Literature and Poetry Reviews, Home of the Virtual Poetry Circle
Thank you to everyone who entered my latest giveaways.
The winner of The Tudor Rose by Margaret Campbell Barnes was Renee.
The winners of The Last Dickens by Matthew Pearl were HaleyKnitz of Haleymathiot.webs.com and Debbie Rodgers.
Congrats to all the winners.
Thanks to all of you who entered, and be sure to check out the other giveaways I have going; they’re listed on the right-hand sidebar.
John Amen’s More of Me Disappears is broken down into three separate sections and each poem in each section is accessible, vivid, and explosive. In a number of poems, Amen’s musical and song writing talents permeate the lines. However, these are more than rhythmic dances, his work gradually moves toward a vanishing point.
From Verboten (Page 17)
“They are drinking wine and speaking
of French-U.S. relations when the long
sleeve on her arm falls down. Before
she can clutch it, I see the faded blue
tattoo on her flesh. “What are those
numbers?” I ask. A silence explodes
through the room like spores.”
Each poem in this collection tells a story, reflects on a bright memory, and picks these events apart to reveal the truth beneath. There are times in this volume when the narrator is sure of his path and at other times ideas run contrary to one another. Some of my favorite lines will leave readers squirming or gritting their teeth.
From Walking Unsure of Myself (Page 65)
“The fortune teller is battling a migraine.
Wind has swallowed my itinerary.A man in blue goggles is on his knees outside the bank.
The rape victim is scrubbing herself with a steel brush.”
Readers will enjoy the music of these poems and how these poems pop off the pages, with an in your face quality. Subtlety is not a prevalent style in Amen’s work, but readers will appreciate his frankness. From poems where the narrator takes an active role to poems to observances from a distance, Amen draws the reader in with immediate and concrete details. One of the best collections I’ve read in 2009.
New York Memory #3 (Page 36)
“When I get to my dead father’s apartment,
Liz emerges from ruptured planks and exploded plaster.
She is covered with soot, like some pagan baptized
in refuse. The wrecking crew has come before
we had a chance to vacate the place, stripped the loft
to its skeleton. My father’s furniture has been destroyed,
a lifetime buried beneath an avalanche of wood and iron.
Beds have been gutted, paintings raped by protruding nails.
A fast-food cup rises from the ruin like a conqueror’s flag.
The apartment is quickly remodeled, rent raised;
the revolving door of humanity spins. Over the years,
I make a point of knowing who is living there. I see tenants
come and go. I accept that we’re not so unlike animals.
I mean, I have this friend who tells me all about bees,
how the queen is revered and protected, ultimately
replaced in a savage deposition, how the mad
hive continues, greater than any one member.
And everything he says sounds familiar, and stings.”
I want to thank John Amen for sending me a free copy of his book More of Me Disappears for review. For additional examples from this book, visit John Amen’s Web site.
Also, clicking on images and text links to books will bring you to my Amazon Affiliate page. No purchases are required.
This is my 6th book for the poetry review challenge.
Carta Marina was the first largely accurate map of the Northern Countries, completed by the Swedish historian Olaus Magnus in 1539. Ann Fisher-Wirth has taken her inspiration from this map–complete with its lions, sea monsters, and warriors–for her poem in three parts–Olaus Magnus’ Carta Marina, The Coming of Winter, and Les Tres Riches Neures.
“When I was young, Yeats said, I wanted to take off my clothes,/
now I want to take off my body.” (From April 3. In the Restaurant, Page 61)
Each poem within the overarching three parts of the larger poem, Carta Marina, chart the story of the narrator as she travels through Sweden and the inner heart and soul. The poems are dated so readers can follow the poet narrator’s progress as they deal with old age, finding a lost love, and incredible loss.
In section one of the poem, readers follow Olaus Magnus on his journey into the north interspersed with email from Paris between lovers. Fisher-Wirth uses a combination of images and stylistic devices to create her own unique account of a cartographer’s journey, but in some cases, the use of the alphabet was a bit difficult to follow and at times distracting. Readers may need to sit with these poems, allowing their meaning to simmer to the surface.
