David Anthony Sam's Blog, page 141
July 3, 2019
Kelsay Books will publish my poetry collection Dark Fathers, publication date to be announced
Kelsay Books will publish my poetry collection, Dark Fathers, publication date to be announced. This group of poems is about my Syrian-born grandfather, my father, and my relationship with him.
July 2, 2019
My poem “Bequest” has been published by The American Journal of Poetry
My poem “Bequest” has been published by The American Journal of Poetry. Thank you to Editor Robert Nazarene.
This poem is part of an unpublished collection inspired by the works of Arthur Rimbaud.
July 1, 2019
Win a whole year of the New Yorker, AGNI, Geist, Grain, and Carousel!
Win a whole year of the New Yorker, AGNI, Geist, Grain, and Carousel!
— Read on contest.literistic.com/
June 30, 2019
Review: The Embrace: Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo
The Embrace: Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo by Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
“The Embrace” by Carolyn Kreiter Foronda imagines the voices of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera from the poet’s reading of their letters and journals as well as her own imagination. Many of the selections are two poems interlaced so that you may read them separately or together as a third poem. While this device works more often than not, as in the “Two Fridas” poems, there are places with it stumbles such as in “Deer Running.”
Overall, this collection is emotionally powerful without slipping too far into the maudlin. The language is generally fresh and eloquent. In a number of cases animals or inanimate objects are personified and given a speaking voice with mixed success. (I find it difficult to suspend disbelief in listening to a crematorium oven speaking.)
“The Embrace” sides with Frida Kahlo in this tortured relationship, a sympathy it is easy to agree with. The collection is powerful and beautiful especially when it gives Kahlo a living voice agin.
June 29, 2019
Everyone should watch True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality on HBO
“There’s a history of untold cruelty that hides in the silence in this country.”
– Bryan Stevenson
Watch True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality, the original HBO documentary online at HBO.com or stream on your own device.
— Read on www.hbo.com/documentaries/true-justice-bryan-stevensons-fight-for-equality
June 26, 2019
Review: The Lost Words
The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A children’s book.
A book for adults to read to children.
A set of spells to enchant adults.
A book of beautiful art for heart’s sake.
A book of lost words for what may become lost worlds.
A spellbook that helps children spell and say the words for wild and free.
A book for children to save themselves from what we have helped them lose.
A book for children to chant to adults..
before it the words for wild things
are too gone to be remembered.
June 23, 2019
The 10 Most-Banned Classic Novels
The pen may not be mightier than the sword, but it sure frightens people.
So, you want to read a banned book? Here’s a list of banned and challenged classic American novels.
— Read on www.thoughtco.com/most-banned-classic-novels-738741
June 22, 2019
Review: The Heights of Macchu Picchu
The Heights of Macchu Picchu by Pablo Neruda
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A mythopoetic and somewhat surrealistic set of 12 cantos by Pablo Neruda, “The Heights” by one of the finest poets of the 20th Century transcends the personal/lyrical in an eloquence of vision. Neruda uses Macchu Picchu (Intentionally writing two Cs in the first word) to place himself in a larger world of history and time.
I love nearly everything I read by Neruda, but I wish that I could read Spanish better than I do so I could give a more informed review as to the quality of this translation. Nonetheless, Tomas Morin gives a workmanlike English version that is worth reading.
June 19, 2019
Clementine Unbound will publish my poem “Now Is Not the Time to Talk about Guns” online beginning August 20.
Clementine Unbound will publish my poem “Now Is Not the Time to Talk about Guns” online beginning August 20.
This is the second of my poems published by Clementine. Thank you Editor GF Boyer.
Congratulations to Joy Harjo, the new Poet Laureate of the United States.
Congratulations to Joy Harjo, the new Poet Laureate of the United States.
Read an interview with her HERE.
