Photo Friday: “Faux Postcard”

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Autism in Poetry and Prose

As noted here a number of times, I have been composing an extended sequence of poetry, a work-in-progress titled Autism, which I share on a separate blog. The work presents lyrical illustrations reflecting experiences and observations involving my son Alex.

At the same time, I have previously mentioned that my wife maintains another blog, One Autism Mom’s Notes, which she describes as “reflections on raising a child with autism.” In her posts, Pam regularly displays another perspective through her prose, insightful journal entries that chronicle and comment upon the daily involvement of family members dealing with autism. She also offers a glimpse at the various efforts made over the years in attempting to assist our son as he copes with difficult challenges or tries to overcome some of the obstacles associated with autism. As in the past, I once again encourage readers to visit Pam’s blog.

However, today I also especially urge everyone to consider a new book, Wit and Wisdom from the Parents of Special Needs Kids. Released this week, the anthology—written by members of the blogging community who routinely examine, exhibit, explore, and explain issues confronted by families including children with special needs—presents readers with an array of concise narrative essays that express a vast range of various and honest emotions, from heartening to heartbreaking or amusement to anger.

The volume’s back cover declares: “More than forty essays are included in this unique compilation, covering topics such as sensory issues, the difficulties of social interaction, the impact on marriage and typical siblings, and the world of special education and therapies.”

I confess, my opinions about this book are not impartial ones, since I am proud to report that Pam contributes an essay, “Expecting the Unexpected,” in which she confides one of the approaches we have discovered necessary in order to perceive Alex’s complex schedule of personal growth—the stops and starts, slips and successes—something we have both hoped to capture in some of our writings about our son:

Through the years we have learned that Alex must always do things on his own terms when he’s good and ready. Progress for him isn’t always linear, and it certainly doesn’t follow the pattern outlined in child development books; however, progress always eventually comes, often when we least expect it. For us, life with autism has meant learning to wait patiently and celebrating successes when they arrive—essentially a matter of always expecting the unexpected.

The brief stories provided in this book by mothers or fathers of children on the autism spectrum are authentic and authoritative. These evocative vignettes are often enlightening, encouraging, engaging, enjoyable, and entertaining. For those interested in reading succinct, straightforward, informal, and intimate accounts of families’ experiences with autism, I recommend this collection.

Poem of the Week: “At the Annual Thresherman’s Show” by David Bond

The VPR Poem of the Week is David Bond’s “At the Annual Thresherman’s Show,” which appeared in the Fall/Winter 2001-2002 issue (Volume III, Number 1) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

David Bond has been a reader and taught classes at the Nimrod/Hardman Awards Conference at the University of Tulsa, the Binghamton University Poetry Conference, and the Around the Coyote Fall Arts Festival in Chicago, among other venues. His poems have appeared in a number of journals, including Black Dirt, Cape Rock, Farmer’s Market, Karamu, Mobius, National Forum, Rhino, Sou’Wester, Spoon River Poetry Review, and The Windless Orchard. His honors and prizes include the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry in 2001 and 2005.

Tuesday of each week One Poet’s Notes highlights an exceptional work by a poet selected from the archives of Valparaiso Poetry Review with the recommendation that readers revisit it.

Poetry Stamps for 2012 Revealed

Although Valparaiso Poetry Review stopped accepting postal submissions earlier this year, I was curious to see which literary figures would be included in the series of stamps dedicated to poets that will be issued by the U.S. Post Office in 2012. Above are images of the stamps that have been announced (click image to enlarge). The 10 poets featured: Joseph Brodsky (1940 - 1996); Gwendolyn Brooks (1917 - 2000); William Carlos Williams (1883 - 1963); Robert Hayden (1913 - 1980); Sylvia Plath (1932 - 1963); Elizabeth Bishop (1911 - 1979); Wallace Stevens (1879 - 1955); Denise Levertov (1923 - 1997); e. e. cummings (1894 - 1962); and Theodore Roethke (1908 - 1963).

