Allegheny, Monongahela Erinn Batykefer. Red Hen (CDC, dist.), $16.95 (88p) ISBN 978-1-59709-134-3
Close to the bone, Erinn Batykefer’s poems — sharp-edged as O’Keeffe’s paintings, skeletons visible and harrowing — are harsh and devastating torrents of rage, love, and misdirected desire. Poems tangle with a grandfather’s murder, a family’s violence, the wildness of sex, love indulged or denied, scouring to bedrock any easy assumptions. Her poems are floodwaters, her poems are the river’s skin after rain. Necessary and vibrant, they help us savor our flawed and damaged world. Here is an important new voice in American poetry.
Tablet Magazine features an except from Anne Edelstein’s memoir, LIFESAVING FOR BEGINNERS!
In the excerpt, Edelstein recollects the moment her mother, an experienced swimmer, drowned while on vacation at the Great Barrier Reef.
Read the emotional chapter, “The Day My Mother Drowned,” here!
“This meditative, grace-filled gem is moving and soul-enriching.” — Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines
Lizzy Baldwin, creator of My Little Book Blog, praises Louise Wareham Leonard’s writing style, calling it “beautiful and languid.”
Baldwin loved how 52 Men was able to give so much story in a book that is considered a quick read. She goes on saying that she “thought the stories and the idea was really unique and it was perfect for the style of book I really wanted to read. I can see myself going back and dipping in and out of this and re-reading the tales which really tells how special I found it… I loved this book for it’s story telling and I am very happy to have had the chance to read through it.”
For the full review, click here.
Kristian, of Kristian Wilson Writing, gave 52 Men— 4 out of 5 stars!
“Those who suspect that 52 Men will feel disjointed shouldn’t worry. Leonard’s collection ends with a piece of short fiction that provides insight into all that has come before it. It’s poignant, bitter, and complicated — just like all of us are. This dense little collection is rich soul food.”
For the full review, click here.
“Frankness and love are brought together with Brown’s brilliant combination of the sacred and vernacular. . . . Brown alternates the poems’ shapes on the page, giving us the sense that each poem is a different vision from a different self. . . . This fluidity of identity is finally what makes Sister so empowering: the shifting of the self resists any attempt to fix her as one entity, refuting any notion of helpless femininity.”
Barbaric Mercies Gaylord Brewer. Red Hen (CDC, dist.), $12.95 (88p) ISBN 1-888996-67-6
Gaylord Brewer’s Barbaric Mercies is a book of extraordinary and delightful individuality. Alternately aggressive, outrageous, whimsical, and heartfelt, the poems are never predictable but always authentic. The author has such a genius for phrasing that there are many lines that make the reader stop and sigh or smile. A dark and delicious volume.
Archeology of Desire Miriam Sagan. Red Hen (CDC, dist.), $8.95 (56p) ISBN 1-888996-32-3
Newly published poetry, which is the focus of this week’s column, rarely receives the level of attention it deserves. The following mix runs form the sublime to the ridiculous.
ENCHANTING WORDPLAY
Born in Manhattan and raised in New Jersey, poet Miriam Sagan now resides in Sante Fe, Nm. The metro area’s loss is clearly the Land of Enchantment’s gain, as Sagan’s luminous poetry collection “Archeology of Desire” (Red Hen Press, $8.95, 55 pages) offers a touching journey into a world of private loneliness and rue within a greater universe of beauty and chaos.
Sagan’s introspective visions beautifully mirror deep emotions of wide spectrum. “The widow’s Reading” finds an American woman alone in Seoul, intently reading a book on female circumcision while trying not to dwell on how she is lost amid two foreign cultures: the Korean experience around her and her new state of widow hood. “The Jewish Cemetery at Las Vegas, New Mexico” offers deft irony in noting that the resting place of German Jewish refugees lies at the foot of the Sangre de Cristos (Blood of Christ Mountains).
Sagan’s poetry is a rich mix of mind frames and experiences ranging from the traditions of Europe to Zen Philosophy to the erudite charms of San Francisco to the natural beauty of New Mexico. The blend is sublime, and the resulting poetry inspires gentle awe.
— Phil Hall
Alphabet of Love Bart Edelman. Red Hen (CDC, dist.), $9.95 (72p) ISBN 1-888996-09-9
For some months, I have been intending to post a brief review of poet Bart Edelman’s book, The Alphabet of Love, published by Red Hen Press. The book was published in 1999. It was new to me, however, in 2006. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Edelman’s poetry moves lightly, lines flowing quickly into each other, touching depths without getting mired in same. There is humor here, too, seen most clearly perhaps in the opening poem for which the collection is named:
“A adores B,
But B is enamored of C,
C suffers terribly
From a protracted divorce with D
And won’t get involved with anyone now;
However, C thinks E is fun
To help break the weekend monotony.
E seems mixed up
And fell for F
Last month at a dance ranch . . . . “
And on it goes all the way to Z and a classic “If only . . . . ” that brings the poem full circle.
Edelman’s technique is admirable. His lines are honed. He handles rhyme and rhythm with subtlety and skill. No prose masquerading as poetry here.
“how to get over is an instruction manual for the hopeless navigating uncomfortable personal spaces where the need to transform begins.”
HOW TO GET OVER has been reviewed by The Blueshift Journal! How exciting! Read the review here and don’t forget to pick up your very own copy of HOW TO GET OVER on May 4, 2017!
Bone Light Orlando White. Red Hen (CDC, dist.) $15.95 (64p) ISBN 978-1-59709-135-0
Orlando White’s Bone Light recreates poetry from the molecular level. His vision presents language letter by letter: as body, as recipe, as originary myth, as admonition. Here, poetry moves stealthily through the smallest increments, in the “pause between ink and letter when words are silent, unclothed.” In that bare space, poems keep time through their own arcane measure and the reader sees a “human clock” emerge, one whose face is as much halo as empty zero. This astonishing writing dissects language with surgical and magical precision. White peels back our assumptions like a skin and gives us the irradiated, irreducible light of the bone.
Midwest Book Review provided a short review of Peggy Shumaker’s latest work Cairn: New and Selected. A collection of poems which encompass Peggy’s experiences in Alaska and Arizona, Midwest Book Review writes that “Cairn: New & Selected represents a major body of work [that] leads the reader deep into what remains unresolved, savoring mysteries of heart, mind, and soul.” “An especially and unreservedly recommended addition to both community and acadmic library American Poetry collections,” Midwest Book Review applauds Peggy’s impressive collection.
The fantastic Florida Review gave a rave review of Cynthia Hogue’s In June the Labyrinth, calling it “a stunning and unforgettable book.” Thanks Florida Review!
Avocations Sam Hamill. Red Hen (CDC, dist.), $19.95 (248p) ISBN 978-1-59709-086-5
Who can match him for range, passion, and scholarship? What aspect of poetry from Zen aesthetics to political engagement hasn’t he pondered in a prose both lucid and serious? Fusing conscience and consciousness, Sam Hamill is our indispensable poet-critic and what he has to say is of utmost importance to all who care about poetry.
Poet, Michael Dennis, reviewed Amy Uyematsu’s The Yellow Door on his blog recently.
For his daily book of poetry, he focused on how The Yellow Door shares lessons that we need to remember and those we need to forget. He stated that Amy Uyematsu’s “journey to a better understanding of her life experience is a chance for us Gaijin, those on the outside of Uyematsu’s Japanese experience, to get a look inside. She has given us an opportunity to better understand her perilous trek.”
For the full review, click here.
