"Best of the Net" Selection: "Vacancy" by Claudia Emerson

I am pleased to announce that Sundress Publications, which compiles an annual “Best of the Net” anthology of online literature, has selected “Vacancy” by Claudia Emerson, which appeared in Volume XI, Number 1 of Valparaiso Poetry Review, as one of only twelve poems chosen to be honored from all the works appearing in online publications during 2010.

The poem was chosen from among more than 500 nominated works published during 2010 in nearly 100 online literary journals for inclusion in the annual “2010 Best of the Net” edition of the anthology. I congratulate Claudia Emerson, as well as T.R. Hummer (“Evening Report”), David Kirby (“Joe Lewis in Idaho”), and Charles Wright (“Road Warriors”), whose poems from VPR were among 50 named as finalists for the “Best of the Net.”

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. In addition, 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.

Poem of the Week: "Elegant Wreckage" by Christina Cook

The VPR Poem of the Week is Christina Cook’s “Elegant Wreckage,” which appears in the Spring/Summer 2011 issue (Volume XII, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Christina Cook’s poems, translations, essays, and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in a number of journals, most recently including The Dos Passos Review, Prairie Schooner, Hayden's Ferry Review, Harpur Palate, Packingtown Review, and Cave Wall. Cook is a contributing editor for Inertia Magazine, and she teaches writing at Colby-Sawyer 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 revisit it.

Pondering the Prose Poem

I have accepted some prose poems for publication in Valparaiso Poetry Review over the years, and they have delighted me. Yet, I must admit I am always puzzled by the choice of form for the authors. Nevertheless, I have appreciated the history of the prose poem and its practice among American poets—for example, as placed forward by David Lehman in his anthology, Great American Prose Poems (Scribner, 2003).

Still, even with the best prose poems, I frequently find myself automatically re-organizing the poetry, and I discover that separating the composition into lines most times enhances the poem for me, offering additional emphasis of key words or phrases, perhaps accentuating the rhythm. Indeed, on those occasions when I have consciously attempted to compose a prose poem, I eventually have surrendered to the lure of lines and stanzas.

The current issue of Slate contains a lovely prose poem by Mark Strand, titled “Ever So Many Hundred Years Hence,” accompanied by audio of the poet reading his work. I encourage readers to visit the page and experience the original poem as it appears.

I acknowledge that I enjoy Mark’s poem very much and, as usual, his performance of the piece is engaging. I also wish to disclose that I was Mark’s student, and I first learned about the composition of poetry from him. However, upon reading this poem, I again wondered why the work is written as a prose poem rather than divided into lines and stanzas. I confess, as I read the poem, my eyes immediately reshaped its content into the following:

Ever So Many Hundred Years Hence


Down the milky corridors of fog, starless
scenery, the rubble of ocean's breath,
that lone figure strolling, gathering

about him without shame a small flood
of damages, concessions to a frailty
that was his long before he knew

what he must do or what he must be,
and now, with his hand outstretched
as if to greet the future, he comes

close and pours out to me the subtlety
of his meaning, and I see him,
my long-lost uncle, great and golden

in the sudden sunlight, who predicted
that he would reach over the years
and be with me and that I would be waiting.

I am curious about others’ reactions to prose poems, and I invite readers to offer their thoughts on the form.

Best Blogs for National Poetry Month

I was pleased to receive a report this week that One Poet’s Notes has been selected for inclusion among the “50 Best Blogs to Follow for National Poetry Month” by Online Colleges. The fine company on the list, which includes many blogs I regularly enjoy, visiting for entertainment and enlightenment about poetry or other topics concerning writing and the arts, is impressive. I also look forward to exploring some of the sites about which I had not yet been aware. I invite readers to browse through the list to discover new voices and additional locations for information about poetry, poetics, creative writing, literature, or the relationship between poetry and other arts.

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 teaches writing and literature courses at the University of Louisville.

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.

Susan Rich Reviewed by Rachel Dacus

The current issue (Spring/Summer 2011: Volume XII, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review was released this month, and the journal includes a review by Rachel Dacus of Susan Rich’s The Alchemist’s Kitchen.


COOKING UP TRANSFORMATION: SUSAN RICH'S THE ALCHEMIST'S KITCHEN

What’s cooking in an alchemist’s kitchen? It can only be transformation, and Susan Rich’s third collection serves up some tasty conjurations indeed. The book’s three sections, “Incantation,” “Transformation,” and “Song” reveal her intentions: evocation, revelation, and music. In subjects that range from tulips to Sarajevo to ice cream, from terrorist training to mid-life romance, Rich proves herself a born traveler and a poet who can pack a lot into a lyric. As in her book The Cartographer’s Tongue, she spans history, war, politics, relationships, travels, and life-stages. This new book deepens and enriches her themes and raises the pitch of her musical language.