“But in the booth facing me the twenty-first child/
chews stolidly, gazing . . ./
lost in whatever dream, as her duckling-colored//
braids bob and her jaws revolve./
Above her pale blue jacket her eyes meet mine;/
I look away, look back, she is watching me./
In this season of coming winter she is my daughter.//” ( From November 14, Page 33)
The second section of the poem, the narrator is reflecting on her existence and how she relates to those in in her life and life-changing events. But there is also a reflective self-examination of who she once was and how to reconcile that person who is no longer present with the woman she has become. From beautiful and mysterious phrases like “icy mercury blackness” to jarring images such as “Three skulls form the base of the table,” readers will transition from thoughtful to alert awe.
In the final third of the book, Fisher-Wirth incorporates some musical rhythm through repetition. Carta Marina may resemble a cartography of life and aging, but the poem in three parts is a journey, like a journey through the northern lands of Sweden, wrought with harsh weather and rough terrain. The background story behind the map inspiring these poems is intriguing, but readers could find that they will have to take their time with some of these poems, churning over their images like the Baltic Sea.
December 17, 4 a.m.
I know how to find you.
I go where your sleeping
is filled with the shadows
of leaves, where the leaves have
bled their green,
and all that remain are
their skeletons, nearly
transparent, translucent,
and tissue gone blurred as
the moon among clouds, as
the fur on a moth’s wing,
and tips as if trailing
through water . . .Such leaves are not common.
In this snowy country
they cherish them, save them,
the white skelettbladen–
like us, they have died, to
become more enduring.
(From Page 47)
I’d like to thank Ann Fisher-Wirth (click her name for my interview) for sending me a free copy of her book, Carta Marina, for review. Also, clicking on images and text links to books will bring you to my Amazon Affiliate page. No purchases are required.
This is my 5th book for the poetry review challenge.
Claudia Burbank recently agreed to an interview with myself and 32 Poems. And here is what she had to say.
How would you introduce yourself to a crowded room eager to hang on your every word? Are you just a poet, what else should people know about you?
I’ve come to writing after retiring from the corporate world (telecommunications). I was one of those road warriors you see running through the airport. I knew I was traveling too much when the airline crew celebrated my birthday. Lacking a background in English or writing I had to start from scratch. Reading has been a lifelong delight though.
I’m a graduate of Vassar College and a 30 year subscriber to the Metropolitan Opera in NYC. Few people know I’m proficient at wallpapering and installed a tub surround with sliding glass doors by myself.
I received a Fellowship in poetry from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, won the Inkwell Award (Alice Quinn, judge), and had my work featured on Verse Daily. I’ve published about 90 poems so far, most recently in Subtropics, Hotel Amerika, and Passages North.
Do you see spoken word, performance, or written poetry as more powerful or powerful in different ways and why? Also, do you believe that writing can be an equalizer to help humanity become more tolerant or collaborative? Why or why not?
Most writers are better at writing than reading their work aloud which often tends to be dull, interminable, largely indistinguishable and unmemorable.
The written word tends to be more powerful and lasting and easier to grasp. Studies show that the brain is actively engaged in creating the experience when you read as opposed to being a passive listener. If your mind wanders you can simply start over.
On the second question: if only.
Do you have any obsessions that you would like to share?
I tend to be obsessive about most things I do. This month that includes Ken Ken puzzles, keeping my teeth extra clean, and the adagio from Beethoven’s “Emperor Concerto.”
If you’ve enjoyed Claudia’s answers so far, I suggest you check out the rest of my interview with her over at 32 Poems Blog. Once there, you can find out about her workspace, her inspirations, and much more. Feel free to leave me comments about her interview or your thoughts on poetry in general.
I wanted to provide you with an update on my read-a-thon success. I read two poetry books–Carta Marina and More of Me Disappears–last weekend, which means I will be donating $10 to poets.org.
If you read a book of poetry or more during the last read-a-thon, please let me know and leave me a link to your read-a-thon posting about the book, and I will increase my donation by $2 per book.
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In other news, you may have missed some great interviews with the authors of When You Went Away and The Last Dickens. They have been posted on D.C. Literature Examiner. Check out my interview with Michael Baron, here and here, and with Matthew Pearl, here and here. I’ve also got a great video-ful post of the Hilda Stern Cohen reading.
Subscribe to my email feed of D.C. Literature Examiner or my rss feed.
Cara at Ooh…Books has started a new meme on Wednesdays called FreeVerse to introduce poetry to new and old readers in a variety of ways.
