WHEN THE POETS' "WRISTS ARE MAGIC"

I was delighted to provide blurbs for two upcoming publications -- great poetry out there! These are unedited blurbs:

CORPOREAL by Jean Vengua

To “[r]emember how / to touch our bodies” is to embark on the inevitable: “there was / a plot; / [you] did not / escape.” As Jean Vengua notes in Corporeal, the journey contains peril: “Aswang repairs her wound / with bone and thread.” But, as ever, knowledge is its own good: “but / grow to love the scars.” These poems are scars from bodily interactions—with ourselves, with others, with environs, and even with language. What for? Perhaps “a new angel, thrashing / on the wings”? That Vengua articulates “angel” implies hope. From a body intimate with suffering, such hope presents potential for ecstasy—in these poems, the poet’s “wrists are magic” and the receptive reader can be led to grace if not bliss: “some kisses are / sweeter than wine.”

Woeman by T. De Los Reyes

By correcting normative spelling to be the more accurate “Woeman,” T. de los Reyes speaks Truth. The He in one poem reminds ,"You can’t spell meaning without the word man." Truthfully, one can’t spell “meaning" without the word “mean” and too often the adjective is not for significance so much as it is for anguish. These poems reveal pain as the condition precedent to too much, including holiness, beauty and awakening. Synchronistically, the poems' internal music makes, say, “desire” rhyme with “bonsai," a tree whose growth requires being controlled. It is no wonder that when you “Think Vesuvius,” you have these poems which reveal why “It takes a lot to love the world."

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

3 Poetry Manuscripts

CORPOREAL, poems by Jean Vengua (fabulous. See above blurb)

WOEMAN, poems by T. De Los Reyes (fabulous. See above blurb)

MODERN JAPANESE TANKA edited by Makoto Ueda (fabulous. LinkedIn Poetry Recommendation (LPR) #277. See more reaction at this earlier blog post)

REPORTING LIVE FROM YOU KNOW WHERE, poems by Sheila E. Murphy (fabulous. Winner of The Hay(na)ku Poetry Book Prize)

PHENOMENOLOGY OF THE FERAL by Julia Rose Lewis (outstanding and impressive. LPR #275)

BEAST MERIDIEN by Vanessa Angelica Villarreal (OUTSTANDING & SUCH LUSH BEAUTY. A most intelligent mourning. And a direct contradiction to that racist binary of "technical and intellectual"ly accomplished versus group-identified. LPR #276)

LESSONS ON EXPULSION, poems by Erika L. Sanchez (the poet was onnnnn!)

UPROUTE: THE LANGUAGE OF PLATES, poetry by Sacha Archer (immensely satisfying)

NOTES ON THE SIGNS OF POETRY: ADDENDUM AND PRINTS by Sacha Archer (wonderful!)

THE RESERVOIR, poems by Donna Stonecipher (superb)

CRAWLSPACE, poems by Nikki Wallschlaeger (excellent, with the choice of the sonnet form a brilliant decision)

FOR WANT OF WATER, poems by Sasha Pimentel (it’s only her 2^nd collection yet I’m tempted to call it a “breakthrough” when comparing it to her first. Part of its marvelous effect is the poet reaching far beyond the personal self)

LOVE POEMS FROM HELL by Zvi A. Sesling (funny. Lines like “I will send hot lava for you” or “At last you left / and gone you left / your teeth / which I will scatter / in the wind”)

WHEREAS, poems by Layli Long Soldier (powerful, moving, elegant and inspiring)

*  ORPHIC NOISE, poems by Patrick Pritchett

TAKE TWO: FILM STUDIES, poems by Susan Terris

*  WHITE DECIMAL, poems by Jean Daive, Trans. from the French by Norma Cole

GAP GARDENING: SELECTED POEMS by Rosmarie Waldrop

THE BOOK OF WHAT REMAINS, poems by Benjamin Alire Saenz

RISK : : NO BALANCE, poems by Laura Neuman

THE SOLUBLE HOUR, poems by Hillary Gravendyk

GHOST OPERA, poems by Mercedes Roffe, Trans. by Judith Filc

* GASOLINE HEART, poems by Shannon Barber

* ALL OF THE REAL TEARS, poems by erica lewis

*  ALL SOUL PARTS RETURNED, poems by Bruce Beasley

*  FARNESSITY, poems by Randee Silv

*  FROM THE FILES OF THE IMMANENT FOUNDATION, poems by Norman Finkelstein

OBSCENITY FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF POETRY, poems by kathryn l. pringle