A poet of what might be called political empathy or compassionate witness, Rich writes about many tragic recent conflicts—in Sarajevo, Srebrenica, and Bosnia, to mention just a few. She writes with sensitivity and evocative detail about places most of us only encounter through the media. Rich brings authority to these topics because she has worked as a staff person for Amnesty International, an electoral supervisor in Bosnia Herzegovina, and a human rights trainer in Gaza and the West Bank. Rich has lived in the Republic of Niger, West Africa, and South Africa. Interestingly, she can locate the whole of the Middle East in a community college classroom, as she does in “Paradise Now at Highline Community College,” a poem that delicately explores the world of the suicide bomber through a student discussion in which “the black ash of question marks begin to rise / reluctantly above their freshmen heads.” Her sensitive observation shows the doubts these young men entertain about the righteousness of the bomber’s endeavor, as the questions “shiftshape some through to another side.”

In her travels, Susan Rich has seen the world’s heart to be selfish and compassionate by turns. With a strong musical sense and command of rhythms, she imparts the destruction and cruelty she has witnessed, and also the paradoxical beauty she found in even the most devastated scenes. In the stunning poem “What To Make of Such Beauty,” which is reminiscent of Elizabeth Bishop’s Brazil poems, she writes of the attack that destroyed the Sarajevo National Library by capturing small details of its aftermath: the pieces of pages that floated down in the same way that the destruction of New York’s Twin Towers released a shower of paper scraps. In bearing witness to cultural devastation, she recreates the beauty of what was lost, making literature out of the loss of literature . . . .



[Visitors are invited to read the rest of this review in the new issue of Valparaiso Poetry Review.]

Charlie Chaplin's "Table Ballet"

Celebrating Charlie Chaplin on his birth date: April 16, 1889

Poem of the Week: “John Brown and His Men, with Some Account of the Roads Traveled to Reach Harper’s Ferry” by Jared Carter

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the battle on April 12, 1861 at Fort Sumter, which began the Civil War. However, many historians believe the momentum toward the Civil War was initiated with the Harper’s Ferry raid led by abolitionist John Brown on October 16, 1859, when Brown and a band of about twenty charged the Harper’s Ferry Armory in Virginia, aiming to obtain arms from the arsenal that could be distributed to slaves for an uprising. Though initially successful in capturing the armory, two more days of battle with militia occurred, during which Brown’s plans failed. Brown’s men were defeated by troops commanded by Colonel Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant J.E.B. Stuart. Both would become better known as participants for the Confederacy in the Civil War. Brown, who had previously led a bloody massacre and was considered a “madman” by Lee, was tried for treason and hanged on December 2.

Therefore, the VPR Poem of the Week is “John Brown and His Men, with Some Account of the Roads Traveled to Reach Harper’s Ferry” by Jared Carter, which appeared in the Fall/Winter 2009-2010 issue (Volume XI: Number 1) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Jared Carter has published four books of poetry, most recently Cross this Bridge at a Walk. His previous volumes include Work, for the Night Is Coming, winner of the Walt Whitman Award. His work also has appeared in many literary journals, including Iowa Review, Kenyon Review, Poetry, and TriQuarterly.

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.

"Still in Spring" 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.

Today, I posted a new section, “Still in Spring.”

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.

In addition, I am pleased that a portion of this poetry series in progress was released March 1 as Dark Refuge, an audio chapbook by Whale Sound. The dozen poems in this chapbook represent a narrative designed as a poetic sequence, part of this overall project of poetry I have been composing about particular observations or impressions concerning the characteristics and consequences associated with autism through a poetic chronicling of personal experiences with Alex.

Dark Refuge is available for readers to experience in differing formats: as online audio, online text, free downloadable mp3, pdf, e-book, print edition, and cd. Therefore, I also urge readers to visit the main page for Dark Refuge.

