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Mailbox Monday #129

Mailbox Mondays (click the icon at the right to check out the new blog) has gone on tour since Marcia at A Girl and Her Books, formerly The Printed Page passed the torch.  This month our host is Mari of MariReads.  Kristi of The Story Siren continues to sponsor her In My Mailbox meme.  Both of these memes allow bloggers to share what books they receive in the mail or through other means over the past week.

Just be warned that these posts can increase your TBR piles and wish lists.

Here’s what I received this week:

1.  The Astral by Kate Christensen, randomly from Random House.

2.  The Girl in the Garden by Kamala Nair for a TLC Book Tour.

3.  10th Anniversary by James Patterson borrowed from my mom.

4. War & Watermelon by Rich Wallace for a June TLC Book Tour.

What did you receive in your mailbox?

99th Virtual Poetry Circle

Welcome to the 99th Virtual Poetry Circle!

We’re getting down to the 100th Virtual Poetry Circle and it is likely to coincide with my 4th blogiversary next month, so I’m soliciting suggestions for a grand giveaway.

Please leave your suggestions along with your impressions of today’s poem in the comments.

Remember, this is just for fun and is not meant to be stressful.

Keep in mind what Molly Peacock’s books suggested. Look at a line, a stanza, sentences, and images; describe what you like or don’t like; and offer an opinion. If you missed my review of her book, check it out here.

Also, sign up for the 2011 Fearless Poetry Reading Challenge because its simple; you only need to read 1 book of poetry.  Please contribute to the growing list of 2011 Indie Lit Award Poetry Suggestions, visit the stops on the National Poetry Month Blog Tour from April.

You may have missed my Facebook and Twitter posts about the latest poetry discovery.  But today’s poem from E.E. Cummings is that poem recently discovered among some archived letters of The Dial.  I’m providing a snippet of the poem here, but to read the full poem, click on the link above.

(tonite
in nigger
street

the snow is perfectly falling,

the noiselessly snow is
sexually fingering the utterly asleep

houses)

Let me know your thoughts, ideas, feelings, impressions. Let’s have a great discussion…pick a line, pick an image, pick a sentence.

I’ve you missed the other Virtual Poetry Circles. It’s never too late to join the discussion.

Armchair BEA: Blogging about Savvy Verse & Wit

Armchair BEA has followed many of the activities from Book Expo America in New York City, including the expo floor, panel discussions, what book bloggers are finding in terms of ARCs, and interviewing authors and others.

Today, with the Book Blogger Convention (please check out the agenda), the organizers of Armchair BEA asked for participants to think about their blogs and blogging.

I’m taking my queue from the Armchair BEA blogger interviews earlier in the week, in which some bloggers touched upon the dos and don’ts of blogging and gaining “followers.”

I’m not big on just gaining followers, BUT I am interested in gaining readers.  Whether all my readers comment or not, I know you’re still reading and if you’re reading, you must be getting something from my posts.

I struggled for a long time about whether poetry should continue to be a focus on the blog because the posts rarely received comments and as a fledgling blog, it had very few readers.  However, after discussing possible alternatives and focuses with myself and Anna, I came to the conclusion that poetry is my passion.  Even if the blog had one comment (Anna!), it was out there on the Internet and could be found through a quick search of keywords.  While the post may not receive immediate responses, readers will find the post eventually.

In that vein, some characteristics I think you should have in order to have a successful blog include passion, determination, and patience.  Without these, blogging will be a fad . . . a fleeting moment in time for you.  Moreover, it will be a frustrating endeavor as you watch your stats, chomping at the bit for new “followers” and screaming “why” when some “followers” disappear.

Blogging is a learning process, and I’m just now learning the life-blogging balance as a new mother.  When we didn’t have a child, it was easier to take up the computer and start blogging away, but now there are feedings every three hours, diapers to change, and crankiness to alleviate.

