Cheek by Jowl

Cheek by Jowl’s CYMBELINE
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Declan Donnellan
Designed by Nick Ormerod
tminsider@theatermania.com
US PREMIERE
MAY 2—12 ONLY
TUE—FRI AT 7:30PM
SAT AT 2PM & 7:30PM
SUN AT 3PM
DISCOUNTED PRICES*:$17.50, 28, 33.50, 45.50
BAM HARVEY THEATER
651 FULTON STREET/ BROOKLYN

Shakespeare In The Park

HELP CONTINUE THE PUBLIC THEATER'S TRADITION OF FREE

SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK!

ROMEO AND JULIET

June 5 - July 8

Directed by MICHAEL GREIF

Featuring LAUREN AMBROSE (Juliet),OSCAR ISAAC (Romeo), and CAMRYN MANHEIM (Nurse)

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

August - September 9

Directed by DANIEL SULLIVAN

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

Tuesday - Sunday at 8PM, The Delacorte Theater

For information on FREE tickets, visit PUBLICTHEATER.ORG

Lidia Bastianich

LIDIA BASTIANICH

Williams-Sonoma Mall at Short Hill
1200 Morris Turnpike

Short Hills, NJ 07078

(973) 467-3641
Wednesday, May 9, 2007 12:00pm

Lidia will only be signing copies of Lidia's Italy purchased at Williams-Sonoma. Proof of purchase required.

The Academy of American Poets

Do not get me wrong, I love poetry, but thank GOD it is the last day of April and National Poetry Month is officially over. I never realized how much pressure it is to chat about poetry when pressed. I made a personal goal to blog about poetry in some capacity at least once a day for the month of April and it was a task to say the least. So, here is the last poetry post for awhile.

To conclude National Poetry Month, the Academy of American Poets presents an evening with three poets from the recent pages of the Paris Review:
Mary Karr, Emily Moore, and Matthew Thorburn

An Evening with the Paris Review Poets

Tuesday, May 1

Housing Works Used Book Cafe

126 Crosby Street, New York City

7:00 p.m.FREE

Vertigo Comics

Vertigo has my favorite comics and books for mature readers and I cannot do them justice, so you have to check out the links below to see for yourself.

Happy Reading!

When you visit the Graphic Novels section of VertigoComics.com, any graphic novel titles with a #1 icon will have a download of the ground-breaking first issue! www.dccomics.com/vertigo/

Tales From The Farm

Essex County Volume 1:

Tales From The Farm
(Essex County)

by Jeff Lemire

In Essex County Vol. 1: Tales From The Farm, Lemire illustrates the story of Lester, an orphaned 10-year-old who goes to live on his Uncle's farm. Their relationship grows increasingly strained and Lester befriends the town's gas station owner, and former damaged hockey star, Jimmy Lebeuf. The two escape into a fantasy world of Superheroes, alien invaders and good old fashioned pond hockey.
taken from: http://www.newsarama.com/

Guy Delisle

Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea

by Guy Delisle

Born in Québec City in 1966, Guy Delisle now lives in the South of France with his wife and son. Delisle has spent ten years, mostly in Europe, working in animation which allowed him to learn about movement and drawing. As the majority of animation is now done in Asia, Delisle is currently focusing on his cartooning. In addition to Drawn & Quarterly, Delisle is published by Editions de L'Association and Editions Dargaud in France, and Editions de La Pastèque in Montreal.
taken from: http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/index.php

The Real Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel: The Early Works, Vol. 1:

Dr. Seuss Represents Boundless Imagination

(The Early Works of Dr. Seuss)

by

Theodor Seuss Geisel

Early Works Volume 1 is the first of a series collecting political cartoons, advertisements, and various images drawn by Geisel long before he had written any of his world-famous "Seuss" books.

Word Fest

WORD FEST COMETH!
7 PM, SAT. MAY 5

THE FORUM THEATRE
http://members.aol.com/raconteurbooks/Festival.doc

Books on sale at the event.

Authors will sign in the upstairs foyer during the two ten minute intermissions.
$20 General Public; $15 Student/Senior (with ID)
To purchase tickets in advance please visit
The Raconteur at 431 Main Street, Metuchen.
Tickets available at The Forum night of event only.