Photo Friday: “September Blossoms”

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A.E. Stallings and Kay Ryan: MacArthur Fellows

When the MacArthur Fellowships were reported this week, I was pleased to see two poets, A.E. Stallings and Kay Ryan, included among the 22 recipients. The MacArthur Fellowship supplies an award with a stipend of $500,000 to the recipient, paid out in equal quarterly installments over five years.

The announcement provided an additional delight, since Alicia Stallings was the Valparaiso Poetry Review featured poet for the Fall/Winter 2010-2011 issue, which included a group of her poems, an interview I conducted with the poet, and an essay by Angela Taraskiewicz about the poetry of Stallings. I urge everyone to revisit the issue.

Furthermore, I invite readers to examine my book review of Kay Ryan’s The Niagara River, which appeared in February of 2007 on One Poet’s Notes.

Poem of the Week: “Two Salesmen (Sunday Night, Fall 1961)” by Jeff Friedman

The VPR Poem of the Week is Jeff Friedman’s “Two Salesmen (Sunday Night, Fall 1961),” which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2003 issue (Volume IV, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Jeff Friedman’s collection of poetry, Black Threads (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2007), was reviewed by Celia Bland in the Fall/Winter 2007-2008 issue (Volume IX, Number 1) of VPR. A previous book of poetry, Taking Down the Angel (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2003), was reviewed by William Doreski in the Spring/Summer 2004 issue (Volume V, Number 2) of VPR. Other poetry books by Friedman include Scattering the Ashes (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1998), and The Record-Breaking Heat Wave (BkMk Press — University of Missouri-Kansas City, 1986). Friedman’s work also has appeared widely in literary magazines, such as American Poetry Review, Antioch Review, Manoa, New England Review, New Republic, Pleiades, and Poetry.

Tuesday of each week One Poet’s Notes highlights an exceptional work by a poet selected from the archives of Valparaiso Poetry Review 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.

Photo Friday: “Natural Solitude”

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VALPARAISO FICTION REVIEW: Call for Submissions

In May, I announced the launch of a new literary journal, Valparaiso Fiction Review, for which I am serving as a co-editor alongside Jonathan Bull. This semi-annual online magazine has been established to feature works of short fiction by new, emerging, and established authors, and it might be seen as a sister publication to Valparaiso Poetry Review. Once again, I am honored to state that Valparaiso Fiction Review, like VPR, will be published in association with Valparaiso University and its Department of English.

At the time of my announcement last spring, I presented a call for submissions to be considered for the debut issue of Valparaiso Fiction Review, which is scheduled for release in the beginning of December. I am delighted to report the response during the summer months since that message was posted has exceeded expectations, and I can offer my belief that contents in the initial issue of Valparaiso Fiction Review will be outstanding contributions to anyone's reading list of contemporary short stories. Indeed, I feel readers will also discover the premiere of VFR to be a valuable addition to the community of literary journals.

Consequently, I am pleased to note that Valparaiso Fiction Review is now reading manuscripts of short fiction for its spring issue, which is scheduled for publication in May of 2012. All pending manuscripts currently on hand will be considered for the spring issue. In addition, I invite readers of this blog to submit work for the upcoming issue, and I urge everyone to spread the word about this new venue for the publication of short stories. Guidelines for submission to Valparaiso Fiction Review are located at the following:

http://scholar.valpo.edu/vfr/

I also remind all that Valparaiso Fiction Review has its own address on Facebook. I invite everyone to visit the VFR Facebook page and click on the “like” icon to express support for this new literary journal:
http://www.facebook.com/valparaisofictionreview