I wouldn’t trade my daughter, “Wiggles,” for anything in the world, but it does make it more difficult to find time to read, write reviews, comment on blogs, and be on social media.  I know the blog will be around because I’ve still got the passion driving me, the determination to keep going even when I’m exhausted, and the patience to wait for those few available moments to sit down and write.

How about you?  What’s your blogging story?

An Interview With Poet Charles Jensen

Poet Charles Jensen

This week at the Poetry Blog of 32 Poems Magazine my interview with poet Charles Jensen was posted. He’s a contributor to the magazine and was a delight to interview.  I’m especially impressed with his answer to the elitist myth about poetry, since I feel the same way about the issue.

First, let me tantalize you with a bit from the interview, and then you can go on over and check the rest out for yourself.

Without further ado, here’s the interview.

Do you have any obsessions that you would like to share?

I’m pretty sure none of them are secrets. I love some aspects of “low” culture like trash pop music. I aspire to find ways to sew that into my work as a poet somehow. I am also really connected to film, both as a narrative art and as a form. Physical aspects of film are closely related to the work of poetry for me. I give extensive thought to sequencing, montage, collage, and narrative. Any two things placed in juxtaposition create a narrative. There’s a great story of the Kuleshov Effect, wherein an audience’s construction of narrative changes when the same photo of a person (mostly expressionless) is interspersed with a shot of soup or a shot of a baby, for instance. In the soup narrative, the audience describes the man as looking hungry. In the baby narrative, he looks happy. That effect of context is something I carry with me–how do individual poems, individual lines, individual images speak to each other?

Poetry is often considered elitist or inaccessible by mainstream readers. Do poets have an obligation to dispel that myth and how do you think it could be accomplished?

Poetry itself is none of those things. It is the attitude of the reader that determines what poetry is. The only way to dispel the myth is for people to encounter poetry on their own. I always liken it to television. If you had never seen television in your entire life and then one day turned it on, only to see Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, you might say, “Gosh, I hate television.” But most of us realize that television is a multi-dimensional form with various strategies aimed at different audiences. If you watch television long enough, you will find something that speaks to you. This is true, too, of poetry. But because the poetry world has a reputation of being closed, or because it is taught in high school as a “symbolic” art practiced by dead white people, it loses a lot of its contemporary allure. I think now, more than ever, poetry strives to be egalitarian in a lot of ways–people just need to look.

Please describe your writing space and how it would differ from your ideal writing space.

It is always a total disaster–I would change that! My apartment is very small and my desk is very big–about 30% of my living room. The window is behind me. The room gets almost no natural light. It is absolutely not my ideal writing space. In Phoenix, I had a loft apartment with 20′ ceilings, 17 feet of which were windows. My desk sat up in the loft area, overlooking the living room, facing all the windows and light. That was an amazing place to write. I miss it every day.

He also included a poem for readers to check out:

IT WAS OCTOBER
–for Matthew Shepard

I was love when I entered the bar
shivering in my thin t-shirt and ripped jeans
and I was love when I left that place, tugged along at the wrist
as though tied, with a man I did not know.

I was love there in the morning
when our sour kisses bore the peat of rotten leaves,
fallen October leaves. And it was love that we kissed anyway, not knowing each other’s names.

I was love in that bed
and I was love in the hall and down the stairs and into the freezing rain.

I was love with hands punched deep
into the pockets of a coat.
I was love coated in frozen rain.

Back home, I was love stripped of the cigarette-stung shirt, love pulling the stiff jeans from my legs.
I dried my hair and I was love.

It was October. What did I know of love that year,
shuddering in my nervous skin. Miles away, the boy was lashed to a fence and shivering.

Where that place turned red and the ground soaked through
with what he was, I was love.

What did I know of love then
but that it wasn’t enough.

About the Poet:

Charles Jensen is the author of three chapbooks of poems and The First Risk, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County and is a co-chair of the Emerging Leader Council of Americans for the Arts. Check out his Website. He’s also a poetry editor with lethe press.

