Alice Friman: "This April"

The VPR Poem of the Week is Alice Friman’s “This April,” which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2003 issue (Volume IV, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Alice Friman is the author of eight collections of poetry, most recently The Book of the Rotten Daughter (BkMk Press, 2006) and Zoo (University of Arkansas Press, 1999), winner of the Ezra Pound Poetry Award from Truman State University and the Sheila Margaret Motton Prize from the New England Poetry Club. A new book of poems, Vinculum, is forthcoming from LSU Press. Friman’s poetry also has appeared widely in literary journals, including Atlanta Review, Boulevard, Georgia Review, Gettysburg Review, North American Review, Poetry, Poetry Northwest, Quarterly West, Shenandoah, Southern Review, and many others. In addition, she has had work in numerous anthologies, such as Best American Poetry 2009 (Scribner), and Red, White, and Blues (University of Iowa Press). Alice Friman, the Poet-in-Residence at Georgia College & State University, is currently a visiting writer at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Tuesday of each week “One Poet’s Notes” highlights an excellent work by a poet selected from the archives of Valparaiso Poetry Review, except when other posts with news or updates preempt the usual appearance of this item, with the recommendation that readers revisit it. Please check the sidebar to view the list of poets and works that have been past “Poem of the Week” selections. Additionally, readers are reminded that VPR pages are best read with the browser font preference in which they were set, 12 pt. Times New Roman, in order to guarantee the stanza alignment and the breaks of longer lines are preserved.