Saturday, February 18, 2012

Review and reading of UNGLOBED FRUIT

The March issue of Friends Journal contains a review of Unglobed Fruit by Catherine Wald, the former poetry editor. Here is the conclusion:

I enjoyed this book as an adventurous foray into language and form that is heavier on wit than emotional impact. For this reason, I suspect the book will be of more interest to poets than the general public. I was also surprised that someone so keen on form chose to order her poems alphabetically rather than in terms of thematic or narrative thrust. However there's much to admire and amuse here— so help yourself!

I laughed at her comment on the alphabetical order. I daresay the book would have come out a year earlier if I hadn't been hung up on the arrangement. I read and reread Ordering the Storm, a collection of essays on how to put together a book of poetry; each and every contributor recommended crawling around on the floor, which at my age I'm physically unable to do. So in the end I decided that what was good enough for W H Auden was good enough for me.

Coincidentally, I've been asked to do a book signing and reading at the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting library next Sunday, Feb 26. (1515 Cherry St., Philadelphia, 12:30-2 PM. Meeting for worship starts at 11:00.)

Monday, February 13, 2012

Poetry update

After a pause of several months I am in the process of updating the links on this site. The following poetry zines have closed or suspended publication since I listed them, though their web pages are still available (see "Poetry sites" sidebar):

Shit Creek Review published an "End of Days" issue in December 2011, which they indicate will be the last. It was a first-class formal-friendly zine from the land of Oz with a wonderfully un-stodgy spirit.
Pemmican is on "indefinite hiatus," meaning the 2011 issue is the last, at least for now.
Puffin Circus, which started out to be a monthly, seems to have run out of steam after its April 11 "baseball" issue.
Danse Macabre is moving, and will resume once it is installed in its new home. Submissions are suspended until then; the archive is currently unavailable.

As for me, I've been on hiatus too; I've done some revising, but have written virtually no poetry since last June.

I'll be back anon with a list of recently published poems.