Please check out the rest of the interview on 32 Poems Blog.

Armchair BEA: Interview with The True Book Addict

Hello and welcome to Savvy Verse & Wit.  I’m participating in Armchair BEA for the first time, since I was unable to attend this year for the best of reasons, my new infant daughter (“Wiggles”).

I love interviewing authors, publishers, and other bloggers, so I was excited to find out that one of the activities for this year’s Armchair BEA was to interview another blogger.

Today, you’re going to meet Michelle of The True Book Addict, who loves historical fiction and has a great blog; if you haven’t been there, nothing will stop you from checking it out this week, especially after this interview.

1.  My first question is about the origins of your blog, The True Book Addict.  Did you start blogging about books or did it spin off from other blogs or transform from one type of blog into a book blog?

Before I knew there was such a thing as “book blogs”, I created a MySpace page centered around my being a book addict (The Book Addict).  I had a little blog on there on which I wrote my thoughts about books, but I think maybe one person ever read it. *L*  I met Ryan (Wordsmithonia) on Twitter, and he introduced me to Blogger and book blogging and the rest is history.  I initially named my blog, The Book Addict, like my MySpace page, but soon learned that someone else was using it, hence The True Book Addict.  My reasoning behind this name?  Not true in the sense that I’m the only “true” book addict, but that I am “true” to books!

2.  Were you a book blog reader before starting your own blog? If so, which blogs did you read before beginning your own?

Honestly, as I mentioned, I had no clue about book blogs! The only blog I read was a friend I met on MySpace, author Lisa Kessler.  She had a blog over there and I read her weekly posts.  Lisa just recently got a publishing contract for one of her book series so I can honestly say I knew her when!

3.  Not only do you review books on your blog, but you also are researching your first novel.  Is it historical fiction like many of the books you read, and have those books inspired your novel and how?

I have so many ideas in my head, and yes, they are usually historical . . . sometimes with a paranormal or fantastical twist.  What I’m currently researching is historical.  The historical novels I read inspire me every day, but they also make me realize just how daunting a task writing a historical novel can be.

4.  Here’s a tough question.  As an outsider coming into the book blogging community, did you find it welcoming or did you feel like there were certain cliques that made you feel ostracized?

In my first few months, there was a kind of snafu on the blogs that grew out of a discussion on Twitter.  Something to do with the dos and don’t of your blog.  Some of the things were: you shouldn’t have music on your blog, you shouldn’t have a large header, and other stuff I can’t even remember.  I had a playlist on my blog and many people had already told me they liked it.  But I still felt like I was doing it wrong and I felt kind of bad about my blog, at first.

Then I got to thinking.  We started these blogs for ourselves (at least, I did).  I mean it’s important to accommodate your readers, but it’s also important to be true to yourself.  So, one playlist and large header and almost two years later, I’m still hanging in.  I’m proud of my blog, I love my followers, and I adore the book blogging community.  What at first came across as very clique-y has grown into a home away from home!

5.  Do you think that Armchair BEA will provide you with a similar experience to that of attending the actual convention? Why or why not?

I think what Armchair BEA provides that is similar to being at the convention in person is the sense of camaraderie that meeting up with fellow bloggers supplies.  Yeah, sure, we’re not meeting authors in person or rooming or eating out together, but we are still bonding as a group with Armchair BEA and I think that’s a lovely substitute.

6.  What makes you want to lurk on people’s blogs, but not comment?  And what kinds of posts do you find yourself commenting on most often?

Honestly, I just follow a TON of blogs so I really can’t comment on every review/post.  I would never be off the computer! I do comment on reviews of books I have read and/or books that I’m really interested in.  I try to reciprocate with those who comment often on my blog.  You know, return the favor, so to speak.  I find myself commenting more frequently on topics that interest me the most.  History, historical fiction, posts about peoples’ pets, especially cats, encouragement to people who are having a hard time of it.  And I do always try to make a meaningful comment so I do not want to just stop and say, “great review”, although I have done it.  I am a work in progress though so for those of you out there (ahem…Serena) that I have exposed to my lurking, I WILL try to do better!

