Category: books
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Collected Poets Series, A New Season begins.
This Thurday at 7:30pm we’re kicking off our third season of the Collected Poets Series with two amazing poets: Annie Finch and Lisa Olstein. Annie Finch is the author or editor of fifteen books of poetry, translation, and criticism. Her books of poetry include Eve, Calendars, The Encyclopedia of Scotland, and the forthcoming Among the…
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Poems from the Women’s Movement: The Reading.
Wednesday night I went to a reading at Amherst College to celebrate the publication of the new Library of America anthology, Poems from the Women’s Movement, edited by Honor Moore. Quite a contingent of women collaborated to bring this event off, and what an electric evening it was! Not only was Honor Moore in attendance…
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The Art of Syntax for the Ordinary Genius.
It is as I feared: Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within, by Kim Addonizio, while a friendly and frank-talking book, is really a book for beginners. Addonizio is tremendously likable, and the self-deprecating manner in which she presents her own early drafts is appealing, but if you’ve been a practicing poet for some…
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Fun with Wordle.
I copied my manuscript in its current full-length entirety into that wondrous website for word-lovers and seekers of writing prompts, Wordle, and this is what resulted. I have to say, I’m surprised that “like” is so prevalent. I have an aversion to similes — I expected “boy” to be the word that really popped out. …
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She Walks into the Sea, by Patricia Clark.
Rounding out the top three po-biz talking points, numbers one & two being “Nobody reads poetry anymore”, and “Nobody buys poetry books”, is, and I paraphrase, “The poetry world is a teeny-tiny incestuous drop in the tumultuous literary ocean.” But the amazing fact is that’s it’s not so small you can’t make halleluiah discoveries every…
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“Decor in general left her completely indifferent.”
In this era of “Extreme Home-Makeovers” and “Trading Spaces”, it seems a crime to say so. Let me be clear: I love a good make-over, be it person (à la “What not to Wear”), room, or home. But when it comes to my own space, well, I just can’t be bothered. As long as the…
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My Current Reading List.
Besides the stack of literary journals that have been arriving in my mailbox demanding to be more than flipped through (The Café Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, Weave Magazine, Bateau, Tar River…off the top of my head), and in addition to the Tupelo Press books I am joyfully immersing in, there are a clutch of…
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Honesty vs. Truth in Poetry.
I was reading The Bloomsbury Review the other day — the new issue (May/June/July 2009) just arrived in my mailbox — and came upon something that caught me more than a little off-guard. The cover story is an interview with Greg Kuzma (“Poet, Critic, Editor, Publisher, Teacher, Mentor, & Screenwriter’), someone whose work I was…
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A Draft a Week, She says.
I’ve never posted by any particular schedule here, no deadlines, no real structure to speak of. When I still worked at the bookshop, I wrote about forthcoming books, new books of poems or books about poems, books that excited me. With the bookstore gone, I still do that, but to a lesser degree: I don’t…
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I Heart Erin Belieu.
Back years ago when I did try and send out a few things, the first time I got rejected I nearly beat the mailbox to death. Seriously, I kicked it till the post broke. And I’m pretty sure that’s a felony. Okay, as the owner of all 3 of her books, I was predisposed to…
Marie Gauthier 