'Twas a busy recent period for writing blurbs. Here's 3 of the 4 I wrote in past month or so:
ROSWELL by Judith
Roitman
Judith Roitman’s Roswell
makes me wonder whether it’s possible for humans to engage aliens without
the former humanizing the latter. The poems, after all, claim “surviving alien
remembers its descendants,” ”surviving alien remembers nourishment,” and so on
as if the human Roitman can inhabit non-earthling point of views. Such may be
considered empathy. But for these poems relating to 1947 events to come out in
2018 is also to emphasize how little empathy is displayed today by the U.S.
administration for "aliens" of a different sort but within the same
species. How far humanity has fallen. These poems accomplish what good poems do:
go beyond themselves into other matters as they make the reader think.
Y'OL by Birhan Keskin, Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat
"the other calls the one who
isn’t there / that’s how magic becomes magic" — there’s no getting around
it. To live is to desire, thus, ultimately to anguish. In Y’ol, the
world is unstable, even untrustworthy. But this only makes love more important:
“the sky i return, return return / return to is you”. Love—defined in these
poems through an endless yearning—could have been denied but instead is upheld,
even as these poems of fortitude must scorch their pages. The title “Y’ol”
means “the road of/towards becoming.” This Y’ol presents the jagged
music of metamorphosis and to read these poems is to discern songs made
possible only with silence set on fire.
RIVERRUN
by Alan Baker
"on the surface a
uniform grey / but in the depths an inner life”—such scaffolds how Alan Baker’s
poems run deep, spill wide, and linger to become everlasting song. Here, the
river is history and (despite history) hope so that the poems, too, bespeak
desire. How can we not be moved, even if the poet cautions about the
river: “it isn’t human, it doesn’t care about us”?
Speaking of publications,
here's 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
ROSWELL by Judith Roitman (in manuscript; see
above blurb)
RIVERRUN by Alan Baker (in manuscript; see
above blurb)
Y'OL by Birhan Keskin, Translated by Murat Nemet-Nejat (in manuscript; see above blurb)
WORDS ON EDGE, poems by Michael Leong
(fabulous! LPR #283)
FIRST AWAKENINGS: THE EARLY POEMS OF LAURA
RIDING (a treat. Important for understanding the achievement of she who
renounced poetry)
EARLY
EXITS, poems by KB Nemcosky (I love NYC
memoirs and KB Nemcosky's is moving, steeped with music, wonderfully-detailed
by someone who knows how to pay
attention, and a searing indictment of our times by manifesting Colin
Whitehead's posture: "You are a New Yorker when what was there before is
more real and solid than what is here now.")
ORANGE, poems by Christine Herzer (accomplished
and (paradoxically) charming)
LES ECHIQUIERS EFFRONTES, visual poetry by Mark
Young (fabulous)
* DEFENSE OF THE IDOL,
poems by Omar Caceres, Trans. by Monica De La Torre (awesome!)
AUTOBIOGRAPHY /
ANTI-AUTOBIOGRAPHY, poems by Jennifer Bartlett (a powerful read. I much valued
this reading)
TWO OR THREE THINGS
ABOUT DESIRE, poems by Conchitina Cruz (excellent … and made me think of Sawako
Nakayasu …)
COTERIES., poems by
Prudence Bussey-Chamberlain (witty, funny and amusing)
TSK OOMPH, visual
poetry by Sacha Archer (fabuloso!)
