POETS ON ADOPTION--JULY UPDATE

POETS ON ADOPTION ANNOUNCEMENT

Dear All,
I've managed to update POETS ON ADOPTION four times to present the thoughts and poetry of

Carrie Etter June 2011
(was adopted at two weeks old; at age 17, gave up son for adoption)

Martha King June 2011
(grandmother to two children adopted domestically in the U.S.)

Elaine Randell July 2011
(as a psychotherapist and social worker, has worked with families and/or placed children in adoption)

kim thompson June 2011
(was adopted as a baby from Korea by U.S.-American parents)

You are invited to visit the site which, to date, presents nearly 50 poets representing a variety of adoption experiences. I'm also pleased to share that the site is being used in a poetry workshop this summer.

As well, please spread the word: we are always looking for new poets who wish to share their experiences; the call for participation is at http://poetsonadoption.blogspot.com/2011/03/call-for-participation.html

Best,
Eileen Tabios
Curator, Poets on Adoption

THE TOMATOES HAVE ARRIVED!

but a tomato need not be thrown at the wonderful LOVE IN A TIME OF PARANOIA by Howie Good, forthcoming from Diamond Point Press. Tis so lovely it's the latest recipient of blather, I mean, blurbie from Moi. To wit:

As with positing--that is, poem-ing--that "a crumpled napkin / was all Degas needed / to do a sky," Howie Good only needed to be attentive to his world to create the many, varied universes possible through poems. That is, from the smallest of details he creates the deepest implications, and does so with a pleasing finesse.
--Eileen R. Tabios

Now, as regards tomatoey moves, City Slicker here harvested that big oompa below on the left (next to a medicine bottle for scale) because she thought it was a yellow squash way past its delivery date. Instead, it's a premature pumpkin that she picked, uh, prematurely. So goes the day of the City Slicker Farmer:



So here's one more update to my 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.

CITY SLICKER SUMMER HARVEST
4 yellow cherry tomatoes
1 regular tomato
28 red onions
2 strawberries
12 zucchini
27 yellow squash
51 squash flowers
44 green beans
1 lemon squash
1 pumpkin (mistakenly and prematurely harvested upon being mistaken for an oversized yellow squash)
10 clumps of basil
5 clumps of sage
1 green cucumber
4 lemon cucumbers


PUBLICATIONS
* LOVE IN A TIME OF PARANOIA, poems by Howie Good (see above blurbie)

* IN THE LAND, poems by Bea Opengart (so well-wrought and deeply-felt. a lovely resonant result)

* YINGELISHI: SINOPHONIC ENGLISH POIETRY AND POETICS by Jonathan Stalling (found it quite enchanting!)

STONE GIRL E-PIC, poems, visual poetry and art by Ed Baker (interesting introduction by Conrad Didiodato, fabulous production by Leafe Press, and admirable work by the old man hisself)

* CLAIMS OF HOME: POEMS 1984-2010 by David M. Katz

* STILL, poems by Matthew Cooperman

* THE FIELD IS LETHAL, poems by Suzanne Doppelt, Translated by Cole Swensen

* JUNE, poems by Daniel Brenner

* NEGRO LEAGUE BASEBALL, poems by Harmony Holiday

* ALWAYS MESSING WITH THEM BOYS, poems by Jessica Helen Lopez

FAULTY MOTHERING, poems by Elaine Randell

OPENING UP: THE SEARCH FOR INTIMATE LOVE, photography by Victor Gagliardi

A TURNING POINT: IMAGES TO WORDS, photography by Victor Gagliardi

THE BETRAYAL OF THE BODY, psychology by Alexander Lowen

NARCISSISM: DENIAL OF THE TRUE SELF, psychology by Alexander Lowen

THE WAY TO VIBRANT HEALTH: A MANUAL OF BIOENERGETIC EXERCISES by Alexander Lowen and Leslie Lowen

THE CAT IN THE HAT, classic by Dr. Seuss (yep: finally read this! It may be a classic but wasn't a typical read from my Philippines-based childhood. Hm: parenting seems to redress many childhood, uh, lapses...!)

AMAZONIA, novel by James Rollins

THE DOOMSDAY KEY, novel by James Rollins

THE INNER CIRCLE, novel by Brad Meltzer

THE GODS OF GREENWICH, novel by Norb Vonnegut


WINES
Krug Grand Cuvee
2002 Bouchard Chevalier-Montrachet La Cabotte
2009 Rafanelli zinfandel
Travigne house Pinot grigio (an excellent 2012)
Osterreia house Barbera

Fundraising wines
DAY ONE
1990 DRC Richebourg
1993 Rousseau Chambertin Clos de Beze
1975 Vega Sicilia Unico
2004 Colgin Cariad
1964 Cheval Blanc
1967 d'Yquem
2005 Saxum James Berry vineyard

DAY TWO
Launois champagne Clos De Mesinil
2007 Peter Michael La Carriere
2005 Trevor Jones Dry Grown Barossa Shiraz
2002 Abreu Madrona Ranch
1996 Ch. Mouton Rothschild
1853 Whitwham King Pedro Reserve

KINDLE MOI, WHY DONTCHA!

