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

Sunday, June 19, 2011

“Father’s Garage”

For Father’s Day, I offer one of my recent poems with an appropriate focus, “Father’s Garage,” which appeared in the Spring 2010 issue of Tidal Basin Review.

In addition, since this weekend coincides with the U.S. Open Golf Championship, scheduled every year for the final round to fall on Father’s Day, watching the event once again evokes pleasant memories of those many fine times shared with my father on a golf course.

Indeed, in a previous post from April of 2008 at One Poet’s Notes—titled “Golfing with My Father” after a poem by W.D. Ehrhart that appeared in Valparaiso Poetry Review and is reprinted in the article—I have written in prose about assorted impressions of my father that are tied to the sport, and I recommend readers revisit that commentary as well.



FATHER’S GARAGE

Another still winter night and stars
. . . . . glitter again, shining over the far dark

fields, sparkling like the tapered
. . . . . rows of thin drill bits or those heaps

of nuts and bolts I remember seeing
. . . . . scattered across a tabletop under dull

shop lights in my father’s garage,
. . . . . that graying wood-framed structure

behind our house he had converted
. . . . . one summer Sunday into a carpenter’s

workroom. In a corner of that dimly
. . . . . lit space, he would spend long hours

each weekend, sometimes fitting
. . . . . together the finely-sanded pine slats,

fashioning drawers, planing molding
. . . . . until smooth, staining cabinet doors,

varnishing shelves, always repairing
. . . . . several pieces of furniture at a time

for many of our neighbors who knew
. . . . . to listen for the music of his jigsaw.


—Edward Byrne

4 comments:

lucychili said...

rich memory

Patricia said...

You forgot the part where your sister ran into one of those pieces of wood on the work horses and put a scar above her eye...LOL

Marilyn Kallet said...

Elegant! I like the implicit connection between woodworking and writing poetry--(Kinnell, Komunyakaa, also have poems that make this connection).

Thanks!

Anthony Souls said...

Very nice, descriptive poem. Lots of great imagery :) Makes you feel like you are inside the garage.