THE PINK HOUSE OF
PURPLE YAM PRESERVES & OTHER POEMS by Aileen I. Cassineto
MESSAGE, poems by
Fernando Pessoa
PRESENCE OF LIFE, poems
by Empedocles/Brad Inwood and translated by Eric Hoffman
THE JAGUAR THAT PROWLS
OUR DREAMS, poems by Mary Mackey
CHICKEN WHISPERER, poems
by Steve Dalachinsky
DOUBLED RADIANCE: POETRY
& PROSE OF LI QUINGZHAO, Trans. by Karen An-Hwei Lee
From SOME GIRLS WALK INTO
THE COUNTRY THEY ARE FROM, poems by Sawako Nakayasu
MESSAGE, poems by
Fernando Pessoa, Trans. by Christopher Foster
SPOKES OF AN UNEVEN
WHEEL, poems by Colin Dodds
* JUST LET ME HAVE THIS,
poems by Heather Sweeney
* STEREO(TYPE), poems by
Jonah Mixon-Webster
* SEA SUMMIT, poems by Yi
Lu, Trans. by Fiona Sze-Lorrain
* SOMEONE IS BREATHING,
poems by J. Morris
* GHOST OF, poems by Diana
Khoi Nguyen
* VIGILANCE IS NO
ORCHARD, poems by Hazel White
* CLOSE APART, poems by
Robert Cowan
* OIL SPILL, poems by
Claire Marie Stancek
* FEELING UPON ARRIVAL, poems by Saretta Morgan
* SCORCH MARKS, poems by
Jon Curley
*THE BLUE HILL, poems
by Geoffrey O’Brien
* LEVON HELM, poems by
Jason Morris
* ARCHAEOLOGY, poems
by Paul Naylor
* HEAVY SUBLIMATION,
poems by Leonard Schwartz
* NOT THAT I KNOW
WHERE I’M GOING, poems by Elinor Nauen
* DUBIOUS MOON, poems
by Lillo Way
* UNTITLED SERIES:
LIFE AS IT IS, poems by Norman Fischer
* WHEN THEN, poems by
Gerd Stern
* POCKET GUIDE TO ANOTHER EARTH, poems by Mike
Smith
* LIGHT WIND LIGHT LIGHT,
poems by Bin Ramke
* THE
DRUNKARDS by LM Rivera
* OF SOME SKY, poems by Joseph Harrington
* THIRSTY BONES, poems
by Sarah Lilius
* PALOMA, poems by
Jennifer E. Hudgens
* FUCK CANCER POEMS by
Michael Grover
* SUBTERRANEAN, poems
by Richard Greenfield
* THE MIRRORED SPECTRUM: VERSIONS OF BIDEL, poems by
Robin Magowan
* GREEN MIDNIGHT,
poems by Stuart Bartow
* THE BUDDHA WONDERS
IF SHE IS HAVING A MID-LIFE CRISIS, poems by Luisa A. Igloria
* THEN & AGAIN, poems by Catherine Stearns
* WHAT
PAIN DOES, poems by Megan D. Henson with photographs by J. Michael Skaggs)
* GARLANDING GREEN, poems by Christine
Aikens Wolfe
FIREWORKS, poems by
Jules Boykoff
TIME PORTAL, poems by
Jai Arun Ravine and Greg Wood
MOTHER MOTHER YOU ARE
WHO I LOVE, poems by Aracelis Girmay
REVISING INTO THE
RIGHT FORM…HOPEFULLY, poems by Javier Zamora
TRAVELING CLUSTER: POEMS
IN ITALY by David Giannini
A MAP AND ONE YEAR,
poems by Karen L. George
SOUND
RITUALS, poems by Jim Leftwich & Billy Bob Beamer
TRES
TRESSS TRISSS TRIEESSS TRIL TRILSSSS: TRANSMUTATIONS OF CESAR VALLEJO, poems by
Jim Leftwich
BORROWED DRESS, poems
by Cathy Colman
SIGNS OF OUR
DISCONTENT, visual poetry by Arnold McBay and Gregory Betts
OUT-OF-OFFICE, chap
anthology of poems by Christina Barreiro, Lindsey Hoover, Fatima Lundy, Rupert
McCranor, Kayla Park, Chrissy Ramkarran Asiya Wadud, and Rachael Wilson
THE DISPLACED VOICE,
poetics by Iman Mersal
TRANSCENDENT
