MOISELF? I LIKE DINING ON MOI!

Tee-hee. If SILK EGG is partly about contexts, I'm quite appreciative of poet-and-food-critic Jean's reading that contextualizes the novels gustatorily. So to speak. And eat. She's providing a feast for the eyes, too! Here's an excerpt:

When I read the word marrow” in Chapter III–I’m sorry, but I think of soup. And not noodle soup, either, but nilaga, a rich broth made with beef bones, and vegetables (carrots, potatoes, cabbage) cut in very large pieces. After all, soup proceeds from “biology.”

            Once, there was biology.

            It produced a mother whose absence was a singe.

            It sang.

            It replaced marrow--a song camouflaged by inevitably aging bone.

“The evenings are always pleasingly raw” (Chapter IV) makes me flare my nostrils testing the freshness of flesh.

Thanks Jean! Looking forward to the rest of the meal!

Such, of course, is criticism at it's best -- it's not about what's good vs bad. It's about what's yummy!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: SONJA SEKULA ... BY KATHRIN SCHAEPPI

It's often interesting how poetry, presumably (or presumed by many to be) a minimalist art can be so bombastic. Which is to say, gentleness is something I rarely see in poetry collections. Well, that difficult-to-pull-off-quality-in-poetry exists in my latest discovery and recommendation:

Sonja Sekula: Grace in a cow's EYE : a memoir:, the debut full-length poetry collection by Kathrin Schaeppi

Such gentleness elevates this project, too, beyond the usual ekphrastic endeavor as ekphasis is often a balancing act between the nature of the art work and the subjectivity of the author. (I've written a more comprehensive view of this book for next issue of Galatea Resurrects.)

I'm not surprised, either, to see that its publisher is Black Radish Books -- relatively new but already clearly important space!

Anyway, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book. In fact, I'm off now to re-read Kathrin Schaeppi's earlier work viz a chap from the beloved Dusie -- any work that makes you further explore the artist's other endeavors is something to recomment.

Meanwhile, here's my latest Recently Relished W(h)ine List (I really should "harvest" more lettuce):

WINTER HARVEST:
500 pounds of olives (but sadly went all to compost due to City Slicker's ignorance of pressing olives for oil within 24 hours of being picked)
35 pounds of honey (still awaiting its jars)
18 persimmons
101 Meyer lemons
11 oranges
1 head of red lettuce
3 heads of green lettuce


PUBLICATIONS
THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO THINK THAT PAINTERS SHOULDN'T TALK: A GUSTON BOOK, poems by Patrick James Dunagan (fabulously weightless)

SONJA SEKULA GRACE IN A COW'S EYE: A MEMOIR: , poems by Kathrin Schaeppi (outstanding: see above intro)

HOW LONG, poems by Ron Padgett

HOW TO BE PERFECT, poems by Ron Padgett

THE FLESH IS LIKE A KIND OF MUPPET CAPER, poems by Alex Savage

VERTIGO SEEKS AFFINITIES, poems by Sharon Mesmer

SARD, poems by Philip Byron Oakes

IN THE PRESENCE OF THE SUN: STORIES AND POEMS, 1961-1991 by N. Scott Momaday

WAITING FOR SWEET BETTY, poems by Clarence Major (I have to say I was a tad disappointed in this because I couldn't help comparing it to Kathrin Schaeppi's Sonja Sekula... which took ekphrasis so much further)

MEMOIR AND ESSAY by Michael Gottlieb (enthralling page-turner that also made me happy that I'm not reliant on coterie for my poetry)

BREAKFAST AT SALLY'S: ONE HOMELESS MAN'S INSPIRATIONAL JOURNEY by Richard LeMieux

JESSE'S WORLD: A STORY OF ADOPTION AND THE GLOBAL FAMILY, memoir by Basia Bonkowski

OCEANS APART: A VOYAGE OF INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION, memoir by Mary Mustard Reed


WINES
2004 Trevor Jones Barossa Valley
2007 Aubert chardonnay Lauren Vineyards
2004 Blankiet cabernet Paradise Vineyard
1990 Crozes Hermitage Paul Jaboulet Aine

ARCHITECTURE POETICS

When you accommodate the environment instead of trying to colonize it, you can create Beauty:



Galatea--the loving intersection of nature, art, poetry (well, and of course, wine!)...

The light, not the walls, are pink, btw -- I guess the walls miss F. Oh! Those palms need a haircut! Chatelaine duty calls....!

RECOMMENDED: MEMOIR AND ESSAY BY MICHAEL GOTTLIEB

One poetry-related book I recently bought that was absolutely worth every single penny (yes, I was happy to pay full retail) is MEMOIR AND ESSAY by Michael Gottlieb. Enthralling. A page-turner. Kudos to Mr. Gottlieb and his publisher Faux Press / Other.

While it wasn't the main point of this coming-of-age tale, there was a point touched on in MEMOIR AND ESSAY that resonated with me as it's a topic that's always made me raise a wondering eyebrow -- it's how writers borrow AND THEN REFUSE TO RETURN books from other writers. In MEMOIR AND ESSAY, this incident made for amusing reading as Mr. Gottlieb suspected he was mentally inflating the value of one book just because the borrower insisted on keeping it.

This issue is also on moi mind because, recently, a writer asked for a copy of a book I released last century: REPRODUCTIONS OF THE EMPTY FLAGPOLE. When I said that I couldn't believe that writer (a good friend) didn't have a copy of such an old book, said writer explained that someone had borrowed her copy and just refused to return it! A compliment, Moi hopes, to the work....but there we go again with writers refusing to return books borrowed from other writers!

Nor is this the same as stealing books from a public library or a bookstore. They know that the book they're refusing to return is from another writer's personal library. I mean, for most writers, their personal library is one of their most treasured possessions--one would think borrowers would realize that!

Anyway, here's the rest of my updated list of recently bought poetry books or books by poets:

THE COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS OF JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER

A WORLDLY COUNTRY: NEW POEMS by John Ashbery

SEVEN NOTEBOOKS by Campbell McGrath

GILGAMESH by Stephen Mitchell

MEMOIR AND ESSAY by Michael Gottlieb

LOVELY, RASPBERRY by Aaron Belz

BOUGH BREAKS by Tamiko Beyer (you should buy it, too! Special Discounted Release Offer HERE!)

FLUX, CLOTH & FROTH, Vol. 1 (text) by John Bloomberg-Rissman

FLUX, CLOTH & FROTH, Vol. 2 (notes to poems) by John Bloomberg-Rissman

SILK EGG: COLLECTED NOVELS (2009-2009) by Eileen R. Tabios (As this blog is about Moi, I non-apologetically suggest you buy it, too! GO HERE for the ordering links through various venues)

BUT POETRY AIN'T BENIGN...!

I had to take one of THESE recently -- nearly 600 questions. An acquaintance who took it summarized the experience as, "No matter how many ways and times they asked the question, I kept answering I had zero interest in killing myself."

Anyway, during the near-600-question-survey, they'd intersperse questions about your state of mind with what are clearly benign questions. So it made for an interesting flow, like (in so many words)

--do you like mechanical equipment magazines?, followed by
--are people at your job out to undercut you?, followed by
--if you were a journalist, would you cover sports?, followed by
--do you ever hear strange voices coming out of air?...followed by
--if you were a painter, would you paint flowers? followed by
--do you ever have the urge to slice up your body? et al

What threw me was how one of the so-called benign questions was

--do you like poetry?

I think that was right before the question that asked if I see "visions" and I replied, "Yes". See? I got tripped up! It's one thing to see visions and another to freely spout such off...! Ah well, c'est la vie. Off now to paint lilies in baseball uniforms...reading the Tractor Gazette...

UPDATE ON RELISHES

Back to my latest Recently Relished W(h)ine List with its increasingly embarrassing "harvests":

WINTER HARVEST:
500 pounds of olives (but sadly went all to compost due to City Slicker's ignorance of pressing olives for oil within 24 hours of being picked)
35 pounds of honey (still waiting to be jarred as soon as we can, ahem, thaw it out ... actually, don't ask)
18 persimmons
101 Meyer lemons
11 oranges
1 head of red lettuce
3 heads of green lettuce


PUBLICATIONS
PETALS, EMBLEMS, poems by Lynn Behrendt (contains those pleasantly unexpected ooomphs. Like, this beginning to the poem "Afterword": "wheel of / unconstruable / beginning. // spoke // ..." Love that purrfect first stanza's imagery, even as I relish the pun of wheel-spoke vs past-tense-speak)

EXPEDITIONS by Pamela Jean de Oliveira-Smith (don't know this poet; can't remember how I got this book. but really like it)

OPEN CLOSED OPEN, poems by Yehuda Amichai

MARS, poems by Norma Cole

SONATA MULATTICA, poems and a play by Rita Dove

ENGLISH FRAGMENTS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SOUL, poems by Martin Corless-Smith

A THIRST THAT'S PARTLY MINE, poems by Liz Ahl

ISHMAEL AMONG THE BUSHES, poems by William Allegrezza

GUTTER CATHOLIC LOVE SONG, poem by Joseph Wood

VICTORY, poetry/film text/conceptual et by Clarice Waldman

THE GOD OF INDETERMINACY, poems by Sandra McPherson

excerpts from the scores of PERMEABLE STRUCTURES: A PERFORMANCE ESSAY IN STEREO by Laura Elrick

from NOTHING TO SAY, poetry by Ann Lauterbach

PASSAGE THROUGH INDIA: AN EXPANDED AND ILLUSTRATED EDITION by Gary Snyder

RAIN, O'ER ME, short short by Rachael Goetzke

YELLOWFIELD, literary/arts journal cum provocation "collated" by Edric Mesmer

MUNYORI Literary Journal, Ed. Emmanuel Sigauke (enjoyed this read!)

