Posts in the Reviews Category at Savvy Verse & Wit, Page 147

Interview With Poet Jehanne Dubrow

March 16, 2009 by Serena

From the Fever-World
By Jehanne Dubrow

In the fever-world, my dearest,

our hands aren’t clean

for very long, the brambles

biting in our palms,

deep thorns across our life lines–

here, even the shrub

surrendering fruit to the picker

resents the sacrifice and wants

its juices given back in blood.

if you are hungry, starve yourself.

Make a desert of your thirst.

Don’t fall asleep

Here, my dearest,

there’s only wilderness where fields

should be, only the blackberries

concealing knives,

cherries pitted with buckshot

to choke the unsuspecting throat,

and peaches whose centers hold

dark stones of cyanide.

– first appeared in The Barn Owl Review

I’ve been working on a interview project with Deborah at 32 Poems magazine, and she kindly allowed me to interview past contributors to the magazine. We will be posting the interviews throughout the coming months, and our seventh interview posted on Deborah’s Poetry Blog of 32 Poems on March 13. I’m going to provide you with a snippet from the interview, but if you want to read the entire interview, I’ll provide you a link for that as well. For now, let me introduce to you 32 Poems contributor, Jehanne Dubrow :

1. 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 suppose one of the most interesting things about me is my nomadic childhood. I was born in a little town in Northern Italy and grew up in Yugoslavia, Zaire, Poland, Belgium, Austria, and the United States. Oh, and when I twenty-years-old, I played a gangrenous valley girl in the movie An American Werewolf in Paris (sadly, I ended up on the cutting room floor). I still remember my line: “Claude’s parties are wack!!!”

2. 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?

For me, written poetry has the emotional force expected of spoken word and performance poetry, while also having a life on the page. I haven’t seen evidence that writing makes us more tolerant or collaborative. Writers tend to be a critical bunch—our craft depends on having a sharp eye and a small sliver of ice in the heart.

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

I have an odd mix of obsessions, half scholarly and half not-so-much: Holocaust studies, American Jewish literature, my dog Argos, midcentury modern design, and Hermes scarves.

4. 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?

Nowhere else in the world do people worry or complain about the elitism of poetry. When Americans complain that poetry is elitist, what they’re really addressing is the strong strain of anti-intellectualism in this country. Americans don’t like to feel stupid, and poetry often makes them feel stupid. I don’t think poetry needs to become less elitist; I think we need to do a better job teaching students how to read poems or, for that matter, how to look at paintings, how to listen to operas, how to watch ballets.

From the Spring Issue of 32 Poems by Jehanne Dubrow:

FRAGMENT FROM A NONEXISTENT YIDDISH POET
Ida Lewin (1906-1938)
AlwaysWinter, Poland

2.

Each year, the chill creeps in
By June, our eaves sharp
with iron icicles, our windows
rattling like teeth against the cold
AlwaysWinter we call this town
because the ground won’t thaw,
no matter how we press skin
to skin,  make a fire from
this friction we call love.
Thistles remain needles, each blade
of grass a blade that slices
to our soles      AlwaysWinter
we say to justify the frozen places
everywhere—the constant
the wind, the tundra buried
deep inside our bones

Want to find out what Jehanne’s writing space looks like? What music she listens to while she writes? Find out what she’s working on now, her obsessions, and much more. Check out the rest of my interview with Jehanne here. Please feel free to comment on the 32 Poems blog and Savvy Verse & Wit.

Jehanne Dubrow’s Bio:

Jehanne Dubrow’s work has appeared in Shenandoah, Poetry Northwest, Gulf Coast, and Prairie Schooner. She is the author of the poetry collection, The Hardship Post, winner of the Three Candles Press First Book Prize (2009), and a chapbook, The Promised Bride (Finishing Line 2007). A second collection, From the Fever-World, won the Washington Writers’ Publishing House Award and will be published in 2009. Her third poetry collection, Stateside, will be released by Northwestern University Press in 2010.

***GIVEAWAY REMINDER***

I also have two copies of Diana Raab‘s My Muse Undresses Me and one copy of Dear Anaïs: My Life in Poems for You. Deadline is March 18 at 5PM EST.

One gently used ARC of Reading by Lightning by Joan Thomas; Deadline is March 20 at Midnight EST.

Filed Under: Interviews, poetry Tagged With: 32 poems magazine, Jehanne Dubrow

Interview With Poet Andrea Defoe

March 14, 2009 by Serena

I’m going to provide you with a snippet from the interview, but if you want to read the entire interview, I’ll provide you a link for that as well.

Previously published in Rattle:

“FOR A PIANO ABANDONED IN THE BREADBASKET“

Perhaps it was too heavy
for the horses to haul it all the way west
or something else just mattered more.
Maybe someone was jealous
of how the girl played it
as if sweet little veeries were flying out her fingertips:
Snow White of the new frontier.
Maybe she hated it, but probably
it was her favorite thing and alone
nights nothing to smother the hollering
silence she rocked herself and thought
of her piano gathering snow, envisioned
the prairie rodents caching their food
between its wires, elk nosing the keys
in a song so random they could only
think of it like thunder. Maybe some Indian
had found it and grasped its beauty, hauled
it home to pay his dowry. But in the best
of these dreams she was sleeping and the piano’s
legs came to life–this didn’t frighten her,
she’d always known her piano was alive–
and worked its sunken heels out of the soil,
began to march then trot in the path
of the last wheels to pass this way
till one wind-rattled night she’d hear
a peculiar tap and find it there in the dark,
waiting for her to make it sing.

For now, let me introduce to you 32 Poems contributor, Andrea Defoe:

1. You are a contributor to 32 Poems, but what else can you tell us about yourself and your writing life? What do you find difficult about your writing practices?

