Susan Rich's Blog, page 26

I love this city~

Organic, non GMO, gluten free PortlandiaHappy to revisit my first home in the Pacific Northwest. Thanks to The Rumpus for posting about our class at In Other Words Community Center and Bookstore  (Women and Women First if you watch Portlandia).

I Am in Love With This Image

I can't get enough of these clouds as if from another galaxy and the white trees wildly bright against the fog of reeds. No matter how long I watch the birds moving like phantoms over the water, I can't help wanting to be with them. This boy (I imagine) in his long wooden boat must feel the same way I do, at least I like to think so. May this photograph elevate you this Monday morning --- and may the force of art be with you.

How lovely to find a review from out of the blue ...

Masters of Poetry! Even the title has a lovely and slightly ironic ring.

Thank you to Will Slotts Jr. for this lovely review and pairing me with James Baldwin and James Franco --- not to mention the famous Barbara Hamby. I am thrilled! You can read the review in the Third Coast Daily right here. He also has an interesting take on the state of poetry today and where e-books fit. This may be especially interesting in the age of the quick review.

Or if you want just a little taste of what Will says on:

THE STATE OF POETRY


The sale of poetry in all its various formats amounts to millions of dollars every year. Anthologies outsell individual writers; the dead poets beat the living. The majority of sales are to schools and libraries, but many of us buy poetry on a regular basis. Sales continue to rise, with the greatest increase in electronic formats. Some believe that e-books and audio books now make up 10 percent of the total sales each year. (Four of the six volumes I’m reviewing were read in e-book format, for expediency’s sake.) The majority of poetry today is published by small, independent presses. Buying poetry is a great way to support them!

ON CLOUD PHARMACY
Susan Rich, author of Cloud Pharmacy (White Pine Press, 2014), is also new to me, although this is her fourth book of poetry. Her publisher, however, is not a stranger. Because I have always enjoyed the poetry they put out, I follow their authors. This, I call “camp following” because I will buy whatever they produce. Ms. Rich does not disappoint. Her verse is lean and colloquial and her subjects vary widely, from paintings and photographs to travel and travail. Especially haunting is the sequence entitled “DARK ROOM.” These poems are all based on the photography and life of Hannah Maynard, a turn-of-the-century woman living in Victoria, British Columbia. As she works out the grief over the death of a teenage daughter, Hannah’s photos (and these poems) illuminate and develop ever more depth.
What a lovely way to begin a Monday!

And the Winners Are... And an Interview of the Surreal

Congratulations to the winners of the Big Poetry Giveway:

Brian Wong

Lesa Medley

Andrea-Drebelle

Please do get in touch if you are Brian, Lesa, or Andrea!

I've been on the road and so catching up now. Thank you to all who participated! Over 70 poets left their names and emails at my blog --- A pleasure to be part of Kelli Russell Agodon's cool project.

Thanks also to poet Michael Wells who was kind enough to ask to interview me about my new book, Cloud Pharmacy. As life has been rather busy lately, I responded to Michael's questions after midnight each night for a week, it's strange to read the answers now in daylight. Here's just a bit of what we talked about:




MAW: I could not help but notice the words alchemically speaking in the title poemCloud Pharmacy. Given your repetitious use of alchemist between two of your poetry collections I have to wonder if you don’t feel as a poet you have to practice a bit of such chemistry to arrive at your destination as a writer. Can you tell us about the connection between your writing and alchemy?


SR: When I was a Senior in high school I read, no I devoured, 100 Years of Solitudeby Gabrielle Garcia Marquez. I was in love with his imagination. This novel was like nothing I had encountered before. The part of the book I remember best was the story of the alchemists. This sense that men mixed potions not only to find the recipe for gold but also to further their knowledge of themselves appealed to me – a sense of inner and outer discoveries paired together.


Only with Garcia Marquez’s recent death did I make this connection back to my first encounter with alchemists. So I don’t claim that poetry is the only alchemy --- I believe it is the work of many writers --- as well as visual artists and musicians.
To read more, click here!

A Poem About the Rain by Geraldine Mills

 I love this poem by Geraldine Mills. As I sit at my friend Hilary's house in Somerville, Massachusetts, the rain is on pause for a moment. Last night for my reading with Jennifer Markell at Porter Square Books, the umbrellas were out in full force. "Precipitation" brings me back to an appreciation of these days when the world is all oatmeal sky and the roadways a map of streams and pools. Thanks to Peter Moore for this beautiful Irish rain and mountain image.

