SUCH A LOVELY SNAIL...MAIL!

Oh it's so nice when snailmail brings me lovely tidbits! Like, this hay(na)ku collage by Amanda Laughtland:



Isn't it enchanting?! Thanks Amanda, for the lovely surprise! That hay(na)ku really contributes to Poetry's "Gift Economy"!!

But, of course, I also try to respect, though it's moronic, Poetry Economics by actually shelling out cash. So, here's my latest list of Recently Bought Poetry Collections or Books by Poets:

A NIGHT WITHOUT ARMOR by Jewel Kilcheer ('twas a buck at the local library sale. It just called out to me, Please give me a home there... So, sure. Besides, Moi was curious, especially since it has the taste to be graced by Pat Steir's paintings, a detail I hadn't known until I picked up the book itself)

VESTIGES OF WAR: THE PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR AND THE AFTERMATH OF AN IMPERIAL DREAM, 1899-1999, Co-edited by Luis Francia and Angel Velasco Shaw. Contributors include Genara Banzon, Santiago Bose, Ben Cabrera, Renato Constantino, Doreen Fernandez, Eric Gamalinda, Guillermo Gomez-Pena, Jessica Hagedorn, Reynaldo Ileto, Yong Soon Min, Manuel Ocampo, Paul Pfeiffer, Christina Quisumbing, Vicente Rafael, Daniel Boone Schirmer, Kidlat Tahimik, Mark Twain, and Jim Zwick.

LISA ROBERTSON'S MAGENTA SOUL WHIP by Lisa Robertson (this book and the one below by Frances Phillips were bought at Books & Bookshelves Had I had more time to browse, I'd have bought way more--and loved doing so to support this indie bookstore with a fabulous concept (bookshelves and books) and because their poetry selections are outstanding. Check them out at 99 Sanchez in San Francisco! Oh, and the proprietor David Highsmith is a fabulous poet to boot!)

FOR A LIVING by Frances Phillips

THE THORN ROSARY: SELECTED PROSE POEMS & NEW: 1998-2010 by Moi (Yeah what do you know? I self-promote so much I ended up convincing moiself to buy my own books! Do you see how I put money where my mouth is?!)

UNRELATED INDIVIDUALS FORMING A GROUP WAITING TO CROSS by Mark Yakich

BRIGHT STAR: LOVE LETTERS AND POEMS OF JOHN KEATS TO FANNY BRAWNE (the Penguin edition after which the movie was made so that introduction is by director Jane Campion)

TRAJE DE BODA by Aileen Ibardaloza (details of SPECIAL RELEASE OFFER! over HERE -- postdate deadline of Release Offers is by March 31 so check it out soon!)

AUTOPSY TURVY, poems by Thomas Fink & Maya Diablo Mason (details of SPECIAL RELEASE OFFER! over HERE -- postdate deadline of Release Offers is by March 31 so check it out soon!)

FRAGILE REPLACEMENTS by William Allegrezza

KALI'S BLADE by Michelle Bautista