Interviews, reviews, the next manuscript, and holiday thankfulness

First, some poetry miscellany:

For a long time I have harbored an affection for the magazine Fourteen Hills. It has the best readings, and the editors are always lovely. Here, the poetry editor Sandra Wassilie interviews me about She Returns to the Floating World:
http://14hills.net/node/376

One of my final book reviews of the year is up at Rattle, this one of Brian Spears’ A Witness in Exile:
http://rattle.com/blog/2011/12/a-witness-in-exile-by-brian-spears/

Yesterday was spent at the doctor’s office, getting chest x-rays, blood tests, etc. They were checking for the dreaded pneumonia, what with all our “ice fog” and “Air advisories” and “ten degrees below normal” weather out here in the Northwest, well, it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise. But, yay, no pneumonia! Just pleurisy, which is painful and requires more rest than I’d like, but nothing inconvenient like getting stuck in the hospital (as long as I don’t overdo it.)

The good news is that though I am forced to appreciate the holiday season from afar – no malls, no outdoor hikes to cut down a tree, etc – it has helped me get some work done, on Eye to the Telescope’s third issue, for example – oh, I hate sending rejections – and doing some serious revision and organization work on my fairy-tale themed third MS. You know how you have a book manuscript you think is finished and then you’re all, wait, am I sure that’s how it should be organized, and maybe it should have another section, and what about this poem that I’m pretty sure belongs in the book, etc…I’m also contemplating an essay on approaching illness and the medical system called “How to be your own superheroine.” I read Rae Armantrout’s recent essay series on her discovery that she had a rare cancer and I thought “I wish I could write like that.” She is a stone cold brave lady in the face of danger, that’s for sure.

Buying Guide – Poetry in 2011

List of 2011 Books that Make Great Holiday Gifts:

It’s always tough putting together a good shopping list for the year’s books – so many good books to remember, it seems, come out every year! And remember to ask Santa for a subscription to your favorite literary magazine – I recommend a smaller magazine, such as Crab Creek Review, 32 Poems, or another independently funded journal.

Lucky Fish by Aimee Nezhukumatathil – Likable, funny narrators and subtle wordplay make Aimee’s book a standout.

The Book of Men by Dorianne Laux – I think this exploration of Dorianne’s interest in the male of the species – and her new nods to pop culture, like “Superman” and “Cher” – make this Dorianne’s most interesting collection yet!

And Yet They Were Happy by Helen Philips – Though this isn’t technically poetry – more like little flash fictions collected into a sort of hip, experimental novel – the voice here is heartbreaking, moving, funny…everything I want my poetry books to be! You won’t be sorry you read it.

A New Red by Lana Ayers – New spin on an old tail/tale here – (ok, couldn’t resist the joke) – Lana’s passionate, sharp voices will haunt you.

Hide Behind Me – Jason Mott – Superheroes with a twist in this moving collection about the heroism of the every day.

I Stand Here Shredding Documents – Kristin Berkey Abbott – http://www.amazon.com/I-Stand-Here-Shredding-Documents/dp/1599247534/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322609589&sr=8-1-fkmr1 – I have to say, I love a good poem about work, especially by women. This manuscript delves into the spirit and the workaday world with intuition and heart.

Elizabeth Austen’s Every Dress a Decision – Humorous poems about relationships with men are balanced with some sharp reveries on family.

Joannie Stangeland’s Into the Rumoured Spring – Well, I haven’t read this one yet, but generally Joannie’s meditations of nature, the spirit, and life are gentle reminders to celebrate the moment.

Martha Silano’s The Little Office of the Immaculate Conception – Martha is a clever wordplay artist, and her poems on motherhood are immediately relatable and thoughtful. Not to mention science poems, my favorite!

Amanda Auchter’s The Glass Crib – Moving poems on the nature of family and the body.

Maya Zellar’s Rust Fish – Full of affectionate portraits of her Northwest home, Zellar portrays a working-class youth with warm realism.