I took my cue from Cara today and decided to post a YouTube video in which Christopher Walken reads Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven.
Check it out, feel free to leave your impressions, and please do check out Cara’s Edgar Allan Poe reading by one of my favorites Vincent Price.
Don’t forget Virtual Poetry Circle on Saturdays, every week. Check it out, come participate–no pressure, really!! 🙂
PrintRunner has offered to give 250 business cards each to 4 readers of my blog.
PrintRunner offers a wide variety of printing services including business cards, brochures, flyers, posters.
PrintRunner’s business cards have water resistant UV coating and are on premium 14pt card stock. Cards can be full-color, black and white, one sided, and more. Even for those that don’t have their own designs ready, Printrunner offers a number of templates for customers to use.
Printrunner offers quotes on custom products for customers unable to fulfill their needs with the firm’s standard services.
If you’re a blogger in need of business cards, all you have to do is enter a comment on this post about what you would use them for or what designs you have in mind before Nov. 6, 2009 at 11:59 PM. Â
I will select 4 winners on Nov. 7.
Easy Peasy! Get to Work!
Douglas Jacobson’s Night of Flames is a gritty “spy” novel set during World War II beginning in 1939 during the invasion of Poland by the Nazis. The main protagonists Anna and Jan Kopernik are separated by war and face near misses with the wrath of the Germans. Anna joins the resistance in Belgium reluctantly, while Jan jumps at the opportunity to help MI6 on a secret mission in Poland with the hope that he can find his wife.
“Anna’s eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright. The shrill sound blasted into her brain, penetrating through the fog of sleep like an icy wind. She blinked and looked around the dark room, trying to focus on shadowy images as the sound wailed on and on.” (Page 11)
Anna is in Poland with her friend, Irene, and her son when the bombings start in earnest, leaving them and their driver very few options on the way back to Krakow and her father, a professor at the local university. Anna is hit by significant loss and constant worry about her husband, who’s career is with the Polish military. Night of Flames is a fast-paced novel that pushed through the front lines and skulks in the shadows of the resistance.
“‘The best thing any of us can do is try and keep out of their way, and if you get stopped or challenged, be as cooperative as you can.’
‘So you’re telling us to act like house pets in our own city.'” (Page 65)
Jacobson’s no-nonsense writing style will place readers in the heart of the resistance, though some readers could get bogged down by the military strategy and direction, such as how the resistance used holes dug in the earth to hold lanterns that were lit to signal the Allies as to where to drop supplies. Readers will either enjoy the detailed strategy or wish for a greater focus on the characters. Anna is the most developed of the two protagonists, though Jacobson does give each nearly equal time through alternating chapters. These chapters help build tension, leaving the reader in suspense as to whether they will ever be reunited.
Readers who enjoy learning about World War II and who enjoy spy novels will like this novel. But Night of Flames is more than just a war novel; it is about how ordinary citizens can rise up to reclaim their homeland and their dignity in the face of adversity signifying an indelible human spirit.
Check out this video for Night of Flames:
I want to thank Douglas Jacobson, McBooks Press, and Pump Up Your Book Promotion for sending me a free copy of Night of Flames to review. If you click on the title links, you’ll be taken to my Amazon Affiliate page, but there is no obligation to buy.
They’ve also kindly provided an additional copy for one reader of my blog from anywhere in the world. To Enter:
1. Leave a comment on this post.
2. Check out the War Through the Generations blog and leave me a relevant comment here about something you read or learned.
3. Blog, Tweet, and spread the word about the giveaway and leave a comment here.
Deadline is Nov. 4, 2009, at 11:59 PM EST
This marks the 7th book I’ve read for the WWII Reading Challenge. Though I officially met my goal of reading 5 WWII-related books some time ago, I’ve continued to find them on my shelves and review them here. I’m sure there will be more, stay tuned.
From Carta Marina
December 16
Red taillights lead me uphill, downhill—
I watch them from the bus’s steamy window,
pressing my cheek against cold glass
as I’m carried from the airport past fields and factories,
past Märsta in the midnight
where the old men still hunt elk-moose
till bloody haunches fill their freezers.
It’s not this man or this man, not
these golden daughters or this dream-ravened swaddle:
no, it’s the doors closed or the doors opened,
it’s the heart gone night. The gods
stream back and forth across the threshold.
