RADIANT HEAT

I enjoy the radiant heat beneath the floors. Makes it all warm and toasty to walk about the house. But it's not good for books which happen to be stacked on said floors! Over time, it'd dry those pages, make 'em curl... So I've been reading as much poetry as I can, too, because reading a book then -- according to moi own unique library system -- allows me to place said book on a shelf.

Well, I do have shelves of "To-Read" books but they're mostly fiction, non-fiction, history, art....but the poetry books, while still unread, must be stacked on the floor. Because poetry, you see, prefers Heat...

Kapischkie? Okay. so, here's my latest Recently Relished W(h)ine List below. Note that if you see an asterisk before the title, that means a review copy is available for Galatea Resurrects. And I'm looking looking looking for reviewers to get books offa moi floors and to hit 100 new reviews for the next issue! Yeah! More info on that HERE.

PUBLICATIONS
A WORLDLY COUNTRY, poems by John Ashbery (ah, so many things one can say about John Ashbery. For now, let me just note that scale matters and the prolonged tonal consistency in his poems signify something important, though not sure exactly what ... except that it's also impressive)

LOVELY, RASPBERRY, poems by Aaron Belz (a lotta fun, e.g. that friends-with-benefits poem "my chiquita"--at least, how I read it)

THE LONG BIRTH, poems by Jan Vanstavern

60 TEXTOS, poems by Sarah Riggs (enchanting)

PO DOOM, poems by Jim McCrary (like that "hay(na)ku interlude"! you crank and crankster!)

A BEAUTIFUL NAME FOR A GIRL, poems by Kirsten Kaschock

IMMEDIATE EMPIRE, poems by Raymond L. Bianchi and visual art by Waltraud Haas (moving)

THE HOT GARMENT OF LOVE IS INSECURE, poems by Elizabeth Reddin

ABSURD GOOD NEWS, poems by Julien Poirier

THREE COLUMN TABLE, poems by Harold Abramowitz (nicely imaginative. like the lengthily sinuous lines and use of M-dashes)

INFO RATION, poems by Stan Apps (powerful and timely)

YES WE ARE STILL DANCING, collaboration between a poet and two painters by Susan Amstater, Connie Dillman and Jacquelyn Stroud Spier

* ENJOY HOT OR ICED: POEMS IN CONVERSATION AND A CONVERSATION by Denise Duhamel & Amy Lemmon

THE SWEETNESS OF HERBERT, poems by Stuart Krimko

PARROT ON A MOTORCYCLE: ON POETIC CRAFT, poems by Vitezslav Nezval, trans. by Jennifer Rogers

THE NEIGHBORHOODS OF MY PAST SORROW, poems by Jesse Millner

THE BOOK OF OCEAN, poems by Maryrose Larkin

THE NAME OF THIS INTERSECTION IS FROST, poems by Maryrose Larkin

SENTENCES, poems by Charles O. Hartman and Hugh Kenner

* VAUXHALL, poems by Catherine Daly

THE COLOR OF DUSK, poems by Robin Caton

THE ARAKAKI PERMUTATIONS, poems by James Maughn

* PP/FF: AN ANTHOLOGY (of prose poetry &/or flash fiction), Ed. Peter Conners

THE ASIAN AMERICAN LITERARY REVIEW, Winter/Spring 2011, eds.Gerald Maa and Lawrence-Minh Bui Davis (I always enjoy Eric Gamalinda's writings and he's got a short story in this issue that's just hilarious!)

THE POST-ADOPTION BLUES, psychology by Karen J. Foli and John R. Thompson
(no, I'm not post-adoption depressed; I just read anything I can on adoption)

THE CHILDREN'S STORY...BUT NOT JUST FOR CHILDREN, novella by James Clavell

THE COLLECTORS, novel by David Baldacci

TORRENT FALLS, novel by Jan Watson

ON THE RUN, novel by Iris Johansen


WINES
2008 Tuscan Blend di Biserno Insoglio
2008 AMOUREUX Lasseter Family Winery
2005 Hobbs Grenache Barossa Ranges
2002 Dominique Laurent Nuits-Saint-Georges