad would go off to work nights. We took different shifts to care for her. This situation brought back those memories which weren’t always great nor did help that Rita and Svetlana happened to be about the same age as my mother would’ve been had she lived a little longer.

That’s why has someone running around with the title “publisher” there has to be an avoidance of tunnel vision and that’s why has a human being, I’m not taking any money for the book.

All the proceeds will be donated to the MS Society.

As much as I don’t make money from publishing losing a few dollars that wouldn’t make much of a difference even in terms of paying people for royalties becomes blood money and Dumpster Fire Press is not going to profit from anything of that sort.

This isn’t about being a good person, it about doing what’s right because deep down I’m not a good person but I’ll do what’s right for maybe just maybe people do something questionable later on to make up for it.

So enough of that, Rita and Svetlana need to have their say…

SONG

I let the song take a hold

Words are everywhere

Some we recollect others we cherish

Intoxicated by their intense meaning

But some we try to forget.

Words are the power of language

Put together they create a statement

Words are spoken revealing our true feelings

Shared with others using different mediums.

Words are also expressed by birds and animals

We might not understand them

They speak volumes

There is meaning with every sound heard.

A book has many pages filled with words

Soothing and yet at times hurtful

But for the most part they create joyful images in our mind

There is no end to the vocabulary to be learned.

-Rita Marie Recine

-Svetlana Konstantinov

Svetlana and I were both teenagers when we began our hands at script.

Unknowingly our paths would meet in the most awkward of places, a hospital room.

We bonded with our every words and step.

Revealing a mutual understanding of hope, fate and love I can say.

We laughed together, joked, and shed tears together.

I recall the first time we saw one another we knew we would be friends.

That friendship grew into a sisterhood. Not biological, but of the heart.

I was impressed how our lives had been so similar.

It seemed we were the same person in a different shell forming an endless bond, one day as we were both receiving our daily dose of medications, we decided to write a poetry book.

Our dream became a goal.

Sitting at her kitchen table drinking coffee or tea, we wrote, listened, read; always aiming for the highest mountain.

Life was an uphill battle during that time period

From stillness came the brilliance as the sun’s rays of the southern sun.

Candidly, we wrote what we spoke.

Our mission was to write a book together through our frailties and strengths

Sadly, on October 12, 2018 at the age of 49 my beloved sister of the heart passed away into the celestial skies where there is no pain.

Through illness, hospitalizations, and trepidations we became sisters. Providing mutual encouragement and positive reinforcement in gratefulness and recognition

Our endless phone calls I recall with fondness and sadness all at the same time. Today I still ponder

At the present time I am here to finish our feat.

As an homage to my friend and sister of the heart

In her honor, I write For Svetlana.

In a few words I would end my dedication by expressing a welcoming acknowledgment to Svetlana for being a part of my life.

Our friendship will never falter

Two kindred spirits who let their voices heard through verse and prose Love you, your sister of the heart, Rita Marie Recine

To you our readers we would like to offer our much appreciation and credit may you find beauty and emotion in every page turned.

We are pleased to share our genre of literature with the universe, our terra mater until the skies

I am certain wherever Svetlana is, she is smiling.

–Rita Marie Recine

Two women. Two complete strangers who embarked on a single journey together under the direst of circumstances bring you a unified vision of beauty celebrating the joy of living and love. Rita Marie Recine and her friend Svetlana Kostantinov vowed to write a book poetry together to chronicle their journey through life and adversity. Sadly, Svetlana departed before it could be completed but Rita Marie continued and along with Dumpster Fire Press we are proud to present this heart touching collection of poetry.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Rita Marie Recine is first generation Canadian.  Of Italian origin growing up in Montreal Canada with a large family of

Today she resides with her family in Laval Quebec

She attended Dawson College in 1981 graduated from Concordia University with a Spanish major and Tourism   Degree in 1986

Her proses may be seen in anthologies, online magazines across the globe

From Canada, U.S.A., Europe and India

She began writing in her Italian community newspaper il Cittadino in the early 90’s

Writing   a poem for her Italian parents Yolanda Bracaglia Recine and the late Sante Recine, titled per papa (For Daddy and Mamma (Mother)

In 2017 She published Open book, Where the road to serendipity ends with Southern Owl Publications.   She writes in English, Italian, Spanish and French

Rita has been writing poetry since adolescence.

  She lives in Laval Quebec with her family.

Our poems are a reflection of our values, thoughts, emotions   and beliefs inspired by our ancestors and other trailblazers who have paved the road for us indie poets and more. We have used imagery and impressionism

 Our storytelling reveals two women with different backgrounds view the world and its surroundings in the same fashion

Svetlana Konstantinov, second generation Canadian. Her family originated from Russia

She worked at Concordia University as an undergraduate team assistance.

Her strength and resilience had been a great force to all who knew her.

Svetlana has published several of her poems in anthologies by The National Library of Poetry and The International Library of Poetry. She has received several Editor’s Choice Awards from 1996-2003.  As well, thirteen of her poems were put on tape and CD.  She was also elected into The International Poetry Hall of Fame in 1996.

Svetlana has been writing poetry for 25 years. Growing up in Montreal Quebec

Where her family still resides today.