LET MOI W(H)INE AT YA!

The Feminist Review has a lovely engagement with Bruna Mori's Derive; click HERE for the review. Bruna's book looks to be among Meritage Press' top sellers -- why not join the poetry cognoscenti and order it from SPD or Amazon or your favorite bookstore (who, if it doesn't stock it, you should ask to stock!)

And since this is all a Preface to my intermittent list of Relished Wines and Whines, here's a comment on wine: 2005 is one of the great years (some say, greatest ever yet) for German wines. So stock up on it if you can! And now, what I've recently relished among books and bottles:

BOOKS:
1 DOZ. POISON HAY(NA)KU, poems by Ivy Alvarez

LAMPBLACK & ASH, poems by Simone Muench

BROKEN/OPEN, poems by Jill Jones

FOLD UNFOLD, poems by Jill Jones

DUMMY FIRE, poems by Sarah Vap

THE LIGHT'S AGITATION, poems by Robert Van Vliet

INVENTIONS, poems by Robert Van Vliet

THE CITY VISIBLE: CHICAGO POETRY FOR THE NEW CENTURY, Edited by William Allegrezza and Raymond Bianchi

HORSE SENSE, poems by Jordan Stempleman

ANIMATE, INANIMATE AIMS, poems by Brenda Iijima

SELECTED DREAMS WITH A NOTE ON PHRENOLOGY by Anne Boyer

LUCID SUITCASE, poems by Diane Wald

INSECT COUNTRY (B), poems by Sawako Nakayasu

NORTH OF THERE, poems by Chris Pusateri

MEMORY/INCISION, poems by Joseph Cooper

DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION, poems by Cathy Park Hong

CONCEALED IN, poems by Beau Beausoleil

WORLD ZERO, poems by John Bloomberg-Rissman

POSIT, poems by Adam Fieled

PASSAGE: POEMS 1983-2006 by Ed Maranan

THE DEVIL'S CLOTH: A HISTORY OF STRIPES by Michel Pastoureau, Trans. from the French by Jody Gladding

HARD COVER, novel by Wayne Warga

BREAK OF DAY, novel by Collette

MISSING, novel by Sharon Sala

THE GOOD WOMAN, novel by B.J. Chute

GOING TO BEND, novel by Diane Hammond

BEFORE I WAKE, novel by Dee Henderson

THE NEGOTIATOR, novel by Dee Henderson

THE PROTECTOR, novel by Dee Henderson

THE WITNESS, novel by Dee Henderson

DANGER IN THE SHADOWS, novel by Dee Henderson

THE HOUSE ON BOSHWICK SQUARE, novel by Velda Johnston

THE INN AT HALF-MOON BAY, novel by Diane Tyrrel


WINES:
1988 Lafite
1989 Joseph Phelps "Insignia"
2004 Peter Michael "Mon Plaisir" chardonnay
1998 Rudd Jericho Canyon
1996 Clarendon Hills Old Vine Grenache Kangarilla Vineyards
1993 Cyril Henschke cabernet
1992 Von Strasser cabernet
2003 Dutch Henry pinot noir
2004 Dutch Henry cabernet Chafen Vineyard
2001 Turley petite syrah NV Rattlesnake Acres
2005 Dr. Loosen Bern Kastle Lay Kabinett

And had a pleasant wine tasting recently at Spring Mountain (the first and last wines on this list were particularly pleasant):
2005 sauvignon blanc
2004 syrah
2003 cabernet
2002 Elivette Reserve
2004 syrah Conferment
2002 cabernet
1987 cabernet

Spring Mountain is owned by one of the world's wealthiest families, a Swiss banking family type. The irony? Were it not for the banker's "safety net," I daresay Spring Mountain probably might even make greater wine...that's right Peeps: let a poet tell ya: money don't buy everything.