ON EDITING BLURBS

Among many other things, December involved me writing blurbs for two forthcoming poetry books.  Rather than just share the blurbs, I thought I’d present them in “first draft” and then their likely final published versions to see how blurb-related constraints (particularly space) edits the blurber:

My first blurbed book was Kelsey Street Press’ release NESTS AND STRANGERS / ON ASIAN AMERICAN WOMEN POETS, Editor Timothy Yu with Afterword by Mg Roberts. As Kelsey’s first book of essays in the area of cultural studies, the book focuses on Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, Nellie Wong, Myung Mi Kim and Bhanu Kapil. Here's my “first draft” blurb:

The depth and breadth of poetry presented by merely four Asian American women poets attest to Kelsey Street Press’ own expansive vision — a rigor wise enough to be enervated by compassion.  What I first thought would be a coincidental combination of very different poets and poetries unexpectedly reveals a logical trajectory from 20th century Asian American activism to radically innovative poetry.  These poets don’t just defy erasure or silencing of their individual or chosen-as-collective identities—they create and recreate selves unimaginable to those who would have subsumed their voices.  The terms “Asian American” or “Asian American poetry” can be unsatisfactory for reducing difference.  But after reading this collection, I actually opened myself up to the possibility of accepting the label: “Asian American woman poet.”

(As you might glean I am conflicted by the term "Asian American" but that's a tale for another day as this story ain't about Moi.)

While Kelsey appreciated the blurb, they had to shorten it for space constraints.  In general that is fine with me.  My first draft blurbs tend to be long-ish because I think it easier for the publisher to edit/shorten rather than not be satisfied with insufficient content as the blurber edited hirself for anticipated space considerations.  Kelsey suggested deleting either the first or the first two sentences.  I suggested keeping the second sentence because the book uses the term “Asian American” and the four poets are hardly representative, if only because there are only four of them. 

My second blurb, on Paul Pines’ MESSAGE FROM THE MEMOIRIST: POEMS was trickier to edit.  Here’s my first draft, which I knew was long but such are the complications/layers in the poetry collection:

If the origin of consciousness is a wound, would it not be logical that someone looking back might observe (like Robert Redford in one poem) that life has been mostly sadness with moments of joy?  What to do with such a conclusion? Perhaps it depends if and when one acknowledges this possibility’s reality.  For then there would be time to lighten such darkness by forging the “ability to contain the tears in things.”  Such a path would be understood by the “Memoirist” as defined by Paul Pines: someone who “understands that Memory is not a bin where pieces are stored and retrieved but a field in which the Soul’s narrative continues to unfold.”  Poems—such as the ones in this book—are effects from the unfolding of a Soul’s narrative.  They are a welcome read for they emanate from Pines’ deeply-considered “time / For quiet Contemplation” that will result in “All books will Be written.”

The poet replied with a version below, again for space reasons.  I agreed with it but suggested that he insert the word “resonant” in the last sentence because what was lacking was an actual compliment towards the poems and I wanted to compliment the work!  So the final version will be:

If the origin of consciousness is a wound, would it not be logical that someone looking back might observe that life has been mostly sadness with moments of joy?  What to do with such a conclusion? Perhaps there would be time to lighten such darkness by forging the “ability to contain the tears in things.” Paul Pines makes such a path in MESSAGE FROM THE MEMOIRIST. The “Memoirist” as defined by Pines “understands that Memory is not a bin where pieces are stored and retrieved but a field in which the Soul’s narrative continues to unfold.”  Poems—such as the ones in this book—are resonant effects from the unfolding of a Soul’s narrative. 

Okay, all that took up a few seconds of my attention—I don’t actually take blurbs that seriously.  But when I am asked, I try to take the making of them seriously rather than just recycle the one- or two-liners that I know other blurbers write.

Speaking of books, here's the rest of my latest Relished W(h)ines update of recently imbibed books and wines.  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 Galatea Resurrects!  More info on that HERE. 

PUBLICATIONS

NESTS AND STRANGERS: ON ASIAN AMERICAN WOMEN POETS, Editor Timothy Yu with Afterword by Mg Roberts (in manuscript form.  Essays by Sarah Dowling on Myung Mi Kim, Merle Woo on Nellie Wong, Sueyeun Juliette Lee on Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, and Dorothy Wang on Bhanu Kapil. See above blurb)

MESSAGE FROM THE MEMOIRIST: POEMS by Paul Pines (in manuscript form.  Wonderful: see above blurb)

I ATE THE COSMOS FOR BREAKFAST, poems by Melissa Studdard (a poet new to me but thankfully now known.  Her title poem may just become my favorite poem of the year.  Radiant.  Wise.  Compassionate.  Open.  Cerebral.  LinkedIn Poetry Recommendation (LPR) #157) 

THROW    N by James Wagner, Poems to Paintings by Bracha L. Ettinger (wonderfully adept. LPR #156)

BLUETS, poetry-plus by Maggie Nelson (LPR #158)

THE OPEN SECRET by Jennifer Moxley (LPR #159.  Simply?  MAGNIFICENT.)

DON’T LET ME BE LONELY: AN AMERICAN LYRIC by Claudia Rankine (LPR #160. So good I ordered all her other books.  Many effective leaps: appreciated, for example, a discourse on forgiveness that referenced Timothy McVeigh and William Earnest Henley’s poem “Invictus,” albeit the mention recalled Mom: how Mom and I attended the movie “Invictus” together and she silenced the awed audience of the movie theater when she started reciting along with the poem as it was spoken by Morgan Freeman's character; what a different time—when people were raised memorizing poems…”It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishment the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul”)

SONOLUMINESCENCE by Simone Muench and William Allegrezza (an outstanding collaboration between two stellar poets)

MARILYN, poems/mixed genre by Amanda Ngoho Reavey (fresh.  Read it in manuscript but understand it just found a publisher—happy over the news!)