I’m a stay-at-home parent and presently work from a high traffic area of the house, sharing computer time with my husband and three kids. The most difficult aspect for me is finding time to write when there are few distractions (I choose the word “few,” as there is always some). Functioning as a writer with ADHD is challenging for me, as well — particularly when it comes to reading. I have a lot of books that I’ve begun to read, but relatively few that I’ve been able to finish. A great appeal of poetry is that I can pick up a volume of it, open to any page and read a while without that Ugh! Yet another thing I couldn’t finish… feeling.

My greatest preference is to go somewhere quiet and be alone with a collection. I fixate heavily on individual lines and phrasings — often walking away, returning, and rereading several times before I finally feel ready to appreciate a poem as a whole package. When the poem is simply read to me in a straight stretch, I feel deprived of that — and at times it feels like an imposition, being told how to hear a poem. I’m of the mindset that a poem belongs to its reader. Having said that, some people give fabulous readings that truly do lend a strong voice to their work, so I can’t say this is how it is all of the time.

“Writing” is such an encompassing word. Even if it’s narrowed to mean simply “poetry” I do think the potential for impact is still huge. Elizabeth Alexander’s recent reading at President Obama’s inauguration springs most readily to my mind. The reading itself sapped the luster out of a good poem, but the discussion it inspired, the attention turned to poetry, were positive things.

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

I do have an incredibly studly gray cat I call Sir Otter Von Klaus, but I prefer to keep him to myself.

Want to find out what Andrea’s writing space looks like? What music she listens to while she writes? Find out what she’s working on now, her obsessions, and much more. Check out the rest of my interview with Andrea here. Please feel free to comment on the 32 Poems blog and Savvy Verse & Wit.

Poet Bio:

Andrea Defoe lives with her husband, three children and several pets on the Red Cliff Indian Reservation in Wisconsin. Her poems have appeared in various literary journals, most recently Margie, New American Writing, Now Culture and 32 Poems. In addition to writing she enjoys drawing and painting, but is quite bad at both.

***GIVEAWAY REMINDER***

I have two copies up for grabs of Sharon Lathan’s Mr. & Mrs. Darcy: Two Shall Become One; the giveaway is international and the deadline is March 14 at Midnight EST.

I also have two copies of Diana Raab‘s My Muse Undresses Me and one copy of Dear Anaïs: My Life in Poems for You. Deadline is March 18 at 5PM EST.

One gently used ARC of Reading by Lightning by Joan Thomas; Deadline is March 20 at Midnight EST.

Filed Under: Interviews, poetry Tagged With: 32 poems magazine, Andrea Defoe

Reading by Lightning by Joan Thomas

March 13, 2009 by Serena

Reading by Lightning by Joan Thomas, published by Goose Lane Editions, made its way into my mailbox from Mini Book Expo. It’s a coming of age novel at a time that the world is on the brink of World War II, particularly in England.

It took me a long while to get into this book, more than 100 pages, which was disheartening. In Book One readers will wander through Lily Piper’s musings and her interactions or lack thereof with her parents. The wavering narrative and tangents of Lily drag on for long stretches, and readers may have a hard time following along. Her relationship with her mother is cantankerous at times and Lily is often portrayed as a wayward child led by the sin in her heart. There are a number of instances where Lily wanders off with boys alone, which in many ways should ruin her reputation.

“Wonderful for your maidenly inhibitions (going to hand me the flask and then reaching around me to unscrew it himself and in the process circling me with both arms). The way we tussled around and he pressed the mouth of the flask to my mouth and I resisted or pretended to resist, whiskey meanwhile sliding hotly in through my lips and dribbling down my chin and onto my bathing suit.” (Page 88)

Her relationship with her father is more of silent understanding, but again this relationship is not something a girl can cling to when she needs reassurance or strength. Lily’s interactions with her brother are few and not enlightening at all, revealing little of her character or his. Through side stories and discussions about her father’s immigration to Canada and the Barr Colony, Lily learns about her father’s journey, how it came to pass, and the secret illness that prohibits him from leading a normal life.

In Book Two, Lily is sent to England to take care of her grandmother, her father’s mother, and this is where the novel picks up in pace and Lily grows into an adolescent and falls in love with her cousin George. Thomas’ writing is detailed and poignant from this point on in the novel and had me riveted.

“But tears would begin to course down her [Lily’s grandmother’s] cheeks, which already looked like the leaves of a book damaged by rain. So I would sit with her, because I’d nothing else to do. I’d want to ask about my father, and at first I did. Oh, he was a lovely lad, she’d say vaguely and start to tell me about him crawling through a hole in the wall into the next house, and then she’d get confused as to whether that was Willie or Hugh or Roland, or even her own little brother when she was a girl.” (Page 140)

There are passages in these sections that offer suspense and insight into Lily and what she is seeking to learn from her relatives and about herself. However, death seems to follow Lily on her journey and lead her back home to Canada in Book Three.

The truest moments in the novel are when the air raid sirens sound and the women and children board themselves up in shelters or in their homes in preparation for war with Germany and when the bombs are falling outside and they huddle in the dark living room comforting one another with stories of the mundane. These scenes are well crafted and tangible for readers, transporting them to another era. Once back in Canada, Lily succumbs to her previous manner in the home of her mother, but the letters from her cousins abroad continue to bring the reality of war home.

I read this novel as part of the War Through the Generations: WWII Reading Challenge. This is my first completed book for the challenge. I’ve been a bit slow.

About the Author:

Joan Thomas has been a regular book reviewer for the Globe and Mail for more than a decade. Her essays, stories, and articles have been published in numerous journals and magazines including Prairie Fire, Books in Canada, and the Winnipeg Free Press. She has won a National Magazine Award, co-edited Turn of the Story: Canadian Short Fiction on the Eve of the Millennium, and has served on the editorial boards of Turnstone Press and Prairie Fire Magazine. She lives in Winnipeg.