RICHARD TSAO (Nam Wan) art exhibition monograph

THE ATHENA PROJECT, novel by Brad Thor

EDGE, novel by Jeffery Deaver

NIGHT SHIELD, novel by Nora Roberts

TEXAS! CHASE, novel by Sandra Brown

TAILOR-MADE BRIDE, novel by Karen Witemeyer


WINES
2003 Loan Shiraz
Bistro Don Giovanni house cabernet
1985 Solaia
200_ Contrarian

INTRODUCING THE "BYTE POEM"!

I love it when young poets write to me about their experiments and creations! Here's a letter from Benjamin C. Krause as regards the BYTE POEM! Note the invite at end of letter for more "byte creations"!

Dear Eileen,

I know I mentioned to you I had created a couple other forms besides quincouplets in my earlier emails, but am not sure if I told you anything about them. Truthfully, my quincouplets blog hasn't been updated since October, and I've recently started a new blog for a different type of form I think you might enjoy checking out.

This form is called a byte, and its origins lie partially in my interest in short forms and partially in my Computer Science background. As you probably know, on a computer, data is represented by 0s and 1s. What you might not know is that a single 0 or 1 is known as a bit. Eight bits make up a byte, from which we get terms like kilobyte (1,000 bytes), megabyte (1 million bytes), etc.

Well, a poetry byte is very similar to a computer byte, except instead of using digits as its bits, it uses syllables. Thus, long story short, a byte is an eight-syllable poem.

There are no restrictions on bytes except that they must be exactly eight syllables. Line breaks, stanza breaks, they can be wherever you want them to be. Special formatting--no problem. It is simultaneously a very open and very restricted form.

It sounds easy almost, but I've found them to be some of the hardest poems to write. I still don't think I have written a great one, just some good ones. I have six of them up on a new blog I started a week or two ago, which I'd like to request that you check out if you have the time.

http://bytepoems.com/

Prior to beginning writing bytes, I was not one to often play around with formatting, unless I was doing it for the sake of doing so (which usually meant it ended up being bad). But I play with formatting in a few of these poems, and as it so happens, they were the favorites among everyone I showed them to. I doubt it's mere showmanship or gimmick that made them enjoy them more. Instead, perhaps, playing with formatting is an almost necessary method of artistic expression in such a restricted verbal environment.

There is a heavy metal artist I used to hate; I thought he was completely tasteless. Then he got sent to prison for arson, and there the only instrument he had access to was a synthesizer. In my opinion, and in that of many others, he recorded his best music during that time.

It's not the best analogy, but I know there are tons of historic examples of artists facing a lack of resources, whether due to oppression, poverty, imprisonment, or whathaveyou, and coming up with inventive ways to make do with what they have and create great art. Forms like the byte impose similar limitations on the resources within which the poet has to work, thereby (hopefully) unlocking a creative force within them which had previously remained hidden. And no one has to go to jail to unlock it.

This may have been rambling, so I apologize. But at any rate, I think it's a form with a lot of promise. My best is yet to come, and i only hope that one day it picks up enough steam that people will be leaving me in the dust with their byte creations.

Ben

BOUGH BREAKS BY TAMIKO BEYER

MERITAGE PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT

bough breaks
By Tamiko Beyer
Book Information: http://meritagepress.com/beyer.htm
ISBN 13: 978-0-9826493-2-9
Price: $12.50
Distributors: Meritage Press, Amazon and Lulu

Meritage Press is pleased to announce the release of bough breaks, a first chapbook by Tamiko Beyer, a poet, writer, and educator based in Brooklyn. She is the poetry editor of Drunken Boat and leads creative writing workshop for at-risk youth and other community groups. A Kundiman Fellow, she is also a founding member of Agent 409: a queer writing collective in New York City. To celebrate this release, we are offering a SPECIAL RELEASE OFFER (see details below).

ABOUT THE BOOK:
The poetic sequence bough breaks sets out to interrogate queer motherhood, implications of gender, and the politics of adoption. Traveling across terrains (New York, Bangkok, Honolulu, Tokyo) and time (from the speaker’s childhood to an imagined future that holds or does not hold an adopted child) the poem teases apart the idea of conception. Queer in content and form, this fiercely feminist yet tenderly personal poem takes on the lullaby-lyric of parenthood to lay claim, surprise, and engage.

ADVANCE WORDS INCLUDE:
Lullabies are strange things. They console and terrify with a single melodic truth: the beauty of life is the mystery of death. Tamiko Beyer understands the uncanny spirit of the lullaby. She wields her lyric power deftly, taking words like “being,” “parent,” and “poet,” and splintering their meaning. She skillfully breaks and resets form, creating poems that are terse, tender and ultimately, enduring.
—Tisa Bryant

In a trance-driven lineage of serious thinkers which include the likes of Myung Mi Kim, Jessica Grim and Bruna Mori, Tamiko Beyer does not separate the experience of a gendered body from genres of thought. This writing lies down between poetry and theory and makes a bed there, a bed of textured experience and fabulous rhythms.
—Kazim Ali

Our poems may be our babies, as a friend said to Tamiko Beyer, but the desire for a baby can be a very complicated poem. Beyer charts her desire for a child through lenses of memory, what ifs, hormones, possible adoptions, and unsimple yearning. Where “neither gender nor sex [is] fixed,” a baby must be found rather than conceived in the standard way. Beyer's chapbook adds to a growing body of poetry about non-traditional families. It is a book about bodies, their transformations and their costs (“...more money if... // a) special needs b) forgiven c) teenager”). But it also a book about family values, real ones.
—Susan M. Schultz

SPECIAL RELEASE OFFER:
To celebrate the release of bough breaks, Meritage Press is pleased to announce a SPECIAL RELEASE OFFER of $10 per chapbook with free U.S. shipping. The offer is good through February 28, 2011. Simply send a check made out to "Meritage Press" to

Eileen Tabios
Meritage
256 North Fork Crystal Springs Rd.
St. Helena, CA 94574

For more info: MeritagePress@aol.com

MORE THAN A THOUSAND WORDS

Here's Krip Yuson. He poses and posits on the behalf of, no doubt, many poets ...



Another late night, dear?

RAPTUROUS REVERENCE!

Speaking of Gertrude Stein (weren't we?), "the thorn in the rosary is as much rosary as the rosary is thorn." That is, very grateful to Arpine Konyalian Grenier for her rapturous engagement with THE THORN ROSARY.

And speaking of THE THORN ROSARY, you can still get a free copy through the Hay(na)ku for Haiti Fundraiser--it's a bargain!

SILK EGG'S BOXING POETICS

Speaking of SILK EGG, I love Allen Bramhall's take on how it "invade(s) the notion of context, not the life of the Author." I love it because it seems to be a conclusion only a reader can get to. It makes me wonder what the response would be by a reader who has never read anything before -- a reader who learned ABCs and words and then, for the first book, read SILK EGG.

Meanwhile, go HERE for Allen's map map that provides as stepping stones -- and it's fun for me to list the names dropped so I hereby list them! -- Henry James, Charles Baudelaire’s Poèmes en Prose, Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein, John Ashbery and citing specifically Three Poems, Buddha, Jung, Heidegger, and (I love it! even) boxer Bob Fitzsimmons (even before Manny Pacquiao got moi attention, I'd long had a boxing book in mind). What I like in part about seeing others referenced in relation to my work is learning said work's context in a way that the context was not predetermined by me as Author. Dear Reader, I've said it before: Moi is all about Toi.

"...LIKE A RUSSIAN"?

Back in middle school, one way through which I was classified as weird is how I used to lug around with me those THICK BOOKS BY RUSSIANS, specifically Alexander Solzhenitsyn (though a top favorite was actually the relatively slim ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVITCH). Anyway, the Russians, or my personal experience with them, reared their thick heads twice this morning. As SILK EGG starts making its way out there in the universe, for whatever reason, I had occasion this morning to email two recipients the same thing: that SILK EGG

"is not as short as those six-word novels but I was trying to write like a Russian."

It's a chortle! And if you want to know what I'm talking about, GO HERE!

LIST-ING (PUN INTENDED)

The good thing about Lists, as has been recognized many times, is how it serves up the illusion of control, or at least management. I have an image of some raggedy circle of light, in its center some list and at the fringes the darkness held back. Sumthin' like that. So speaking of lists, here's my latest Recently Relished W(h)ine List (I really should "harvest" more lettuce):

WINTER HARVEST:
500 pounds of olives (but sadly went all to compost due to City Slicker's ignorance of pressing olives for oil within 24 hours of being picked)
35 pounds of honey (too bad they're lying all frozen in a vat; as soon as we can heat up the temperature in the storeroom, we can jar 'em!)
18 persimmons
101 Meyer lemons
11 oranges
1 head of red lettuce
1 head of green lettuce


PUBLICATIONS
MAGNIFICAT FOR THE NEW YEAR, poetry broadside by Sheila E. Murphy (magnificent! Speaking of Sheila, see my just-recalled "blurb" HERE)

JOAN MIRO--"MAY 1968", poetry broadside by Mark Lamoreaux

TELEMACHIAD, poems by Michael Scharf

HAZMAT, poems by J.D. McClatchy

PIGAFETTA IS MY WIFE, poems by Joe Hall

HOW WE BECAME HUMAN: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS 1975-2001 by Joy Harjo (very satisfying, primarily for that narrative arc as well as how individual poems, despite being personal, don't get narcisstic)

"from SALT", poetry bookmark by Alison Hawthorne Deming

A HISTORY OF SMALL LIFE ON A WINDY PLANET, poems by Martha Collins (uh huh. small...)

