I always get on a reading kick when I go to The Orchard Keeper, in Speedwell, TN, for a visit. Denton Loving keeps his bookshelves stocked with great things to read, and I took full advantage of his inventory while I was there last week right before the Mountain Heritage Lit Festival.
Working on my own poetry chapbook, I’ve been drawn to reading more poetry lately – that and Connie Jordan Green, our chapbook instructor, has challenged us to read at least three poems a day and sometimes I get behind. So, when I catch up, I forge ahead. (I know, that’s not the way she intends for us to do it – I’m trying to do better, honestly!) I chose three books of poetry from the top of one of Denton’s stacks and dove right in.
The first book was Gary Phillips’ Subjects Suitable for Poetry. I know Gary from Table Rock Writers Workshop. He’s a talented, charming, and fascinating human being, but I’ve never read his poetry outside of the class I had with him last year taught by Denton. I loved it. His words reach deep down and make us think, soothe our souls, and challenge us to action. My favorite line came from the title poem and lingered long after I closed the book: “What can we do but open our voices?”
The second book was Beneath Occluded Shine, the new chapbook from Claudia M. Stanek, from Finishing Line Press. I know Claudia from Tennessee Mountain Writers, and it was a pleasure to read her poems, too, responses to sixteen of Neruda’s Questions. Lyrical, lulling, and literally thought-provoking, Beneath Occluded Shine kept searching the answers, re-reading the questions, and pondering the points beyond. My favorite line came from the poem “Envy,” and proposed, “To combust again as poems become/ kindling!”
Connie Jordan Green’s latest poetry book is published by Madville and is entitled, Nameless As the Minnows. I’ve known Connie through Tennessee Mountain Writers for many, many years. She is teaching a poetry chapbook class that I’ve been involved with since last November. I would be as much in love with this book if I’d never met her, though, as I already am. There is nothing about it not to love. It is beautiful and meaningful on every possible level! The whole poem “Eight Ways of Looking at Loss,” but especially “V. What we’ve lost echoes in the cry/ of children playing at twilight,” and “VII. What we’ve lost hides in the shadows/ of the last dream before morning.” From “Dish Towel,” “O memory holder/ of childhood chores/ song of my daily trek –/ stove to table to sink.” From “Gratitude,” “It is the quilt over your legs/ the cup of tea steaming by your chair,/ a book you’d forgotten you love.” All of “Cats in Sunlight,” but especially, “Bless their sleep, O Giver of Longevity/ may their rest add to their lifelines…” Doesn’t everyone with pets wish this wish and pray this prayer?! And the perfect entirety of the title poem, a coming-of-age awareness that captivated me and reminded me, too, of being young. Such beauty! Another exemplary collection!
And just last night, I finished reading Annie Woodford’s first poetry collection, Bootleg. Annie has become a friend and mentor since she was my instructor last summer for the Highland Summer Conference in Radford, VA. This collection has been out of print, and she recently came upon a stash from her previous publisher. I was fortunate enough to get a few copies. (Contact her to score your own while she still has some – there’s a reason this collection was a Weatherford finalist!) I had a lot of favorite lines in this collection, too. Post-It notes abound! From “Textiles,” these lines: “the company garden plots once/ quilting the bottom with corn and half-runners/ now tangled with clover and crab grass./ I will never be able to afford such towels.” From “The Earth’s a Boneyard but Pretty in the Sunlight,” I love the lines “Every view contains a graveyard,/ hidden or in plain sight.” In “The Early Days of May,” my heart broke over these lines: “Believe me, child, a person can recover from an unhappy love/ and start over again, but never from an unhappy life.” And in “Falling Back,” the lines “The hollow is a windbreak/ though the tops of the trees creak/ though the woods up above/ heave a galaxy of leaves” left me breathless. And there were entire poems that grabbed me, shook me, and left me nodding, too: “Personal Narrative Transmuted into Light,” “Melisma,” and “Day for Night.” A daring collection that shouldn’t be missed!
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