Michelle's Boys

7.  Finally, tell us a little more about you.  Some of your quirks, loves, obsessions, and dislikes about blogging, reviewing books, or just anything in life.

Where do I start?  So many quirks and obsessions…and loves! This might be a quirk or an obsession.  I own over 3000 books! That’s right, ladies and gentlemen! 1900+ fiction and the rest non-fiction and Christmas books.  And I.keep.buying.more!

I love being a mother.  I have two sons and they can be quite the handful, but they bring joy to my life every day.  I ADORE cats! Hence the Cat Thursday meme every week.  I am very passionate about history and was a history major until recently. Hoping to be able to finish my degree someday.

Alice

I love blogging and reviewing books, but sometimes it can feel like a chore.  I had taken on way too many review books and then had a major illness last summer so fell WAY behind.  I’ve since stopped accepting review books, except for special cases.  It’s hard for me to resist books in the historical genre (and sometimes horror and fantasy too).  But I’m proud of myself.  I’ve been resisting temptation fairly well.

Thank you, Serena, for the wonderful questions.  I hope I didn’t ramble on too much!

You’re welcome and it was a pleasure.  I hope you’ll feel more comfortable to come out of hiding, my lurking friend.  No, you didn’t ramble at all!  It was great getting to know a little bit about you, your blog, and your thoughts on the blogging community.

Looking for an interview with me?  Check out The Story Factory Reading Zone.

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

Broken down into sessions with a therapist and told in first person point of view, Still Missing by Chevy Stevens provides just the right amount of mystery and tension as Annie’s ordeal is revealed.  Readers should be prepared for a severely broken character from page one, which becomes apparent from the first word she utters to her therapist.  Annie is angry and still scared, and she struggles to tell her story.  The only comfort she has with her therapist is that she’s set the ground rules, and in this way, she has become similar to her abductor.

The jarring narrative style is perfect for the mystery and terror of this story, and Stevens has deftly created an angry and disillusioned character who feels abandonment down to her core.  Cracking her tough exterior is a slow process for the therapy sessions, and there are moments where readers will want the pace to pick up, but Stevens has set the pace appropriately to lead up to the twist at the end.

“Worse, I’ve become one of them–the whiny, depressing people who have no problem telling you exactly how shitty their end of the stick is.  All delivered in a tone of voice that makes it clear they not only got the wrong end, you got the one that was supposed to be theirs.” (page 29 of ARC)

During a couple of moments in the novel, Annie contends she’s watched enough crime dramas and read enough books to know about the criminal mind — at least in part — but then proceeds to “appease” her abductor as he tries to force himself upon her to protect her friend from him, even though from the beginning it has been obvious that he prefers her to express fear because it arouses him.  This may be a bit nit-picky, but given the set up, readers may find it inconsistent with Annie’s earlier characterization of herself.

Stevens successfully creates a character who is tough to love or even sympathize with as she pushes away everyone in her life, including her devoted boyfriend, especially when all readers see of her relationships are from her point of view.  Why does Luke remain devoted while she’s gone, why does her mother take her in if she’s so callous and drunk all the time, etc.?  The mystery of her kidnapping is revealed slowly throughout the therapy sessions, which move through “present” events more rapidly near the end of the book.  Readers may see the ending coming before it gets there if they’re intuitive and looking for clues along the way, and the final line of the book is very trite.  However, the action and suspense created by Stevens’ narrative style make the journey worthwhile.

Annie in many ways is still missing even after she’s returned home, and she was even partially missing before she was abducted.  Still Missing will provide readers and book clubs with a great deal to discuss about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), abduction, rape, and other horrifying events.