SPENT: SELECTED POEMS by Jose Kozer, translated by Mark Weiss*

THE MORNING NEWS IS EXCITING, poems by Don Mee Choi*

VAUXHALL, poems by Catherine Daly*

IRRESPONSIBILITY, poems by Chris Vitiello*

PETALS OF ZERO PETALS OF ONE, poems by Andrew Zawacki*

OUTSIDE VOICES: AN EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE by Jake Berry and Jeffrey Side

FOR THE ORDINARY ARTIST: SHORT REVIEWS, OCCASIONAL PIECES & MORE by Bill Berkson (art criticism enlighted by the highest rigor: a loving feeling)

A MEGAPHONE: INDEX OF NAMES, PRIZES, JOURNALS, PRESSES, CONFERENCES, ANTHOLOGIES, BLOGS, AND DISCUSSION LISTS co-edited by Juliana Spahr and Stephanie Young (exhausting!)

THE SECRET LIFE OF COWBOYS, memoir by Tom Groneberg

SNOWFLAKES: A FLURRY OF ADOPTON STORIES BY, FOR AND ABOUT CHILDREN AND TEENS, edited by Teresa Kelleher with Katie Flake and Paul Kelleher-Smith

MULTIPLE BLESSINGS: SURVIVING TO THRIVING TWINS AND SEXTUPLETS, memoir by Jon and Kate Gosselin and Beth Garrison

MOMS GO WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD: ADVENTURES IN MOTHERHOOD by Jean Wester Anderson

LOVED BY CHOICE: TRUE STORIES THAT CELEBRATE ADOPTION, c-eds. Susan Horner & Kelly Fordyce Martindale (heh: you can track a narrative by looking at the four parenting-related titles...)

GOOD DOG. STAY, illustrated essay by Anna Quindlen

AN OBJECT OF BEAUTY, novel by Steve Martin (sly, devilish, witty, ekphrastic ... very amusing read)

ONE TRUE THING, novel by Anna Quindlen

(* read in 2009)


WINES
2007 Bogle petite sirah Sonoma
200_ St. Francis cabernet
2004 Clare Luce Abbey cabernet
1991 Barca-Velha
2005 Joh. Jos. Pprum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese
2001 Torbreck Descendant Barossa Valley
1995 Haut Brion
1995 Dow Quinta Do Bomfim
2006 William Downie pinot noir Yarra Valley
2004 Dutch Henry "Argos"

MORE SIGNS OF THE GREAT RECESSION

In terms of my Amazon sales (through which I sell certain Meritage Press books and some of my own), my 2010 sales level dropped 13.3% from 2009. Basically, 2010 sales were lower than in each of the previous three years, which is to say, it was about even with my 2007 Amazon sales when I perhaps had half the books to offer through Amazon.

Just thought I'd cheer Moi up a bit by blogging this because, as the saying goes, Misery loves company! Life as a poetry publisher is life on the margins of the margins...!

2010 is also the first time that moi beloved distributor SPD asked me to refund some money from a prior revenue check because of a high degree of book returns. The good news just keeps coming in!

Actually, I'd better cease posting before ... the good news just keeps coming in!

INTRODUCING THE "QUINCOUPLET"

which obviously bears a "found" relationship to the hay(na)ku. The difference between the quincouplet and the hay(na)ku is that the hay(na)ku's one-word first line is a title in the quincouplet. More information is found on the blog/site of Benjamin C. Krause HERE.

MOM JUDGED A POETRY CONTEST

and the results are HERE. Why not? After all, Poetry has healing powers, right? 'Twas a lovely distraction from her cancer treatments, and thank you all who shared your concern -- she's doing well so far!

"POET" DEFINED

For the first time in 16 years, I am not a poet. Let Moi explain: my long-held definition of "poet" is someone with at least two unpublished manuscripts in hir drawers (desk drawers, not the ones down there ... or, well, maybe down there as well).

I woke up this morning and realized I don't have an unpublished manuscript. O MOI GAWD: not acceptable! So, in the past hour, I put one together. Its working title is

147 MILLION ORPHANS

a number which happens to be the estimate for the number of orphans worldwide.

Now, at the moment, the manuscript is 147 million pages long. So, that's the end of my coffee break when I thought I'd bludgeon share the news of new manuscript with you. I now gotta go and edit...

...because after said editing, I still gotta muster at least one more manuscript so that I can become a poet again!

Well, yes, this is a poetics post. Because I'm really talking about momentum. As an old mentor frequently ended his posts to Moi: Forward!

BLURB & REVIEW

I am supplying the following "found blurb" for Dana Teen Lomax's upcoming full-length version of her Disclosure, to wit:

Dana Teen Lomax shows her ass and makes you want to kiss it.
–Eileen Tabios, Galatea Resurrects #12

That may be the best blurb I've ever provided anyone. I had reviewed a chap version of Disclosures in GR #12. I live, of course, to make you poets happy...

...because, in turn, karma makes Moi happy! To wit: Amazon Top Ten Reviewer Grady Harp just reviewed SILK EGG. Click below to see the whole thing -- I do suggest you see the whole thing since it calls Moi a "kaleidoscope":

Eileen R. Tabios continues to startle us with every publication she creates. Her mind must work like a finely turned kaleidoscope, every movement she makes results in something new, something we hadn't expected, something that starts our brains working in different ways. CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE.

By the way, for the record, I love how this review says that Jorge Luis Borges is the "source of the ideas for all of these novels." That's not true: I actually wrote the novels, then later superimposed Borges over them--indeed, to keep this all "pure", I've been careful to avoid reading Borges' short story "The Libary of Babel." Having said that, I don't mind that O'Harp reversed the Borges application to the project as it affirms my thought that it would be relevant to reference Borges after the project was writ. Poetry, too, can engender inspiration as or viz illusion. Anyway, that's a nota bene for your process-obsessed Peeps; I live, too, to make y'all happy.

And what are you waiting for? You can still cheaply order SILK EGG through its E-Book Launch!

ON THE LIMITS OF MONEY

I offer below a list of poetry books or books of other genre by poets that I purchased in 2010. What's good about it is how it reflects an improvement from 2009's relatively paltry list.

Money doesn't reflect desire when it comes to my poetry-buying. While this list offers poets whose works I like and thus acquire, it also reflects books bought from no particularly strong desire to include in my poetry library (jest curiosity). For instance, some books were bought at a local public library sale for cents on the dollar, a price that makes me buy poetry without a particularly strong interest in such acquisition. Distribution does matter -- this list also reflects purchases gifted by Mom when we go shopping at a local Copperfield bookstore, which means my purchases are constrained by the universe of Copperfield's poetry buyer who has shown him/herself not to be particularly broadminded. Finally, I also buy poetry books for other people, e.g. through the Galatea Resurrects Publisher's Prize (which is not to say I wouldn't buy books on the list of this link for my own enjoyment).

So the list offers no particular picture of Moi, since I have too many alternative access to poetry books I actually will cherish, whether through gifts, trades or even review copies. Nonetheless, a list exists of my BOUGHT POETRY OR BOOKS BY POETS and so here it is for 2010. Unless stated otherwise, the books are poetry collections:

THE FAR MOSQUE by Kazim Ali

FRAGILE REPLACEMENTS by William Allegrezza

OPEN CLOSED OPEN by Yehuda Amichai

A BLUE HAND: THE BEATS IN INDIA, biography by Deborah Baker

KALI'S BLADE by Michelle Bautista

UNPROTECTED TEXTS: SELECTED POEMS 1978-2007 by Tom Beckett

Belladonna 2011 Subscription: "A Year in the Commons" featuring THE WIDE ROAD by Lyn Hejinian & Carla Harryman; LOOKING UP HARRYETTE MULLEN: INTERVIEWS ON SLEEPING WITH THE DICTIONARY AND OTHER WORKS by Barbara Henning; Belladonna limited edition chapbooks; SEASONS: QUARTETS (RECOMPOSED): WORDS MOVE / MUSIC MOVES: ONLY IN TIME -- THE FOUR SEASONS re-composed by Colette Alexander and Nancy Magarill, THE FOUR QUARTETS re-envisioned by Kristin Prevallet; and SUNDAY, THEORY: A TRANSLATION OF LA THEORIE, UN DIMANCHE (1988, Remue-Menage), a multi-authored, multi-genre (theory, fiction) volume of six Québécois Women: Louky Bersianik, Nicole Brossard, Louise Cotnoir, Louise Dupré, Gail Scott, and France Théoret, with short contemporary commentary by a diverse range of writers, and translated by Erica Weitzman, Pophana Brandes et al; edited by Rachel Levitsky and Gail Scott.

ALL THE WHISKEY IN HEAVEN: Selected Poems of Charles Bernstein

BOUGH BREAKS by Tamiko Beyer

FLUX, CLOTH & FROTH, Vol. 1 (text) by John Bloomberg-Rissman (You should buy some, too! Special Release Offer Still Active HERE)

FLUX, CLOTH & FROTH, Vol. 2 (notes to poems) by John Bloomberg-Rissman (You should buy some, too! Special Release Offer Still Active HERE)

DAYS POEM, Vols. 1 and 2 by Allen Bramhall

QUINTESSENCE OF THE MINOR: SYMBOLIST POETRY IN ENGLISH, essay by Garrett Caples

THE COMPLETE STORIES AND POEMS OF LEWIS CARROLL

BEAUTIFUL SIGNOR by Cyrus Cassells

NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Jennifer Clement

THE WHOLE TRUTH by James Cummins

NIGHTBIRDS by Garin Cycholl

DAYS WE ARE GIVEN by Alice D'Alessio

MIDNIGHT'S GATE, essays by Bei Dao

RESIN by Geri Doran

SONATA MULATTICA by Rita Dove

THE COCKTAIL PARTY by T.S. Eliot

HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINES: FROM INDIOS BRAVOS TO FILIPINOS by Luis H. Francia

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.