The Poetry Gymnasium: 94 Poetry Exercises – Tom C. Hunley – Which poet – whether they teach or not – hasn’t needed more poetry exercises, with convenient examples right there?

Books I’ve reviewed and recommend:

Dana Levin’s Sky Burial – http://therumpus.net/2011/03/you-may-say-fist-you-may-say-teeth/

Brian Spears’ A Witness in Exile – (forthcoming)

Steve Fellner’s The Weary World Rejoices – (forthcoming)

Christine Deavel’s Woodnote – http://therumpus.net/2011/10/a-mark-of-the-naive/

Erika Meitner’s Makeshift Instructions for Beautiful Girls – http://www.barnowlreview.com/reviews/meitner%20deux.html

For your future self: Check out books coming out in 2012 by Kathleen Flenniken and Annette Spaulding-Convey. Terrific, clever, moving…I’ve read early versions of these manuscripts and loved them!! And of course, Eduardo Corral’s Yale Younger Poets winner. (I remember reading his MS…mmm…maybe eight years ago (?) and loving it. Eight years of work did not make the manuscript weaker.) Automatically going on my “to teach” list of books.

For my future self: I would love a publisher to swoop up manuscripts by a few excellent poets – namely, Natasha K. Moni, Jeff Walt, and Karen Weyant. Are you listening, publishers? Seriously, these are some great manuscripts!

And finally, my inevitable plea, because one of my favorite holiday activities is watching my Amazon ranks (just kidding): for the comic book loving teen or college student, Becoming the Villainess; for the woman in transition, J-pop lover or folk-tale fanatic, She Returns to the Floating World. A lovely holiday gift for me? A nice review on Amazon or Goodreads!

Reading Report – Rigoberto Gonzalez "Black Blossoms" at Open Books

We braved the cold (and air advisory — cough cough – dang asthma!) to see the gracious Rigoberto Gonzalez read from his new book, Black Blossoms, at Open Books tonight. Eduardo had told me I would love it, and I did. It’s full of passion, violence, and a kind of gorgeous, stark imagery.
Here is a sample of his work, the poem “Girl With No Hands.” (By coincidence, I have a poem by the same name in She Returns to the Floating World, based on the Japanese variant of the same fairy tale.)

The Girl With No Hands
by Rigoberto González

Your father asked for more than a polka–dot tie, a self–portrait in Crayola or cinnamon
snickerdoodles flat as candle stubs on baking sheets. He grabbed you by the wrists

and severed your hands to wear on his key chain like a pair of lucky rabbit’s feet.
What is so fortunate about a rabbit hopping about the prairie with a missing limb?

What if all four of its legs had been clipped? It eats only as far as it can stretch
it’s neck, and then rolls itself on its back to perforate its starved belly with the blades

of its ribs. When the hunter returns, the rabbit will have its revenge, looking like
the amputated foot of its diabetic mother wearing that familiar bunny slipper.

Your father seized your hands, not out of malice, but greed —his wish to match
Midas and pocket the small golds of his kingdom — Rolex, wedding bands, crucifix,

and the precious treasure of your rings, which, little princess, will never leave
your fingers because Papi breaks no promises. He never abandoned you either,

always here when you come across your hairbrush, perched on the bristles
like a nesting pecker. Resolute, you age with ingenuity, learning to eat

right off the branch, nibbling apple, apricot, and pear without separating fruit
from stem. This is how you heard about the clever rabbit, from the hunter’s son

who made love to you pressing his fists to the small of his back. He locked you
against the tree trunk and your shoulders splintered the bark. What a miracle

of an instrument, the piano that’s played with elbows and knees and four clumsy
heels that for all their random reaching make the sweetest rhythms. Your bodies

danced each afternoon in the grove while your mother sewed the mysterious
tears in your dresses. You forgave your mother’s inactivity that night when Papi

struck down your wrists with a cleaver, the mirror of the metal like a window
to a furnace, the shadow puppet butterfly emancipated finally. Who knew

chopped bone could sing? Maybe chicken doesn’t utter a note at its beheading
because its mother hen isn’t near to cluck a frenzied requiem, Your mother

squealed as fiercely as a sow and your stumps looked like the blooded snouts
of swine. But all that rage escapes you now as you unleash the power of the hand

your father left intact, and with it grip your lover tighter into you. So this
is delectable defiance, Miss Rabbit — it must have been female to claim

the last word. You, girl, with no hands, can produce another pair and more:
legs, torso, head, and a bear trap of a jaw to bite the hands that feed her.