Also Reviewed By:
Diary of an Eccentric

***Giveaway Details***

This giveaway will be international. I have one gently used ARC copy of this book available.

Leave a comment on this post and randomizer.org will select the winner.

Deadline is March 20 at Midnight EST.

***GIVEAWAY REMINDER***

I have two copies up for grabs of Sharon Lathan’s Mr. & Mrs. Darcy: Two Shall Become One; the giveaway is international and the deadline is March 14 at Midnight EST.

I also have two copies of Diana Raab‘s My Muse Undresses Me and one copy of Dear Anaïs: My Life in Poems for You. Deadline is March 18 at 5PM EST.

Filed Under: giveaway, historical fiction, mini book expo for bloggers, Read in 2009, review copy, reviews, WWII Reading Challenge Tagged With: joan thomas, reading by lightning

Interview with Poet Diana Raab

March 12, 2009 by Serena

I’d like to welcome poet Diana Raab to Savvy Verse & Wit. Yesterday, I reviewed her poetry collection, Dear Anaïs: My Life in Poems for You. You can read my review of her collection, here.

Please welcome Diana:

1. 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?

I find all forms of poetry powerful—spoken word, performance and written poetry. Poetry nurtures the soul and expresses core emotions and for this reason it can serve as an equalizer to help us all become more tolerant. This is particularly true for what I call “accessible poetry,” or poetry that reaches out with words that the reader can understand, feel or touch.

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

My obsession is writing and getting my words out into the universe. I spend at least ten hours a day in my office, either creating or marketing my work. My other passion is reading. I suppose there is a fine line between having an obsession and a passion. For me, writing and reading wear both of these hats.

3. Most writers will read inspirational/how-to manuals, take workshops, or belong to writing groups. Did you subscribe to any of these aids and if so which did you find most helpful? Please feel free to name any “writing” books you enjoyed most (i.e. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott).

I have been writing since the age of ten, so it would be impossible to list all the books and resources which have inspired me as a writer.

In the 1980s and 1990s, I attended many writing conferences and workshops. There was something contagious about being around other writers producing work. Both The University of Iowa’s Summer Writing Program and AWP have sparked a great deal of interest for me. These days I teach at the conferences and even as a teacher it is inspiring.

As a journaling advocate, I have found that reading the journals of Anaïs Nin helped me find my own voice. This is the main reason I have decided to dedicate this latest book of poems to her.

4. 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?

I think the idea of poetry being elitist and inaccessible is an old concept. Much of contemporary poetry is accessible. I believe that the former poet laureate of the United States, Billy Collins, is greatly responsible for this change. He brought poetry 180 into the schools. His accessible poetry has inspired many people, including myself, to write poetry.

5. When writing poetry, prose, essays, and other works do you listen to music? Do you have a particular playlist for each genre you work in or does the playlist stay the same? What are the top 5 songs on that playlist? If you don’t listen to music while writing, do you have any other routines or habits?

The decision to listen to music while writing depends upon my mood. Sometimes I need music, other times, any bit of noise irks me. If I do listen to music, I might listen to the words of Leonard Cohen and also some instrumental music such as new age music geared towards productivity and concentration.

My writing habit entails working on a few projects at the same time, often times in different genres. I enjoy the variety and find that each genre feeds off the other. However, if I have an impending deadline, I am able to focus and wrap up a project if I either put a ‘Do Not Disturb,’ sign on my door or just go away to an undisclosed place for a writing retreat.

6. 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?

This is difficult to answer, since I have always written. I have a mix of literary and non-literary friends.

7. How do you stay fit and healthy as a writer?

I work out at the gym with a trainer three times a week. I try to walk every day with my dog anywhere from 30-60 minutes. I also do restorative yoga once a week and meditate every day. All these activities help me focus on my work.

8. Do you have any favorite foods or foods that you find keep you inspired? What are the ways in which you pump yourself up to keep writing and overcome writer’s block?

I do not believe in writer’s block. It’s just an excuse not to write. I think that those who keep journals rarely experience writer’s block. If I am not feeling creative, I will just free-write in my journal and usually something interesting will come of it. Sometimes I read the words of my favorite writers to inspire me. I also often read the journals of Anaïs Nin because both her sensibilities and voice seem to resonate with me.

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

I have a writing studio which is my favorite room in the house. In taking Virginia Woolf’s advice quite seriously, I have found a room with a view overlooking the mountains of southern California. I use a laptop on my desk and there are many bookshelves behind my desk with my favorite books, most of them autographed. I have a painting by Edward Hopper hanging on the wall opposite my desk.

Other framed items include the book jacket of my memoir, Regina’s Closet: Finding My Grandmother’s Secret Journal, and a quote by Mark Twain which says, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word, is really large matter—it’s the difference between the lightening bug and the lightening.” I am a lover of quotations and over the years, I have collected many favorite ones.

10. What current projects are you working on and would you like to share some details with the readers?

I have just finishing editing an anthology I compiled called Writers and Their Notebooks. It is forthcoming by the University of South Carolina Press in February 2010. I am very excited about this collection. It includes essays written by well-published writers who used journals in their practice, such as Dorianne Laux, Sue Grafton, John DuFresne, Kim Stafford, Ilan Stavans, Michelle Wildgen. The preface was written by Phillip Lopate.

I am also working on another poetry collection and a memoir.

11. I’ve noticed reading some of your initial poems that there is an ironic sense near the end of these verses. Was this sense of irony intentional? Like in “Jones Beach” where the mother is an environmentalist and yet serves her children cookies that are appetite suppressants.

