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

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

“Balloon Launch”

In a few recent posts, I have commented that visitors to One Autism Mom’s Notes, a blog written by my wife Pam, would discover that it presents clear, concise prose observations and commentaries frequently complementary to the matters or details viewed in many of my works of poetry. Indeed, Pam’s observations and perceptive points of view especially seem to mirror those pieces of poetry contained in the new sequence, Autism: A Poem, an ongoing experiment of a work in progress that I have been sharing with readers.

Pam nicely describes in her current blog entry, “Balloons,” a visit to watch hot air balloons that has become a family event every early September during an annual festival in Valparaiso, and this activity has always been something particularly anticipated as a bright moment by our son Alex, who has attended each year since his birth.

As Pam mentions, we most often attend the nighttime balloon glows because of their beauty and because gusty wind currents are unpredictable in northern Indiana, making actual daylight launches less frequent occasions and increasing the possibility of disappointment. However, on the rare days when winds are nearly calm, we’ve witnessed the balloons launch, float over the countryside, diminish in the distance, and disappear beyond the horizon.

Coincidentally, Pam has not been aware that a current poem I have been composing, “Balloon Launch,” also features this pleasant family tradition, reflecting tranquil moments of hope and illumination represented by those brightly colored balloons we’ve sometimes seen soar directly over our heads. Therefore, I invite her and everyone else to read this poem as a companion piece to her splendid prose entry.

1 comment:

Joelle Biele said...

Thanks so much for the link to your wife's blog--