Inverse Origami (1998) now on Google

My very first chapbook (from 1998),  Inverse Origami - the art of unfolding is now available for reading though Google Books....   If you visit its page on books.google.com/  you can download a pdf file of the book via a dropdown menu on the upper right. Or you can view a full text preview on this page by either scrolling down, or clicking the arrows, or jumping to the table of contents and clicking on each poem title. Very cool, Google!!!

I started this process around Xmas of last year - sent off the package and documentation, and never heard anymore about it. Just this week, it came online!  I sent the physical book in to be scanned as the publication's original MS Publisher file predated Windows XP, and was so antiquated as to be unopenable.  Though I have second thoughts about the 2012 cover and front matter, the rest is reasonably presentable for something captured in an automated scan.

  I also have also discovered I can make a ebook pdf on Google docs. So more books are coming.  Hurray!

Tabernacle of Bees

Have you been a true believer at one time but not so sure anymore? Think the idea of hell is pretty revolting? Ever wondered that religions contradict each other? About all the wars committed in the name of religion?  Ever read up on the sordid back-histories of various religious movements, reformations, new age fuzzies or even the papacy? Do you enjoy poetry?  Tabernacle of Bees might be of interest.

 I originally announced this book in October of 2009. But  conflicting edits proposed by a writing group I belong to, followed by several computer deaths and some other odds and ends, frooze me into a state of indecision about how to proceed. However, recent developments have cause me to act. So finally two years later, in November of 2011, I'd like to annouce TABERNACLE OF BEES, a small book of poems which represent a journey from dogma to doubt and beyond, is now available from Puzzled Dragon Press. It's a short book, just 14 poems, but offers a lot to ponder.

POETRY: Leslie McGrath, Allison Joseph, two great readings last week

Last week was a great week for poetry as far as I can see.

Thursday night and Sunday afternoon respectively there were readings - a reading by  Leslie McGrath at PI New Haven at the Institute Library, and a reading by Allison Joseph at Labyrinth Books (both spots are in New Haven). I came away with two books of poetry  that I really like, and a feeling of expansive celebration from having deeply enjoyed everything!

The first book, Opulent Hunger, Opulent Rage is by Leslie McGrath who now coedits Drunken Boat -  an online journal of the arts. (It's multi-media in many ways). Her poetry is sumptuous, rich in sensual detail and metaphoric nuance. Her in-person reading style is earthy and warm as well.  A line I loved is "I am the cake. I do not fear the knife."  from her poem Self-portrait on a Milkglass Cake Plate. And just as a coda -the cover painting on  Opulent Hunger, Opulent Rage is by artist Doug Aaberg, design by Kirkby Gann Tittle. Nice job on the rich warmth with embodies the work. 


The second book is Voice: Poems by Allison Josephs who edits Crab Orchard Review. Her poetry has the strength of caft, surprise, and unexpected images. Her reading style is quiet and personal, yet clear and  revealing of meter, and occasional rhyme, in the most natural sounding way.  A line l like from the book is "If there is a poem in you, get it out by any means necessary - use pliers if you must, grab it with your bare hands." from her poem Extraction.  I like the cover image and would love to know its method but no artist is listed just an online photo purveyor.

 Allison has for years and years run the Creative Writing Opportunities mailing list which shoots out all sorts of opportunities including submission and manuscript calls, Adjunct professorships, artist residencies and numerous contests. She told me this was a labor of love, and I have to say to has enabled so many to get their work published.  


Now that i have talked about the poets, I have to talk about the venues. PI New Haven's Third Thursday Open Mic (formerly Word of Mouth) is at the Young Men's Institute Library on the second floor (around 847 Chapel Street? next to the tattoo parlor). Visit http://thepoetryinstitute.com for more information on this series and directions. Labyrinth Books, which is filled floor to ceiling with all sorts of books you won't find at suburban chainstores, has some wonderful events coming up..http://www.labyrinthbooks.com/events_calendar.aspx  

-- Mar Walker

Poetry: Polly Brody's latest arcs with the trajectory of living

After hearing a reading from Polly Brody's new book, Stirring Shadows, (from Antrim House), you would never conclude there was anything remotely Pollyanna-ish about her views.  This excellent book looks at the darkness of human nature, seguays to the rich beauty and ferocity of nature, then to  the ultimate leveler of mortality, and to the hope of new generations.  The works are gorgeous, and her well-attended reading last Sunday at the Cyrus Booth Library in Newtown, was evocative. Click to read some sample poems.

10 AM poetry reading not too early for Doris Henderson fans!

When I heard Doris Henderson was giving a reading from her new full length poetry book called "What Gets Lost," at the Danbury Library, I was excited. I am a big fan of poetry of the surreal, and poetry with a sense of humor and Doris hits the mark on both counts. When I heard it was a 10 AM reading on a Saturday, starting just as the library opened its doors,  I wondered if the usual suspects would manage to be up and out of the house that early on a Saturday. I made sure to arrive early and sat down with poet Bob Taylor in the front row, didn't look behind me until later.