Book Review: T. Alan Broughton's A WORLD REMEMBERED

The current issue (Spring/Summer 2011: Volume XII, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review was released on Monday, and the featured poet in the journal is T. Alan Broughton. Visitors are encouraged to read a trio of his poems included in the new issue. In addition, I have written a review of Broughton’s latest collection of poetry, A World Remembered, published by Carnegie Mellon University Press. T. Alan Broughton has published four novels, a collection of short stories, and seven books of poetry. He also has been the recipient of various grants, awards, and fellowships, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. I present the opening of my book review below:


T. ALAN BROUGHTON: A WORLD REMEMBERED

T. Alan Broughton’s latest collection of poetry, A World Remembered (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2010), offers readers an opportunity to witness some of the ways we might recognize, reflect, revise, and relish those elements of life that matter so much to us. Through memory, Broughton evaluates and elevates experiences crucial in his development as a human being, recording some of those moments that might have shaped his intellectual curiosity and emotional caring, qualities contributing to poetic discovery.

Broughton’s acute abilities to discern significance in incidents encountered or instances observed lend a sense of priority to the revelations and resolutions existing in his poems, even when occurring during seemingly minor everyday events. Similarly, Broughton’s practical knowledge, gained through decades of keenly questioning and recording the world around him, provides readers with unique views of not only the past but also the present situation in which he finds himself, as well as the future left for all of us to explore. Yet, the works in A World Remembered also suggest some mystery and suspense, especially about what is to come, a state of ambiguity and uncertainty that remains necessary for everyone.

In the book’s title poem, which appears as the first piece in a section designated as “Discoveries” that opens the collection, Broughton describes a sparrow caught in his garage after “taking refuge / in the dim cave while thunder raged.” When startled by the entrance of a man’s shadow, the bird “flew / toward light, beat wings and beak / on the vision of green and shade, / and the glass did not break.” The poet poses a comparison with the human soul “pressed to a place / it can see through, face and both palms against / the undiminished light, naming distant / leaves and fruits it thinks it knew— / but cannot go beyond.” The metaphor appears as a possible rebuttal to an example from Bede in Ecclesiastical History, which narrates a parallel occasion when a sparrow flies swiftly in one door of a hall and out the other, concluding this action resembles “the life of man; but of what follows or what went before, we are utterly ignorant.” Indeed, Broughton confides the bird in the original story might have flown from fields into the hall’s rafters, pausing “to nest / to feed its young,” before it takes light again “and flutters into a wall / it cannot see.”

Broughton’s poetry frequently challenges expectations and tests conventional views, often borrowing perspectives gained through acquaintance and association with nature. In another piece involving a bird, “Great Blue Heron,” Broughton reports:

Today the bird stays with me, as if I am moving through
the heron’s dream to share his sky or water—places
he will rise into on slow flapping wings or where
his long bill darts to catch unwary frogs. I’ve seen
his slate blue feathers lift him as dangling legs
fold back, I’ve seen him fly through the dying sun
and out again, entering night, entering my own sleep.

By the final lines of the poem, Broughton’s memory of the heron drifts into an example of imagination: “I try to imagine him / slowly descending to his nest, wise as he was / or ever will be, filling each moment with that moment’s / act or silence, and the evening folds itself around me.”

Repeatedly blending memory and imagination in his poems, identifying with those details he perceives in his surroundings, Broughton seeks to discover innovative glimpses of his position in the world around him and the world remembered. He even seems comfortable wrapped within the present as he interprets consequences of those slivers remembered from the past and projects bits of a conceivable future. Indeed, the poet realizes his visions of the past and his experiences or emotions as a young man supply some of the depictions of the present he furnishes readers. . . .

[Visitors are invited to read the rest of this review in the new issue of Valparaiso Poetry Review.]

Poem of the Week: "Spring, Beijing" by Pui Ying Wong

The VPR Poem of the Week is Pui Ying Wong’s “Spring, Beijing,” which appears in the Spring/Summer 2011 issue (Volume XII, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Pui Ying Wong is a native of Hong Kong and is bilingual in English and Chinese. She is the author of two chapbooks—Mementos (Finishing Line Press, 2007), Sonnet for a New Country (Pudding House Press, 2008)—and a full-length book of poetry, Yellow Plum Season (New York Quarterly Books, 2010). Her poems have appeared in The Asian Pacific American Journal, Blue Fifth Review, Cavalier Literary Couture, Chiron Review, decomP, DMQ Review, 5 AM, New York Quarterly, PoetSpeak, Poetz, and elsewhere. Her poems in Chinese have appeared in China Press and New World Poetry.

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.