Yes. My poems just come out of me in one fell-swoop. They are not premeditated or calculated.

12. Anaïs Nin was a diarist and your poems seem to be like diary entries as well. Did all of these poems come immediately following your in-depth reading of her work or did they evolve over time? Would you consider Dear Anaïs representative of all of your work or do you craft a variety of poem forms and types?

All of my poems were born on the pages of my journal. I create best with pen in hand. I devoted this latest collection to Nin because reading her journals helped me find my voice. I am a narrative poet and yes, my latest book of poetry is a fair representation of my work. I will be experimenting with other forms, but this is representative of my work at this point in time.

Thank you Diane for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer my questions. I wish you luck with your latest projects and look forward to seeing your latest projects in print.

And now, for the giveaway information: (3 Winners)

Diana has graciously offered one copy of Dear Anaïs: My Life in Poems for You and 2 copies of her chapbook My Muse Undresses Me.

1. Leave a comment about what inspired you to give this collection a try on my review post, here.

2. Comment on this interview with something other than “pick me” or “enter me.”

Deadline is March 18, 5PM EST.

Randomizer.org will select the three winners; the first number selected will win Dear Anaïs: My Life in Poems for You.

Filed Under: Interviews, poetry Tagged With: Diana Raab

Dear Anais by Diana Raab

March 11, 2009 by Serena

I received Dear Anaïs: My Life in Poems for You by Diana M. Raab from the author for review, I’m thrilled to say that Raab’s use of language in a format that resembles diary entries is fantastic. The volume begins with a letter to Anaïs about how she inspired Raab through her journals, particularly Anaïs’ entries about the house Eric Lloyd Wright built for her.

Each poem provides the reader with an insider’s look at Raab’s life and her interactions with family and others. Mirroring Anaïs Nin’s style, Raab seeks to demonstrate how important love is to humanity and how important it is to maintain our connections to one another.

Here’s her poem, “Weekly Lottery“:

Giving into his obsessions
was one thing my father did
almost every day of his life
for the fifty years which
he lived after The Holocaust
which robbed him of his parents
and baby brother Josh, putting
he and his brother in Dachau’s
kitchen, slicing potatoes and
saving friends from starvation
as the Nazis dined off Rosenthal
plates confiscated from Jews
tossed into frigid barracks and
stripped of everything ever
important to them.

Dad’s first treat, after arriving
in the United States with his brother Bob,
was using his factory paycheck for
a weekly lottery ticket, awaiting
the easy windfall, a sham of
good fortune, as if winning
the lottery was a ticket for
a new freedom boat. His
bliss stretched to winning five
tickets, five more scratches of
horizontal square boxes with
the same 1945 nickel which
he always carried in his pocket
for good luck, maybe not
enough cents to keep the
inveterate smoker alive past 70.

Raab’s poetry is detailed, vivid, and critical of its own subject matter and the narrator’s voice is often ironic in the final stanza or lines, reminding readers of how haiku can shed light on the most mundane of natural circumstances. In this poem, “Weekly Lottery,” Raab uses short lines and long sentences to build momentum, which invariably builds suspense for the reader.

Poems about the holocaust and WWII and war in general often attract my attention, which is probably why this poem has stuck with me since I first read Dear Anaïs. And I’ve already read through this book several times. There are a number of poems in here about Raab’s relatives and their dealings with war and the concentration camps.

This is an enjoyable collection of contemporary poems for every reader. Readers can connect with Raab through her poetry, including the hardship of loss and the nuances of daily living. Writers will enjoy her poems that deal with the writing process such as “Sketch of a Writer’s Studio” and “Sheets.” My personal favorite in this section was “On Demand,” which is about much more than just writing poems upon request.

About the Poet:

Diana M. Raab, MFA is a memoirist, essayist and poet. She teaches memoir, journaling and poetry in the UCLA Writers Program and the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. She also narrates and teaches workshops around the country.

Diana has been writing from an early age. As an only child of two working parents, she spent a lot of time crafting letters and keeping a daily journal. In university she studied journalism, health administration and nursing, all serving as platforms for her years as a medical and self-help writer.

Raab’s memoir, Regina’s Closet: Finding My Grandmother’s Secret Journal (2007) won the National Indie Excellence Award for Memoir and was the recipient of many other honors.

Raab’s work has been published in numerous literary magazines and has been widely anthologized. She has one poetry chapbook, My Muse Undresses Me and one poetry collection, Dear Anaïs: My Life in Poems for You (2008).

She’s editor of a forthcoming anthology, Writers and Their Notebooks (USC Press, 2009) which is a collection of essays written by well-known writers who journal, including Sue Grafton, Kim Stafford, Dorianne Laux, John DuFresne, James Brown and Michael Steinberg, to name a few. The foreword is written by the world-renowned personal essayist, Phillip Lopate.

Stay Tuned for my Interview with Diana, tomorrow March 12.

And now, for the giveaway information: (3 Winners)

Diana has graciously offered one copy of Dear Anaïs: My Life in Poems for You and 2 copies of her chapbook My Muse Undresses Me.

1. Leave a comment about what inspired you to give this collection a try.
2. Tune in tomorrow and comment on my interview with Diana

Deadline is March 18, 5PM EST.

Randomizer.org will select the three winners; the first number selected will win Dear Anaïs: My Life in Poems for You.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!

***Another Giveaway***

Check out this link to win a copy of Mr & Mrs Darcy: Two Shall Become One by Sharon Lathan.

***In Other News***

Savvy Verse & Wit has a spotlight guest post up at She Is Too Fond of Books; Check out my bookstore spotlight about Politics & Prose.

