Poem Published in New Anthology

Boxcar Poetry Review, edited by Neil Aitken, has announced the publication of its second anthology of poetry from the journal’s pages, and I am pleased to report one of my poems, “Morning Compostion,” is among the entries.

The anthology’s entire roster of poets includes Kimberly Abruzzo, Helene Achanzar, Mary Alexandra Agner, Jeffrey Alfier, Ryel Alviola, Arlene Ang, Aaron Anstett, Cynthia Arrieu-King, Jon Ballard, Lyn Graham Barzilai, Tamiko Beyer, Michelle Bitting, Lisa Bower, Sarah Browning, Edward Byrne, Pris Campbell, Ruth Doan, Marco A. Dominguez, Theresa Edwards, Brent Fisk, Jean Paul Ferro, Patrick Ryan Frank, Do Gentry, Jude Goodwin, Jennifer Gravley, Heather Green, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Susan Grimm, Robin Halevy, Lilah Hegnauer, Mary Crockett Hill, Graham Hillard, Rathanak Michael Keo, Jee Leong Koh, Raina J. León, Matthew Little, Ted McCarthy, Marty McConnell, Robert McDonald, Matt Mason, Jerry D. Mathes II, Rhonda Mino-Melanson, Tomas Q. Morin, Benjamin Morris, Kristine Ong Muslim, William Neumire, Tolu Ogunlesi, Erick Piller, Doug Ramspeck, Sam Rasnake, Suzanne Rindell, Heather Salus, Sarah Sloat, Erin Elizabeth Smith, Lynn Strongin, Christian Tablazon, Florencia Varella, Donna Vorreyer, Yun Wang, Karen Weyant, Joe Wilkins, Lenore Wilson, and Amanda Yskamp.

I offer a sneak preview with “Morning Composition,” and I urge readers to consider ordering Boxcar Anthology 2.

MORNING COMPOSITION

. . . . . I

As though just another charcoal sketch
. . . . . stretched across any pale gallery wall,

the gray downtown skyline appears
. . . . . in silhouette against early-morning sun.

Today, as pairs of rowers scull past
. . . . . a still-darkened boathouse, this city’s

shimmering river once again brightens,
. . . . . seems to be illuminated from beneath.


. . . . . II

Lined behind one another, they pierce
. . . . . the surface—every quick spear of oar

opening into a halo, defining the center
. . . . . of a circle. How easily power transforms

into beauty as each stabbing stroke
. . . . . leaves in its wake an extended ellipsis

of ovals unfolding like blossoms, white
. . . . . lilacs in a brightening field of sapphire.


—Edward Byrne

Poem of the Week: "Flooding the House" by Karen Kovacik

The VPR Poem of the Week is Karen Kovacik’s “Flooding the House,” which appears in the current issue (Spring/Summer 2010: Volume XI, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Karen Kovacik is the author of Metropolis Burning (Cleveland State, 2005), Beyond the Velvet Curtain (Kent State, 1999), and Nixon and I (Kent State, 1998). Her work also has appeared in a number of journals, such as Glimmer Train, Massachusetts Review, Salmagundi, and West Branch. She received a translation Fulbright to Warsaw, Poland, and is working on translating several collections by younger women poets.

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.

Brian Turner Interview and a Review of PHANTOM NOISE

The recently released Spring/Summer 2010 issue (Volume XI, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review includes Brian Turner as its featured poet, and readers will find there my review of Turner’s new collection of poetry, Phantom Noise, as well as an interview with the author.

This new volume by Brian Turner serves as an appropriate follow-up to his impressive and widely praised debut book of poems, Here, Bullet (Alice James Books, 2005), which received a number of awards—such as the Beatrice Hawley Award, a New York Times “Editor's Choice” selection, a Pen Center USA "Best in the West" award, and the Poets Prize, among others.

As I mention in the review: “One of the ways Brian Turner has responded to his history, as a soldier at the battlefront who returns home, has been to explore in his poems various experiences encountered in a war zone and to examine the enduring emotions evoked by them. Indeed, early in his new collection of poems, Phantom Noise, Turner reminds readers of how frequently soldiers encounter an inability to leave behind the traumatic images and dramatic experiences of war.”