Please direct all queries to
The Raconteur at 732-906-0009
or raconteurbooks@aol.com

Florence Broadhurst

Florence Broadhurst:

Her Secret & Extraordinary Lives
by Helen O'Neill

Synopsis:
To this day, mystery shrouds her myriad personae starlet, couturier, painter as well as her unsolved murder. One thing, however, is certain: Broadhurst's place in the history of interior d cor. Recognized worldwide for her groundbreaking wallpaper patterns, this enigmatic Australian left behind a trove of exquisite work, brilliantly displayed here in the first-ever authorized biography of the design icon. Broadhurst's wallpapers out of circulation for nearly 20 years are just now being restored and sold globally to much fanfare. This amazing package showcases more than 100 never-before-published patterns and popular prints such as those owned by Marc Jacobs, Stella McCartney, and Carly Simon alongside a fascinating murder mystery.
taken from: http://www.powells.com/

Graphic Image

Visit this site and check out one of the most expensive Dictionaries I have ever seen: www.graphicimage.com/

Dictionary Style: DCT
Suggested Retail Price: $153.00
Available in
* Traditional Soft Calfskin: Chestnut
* Morocco, Genuine Goatskin: Mocha, Tan, Red, Pink
* Crocodile-Embossed Italian Calfskin: Brown
Size: 7-1/2 x 10 inches 1,624 pages
Thumb-tabbed: A to Z3.7 lb. in weight (approximate)White, acid-free paper, gilt edges.Smyth sewn for strength, longevity and open ability
* Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Edition
* Eleventh Edition
* Travel notes
* Foreign Words and Phrases
* Biographical and Geographical Names
* Signs and Symbols

Kevin Young

To Repel Ghosts: The Remix

by Kevin Young

Revamped from its original "double album" version of 350 pages into this unique "remix," To Repel Ghosts captures the dynamic work and brief life of the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

About the Author
Kevin Young is the author of three previous collections of poetry and the editor of Library of America's John Berryman: Selected Poems, Everyman's Library Pocket Poets anthology Blues Poems, and Giant Steps: The New Generation of African American Writers. His most recent book, Jelly Roll: A Blues, was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and won the Paterson Poetry Prize. A recent Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, Young is currently Ruth Lilly Professor of Poetry at Indiana University.
taken from: http://www.powells.com/

sites to check out:

Creative Writing Program Kevin Young

Ploughshares, the literary journal

The American Library Association

I love the ALA Graphics catalog and decided to check out the online store, which led me to this site. This is a great resource for teachers, especially English teachers. Enjoy!

The American Library Association is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 64,000 members. Its mission is to promote the highest quality library and information services and public access to information. ALA offers professional services and publications to members and nonmembers, including online news stories from American Libraries and analysis of crucial issues from the Washington Office.

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
50 E. Huron

Chicago, IL 60611

Call Us Toll Free 1-800-545-2433

online store: http://www.alastore.ala.org/

A New Season of Baseball

Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season by Jonathan Eig

April 15, 1947, marked the most important opening day in baseball history.

NPR : A Test of Courage: Jackie Robinson's Rookie Year

The Gashouse Gang: How Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Branch Rickey, Pepper Martin, and Their Colorful, Come-from-Behind Ball Club Won the World Series and America's Heart During the Great Depression

by John Heidenry

Seventy-three years ago, the St. Louis Cardinals did what they did only six months ago: They beat the Detroit Tigers in the World Series.
The Gashouse Gang by John Heidenry Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Mohsin Hamid

This book is on my "To Read" list and I just had to post it due to all the media attention it has been getting via reviews and advertisements.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

by Mohsin Hamid

about the author:
Mohsin Hamid grew up in Lahore, attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School and worked for several years as a management consultant in New York. His first novel, Moth Smoke, was published in ten languages and was a winner of a Betty Trask award, a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway award, and a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His essays and journalism have appeared in Time, The New York Times and The Guardian, among others. Mohsin Hamid currently lives, works and writes in London.
taken from :
RandomHouse.ca Books The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid



sites to check out:
village voice > books > The Reluctant Fundamentalist: Mohsin ...
Book Review: The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid ...
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid - Main - Harcourt
NPR : Mohsin Hamid and 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist'