Poem of the Week: “In the Late Summer Garden” by Barbara Crooker

The VPR Poem of the Week is Barbara Crooker’s “In the Late Summer Garden,” which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2001 issue (Volume II, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Barbara Crooker’s Radiance won the 2005 Word Press First Book Award and was a finalist for the 2006 Paterson Poetry Prize. Diane Lockward’s review of Radiance appeared in the Spring/Summer 2006 issue (volume VII, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review. Crooker’s second full-length collection of poems, Line Dance, was also released by Word Press. In addition, she is the author of ten chapbooks, two of which won prizes in national competitions: Ordinary Life won the ByLine Chapbook competition in 2001 and Impressionism won the Grayson Books Chapbook competition in 2004. Barbara Crooker’s poems also have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Beloit Poetry Journal, Christian Century, Christian Science Monitor, Cream City Review, Denver Quarterly, Nimrod, Poetry International, Smartish Pace, and Tampa Review.

Tuesday of each week One Poet’s Notes highlights an exceptional work by a poet selected from the archives of Valparaiso Poetry Review 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.

Sharon Bryan at Valparaiso University: Sept. 14

I am pleased to invite everyone in the region around Valparaiso University to a poetry presentation by Sharon Bryan this Wednesday, September 14, at 6:30 p.m. The reading will take place in the Community Commons Area of Mueller Hall. The poetry reading is free to the public, and all interested in poetry are welcome.

Sharon Bryan’s recent collection of poems, Sharp Stars (BOA Editions, 2009), received the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award. She has published three other books of poetry: Salt Air and Objects of Affection, both released by Wesleyan University Press, and Flying Blind (Sarabande Books). Bryan is the recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize, the Discovery Prize awarded by The Nation, and two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as other literary prizes. She has also served as the co-editor of Planet on the Table: Poets on the Reading Life (Sarabande Books) and the editor of Where We Stand: Women Poets on Literary Tradition (W.W. Norton). She has been a poet-in-residence at The Frost Place, and she has been a faculty member as visiting writer at various universities, including Dartmouth and the University of Houston.

Photo Friday: “Yellow Rose”

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Best Books of Indiana 2011 Finalists: Judges' Citations

Poet Edward Byrne became the first entrant to have multiple finalist selections in a single year. —Drew Griffis, Director, Indiana Center for the Book

Poetry from Paradise Valley, edited by Edward Byrne

"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."

Seeded Light, poems by Edward Byrne

"As the title implies, [Seeded Light] includes many poems where nature plays an important part. An emphasis on human relationships intertwines with natural description to give these poems philosophical and emotional depths. Byrne brings to life an old family farm gone fallow, a visit to an inn where the speaker spent his honeymoon, and Lester Young playing tenor sax."

—Indiana Center for the Book, Indiana State Library

“Disappearances” 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, “Disappearances.”

Readers are asked to regard Autism as a work in progress, a partial draft rather than a finished product (even if some 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 would like to remind readers that a portion of this poetry series in progress was released in March as Dark Refuge, an audio chapbook by Whale Sound. The dozen poems in that 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.

Poem of the Week: “‘The Morning America Changed’” by Stanley Plumly

The VPR Poem of the Week is Stanley Plumly’s “‘The Morning America Changed,’” which appeared in the Fall/Winter 2002-2003 issue (Volume IV, Number 1) of Valparaiso Poetry Review. “‘The Morning America Changed,’” also was published in Poetry from Paradise Valley (Pecan Grove Press, 2010), an anthology of poems from the first decade of VPR recently selected as a finalist in poetry for the Best Books of Indiana competition sponsored by the Indiana Center for the Book, supported by the Indiana State Library

Stanley Plumly is the author of various books of poetry, essays, and criticism, including Now That My Father Lies Down Beside Me: New and Selected Poems 1970-2000. His recent publication is Posthumous Keats: A Personal Biography. Plumly’s work has been honored with the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award, the William Carlos Williams Award, the Ingram-Merrill Foundation Award, the Academy of American Poets’ Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and nominations for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He has received a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and three National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships. Plumly is Distinguished University Professor of English at the University of Maryland.

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.

Photo Friday: “Auto Focus”

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