In response to one of my questions in the interview about the poems he produced while in uniform during or after the Iraq War, Turner offers an insightful reply: “When I look back at myself as a soldier writing poetry in Iraq, I see a writer who is beginning to learn how to write as a witness. (As a witness to my own life, as well as those around me.) In previous manuscripts I’d written (on a variety of subjects), I mostly imposed my style, my music, on to the subject at hand. In Iraq, though I wasn’t consciously aware of it at the time, I was learning how to listen more to the poem rising from within the moment.”

I invite visitors to read my review, “Walking Among Them: Brian Turner’s Phantom Noise” as well as the interview, and I urge everyone to browse through the entire new Spring/Summer 2010 issue of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

New Poem Published: "Narrow Road"

The current issue of Waccamaw (Spring 2010: Number 5), published by Coastal Carolina University, was released this past week, and I am pleased to note that one of my new poems, “Narrow Road,” is among the works included.

In addition to “Narrow Road,” the volume features poems, stories, and essays by Marci Ameluxen, T.J. Beitelman, David Bruzina, Alec Bryan, Kelly Grey Carlisle, Gregory Fraser, Hannah Gersen, Bernadette Geyer, Melissa C. Johnson, Nick Kocz, Shara Lessley, Keith Montesano, Tony Morris, Scott Owens, Joshua Robbins, Ethel Rohan, Chuck Rybak, Edmund Sandoval, Corinna McClanahan Schroeder, Sheila Squillante, Gretchen Stahlman, Sarah Sweeney, Matt Tullis, Eugenio Volpe, Valerie Wallace, Kelcy Wilburn, and Suzanne Zweizig, as well as an interview with Padgett Powell.

I invite all to visit Waccamaw to read “Narrow Road” and to examine the rest of the contents in this latest issue of a fine literary journal.

Robert Penn Warren and the Fugitive Poets

Robert Penn Warren was born on this date (April 24) in 1905. Warren, the most prominent member of a group of poets known as the Fugitives—which also included John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, and Donald Davidson—was one of the great figures of twentieth-century American literature. The Fugitives were formed when Warren, who entered college at the age of sixteen, was an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University. They published the initial issue of The Fugitive literary journal in 1922.

In an informative profile of the Fugitives, the excellent video above provides background details about the group, as well as audio clips of all four poets reading their work. The video also outlines the paths taken by the individual poets later in their careers, especially on specific issues such as race relations in the South. However, the Fugitives represented only the opening of an extraordinary literary career for Robert Penn Warren during which he authored many impressive works, including sixteen collections of poetry, ten books of fiction, more than a dozen books of nonfiction, and a play.

Warren received just about every honor an American writer could achieve, including three Pulitzer Prizes, the National Book Award, the National Medal for Literature, the Bollingen Prize in Poetry, the Edna St. Vincent Millay Prize, the Van Wyck Brooks Award, the Emerson-Thoreau Award from the Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Copernicus Award from the Academy of American Poets, the Harriet Monroe Prize for Poetry, the Shelley Memorial Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Hubbell Memorial Award from the Modern Language Association, and a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. In 1944 Warren was appointed as Chair of Poetry at the Library of Congress, and in 1986 he was selected as the first official Poet Laureate of the United States.

[Readers are invited to visit previous posts at “One Poet’s Notes” concerning Robert Penn Warren: “Robert Penn Warren: ‘Pure and Impure Poetry,’” “Robert Penn Warren ‘Birth of Love,’” and “Robert Penn Warren: ‘The Nature of a Mirror.’”]

Review of SEEDED LIGHT

Yesterday, I received in my mailbox the Spring 2010 issue of Tipton Poetry Journal, and I am pleased to report this new issue contains a review of Seeded Light. Reading the appraisal, I enjoyed the focus of the commentary offered about the book by reviewer J.L. Kato, who opened his remarks by following a perspective suggested by the volume’s title and epigraph: “The title comes from Pablo Neruda, who described how the stars appear across a field of night. Each point of light is a poem, a cosmic glimmer signaling it is ripe for the reader to harvest.” Indeed, Kato even observes how “each poem is written in lyrical couplets, the layout resembling furrows in a farmer’s field.”

I was delighted to find Kato connecting the book’s title to recurring images within the collection, and I appreciated the extended metaphor carried through the commentary that relates to growth and harvest, particularly the way Kato detects details within the poems that “reinforce the image” evoked by the book’s title or epigraph. I am grateful when such intended links placed in the poetry from piece to piece are recognized and their significance realized by readers.

