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

Friday, October 16, 2009

Jared Carter: "John Brown and His Men . . ."

This weekend marks the 150th anniversary of the Harper’s Ferry raid led by abolitionist John Brown. The attack began on October 16, 1859, when Brown and a band of about twenty charged the Harper’s Ferry Armory in Virginia, aiming to obtain arms from the arsenal that could be distributed to slaves for an uprising. Though initially successful in capturing the armory, two more days of battle with militia occurred, during which Brown’s plans failed. Brown’s men were defeated by troops commanded by Colonel Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant J.E.B. Stuart. Both would become better known as participants for the Confederacy in the Civil War. Many of Brown’s abolitionists, including two of his sons, were killed in the fighting, while the rest were taken prisoner for trial and execution. Brown, who had previously led a bloody massacre and was considered a “madman” by Lee, was tried for treason and hanged on December 2.

Readers are invited to visit the current issue (Fall/Winter 2009-2010: Volume XI, Number 1) of Valparaiso Poetry Review, released earlier this week, which includes a poem (“John Brown and His Men, with Some Account of the Roads Traveled to Reach Harper’s Ferry” by Jared Carter) concerning these events.

3 comments:

Trée said...

Carter's poem has such a clear flow, of words slipping into sentences, seamlessly, as of a single breath a story unfolds where only the sound of the campfire and the speaker's voice is heard. Thanks for sharing. A delight to read.

Kat817 said...

I wrote this poem awhile ago, and was reminded of it while reading here. Sorry if sharing is verboten but 150 years doesn't come around that often!


"Just North of South"

The Allegheny Mountains
grow small enough to climb
past a battered railroad bridge
linking north to south
at Harper's Ferry.
Weathered wood runs crazily
east, into a torn sun
where John Brown waited
on wooden slates, rocking
with indignation only
a white man could afford.
Virginia was not yet west,
just one, carved south near
Maryland, her second cousin
saluting past river waters
most called Potomac.
Owned and owner alike
broke crusty bread apart
under a genteel moon,
rising and setting on
three-fifths of each back
tilling in bare soil.
And when the dying was done
Brown's neck
grabbed a learned rope
hanging from pine scaffolding.
Too soon he knew
more living would begin.

KHW

Lyle Daggett said...

According to accounts I've read, although Brown and most of the other raiders were either killed during the raid or captured and hanged later, a few (five, as I recall -- including another of Brown's sons) escaped and were never caught.

Liked the poem by Jared Carter.

Thanks for posting this.