Kelli Agodon has started a wonderful celebration of National Poetry Month on her blog Book of Kells. The premise is simple – poets give away a book at the end of National Poetry Month to two different people who have left comments on their blog. If you’re interested in taking part in this project, go to this post to learn more. The goal is to share our favorite poets with others as well as to visit different blogs and see who others are reading. There is also a benefit for those who participate as it will bring people to your blog and share your work and/or the work of a favorite poet with them. You simply comment on this post, and if you’re chosen, I’ll send you a book.
So, I’m in.
Here are the two books that I am offering. The first is Sharp Stars by Sharon Bryan (Boa Editions). This collection of poems bursts out of the gate, examining such diverse subjects as biology, astronomy, philosophy and popular culture. Those familiar with Bryan’s work will not be disappointed as she has pushed her usual finely-honed diction and word play up another notch. These poems which seem so accessible on a first read, demand a second and a third as they unfold in meaning.
Here’s a sample:
Big Band Theory
It all began with music,
with that much desire to be
in motion, waves of longing
with Nothing to pass through,
the pulsing you feel before
you hear it. The darkness couldn’t
keep still, it began to sway,
then there were little flashes
of light, glints of brass
over the rumbling percussion,
the reeds began to weep and sing,
and suddenly the horns
tore bigger holes in the darkness—
we could finally see
where the music was coming from:
ordinary men in bowties and black
jackets. But by then we had already
danced most of the night away.
The second book that I’ve chosen to give away is a copy of The Cormorant Hunter’s Wife by Alaskan poet, Joan Kane (NorthShore Press). This book is Kane’s first, but you’d never know it. Her work is redolent in fresh sounds and fresh visions of the Alaskan landscape. Kane is a 2009 Whiting Writers’ Award winner. Although her education took her far away from her Alaskan home, a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and an M.F.A. from Columbia University, Kane has come home to her roots in this magnificent collection. I have returned to it, time and again to marvel at her depictions of the emotionally charged and haunted landscapes these poems inhabit.
Here’s a sample:
Antistrophic
A new angle of light this evening,
South— south
West, shadows cast upwards bough upon bough
Also in disagreement. Another
Would mutter green
Amidst the black scrag of dense limbs
But already the light is fading
And contrary.
Instead of out, I am in,
Trying at the old habit of imperfect definition
As well as the less familiar,
Between falling gold
Trees I have learned not to name
And gold pulled
Of the sun as it fails.
…
If you’d like to be entered into this drawing for these 2 books of poems, just leave a comment on this post and you’ll be entered! If you do not have a blog, please include your email address so I can contact you. I will be paying postage, so don’t worry about that.
I will be choosing the winners on May 1st, 2010, so leave a comment by April 30, 2010 11:59 pm AST. (Yep, that’s Alaska Standard Time – one hour later than Seattle).
I’ll use the same random number generator as Kelli to choose a winner.
Yay for National Poetry Month and thanks Kelli for starting this off.
Please put me in your hat
Count me in – thanks
http://bothfires.blogspot.com/
Great blog! I’m not just saying that so your random number generator picks me, either.
Thanks for participating in the contest! I am always eager to read new poetry and add to my collection
Penney Samuel
kidz4katz3@yahoo.com
This is a wonderful and generous idea! Many thanks–
what a great idea. cheers.
Free books are always an inspiration.
Thanks,
MEHope
Please include me as well!
vinegarandvanilla.blogspot.com
Very groovy, count me in.
Thank you so much for this opportunity.. this would make for awesome summer reading!
lindsay.veenstra(at)gmail.com
I wish a recording of Joan’s excellent reading/talk at the UAA bookstore this winter was floating around, available. What a great night that was (thanks AK Cntr for the Book). I’m packing for summer and wish I could listen, again, while running around the house. Of course, the risk would be that I would quit running around the house and just… listen.
Your blog brightens my days. Linda at tadida@xyz.net
me me!
thank you for your generosity!
thank you for introducing me to joan kane. 56, raised on a homestead along the kenai river, i’m hungry for poetry of this land by those raised and living here.
Please count me in!
This is a comment. =)
this has been so fun…
entering