Poem of the Week: "Small Girl in a Gift Shop" by Catherine Tufariello

The VPR Poem of the Week is Catherine Tufariello’s “Small Girl in a Gift Shop,” which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2006 issue (Volume VII, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Catherine Tufariello’s first full-length collection of poems, Keeping My Name (Texas Tech University Press, 2004), was a Booklist Editor’s Choice selection for 2004, a finalist for the 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Poetry, and the winner of the 2006 Poets’ Prize. She also has published a limited-edition letterpress book, Annunciations (Aralia Press, 2001), and a chapbook, Free Time (Robert L. Barth, 2001). Her poems and translations from Italian have appeared in a number of literary journals, including Hudson Review and Poetry, as well as various anthologies, including The New Penguin Book of Love Poetry, Western Wind, Contemporary American Poetry, and The Poetry Anthology: 1912-2002. She is currently the Associate Director of Communications for the Project on Civic Reflection at Valparaiso University.

Tuesday of each week “One Poet’s Notes” highlights an excellent work by a poet selected from the issues 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.