About the Today’s Exclusive Online Event:

The paperback release of Still Missing hits stores today, and in honor of that event, BookTrib is holding an online chat and giveaway with the author Chevy Stevens at 3 PM.  In addition to the online chat, the event will include exclusive video from the author and 10 gift bags for the giveaway.  Don’t miss out!

About the Author:

Chevy Stevens grew up on a ranch on Vancouver Island and still calls the island home. For most of her adult life she worked in sales, first as a rep for a giftware company and then as a Realtor. At open houses, waiting between potential buyers, she spent hours scaring herself with thoughts of horrible things that could happen to her. Her most terrifying scenario, which began with being abducted, was the inspiration for STILL MISSING. After six months Chevy sold her house and left real estate so she could finish the book.

Chevy enjoys writing thrillers that allow her to blend her interest in family dynamics with her love of the west coast lifestyle. When she’s not working on her next book, she’s hiking with her husband and dog in the local mountains.  Please also check out her blog, follow her on Twitter, and on Facebook.

 

This is my 21st book for the 2011 New Authors Reading Challenge.

 

 

This is my 12th book for the 2011 Wish I’d Read That Challenge.  I’ve wanted to read this since I received a copy from Shelf Awareness.

Welcome to My First Armchair BEA

I’ve been to Book Expo America in the past, but this year, I had to opt out and spend time with my newborn daughter, “Wiggles.”  So . . . this is my first Armchair BEA!

I’m taking my experience with this event slowly.  I’ve got an intro post (see this post) and an interview later in the week with another participant, who’s been a lurker of my own blog!  I finally get to find out who one of my lurkers is!  That makes me smile.  I’m hoping more lurkers will start saying hi!

Ok, so me?!  I’m a new mother to a baby girl, “Wiggles,” and I’ve been blogging at Savvy Verse & Wit for nearly 4 years (the blogiversary is next month).  What genres do I read?  Everything!  Ok, not everything . . . no westerns . . . no cheesy romance  . . . no self-help . . . you get the idea.  What’s one of my favorite genres?  POETRY!  If you don’t believe me, check out some of my recent reviews and the Fearless Poetry Reading Challenge I’m hosting this year. Oh, and I’m heading up the voting committee for the Indie Lit Awards in Poetry! (Please submit any 2011 titles for consideration in September, and if you want to add them to my suggestion list, please do.)

Please do feel free to poke around the blog, there’s a handy navigation bar at the top with guest posts, interviews, challenges, memes, etc.  And an easy to use search engine, and of course, the necessary places to link up to the blog or me on social networking and book sites.

What I’m most looking forward to?  The interviews of course.  I just love those, but I’m just taking it one day at a time and poking around.  Maybe I’ll start lurking on some of your blogs.  Better watch out because I’m looking at you! 🙂

Gaithersburg Book Festival

The Gaithersburg Book Festival is a family-oriented event, with a number of activities for kids of most ages.  From making crafts to enjoying story time with Dr. Seuss, kids were running around and laughing.

The layout of the tents is circuitous, but at least there were enough trees to provide shade.  A number of tents housed sponsors of the event, and some of them had nothing to do with books or reading.  However, this shows that support for reading is still out there among companies.  Members of First Book, the Writers Center (Hi, Kyle!), local authors, local publishers (Hi, Dan of Atticus Books), and more were on hand to discuss their various programs and books.

There were demonstrations, music, and readings, plus workshops.  Unfortunately, I was a bit distracted looking for a bathroom with a changing table for about 15 minutes as the information booth volunteers weren’t that helpful.  We ended up in city hall using a desk — a bit inconvenient.  We did get a chance to check out the book buying tent by Barnes & Noble and the Friends of the Library used book sale, which was mostly kids books — books geared for those reading on their own.  I did learn a little bit about the Reading Tree — Books for Charity and their drive to collect books and recycle them back into the school system and among disadvantaged/needy families in the local area.  What a great cause, and it keeps those used books out of landfills.