Furthermore, I was happy to notice how Kato’s comments reflect an emphasis I place on engaging readers with universal themes seen through an attempted use of ordinary language made elegant or eloquent in a lyrical manner. Kato remarks that the poems “meditate on such themes as personal vision, travel observations, the nature of poetry, and, of course, death.” He then declares: “What makes Byrne’s poems memorable is his control of plain language that serves as a guiding light.”

I am honored by any attention given to my poetry by readers or reviewers, but I am especially satisfied when the messages and means of communication are apprehended as designed during the course of composition.

The Spring 2010 issue (Number 17) of Tipton Poetry Journal is available for ordering at the publication’s web page. This new issue also includes reviews of collections by Shaindel Beers and Jessie Carty, as well as poetry by Miranda Bradley, Holly Burnside, Helen Marie Casey, Kevin Marshall Chopson, Katie Clare, Joan Colby, Curtis L. Crisler, George Fish, J. Bruce Fuller, John D. Groppe, Will Greenway, Talia M Hane-Devore, Colleen S. Harris, Ruth Holzer, Adam Hughes, Patrick Kanouse, Helga Kidder, Stephanie Knipper, Norbert Krapf, Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, David W. Landrum, W.F. Lantry, Micah Ling, Rocco Lungariello, Doris Lynch, Angie Macri, Lily Iona MacKenzie, Jayne Marek, Corey Mesler, Joey Minutillo, Rafael Miguel Montes, James Murdock, Thomas O'Dore, James Owens, Rhonda C. Poynter, Bruc Pratt, Stephen R. Roberts, Mary Sexson, R Jay Slais, Jacob Thomas, and Tim Tomlinson.

New Poem, "Bird House," at Indiana Humanities Council

As a way of participating in the observance of National Poetry Month, the Indiana Humanities Council has been posting poems by a number of Indiana poets on its blog, “Think. Read. Talk.” I am pleased to report that I was invited to contribute, and my new poem, “Bird House,” is now available at the site. Among the other Hoosier poets whose works have appeared previously during April have been Joyce Brinkman, Dan Carpenter, Kelsea Habecker, J.L. Kato, Terry Kirts, Karen Kovacik, Diane Lewis, Rohanna McCormack, Richard Pflum, and David Shumate.

The series was initiated with a statement by Norbert Krapf, Indiana Poet Laureate, that includes the following commentary:

Poetry may not sell much in our country, but it’s very much alive everywhere, in classes, in bars, restaurants, and cafes, in libraries and community centers, in concerts where folksingers alternate with poets and jazz trios back spoken-word poets, in slams, in performance poet venues. People who learn how to read or hear poems can follow their intuitions into them and come out with their intellects awakened. Reading poems helps people learn how to write, compress their language, express their feelings, and become aware of their inner lives and that of other people. How can that not be of value to anyone who wishes to be aware, articulate, and fully human?

I invite visitors to read my new poem, “Bird House,” as well as the other contributions appearing at the Indiana Humanities Council blog during National Poetry Month.

Poem of the Week: "Forcing the Forsythia" by Thomas Reiter

The VPR Poem of the Week is Thomas Reiter’s “Forcing the Forsythia,” which appears in the current issue of Valparaiso Poetry Review (Spring/Summer 2010: Volume XI, Number 2) released this week. Readers are invited to examine the entire new issue of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Thomas Reiter’s recent book of poems, Catchment, was published in 2009 by Louisiana State University Press. He has received an Academy of American Poets Prize as well as fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

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.

Alexander Long: Remembering Larry Levis with Philip Levine

The new issue of Valparaiso Poetry Review (Spring/Summer 2010: Volume XI, Number 2) released this week includes a special item, Alexander Long’s essay, “Lunch with Larry,” that recounts a visit with Philip Levine during which the two reminisce about Larry Levis. The personality and poetry of Larry Levis is recalled throughout the essay, and Long even reports on a brief trip led by Levine to Levis’s family farm, the site of the poet’s upbringing and the source for a number of his best known poems, some of which I have discussed in a previous post at “One Poet’s Notes” titled “Larry Levis: Passion Matters,” as well as in an extended essay on Larry Levis's poetry, "To Recover the Poet: Larry Levis’s Elegy, The Selected Levis, and The Gazer Within," that appeared in the Fall/Winter 2001-2002 issue of VPR (Volume III, Number 1) and which also was reprinted as a slightly different version that appeared in the Fall 2004 (Volume 3, Number 2) issue of Blackbird.