MULHOUSE, poems by lars palm (a charming poetry pamphlet)

SPONTANEOUS PARTICULARS THE TELEPATHY OF ARCHIVES, poetry/poetics/art monograph/et al by Susan Howe (she does accomplish those “spirit sparks”)

*  MORSE, MY DEAF FRIEND, poems (and translated from Croatian) by Milos Djurdjevic (really accomplished)

WASHING-UP, poems by Bruno Neiva (an insistent lyricism despite prosaic references. Yes, dears, poetry can be about anything…)

THE DAY OF SHELLY’S DEATH, poems and essay by Renato Rosaldo (while I found the collection—about the accidental death of the poet’s wife—moving, I’m unconvinced by the attempt to elevate the poems as “antropoesia” as if a new form is involved)

ARACHNID NEBULA by Mark Young (fabulous vispo courtesy of John M. Bennett’s Luna Bisonte Prods)

PISO LLAGAS by John M. Bennett (have been enjoying these images from John’s Facebook so happy to have this printed version; adore these small scale productions with huge expanses)

THE STOOL by John M. Bennett with Tom Cassidy (ditto above)

MONOLOGUE OF A DOG, poems by Wislawa Szymborska, Trans. by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Baranczak

*  ART & NATURE, poems by Daniel Bouchard

*  A THIRD INSTANCE: THREE CHAPBOOKS, poems by Rosa Alcala (TO THE ARCHIVES), Craig Watson (ALMOST INVISIBLE: DEPOSITIONS FROM THE NETHERLANDS) and Elizabeth Whitehead (TO THE SOLAR NORTH)

THE REEF, poems by Elizabeth Arnold

GREAT GUNS, poems by Farnoosh Fathi

*  THE ROBOT SCIENTIST’S DAUGHTER, poems by Jeannine Hall Gailey

*  I AM GOING TO FLY THROUGH GLASS; SELECTED POEMS OF HAROLD NORSE, Editor Todd Swindell

*  AS A BEE, poems by Simon Pettet

*  RING THE SYCAMORE SKY, poems by John Swain

*  RESURRECTION PARTY, poems by Michalle Gould

*  THE MOVEABLE ONES, poems by John Sakkis

*  DREAM MACHINE, poems by Sade Murphy

*  THE WORD KINGDOM IN THE WORD KINGDOM, poems by Noah Eli Gordon

A WILD PATIENCE HAS TAKEN ME THIS FAR: POEMS 1978-1981 by Adrienne Rich

FAULT LINES, poems by Tim Hunt

COASTLANDS, poems by Aaron Lee

BLOWOUT, poems by Denise Duhamel

ODE TO THE HEART SMALLER THAN A PENCIL ERASER, poems by Luisa A. Igloria

SLANT SIX, poems by Erin Belieu

HOURGLASS MUSEUM, poems by Kelli Russell Agodon

RELIQUARIA, poems by R.A. Villanueva

CIVIL WAR POETRY: AN ANTHOLOGY edited by Paul Negri

TOWARD THE YEAR TWENTY FIFTEEN, poetry broadside by Sheila Murphy 

SWIRL, Issue 1, e-zine edited by lars palm (lovely!) 

SWIRL, Issue 2, e-zine edited by lars palm (check out Mark Young’s funny zombie poem for Tom Beckett) 

POETRY PROJECT NEWSLETTER NO. 241, Editor Ted Dodson

*  HANNIBAL BARCA C. 259 BCE: A FABLE, art and poetry by Adhemar Ahmad

APOPHALLATION SKETCHES: A THEATER OF AFFECTIVE EXTREMES / STRENUOUS ESSAYS FOR THE SENSES by j/j hastain (unique and wonderful)

SELECTED AMAZON REVIEWS by Kevin Killian, edited by Brent Cunningham (an entertaining read)

KENNETH GOLDSMITH IN CONVERSATION with David Jonathan Y. Bayot (it’s a tad  yesterday)

NURSE DRAWINGS, art monograph by jenifer k wofford  (fabulous.  Interesting to see the same poetic aspect to “reading” these visuals the way one can (poetically) read certain graphic novels)

FARM: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF AN AMERICAN FARMER, outstanding journalism by Richard Rhodes

TEXTS FROM JANE EYRE AND OTHER CONVERSATIONS WITH YOUR FAVORITE LITERARY CHARACTERS by Mallory Ortberg

JAY SHAFER’S DIY BOOK OF BACKYARD SHEDS & TINY HOUSES

THE HEIST, novel by Daniel Silva

PERSONAL, novel by Lee Child

WINES

2005 Ch. Pierre De Lune

2004 Roger champagne

1989 La Coutee d'Or Vouvray (Thanksgiving wine)

1991 Val Sotillo Gran Reserva Ribera del Duero (left-over Turkey wine)

2000 Araujo Eisele Vineyard

1993 Dalla Valle Maya

1990 Val Sotillo Gran Reserva Ribera del Duero

2009 Artadi Rioja

2010 Grand Cabernet Spring Mountain

2010 Turnbull cabernet Oakville

1997 Big Horn cabernet NV

2012 Frog’s Leap zinfandel NV

2005 Willi Schaefer Graacher Domprobst Riesling Auslese

1997 Togni cabernet (Christmas wine)

2008 Birbanera Amantis Montecucco Rosso

1994 Graham’s port

2006 Colgin IX Estate

2010 Layer Cake cabernet

2006 Blankiet Rive Droite NV

1995 Vega Sicilia

Krug Grande Cuvee (New Year’s Eve champagne)
1999 Sori Tilden