A WORKING GIRL CAN'T WIN AND OTHER POEMS by Deborah Garrison

AUTOPSY TURVY by Thomas Fink & Maya Diablo Mason

THE DANCE MOST OF ALL by Jack Gilbert

THE FIRST FOUR BOOKS OF POEMS (Firstborn, The House on Marshland, Descending Figure and The Triumph of Achilles) by Louise Gluck

THE SEVEN AGES by Louise Gluck

HARD TO PLACE: ONE FAMILYS JOURNEY THROUGH ADOPTION, poetry therapy memoir by Marion Goldstein

STAGE PRESENCE: CONVERSATIONS WITH FILIPINO AMERICAN PERFORMING ARTISTS edited by Theodore S. Gonzalves

PIGAFETTA IS MY WIFE by Joe Hall

TRAJE DE BODA by Aileen Ibardaloza

TRANCE ARCHIVES: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Andrew Joron

BRIGHT STAR: LOVE LETTERS AND POEMS OF JOHN KEATS TO FANNY BRAWNE

A NIGHT WITHOUT ARMOR by Jewel Kilcheer (it required poetry for me to know her last name...)

STET by Jose Kozer

LIVING UNDER PLASTIC by Evelyn Lau

SHARKS IN THE RIVERS by Ada Limon

ARCHIPELAGO DUST by Karen Llagas

WAITING FOR SWEET BETTY by Clarence Major

GORGEOUS CHAOS: NEW & SELECTED POEMS 1965-2001 by Jack Marshall

WISDOM OF THE LAST FARMER, memoir by poet David Mas Masumoto

MEETING SOPHIE: A MEMOIR OF ADOPTION by Nancy McCabe

HINGE & SIGN by Heather McHugh

THE GOD OF INDETERMINACY by Sandra McPherson

DIARY OF A WAVE OUTSIDE THE SEA by Dunya Mikhail

THE WAR WORKS HARD by Dunya Mikhail

IN THE PRESENCE OF THE SUN: STORIES AND POEMS, 1961-1991 by N. Scott Momaday

TEXTURE NOTES by Sawako Nakayasu

IOWA by Travis Nichols

WOVEN STONE by Simon J. Ortiz

THE POEMS OF DOCTOR ZHIVAGO by Boris Pasternak, Trans. by Eugene M. Kayden with drawings by Bill Greer

FOR A LIVING by Frances Phillips

FAULTY MOTHERING by Elaine Randell

COOKING WITH ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES by Francis Raven

CHILDREN OF DREAMS, memoir by Lorilyn Roberts

LISA ROBERTSON'S MAGENTA SOUL WHIP by Lisa Robertson

A RADIANCE LIKE WIND OR WATER by Richard Ronan

HEARTWOOD: MEDITATIONS ON SOUTHERN OAKS with poetry by Rumi and photographs by William Guion

THE SINGERS & THE NOTES by Logan Ryan Smith

UNABLE TO FULLY CALIFORNIA by Larry Sawyer

KING OF THE JUNGLE by Zvi A. Sesling

PASSAGE THROUGH INDIA, travelogue by Gary Snyder

RIPRAP AND COLD MOUNTAIN POEMS by Gary Snyder

VIEW WITH A GRAIN OF SAND: SELECTED POEMS by Wislawa Szymborska

SILK EGG: COLLECTED NOVELS (2009-2009) by Eileen R. Tabios (Please buy it, too! Available at Amazon U.S. and U.K., SPD, The Book Depository (U.K.) B & N, Ingram, Baker & Taylor, etc.--GO HERE or HERE (through Jan. 31, 2011) for the ordering links through various venues)

THE THORN ROSARY: SELECTED PROSE POEMS & NEW: 1998-2010 by Eileen R. Tabios

HERON/GIRLFRIEND by Jen Tynes

NATIVE GUARD by Natasha Trethewey

RADHA SAYS by Reetika Vazirani

VIRTUOSO LITERATURE FOR TWO AND FOUR HANDS: NEW POEMS by Diane Wakoski

OVERTIME: SELECTED POEMS by Philip Whalen, Ed. Michael Rothenberg

LEAVES OF GRASS by Walt Whitman

BY PARKED CARS by J.D. Woolery

POEMCRAZY: FREEING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS, essays by Susan G. Wooldridge

UNRELATED INDIVIDUALS FORMING A GROUP WAITING TO CROSS by Mark Yakich

EXHIBITS by John Yau

THE SECOND PERSON: POEMS by C. Dale Young

MORE FROM SERIES MAGRITTE by Mark Young

We're just about a week into the new year and I am happy to share that I've already started on the 2011 List! There should be no recession in Poetry!

JANUARY BOOK E-LAUNCH

I've turned down or otherwise had to pass on the last million invitations sent my way to do a reading or other gig. I don't take others' interest for granted. But I just can't leave the mountain except for the very managed carpool drives to my son's school. Well, now, it's a new year. So, of course I have a new book! But I'm not going to go anywhere to launch it. Which is a shame as it's one of my favorites among my own books and I'd love to celebrate its existence with others...

So hermit here instead is going to do an e-book launch. What does this mean? It means that I give you a chance to get my book at what would normally be its book launch rate (versus its listed retail price) were I doing a typical book launch. Good through Jan. 31, 2001, send me ten bucks and I'll send you my book SILK EGG: COLLECTED NOVELS, signed, with free domestic shipping if you live in the U.S. That'd be over a 41% discount, more if you include free domestic shipping.

My snailmail address is HERE and while you're over there, check out those Galatea Resurrects review copies in case something interests you! Meanwhile, here's new book info, now out and available for you:

from Shearsman Books:

Eileen R. Tabios: SILK EGG — Collected Novels
Published January 2011
Paperback, 132pp, 8.5x5.5ins, £9.95 / $17 / C$18.50
ISBN 9781848611436

Last century, I temporarily borrowed Jorge Luis Borges' chatelaine. I slipped off a certain key and made a copy before I returned it to its chains and the old man (OMG: can he ever snore!). Since then, I've been able to slip into Jorgie's Library of Babel whenever I wished—that permanent stain on the 7th floor's limestone windowsill was from the d'Yquem I'd carelessly spilled from my treasured wine glass (stolen previously from Vermeer). About a year after I wrote all of the novels that comprise SILK EGG, I returned to the Library of Babel's 7th floor with a bottle of Ajax cleanser ("stronger than dirt!") that I'd hoped would work this time in erasing proof of my unpermitted visitations: that hardened pool of "nectar of the gods" ever winking out a small sun from the bibliophilic dimness. It was during this yet again failed attempt at the domestic arts that I also stumbled across a book whose spine mirrored the color of the sweet liquid I'd spilled; I do love this wine's color—an apt symbol of enlightenment among Buddhists. I pulled out the book from the shelf, blew off the dust, opened it, and discovered there the same words that comprise SILK EGG. However, the novels were contextualized by the book's title: INEVITABLE GIBBERISH. I dispute the Library of Babel's context—but there's no need to take my word for it: I've decided to release SILK EGG to the public and have readers judge whether these novels are more than the leavings from more acceptable narratives as authors strive to use every letter, space and punctuation mark in every possible combination. (Eileen R. Tabios)

"The genius of Eileen R. Tabios is as generous as it is manifold. Reading Silk Egg, I suddenly feel myself becoming more perceptive, fantastical, mordant, impassioned, and artful. Just like the book itself. Read it, and the same can happen to you."
—Barry Schwabsky

Perhaps you'd be interested in seeing how a baker's dozen's worth of novels get to glimmer within one, 132-page book! It sure amused Moi a lot to pull it off!

Questions? Just email Moi at GalateaTen@aol.com

NON-COTERIE READING (2010)

In 2010, I read at least 365 poetry books/collections, 11 poetry or poetry-related anthologies, 14 poetry/literary journals and 15 other books/publications involving poetry. The Blog's capacity as Filing Cabinet allow Moi to list them all below. For just the poetry books/collections statistic, my 2010 reading reflects a 98% jump from 2009 when I read 184 books/collections. It's probably worth repeating some concepts I first raised when I mentioned my first annual poetry reading list, which was for 2009, to wit:

The list is not a portrayal of the type of poetry I favor. In reading poems partly as a practitioner, I just want to know what's out there. I've found that POV to be more elucidating than trying to read through some defined aesthetic gate. The process is not just more educational but also makes for the fabulous moments of welcome discoveries (e.g. for 2010, Anne Gorrick, Elisa Gabbert, Kimberly Lyons, M. Nourbese Philip, Catherine Sasanov, Jose Antonio Ramos Sucre, Wislawa Szymborska, Mark Yakich, Ronaldo Wilson, Lynn Behrendt, Rebecca Foust, Ken Chen, Carrie Hunter, Tamiko Beyer, Tim Atkins, Rosa Alcala, among other poets whose works were previously unknown to Moi).

The list does reveal certain personal tendencies -- I prefer to read a body of work rather than a single poem or two by a poet. This means I don't really go out of my way to read many anthologies or journals. I prefer to read poetry collections.

My ethical desire is to read every poem, which means a lot of times, I randomly grab from a huge TO-READ pile (which includes but is not limited to THIS and THIS). I also end up reading a few books for unique reasons--like if my local library stocks a new poetry book, I check it out in order to prove there's demand for poetry...and then inevitably read it before I return it.

Did I like every book I read on this list? Nope, but that's irrelevant. Even the most banal poem has a place in this wonderland-landscape of Poetry. All poems are welcome to Moi. And contrary to would-be pundits' proclamations, THERE ARE NEVER ENOUGH POEMS.

Having said that, I don't mind spicing up this post by identifying what I thought to be THE WORST BOOK OF POETRY I READ IN 2010 -- an honor that belongs to A WORKING GIRL CAN'T WIN by Deborah Garrison. (Hm. I guess it'd make sense that I have her book as a result of picking up a bunch of poetry books for cents each at a local library sale.) I don't mind sharing this opinion since you can analyze it based on my identifying the company in which I read her.

