POETRY FROM PARADISE VALLEY

POETRY FROM PARADISE VALLEY
Click Image to Visit the Pecan Grove Press Web Page for Poetry from Paradise Valley

POETRY FROM PARADISE VALLEY web page

Poetry From Paradise Valley

Pecan Grove Press has released an anthology of poems, a sampling of works published in Valparaiso Poetry Review during its first decade, from the original 1999-2000 volume to the 2009-2010 volume.


Poetry from Paradise Valley includes a stellar roster of 50 poets. Among the contributors are a former Poet Laureate of the United States, a winner of the Griffin International Prize, two Pulitzer Prize winners, two National Book Award winners, two National Book Critics Circle winners, six finalists for the National Book Award, four finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award, two finalists for the Pulitzer Prize, and a few dozen recipients of other honors, such as fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, etc.

Readers are encouraged to visit the Poetry from Paradise Valley page at the publisher's web site, where ordering information about the book can be found.

Best Books of Indiana 2011: Finalist. Judges' Citation: "Poetry from Paradise Valley is an excellent anthology that features world-class poetry, including the work of many artists from the Midwest, such as Jared Carter, Annie Finch, David Baker, and Allison Joseph. It’s an eclectic and always interesting collection where poems on similar themes flow into each other. It showcases the highest caliber of U. S. poetry."
—Indiana Center for the Book, Indiana State Library

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

James Rioux: "Possum"

The VPR Poem of the Week is James Rioux’s “Possum,” which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2005 issue (Volume VI, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

James Rioux has had poems published in various literary journals, including Five Points, North American Review, and Prairie Schooner. “Possum” is part of a collection of faux-sonnets, Fistfuls of the Invisible, published by Penhallow Press of Franklin Pierce College.

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.

5 comments:

John Guzlowski said...

Starts strong. Diamond as a verb is wild.

Keith S. Wilson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

And unspooling as a noun. Wow. This one really got me. A part of me always feels bad for roadkill, even knowing that there isn't much I can personally do one way or the other.

Like I said. Wow. This is the kind of poem that, if it were a first impression, would definitely get me to buy a journal, or at least flip through it.

John Guzlowski said...

Hey, Keith, we see poems about feeling bad for roadkill (Driving through the night for example), but what about the flip side? I once was attached by a bear that came at my car, another time a moose came out of the brush and rushed my car! Where are the "Holy smokes--I wish I had a bigger car so I could run over these hippos" poems?

Anonymous said...

John, that's a very good point. I think, actually, that I might feel a little less for the possum if I was ever locked alone in a room with one. Their teeth are fully capable of diamonding my arm as well as anything else, right?