Alexander Long recollects visiting with Philip Levine:

I offer what follows years after it’s happened and may happen again.

In July 2004, I’d flown from Philadelphia to Santa Barbara to visit my former teacher and friend Chris Buckley. My purpose was to tend to the silver cats Cecil and Lizzie, while Chris and his wife Nadya traveled abroad. My stay would also afford me seven weeks of solitary confinement to write what became a large portion of my dissertation on the work of Philip Levine and Larry Levis. Those were important weeks, though at the time I couldn’t grasp just how necessary and rich that solitude was.

By August, only four weeks in, I’d grown sufficiently mad and occasionally brave. One evening, I called Philip Levine. Since I was “in the area,” I wondered if I could take a drive and meet for lunch. “In the area?,” I remember Phil saying on the phone. “Sure, sure come on up,” Levine said. “And call me Phil.”

I remember the sun and the heat from the sun, August-in-The-San-Joaquin-Valley heat. I remember being nearly broke, a paltry $23.04 in my checking account. I still have the ATM receipt. August 13, 2004. I remember the four-hour drive from Lompoc to Fresno. I remember wondering if I’d make it, when — not if — I’d run out of gas somewhere on the outskirts of the Mojave. I remember thinking if I got to the Levines’ house I’d sit in the car for awhile, consider not getting out, then not ever get out. Turn around and bag the whole thing.

I did get out of the car, and I did knock on the Levines’ door. But before I knocked, I told myself to remember the tall eucalyptus in their front yard, the shade it offered, and how certain patches of their lawn resembled golfing greens, only tanner and smoother, like suede. I remember being hit, again, by Larry’s poem “Some Grass along a Ditch”:

. . . . I don’t know what happens to grass.
. . . . But it doesn’t die, exactly.
. . . . It turns white, in winter, but stays there,
. . . . A few yards from the ditch,
. . . . Then comes back in March,
. . . . Turning a green that has nothing
. . . . To do with us.

Larry’s lines came to me as naturally as smoke to light. I didn’t summon them. They just came, rose. I’ve wondered since if I was moving my lips then, and if I was how disturbed I must’ve looked to the neighbors on the street, to the Levines inside.

I knocked on the door. Phil’s wife Franny answered. “You must be Alex,” she said. She was beaming, but I’ve learned since that Franny beams; it’s her thing: genuine, welcoming.

“Phil’s just gotten back from the gym. He’s lying down. Come, come. Come in,” Franny said. As she walked into the kitchen, her voice faded: “Phil, Alex is here….”

It was noon by now, and there was a stranger heat inside. “By noon,” Larry writes in Black Freckles, “it is ninety-nine degrees.” But there wasn’t the sun to blame anymore. The heat felt like muggy fog walked through and breathed in, only thicker. This new heat was everywhere because it was only within me, and everywhere it was gauze I could not entirely see through. Whenever I moved, I could feel a little less of me. I was, in some important ways, turning into someone else. Even then, I could intuit that much. I was gratefully frightened.

Phil came out from around a hallway wearing a white T-shirt maybe a size too big and blue sweatpants. He had these white New Balance running shoes on that looked brand new. He moved slowly, a kind of slowness that runners have after a workout: that oddly necessary mixture of ache with relief. I was struck by his height. On a good day, I’m six feet, and Phil seemed taller.

“Hello,” he said. I don’t remember what I said. I jingled some coins in my pockets, both pockets, and I was immediately reminded of the $23.04 in my checking account. Here I was, in Phil Levine’s house, I’d traveled nearly three thousand miles to get there, now standing before him, and all I could think of was the $23.04.

Phil said “Hello” again and kept his hand held out. I’ve wondered since how long we stood there, Phil waiting for a response, any response. Me standing there but not quite there at all. . . .

[Visitors are encouraged to read the rest of Alexander Long’s essay, “Lunch with Larry.”]

Poetry & Publishing Presentation: Mon. April 19, 7 p.m.

Readers and writers of poetry who reside in the nearby region are invited to a poetry reading I will be giving Monday evening at 7 p.m. in the South Haven Public Library, a branch of the Porter County Public Library System in Northwest Indiana. In addition, I will be discussing the process of poetry publication and my role as editor of Valparaiso Poetry Review, as well as answering questions about the place of literature in print and electronic media.