Here then is the poetic Relished W(h)ine List for 2010, complete with some brief comments on them to the extent I was moved to comment at the time I read them -- Moi is also what she reads:


Poetry Books/Collections (365):
ASHES GIFTED, poems and painting reproductions by Joshua Abelow (a witty and funny self-awareness)

THE PHILOSOPHER'S CLUB by Kim Addonizio

THE DOORS OF THE BODY by Mary Alexandra Agner

PROPERTY by Julie Agoos

DWELLING by Heather C. Akerberg

UNDOCUMENTARIES by Rosa Alcala (intelligent poems with welcome verbal flourishes; nice to see these poems by an author I first knew as a translator)

THE VEILED SUITE: THE COLLECTED POEMS OF AGA SHAHID ALI

BRIGHT FELON: AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND CITIES by Kazim Ali

THE FAR MOSQUE by Kazim Ali

THROUGH HAVING BEEN, Vol. 1 by William Allegrezza

THROUGH HAVING BEEN, Vol. 2 by William Allegrezza

PRESENT VANISHING by Dick Allen

MADE FLESH by Craig Arnold

1000 SONNETS by Tim Atkins (kewl & nifty!)

MEAN by Colette Labouff Atkinson

EASY EDEN, collaborative poems by Micah Ballard and James Patrick Dunagan (luminous and wise gems. A ravishingly glorious read)

WANT by Rick Barot

FOR THE ANIMALS WHO MISSED THE ARK by Jim Barton

I WAS THE JUKEBOX by Sandra Beasley (the muscular confidence underlying these poems are a fresh antidote to the more common self-deprecation found in contemporary poems)

THEORIES OF FALLING by Sandra Beasley

RED SUGAR by Jan Beatty

HAY(NA)KU FOR HAITI by Tom Beckett

LUMINOUS FLUX by Lynn Behrendt (wonderfully-designed chap and poem possesses wonderful musicality)

PRACTICE by Dan Bellm

32 SNAPSHOTS OF MARSEILLES by Guy Bennett

LA VISTA GANCHA by John M. Bennett

(MADE) by Cara Benson

BOUGH BREAKS by Tamiko Beyer (a moving collection, so moving that it became Meritage Press' latest accepted poetry manuscript. Await word of this publication by a talented poet!)

PERMANENT ADDRESS by Lorna Knowles Blake

CITIES OF FLESH AND THE DEAD by Diann Blakely

2ND NOTICE OF MODIFICATIONS TO TEXT OF PROPOSED REGULATIONS, REGULATION AND POLICY MANAGEMENT BRANCH, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND REHABILITATION, poetry by John Bloomberg-Rissman

AFTER RENE DEPESTRE’S “MY DEFINITION OF POETRY”, as translated by Edwidge Danticat, with lines at the end by Lafcadio Hearn by John Bloomberg-Rissman

FLUX, CLOT & FROTH, VOL. I (Text), book-length poem by John Bloomberg-Rissman (Poem is just under 800 pages -- Yep: I love ambition in poetry! And the covers are done marvelously with vizpo poet-artist Geof Huth!)

FLUX, CLOT & FROTH, VOL. 2 (Apparatus), book-length notes to poem by John Bloomberg-Rissman (Notes comprise a near-250 page book -- Yep: I love ambition in poetry!)

INCIDENT AT THE EDGE OF BAYONET WOODS by Paula Bohince

AIRS & VOICES by Paula Bonnell

INSTALLATIONS by Joe Bonomo

GRACE, FALLEN FROM by Marianne Boruch

THE ROMANCE OF HAPPY WORKERS by Anne Boyer

THE WORLD WAITING TO BE: POEMS ABOUT THE CREATIVE PROCESS by Louis Daniel Brodsky

SO FORTH by Joseph Brodsky

STILL WANDERING IN THE WILDERNESS: POEMS OF THE JEWISH DIASPORA by Louis Daniel Brodsky

PLEASE by Jericho Brown

DOMESTIC INTERIOR by Stephanie Brown

MODERN HISTORY: PROSE POEMS 1987-2007 by Christopher Buckley

SONG OF A LIVING ROOM by Brigitte Byrd

DUTIES OF AN ENGLISH FOREIGN SECRETARY by Macgregor Card (deft. interesting)

Delicacies in FRACTUS CORPUS by Ric Carfagna (Vol. 1), Hay(na)ku-ed Translations by Eileen Tabios

SYMPHONY NO. 1 (EN ENTROPIC CUBIST DIMENSIONALITY) by Ric Carfagna (FABULOUS updating of the 20th century's cubist experiments in poetry. Page 4 alone is worth checking out :-).

QUANTUM JITTERS by Patricia Carlin

100 NOTES ON VIOLENCE by Julie Carr (often haunting--evokes a movie I once saw--“The Secret Lives of Angels,” I think that was the title…)

THE BEAUTY OF THE HUSBAND: A FICTIONAL ESSAY IN 29 TANGOS by Anne Carson

GREEN CAMMIE by Crysta Casey

A SCRIPT by Joel Chace

BLAKE'S TREE by Joel Chace

INSIDES SHE SWALLOWED by Sasha Pimentel Chacon

SALVINIA MOLESTA by Victoria Chang

THE HEART'S TRAFFIC: A NOVEL IN POEMS by Ching-In Chen

JUVENILIA by Ken Chen (Far far above the typical poet's first book. Admirably -- and effectively -- ambitious. Sophisticated. Will make you fall in love)

THE TURNING by Maxine Chernoff

AFTER RIMBAUD'S ILLUMINATIONS by David-Baptiste Chirot (beautifully resonant)

THE MORNING NEWS IS EXCITING by Don Mee Choi

STARLIGHT AND SHADOW by Tom Clark (evocative in a lovely and loving way. And it is a free read viz this pdf: http://www.fieralingue.it/corner.php?pa=printpage&pid=3254)

SILVERONDA by Lucy Harvest Clarke

NEW & SELECTED POEMS by Jennifer Clement

WHERE SHADOWS WILL: SELECTED POEMS 1988-2008 by Norma Cole

THE LEDGE by Michael Collier

BRIEF UNDER WATER by Cyrus Console

MONDO CRAMPO by Juliet Cook (nice harmony in concept and design that supports text)

THIS TIME WE ARE BOTH, poems by Clark Coolidge

OPENING DAY by William Corbett

DRINKS AT THE STAND-UP TRAGEDY CLUB by Jim Crenner

THE KING'S QUESTION by Brian Culhane

TIMES IN RHYMES, RUINS by Jon Curley

NIGHTBIRDS by Garin Cycholl

BLONDE TOPOGRAPHY, A TERSE SET OF TERCETS by steve dalachinsky

VAUXHALL by Catherine Daly

ABSOLUTE ELSEWHERE, poems by James Davies and photography by Simon Taylor (very interesting and nifty concept of poems and visuals responding to the same clues "blind" from each other)

PROVENANCE by Brandel France de Bravo

ALMOST DOROTHY by Neil de la Flor

REQUIEM FOR THE ORCHARD by Oliver de la Paz (stellar writing and moving)

ALL-AMERICAN POEM by Matthew Dickman

BURN AND DODGE by Sharon Dolin

THE SELECTED POETRY OF DONNE, Edited by Marius Bewley

LOVE ON THE STREETS: SELECTED AND NEW POEMS by Sharon Doubiago

SIMPLIFY ME WHEN I'M DEAD by Keith Douglas (breathtaking)

REALITY CHECK by Dennis O. Driscoll

HER FRIENDS DOWN AT THE FRENCH CAFE HAD NO ENGLISH WORDS FOR ME, poems by Patrick James Dunagan and visual art by Jason Grabowski (lovely intimacy)

DROP, PORTION AND ASSIGNMENT by Peg Duthie

LUCKY BREAK by Terry Ehret

FEET FIRST by Dion N. Farquhar

BEASTS FOR THE CHASE by Monica Ferrell

APPARITION POEMS by Adam Fieled (admirable. deceptively multi-layered)

THE FIRE LANDSCAPE by Gary Fincke

AUTOPSY TURVY by Thomas Fink & Maya Diablo Mason

YINGLISH STROPHES, 1-19 by Thomas Fink (stellar and often spectacular!)

TELESCOPE by Sandy Florian

COLOSSEUM by Katie Ford

ALL THAT GORGEOUS PITILESS SONG by Rebecca Foust

DARK CARD by Rebecca Foust

OF FRACTURED CLOCKS, BONES AND WINDSHIELDS by Sheela Sitaram Free

MOVING PICTURES by Greg Fuchs (marvelous energy!)

PAGEANT by Joanna Fuhrman

THE FRENCH EXIT by Elisa Gabbert (such fragile-nesses are difficult to textually manifest-- a lovely achievement)

A WORKING GIRL CAN'T WIN by Deborah Garrison

THE PACKAGE INSERT OF SORROWS by Angela Genusa

AERODOME ORION & STARRY MESSENGER, by Susan Gevirtz (ethereal but embodied at the same time)

BEGIN ANYWHERE by Frank Giampietro

THE SEVEN AGES by Louise Gluck (stellar writing but made me wonder what would happen, too, if she started relying more on, say, a third-party pronoun...)

CITY OF CORNERS by John Godfrey

THE ROYAL BAKER'S DAUGHTER by Barbara Goldberg

AS IT TURNED OUT by Dmitry Golynko, Trans. by Eugene Ostashevsky with Rebecca Bella and Simona Schneider

I-FORMATION, BOOK 1 by Anne Gorrick (gorgeous!)