Food Fictions

Selected Shorts: Food Fictions

(Selected Shorts series) by Symphony Space (Audio CD - April 1, 2007) - Audiobook

Book Description
Offering a mix of classic and contemporary fiction, this funny, sensual, delectable collection serves up literary morsels to please every food lover. Delicious tales about food and eating by authors such as M. F. K. Fisher, Anton Chekhov, and Damon Runyon, are read by distinguished actors such as Tony Roberts, Fionnula Flanagan, and Bradley Whitford. Many of the stories included in this three-CD collection were recorded at a Selected Shorts tour to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles in May of 2006.

Symphony Space

Peter Norton Symphony Space

Peter Jay Sharp Theatre (PJST)

Leonard Nimoy Thalia (LNT)

2537 Broadway at 95th Street

New York, NY 10025-6990

Tel: 212.864.5400

Fax: 212.932.3228
http://www.symphonyspace.org/



Reading the World: An Evening of Fiction in Translation
A part of the series Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story
A part of the series Upper West Fest An evening celebrating literature in translation from around the world, with readings of stories by Primo Levi, Hanna Krall and Can Xue introduced by translator Ann Goldstein, New Yorker Fiction Editor Deborah Treisman and Alane Salierno Mason, a senior editor at W. W. Norton & Company as well as Founding Editor of Words Without Borders, The Online Magazine for International Literature.
Showtime: May 9, 2007, 6:30 pm

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (formerly called "New Jersey Shakespeare Festival") is one of 22 professional theatres in the state. One of the leading Shakespeare theatres in the nation — serving 100,000 adults and children annually — it is New Jersey's only professional theatre company dedicated to Shakespeare's canon and other classic masterworks.

http://www.shakespearenj.org/

Shakespeare:
*Henry V May 1–27
*A Midsummer Night's Dream June 19 – July 22
*Measure for Measure July 10–29
*Blood & Roses, The Henry VI plays by William Shakespeare
October 9 – November 11

The Best of Gourmet 2007

What a great magazine and now a compilation of the best of the year recipes!

A must have for all cooks.

*More than 350 sensational, specially-selected and
newly-created Gourmet recipes
*18 perfectly-coordinated menus
*120 gorgeous color photographs to inspire you
*65 of our all-time favorite recipes from our 65 years

Fish's Eddy

I spotted these Alice in Wonderland dishes

(in Domino Magazine)

and had to know where to get them.

Click on this site for a full listing: http://www.fishseddy.com/

Saul Williams

The Dead Emcee Scrolls:

The Lost Teachings of Hip-Hop

by Saul Williams

When: Saturday, April 28

Where: The Bowery Ballroom: 6 Delancey St.
What time: 8–10 p.m.
With Guillermo Arriaga, Oliver Lake, Victoria Roberts, Sam Shepard, Patti Smith, Saul Williams, Huang Xiang, and surprise guests

Saul:
http://www.saulwilliams.com/
Saul Williams: Dreadlocked Dervish of Words

Visit the site and listen to an excerpt. I went to the library and checked out the above book yesterday and have been reading it ever since. It is not at all my type of poetry, so I am out of my comfort zone, but I find it irresistible and can't stop reading it out loud. Enjoy!

Week Seventeen, Book Twenty

Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti

by Frances Temple

Review: The setting is elaborate as the book takes place in 1991 in the city of Port-Au-Prince, when people were trying to attain a democracy and end the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier who named himself president for life and hired Macoutes. I started this book earlier in the week and have been plowing away at it ever since. I felt like I needed to finish it last night before bed and am glad I did. It was not one of my favorite books involving Haiti, but it was good none the less. I would not recommend it to my students, since it was a little on the confusing side. I thought it would have been a possible choice for the immigration unit that we are considering for next year, but they do not immigrate, so that is out. My next weekly book will probably be something quick and fun, since my spring break is officially over tomorrow.