Announcement: VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW Spring/Summer 2011 Issue

I am pleased to announce publication of the Spring/Summer 2011 issue (Volume XII, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review:

Poetry

Featured Poet: T. Alan Broughton

Additional Poets: Walter Bargen, Michelle Bitting, Sheila Black, Ronda Broatch, Martha Carlson-Bradley, Jared Carter, Robin Chapman, Susanna Childress, Christina Cook, Barbara Crooker, Susan Elbe, Patricia Fargnoli, Gary Fincke, William Ford, Kate Fox, Alice Friman, Adrianne Kalfopoulou, Athena Kildegaard, Norbert Krapf, Wendy Mnookin, Travis Mossotti, Kay Mullen, Paul Nelson, Joey Nicoletti, Jean Nordhaus, John Owen, Thomas Reiter, Laura Sobbott Ross, Diane Seuss, Eleanor Swanson, Tony Trigilio, Laura Lee Washburn, Pui Ying Wong, Jennifer Yaros

Prose

An Essay on Ecopoetics by John Linstrom; T. Alan Broughton Reviewed by Edward Byrne; Franz Wright Reviewed by Susanna Childress; Alicia Ostriker and Marilyn Krysl Reviewed by Ingrid Wendt; Susan Rich Reviewed by Rachel Dacus; Joanie Mackowski Reviewed by Ellen Miller-Mack; Cover Art Commentary on Richard Loving by Gregg Hertzlieb; Recently Received and Recommended Books

Again, I am grateful for all the ongoing support Valparaiso Poetry Review has received from contributors and readers during the past dozen years of publication. I invite visitors to examine the Spring/Summer 2011 issue of VPR, and I urge everyone to revisit the numerous entertaining, engaging, and enlightening works published in the previous twenty-three issues of VPR that are available through the archives section of the journal.

Poetry Reading Today

News Release: To begin celebration of National Poetry Month, Susan Block, Joel Brussell, and Edward Byrne will present their own poetry at the Michigan City Public Library on Sunday, April 3. The event will take place at 2:00 p.m. and is titled Voices of the Poets at the Library.

Block is the former Poet-Laureate of La Porte County and her poetry speaks to the human heart. Brussell uses humor to hit home with his satirical poetry. His CD Misspoken Word will be available. Professor Byrne of Valparaiso University is the author of eight collections of poetry. An audio chapbook of his new poetry sequence, Dark Refuge, was recently released.

The Michigan City Public Library is located at 100 E. 4th Street, Michigan City, IN: map and directions. The event will include a panel discussion about the current state of poetry, which will be followed with a reading by each of the poets. Admission is free and all are welcome.

World Autism Awareness Day: "The Art of Memory"

In 2007 the United Nations General Assembly declared April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day, intended to draw the world's attention to autism, a pervasive disorder that affects tens of millions. The UN resolution hoped to urge everyone to engage in activities that raise awareness about autism throughout society in order to encourage early diagnosis and intervention. The designated day was also designed 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 their consequent developmental challenges.

World Autism Awareness Day is meant to draw attention to autism as a growing global health crisis. Various activities have been planned to help increase and develop world knowledge of the autism epidemic. Additionally, the day’s events celebrate unique talents and skills exhibited by individuals with autism. Organizers have requested that all join in an effort to inspire compassion, inclusion, and hope, desiring to 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, as well as National Autism Awareness Month during April, I offer the following poem, “The Art of Memory,” which appeared in my recent chapbook, Dark Refuge (Whale Sound, 2011). The poems in this chapbook represent a sampling from an ongoing program of poetry I have been composing, Autism: A Poem. The sequence of works addresses particular observations or impressions concerning the characteristics and consequences associated with autism, delivered through a poetic chronicling of personal experiences with my son Alex.

THE ART OF MEMORY


First he lists the digits, numerals
. . . . . tied together in his mind like ivory

beads for keeping count on a rosary.
. . . . . He knows intimately those figures

most cannot fathom, has memorized
. . . . . pi to thousands of places. We believe

he visualizes the numbers printed
. . . . . as columns of cuneiform characters

posed in pictures seen on a tinted
. . . . . screen, perhaps in the way Cezanne

celebrated nature’s abstract gifts
. . . . . by suddenly delivering vivid imagery,

broad lush brush strokes imitating
. . . . . its right angles and vibrant tones

or those blunt shapes of dull stones,
. . . . . discovering true hues of shrubbery,

finding bright lines of sunshine, light
. . . . . sliding over slopes of shadowy hills.


. . . . . —Edward Byrne

I remind visitors that Dark Refuge is available for readers to experience in differing manners, including free as online audio, online text, downloadable mp3, pdf manuscript, and e-book, as well as a cd, and in a print edition.

April Fools' Day: "Poetry Prize," Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry

A classic video and an annual favorite providing humor for poetry fans on April Fools' Day.