Filed Under: giveaway, poetry, Read in 2009, review copy, reviews Tagged With: dear anais: my life in poems for you, diana m. raab

Testimony by Anita Shreve, Part Deux

March 7, 2009 by Serena

I reviewed Testimony by Anita Shreve back in October 2008 when the book debuted; you can read my review here. My mom is always looking for a new book to read, so I shipped my copy up to Massachusetts for her to read.

She’s here today to share her thoughts on the book with you. Welcome, my mom, Pat:

At Avery Academy, a prestigious New England boarding school located in Vermont, the headmaster, Mike Bordwin, finds in his possession a video tape–a disaster in a small package waiting to stir up trouble for the students at the academy. The sexual acts displayed on the tape involve four older students–juniors and seniors–and a freshman girl. The headmaster also engages in illicit activity following the incident and its fallout.

The events are set in motion, and Shreve uses testimony from all the students involved in the incident, the headmaster, and numerous other characters to tell her tale. These stories are woven together to show how this one incident impacts all the students involved as well as others in the book. Additionally, readers will get a glimpse into what happens in the lives of these students after the scandal breaks.

I give this book 4.5 stars and declare it is a must read.

Filed Under: fiction, Hachette Books, Pat review Tagged With: Anita Shreve, testimony

Interview With Poet Mary Biddinger

March 4, 2009 by Serena

Originally published at La Fovea

MY UPPER PENINSULA
by: Mary Biddinger

We were all suffering from a kind of incandescence.
Would rather fling all the freshly-baked rolls
down the stairs than face the accuser.
I wondered if I was moldering. My mother
didn’t even recognize the ravioli that I edged
with my spinner. I’d filled it with scraps of cloth
anyway. All the girls in my class had hair like Journey
and mouths the slashes of red a wolf leaves behind.
Save me, oh god of direct and swift evacuations.
Some day I would be lecturing a class of students
or getting tangled in the horizontal blinds
in the middle of an emphatic statement. Nobody
there to wield the tin snips. My pack of girls only
a trigger on a night at the county fair, the reek
of funnel cakes scissoring long-sleeve blouses
into the ratty tanks we’d stash in our purses for later.
There was something dangerous under our skin.
I ask my class again to mark up this draft of the globe.
They’ve never been drunk in Nice and vomiting across
multiple electrified rails. In a dream, the double that is more
authentic than the original walks down a street with me.
We stagger in unison. We’ve both had to begin the dessert
again from scratch, not being able to resist a swift punch
to the center of the springform pan. We’d both rather
surrender all of the wooden coins before anyone asks.
Is there anything more exhilarating than a good wait
in damp clothing, or the moment you open your mouth
and realize you know the language after all, you can call
off the dogs or invent the numbers for the payphone,
and the man who shows you to your room won’t leave out
a tour of the aluminum shower down the hall.
He whispers you can both fit in there. He’ll write down
every stranger who leaves a card at the front desk.

I’m going to provide you with a snippet from the interview, but if you want to read the entire interview, I’ll provide you a link for that as well.

For now, let me introduce to you 32 Poems contributor, Mary Biddinger:

1. Not only are you a contributor to 32 Poems, you also founded Barn Owl Review. What “hat” do you find most difficult to wear and why?

As a kid I loved the Dr. Seuss book The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Little did I know that it would be a literal representation of my future. I’m a poet, an editor of Barn Owl Review and the Akron Series in Poetry, and a writing program administrator moving into the directorship of a large, consortial MFA program (the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program, or NEOMFA). Outside that, I’m a mother and homeowner, a book club facilitator and a photographer of random Rust Belt detritus. I’m a person who rarely knows what day it is, but who plans what to cook for dinner a week in advance.

The only conflict between hats seems to be the administrative hat versus the artistic hat. They don’t want to stay on at the same time. The administrative hat wants to cover up the artistic hat. The artistic hat tells me to lie on the floor of my office and think about poems, while the administrative hat tells me to run down the hall and start ransacking the filing cabinet. Thankfully, the editorial hat doesn’t conflict with any of the other hats. It’s sort of the best of both worlds for me.

2. 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?

I remind my students that poetry predates literacy, and that it belongs to all of us. I’ve found that today’s young people (school-agers) are more open to poetry than they were in the past. I think it’s the convergence of freestyle and academic poetry that creates the rift, though it really doesn’t have to be a rift. I try to keep my own poems out of the realm of the allusive and grounded in the everyday. If you’ve seen rebar before, you can “get it.”

3. How do you stay fit and healthy as a writer?

I work out at the gym about four days a week. I lift weights, run on the treadmill, attack the elliptical. I’m naturally an antsy person, and sitting at a desk doesn’t suit me for long periods of time. Working out gives me some balance. Otherwise, I try to eat healthy all of the time. No sweets, lots of protein, fruit, veg. There were times in my life where I existed only on pasta, and now I avoid it. I have a penchant for Basmati rice.

I used to get sick a lot, but so far 2009 has treated me well. I believe in the power of citrus. I drink too much coffee and diet coke, but hope that my good habits outweigh the bad.

4. What current projects are you working on and would you like to share some details with the readers?

My follow up to Prairie Fever, currently titled Hot Corners, is just starting to circulate to some publishers. This book contains a series of persona poems on a fictional reinvention of Saint Monica, patron of wives in bad marriages, among other things. Hot Corners includes non-Monica poems as well, and you can find poems from the book in current or forthcoming issues of Gulf Coast, Fifth Wednesday Journal, The Laurel Review, Memorious, Ninth Letter, North American Review, /nor, Third Coast, and many other journals.

The poem that’s forthcoming in 32 Poems, “The Velvet Arms,” is part of a new series that explores the urban transient hotel as a locus of everyday desire and transgression. The poems aren’t cemented in any particular timeframe, and slide between the 1940’s rooming house and the contemporary SRO (single room occupancy). I was inspired to write this series thanks to an apartment building I lived in for many years when I was in Chicago. It was an old vaudeville-era hotel, and I kept thinking of how I wasn’t so different from the people who had inhabited it before me. A number of the poems from this series, including “The Velvet Arms,” are written in exactly twenty lines of blank verse.