New Latino Poetry

The Wind Shifts

New Latino Poetry
Edited by

Francisco Aragón

The Wind Shifts gathers, for the first time, works by emerging Latino and Latina poets in the twenty-first century. Here readers will discover 25 new and vital voices including Naomi Ayala, Richard —Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street Blanco, David Dominguez, Gina Franco, Sheryl Luna, and Urayoán Noel. All of the writers included in this volume have published poetry in well-regarded literary magazines.
http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/books.php

The Poetry of Rock and Roll

Third Rail: The Poetry of Rock and Roll

by Jonathan Wells and Bono

"The poets who fill these pages have come to testify, to bear witness to the mysterious power of Rock and Roll."
-- from the Foreword by Bono

Margo Tamez

Raven Eye (Sun Tracks)

by Margo Tamez

Book Description

Written from thirteen years of journals, psychic and earthly, this poetry maps an uprising of a borderland indigenous woman battling forces of racism and sexual violence against Native women and children. This lyric collection breaks new ground, skillfully revealing an unseen narrative of resistance on the Mexico–U.S. border.

The Pushcart Book of Poetry

The Pushcart Book of Poetry

by Joan Murray and
The Pushcart Prize Poetry Editors

From Booklist

The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses is the most anticipated literary anthology of the year. To celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2001, the Pushcart Press published two retrospective "best of the best" collections, The Pushcart Book of Short Stories andThe Pushcart Book of Essays. Now, at long last, the best poems volume arrives. Poet Murray worked with the nearly 50 other outstanding poets who have served as Pushcart poetry editors to construct this historic, illuminating, and thoroughly enjoyable gathering. Murray's smart and witty introduction is followed by 180 poems that exemplify the formal explorations of the last 30 years and reflect the ripple effect of watershed events and social change.

Here are vital works by the late Joseph Brodsky and Amy Clampitt and clarion poems by poets who continue to enlighten and enthrall readers, among them Lisel Mueller, Gerald Stern, Natasha Trethewey, Pattiann Rogers, and Edward Hirsch. Etheridge Knight captures the spirit of the endeavor: "We free singers be." Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

The Scarlet Ibis

The Scarlet Ibis

by Susan Hahn

Cycle of Sounds
Hickory, dickory, dock--
it began of course in the nursery.
Mouth so safe--the tucked in
repetitions that would make
a child smile, absurd words--
how I loved the non-
sense. The mouse
ran up the clock.
Then, the clock struck one.
The chemotherapy is working.
Her hair has not yet fallen
to the dried out ground--just thins.
I sit and listen
as she retells her life's stories--hear only
the fragile rhythms. The notes expand
then stick together. The accordion of her
years fans then shrinks to a small space.
The music and the place
will remain here after
conversation is over. I run
Down there every afternoon to check
the minute and the hour
hands, the drum and the pendulum, the weight--
to reverse the escapement.
The mouse ran down,
the mouse ran up. She's trapped
inside the ticking clock,
and I flail against the break-
proof glass, not able to get her out.
As ridiculous as it sounds
hickory, dickory, dock.

Week Sixteen, Book Nineteen

The Wave

by Todd Strasser

Review: The Wave is based on a true incident that occurred in a high school history class in Palo Alto, California, in 1969. I was really reluctant to read this book because I had heard that it was a cheesy school book that had a cheesy movie that went along with it, but a lesson could be learned from the message. So, I started Spring Break on Saturday and decided to dive into my homework. I have to teach this book in a little over a week from now to my 7th grade honors students and had never read it before. Shocking, I waited till last minute and cannot find any substantial lesson plans online to go along with the book. Well, good news, I read the book in two sittings and have decided there are a ton of activities I can create for this book. I love the tie into Nazism and the Holocaust, especially since my students are in the midst of World War II in their social studies class as we speak. I also love the thought of dabbling in "cults" and the role that people play in society. When I was reading this story I thought immediately of the incidents in Waco, Texas, the Jonestown mass murder-suicide, Witch Killers in Congo, Heaven's Gate and Charles Manson & The Family, just to name a few. I think that I will have the students research these events under the guidance of the school librarian and put together a presentation. This story is a work of fiction, but has some truth to it and the lesson to be learned is one that I think will stick with anyone who reads it forever.