KYOTOLOGIC, poems by Anne Gorrick (lovely)

TERMINAL HUMMING, poems by K. Lorraine Graham (fabulously effective)

PHOTOGRAPHING EDEN, poems by Jason Gray

MEN, WOMEN, AND GHOSTS by Debora Greger

ALL OF IT SINGING: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Linda Gregg

MATTER OF FACT by Eamon Grennan

WOODSMOKE, WIND, AND THE PEREGRINE by Shaun T. Griffin

THE COLLECTED POEMS OF BARBARA GUEST, Ed. Hadley Haden Guest (OUTSTANDING OUTSTANDING OUTSTANDING!)

GOTHENBURG FROM THE THREE GEOGRAPHIES: A MILKMAID'S GRIMOIRE by Arielle Guy

TOXIC FLORA by Kimiko Hahn

NOW YOU'RE THE ENEMY by James Allen Hall

THE HEADLESS SAINTS by Myronn Hardy

AMNESIAC by Duriel E. Harris

THE APPLE TREES AT OLEMA: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Robert Hass (Dude decided to relax in his newer work...)

THE LUCK OF BEING by Wendell Hawken

BECKMANN VARIATIONS & OTHER POEMS by Michael Heller (Very Inspiring.)

WINGS WITHOUT BIRDS by Brian Henry

A BOOK OF UNKNOWING by John High

AFTER MUSIC by Conrad Hilberry

BLOOD TIES & BROWN LIQUOR by Sean Hill

GIVEN SUGAR, GIVE SUGAR by Jane Hirshfield

ROUNDING THE HUMAN CORNERS by Linda Hogan

THE MS OF M Y KIN by Janet Holmes (in addition to its intelligent conceptual underpinnings, the resulting poems are really effective. Well done!)

ARCTIC POEMS by Vicente Huidobro, trans. by Nathan Hoks

A MUSICS by Carrie Hunter (wonderful wander-full wanting)

THE INCOMPOSSIBLES by Carrie Hunter (read in manuscript form as I'm providing a blurb for its forthcoming book form. Here's the unedited blurb:
Every poem in THE INCOMPOSSIBLES is "an utterly unique void." What seems consistent is a rhythm of certainty, even as the poems posit uncertainties; these are musics impossible to categorize. Read a line like "The indecipherable spoken aloud"* and you can't help but read again, then again. As you continue reading, you realize you're searching for something you might discover but will defy memory-zation if only because the context of a reading changes each time. I guess that's the (or, one, ) point of these poems--it encourages the search itself and the discovered beauties in the process make the uncertainties welcome. That's what fabulous poems can achieve: the suspension of belief into language for its own sake. Thus, do "obscurities hold hands..."
[* I first cited "The decapitated head of Lack" but apparently another blurber cited this wonderful line]

NTST: THE COLLECTED PWOERMDS OF GEOF HUTH (a freshly rolicking read)

RIFT by Barbara Helfgott Hyett

LAST WORD IS THE POET’S CALLING by Aileen Ibardaloza

TRAJE DE BODA by Aileen Ibardaloza

JUAN LUNA’S REVOLVER by Luisa A. Igloria

IF NOT METAMORPHIC by Brenda Iijima (a manifestation of paradox)

AD FINITUM by P. Inman

TALL IF by Mark Irwin

PRAYING TO THE BLACK CAT by Henry Israeli (there's a poem in there, "Creation Myth Number One", that has one of the most powerful beginnings I can remember reading in a poem...)

~ V = >, poems by Tom Jenks

TORCH LAKE & OTHER POEMS by Brian Johnson

OBRAS PUBLICAS: POEMS, STORIES, ESSAYS, ETC. by Halvard Johnson (enjoyable reading!)

THE EARTH IN THE ATTIC by Fady Joudah

FORCE FIELDS, text by Andrew Joron; art by Brian Lucas (lovely, resonant project)

TRANCE ARCHIVE: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Andrew Joron (read many of these poems before but also enjoyable to see it in a Selected context.)

TIME OF SKY CASTLES IN THE AIR by Ayane Kawata, Trans. by Sawako Nakayasu

THE BLACK AUTOMATON by Douglas Kearney (loved this wonderful wonderful collection with its fabulous energy!)

ITERATION NETS by Karla Kelsey

A WITCH'S DICTIONARY by Sarah Kennedy

POISON OAK by Jukka-Pekka Kervinen (deceptively musical with the amusing help of scratch-throughs)

AS IF FREE by Burt Kimmelman

ANOTHER AMERICA / OTRA AMERICA by Barbara Kingsolver, with translations by Rebeca Cartes

THE TEMPLE GATE CALLED BEAUTIFUL by David Kirby

UNION by Ish Klein

INSTRUCTIONS TO A MAP: A SELECTION OF MY SYLLABIC VERSE by Bill Knott

QUAKER GUNS by Caroline Knox

RULES FOR DRINKING FORTIES by Rodney Koeneke (nifty & kewl!)

MAN ON EXTREMELY SMALL ISLAND by Jason Koo

IN ARTICULATE CONCISION OF APPENDICES by David C. Kopaska-Merkel

SPENT: SELECTED POEMS by Jose Kozer, translated by Mark Weiss

THE SWEETNESS OF HERBERT by Stuart Krimko

PATZCUARO by Joanne Kyger (lingers...)

ASTROMETRY ORGONON by Mark Lamoureux

EVEN NOW by Susanna Lang

TOURMALINE by Dorothea Lasky

LIVING UNDER PLASTIC by Evelyn Lau (hit her stride ... and is an absolute knock-out!)

AS I SPEED TO YOUR PLACE by Amanda Laughtland

POSTCARDS TO BOX 464 by Amanda Laughtland with art by Jen May (charming!)

(SOME OF THE) BEST LESBIAN POETRY by Amanda Laughtland

X (ANGEL CITY) by Joseph Lease

HALLELUJAH BLACKOUT by Alex Lemon

THE WORLD IN A MINUTE by Gary Lenhart (the authenticity is impressively due to the seamlessness between the social and the personal)

THE HALO RULE by Teresa Leo

MIDNIGHT MARSUPIUM, haibun poems by Michael Leong (Nicely done. And No. 5 can also be a "haybun"!)

MAY DAY by Phillis Levin

MORTAL, EVERLASTING by Jeffrey Levine

BREAKING THE MAP by Kim-An Lieberman

WIDE AWAKE IN SOMEONE ELSE'S DREAM by M.L. Liebler

ALPHA ZULU by Gary Copeland Lilley

TWIGS & KNUCKLEBONES by Sarah Lindsay

BENDING THE MIND AROUND THE DREAM'S BLOWN FUSE by Timothy Liu (simply: Magnificent!)

GOD DAMSEL by Reb Livingston (a welcome, and all-too-rare sophistication in its poetic approach)

ARCHIPELAGO DUST by Karen Llagas

STRANGE FLESH by William Logan

THE MATERIALIST by Rick London

THE PRECARIOUS RHETORIC OF ANGELS by George Looney

AT THE END OF THE DAY: SELECTED POEMS AND AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY by Phillip Lopate

GRIEF SUITE by Bobbi Lurie (a searing courage)

SALINE by Kimberly Lyons (so many poems are wondrously delicate)

MAINSTREAM by Michael Magee

ROCK VEIN SKY by Charlotte Mandel

THE STEEL VEIL by Jack Marshall

AMORISCO by Khaled Mattawa

LOVE POEMS by Karl Marx (this publication of juvenalia is a bit of a capitalist gesture...but I did enjoy reading it!)

MRS. QUAKE by Nicole Mauro

THE CONTORTIONS by Nicole Mauro

ENDARKENMENT by Jeffrey McDaniel

SALTWATER EMPIRE by Raymond McDaniel

M ENTAL TEKST by Jim McCrary (witty and rollickin'!!)

DISMANTLING THE HILLS by Michael McGriff

THE USABLE FIELD by Jane Mead

THE SHADOW OF SIRIUS by W.S. Merwin

THE JOYFUL DARK by Michael Miller

LEMON PEELED THE MOMENT BEFORE: NEW & SELECTED POEMS 1967-2008 by Roger Mitchell

HORSE DANCE UNDERWATER by Helena Mesa

DIARY OF A WAVE OUTSIDE THE SEA by Dunya Mikhail, trans. From the Arabic by Elizabeth Winslow and Dunya Mikhail (interesting)

THE WAR WORKS HARD by Dunya Mikhail (some of the most compelling “war poems” or political poems I’ve read from contemporary poets)

SHOULDER SEASON by Ange Mlinko

TOUCH WOOD by Albert Mobilio

LETTERS TO AN ALBATROSS by Anita Mohan (a freshly auspicious debut)

A TEMPLE LOOMING by Lenard D. Moore

THE FAT SHEEP EVERYONE WANTS by Bern Mulvey

ANGELS FOR THE BURNING by David Mura

BIRD EATING BIRD by Kristin Naca

TEXTURE NOTES by Sawako Nakayasu (intelligent luminosities!)

WILD GOODS by Denise Newman

HECATE LOCHIA by Hoa Nguyen

GRAVE OF LIGHT: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS 1970-2005 by Alice Notley (yes good poems but I really wish the design didn't go for run-on poems on the pages--i.e. that each poem began on a new page--as the set-up did not make for conducive reading. In poetry, white space so matters)

THE NEXT COUNTRY by Idra Novey

HOLD TIGHT: THE TRUCK DARLING POEMS by Jeni Olin

IATROGENIC: THEIR TESTIMONIES by Danielle Pafunda

SILVER ROOF TANTRUM by Naomi Buck Palagi

FOR GOOD BEHAVIOUR by Lars Palm (a welcome kick in the head!)

