David Anthony Sam's Blog, page 198
October 1, 2015
My poem “Ghosts: Paper or Plastic” is included in the Yellowchair Review October “Horror” issue
My poem “Ghosts: Paper or Plastic” is included in the Yellowchair Review October “Horror” issue. http://issuu.com/yellowchairreview/docs/ycrhorrorissue
September 28, 2015
My poetry & that of other poets in Heron Tree now available in a collection
My poetry & that of other poets in Heron Tree now available in a print collection.
September 27, 2015
Another fine collection by Jane Hirshfield
The Beauty: Poems by Jane Hirshfield
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Jane Hirshfield never disappoints—although the poems in the first and last sections were the strongest. The entire collection exudes a Zen influence, using nature and the commonplace to find an emotional and spiritual resignation or reconciliation with the Way of the world.
September 15, 2015
What makes us fully human
Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry by Jane Hirshfield
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Jane Hirshfield is not just one of the finest poets writing today, she is also one of the best writers about the craft and art of poetry and its place in our contemporary world. This collection of essays is not just for the student of poetry but for anyone who cares about language and the need for art to make us wholly human.
September 14, 2015
Rust and Moth will publish my poem “Transit”
Rust and Moth will publish my poem “Transit” both online and in their Winter 2015 print edition. http://rustandmoth.com/
September 12, 2015
More than seems
“…good poetry carries broad information within brief speech.” Jane Hirshfield
September 7, 2015
Vine Leaves Literary Journal has accepted my poem “Taconic Orogeny” for publication in its October issue
Vine Leaves Literary Journal has accepted my poem “Taconic Orogeny” for publication in its October issue.
September 6, 2015
Fails to “separate from the rummage”
A Several World by Brian Blanchfield
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
When you try to condense your critical opinion of a collection of poems to a number of stars, you realize the inadequacy of ratings.
I admire much of Brian Blanchfield’s ambitious and generous collection. He has a gift of the short and pungent phrase, epigrammatic without being obvious. His language has echoes of the lusciousness of Wallace Stevens and the obscure juxtaposition of John Ashberry. Blanchfield interplays the grammatical, the etymological, and the personal in interesting ways.
But when I am done, and I ask if I willread it again, I must admit that the answer is probably no. I admire the effort and often the craft. But I am left cold and oddly noncurious. Perhaps it is my failure as a reader. Perhaps the work in the end fails to “separate from the rummage.”
September 5, 2015
Thank you Allegro for accepting “Outcast Winter” for publication
Allegro Poetry Magazine has accepted another of my poems for their March 2016 issue.
September 4, 2015
A Poet with a Scientist’s Eye and a Naturalist’s Heart
Splitting and Binding by Pattiann Rogers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pattiann Rogers is that rare poet who writes with the lyrical love of nature that Wordsworth had but without any false sentimentality. Instead, she brings the eye of the scientist together with the heart of the naturalist. She is unafraid to face the harsh reality of life and death in her own existence or in the natural or human world around her. This mid-career collection shows Rogers at her best.