Everyday Food

Everyday Food: Great Food Fast (Vintage)

by Martha Stewart Living Magazine

Great Food Fast Recipe Preview

Pan-fried Shrimp with Green Curry Cashew Sauce
Serves 4 Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes

You can purchase bottled Thai green curry sauce in most supermarkets, but this recipe proves how quick and easy it is to make your own. Refrigerate any leftover sauce, covered, for up to 3 days.

1 slice (1/4 inch thick) peeled fresh ginger

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons roasted unsalted cashews
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/4 cup packed cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon curry powder
Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper1
1/2 pounds peeled and deveined large shrimp
2 tablespoons olive oil

1 In a food processor, pulse the ginger until finely chopped. Add the 3/4 cup cashews; process until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes.
2 Add the yogurt, cilantro, sugar, and curry powder; season with salt. Process until incorporated, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed. Transfer to a serving bowl; sprinkle with the remaining cashews.
3 Season the shrimp with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the shrimp; cook until opaque throughout, 2 to 3 minutes. Repeat with the remaining tablespoon oil and remaining shrimp. Serve the shrimp with the sauce.

I totally love the magazine Everyday Food from Martha Stewart and when I saw that she released a brand new cookbook with 250 quick recipes I was psyched. Above is a taste of what to expect from this great collection of healthful meals that you can easily put on your table.

You have to visit this site for fresh ideas:

http://www.marthastewart.com/

Robert Lowell

"To Speak of Woe That Is in Marriage"
by Robert Lowell
"The hot night makes us keep our bedroom windows open.
Our magnolia blossoms. Life begins to happen.
My hopped up husband drops his home disputes,
and hits the streets to cruise for prostitutes,
free-lancing out along the razor's edge.
This screwball might kill his wife, then take the pledge.
Oh the monotonous meanness of his lust. . .
It's the injustice . . . he is so unjust--
whiskey-blind, swaggering home at five.
My only thought is how to keep alive.
What makes him tick? Each night now I tie
ten dollars and his car key to my thigh. . . .
Gored by the climacteric of his want,
he stalls above me like an elephant."

Robert Lowell
Robert Lowell was born in 1917 into one of Boston's oldest and most prominent families. He attended Harvard College for two years before transferring to Kenyon College, where he studied poetry under John Crowe Ransom and received an undergraduate degree in 1940. He took graduate courses at Louisiana State University where he studied with Robert Penn Warren and Cleanth Brooks. His first and second books, Land of Unlikeness (1944) and Lord Weary's Castle (for which he received a Pulitzer Prize in 1946, at the age of thirty), were influenced by his conversion from Episcopalianism to Catholicism and explored the dark side of America's Puritan legacy. Under the influence of Allen Tate and the New Critics, he wrote rigorously formal poetry that drew praise for its exceptionally powerful handling of meter and rhyme. Lowell was politically involved—he became a conscientious objector during the Second World War and was imprisoned as a result, and actively protested against the war in Vietnam—and his personal life was full of marital and psychological turmoil. He suffered from severe episodes of manic depression, for which he was repeatedly hospitalized.
taken from: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/10

Laure-Anne Bosselaar

May 13, 2007

NEW YORK, NY
LAURE-ANNE BOSSELAAR

will read with

Donna Mitchell and Martha Rhodes

at 6:00 p.m.

Cornelia Street Cafe

29 Cornelia Street (Greenwich Village)

Information: www.corneliastreetcafe.com

About Laure-Anne Bosselaar

Laure-Anne Bosselaar is the author of two previous collections: The Hour Between Dog and Wolf (1997) and Small Gods of Grief (2001) which won the 2001 Isabella Gardner Prize. She grew up in Belgium, where she worked for Belgian radio and television. Fluent in four languages, she moved to the U.S. in 1986. She lives in New York City and is on the faculty of Sarah Lawrence College, and of the Low-Residency MFA in Creative Writing Program of Pine Manor College. http://www.ausablepress.org/

Elegy
The past lies in the swath I left

crossing a summer meadow in Belgium.
I longed to see my old house one

last time, and crossed the field at dawn.
Some grasses lifted their heads

after my passage — wild chamomile and chervil —
but the touch-me-not lay crushed.