A few nice surprises for the end of November…

Today I had a few nice surprises…

The first was receiving in the mail a copy of Tom C. Hunley’s The Poetry Gymnasium, a book of 95 class exercises for poetry. I was honored to have my poem “Cinderella, at the Car Dealership” included in the “Literary Retellings” exercise section, of course, but the whole book is a lot of fun. I may even use it to help me generate more poems myself this next month!

The next was reading Mary A. Agner’s lovely blog review of She Returns to the Floating World (scroll down to “reading”) – Mary’s a really astute reader and a great poet herself, particularly science and fairy-tale poetry.

And the third was seeing my poems up with Saeed Jones at the Ishaan Literary Review’s very first issue:
http://ishaanliteraryreview.com/?page_id=158#adviceleft
I met Saeed in Tom C. Hunley’s class when I went to visit Western Kentucky U in, I think, 2006. I thought “what a bright and extraordinary poet” when he read his exercise poem in class. A bright and shiny star to watch.

Happy End of November Every One!

Bookshelf downsizing project, a new book manuscript seed, and more!

Hello Holiday-overloaded readers! Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving!

I have been alerted that perhaps I will be receiving this year one of those fancy gadgets on which you read books as one of my Christmas presents this year. This has caused me to think about which books from my overflowing and groaning bookcases I can retire – ie take to Half-Price Books or donate. (Glenn, by the way, is always cheerful about having to move fewer boxes of books. We have moved about thirteen times in the last thirteen years, and most of the contents of the moves, since we have little furniture, is, sad to say, heavy boxes of books.) Dictionaries and thesaurus for sure – heavy, hard to move, and easy to access remotely. All my old paperback Shakespeare, since the classics are easy to access via the reader-gadgets (don’t know which one I’m getting yet.) What else? Can I let go of other paperback classics, my Austen and Tolstoy and etc? How about old college textbooks? Other books – like my colored Fairy Books, signed poetry books, etc – are valuable to me as reminders, as keepsakes. Often my research books – on nuclear power, Japanese culture, feminism in comic books, annotated collections of folk tales – take up a lot of space, but I find myself going back to them, so I’m keeping most of those.
Do those of you who have already made the leap to the dark side of e-readers have any advice on what to get rid of? I have to say, I’m kind of excited to see what my own book looks like on a real e-reader.

Over the weekend, I finally gathered up all the poems I’ve written in the last year or so, the ones that don’t belong in the two finished yet unpublished manuscripts I have, and so, this means…starting a new book manuscript. Really, since the number of poems is only in the teens, it’s only the beginnings, a sprout, a small shoot from a little seed. I can’t really see the vision of the manuscript yet. It seems more lighthearted than my other books, for now, anyway, about getting over old loves, moving from state to state, and examining cultural icons (well that, at least, is familiar territory.) I’m worried because the poems don’t seem that…angsty. Not deep enough, maybe. Is that a thing to be anxious about, I wonder?

PS Thinking about Christmas shopping lists? I promise to do a longer list of books I recommend from 2011 soon…but until then, consider picking up a copy of She Returns to the Floating World, from the publisher, from Amazon, from Powells, or from local Seattle legend Open Books…it’s suitable for husbands, little brothers, friends who love Hayao Miyazaki, and others! 🙂 You can also order it directly from me, signed, and of course, with a little swag surprise for the holidays…https://webbish6.com/orderform.htm