Poem of the Week: "Hope Chest" by Daniel Tobin

The VPR Poem of the Week is Daniel Tobin’s “Hope Chest,” which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2002 issue (Volume III, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review. This poem also has been published in Poetry from Paradise Valley, an anthology of poems from the first decade of VPR, recently released by Pecan Grove Press.

Daniel Tobin is the author of five books of poetry, most recently Belated Heavens, as well as a critical study, Passage to the Center: Imagination and the Sacred in the Poetry of Seamus Heaney. He is the editor of The Book of Irish American Poetry from the 18th Century to the Present, Light in Hand: Selected Early Poems of Lola Ridge, and Poet’s Work, Poet’s Play: Essays on the Practice and the Art. He has received the Robert Penn Warren Award, the Robert Frost Fellowship, the Katherine Bakeless Nason Prize, and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Widely published in literary journals—including American Scholar, Harvard Review, Kenyon Review, Nation, New Republic, Poetry, Paris Review, Sewanee Review, and Southern Review—his work also has been anthologized in The Bread Loaf Anthology of New American Poets, The Norton Introduction to Poetry, and elsewhere. Tobin is Chair of the Department of Writing, Literature, and Publishing at Emerson College.

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 visit it.

“At the Outdoor Concert” from Autism: A Poem

As I have mentioned previously, I have created a separate blog site as an open experiment of poetry composition, perhaps a glimpse at an emerging manuscript as it matures. The contents represent portions of an ongoing personal project with a particularly narrow focus intended to eventually develop toward a book-length poem tentatively and simply titled Autism.

The poem will grow as sections are added. The individual pieces are designed so that they may be viewed as independent items; however, I have consciously carried themes, images, and language through the extended sequence with the hope that connectivity and continuity will be preserved among numerous sections of the long poem.

I have now posted a new section, “At the Outdoor Concert.”

Readers are asked to regard Autism as a work in progress, a partial draft rather than a finished product (even if a few selected segments previously may have appeared in print), and I request everyone realize various revisions—edits, emendations, or expansion—may be made to the posts at any time in the future.

Poem of the Week: “Rituals Before the Poem” by Kwame Dawes

The VPR Poem of the Week is Kwame Dawes’s “Rituals Before the Poem,” which appeared in the Fall/Winter 2009-2010 issue (Volume XI, Number 1) of Valparaiso Poetry Review. This poem also has been published in Poetry from Paradise Valley, an anthology of poems from the first decade of VPR, recently published by Pecan Grove Press. In addition, an audio presentation of this work by Nic Sebastian can be found at her delightful web site, Whale Sound.

Kwame Dawes is the author of more than a dozen books of poetry, as well as various books of fiction, criticism, nonfiction, and drama. He is Distinguished Poet-in-Residence at the University of South Carolina, where he directs the S.C. Poetry Initiative and the University of South Carolina Arts Institute. Dawes is also the programming director of the Calabash International Literary Festival that takes place each May in Jamaica.

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 visit it.

U2: "Pride (In the Name of Love)"

Poem of the Week: "Promises" by Kevin Pilkington

The VPR Poem of the Week is Kevin Pilkington’s “Promises,” which appeared in the Fall/Winter 2005-2006 issue (Volume VII, Number 1) of Valparaiso Poetry Review. This poem also has been published in Poetry from Paradise Valley, an anthology of poems from the first decade of VPR, recently published by Pecan Grove Press.

Kevin Pilkington is the author of seven poetry collections, including Spare Change, the La Jolla Poets Press National Book Award winner. His poems and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines, including Boston Review, Greensboro Review, Gulf Coast, Iowa Review, North American Review, Ploughshares, and Poetry, as well as anthologies, such as Contemporary Poetry of New England. Pilkington is a member of the writing faculty at Sarah Lawrence College.

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 visit it.

Celebrating Four Years: An Anniversary Note

Tuesday will represent the fourth anniversary of One Poet’s Notes, this editor’s blog for Valparaiso Poetry Review begun on January 11, 2007. Intended as a personal notebook of an editor or a poet’s journal that also presents commentary on contemporary poetry, this blog was created to complement content published in VPR and to help bring the fine works in the journal to the attention of a larger audience by announcing publication of new issues, as well as by consistently highlighting poems, essays, reviews, or interviews from the pages of VPR. In addition, the blog has often provided readers with news items and additional information relating to poetry, poetics, or various aspects of other related arts.

The past twelve months have been particularly eventful. Following last year’s celebration of a tenth anniversary for Valparaiso Poetry Review with a special issue, the end of 2010 witnessed release of Poetry from Paradise Valley, an anthology of poems selected from the first decade of VPR. This book is now available for purchase from Pecan Grove Press at its web page.

When I first wrote entries at One Poet’s Notes four years ago, I had no idea how many notes I might eventually add to the blog or how many individuals might be attracted to the web site. In fact, I honestly held a fair amount of uncertainty about how long I would maintain the habit of posting pieces to the blog or whether others might find the content in my offerings at all appealing.

As a result, I am amazed today to point out that there have been about 650 posts to One Poet’s Notes over the past four years, and statistics indicate an incredible total of about 650,000 visits to the blog. Consequently, this has enhanced the number of people examining pages of Valparaiso Poetry Review, thus supplying a greater readership for the many superb poets published in the journal, which this past year also underwent significant renovation and redesign, exhibited by the updated format evident in its most recent issue.

I have mentioned at various times that the popularity of One Poet’s Notes has been assisted by the beneficial recognition and respect demonstrated by others, especially the excellent authors whose works are represented in the pages of Valparaiso Poetry Review or those members of the online literary community, fellow editors or bloggers, who have frequently and generously exhibited their support for VPR, as well as by kind readers continually recommending to others that they ought to visit this site.

Therefore, I am delighted by this chance to communicate a statement of thanks, once more, to all who repeatedly have been readers of One Poet’s Notes. I hope you will continue to return regularly to discover entertaining and enlightening entries. I again express my appreciation for the time you have taken to view this blog and for the numerous comments of encouragement I have received from readers. Indeed, I offer a wholehearted note of gratitude to each of you.

Poem of the Week: “The Inaugural Poem, January, 1961” by Cornelius Eady

The VPR Poem of the Week is Cornelius Eady’s “The Inaugural Poem, January, 1961,” which appeared in the Fall/Winter 2009-2010 issue (Volume XI, Number 1) of Valparaiso Poetry Review. This poem also has been published in Poetry from Paradise Valley, an anthology of poems from the first decade of VPR, recently published by Pecan Grove Press.

Cornelius Eady is the author of eight books of poetry: Hardheaded Weather: New and Selected Poems (2008), Brutal Imagination (2001), a National Book Award finalist; The Autobiography of a Jukebox (1997); You Don’t Miss Your Water (1995); The Gathering of My Name (1991); Boom, Boom, Boom (1988); Victims of the Latest Dance Craze (1986), winner of the 1985 Lamont Prize from the Academy of American Poets; and Kartunes (1980). He is also co-editor, with Toi Derricote, of Gathering Ground (2006). Eady’s work in theater includes the libretto for an opera, The Running Man, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 1999. His play, Brutal Imagination, won Newsday’s Oppenheimer Award in 2002. He has received the Prairie Schooner Strousse Award and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation. Eady is Professor of English & Theater at the University of Missouri.

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 visit it.