ECLECTIC TICS VIZ POETRY-BUYING

Sandra Simonds (Yes, I want a copy of Wildlife 2, too!) doesn't know it but she's one of just a handful of poets that I would have solicited for a book manuscript. But Meritage Press is so full up with existing obligations and time just got away....which is all to say that I'm delighted to see that she has a book coming out anyway, from the prescient Bloof Books: Warsaw Bikini.

And is that a great title or what? Which is all to say -- Warsaw Bikini is among my latest additions to my llist of POETRY BOOKS RECENTLY BOUGHT. Yadda!

And, sigh, I also bought The Best American Poetry 2008: Series Editor David Lehman, Guest Editor Charles Wright. I don't normally buy BAP. But, cough, my name and the hay(na)ku is mentioned through in the Notes to Charles Bernstein's hay(na)ku sequence entitled "Ku(na)hay." Sure--drop my name and I'll buy your book, says Shallow Moi.

Then, I bought what I think is my first described "Christian literature" as a poetry book: Mountain Breezes: The Collected Poems of Amy Carmichael. It's a purchase I stumbled across when I was researching the life of Amy Carmichael, a missionary who opened an orphanage and founded a mission in Dohnavur, India. Imagine my surprise to discover she's also a poet, with a COLLECTED POEMS. Well, That has to be a sign, right?! God Showed Moi That Door, Even If Only As A Crack, And Moi Plowed Right Through It!

But, Peeps, surely you don't need get religion to buy a poetry book, do you? Do you? And the Peeps reply,