Poetry is a way of life and a shortcut to the sublime... An avid reader of poetry since my Polish childhood,
I started writing in English. The flexibility, richness and focus of this language
never cease to amaze me!
Since 1995, I have kept a personal poetic journal and gave all
sorts of poems to my friends. I like illustrating them with my photographs, taken mostly in my garden and
neighborhood of
Southern California (see my poetry page). In 2006, I decided to share my work and at public readings and in publications.
Many of my poems have been inspired by art and presented at art exhibitions in Southern
California, including the Pacific Asia Museum and private galleries. In addition to these "captions to paintings," I write
portraits of people I meet, stories from my life, memories from my childhood and imaginary romances.
I've belonged to several poetry groups; Poets on Site in Pasadena,
and Village Poets of Sunland-Tujunga, among others. See the lists of
poems published in various journals,
my poetry books, and
various readings,
with event photos.
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Why do I write? Because I do not have to! Poetry is freedom. My favorite poets include Rainer Maria Rilke, Artur Rimbaud,
Czeslaw Milosz, e.e. cummings, T.S. Eliot, and Emily Dickinson. In 2010-2012 I served as the Sixth
Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga.
See the photo album and read about my Poet-Laureate activities.
I publish three blogs on poetry and music:
Over 130 of my poems appeared in such venues as The Clockwise Cat, Magnapoets, Quill and Parchment,
Ekphrasis Journal, Epiphany Magazine, Lily Literary Review,
Loch Raven Review, Phantom Seed,
poeticdiversity,
The Sage Trail, San Gabriel Valley Poetry Quarterly, Van Gogh's Ear, and chapbooks
and anthologies by Poets on Site, and
others. Videos may be found on the
YouTube Channel of Moonrise Press.
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Miriam's Iris, or Angels in the Garden
Poetry and Photography by Maja Trochimczyk.
Read a sample of poems here.
A collection of 60 poems organized around appearances of six angels:
Amor, Eros, Eloe, Thanatos,
Ellenai, and Sophia. The poems are intertwined with interludes of memory, nostalgia, and nature mysticism. The book
is illustrated with photos of landscapes and gardens of Southern California.
Published in 2008. Distributed by Amazon.com, lulu.com, etc.: Paperback:
ISBN 978-0-578-00166-1
Google Books: Miriam Preview.
Hardcover with Color Photos (Second Edition, 126 pp.):ISBN 978-0-9819693-2-9
Reviewed by G. Murray Thomas, at poetix.net (February 2010).
"Rarely does one find a book of poetry which holds together as well as Miriam's Iris."
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Meditations on Divine Names
An anthology of contemporary poetry edited by Maja Trochimczyk.
Published in March 2012. ISBN 978-0-9819693-8-1, 216 pages, paperback.
Read more about Meditations.
This anthology of contemporary poetry features 140 poems by 64 poets
associated with diverse spiritual traditions. Their poems represent various branches of Christianity,
Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Kabbalah, Wicca, Sukiyo Mahikari, and express ideas from ancient Greek, Egyptian, Hawaiian,
and Slavic religions. The book is divided into ten paired sections:
Naming, Names, Earth, Water, Air, Fire, He, She, Being, and Loving.
List of Poets: MJ Adams, Nicholas Alexander, Catherine Auman, Jon B., Marcielle Brandler, Sharon Chmielarz, Joe DeCenzo,
Carol Dorf, Kate Hallett Dayton, Carl Estrin, Amy Falvey, Elsa S. Frausto, Bill Gillard, Michael Graber, John Z. Guzlowski,
Peter J. Harris, Carl Hitchens, Marlene Hitt, G. Bennett Humphrey, Oriana Ivy, Mitch James, Roy Jacobstein, Lois P. Jones,
James Levin, Terranda King, Alexis Krasilovsky, Leonard Kress, Sharmagne Leland-St. John, Rick Lupert, Radomir Voytech Luza, Czeslaw Milosz,
Rajiv Mohabir, Geoshino Ollscia, Shirley Dunn Perry, Nils Peterson, Lenora Popa, Kate Robinson, Susan Rogers, Mary Kay Rummel,
Nicholas Samaras, Peter Shefler, Marian Kaplun Shapiro, Dorothy Skiles, Lee M. Sloca, J.D. Smith, Barry Spacks,
Odarka Polanskyj Stockert, Charles A. Swanson, Taoli-Ambika Talwar, Judith Terzi, Maja Trochimczyk, Ann Tweedy, Davi Walders,
Martin Willitts Jr., and Kathabela Wilson.
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Rose Always - A Court Love Story
Poetry and Photography by Maja Trochimczyk.
Read a sample of 12 poems here.
Surprisingly sweet and gentle, this "novella in verse" is a
love story of a crime victim and a troubled man, an ex-offender on a path to redemption. The story is told through 85 brief,
lyrical poems and 24 narrative fragments, featuring stylized excerpts of court records and an array of allusions and quotations.
Inspired by the Songs of Songs and centuries of love poems, from Sappho to Milosz.
Published in 2008, revised in 2011. Revised paperback edition,152 pp.
ISBN 978-0-9819693-4-3 Google Books:
Rose Always
Illustrated Preview. Original hardcover edition with photographs ISBN 978-0-9819693-1-2
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Chopin with Cherries: A Tribute in Verse
An anothology of poetry edited by Maja Trochimczyk.
Published in February 2010 by Moonrise Press.
ISBN 978-0-9819693-0-5. Available in Paperback and
PDF.
Read more about this anthology on the Chopin with Cherries blog.
This volume celebrates the 200th birth anniversary of a Polish pianist-composer, Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
in a selection of 123 poems by 92 contemporary poets, mostly based in America. The hightlights include the first
English translation of Norwid's Fortepian Szopena by Leonard Kress, and classic poems by Emma
Lazarus, Amy Lowell and T.S. Eliot.
Review by John Z. Guzlowski in The Cosmopolitan
Review 2 no. 1 (Spring 2010).
Review by Christopher Woods in Contemporary World Literature 5 (February 2011):
"For those who have been moved by the music of Fryderyk Chopin, this new international anthology will be a treat... One breathtaking aspect of the anthology is the diversity of voices, both stylistically and geographically... [Among] the striking aspects of the anthology is the way in which the editor, Polish born Maja Trochimczyk, arranges the various sections, not only by musical forms, but also into sections like beauty and death, words that often come to mind when considering Chopin's life, his passions and his early demise."
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