SHAKESPEARE IN THE COMPANY OF OTHERS

Off to Oregon this week for Oregon Shakespeare! Will see "Cymbeline," "King Lear," "The Taming of the Shrew," among others. Before said road trip, here's one more update on lit activity -- i.e., moi latest blurb which is for Ric Carfagna's brilliant forthcoming book-length poem, SYMPHONY NO. 9 (nocturnes and thresholds):
   

Speech is not just a means of communication. Speech may also be an attempt to engage with an other or, in Ric Carfagna’s Symphony No. 9, many Others. Speech however, often falters in the face of its desires. And perhaps for certain matters there simply are no words. That Carfagna nevertheless brings forth a poem—a long poem—signifies how Poetry is more than speech. This moving poem aspires to address the entirety of the universe even if it often lapses to dream-speech: “by eyes / in a windowless prison / at an ocean’s edge / or it is a vase / of withered orchids / turning to ash.” Wisely, the poem also knows to question its ambition: “why / the forgotten heart / aspires in silence / to fill the chasms of emptiness / which lie at the core / of its reticent being.” Since the quest produces so many luminous lines—so many thresholds into emotional interactions—the poem not only rationalizes its existence but makes itself a welcome addition to postmodern and deconstructed romantic poetry.
--Eileen R. Tabios

Relatedly, here’s one more update of my Recently Relished W(h)ine List below before my trip. As ever, please note that in the Publications section, if you see an asterisk before the title, that means a review copy is available for Galatea Resurrects! More info on that HERE!


PUBLICATIONS
SYMPHONY NO. 9, a long poem by Ric Carfagna (one of the best poets writing today—this poem is lovingly immense; see above blurbie)

SHE, poetry and book art by Susanah Gardner (fabulous! see link!)

KUNDIMAN, poem by Emmanuel Lacaba, Trans. by Paolo Javier (fabulous! see link!)

AND SO FOR YOU THERE IS NO HEARTBREAK, poetry novella by K. Lorraine Graham (wonderful, witty and welcomed reading!)

* PIECES OF WATER, poems by Michael Smoler (made Moi purr from the pleasure-ridden reading)

HOUSES, poems by CB Follett (her grace is consistent and ever fabulous!)

88 SONNETS by Clark Coolidge

* AIRLINE MUSIC, poetry/meditations by Amarnath Ravva

MANY WINTERS: PROSE AND POETRY OF THE PUEBLOS by Nancy Wood with drawings and paintings by Frank Howell

THE SPIRIT OF THE SAINTS / EL ESPIRITU DE LOS SANTOS 2013, poetry and art annual journal of St. Helena High School (fabulous poem in there by Moi son, says the unbiased Moi=Mom)

CENTURY OF THE SELF, essay by Alexandra Grant (this essay was published in a leaflet-type series by Rabble, an imprint of Insert Blanc Press co-edited by Holly Myers and Mathew Timmons.  It's a modest and yet elegant publication -- I adore its existence as yet another attempt to dilute the dilution of culture.)

PEOPLE ARE STRANGE, short stories by Eric Gamalinda (fabulous! the author is a poet, too, and it shows marvelously)

UNDISCOVERED, memoir with poetry by Debra Winger

FILIPINO IMMIGRANT WOMEN IN THE NETHERLANDS, feminism / study by Mary Alice P. Gonzalez

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT: PASSION AND PROPERTY IN MANHATTAN, journalism by Steven Gaines

GUN DEALERS’ DAUGHTER, novel by Gina Apostol

INDISCRETION, novel by Charles Dubow

THE ACCIDENT MAN, novel by Tom Cain

NO SURVIVORS, novel by Tom Cain

THE RACKETEER, novel by John Grisham

THE SECOND CHAIR, novel by John Lescroart

HOME SAFE, novel by Elizabeth Berg

SPLIT SECOND, novel by Catherine Coultier

A PROMISE TO BELIEVE IN, novel by Tracie Peterson


WINES
2010 Clos de L’Oratoire Des Papes CNP (I had to cheat from the austerity diet with a slight sip and oh man was it ever worth it!)