Occasionally, I blurb. My latest Relished
W(h)ines update includes reading two manuscripts for which I provided
blurbs. (Other past blurbs are accessible at my prior blog.) Here are the (unedited) blurbies
for two wonderful poets’ forthcoming books:
On A’s Visuality by Anne Gorrick:
Some
poems are written slant. They surfaced because their poets didn’t have an idea
they imposed on the poem to develop. They surfaced because the poets
respected the raw material — words — enough to get out of the way to let the
words speak for themselves. When the approach works, language becomes
poetry by, in part, transcending the limits of the poets’ conscious
imaginations. Such has resulted from Anne Gorrick’s A’s Visuality which
presents a section of poems translated from prior positionings as visual art
and a second section of poems taking off from the found language of a website’s
description of paint colors. The first section, Folios, is rife with surfaced
wisdom: “a map / as small as / astronauts” where guidance (map) is not
the astronaut’s limits (knowledge) but the astronauts’ task (and desire) to
explore or expand the limits of what’s known. In the second section
Chromatic Sweep, never has color become so palpable (at times even edible or
radioactive): “when black and white mix, there is a lower sound” or “red
play back our own choking.” Gorrick trusted the words (“No editorial /
preoccupied with”) and their reciprocation are lush poems that thoughtfully
invite.
On MEANS by Lars Palm:
Lars Palm rolls with song titles and
makes dissonance harmonize: “i / will not be food / for your cats” he stresses,
before suggesting instead “that old school nazi / who took your / house keys /
& forged them / into a statue / depicting surreal sex.” These are
brief poems with huge expanses — what a discerning mind sees and sings after he
“reel[s in] lines” to “see what’s on / the hook.” All to the heavy beat of one
subversive enough to proclaim: “i live in / towns or cities / not
countries."
Entonces, here’s moi latest List
below. As ever, please note that in the Publications section, if you see
an asterisk before the title, that means a review copy is available for GalateaResurrects!
More info on that HERE.
PUBLICATIONS
LOVE POEMS FROM GOD: TWELVE SACRED VOICES FROM
THE EAST AND WEST featuring Rabia, St. Francis of Assisi, Rumi, Meister
Eckhart, St. Thomas Aquinas, Hafiz, St. Catherine of Siena, Kabir, Mira, St.
Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross and Tukaram, edited by Daniel Ladinsky. (My favorites are the contributions of
Meister Eckhart, Hafiz, St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila.)
THE ECLECTIC WORLD, poems by Mark Young (stellar. LinkedIn Poetry Recommendation #120)
* END OF
THE SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY, poem by Sarah Vap (intelligent.
LPR #121)
OTHERWISE, MY LIFE IS ORDINARY, poems and essay by Bobby Byrd (interesting enough to have become my first review for next issue of Galatea Resurrects)
A’S VISUALITY, poems by Anne Gorrick (in manuscript. See above blurb)
MEANS, poems by Lars Palm (in manuscript. See above blurb)
GOSSAMER LID, poems and visual poetry (in
manuscript) by Andrew Brenza (pleasing
effects here)
* A
PRINCESS MAGIC PRESTO SPELL, poems by Lisa Jarnot and images by Emilie Clark (wonderfully effective collaboration between
poet and artist)
FISHING ON THE POLE STAR, poems by Paul Pines (deft and lovingly done)
* GREEN
IS FOR WORLD, poems by Juliana Leslie
A STRANGER’S TABLE, poems by Anne Brooke
NEVER, poems by Jorie Graham
* ELISE
COWEN: POEMS AND FRAGMENTS, Edited by Tony Trigilio
* HER
HUMAN COSTUME, poems by Cynthia Marie Hoffman
*
GEPHYROMANIA, poems by TC Tolbert
*
STICK-UP, poems by Paul David Adkins
*
]EXCLOSURES[, poems by Emily Abendroth
POEMS FROM REDRESS by Hannah Zeavin
* HOW TO
BE ANOTHER, poems by Susan Lewis
* STATE
OF THE UNION, poems by Susan Lewis
SALU-SALO: IN CONVERSATION WITH FILIPINOS, AN
ANTHOLOGY OF PHILIPPINE-AUSTRALIAN WRITINGS edited by Jose Wendell Capili and
John Cheeseman
* VERSE,
literary journal edited by Brian Henry and Andrew Zawacki
THE SPIRIT OF THE SAINTS / EL ESPIRITU DE LOS
SANTOS (literary & art journal of St. Helena High School) edited by Peeka
Zimmerman (my son’s got a poem innit!)
ILLEGAL: REFLECTIONS OF AN UNDOCUMENTED
IMMIGRANT by Jose Angel N.
THE SECRET RESCUE: AN UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICAN
NURSES AND MEDICS BEHIND NAZI LINES, history by Cate Lineberry
GRANDMA GATEWOOD’S WALK: THE INSPIRING STORY OF
THE WOMAN WHO SAVED THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL, journalism by Ben Montgomery
COMING CLEAN, memoir by Kimberly Rae Miller
CONFESSIONS OF A CLOSET MASTER BAKER: ONE
WOMAN’S SWEET JOURNEY FROM UNHAPPY HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVE TO CONTENTED COUNTRY
BAKER, memoir by Gesine Bullock-Prado
A MOVEABLE THIRST; TALES AND TASTES FROM A SEASON
IN NAPA WINE COUNTRY WITH REVIEWS OF 141 NAPA TASTING ROOMS by Rick Kushman and
Hank Beal
SECOND CHANCE DOG, memoir by Jon Katz
A STREET CAT NAMED BOB AND HOW HE SAVED MY LIFE,
memoir by James Bowen
HUNGER, novel by Elise Blackwell
RUNNER, novel by Patrick Lee
CITY OF THE SUN, novel by David Levien
WINES
Sohomare Kimoto Junmai Daiginjo (best sake I’ve
ever tasted)
2012 Frogs leap zinfandel
2011 Smokescreen pinot
noir
2002 Hutton Vale
Grenache Mataro Eden Valley
2011 Foley Johnson Sta Rita Hills chardonnay
2009 Merus ALTVS cabernet
2009 Merus cabernet
2010 Merus cabernet
2005 Joh. Jos. Prum Wehlener Sonnenhur Auslese
2011 Frederic Esmonin Ruchottes-Chambertin Grand
Cru
2002 Hundred Acres cabernet NV
2010 Altamura NV
2013 Altamura rose
2010 Rombauer merlot Carneros
2009 Puerto Salinas Alicante
2011 Cairdean Vineyard sauvignon blanc NV
2010 Cairdean Vineyards Farmers Cab
2010 Cairdean Vineyards Farmers Cab
