Marly Youmans's Blog, page 139

"Never attained by most"

Photograph of ink courtesy of  Ben Joosen of Brasschaat, Antwerp, Belgium and sxc.hu.

Here is Helen Vendler being penetrating and quotable in "Are These the Poems to Remember," a review of The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth-Century American Poetry, edited and with an introduction by Rita Dove  in The New York Review of Books.  I imagine that the author found this review a bit uncomfortable, as

Into the Light

I would dearly love to see this show at Anderson Creative, and send hearty congratulations to Paul Digby, who acted as curator, composed music for each of the three gallery rooms, and even contributed a pair of paintings. Paul, as you may know, has made videos for five of my poems, all on youtube, and he has a fascinating history in the arts--he is fearless and has tried many modes.  Lynn

Plentitude

As I am rather busy today and have a husband leaving for Morocco tomorrow, I am glad that Dale Favier has done all the work of posting for me. Again today he has written a poem in response to The Throne of Psyche. How marvelous...

The illustration is the under drawing by Clive Hicks-Jenkins of "Touched," the image on the jacket of the hardcover of "The Throne of Psyche" and on the cover of

Sweet blame

I am tickled to find that The Throne of Psyche has progeny.  Dale Favier is blaming me for his four new poems. The mythic Psyche gave birth to Hedone, Pleasure...

"The Book of the Red King" poems at Pirene's Fountain

Three new poems from The Book of the Red King are up today at Pirene's Fountain:  "Blue Sky, Blue Tree," "The Yoke," and "Fool's Talismans." My penpal Corey Mesler also has poems in this issue.

"Travellers and Magicians"

Movie recommendations: a grand movie to watch on a slow Sunday afternoon. I loved the nesting of the stories--one inside another inside another--and the infinitely slow unfolding that is a slap in the face and a reproof to Hollywood. The second film by the Bhutanese director, lama, and abbot Khyentse Norbu is Travellers and Magicians, the first movie made entirely in Bhutan (1993.) Khyentse

Leaves in our hair--

I'm afraid that life has been a bit too busy lately. But I have been moving forward despite the dragons and rocks and pits in the path. One maiden has been rescued, a new chariot acquired post-Irene, and much late-night oil burned.  I turned in the page proofs of A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage. I read Thaliad entirely too many times and then finally tossed in the final version, my

The Psyche Sampler

For a poetry book, The Throne of Psyche is fairly long--at 106 pages, it's roughly double the average book of poems. Let's see; that's 60 poems, counting the seven sections of the title poem. If you would like to take a big bite of the book to see whether you want your very own copy, you may write me. Then you can see whether you want to loll in the grass or on the sand and read my poems (or,

"Nice chicken, honey."

I'm always a bit behind the times in the realm of political ephemera, so I just realized that the son of my high school biology teacher in Cullowhee, North Carolina starred in a Herman Cain ad back in August. If you haven't seen "He Carried Yellow Flowers," well, it has the advantages of Nick Searcy, a sense of humor, genre playfulness, and (not least) chickens.
My motto: Chickens loom

My writing room

I've had requests for a peek at my writing room, but I've always said no, generally because it is often quite messy. But since I cleaned it up so that my daughter could film me in that setting... here goes. Now don't expect an 1808 house to be level (well, this room is in a Victorian-era addition.) The wallpaper was chosen by a little girl who seems to have been quite fond of nails, as I had