I found nothing there I wanted to bring back
and no one was left to see me turn away.

Literary Links

Literary Links

courtesy of

http://www.barrowstreet.org/

www.3rdbed.com 3rd Bed
www.7carmine.com 7carmine
www.thecanary.org The Canary
humanities.uchicago.edu/humanities/review Chicago Review
www.drunkenboat.com Drunken Boat
www.fourwaybooks.com Four Way Books
www.kenyonreview.com Kenyon Review
www.mmminc.org Many Mountains Moving
www.marlbororeview.com Marlboro Review
www.parisreview.com Paris Review
www.poems.com Poetry Daily
www.rattapallax.com Rattapallax
www.spinelessbooks.com Spineless Books
www.threepennyreview.com The Three Penny Review
www.tupelopress.org Tupelo Press
www.zoopress.org Zoo Press

Asheville Poetry Review

About Asheville Poetry Review
Asheville Poetry Review is a biannual literary journal that publishes 160–200 pages of poems, interviews, translations, essays, historical perspectives and book reviews. Since its inception, Asheville Poetry Review has published over 600 new and established writers from 14 different countries, including Robert Bly, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Joy Harjo, Gary Snyder, Sherman Alexie, Eavan Boland, R. S. Thomas, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Fred Chappell, Ciaran Carson and Colette Inez. From its first regional issue, Asheville Poetry Review has grown into an international publication with distribution in 35 states and 5 European countries. http://www.ashevillereview.com

Basil King

77Beasts: Basil King's Beastiary

by Basil King

Theo/ Vincent
Theo sits next to his brother Vincent. They are sitting on a park bench.Behind them there is the path that follows a line of trees. Vincent istaller than his brother, Theo is better dressed. They are talking about their parents. Theo wants Vincent to visit them. Vincent is giving too many reasons why he shouldn’t. Someone took a photo of this encounter. The photo is now lost. But before that someone drew the two brothers. Then there was an accident. The man who drew the brothers had a child. No one knows how the child got hold of the drawing. The child drew over it with colored pencils. Because there was so much admiration for the Van Gogh brothers the drawing was framed. It now hangs on a sitting room wall somewhere in Holland.

Pitt Poetry Series

American Poetry Now: Pitt Poetry Series Anthology
by Multiple poets edited by Ed Ochester

American Poetry Now is a comprehensive collection of the best work from the renowned Pitt Poetry Series. Since its inception in 1967, the series has been a vehicle for America's finest contemporary poets. The series list includes Poet Laureate Billy Collins, Toi Derricotte, Denise Duhamel, Lynn Emanual, Bob Hicok, Alicia Suskin Ostriker, Virgil Suarez, Afaa Michael Weaver, David Wojahn, Dean Young, and many others.
University of Pittsburgh Press is a proud sponsor of National Poetry Month

Robert Gibb

Robert Gibb was born and lives in the steel town of Homestead, Pennsylvania, where many of his poems are set. Among his many awards are the Camden Poetry Award and a Pushcart Prize.

An Interview with Robert Gibb, Author of World over Water
Q: Does World over Water relate to the books that precede it?Actually, World over Water completes a trilogy begun in The Origins of Evening and The Burning World, in which Homestead figures as a kind of epicenter—social, historical, autobiographical—“a world in which to hold the world” of the poems and their concerns, as MacLeish once wrote regarding Edwin Muir. Taken together the three books comprise an attempt to present the world of the mill town and what it meant to grow up there in the mid-twentieth century, to present material more typically found in the novel.

http://www.uapress.com

Wendy Bishop

My Last Door

by
Wendy Bishop

site: http://www.anhinga.org/index.html

Gulf Shells
form sand dunes
when their hearts break,
hold firm lips together
in muscular kisses
until one midnight
moonlight seduces them
and the lodgers slip out--
Gulf shells wink at children
in sunlight; frustrate
the fussy gulls;
hold hors d’oeuvres,
memories, grit, or pearls;
outline shower
curtains and towels
in chic catalogues.
Gulf shells define a beach
I’m on my way to--
they cut and cleave,
clutter shoreline as they please,
exhibit the lines water wears--
salty markers of
my wet and windy age.