As publisher of Meritage Press, I'm delighted to share that Geoffrey Gatza's HOUSECAT KUNG FU is now available as a Kindle edition. It's the second Meritage Press title to get onto Kindle, the first being Michelle Bautista's KALI'S BLADE. Both are less than a buck, too! How can ye Kindle-owners possibly not e-quire?!

STIMULATING POETRY

Aaaaaawwwwww. Ain't Moi sweet. To wit, in these days of economic flatness, Moi with my and Meritage Press' poetry sales continue to do our part to stimulate the economy of the Great State of California. Yes, Dear California, a check for sales taxes due is on its way to you for $136.00! Woot!

Granted, it's a slight reduction from my stimulus last year of $141.00, but nonetheless still a great improvement from my first year's sales taxes to you of $2.00.

Stick with me and my poetry sales, ye public. Moi poetry is more than paying its share of firemen, policemen and asphalt pavings. You're very welcome, indeed.

And the poems ain't bad either ...

THAT SILK EGG JEST KEEPS ON LAYIN'...!

So gratified not to be trashed by Litterbug which offers a review of moi SILK EGG and TRUE CRIME by Julie Lumsden. Thanks to Alan Baker who writes --

I was won over on encountering these lines:

He moved into her gift, woke each morning to soft warm
lucidity, and agreed as regards the irrelevance of ribbons.

The understated sensuouness of that last line is superb. Each novel is an unfinished narrative, a set of fragments, for which the reader can supply completion, or, alternatively, they could just enjoy the phrasing, imagery and the sense of mystery each piece invokes. At one level, this book is a satire on contemporary novels, with each of the ten novels being a precis of a certain type. Thus, "Opium-Centred Lace", is - parody is too strong, and not the right word - is the ghost or shadow of a novel that might be a travelogue with some sort of love interest. But the language has a light touch and is too lyrical to be a straightforward satire

Click HERE for entire revoooo....

NO TEARS

Yes, indeedy. Got my first (and last) harvest of red onions in, which is to say, this post's Recently Relished W(h)ine List will mark the opening of my summer 2011 harvest list. Let's see if this City Slicker does better this year! Here's a shot that makes me weep from happiness -- the red onions drying under the hot Napa sun:



And what they looked like later inside la casa:



Here's the update to my 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.

CITY SLICKER SUMMER HARVEST
28 red onions
6 strawberries
8 zucchini
17 yellow squash
44 green beans
1 lemon squash


PUBLICATIONS
THE COLLECTED POEMS OF THOMAS MERTON

KEROTAKIS, poems by Janice Lee

ETHICS OF SLEEP, poems by Bernadette Mayer

BEAUPORT, poems by Kate Colby

HEALING HEART, poems by Gloria T. Hull

* CONTENT, photography/visual poetry by Jon Leon

* HOUSE ORGAN, No. 75 Summer 2011, Edited by Kenneth Warren (just chockful of PERFECT POEMS!)

ECCOLINGUISTICS, literary journal

ALTAR OF EDEN, novel by James Rollins

DAMAGE, novel by John Lescroart

THE UNION QUILTERS, novel by Jennifer Chiaverini

STILLWATER SEASONS, novel by Linda Lael Miller


WINES
2010 Dutch Henry rose
2010 Dutch Henry sauvignon blanc
2003 Donnhoff Oberhauser Brucke Riesling Spatlese
2008 Auberge du Soleil cabernet NV Reserve
2004 Trevor Jomes Dry Grown Barossa Shiraz
2001 Jones Family Cabernet

Yet another shot of a promising summer bounty!

REVERSE, OR RE-VERSE, HAY(NA)KU

It's so nice to keep seeing the hay(na)ku reach new pockets of the universe. This time, don cunningham and Chris Vola share reverse hay(na)ku in the new issue of twenty20 Journal on poetic forms, edited by Benjamin C. Krause.

A nifty traveler
that ku(na)hay*
hay(na)ku

*after Charles Bernstein

HOW TO GET COVERAGE IN THE NEW YORK TIMES

So how does one get the NY Times to pay attention to the book one publishes? Reviews? Criticism? Essays? YAWN...

Meritage Press, ground-breaking as ever, gets it for Sean Finney's THE OBEDIENT DOOR by going (chuckle) THIS WAY.

Congratulations, Sean!