SHADOWBOXING, poems by Joseph Rios

THE YEAR WE TURNED DRAGON, poems by Metta Sama

DATA PRIMER, poems by Marthe Reed

[LUKAO], poetry by Craig Santos Perez

A WIFE IS A HOPE CHEST, poems by Christine Brandel

YOU ENVELOP ME, poems by Laynie Browne

OF ANNUNCIATIONS, poems by Ewa Chrusciel

YOU DA ONE (2^nd Ed.), poems by Jennif(f)er Tamayo

NATALITY, poems by E.G. Asher

GODDESS OF DEMOCRACY, poems by Henry Wei Lung

*  ESSAY POEMS by Donald Wellman

SUB-SISTERS: SELECTED POEMS by Uljana Wolf, Trans. from the German by Sophie Seita

IN MAD LOVE AND WAR, poems by Joy Harjo

PRIMATES FROM AN ARCHIPELAGO, poems by Irene Suico Soriano

PRE-, poems by Barbara Tomash

DETACHED PALACE GARDEN, poems by Harold Bowes

BRIDGE OF THE WORLD, poetry by Roberto Harrison

COMMODORE, poems by Jacqueline Waters

IF GOD WERE GENTLE, poems by D.R. James

LONG DIVISION, poems by M. Nicole R. Wildhood

STORM OF HOPE, poems by Leila Tualla

GOSPEL OF REGICIDE, poems by Eunsong Kim

SALVAGE, poems by Cynthia Dewi Oka

MOUTHS, poems by Claire Marie Stancek

DETOUR, poems by Sacha Archer

A WOMAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY, poems by Eagan Boland

THREADS OF EXECUTION, poems by Orchid Tierney (in manuscript)

BRASILIA, poems by Monica Manolachi and Neil Leadbeater (in manuscript)

*  HUMORS, poems by Joel Chace

*  ANNE WITH AN E & ME, poems by Wesley St. Jo

BRAIN : STORM, poems by Michelle Greenblatt

THESE DAYS OF CANDY, poems by Manuel Paul Lopez

BARDS FROM THE FAR EAST: ANTHOLOGY OF HAIKU & KINDRED VERSES, organized by Carolyn Gutierrez-Abanggan et al

*  EVIDENCE OF FETUS DIVERSITY, poetry + 1 anthology edited by Eileen R. Tabios

GENERALLY, SIR, A DISQUIETING SITUATION, a visual poetry collaboration between Bill Berkson and Michael Goldberg

EROTOPLASTY 1, literary journal edited by Colin Marshall

THE POETRY PROJECT Newsletter, Feb./March 2018 edited by Marwa Helal

WE ARE NOT ALONE: STORIES OF MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS curated by Ann W. Shannon and Skye Noir

* THE OBU MANIFESTOS

WAY OUT THERE: LYRICAL ESSAYS by Michael Daley

WILLIAM T. WILLIAMS, an art monograph for William T. Williams

THE DIARY OF A BOOKSELLER, memoir by Shaun Bythell

THE PRIVATE PAPERS OF A BANKRUPT BOOKSELLER, faux memoir by Will Y. Darling

THE YELLOW-LIGHTED BOOKSHOP, memoir by Lewis Buzbee

THE LITTLE BOOKSTORE OF BIG STONE GAP, memoir by Wendy Welch

EIGHT MONTHS IN PROVENCE: A JUNIOR YEAR ABROAD 30 YEARS LATER, memoir by Diane Covington-Carter

LENAPE, history by Cecile Culp

RED SWAN, novel by P.T. Deutermann

WINES

2009 Chianti Rufina Fattoria Selvapiana Vignetto Bucerchiale

2009 Flor De PIngus Ribera Del Duero

1/2 bottle of Krug Grand Cuvee

2005 Hundred Acre Kayli Morgan

1/2 bottle of 1995 Dow’s Quinta Do Bomfim

2007 Ch. De Fieuzal sauvignon blanc

2006 Tattinger champagne

2012 Dogliani

2003 Hare’s Chase shiraz Barossa Valley

2007 Vina Eguia Rioja Reserva

2013 Spottswoode Estate Cabernet

2001 Livio Sassetti Brunello di Montalcino Reserva

1/2 bottle of 1994 Warres

2014 Calera pinot noir Central Coast

1995 Vega Sicilia

2014 Somnium NV cabernet

2002 Hutton Vale

2009 Dal Forno Romano Valpolicella

Taylor 10-Year Tawny

2013 Seavey chardonnay

2013 Seavey merlot

2013 Seavey cabernet

2014 Seavey cabernet

2015 Frank Family pinot noir

2010 Monsanto Chianti Classico

[2014] Behrens and Drinkward cabernet

[2015-16] Behrens and Drinkward sauvignon blanc