WHEN THE EARTH MOVES By Lars Palm

WHOMEANSWHAT by Lars Palm

THE PEAR AS ONE EXAMPLE: NEW & SELECTED POEMS 1984-2008 by Eric Pankey

MEDITATIONS ON RISING AND FALLING by Philip Pardi

CHAMELEON HOURS by Elise Partridge

SELECTED POEMS OF OCTAVIO PAZ, Translated by Muriel Rukeyser

TWO MINUTES OF LIGHT by Nancy K. Pearson

FROM UNINCORPORATED TERRITORY [HACHA] by Craig Santos Perez

EMINENT DOMAIN by Justin Petropoulos

HEARTH by Simon Pettet

ZONG! by M. Nourbese Philip

REBIRTH by Cynthia M. Phillips

THESE INDICIUM TALES by Lance Phillips

THE TRANSLATOR'S DIARY by Jon Pineda

THE PANOPTIKON, AN ADVENTURE OF POETIC THOUGHT UPON THE MYRIAD REALMS OF OBSERVABLE SPACE, OF WALLS, AND OF HUMAN PERSPECTIVE by Steven P. Pody

EL CUERVO 7 otros poemas, Edicion bilingue CONMEMORATIVA DEL BICENTENARIO DEL NATALICIO DE Edgar Allen Poe, Traduccion de Helbardot, con ilustraciones de Gustavo Abascal

A NECKLACE OF BEES by Dannye Romine Powell

THE PRESENT DAY by Ernesto Priego (wonderful and wondrous -- and not just coz I wrote its Afterword)

KING BABY by Lia Purpura

UNTIL THE CRAZY CATCHES ME by Ellen Rachlin

BLACK TUPELO COUNTRY by Doug Ramspeck

FAULTY MOTHERING by Elaine Randell

EITHER SHE WAS by Karin Randolph

COOKING WITH ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES by Francis Raven (witty and smart)

ALL ODD AND SPLENDID by Hilda Raz

DIWATA by Barbara Jane Reyes (GORGEOUS! I simply INHALED this book. Am so happy and proud of this achievement by Barbara. One of the most stellar achievements of this book is how it ends. The choice of the last poem elevated the all of the book into strength and power(!) -- a point worth noting because much of the words are just so lushly beautiful. To be beautiful is often to be stared at -- with the last poem, the reader suddenly realizes the reader is also being witnessed. The reader is being watched .... as in, I am watching you to make sure the wrongs of history will know: Never Again.)

EASTER SUNDAY by Barbara Jane Reyes (poems viz diamond-etched metals--another ravishing read)

THE WARRIOR by Frances Richey

THE ORPHAN & ITS RELATIONS by Elizabeth Robinson

WAYFARE by Pattiann Rogers

THE SKELETON OF THE CROW by Seido Ray Ronci

THE JOURNEY by David H. Rosenthal

ALSO BORN OF THE FIRE by Patricia Ryan

VERBAL ABSTRACTIONS: POETRY OF LOVE, POWER AND DRAMA by Nubian Sage

HAD SLAVES by Catherine Sasanov (Outstanding! Not only has my highest recommendation but my deepest Respect!)

THE DIHEDRONS GAZELLE-DIHEDRALS ZOOM, poetry/sci fi fiction by Leslie Scalapino (admirable witty music and oh-so thoroughly satisfactory. And, now THAT is what I call ekphrasis!)

IN THIS ALONE IMPULSE by Shya Scanlon

SUBMISSIONS by Jared Schickling (beautifully intriguing)

AS WHEN, IN SEASON by Jim Schley

MEMORY CARDS : WOLSAK SERIES by Susan Schultz (she's not unknown but the more that I read Susan's poems, the more respect I feel she should get)

SPILLING THE MOON by Matt Schumacher

BLESSINGS FOR THE HANDS by Matthew Schwartz

GRACE IN A COW'S EYE: A MEMOIR by Sonja Sekula

QUINTETS by Iliassa Sequin

KING OF THE JUNGLE by Zvi Sesling (unornamented and totally effective poems)

CAUSEWAY by Elaine Sexton

HUMAN DARK WITH SUGAR by Brenda Shaughnessy

FATA MORGANA by Reginald Shepherd

BOY WITH FLOWERS by Ely Shipley

THE FLOATING BRIDGE by David Shumate

BODY CLOCK by Eleni Sikelianos

LIT by Ron Silliman (a welcome omnivorousness that I particularly welcomed during the surfeits of a holiday season. The difference between writing in silence and writing while music is playing can be how silence more easily gives access viz memory to a multiplicity of musics. From his blog, I know Ron pays attention to music and while reading through LIT I wondered whether he wrote in silence or not. Because this is a very musical work but shaded in numerous musics versus, say, a poem that can be musically writ riding a particular ebb-and-flow of a musical strain. Glad it's part of The Alphabet as I have that now to anticipate getting to.)

MERCY by Dvorah Simon

HOLDING PLACE by Michael Slosek

MUCH LIKE YOU SHARK by Logan Ryan Smith (very clever music from a fallen angel)

TRACKS by Logan Ryan Smith

WITT by Patti Smith

GUSTAF SOBIN COLLECTED POEMS, Co-Eds. Andrew Joron & Andrew Zawacki (now that's what I call a COLLECTED! This is a breathtakingly wonderful testament to a poet's rich legacy)

THINGS I MUST HAVE KNOWN by A.B. Spellman

MY VOCABULARY DID THIS TO ME: THE COLLECTED POETRY OF JACK SPICER, Eds. Peter Gizzi and Kevin Killian

AGE OF THE DEMON TOOLS by Mark Spitzer

THE PORT OF LOS ANGELES by Jane Sprague

THE BOOK OF SLEEP by Eleanor Stanford

BOOK MADE OF FOREST by Jared Stanley

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY by Will Staple

RED ROVER by Susan Stewart

WHAT LOVE COMES TO: NEW & SELECTED POEMS by Ruth Stone

THE COSMOPOLITAN by Donna Stonecipher

REMAINDERS FOR THE EARTH: POEMS by James Stotts

A BOOK OF HER OWN: WORDS AND IMAGES TO HONOR THE BABAYLAN, poetry, art and meditations by Leny M. Strobel

THE MAN I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE by John Struloeff

SELECTIONS FROM ENAMEL SKY by Jose Antonio Ramos Sucre, Translated by Guillermo Parra (just fabulous!!!)

HOME IS HOW I LOVE YOU by Aimee Suzara (in manuscript)

DESTRUCTION MYTH by Mathias Svalina (Brilliant! Svalina is offering among the most stick-to-Memory reads in my deliberately-random poetry readings)

CREATION MYTHS by Mathias Svalina (ditto)

PARABLE OF HIDE AND SEEK by Chad Sweeney

ENTERPRISE, INC. by Charles Sweetman

GREENSWARD by Cole Swensen

THE GINKGO LIGHT by Arthur Sze

WATER THE MOON by Fiona Sze-Lorrain (had read this before in manuscript form; lovely to see it in finished book form!)

VIEW WITH A GRAIN OF SAND: SELECTED POEMS by Wislawa Szymborska (fabulous)

DOUBLE-EDGED by Susan Terris

THE HOMELESSNESS OF SELF by Susan Terris

THE WONDER BREAD YEARS by Susan Terris

BEHAVE: CALIFORNIA RANT 66 by Steve Tills (nice calibrations)

MR. MAGOO by Steve Tills (love that rhyme of "McCrary" and "Cotati")

SUM OF EVERY LOST SHIP by Allison Titus

THE TREES AROUND by Chris Tonelli (marvelous nuances--they seduce with their subtlety)

NO CHOICE BUT TO FOLLOW, "Linked poems" by Jean Yamasaki Toyama, Juliet S. Kono, Ann Inoshita and Christy Passion (A project where the sum is greater than its parts—befitting how these poems were written to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the wonderful Bamboo Ridge! And speaking of poet-discoveries (or at least poets new to me), this Christy Passion's poetics and poems are wonderful!)

FOUR LETTER WORDS by Truong Tran

NATIVE GUARD by Natasha Trethewey

VERTICAL ELEGIES: THREE WORKS by Sam Truitt

SEDIMENT by Sandy Tseng

IRRATIONAL DUDE, collaborative poetry by Nico Vassilakis & Robert Mittenthal

RADHA SAYS: LAST POEMS by Reetika Vazirani (the all of it -- poems and biography which is impossible to separate from this project -- is just plain sad)

PARTICLE AND WAVE and FROM THE CHAIR by Jean Vengua

IRRESPONSIBILITY by Chris Vitiello

RARE HIGH MEADOW OF WHICH I MIGHT DREAM by Connie Voisine

MY NEW JOB by Catherine Wagner

VIRTUOSO LITERATURE FOR TWO AND FOUR HANDS: NEW POEMS by Diane Wakoski

DOOR TO A NOISY ROOM by Peter Waldor

TRANSCENDENTAL STUDIES: A TRILOGY by Keith Waldrop

SHIMMING THE GLASS HOUSE by Helen Pruitt Wallace

FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY by Ronald Wallace

SHADOW ARCHITECT by Emily Warn

GOODNIGHT VOICE by Dana Ward

NINE TEEN HOURS (RADIO EDIT) by Jim Warner (very clever conceptual underpinning: hay(na)ku written during a nineteen hour plane ride between the Philippines and U.S. Good for chapbookpublisher.com for yanking this out of the author!)

