Children Of Grass: A Portrait Of American Poetry

by B.A. Van Sise, Mary Louise Parker (Preface)

With this fascinating synthesis of word and image, internationally renowned photographer B.A. Van Sise offers a visually stimulating anthology that will enchant lovers of both poetry and photography. At times whimsical, surreal, challenging, enigmatic, joyful and sobering, these portraits— running adjacent to poems by each of their subjects—highlight some of the most influential poets of our time and celebrate creativity as only these poets in collaboration with Van Sise could convey. Children of Grass is also a timely homage to Walt Whitman—of whom Van Sise is a relative—and his masterpiece, "Leaves of Grass," during this, the 200th anniversary of his birth. Children of Grass, will, like the work of its literary grandfather, stand as a lasting tribute to the vitality and creativity that flourishes in our country.
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Winner of the Independent Publisher Book Award's gold medal for poetry.

Genres: Poetry, Photography

176 pages, Hardcover

Published September 24, 2019

About the author

B.A. Van Sise is an author and photographic artist with three monographs: the visual poetry anthology Children of Grass: A Portrait of American Poetry with Mary-Louise Parker, Invited to Life: After the Holocaust with Neil Gaiman and On the National Language: The Poetry of America’s Endangered Tongues with DeLanna Studi and Linda Hogan. His artwork has been featured in solo exhibitions at the Center for Creative Photography, the Skirball Cultural Center, the Woody Guthrie Center, and the Rockefeller Arts Center, as well as in group exhibitions at the Peabody Essex Museum, the Museum of Photographic Arts, the Los Angeles Center of Photography and the Whitney Museum of American Art; a number of his portraits of American poets are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. His literary work has been featured in Poets & Writers, The North American Review, Nowhere, the Los Angeles Review, Tupelo Quarterly, The Southampton Review, Eclectica, The Night Heron Barks, Cutleaf, Hayden’s Ferry Review, thimble, the Santa Clara Review and The Intrepid Times, among many others, and he is a frequent reviewer of poetry and photography titles for the New York Journal of Books.

In photography he has been a finalist for the Meitar Award for Excellence in Photography, and is a Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation grant recipient, a two time Prix de la Photographie Paris award-winner, a New York State Council on the Arts/New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Photography, and a winner of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences' Anthem Awards for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. For nonfiction he has been a finalist for the Travel Media Awards for feature writing and is a winner of the Lascaux Prize for Nonfiction, and for poetry he has been a finalist for the Rattle Poetry Prize and a winner of the Colonel Darron L. Wright Memorial Writing Awards and a two-time winner of the Independent Book Publishers Awards gold medal.

Reviews

[Liv · Rating 4 out of 5]

This beautiful anthology of poetry and photographs was born out of the tradition of Walt Whitman, who famously proclaimed in his _Leaves of Grass_, "I am large. I contain multitudes." Children of Grass features some of the multitudes that make up the current American body--people of all colors, genders, religions, backgrounds, styles, ethnicities, and interests, and it paints a picture of the variances in modern American poetry.

The poets in the book showcase a variety of styles and topics and house an amazing number of accolades: 4 Poets Laureate, 13 Pultlitzer awardees/nominees, 2 MacArthur fellows, 6 Whiting Awards, 3 Lannan Fellowships, 3 Robert Frost medalists, 27 Guggenheim fellows, and 14 chancellors of the Academy of America Poets.

What really elevates the works though comes from Whitman's line "and your very flesh shall be a great a poem." Every poem is accompanied by a thought-provoking portrait of the poet. The two pieces of art work in tandem.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book of photography. It is hard for a poem to hold equal ground to these strong images, so at times I feel a bit of disconnect with that aspect of it.

However, beautiful and unique.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Second read... same review...)
This is a gorgeous, inspiring book of photos and poetry. Van Sise's photo portraits are constructed with and around each poet and often references the selected poem in clever/intriguing ways. The array of poets is outstanding.

[Martha Spear]

Cathy's kids gave this book to Mom for her 95th birthday and I finally picked it up. I'm not much of a poetry fan but I loved this.