Ira Schaeffer,an active member of Ocean State Poets and a proud supporter of the Origami Poems Project, is the current recipient of the Editor’s Choice Loft Chapbook Award. In addition, Ira’s recent poetry has appeared in a variety of publications, including, Penumbra; On the Dark Side: An Anthology of Fairy Tale Poetry; Tastes like Pennies; 50 Haiku; Wising Up Press; and Silver Birch Press  In addition, his poem Primavera, was a 2014 nomination by The Origami Poems Project for the Pushcart Prize.

 ►  Ira's Origami micro-chapbook & selected poem are available below.

Origami Micro-chapbook	Selected Poem(s)
Deft Turning
Cover -Detail of Daphne from Bernini’s ‘Apollo and Daphne’     •	{mooblock=Metamorphosis} Daphne of the glittering green, now rooted near the river house, your father’s gift and his sorrow, as he watched your lithe, quick body twist and grow brittle, the blue ribbons in your flowing hair hang limp from your slender branches.   Tell me how you live without the burning of your smooth limbs, the fire in your hidden parts. Are those evergreen leaves your bloodless laurel, those chaste blooms the garland that choked Apollo’s desire?   I need to know how you live without passion and tenderness. Are the birds that perch and sing, the wind that strums each part enough, or do they mask your weeping? • Ira Schaeffer © 2013 {/mooblock}