THE OPPOSITE OF CLAIRVOYANCE by Gillian Wegener

GNOMON by David Weiss

ISLE OF THE SIGNATORIES by Marjorie Welish

OVERTIME: SELECTED POEMS by Philip Whalen, Ed. Michael Rothenberg

HEATHEN by Lesley Wheeler

SELF-PORTRAIT WITH CRAYON by Allison Benis White

IGNOBLE TRUTHS by Gail White

THE GODDESS OF GOODBYE by James R. Whitley

THE BOOK OF WHISPERING IN THE PROJECTION BOOTH by Joshua Marie Wilkinson

NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF THE BROWN BOY AND THE WHITE MAN by Ronaldo V. Wilson

POEMS OF THE BLACK OBJECT by Ronaldo V. Wilson

OCCULTATIONS by David Wolach (powerful and moving)

SPARE PARTS: A NOVELLA IN VERSE by Anne Harding Woodworth

BARROW by Bryan Thao Worra

RISING, FALLING, HOVERING by C.D. Wright

THE IMPORTANCE OF PEELING POTATOES IN UKRAINE by Mark Yakich

UNRELATED INDIVIDUALS FORMING A GROUP WAITING TO CROSS by Mark Yakich

AN AQUARIUM by Jeffrey Yang

EXHIBITS by John Yau (mischievous delirium)

PRIMITIVE MENTOR by Dean Young

AT TROTSKY'S FUNERAL, poem-ficciones by Mark Young (brilliant)

GENJI MONOGATARI by Mark Young (freshly clever and musical take on intertextual reading)

SOME GEOGRAPHIES by Mark Young (there's such a wise presence of Now-ness in these poems ... dude's writing at the top of his game)

POEMS SINGKWENTA'Y CINCO by Alfred Yuson (excellent energy for an old man (wink))

THE HOUSE OF MAE RIM / LA CASA DE MAE RIM by Mariano Zaro (beautifully spare)

PETALS OF ZERO PETALS OF ONE by Andrew Zawacki


ANTHOLOGIES (11):
AMERICAN HYBRID: NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF NEW POETRY, Co-Eds. Cole Swensen and David St. John

EATING HER WEDDING DRESS: A COLLECTION OF CLOTHING POEMS, Eds. Vasiliki Katsarou, Ruth O'Toole, and Ellen Foos

ECO LANGUAGE READER, edited by Brenda Iijima (collection of essays, interviews and photographs by 17 poets weighing in on environmental concerns: Karen Leona Anderson, Jack Collom, Tina Darragh, Marcella Durand, Laura Elrick, Brenda Iijima, Peter Larkin, Jill Magi, Tracie MOrris, Catriona Mortimer-Shandilands, Julie Patton, Jed Rasula, Evelyn Reilly, Leslie Scalapino, James Sherry, Jonathan Skinner and Tyrone Williams)

GURLESQUE: THE NEW GRRRLY, GROTESQUE, BURLESQUE POETICS, edited by Lara Glenum and Arielle Greenberg

INFINITE DIFFERENCE: OTHER POETRIES BY U.K. WOMEN POETS, Ed. Carrie Etter (educational, useful, necessary)

INTWASA POETRY [anthology of 15 Zimbabwean poets] edited by Jane Morris

SPRING HAS COME: SPANISH LYRICAL POETRY FROM THE SONGBOOKS OF THE RENAISSANCE (Espanol & Ingles) by Alvaro Cardona-Hine (interestingly educational)

STARTING TODAY: 100 POEMS FOR OBAMA'S FIRST 100 DAYS, edited by Rachel Zucker and Arielle Greenberg (it's really moving to see the Hope For Change undertones--this note of cautious optimism, much more than revelry, is also poetically refreshing)

THE CHAINED HAY(NA)KU PROJECT, curated by Ivy Alvarez, John Bloomberg-Rissman, Ernesto Priego & Eileen Tabios (very exciting to see it!)

VESTIGES OF WAR: THE PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR AND THE AFTERMATH OF AN IMPERIAL DREAM, 1899-1999, multi-genre anthology co-edited by Luis Francia and Angel Velasco Shaw.

WALANG HIYA: LITERATURE TAKING RISKS TOWARD LIBERATORY PRACTICE, Eds. Lolan Buhain Sevilla and Roseli Ilano (nice to see younger generation of poet-editors come up)


POETRY-RELATED JOURNALS (14):
ARCA: Revista De Literatura Y Filosofia, literary journal out of Mexico, Ed.Edgar Omar Aviles (mi Espanol es muy malo, pero I tried...)

BLACK SPRING: THE LAWRENCE ISSUE (Winter 2005), literary journal featuring David Baptiste-Chirot, Lee Chapman, Stephen Ellis, Robert Grenier, Hawkman, Kenneth Irby, Maryrose Larkin, Jonathan Mayhew, Jim McCrary, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, John Moritz, Susan Smith Nash, Monica Peck, Judith Roitman, Dale Smith, Steve Tills

HOUSE ORGAN, No. 69, literary journal edited by Kenneth Warren

HOUSE ORGAN, Summer 2010, literary review edited by Kenneth Warren

LANTERN REVIEW: A JOURNAL OF ASIAN AMERICAN POETRY, Ed. Iris A. Law (is it me or there seems to be a resurgence of new Asian American literary journals...?)

LIVE MAG, literary/arts journal edited by Jeffrey Cyphers Wright (fabulous!) – 2 issues

MiPOesias, Summer 2010, literary/arts journal, Ed.Didi Menendez

NIGHT PALACE, 2005 poetry journal-collaboration between Auguste Press and Ugly Duckling Presse, Eds. Micah Ballard and Julien Poirier

THE ASIAN AMERICAN LITERARY REVIEW, Spring 2010, Eds. Lawrence-Minh Bui Davis and Gerard Maa (kewl. And, just accepted invite to serve on its Advisory Board)

THE ENIGMATIST, Dec. 2009, poetry journal edited by Mike & Joyce Gullickson

ST. PETERSBURG REVIEW, literary journal edited by Elizabeth Hodges (got this copy from one of its associate editors and my cousin (Go Cousin!), Resa Alboher)

TINFISH 20, literary/arts journal edited by Susan Schultz

VANITAS 5, literary/arts journal edited by Vincent Katz


OTHER FORMS CREATED BY OR INVOLVING POETS/POETRY (15):
DEAR SANDY, HELLO: LETTERS FROM TED TO SANDY BERRIGAN, Eds. Sandy Berrigan and Ron Padgett (fascinating. compulsive reading--I meant to flip through the book when it first arrived and instead ended up reading it all in one sitting)

KAPWA: THE SELF IN THE OTHER—WORLDVIEWS AND LIFESTYLES OF FILIPINO CULTURE-BEARERS, study and meditations by Katrin De Guia

STILL LIFE WITH OYSTERS AND LEMON, a meditation by Mark Doty (astonishingly and stunningly dazzling--a book I wish I wrote)

NOTES ON CONCEPTUALISMS by Vanessa Place and Robert Fitterman

AGAINST THE FORGETTING: FRANCES FROST & PAUL BLACKBURN, biography by Robert Buckeye

TIE ONE ON 1 and TIE ONE ON 2, conceptual art by Alex Gildzen (very entertaining)

THE OTHER BLUEBOOK: ON THE HIGH SEAS OF DISCOVERY, novel by Quill Berenkoff "As told to Reme Grefalda"

"WISHING YOU A GREEN CHRISTMAS" holiday chap featuring "Wind Farm" by Mark Lamoreaux

SIMON J. ORTIZ: A POETIC LEGACY OF INDIGENOUS CONTINUANCE, Edited by Susan Berry Brill de Ramirez and Evelina Zuni Lucero

THE SHARED VOICE: CHANTED AND SPOKEN NARRATIVES FORM THE PHILIPPINES by Grace Nono, with Mendung Sabal,Henio Estakio, Baryus Gawid, Salvador Placido, Sarah Mandegan, Gadu Ugal, Florencia Havana, Sindao Banisil, Elena Rivera-Mirano

THE IT-DOESN'T-MATTER SUIT, children's story by Sylvia Plath, Illustrated by Rotraut Susanne Berner

GIVING THEIR WORLD: CONVERSATIONS WITH CONTEMPORARY POETS, interviews of William Stafford, Mary Oliver, John Montague, Charles Simic, Seamus Heaney, Donald Hall, Maxine Kumin, Carolyn Forche, Martin Espada, Marge Piercy, Rita Dove, Bei Dao, edited by Steven Ratiner

BABAYLAN: FILIPINOS AND THE CALL OF THE INDIGENOUS, edited by Leny M. Strobel

POETS ON TEACHING: A SOURCEBOOK, Ed. Joshua Marie Wilkinson

POEMCRAZY: FREEING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS, essays by Susan G. Wooldridge

PURRING HAY(NA)KU

over this wonderful
review of
Hay(na)ku-for-Haiti

by Allen Bramhall.
Thanks very
much!

AESTHETICS MATTER

My brother recently emailed me this photo of my sister-in-law and my nephew. They took this photo because they were in a mall and saw "my" oven as the centerpiece of a Williams Sonoma display:



My sis-in-law is lovely as always...but what is it with 14-year-old boys? I too speak of Michael when I observe -- what is with the perpetually sullen look? These are happy kids, btw.

Anyway, I digress. I meant to lecture you all on the domestic arts, at which I now accept my goddess-ness, notwithstanding my inability to cook. To wit, people love to visit my kitchen and excise, I mean exercise, their culinary skills in my kitchen because of that same La Cornue stove. This is the same stove that the French would only ship by airmail, btw, when we ordered it years ago as la casa was being constructed. When I learned of such foolishness, the stove was already on its way so it was too late for me to switch to another stove -- as I groused at the hubby over the bill, "What? Is that stove being seated in First Class and cossetted with cashmere blankets?!!!!"

I digress again. The point is that this particular stove is apparently all hot and the rage etcetera etcetera (and as a result its current price is also more than double what I'd paid). But I chose it because it was a great-looking sculpture (the culinary cognoscenti choose it for its cooking marvelousnesses, but I know nothing about such.) My point? Aesthetics matter ... and that is why Moi is a domestic goddess.

POEM BEGINS THE NEW YEAR

with a poem I wrote years ago and stumbled across recently, "Snap-Shot", appearing in the new issue of Fox Chase Review.

What better way to start a new year than with eternity viz the poem?!