You can ride it, you know,
get on the dark bus and let it carry you.
That’s how I’ve always been, going home, going nowhere—
uphill, downhill, the taillights like rubies,
past fields where the trees are just darker effacings.
Ann Fisher-Wirth agreed to an interview with myself and 32 Poems. And here is what she had to say.
How would you introduce yourself to a crowded room eager to hang on your every word? Are you just a poet, what else should people know about you?
I’d never say anyone was “just” a poet, because a poet is a pretty amazing thing to be. But writing poetry is not the only thing I do. I teach American literature, poetry workshops and literature courses, and a wide range of courses in environmental studies at the University of Mississippi.
I also teach yoga, and that is a really important part of my life. I’ve been married for nearly 26 years to Peter Wirth. We have five grown children—mine, his, and ours—and rapidly expanding numbers of grandchildren. We live in a very cool old Victorian house with two huge pecan trees in front of it, in Oxford, Mississippi.
I’ve lived in the South for almost 30 years, but I grew up first as an Army brat all over the world, and then in Berkeley, California, so I love to travel and hold many places in my heart.
Do you have any obsessions that you would like to share?
Environmental issues and consciousness-raising are my obsession. Truly they are. I am convinced from everything I’ve read that we have very little time left before we reach a catastrophic tipping point for life on earth. We may already be there.
One helpful book is Lester R. Brown’s Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, which can be downloaded free from the Earth Policy website, and which fully documents how desperate a situation we humans have created environmentally, and how thorough-going and rapid our response must be—far beyond anything now being considered by those in power.
In terms of friendships, have your friendships changed since you began focusing on writing? Are there more writers among your friends or have your relationships remained the same?
It’s true, most of my friends are writers, and if they are not writers they are professors. I have gotten to know hundreds of writers since I began focusing on writing, and some of them have become wonderful friends.
I’m also very close to a number of people I know through the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment—again, writers and academics. But how could I escape it? My mother was a teacher, my sisters, brother-in-law, husband, and two of our five children are all teachers. It’s a great way to live.
If you’ve enjoyed Ann’s answers so far, I suggest you check out the rest of my interview with her over at 32 Poems Blog. Once there, you can find out about her workspace, her inspirations, and much more. Feel free to leave me comments and discuss Ann’s work (sampled above), her interview, or your thoughts on poetry in general.
Welcome to another Mailbox Monday, sponsored by The Printed Page. This is a meme to share your latest library finds, books you bought, ARCs you’ve received and more.
1. An ancient Roman coin from Michelle Moran in appreciation of my interview with her at D.C. Literature Examiner. You can find it here and here. Mine doesn’t look exactly like this, but it is very cool and unexpected. Thanks, Michelle.
Borders delivered the next two for the Sookie Stackhouse Challenge:
2. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
3. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
4. According to Jane by Marilyn Brant, which I won from AuthorBuzz.
5. The Queen’s Mistake by Diane Haeger, which I won from Devourer of Books.
6. Dragon Tattoos for the Stieg Larsson book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I believe I won at Literate Housewife.
What did you get in your mailbox?
1. Which hour was most daunting for you?
16th hour was tough and I eventually succumbed to sleep. But I did get up again about 5:50 AM to finish my 3rd book by 8 AM and the end of the read-a-thon!
2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Sookie Stackhouse series is great to keep you awake and giggling.
3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
On suggestion would be to have fewer challenges that require readers to post on their own blog. You may be too exhausted to participate.
4. What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
The hosts were great and the cheerleaders made the rounds.
5. How many books did you read?
I finished 3 books, the last book right down to the wire at 8 a.m. here. That’s 439 pages. That’s a record for me. These are the books I finished:
1. Carta Marina by Ann Fisher-Wirth
2. More of Me Disappears by John Amen
3. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
6. What were the names of the books you read?
Oops, I alread answered this question!
7. Which book did you enjoy most?
I really enjoyed John Amen’s More of Me Disappears and Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris best.
8. Which did you enjoy least?
Carta Marina by Ann Fisher-Wirth
9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
I wasn’t a cheerleader, but I think they did a great job.
10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I will participate in the next one, though I leave in what capacity up in the air and up to my whims.