The event is free and open to the public. Following the reading, two of my books—Seeded Light and Tidal Air—will be available for purchase and signing. Pre-registration is not necessary for this presentation, and I look forward to meeting anyone able to attend. The address for the South Haven Public Library is 403 W 700 N, Valparaiso IN, 46385, and the phone number for further information is (219) 759-4474.

Announcement: VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW Spring/Summer 2010 Issue

I am pleased to announce publication of the Spring/Summer 2010 issue (Volume XI, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review, which includes Brian Turner as the featured poet. Readers will be fascinated by Turner’s three poems in this issue. Furthermore, I believe the interview with him, as well as a review of his new book released this month, will offer added insight into the unique and compelling perspectives evident in a significant poet’s writing, especially concerning elements of war or its aftermath for soldiers and civilians.

In addition to Turner, 36 other poets are represented in the Spring/Summer 2010 issue of VPR. Some of the poets might be familiar to readers and regarded as reliable sources of fine work. Other poets in this issue might be seen as fresh voices introducing their poems to many readers for the first time. In either case, I am convinced the table of contents in this issue provides a variety of worthy pieces readers will deem rewarding.

Throughout Alexander Long’s delightful essay, “Lunch with Larry,” the author reminisces alongside Philip Levine about the personality, poetry, and places identified with Larry Levis, resulting in an account of the late poet I’m sure all will appreciate. Accompanying the review of Brian Turner’s Phantom Noise, readers will find perceptive reviews of the latest books by Marguerite Bouvard, Patricia Fargnoli, Li-Young Lee, Charlotte Mandel, and Kevin Pilkington.

I am honored that artist Thomas Kapsalis has allowed use of Still Life and Cloth, a painting from his personal collection, as the cover art for this issue, and once more I am grateful for the art commentary contributed by Gregg Hertzlieb.

Volume XI, Number 2
Spring/Summer 2010

Featured Poet: Brian Turner

Additional Poets: Cynthia Atkins, Nathaniel Bellows, Michael Blumentahal, Kathryn Stripling Byer, Robin Chapman, Brad Clompus, Mark DeFoe, Heather Derr-Smith, Sean Thomas Dougherty, Rebecca Dunham, R.G. Evans, Charles Fishman, Rebecca Foust, Pamela Gemin, Henrietta Goodman, William Greenway, Carolyn Guinzio, James Harms, Gwen Hart, Marilyn Kallet, Karen Kovacik, Cheryl Lachowski, Lisa Lewis, Norman Minnick, Richard Newman, Joanna Pearson, Kevin Pilkington, Thomas Reiter, Susan Rich, Richard Schiffman, Katherine Soniat, Catherine Staples, Christine Stewart-Nunez, Sally Van Doren, Bob Watts, Valerie Wohlfeld

Interview: Q & A: Brian Turner Interviewed by Edward Byrne

Essay: “Lunch with Larry,” Alexander Long on Larry Levis and Philip Levine

Poets Reviewed: Marguerite Bouvard, Patricia Fargnoli, Charlotte Mandel, Kevin Pilkington, Brian Turner

Cover Art Commentary: Gregg Hertzlieb on Thomas Kapsalis

Again, I am grateful for all the ongoing support Valparaiso Poetry Review has received from contributors and readers during the past decade of publication. I invite visitors to examine the Spring/Summer 2010 issue of VPR, and I urge everyone to revisit the numerous entertaining, engaging, and enlightening works published in the previous twenty-one issues of VPR that are available through the archives section of the journal.

Two New Poems in Inaugural Issue of TIDAL BASIN REVIEW

The Spring 2010 issue of Tidal Basin Review, a publication of Tidal Basin Press, has just been released, and I am pleased to report that two of my new poems, “Father’s Garage” and “For My Sister After Her Surgery,” appear in this inaugural issue of the journal.

Tidal Basin Review is described by its editors as “an electronic literary journal with a print-on-demand option that seeks to amplify the voice of the human experience through art that is intimate, engaging, and audacious. We make every effort to include work that propels the present artistic landscape and to publish the wide spectrum of American voices.” The debut issue includes works by 45 writers and a featured visual artist.

Visitors are urged to examine my pair of new poems and to read the entire premiere issue of Tidal Basin Review, which is free and available online.