One of the most entertaining events in the kids tent was the Unicycle/Recycle lady.  I’ve included a picture of her, but you can check out more photos of her, here (you’ll also see some photos of us and Wiggles).  She had a dog/sidekick named Enzo, which I wondered if he was named after Garth Stein’s Enzo.  They fight against litterbugs together, and the dog does tricks…though not always when he’s supposed to.  It was certainly entertaining, but she was getting shooed off the stage because her program ran over.  We thought she needed an assistant to set up her juggling stuff and various unicycles for her, since that took the longest.

Overall, the event was a small family event that allows kids and parents some time outside on a nice sunny day.  Kids learn new things and enjoy crafts, while parents get to listen to their favorite local and not-so-local authors.

Mailbox Monday #128; Library Loot #3

Mailbox Mondays (click the icon at the right to check out the new blog) has gone on tour since Marcia at A Girl and Her Books, formerly The Printed Page passed the torch.  This month our host is Mari Reads .  Kristi of The Story Siren continues to sponsor her In My Mailbox meme.  Both of these memes allow bloggers to share what books they receive in the mail or through other means over the past week.

Just be warned that these posts can increase your TBR piles and wish lists.

Here’s what I received this week:

 

1.  The Decadent Lovely by Amy Pence, which I received for review from the poet.

 

2. Lagan Love by Peter Murphy, which I received for review in July/August.

3. The Snow Whale by John Minichillo, for review from Atticus Books at the Gaithersburg Book Frestival.

 

4. The Great Lenore by J.M. Torline, for review from Atticus Books at the Gaithersburg Book Festival.

Library Loot:

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire and Marg that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!


Horoscopes for the Dead

1. Horoscopes for the Dead by Billy Collins

What did you receive in your mailbox?

98th Virtual Poetry Circle

Welcome to the 98th Virtual Poetry Circle!

Remember, this is just for fun and is not meant to be stressful.

Keep in mind what Molly Peacock’s books suggested. Look at a line, a stanza, sentences, and images; describe what you like or don’t like; and offer an opinion. If you missed my review of her book, check it out here.

Also, sign up for the 2011 Fearless Poetry Reading Challenge because its simple; you only need to read 1 book of poetry.  Please contribute to the growing list of 2011 Indie Lit Award Poetry Suggestions, visit the stops on the National Poetry Month Blog Tour from April.

While I’m off enjoying the Gaithersburg Book Festival, I’m going to leave you to discuss the following poem from David Livingstone Clink‘s collection Monster:

The Soldier (page 35)

If he could speak he’d ask for some food, some water, and you’d invite
him in. Taking off his boots and putting his feet up, he’d sip lemonade
with you on the back porch. He’d talk about where he grew up, which
sports he played, and the women he knew. He’d say this place is very
much like the place he grew up in, but the sky seemed bigger in his
hometown. You’d ask if he wanted to stay for the BBQ, and he’d surprise
you by saying yes. He’d eat his fill, wash it down with a few beers. Before
it gets dark he’d say he lost his map. Can you tell me where the enemy
is? he would ask, and you’d point beyond the trees, and he’d thank you
for your hospitality, and he’d be off, walking in the direction of those
trees. But no, the faceless soldier cannot speak, you don’t strike up a
conversation, you don’t invite him in. He passes your house and you
get a sense of relief as you watch him become some distant memory, become
the landscape, the soldier as much a part of the world as that distant
mountain that draws everything in, even the clouds.

Let me know your thoughts, ideas, feelings, impressions. Let’s have a great discussion…pick a line, pick an image, pick a sentence.

I’ve you missed the other Virtual Poetry Circles. It’s never too late to join the discussion.

Monster by David Livingstone Clink

Monster by David Livingstone Clink, published by small publisher Tightrope Books, is a collection broken into five parts and is dedicated to those who “dreamed of monsters under the bed.”  What an appropriate dedication, as there is an undercurrent of menace to some of these poems.  Beyond the shapeshifters, the aliens, and the other monsters that go bump in the night, Clink is drawing out the mischief and the darkness within each of us.  While we are human, there is a baser nature beneath the civility that he calls attention to, warning us to remain wary and yet accepting of that nature.

