Post by moira on Oct 18, 2008 17:03:33 GMT 2
I've been sick in bed for the past four days with the flu, and I've spent that entire time doing two things: napping and reading Letters to the World.
I looked through the anthology when it first appeared in my mailbox, of course, with that initial excitement, dipping in here and there, reading poems by contributors I know. But what a different experience--what a richer experience--to read it completely through! I had missed how the short essays work like punctuation throughout, creating breathing room for the poems as well as commentary. I had missed the fortuitous accidents of placement, how one poem sparked another nearby.
I want to add my thanks to all the words of praise that have appeared on the list serve already: to the three editors, to the folks at Red Hen, to everyone who volunteered their time to make this project a success.
And I want to note some of my favorite poems, ones that jumped out at me as I read through the anthology slowly. Although I write primarily free verse myself, traditional forms that are well wrought delight me, and this was true of the rhymed quatrains of Rachel Dacus's "Femme au chapeau" and Jilly Dybka's "Lost Things," the sonnets of Marilyn Taylor and Christine Whittemore, and the grace of Ellen Goldstein's "Meadowbrook Sapphics," Ruth Foley's "Triolet for Eric," and Annie Finch's "Letter for Emily Dickinson."
Subjects of cancer and illness were sensitively handled by Jean Anaporte-Easton in "poem for the new year," Ann Neuser Lederer's "The Undifferentiated," and Susan Meyers's "Awaiting My Brother's Pathology Report..." I am a cancer survivor myself, so these poems moved me deeply. I also loved Penelope Scambly Schott's meditation on aging, "April, Again."
Kimberly L. Becker's close observation in "The Fallen Apples," Catherine Daly's smart take on women's lingerie in "Of Hollywood," Annie Deppe's repeating film clip of "The Throat Singers," Kate Greenstreet's meditation on cows in "Lives of the Saints" were all mesmerizing. I loved the many tributes to other writers and artists, including David Graham's "Long Overdue Note...," Yerra Sugarman's "To Miklos Radnoti," and Braden Welborn's "Paradise Garden."
I was interested in how often Biblical or mythological themes kept appearing. Favorites among those include Kate Bernadette Benedict's "Sheela-na-gig," Kathleen Flenniken's "It's Not You, It's Me," Cynthia Roth's "The Sound of Love Failing," and Katha Pollit's "The Expulsion."
And I don't want to omit praise for poems by Molly Peacock, Ann Fisher-Wirth, Barbara Crooker, Jeanne Marie Beaumont, or the incredible poems transforming trauma into art by Wendy Taylor Carlisle and Ana Doina.
I still regret that contributors were unable to update their bios before publication. I hate to make even a small complaint, but in the nearly two years between sending a poem to the blog and the appearance of the anthology in print, so much happened in my writing life that I would have loved to have included (I published a second book, launched an author web site, started co-editing a second online journal). I wish my bio better represented me.
But I could not wish for better company for my poem! So many people worked hard to make this come about. To Moira, Rosemary, Lesley--and everyone else on the editorial team--I send gratitude.
Kim Roberts
I looked through the anthology when it first appeared in my mailbox, of course, with that initial excitement, dipping in here and there, reading poems by contributors I know. But what a different experience--what a richer experience--to read it completely through! I had missed how the short essays work like punctuation throughout, creating breathing room for the poems as well as commentary. I had missed the fortuitous accidents of placement, how one poem sparked another nearby.
I want to add my thanks to all the words of praise that have appeared on the list serve already: to the three editors, to the folks at Red Hen, to everyone who volunteered their time to make this project a success.
And I want to note some of my favorite poems, ones that jumped out at me as I read through the anthology slowly. Although I write primarily free verse myself, traditional forms that are well wrought delight me, and this was true of the rhymed quatrains of Rachel Dacus's "Femme au chapeau" and Jilly Dybka's "Lost Things," the sonnets of Marilyn Taylor and Christine Whittemore, and the grace of Ellen Goldstein's "Meadowbrook Sapphics," Ruth Foley's "Triolet for Eric," and Annie Finch's "Letter for Emily Dickinson."
Subjects of cancer and illness were sensitively handled by Jean Anaporte-Easton in "poem for the new year," Ann Neuser Lederer's "The Undifferentiated," and Susan Meyers's "Awaiting My Brother's Pathology Report..." I am a cancer survivor myself, so these poems moved me deeply. I also loved Penelope Scambly Schott's meditation on aging, "April, Again."
Kimberly L. Becker's close observation in "The Fallen Apples," Catherine Daly's smart take on women's lingerie in "Of Hollywood," Annie Deppe's repeating film clip of "The Throat Singers," Kate Greenstreet's meditation on cows in "Lives of the Saints" were all mesmerizing. I loved the many tributes to other writers and artists, including David Graham's "Long Overdue Note...," Yerra Sugarman's "To Miklos Radnoti," and Braden Welborn's "Paradise Garden."
I was interested in how often Biblical or mythological themes kept appearing. Favorites among those include Kate Bernadette Benedict's "Sheela-na-gig," Kathleen Flenniken's "It's Not You, It's Me," Cynthia Roth's "The Sound of Love Failing," and Katha Pollit's "The Expulsion."
And I don't want to omit praise for poems by Molly Peacock, Ann Fisher-Wirth, Barbara Crooker, Jeanne Marie Beaumont, or the incredible poems transforming trauma into art by Wendy Taylor Carlisle and Ana Doina.
I still regret that contributors were unable to update their bios before publication. I hate to make even a small complaint, but in the nearly two years between sending a poem to the blog and the appearance of the anthology in print, so much happened in my writing life that I would have loved to have included (I published a second book, launched an author web site, started co-editing a second online journal). I wish my bio better represented me.
But I could not wish for better company for my poem! So many people worked hard to make this come about. To Moira, Rosemary, Lesley--and everyone else on the editorial team--I send gratitude.
Kim Roberts