Minx Books

I saw an advertisement for Minx Books in the latest issue of Booklist and decided to check out the website and I was pleasantly surprised at what I found. If you hit the link below, you can read the first Minx title, The Plain Janes. This graphic novel is written by Cecil Castellucci who burst onto the graphic novel scene after the success of her young adult novels, Boy Proof, The Queen of Cool and the upcoming Beige.

http://www.dccomics.com/minx/

Donald Platt

My Father Says Grace: Poems

by Donald Platt

In "My Father Says Grace" by Donald Platt, the focus lies particularly on family. Specifically, Platt tells of a father's dementia, a brother with Down Syndrome and a mother-in-law with terminal cancer. While much of the text is deeply saddening, Platt composes his poems with a grace that overcomes tragedy with contentment and tenderness.…
http://www.thetraveleronline.com/home/

links to check out:
Read Donald Platt's self-interview
Listen to Donald Platt reading his poems.

Week Sixteen, Book Eighteen

Cal

by Bernard MacLaverty

An Extract
He stubbed his cigarette out with more pressure than was required and turned obver to go to sleep. But it was too quiet. Now and again he raised his head off the pillow and listened. Once a dog barked in the distance. Then another and another, from different farms. And just as suddenly they stopped and the silence returned. He listened so hard there was a kind of static in his ears - like listening to the sea in a shell. He expected whispering voices, the squeak of a rubber-soled shoe on their concrete path. He had heard on the radio once that the Universe had started with an unimaginable explosion and that static was its dying echoes a skillion years later. He lay on his back and listened to the echoes, waiting for his window to explode.
http://www.bernardmaclaverty.com/

Review: This was the book of the month for my book club and thank God I finished it so fast. We are meeting in a little over a week from now and I am ahead of the game. I often find myself scrambling to finish the night before we meet and I didn't want to do that this time, so I started earlier than usual and am very pleased with my stamina. I did not like this book at all and would not recommend it to any reader I know. I cannot put my finger on it, but the style reminded me of James Joyce and now that I think of it slightly John Updike. I didn't realize Updike until a fellow book club member pointed it out to me in conversation. The writing is rich and was probably the only reason I finished the book in the first place. The storyline did not suck me in and the dialogue was overkill. If you are interested in the problems of Ulster, the tragedy and madness of Northern Ireland and the IRA, then Cal is for you.

Golden Age Collectables

For every rant I would like to rave. I visited this place over the summer and loved it! They had a ton of cool stuff and I was able to find a graphic novel that I was searching high and low for, but couldn't find anywhere else. You rank in my book!

Golden Age Collectables, Ltd.

1501 Pike Place Market

#401 Lower Level

Seattle, WA 98101

Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash

If you are looking to buy comics, look no further. Not! This store usually has a few great finds, but overall, you are just there to visit a cool looking famous guys store.

Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash
East 35 Broad Street
Red Bank, NJ 07701
(732) 758-0508
http://www.viewaskew.com/jsbstash/

Vintage Vinyl

Well, I feel the need to post something positive after my last two rants. This place is the best when it comes to music magazines and books involving music. They have a ton of stuff and they always play interesting music when you are shopping.
This is one of my favorite stores on the planet. Kudos!

Vintage Vinyl

Since 1979

New Jersey's legendary independent record store!

51 Lafayette Rd.

Fords, NJ 08863

(732)-225-7717

http://www.vvinyl.com/

Pyramid Books

I just thought of something as I finished my last post. The only other bookstore that I felt taken by was Pyramid Books. This place will not take used hard cover books. What? I thought that was actually funny, when the guy behind the counter snickered at my hardcover collection. Never will I try to trade books in again at either of these places. I would much rather donate them or pile them up in my house. Below is the address of the place I am talking about.