At the end of this wonderful, energetic and funny reading -- the best I have ever heard Doris give -- I got up turned around and realized there were over thirty people in the room who had been pin quiet listening to her read. And they were not shy about buying a copy of her new book either. It's an oversized collection from Antrim House - an inch at the spine with a $19 price tag. Great cover art as well.  Click here to read the publisher's page on this book and some poetry excerpts

At the end, there were questions. Someone wondered where she got her ideas.  Doris mentioned that she kept a notebook where she wrote for at least ten minutes every day, sometimes much longer. The writing was a completely  unedited "free write" of whatever comes to mind.  She said that later, sometimes a long time later, she would go back and find in those writings, the start of a poem....    Hmmm might have to try that!

Poetry: Mark McGuire-Schwartz - SURREAL!

Flying over rooftops with an alarm clock

.

A post from December of 2009. Poems by Mark McGuire-Schwartz are quirky and a bit surreal, like eating pickles and pistachio ice-cream, then going to sleep and having a strange dream. I like this sort of thing apparently as  I have published seven of his poems in Bent Pin Quarterly.

"If your poems were paintings, based on their style, what painter would you be? Are you more Norman Rockwell or Miro?  Rembrandt or Picasso?" This is my stock question during Wed Night Poetry's Q & A.  It's a question that leaves many poets scratching their heads,  but  Mark gave me a truly fitting answer.

"I would be Chagall" he told me, reminding me that I had asked him this before.  Marc Chagall's  odd visions enchant and disorient at the same time, and often show people flying over quaint rooftops, or barnyard animals with luminous eyes hovering at some impossible angle...

Mark has a quirky reading style as well, featuring his self-effacing charm and an alarm clock or two. You can hear him read his work at the Monday Poetry Series t the Stamford Town Center Barnes and Noble. It's this coming Monday and it starts around 7 p.m.

>>>>>Mark has a new chapbook from his own Oy Vey Press... It's called  "Loss and Laughs, Love and Fauna." Sure the tittle is a little surreal, just like the poems it contains.  I got my copy during his reading last week at  Wed. Poetry (which is now meeting at the Blue Z Coffeehouse in Newtown), and I am enjoying it very much.

.
Mark had quite a few poems in Bent Pin during its run. The archive was down for a while but is partially restored:
Here is a list of his poems with links where available in the new Bent Pin Archive:

McGuire-Schwartz, Mark -- 4/2007 NEW LINK Title: Black Coffee
McGuire-Schwartz, Mark -- 4/2007 NEW LINK Title: In Death
McGuire-Schwartz, Mark -- 7/1/2007 NEW LINK Title: Turkey Club
McGuire-Schwartz, Mark -- 10/13/2007 NEW LINK Title: What I've Been Before
McGuire-Schwartz, Mark -- 1/1/2008 NEW LINKTitle: 25 Short Poems
McGuire-Schwartz, Mark -- 4/1/2008 Title: "Is Them Things Called Stars?"
McGuire-Schwartz, Mark -- 7/1/2008 Title: Coatless 
McGuire-Schwartz, Mark -- 11/10/2009 Title: Heartless  

the delicate warm poems of Claire Zoghb

Last Thursday at New Haven's Institute Library, I heard Claire Zoghb read her poetry.

Hers is not a poetry that slaps or shocks. It is as unpretentious and human as an embrace, as welcoming as a smile, yet it's not a sappy sentimental sort either.  For this reading, Ms. Zoghb read from her first full-length collection, Small House Breathing, which took the 2008 Quercus Review annual book competition. These poems sit on the threshold - where one culture knocks on the door of another in a friendly way, and is welcomed.

Her gentle, quiet-but-knowing style of delivery complemented the words - the poems and the person being of one whole cloth, the one the essential expression of the other.

She has a new chapbook, Dispatches from Everest, to be released by Pudding House Press on a schedule to be determined. Her work has appeared often: Yankee, Connecticut Review, Connecticut River Review, Caduceus, and CALYX, and in  Through A Child’s Eyes: Poems and Stories About War and Eating Her Wedding Dress: A Collection of Clothing Poems, (the last two are anthologies).

She's won a lot of awards:  she won the 2008 Dogwood annual poetry competition, was awarded two Artist Fellowships from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, and there were two Pushcart nominations.

If you have a chance to get to one of her readings, drive a bit, walk, ride the bus. Arrive, sit back, enjoy.

Ms. Zoghb lives in New Haven where The Institute Library can be found at 847 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT.  There is a poetry reading there each third Thursday. The Institute Library is a membership library and it is seeking members. For $25 a year you can borrow whatever you like and keep it as long as you need to. You can even mail it back.   Though membership involves a fee - the monthly poetry reading is free.

-- Mar Walker