false 2309481 1 In Big Muddy River of Stars, her second full-length collection of poems, Alison Pelegrin continues her celebration of the quirks and characters of south Louisiana, tempered now by the devastations of hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. These sassy poems come on like a carnival parade, with boisterous shout-outs to sleepy rivers and Big Shot soda, crawfish and trailer trash and those "git-r-dones" who rebuild homes ravaged by hurricane and high water. Presiding over the book is the spirit of Chinese poet Li Po, Pelegrin's prodigal mentor and drinking buddy. Sharing his "exultation" and "taste of recklessness," she wants to write "the Li Po way-- / wine and the wide world." And she does. With lines that laugh and rage and slur in the piquant tongue of her native Louisiana, Pelegrin knows how to play the blues in a bold and irreverent key. <P><P>In addition to Big Muddy River of Stars, Alison Pelegrin is the author of The Zydeco Tablets (Word Press, 2002) as well as three chapbooks: Squeezers (Concrete Wolf 2005), Voodoo Lips (Poems and Plays, 2002), and Dancing with the One-Armed Man (Slipstream, 2000). Her poems have been featured on Poetry Daily and The Writer's Almanac, and in dozens of literary journals such as Poetry, Ploughshares, Shenandoah, and The Southern Review. The recipient of fellowships from the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the NEA, she was a Tennessee Williams Scholar at the Sewanee Writers' Conference. She teaches English at Southeastern Louisiana University and lives in Mandeville, Louisiana with her family. 2315897 10 2007 Big Muddy River of Stars (Akron Series in Poetry) total:6|5:5|4:1| 6 29 15 4 0 0 false false Fri Oct 09 14:40:41 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 09 14:40:41 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Jul 01 05:12:34 -0700 2009 Thu Nov 27 11:38:06 -0800 2008 Wed Jul 01 05:12:34 -0700 2009 www.broadsidedpress.org) -- the poem comes from this collection. Artist Cheryl Gross will respond visually to her poem.]]> 4 0 false false Tue Aug 12 16:51:58 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 12 16:53:14 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Wed Feb 06 18:43:29 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 06 18:43:59 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Sun Aug 30 10:05:34 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 30 10:05:34 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Jul 29 14:23:09 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 14:23:09 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Jun 11 00:26:08 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 11 00:26:08 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sun May 17 06:49:26 -0700 2009 Sun May 17 06:49:26 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Fri Jan 09 16:12:48 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 09 16:12:48 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Mon Nov 17 18:50:33 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 17 18:50:33 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Wed Jul 23 12:05:11 -0700 2008 Sat Jun 21 10:44:29 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 23 12:05:11 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Wed May 07 05:35:13 -0700 2008 Wed May 07 05:35:23 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Tue May 06 12:58:08 -0700 2008 Tue May 06 12:58:13 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Mon Apr 21 16:30:43 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 21 16:30:43 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Sat Dec 29 10:08:14 -0800 2007 Sat Dec 29 10:08:14 -0800 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2309481