David Anthony Sam's Blog, page 164
February 26, 2018
You can now read my poem “Unforgetting” at Heron Tree and download their Volume 5.
You can now read my poem “Unforgetting” at Heron Tree and download their Volume 5.
February 23, 2018
Feeling flat
A Bag of Hands by Mather Schneider
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This is a Runner-Up collection for the 2017 Rattle Chapbook Prize and so many must appreciated the “talky’ style of poetry contained herein:
It’s 5 a.m.
and I get the cab warmed up.
I drive to McDonald’s in the dark
where Josie is already working
the breakfast shift.
She gives me a coffee and a smile.
This is how we met
3 years ago.
Most of the poems go this way. The opening poem, “Hot Iron,” and the closing one, “Chasing the Green Card,” both work a little more for me. But I just cannot appreciate this sort of poetry. Billy Collins does it better. It must be me–so many editors do appreciate and publish poems of this sort. But this collection left me flat.
February 22, 2018
Congrats to The 2017 Nebula Awards Nominees
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2017 Nebula Awards.
— Read on theportalist.com/nebula-awards-nominees-2017
I Love words: 11 Weird and Interesting Words
The English language contains some strange words, and we have collected ## weird words for you to learn.
— Read on www.thoughtco.com/weird-english-words-4156446
Please visit my Goodreads author profile
Please visit my Goodreads author profile: https://www.goodreads.com/dasam
February 21, 2018
Ursula Le Guin and the Tao
“But I, who am old, who have done what I must do, who stand in the daylight facing my own death, the end of all possibility, I know there is only one power that is real and worth having. And that is the power, not to take, but to accept.” From The Farthest Shore
Ursula K. Le Guin Wins Posthumous Prize For Essay Writing – Associated Press
February 20, 2018
Poetry Quarterly has accepted my poem “My Yellow Season” for publication in its next issue.
Poetry Quarterly has accepted my poem “My Yellow Season” for publication in its next issue.
February 19, 2018
The Red Queen Literary Magazine has accepted my poem “Lineage” for publication in an upcoming issue.
The Red Queen Literary Magazine has accepted my poem “Lineage” for publication in an upcoming issue.
February 17, 2018
Now is Not the Time to Talk about Guns
The dead are too warm and bloody.
The living have not had time to mourn.
The news cycle has not had time to move on to the next big thing.
The politicians have not had time to bank the latest contribution.
The ammo manufacturers have not had time to refill the stores’ coffers.
The earth has not had time to swallow all the dead.
And there has not been enough time for the next gunman to vindicate
the silence of legislators with another shooting for which
now will not be the time to talk about guns.
February 16, 2018
Helen Vendler – Someone to sit beside as you read poetry
The Ocean, the Bird, and the Scholar: Essays on Poets and Poetry by Helen Vendler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Reading Helen Vendler as she discusses poets and their poetry is like sitting with your favorite professor, one not stuffy though erudite, one brilliant but clear. I may not agree with her exegesis of a given poem or her ultimate judgement on the worth of a given poet’s work, I have to face that fact of her cogent arguments. Vendler seems to love poetry so much more than many critics who spend their time demonstrating their superiority to the art their discuss. I enjoy reading her essays and explications nearly as much as I do the poetry itself.