In “Pantoum for a Recent Kill” (page 36), the narrator highlights the need of humanity to categorize even dead bodies, to shape them within a context, providing them meaning even if no meaning exists.  While we want to examine these corpses (whether they are literal or figurative) in great detail and pose them as we see fit, we also shy away from the pleasure of it and of acknowledging this darker desire to get involved on our basest level.  “In putting an end to something braver than us/cut the corpse into small pieces.  Bury it deep/and turn away with relief that this isn’t you.//”  Additionally, readers may notice a slight disdain in the lines chosen by Clink; the narrator seems to be sarcastic about the actions of the denier who “buries it deep.”  Perhaps Clink is discussing the corpses of our past selves or the past selves mentioned throughout history and lore, but no matter which corpses he is referring to, it is clear that he wants to break through the fear of self-examination.

Above Us (page 50)
-after Julia Hartwig’s ‘Above Us’

Running until they are tired, out of space,
boys cast shadows in the dwindling light

of a vast square, the soccer ball bouncing,
ending this day with awe and consolation.

This completes another cycle in dying–
the boys turn home, talk excitedly,

the soccer ball having its own language
that had to be kicked out of it to be heard.

Moving through the parts of the collection, readers will note a progression in the narration from the fantastical to the more concrete, but even in these different poems the undercurrent of menace and darkness continues.  However, the narration changes from a questioning of its existence to a denial of its existence to an acceptance.  From “The Airships Take Us, Even as We Blow Out the Last Candle” (page 27), “The darkness did not come on like a tarantula./It was always here./It is penetrated by man-made machines/muscling into the night,/by two young women on a downtown bus/with blue streaks in their hair, whispering,/Calvary, and, Hosanna.//”

Through playful language and use of creative poetic forms (from pantoum to cross-reading — “Weathered Remains” on page 24 being one of the best cross-reading poems in the collection), Clink will make readers take pause to rethink each line and their own preconceptions about their humanity, while at the same time celebrating what makes us human in the darkness.  Overall, Clink’s use of language and poetic form in Monster creates a surreal malaise that readers will swim in, searching for an exit but enticed to stay to uncover the dark truth about themselves.  A dark truth that is worth knowing so that they can move beyond it to a more mindful life.  Another winner in poetry for the year.

David Clink; Copyright Geoff George

About the Poet:

His first book of poetry was released from Tightrope Books in the Spring of 2008. It is called “Eating Fruit Out of Season.”

David is a member of The League of Canadian Poets.  Check out his Website, Poetry Machine.

 

 

 

This is my 20th book for the 2011 New Authors Reading Challenge.

 


This is my 13th book for the Fearless Poetry Exploration Reading Challenge.

Gaithersburg, MD, Book Festival

Gaithersburg, Md., has its own book festival once a year, and this is the first time I’ve heard of it.  Thank goodness for Facebook!

The festival happens this Saturday, May 21, and will feature some old favorites like Aviva Goldfarb (with a cooking demonstration) and Sarah Pekkanen.  Check out the list of authors at the festival; here’s the whole list.  Also check out the book signing schedule.

Beyond the panel discussions, there also are free workshops and those you must pay for (and for $10 how can you go wrong?).

From young adult and children’s books to adult fiction and nonfiction, this festival has it all, and there are local authors leading workshops and panel discussions.  What I’m most looking forward to is the Friends of the Library used book sale (naturally) and the poetry readings at the Ogden Nash Coffee House.

What’s the best part?  The festival is free to enter and the parking is free too!

Have you been to the Gaithersburg Book Festival?  What are you waiting for?

Be there on the Gaithersburg City Hall Grounds, Saturday May 21, between 10 am and 6 pm.