David Anthony Sam's Blog, page 193
February 27, 2016
Touch: The Journal of Healing will publish 2 more of my poems
Touch: The Journal of Healing will publish 2 more of my poems
Heart & Mind Zine has agreed to publish my poem “the Desert Rains”
Heart & Mind Zine has agreed to publish my poem “the Desert Rains”
February 26, 2016
If you love poetry and/or if you love life, spend some time with “Wayfare”
Wayfare by Pattiann Rogers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Pattiann Rogers continues to be one of the best poets writing today, although her reputation may not be as widespread as some. In this 2008 collection, Rogers once again interweaves science, nature, the very personal, the psychological, and the philosophic in a lovely and sometimes whimsical tapestry. While there is whimsy in how she weaves, every word is seriously meant and seriously placed.
The opening poem, “The Great Deluge and Its Coming” describes a torrent of water and creatures to reveal the unity of all being and the fragility of all living creatures in the face of “the ultimate stillness of the dependable void.” The collection is organized as if each section were a visit to a Concert Hall or a Museum or a natural habitat.
If you love poetry and/or if you love life, spend some time with “Wayfare.” Pattiann Rogers is a great companion.
February 24, 2016
My poem “Blackberry Reduction” is included in the new issue of Three Line Poetry.
My poem “Blackberry Reduction” is included in the new issue of Three Line Poetry.
February 22, 2016
Route 7 Review will publish my poem “Emily’s Ghost Machine” later this year.
Route 7 Review will publish my poem “Emily’s Ghost Machine” later this year.
February 21, 2016
Heron Tree will publish my poem “After Bashō”
Heron Tree will publish my poem “After Bashō”
February 20, 2016
Vendler helps to unslant Dickinson
Dickinson: Selected Poems and Commentaries by Helen Vendler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Emily Dicksinson’s poetry was unlike just about everything being written at the time by her more famous mostly male contemporaries. She distilled complexities of experience and emotion into language that truly told it slant. Her verse is like Shakespeare’s sonnets which are are at their most difficult because they contain deep and sometimes contradictory emotion.
Helen Vendler proves again to be a great companion for the reader, unpacking and guiding. The best way to read this selection is to read each poem, Vendler’s commentary, and then reread that poem once or twice more. Windows open. I cannot say I always agree with Vendler’s interpretations, but they are always illuminating.
February 19, 2016
The Red Earth Review has accepted a 2nd poem for future publication
The Red Earth Review has accepted a 2nd poem for future publication. Like the first “A Last Bend in the Huron River,” this second poem “Vessel” is from an unpublished collection about my mother.
February 16, 2016
Please Visit my new Facebook Author Page
My new Facebook Author Page is live. Please visit often and Like it .
February 15, 2016
Giving voice to the voiceless
Unpeopled Eden by Rigoberto González
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Rigoberto Gonzalez writes for the missing, the dead, the mourning, the lost and about unspeakable loss. He give s voice to the voiceless, wives without husbands, sons without fathers. The poetry is beautiful in many places. Modern Central American interweaves with the mythical Aztec realm of th dead. Language warps to fit the damage and destruction. Whole villages are ghost towns filled with memory.
So much poetry today is topicless solipsism. Unpeopled Eden studies murder, the drug trade, and the destructive effects of emigration to North American in oblique but vivid ways. Gonzalez’s collection forces us to see hard realities without ever becoming polemical.