Pyramid Books
320 Raritan Ave

Highland Park, NJ 08904

Brendan Kennelly

about the poet: Brendan Kennelly is a celebrated figure among his own countrymen, almost as much so as Nobel Prize winner Seamus Heaney. Kennelly is not only a poet, he is also Professor of Modern Literature at Dublin's venerable Trinity college. However, it is not so much Kennelly's literary standing as his frequent exposure in the media which accounts for his nationwide popularity: Hardly a day goes by without some mention of him in the columns of the tabloid press.
Poetry International Web
I personally have never heard of him, but love Heaney, so I gave him a read. Below is one of his older poems. Enjoy!

CROW
from The Singing Tree
When I croak
I half-lift one wing.
Not bad for a tarry black laughed-at thing.
It's as near as I get to harmony.
Who are you
and what do you think you do
when you sing?

interesting article: @U2: U2 Connections - Brendan Kennelly

Black Arts Movement

Black Arts Movement

Poets in the Black Arts Movement include:

Amiri Baraka, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ed Bullins, Eldridge Cleaver, Jayne Cortez, Harold Cruse, Mari Evans, Hoyt Fuller, Nikki Giovanni, Lorraine Hansberry, Gil-Scott Heron, Maulana Ron Karenga, Etheridge Knight, Adrienne Kennedy, Haki R. Madhubuti, Larry Neal, Ishmael Reed, Sonia Sanchez, Ntozake Shange, Quincy Troupe, and John Alfred Williams.

I am currently reading poetry by many of the above poets in celebration of National Poetry Month.
Here is one from the man pictured above:

A Poem for Speculative Hipsters

Amiri Baraka

He had got, finally,

to the forest

of motives. There were no

owls, or hunters. No Connie Chatterleys

resting beautifully

on their backs, having casually

brought socialism

to England.

Only ideas,

and their opposites

Like,

he was really

nowhere.

Eric Wight

My Dead Girlfriend (Comic)

by Eric Wight

Synopsis

Finney Bleak lives in a world of horror--literally. His family are ghosts, his classmates are monsters, and Finney is the most normal kid in school. But within the halls of Mephisto Prep, normal is the new weird and Finney dangles from the lowest rung of the social evolutionary ladder. Then along comes Jenny. Smart. Beautiful. And totally into Finney. Only problem is, she's kind of dead. Jenny may be the ethereal object of Finney's affection, but their corporal differences keep them apart. As if young romance wasn't awkward enough, try getting frisky with a ghost. Just how far will Finney go to be with his true love? Let's just say not even Death can stand in his way.
taken from: http://www.tokyopop.com
Browse Series: My Dead Girlfriend

about the artist: ERIC WIGHT is a professional animator and illustrator whose clientele includes Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, Cartoon Network, Universal Studios, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, and HBO.

Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human-Error Processor #8

Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human-Error Processor presents for the first time in America the "lost" Ghost in the Shell stories, created by Shirow Masamune after completing work on the original Ghost in the Shell manga and prior to his tour-de-force, Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface. This deluxe-format issue concludes "Lost Past," the final of four Ghost in the Shell tales.

The release date is May 16th and you can Pre-Order it for $2.99. http://www.darkhorse.com

Petropolis

Petropolis

by Anya Ulinich

PETROPOLIS is a satire and a love story. It's also about racism, academic art training, cross-cultural confusion, religion (and lack thereof), sex, class conflict, overweening charity, and three different kinds of mothers.

read the first chapter: http://us.penguingroup.com/static/html/fof/petropolis.html

author site:
http://www.anyaulinich.com/

Dark at the Roots

I came across a few funny interviews and video clips about this book and author that I had to share. Hysterical!

Dark at the Roots: A Memoir

by Sarah Thyre

about the book:
Given the nickname “Family Liar” by her father around the time she started talking, Sarah Thyre was the second of five children to be born into a southern family of Roman Catholics. Confused by this endearment, but eager to live up to it, Sarah quickly managed to get herself into precarious situations.
about the author:
Sarah Thyre is an actress and writer who has appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and Strangers with Candy, and performed her own work at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theaters, Sit’n’Spin at the Comedy Central Stage, and on Public Radio International. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband Andy Richter and two children. http://www.darkattheroots.com/
audio clip: http://www.darkattheroots.com/audio.html
video clip: http://www.darkattheroots.com/video.html