Beyond that series, which may be more of a chapbook that a book-length collection, I am working on a new manuscript that begins where Hot Corners ends. It’s coming together organically, rather than as a premeditated project. I’m not sure where it will go, but I can promise that there will be dirty snow, trembling baguettes, a terrifying carousel pony, and a watermelon tied up in a tree.

Want to find out what Mary’s writing space looks like? What music she listens to while she writes? Find out what she’s working on now, her obsessions, and much more. Check out the rest of my interview with Mary here. Please feel free to comment on the 32 Poems blog and Savvy Verse & Wit.

Mary Biddinger Bio:

Mary Biddinger was born in Fremont, California, in 1974. She grew up in Illinois and Michigan, and attended the University of Michigan (BA in English and Creative Writing), Bowling Green State University (MFA in poetry), and the University of Illinois at Chicago (Ph.D. in English, Program for Writers). She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Akron and NEOMFA: Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts program, which she will begin directing in the summer of 2009.

***Current Giveaways for the Carnival are here, here, and here. The Kingmaking has one international ARC available and 3 copies for U.S. and Canada residents (no P.O. Boxes). Drood is U.S. and Canada residents (No. P.O. boxes) only.***

Filed Under: Interviews, poetry Tagged With: 32 poems magazine, Mary Biddinger

The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick

March 2, 2009 by Serena

Helen Hollick‘s The Kingmaking is the first of the Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy, which will be published in March 2009 by Sourcebooks. Thanks to Paul Samuelson for sending the book along for my review.

This first part in the trilogy begins in 450 AD in the midst of the Middle Ages while Britain remained in a tumultous period politically. Arthur is merely a bastard son at the beginning of this novel, and his foster father is kin to Uthr Pendragon. In the first chapters of the novel, Arthur grows into a man while visiting Gwynedd with Uthr and his abusive and cantankerous mistress Morgause. He meets Gwenhwyfar, daughter to Uthr’s faithful friend Cunedda, and begins to have deeper feelings than friendship for her. The relationship between Arthur and Gwenhwyfar is rocky in the beginning, but blossoms through understanding and mutual respect. However, there are circumstances surrounding the death of Uthr and a failed attempt to regain control of Britain that hinder the ability of their relationship to grow.

“The oars lifted then dipped to kiss the white foam. The sail dropped and the ship, tossing her prow like a mare held over-long curbed and kicking high her heels, leapt for the harbour sheltering beneath the imposing fortress that was Caer Arfon.” (Page 20)

The description in this book helps to set the scene of Britain in the Middle Ages, with its dark and ominous feel, but also its wild beauty. There is more to Britain during this time than readers may remember from their school days. My favorite passage in the book uses description to show Arthur coming into his manhood, along with the other adolescents of Gwynedd.

“The boys, stripped to the waist, were turning new scythed hay, making idle, breathless conversation as they tossed the sweet smelling, drying grass. Arthur’s bruising was a faint memory of shaded yellow against suntanned bronze skin; gone was that weary look of watchfulness and unease, replaced by relaxed laughter and happy contentment. His hair was longer, the close-cropped Roman style beginning to grow, with a slight curl, down his neck and flop across his forehead.” (Page 89)

Although there is great potential in the descriptive writing, some of the scenes fall flat as the narrative lists actions of the characters rather than showing the characters in action. Unlike the Arthurian legends of old which have mysticism and Merlin at the center of Arthur’s rise to power, Hollick’s retelling focuses on the realities and abilities of the “real” Arthur and his determination to regain control of Britain after the death of his true father.

Readers looking for mysticism and magic will be disappointed with this retelling. However, if readers are easily engaged by books with intrigue, battles, and strategy, this novel will not disappoint.

At nearly 600 pages, you can believe Hollick extensively researched her subject and it shows, from her use of place names connected to the regions at the time to the spellings of her main characters. Although portions of the book were a little dry and long, creating nicknames for some of the characters–Gwenhwyfar as Gwen or her brother Osmail as Ozzy–made it easier to become absorbed in the story.

Unfortunately, after 200 pages I stopped reading as certain scenes made me wonder what their purpose was, like when Gwen is aloft in a tree in the prime location to overhear Uthr and Morgause in intimate conversation. Considering the conversation that follows is not integral to the storyline, it makes the reader wonder why Gwen is in the tree in the first place to overhear the conversation.

***Giveaway Details*** (Part of the BookRoom Reviews Book Giveaway Carnival)

Sourcebooks has kindly decided to giveaway 3 copies of this novel to three lucky U.S. and Canadian readers.

I will pass along my ARC of the book to one lucky international reader; so please designate whether you are international when you enter the contest.

To Enter:

1. Leave a comment here; something other than “enter me” or “pick me”
2. Make sure you leave an email or blog address that works
3. Let me know if you are an international entrant, so I can place you on the list for my gently used ARC.

Deadline: March 8, 2009 at 5PM EST.

This Contest is NOW CLOSED!