Porter Square Books Tonight at 7:00 PM -

Susan Rich and Jennifer Markell, The Cloud Pharmacy and SamsaraStart: 04/30/2014 7:00 pm"Cloud Pharmacy is a book of lyric fire. In our epoch of quick and shallow literary conversation it is rare to come across such level of attentiveness as one finds in this book."                                                                     Ilya Kaminsky
"The poems of Samsara represent the beautiful exploitation of our objective reality, reintroducing us to and reinvigorating a world that has been here all along but that most of us fail to recognize or to see most fully. These observations are mediated by a deep belief that we are all the same on this planet, and all equally deserving of grace. This is a very fine debut, deserving of our attention."                                                                          Bruce Weigl
Susan Rich is the author of four collections of poetry, The Cartographer’s Tongue / Poems of the World, Cures Include Travel, The Alchemist’s Kitchen, and Cloud Pharmacy. She has received awards from PEN USA, The Times Literary Supplement, and Peace Corps Writers. Her fellowships include an Artists Trust Fellowship from Washington State and a Fulbright Fellowship in South Africa.
Jennifer Markell'spoems have been published in journals nationally and internationally, including The Aurorean (Featured Poet),Consequence, The Hawaii Pacific Review, Rhino, andPoetry from Sojourner, A Feminist Anthology. She is the author of an award-winning chapbook, Leaving the Green Elm Market. Her poetry has been displayed at Boston City Hall, and she was selected to read her work at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Jennifer lives with her husband in Jamaica Plain, MA and works as a psychotherapist with a special interest in therapeutic uses of writing

I Love Having Creative Friends~

Thank you so much to Katie Woodzick for transforming a cool idea into reality. Kelli and I are teaching at Portlandia's Woman to Woman Bookstore and we forgot to tell you. Thank goodness for Katie!

Some Cool Things: Ebooks, Marge Piercy, Travel, and Life -- UPDATED!

Would she have preferred an ebook?

Thanks to the wonderful women of Two Sylvias Press for bringing Cloud Pharmacy into the 21st century. Right now, thanks to Kelli Agodon and Annette Spaulding-Convy, you can preview my book on Amazon and even get a free read of the book via ebook when you buy a hard copy on Amazon.  This is not an advertisement for Amazon, it is merely the only place where you can buy both the physical book and read the ebook for one price. 
I am wondering why you would want a physical and an electronic copy? And I think I know. One copy to keep on a bedside table (physical) and one to take on long trips (electronic). I also see that that electronic copies reach customers immediately, no waiting two days for something you want now.
Indeed it's a strange new world.
And speaking of travel. I will be on book tour reading at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Mass; at Jabberwocky Books in Newburyport, Mass for the Tannery Series; and with Marge Piercy and Oliver de la Paz at the Mass Poetry Festival.
Finally, this seems a time of life to think about what is really important. Is it reading to new audiences or writing new poems? Is it new travels or replenishing the garden? A new book in the world somehow works to make life's questions more pressing --- or perhaps it's just middle life.

Updated information - If you purchase Cloud Pharmacy here, the Kindle version is only $2.99

Breaking News: Elizabeth Bishop House for Sale

The childhood home of Elizabeth Bishop in Great Village, Nova Scotia is for sale as of today. For the last ten years it's been run as a non-profit and hosted poets from around the world. I so hope whomever buys it will continue its important legacy. This is the house Elizabeth Bishop loved most and lived in until she was forced to move to Worcester, Massachusetts. Find out all about the home and how it can be yours right here. 

Road Trip on the Horizon - You Come, Too!

If it's April it must be National Poetry Month but what happens the rest of the year? You can keep the wild momentum of poetry writing well into May by attending  a workshop at In Other Words in Portland. Have you ever watched Portlandia? This is "that" bookstore!

Kelli Russell Agodon and I will travel to Portland to give a reading at the Press Club on Wednesday night, May 21st and then facilitate our only Portland writing workshop on Friday, May 23rd. Whether you live in Portland or think a spring road trip sounds alluring, this generating new work and learning about publication might just be for you.


Kelli and I plan on doing our part
The Details:
WHEN: FRIDAY, MAY 23, 2014, NOON - 3 PM

WHERE: IN OTHER WORDS BOOKSTORE, PORTLAND, OR

WHO: ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED IN WRITING POEMS

(beginner to well‐published  author)

HOW MUCH: $86 (includes a free chapbook for each participant)

This class is designed for all levels of poets utilizing different writing exercises
including working from the visual arts to help kick-start new poems. Enjoy creative
prompts that help you move deeper into your writing. You will learn new strategies to
create poems and by doing so, push your writing to new places. We will wrap-up the
afternoon with a salon-style discussion of poetry publication. In addition, each poet
will leave with a new listing of poetry journals and a chapbook of poems.

To register for this class, mail a check for $86 made out to Kelli Agodon:

Kelli Agodon

PO Box 1524

Kingston, WA 98346

Or visit: http://agodon.com/classes.html to register online with PayPal.