Poem of the Week: "Weight" by Michael Dobberstein

The VPR Poem of the Week is Michael Dobberstein’s “Weight,” which appeared in the Fall/Winter 2007-2008 issue (Volume IX, Number 1) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Michael Dobberstein teaches creative writing, desktop publishing, and literature at Purdue University-Calumet. He has published poems in Beloit Poetry Journal, Cumberland Review, The Formalist, The New Formalist, Pebble Lake Review, Poetry, and other journals.

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.

Best of the Web 2010

In February I reported that “Ground Truth,” a poem by Claudia Emerson that appeared in the Fall/Winter 2009-2010 issue (Volume XI, Number 1) of Valparaiso Poetry Review had been selected for inclusion in Best of the Web 2010, the latest anthology in an annual series published by Dzanc Books. Matt Bell is the series editor, and the new edition is guest-edited by Kathy Fish. Emerson’s poem was chosen from among hundreds of nominated literary works across the entire spectrum of online magazines eligible for consideration.

This past week, Dzanc Books has formally announced the entire list of contents for Best of the Web 2010, scheduled for publication in June, and I encourage readers to visit their web page to view the roster of writers included, as well as for further information about the anthology series. Once again, I congratulate Claudia Emerson on the selection of her terrific poem for this distinction, and I thank Claudia for her contributions to Valparaiso Poetry Review.

A.E. Stallings at Valparaiso University: April 12 & 13

I am pleased to note that A.E. Stallings, poet and translator, will offer two presentations at Valparaiso University in the upcoming week. Both events are free and open to the public. I urge readers from the area to attend.

On Monday, April 12, Stallings will deliver a lecture, “Honey for the Physic: Englishing Lucretius,” which addresses issues involved with Stallings’ translations of poetry by Lucretius in her recent volume, The Nature of Things (Penguin Classics, 2007). The lecture will be held in the Christopher Center Community Room at 8 p.m.

The next evening—Tuesday, April 13—A.E. Stallings will read her poetry at 7 p.m. in the Duesenberg Recital Hall of the Valparaiso University Center for the Arts. Stallings is the author of two collections of poetry: Archaic Smile (University of Evansville Press, 1999), winner of the Richard Wilbur Award, and Hapax (TriQuarterly Books: Northwestern University Press, 2006), winner of the Poets’ Prize. Both books will be available for purchase at an author signing following the reading.

Stallings has also been a recipient of the Frederick Bock Prize and the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award. Additionally, her work has twice been included in Best American Poetry anthologies, as well as the Pushcart Prize XXII Anthology. Her poems have appeared widely in literary journals, including American Scholar, Atlantic Monthly, Hudson Review, New Criterion, Poetry, Shenandoah, and Yale Review. A.E. Stallings lives in Athens, Greece.

"Best of the Net" Selection: "The Moon as Absence and Desire" by Al Maginnes

I am delighted to announce that Sundress Publications, which compiles an annual “Best of the Net” anthology, has selected “The Moon as Absence and Desire” by Al Maginnes, which appeared in Volume X, Number 1 of Valparaiso Poetry Review, as one of only twenty poems chosen to be honored from all the works appearing in online publications during 2009. The poem was chosen from among more than 500 nominated works published during 2009 in nearly 80 online literary journals for inclusion in the annual “2009 Best of the Net” edition of the anthology. Poet Patricia Smith served as this year’s final judge.

Each year, Sundress recognizes remarkable works displaying both the wide range and fine quality of literature now appearing in a multitude of Internet magazines. As I mentioned when nominating poetry from Valparaiso Poetry Review, the editors of Sundress deserve praise for correctly bringing greater recognition to the developing presence of outstanding writing online. I congratulate Al Maginnes, and once more I would like to take this opportunity to thank all contributors to Valparaiso Poetry Review. I value all the poems and depend on all the poets in VPR. I recommend visitors read the new edition of the “Best of the Net” anthology.

Poem of the Week: "Easter Monday" by Lynnell Edwards

The VPR Poem of the Week is Lynnell Edwards’ “Easter Monday,” which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2008 issue (Volume IX, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Lynnell Edwards is the author of The Farmer’s Daughter (2003) and The Highwayman’s Wife (2007), both published by Red Hen Press. Her poetry and reviews have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Dos Passos Review, Georgia Review, Los Angeles Review, Pleiades, Poetry East, Rain Taxi, Southern Poetry Review, and Verse Daily. She is the recipient of the 2007 Al Smith Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council. Edwards directs the writing center and teaches at Bellarmine 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.