Other blogs on the tour:

http://harrietdevine.typepad.com/harriet_devines_blog/2009/02/the-kingmaking.html 2/20
http://lazyhabits.wordpress.com/2009/02/20/the-kingmaking/ 2/21 and interview 2/27
http://carpelibrisreviews.com/the-kingmaking-by-helen-hollick-book-tour-giveaway/ 2/23
http://www.historicalnovels.info/Kingmaking.html 2/23
http://www.bibliophilemusings.com/2009/02/review-interview-kingmaking-by-helen.html 2/23
http://lilly-readingextravaganza.blogspot.com/2009/02/kingmaking-by-helen-hollick.html 2/23 and guest blog 2/25
http://chikune.com/blog/?p=488 2/24
http://booksaremyonlyfriends.blogspot.com/ 2/25
http://peekingbetweenthepages.blogspot.com/ 2/26 and guest blog 2/27
http://webereading.blogspot.com/ 2/26
http://www.caramellunacy.blogspot.com 2/26
http://bookthoughtsbylisa.blogspot.com/ 3/1
http://jennifersrandommusings.wordpress.com/ 3/1
http://rhireading.blogspot.com/ 3/1
http://passagestothepast.blogspot.com/ 3/2
http://thetometraveller.blogspot.com/ 3/2
http://steventill.com/ 3/2
http://savvyverseandwit.blogspot.com / 3/2 and interview 3/3
http://www.carlanayland.blogspot.com/
http://readersrespite.blogspot.com/ 3/3 and interview on 3/5
http://libraryqueue.blogspot.com/ 3/4
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/ 3/4
http://www.myfriendamysblog.com/ 3/5
http://samsbookblog.blogspot.com 3/5
http://goodbooksbrightside.blogspot.com/ 3/5

***My Current giveaway of Dan Simmons’ Drood. Check it out, here.***

Also reviewed by:
Historical Tapestry

Filed Under: ARC, giveaway, historical fiction, Read in 2009, reviews, sourcebooks Tagged With: helen hollick, the kingmaking

Interview with Poet Barbara Orton

February 24, 2009 by Serena

I’m going to provide you with a snippet from the interview, but if you want to read the entire interview, I’ll provide you a link for that as well.

For now, let me introduce to you 32 Poems contributor, Barbara Orton:

1. You are a contributor to 32 Poems. What do you find most challenging about your writing practices and why? Would you have any advice to amateur poets?

Even though I’ve written for publication for 18 years, my writing practice is still erratic. I admire those writers who get up and write for an hour or two every morning, but I’ve never been one of them. In a productive year, I might finish ten or fifteen publishable poems; in a dry year, maybe one or two.

Right now, my biggest challenge is balancing my writing with my academic schedule. A year ago, I moved away from Washington, D.C., where I worked as a freelance editor, to enroll in the PhD program in English at Tufts. I love being a graduate student, but it sucks away my time and energy in a way that editing never did.

My advice to a beginning poet would be to find or create an ongoing writing group, and to take classes whenever you can. The criticism, friendship, and support can be invaluable, and so can the regular deadlines.

I don’t feel qualified to comment on spoken word or performance poetry because my exposure to it has been limited, and, honestly, what I’ve encountered hasn’t been very much to my taste. I don’t mean to dismiss its value or interest to other people; I just don’t think I can make a judgment on its importance. I do enjoy reading my own poems out loud, though, and listening to other poets read their work.

I’d like to believe that writing can help people become more tolerant, and possibly more collaborative, but I don’t necessarily aspire to that in my own work. I just try to write good poems–emotionally powerful, formally successful, surprising. I love lyric poetry, but I don’t think it’s the genre I’d choose if I were trying to make the world a better place.

I always write more and better when I’m in a workshop. Over the past few years, I’ve taken classes at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Md., and I’m still in touch with the ongoing poetry group that developed out of one of those classes five years ago. I’ve also taken summer workshops at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

About the Poet:

Barbara J. Orton’s poems appear in four anthologies, The New Young American Poets (Southern Illinois University Press), New Voices (Academy of American Poets), Under the Rock Umbrella (Mercer University Press), and In Our Own Words: A Generation Defining Itself, Volume 7 (MW Enterprises). Her work also appears in journals including Ploughshares, Pleiades, and (most recently) The Yale Review, and in a Web chapbook published by The Literary Review and Web del Sol . She is currently seeking a publisher for her first two book manuscripts, Stealing the Silver and What I Did Instead of Love. She can be reached at [email protected].

Want to find out what Barbara’s writing space looks like? What music she listens to while she writes? Find out what she’s working on now, her obsessions, and much more. Check out the rest of my interview with Barbara here. Please feel free to comment on the 32 Poems blog and Savvy Verse & Wit.

Filed Under: Interviews, poetry Tagged With: 32 poems magazine, Barbara Orton

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

February 24, 2009 by Serena

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett is a witty look at how the Queen of England’s love of reading impinges on her duties and helps her evolve as a human being. There is a great deal to love about this small volume, which I first heard about on Dewey’s Hidden Side of a Leaf. I couldn’t commit full force to the Dewey’s Book Challenge, but I wanted to make mention of her and the challenge with this post since Dewey highly recommended this book when she read and bought it.

At first, the Queen of England isn’t sure what to make of the traveling library that she runs across at the palace. Once she begins reading, she can’t stop and takes it upon herself to appoint a kitchen boy as her amanuensis, a writing assistant to conduct research and perform secretarial duties, named Norman. He helps her select books from the traveling library and from the London Library.

“[Norman] came back full of wonder and excitement at how old-fashioned it was, saying it was the sort of library he had only read about in books and had thought confined to the past. He wandered through its labyrinthine stacks marvelling that these were all books that he (or rather She) could borrow at will. So infectious was his enthusiasm that next time, the Queen thought, she might accompany him.” (page 19)

She becomes so engrossed in her reading that she begins carrying books with her in the carriages and to official functions and begins to look upon her normal daily activities, like being briefed on the events of the government and world, as the “antithesis of reading” (page 21). Her speeches before Parliament became tedious and “demeaned the very act of reading itself” (page 33).

It’s interesting to watch how certain members of the staff react to her reading habit and how they conspire to eliminate it. Despite all of the government’s machinations, however, the Queen perseveres. Readers will adore the end of the novel and how it turns the rest of it upside down.