TOPOLOGIES: STRUCTURALISM AND VISUAL WRITING by Tom Hibbard
THE PILIPINX RADICAL
IMAGINATION READER, poetry, prose and art edited by Melissa-Ann Nievera-Lozano
and Anthony Abulencia Santa Ana
OTOLITHS
#49 (Part Two, Visual
Poetry), journal edited by Mark Young
AMONG THE NEIGHBORS,
history by Dale Smith
REMEMBERING EL CORNO
EMPLUMADO / THE PLUMED HORN, history by
Sergio Mondragon with a conversation between Margaret Randall and Edric Mesmer
ALPHABET OF A UNKNOWN
CITY by Maryam Monalisa Gharavi
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU
WISH by Baseera Khan
I THOUIGHT THIS WOULD
by Goksu Kunak
99 NAMES, memoir by
Abdellah Taia
BALIKBAYAN: A FILIPINO
HOMECOMING, short stories by Michelle Cruz Skinner
MY STRUGGLE, Book Two
by Karl Ove Knausgaard
SPOOK STREET, novel by
Mick Herron
AGENT IN PLACE, novel
by Mark Greaney
THE DECEIVERS, novel
by Alex Berenson
END GAME, novel by
David Baldacci
THE THIRD VICTIM,
novel by Phillip Margolin
THE PEOPLE VS. ALEX
CROSS, novel by James Patterson
THE MOSCOW DECEPTION,
novel by Karen Robards
HUNTER KILLER:THE WAR
WITH CHINA, novel by David Poyer
HOW TO FIND LOVE IN A
BOOKSHOP, novel by Veronica Henry
LIVING ON A DOLLAR A
DAY: THE LIVES AND FACES OF THE WORLD’S POOR, advocacy by Thomas A. Nazario
with photographs by Renee C. Byer
WINES
Vega Reserva Especial
(85, 90 and 91)
Vega Reserva Especial
(03, 04 and 06)
Vega Reserva Especial
(05, 06 and 07)
2000 Quinta do Noval
Colheita Tawny
NOVAL 10-Year Tawny
2015 Quinta do Noval
Vintage Port
2017 Quinta do Noval
Unfiltered Late Bottled Port
1994 Croft Vintage
2007 Croft Vintage Port
2012 Quinta da Roeda
2012 Calera de Villiers
Pinot Noir Mt. Harlan
NV Krug (release from
1980s)
1973 Krug
2010 Domaine Roulot
Meursault Luchets
1999 Domaine Leflaive
Puligny Montrachet Les Pucelles
2004 Domaine Ramonet
Montrachet
1993 Jacques Frederic
Mugnier Musigny
2002 Domaine A.-F. Gros
Richebourg
2001 Weingut Robert Weil
Kiedrich Grafenberg Riesling Beerenauslese Rheingau
2014 Fisher Vineyards
Mountain Estate Chardonnay
2001 Pierre Usseglio
Reserve des Deux Freres
1994 Taylor’s Fladgate
Port
1995 Dow’s Quinta do
Bomfim
2002 Hutton Vale Grenache
Mataro Eden Valley
Schramsberg Blanc de Noir
2010 Saxum Heart Stone
Vineyard
1994 Warre’s port
2014 Storybook Mountain
zinfandel NV
2012 Manni Nossing Kerner
2001 Jones Family
cabernet NV
2015 Kistler Vine Hill
Vineyard Russian River Valley
2010 Clos Mogador Priorat
2014 Davis Estates
Viognier
2015 Davis Estates
Sauvignon Blanc
2016 Davis Estates Pinot
Noir
2015 Davis Estates
Cabernet Franc
2012 Davis Estates Zephyr
Michel Gonet champagne
1991 Graham’s vintage
port
2016 Spotswoode sauvignon
blanc
1989 Calon Segur
1979 Pichon Lalande
1978 Pichon Lalande
1978 Ch. Palmer
1996 Charton et Trebuchet
Batard Montrachet
2002 Vincent Girardin
Puligny Montrachet Les Folatieres
1992 Jadot Le Montrachet