Awe in Autism: Inspiration and Encouragement Through the Arts

As many readers may have noticed in my previous post last Friday, April 2 is recognized as World Autism Awareness Day, and I observed the occasion by posting “Song for One Who Cannot Speak,” one of the poems from a sequence contained in Tidal Air, my collection of poetry published by Pecan Grove Press in 2002.

Coincidentally, on Friday a novel and exciting web site premiered. Awe in Autism, designed to increase awareness of autism while engaging readers through various forms of the arts, officially went public Friday morning after midnight. A policy statement describes the site: “Through original works of art, music, literature, poetry, photography and video, as well as many other resources, Awe in Autism seeks to provide inspiration and encouragement to those affected by autism.”

I am pleased to report that the initial appearance of Awe in Autism includes “Seeking Inklings in an Old Video,” another poem from my sequence in Tidal Air which concerns parents’ discovery and the diagnosis of autism in their child. Indeed, I was honored when Deborah French, the co-founder of Awe in Autism contacted me to request my poem for the debut of this interesting and informative new source. Therefore, I urge that all readers visit Awe in Autism to read my poem and to browse through the other fine features offered at the site.


[Readers are also reminded that Tidal Air is currently available at a special discount price of $10.00 during the month of April, National Poetry Month. Please see ordering details above and in the blog sidebar.]

Poetry for World Autism Awareness Day: "Song for One Who Cannot Speak"

According to information available at the World Autism Awareness Day website, in 2007 the United Nations General Assembly declared April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day. The UN resolution establishing this annual recognition was intended to draw the world's attention to autism, a pervasive disorder that affects tens of millions—to urge everyone to engage in activities that raise awareness about autism throughout society in order to encourage early diagnosis and intervention. The occasion was also developed to further express deep concern at the prevalence and high rate of autism in children evident in all regions of the world as well as the consequent developmental challenges.

Participants observing World Autism Awareness Day describe autism as a growing global health crisis. They have instituted various activities to help increase and develop world knowledge of the autism epidemic. Additionally, those supporters of the day’s events celebrate unique talents and skills exhibited by individuals with autism. Organizers request that all join in an effort to inspire compassion, inclusion, and hope as we give a voice to millions of individuals worldwide who are undiagnosed, misunderstood, and seeking assistance but often cannot speak for themselves.

In the spirit of this special day, I offer the following poem, which appeared in one of my collections, Tidal Air (Pecan Grove Press, 2002):

SONG FOR ONE WHO CANNOT SPEAK

Another flare of morning light shows
. . . . . over the threshold of low and rolling

hills that lies before us, and even
. . . . . as this early sun, seemingly weightless,

rises into an otherwise empty sky,
. . . . . I wonder why I believe today may

be any different. Last evening
. . . . . as I was writing in my notebook,

I listened to the distant drift of melody
. . . . . lifting from somewhere beyond this

balcony, a song with its music now
. . . . . muffled and lyrics as soft as an intimate

late-night whisper murmured between
. . . . . lovers. Though those words could not

be heard, carried away as easily
. . . . . as autumn leaves in a sea breeze

or those far-off harbor boats
. . . . . that disappear at dusk in a developing

mist, I imagined phrases forming
. . . . . themselves, sentences taking shape—

lots of white space clotted by ink blots
. . . . . of notes and by organized knots of letters,

like lines from lost compositions
. . . . . rediscovered, found inside an old record

album. I pictured these symbols
. . . . . that mimic speech, the way I sometimes

do when I watch your struggle
. . . . . to be heard, mouthing sounds that never

emerge, as instead an absence is further
. . . . . emphasized, only the silence is noted.

Once again, I imagine—if on this day
. . . . . the doctors were proven wrong—how

your voice might imitate that song,
. . . . . and I wonder what you would say.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . —Edward Byrne

[Readers are reminded that Tidal Air is currently available at a special discount price of $10.00 during the month of April, National Poetry Month. Please see details above or in sidebar about the book sale.]

Hugh Laurie & Stephen Fry Video: Poetry Prize

An old favorite appropriate for poetry fans on April Fools’ Day.