Also Reviewed By:
Book-a-Rama
Hidden Side of a Leaf
Tea Leaves
A Novel Menagerie
Things Mean a Lot
Library Queue
It’s All About Books
Bloggin’ ’bout Books
Books on the Brain
Page After Page
Books of Mee
paper diet books
just add books…
The Bluestocking Society
Melody’s Reading Corner
1morechapter.com
ReadingAdventures
Reader for Life
Stuff As Dreams Are Made On
Rebecca Reads
Bermudaonion’s Weblog
Book Chase
A Reader’s Respite
Shelf Life
Reading and Ruminations
Confessions of a Bibliophile
Lesa’s Book Critiques
Outlandish Dreaming
The Family With Three Last Names
booklit
Under a Blood Red Sky
Linus’s Blanket
Behold, the thing that reads a lot
A Comfy Chair and a Good Book
One Literature Nut
Literate Housewife
Bibliofreak

Filed Under: borrowed copy, Dewey's Book Challenge 2009, fiction, Read in 2009, reviews Tagged With: alan bennett, the uncommon reader

Plum Lovin’ by Janet Evanovich

February 23, 2009 by Serena

Plum Lovin’ by Janet Evanovich is another between-the-numbers novel where Stephanie Plum and Diesel set out on another adventure to corral another unmentionable, Bernie Beaner, is on the loose causing havoc. Diesel shows up at Stephanie’s and informs her she now must become a relationship expert until Annie Hart is safe, but Stephanie only has a few days to complete the work.

With another ridiculous cast of characters, Janet Evanovich will have readers giggling and rolling on the floor with laughter. Stephanie must find a Valentine’s date for a motor vehicle worker with a number of undisciplined kids and a house full of animals, a vet with a knack for attracting gold diggers, a virgin, and help her sister and boyfriend get married.

In the process, hives pop up all over the characters’ skin, Delvina reappears looking for a “hot” necklace that was stolen from him, and Diesel and Stephanie make plans to get married. While Morelli is not in here much, Ranger does make an appearance, though Stephanie spends her Valentine’s Day with the family and Diesel. Lula is always hilarious with her wise cracks and alternative perspective. Although this is not literature at its finest, it will surely entertain readers and provide a light read full of comedy.

***Don’t forget my Arlene Ang, Secret Love Poems, giveaway***

Filed Under: audiobooks, borrowed copy, fiction, Read in 2009, reviews Tagged With: janet evanovich, plum lovin'

Interview With Poet Alison Stine

February 23, 2009 by Serena

I’m going to provide you with a snippet from the interview, but if you want to read the entire interview, I’ll provide you a link for that as well.

For now, let me introduce to you 32 Poems contributor, Alison Stine:

1. Not only are you a contributor to 32 Poems, but you are also a composer and teacher. What “hat” do you find most difficult to wear and why?

And right now I’m a student too! I’ve gone back to school after six years away to pursue my PhD at Ohio University. I love it. Switching back and forth between learning and teaching isn’t as difficult as I had expected because I feel like I’m learning all the time. I feel my students really teach me. They constantly inspire me and surprise me. I learn from them, and I write for them, especially the high school students that I teach in the summer. I want to make them proud and write something they can believe in and relate to. As far as composing, at the moment, my music is very private. It’s still happening. I still write it. But it’s happening only for me. And that’s the hardest right now.

2. Most writers will read inspirational/how-to manuals, take workshops, or belong to writing groups. Did you subscribe to any of these aids and if so which did you find most helpful? Please feel free to name any “writing” books you enjoyed most (i.e. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott).

I did get an MFA in Writing, and I’m in a PhD program now, but the best writing workshops I had were unofficial or off record. Having informal, friendly conversations about the poems really shaped them and made them strong, grow tendrils and vines I never expected. I was fortunate to be a part of two workshops in the summer at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and during the school year in a “non-school” setting at Stanford University as a Wallace Stegner Fellow. Those experiences absolutely changed my writing life. Saved it even. And those workshop leaders were the best teachers I have ever had. But everyone you meet is a potential teacher. You never know who will touch you or your poems, will come back to you years later when you need their words. I’ve never been able to finish a self-help or writing book of any sort, although I have tried. I just had a tennis book recommended to me for what it says about concentration, that that can be applied to writing. Who knows? Maybe this one will stick!

3. How do you stay fit and healthy as a writer?

I’m a new fan of the Wii Fit! My college-age brother got one for Christmas, and my parents ending up buying each of my siblings one because they’re hilarious and imaginative. I also run a lot, run and walk but don’t listen to music. I think when I’m running. I think in the silence of running. I especially love to run into the deep country and in the deep dark ice of early morning winter, when there’s no one around but snow and birds. I’m definitely a winter runner.

Want to find out what Alison’s writing space looks like? What music she listens to while she writes? Find out what she’s working on now, her obsessions, and much more. Check out the rest of my interview with Alison here. Please feel free to comment on the 32 Poems blog and Savvy Verse & Wit.

Check out some of Alison’s work at Prairie Schooner.

***Don’t forget my Arlene Ang, Secret Love Poems, giveaway***

Filed Under: Interviews, poetry Tagged With: 32 poems magazine, Alison Stone

Interview With Poet Jehanne Dubrow

Interview With Poet Andrea Defoe

Reading by Lightning by Joan Thomas

Interview with Poet Diana Raab

Dear Anais by Diana Raab

Testimony by Anita Shreve, Part Deux

Interview With Poet Mary Biddinger

The Kingmaking by Helen Hollick

Interview with Poet Barbara Orton

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

Plum Lovin’ by Janet Evanovich

Interview With Poet Alison Stine

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