Teresa Carson interviews Gina Larkin
Okay, poets, raise your hand if you’ve ever bitched about a journal because it rejected your poems or it took forever to make a decision or the editor didn’t immediately answer your “Are you taking my poem or not?” e-mail or…. Yeah, my hand is up, too. But in the past 2 years I’ve learned a big lesson from working at CavanKerry Press: it takes a surprising amount of work to publish a book. This knowledge has made me much more sympathetic to the plight of those who publish journals because I can’t imagine how they manage, with even smaller staffs and even less money, to survive (and, yes, many don’t) at any time but particularly in the current publishing environment.
I met the poet Gina Larkin, who is the founder and editor of The Edison Literary Review, at the Frost Place Festival in 1997. Don Sheehan always began the Festival with a talk about community, about taking care of each other, about taking care of each other’s work. Gina obviously took Don’s words to heart because she has taken care of, and continues to take care of, the poetry community by publishing a high quality annual journal filled with wonderful poems. Thus, she seemed the perfect person to ask about the joys and struggles of this very important aspect of the poetry life.
-Teresa Carson
Teresa Carson: First, congratulations on celebrating the 10th anniversary of The Edison Literary Review in 2011. What prompted you to start the journal?
Gina Larkin: We were members of the Edison Arts Society and there was no designated section for Literature – so I offered to start a journal to offer local poets a place to publish their poems.
Teresa: How do you manage to do all the work involved in putting out a journal?
Gina: I really don’t do all the work that is required to put the journal out. I may be the “face” of ELR because I am the editor and I do have final choice in the selection of poems that appear in the journal, but Tony Gruenewald who is the Production Manager and John Larkin who is Production Support do most of the actual work of putting the magazine into the hands of the readers. It would not happen without them.
Teresa: How has the journal evolved over the years?
Gina: The first issues we published were 50 pages, center stapled and featured 30, mostly local, poets. Now, ten years later, we produce a perfect bound journal of 95 pages with more than 50 poets included. We have always published both established poets and new voices; now we also publish not only local poets, but poets from all over the United States and the world.
Teresa: On the average, how many submissions do you receive for each issue?
Gina: We are averaging submissions from 200 to 250 poets an issue or 1000+ poems an issue.
Teresa: What do you look for in a poem? What makes you say: I want to publish this poem?
Gina: Mostly I look for accessibility in a poem. I want a poem that makes me think as well as react on an emotional level. I love a poem that I wish I had written.
Teresa: What one piece of advice would you give to a poet who is thinking about submitting to ELR (or any journal for that matter)?
Gina: Please read the magazine, if possible, to see the kind of poems we print. Look at the web site and follow the guidelines; there are also poems from the magazine for you to look at if you can’t read the magazine itself. Most of all – send poems you have invested time in and have come to love – they stand the best chance.
Teresa: In this topsy-turvy publishing environment, what do you see in the future for independent journals such as ELR?
Gina: From the first day I suggested that we publish this journal – people said that it would never last. After Volume 5, they said well five years is the usual lifespan of a small independent journal. Volume 11 comes out in August. I am concerned about the fate of printed journal/books in general – but I think there will always be people who want to actually hold the words in their hands. If there are not enough to keep us going in print form – I hope we will be able to adapt.
Teresa: How does an event such as the Celebration of Literary Journals help ELR?
Gina: The Celebration of Literary Journals certainly helps with sales and with exposure; we have a chance to meet poets who have been published in the past and to hear the poems of poets we may publish in the future.
Teresa: Now for a personal question: You were one of the few, maybe the only, private student of the late, great CavanKerry Press poet Jack Wiler. What was it like to work with him?
Gina: Working with Jack was the same as sitting and talking at the bar after midnight discussing the reading we had attended. He was never overbearing, never a “know-it-all”, generous with help and suggestions. He never tried to write the poem for me. He could be infuriating – he never let me get away with anything, never allowed cutting corners. He taught me one thing I needed to learn: never be afraid of what you write.
Want to support twelve literary journals based in New Jersey?
Then stop the ninth annual Poetry Festival: A Celebration of Literary Journals on Sunday, May 20 at the West Caldwell Library. Stop by The Edison Literary Review table, say hello to Gina and buy a copy of the journal. For more info go to http://www.dianelockward.com/fest.html
Upcoming News and Events: Week of May 14th
Events
Gray Jacobik, The Poetry Institute, New Haven (The Institute Library, 846 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT)
Thursday, May 17th at 7:00pm
Doors open at 6:30. Reading starts at 7:00. Open mike precedes the featured reader.
Click here for more details
News
Michael Miller wasn’t able to attend the W.B. Yeats Poetry Prize winners reading at Barnes & Noble in Union Square but his poem “My Father’s Hands” was read by the Irish-American poet William Leo Coakley. A week later, he received a plaque and a two-year membership to the National Arts Club. The judge for this year competition was Bill Zavatsky.
Jack Ridl won the annual Gary Gildner Poetry Award for the poem “Easter, 1948” published in I-70 Review.
Adventures in Mommyhood reviews "Motherhood Exaggerated"
“…heartfelt and gut-wrenching at times, but was a testament of the importance of a mom being able to still celebrate small triumphs while fighting for the life of her daughter.”
–Adventures in Mommyhood review
Click here to read the full review
Adventures in Mommyhood reviews “Motherhood Exaggerated”
“…heartfelt and gut-wrenching at times, but was a testament of the importance of a mom being able to still celebrate small triumphs while fighting for the life of her daughter.”
–Adventures in Mommyhood review
Click here to read the full review
Nin Andrews interviews Cavan Kerry's book designer Greg Smith
NIN ANDREWS
First, I just want to thank you for all of your beautiful covers. They not only help sell CKP books but also complete them.
GREG SMITH
Thank you, Nin. CavanKerry’s mission is a great one. And I appreciate getting to work on books featuring such top-notch writing.
NA
How and when did you decide to become a book designer?
GS
The first book work I did, very briefly in the 1980s, was medical illustration—depictions of skeletal and muscular structures, how-to drawings of procedures, physical therapy instructions. I’d stumbled into that, and I wasn’t actually looking to be an illustrator, let alone a medical illustrator. What I wanted to do was book design, because I loved typography and old books, so I soon found my way into that, first with AP (now part of Elsevier), then with Harcourt’s trade department (now part of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), then on my own.
NA
What is your background in art?
GS
I got my bachelors degree in fine arts, in painting. But I was a boringly sane painting major, so sometime in my final year three nagging thoughts began to recur. The first was uh oh, the second was grad school, and the third was graphic design. The first and third thoughts won out, so then the question was: advertising or books? I preferred the idea of books, far and away. And over the years I’ve designed a range of printed items, but the books just matter a lot more.
NA
How long have you been with CavanKerry?
GS
The first CavanKerry book project I was involved with dates to 2009. I’m a poetry absorber, so helping to put these books together has been a great thing from the outset.
NA
How many book covers have you designed? Does it get easier with time?
GS
I’ve done design work for hundreds of books. I have given up estimating how many books it is where I’ve done the cover, how many where I’ve done both cover and interior text, how many where I’ve done just the text, and/or charts, graphs, endpaper maps, and/or photo section layouts. I do know that I’ve designed books in nearly every genre, with more than half of the books being academic/educational.
Software has made a lot of aspects of design far easier. The “cut” and “paste” commands on computers are of course concepts taken from what my fellow designers and I actually were doing for many years, physically—cutting up sections of type with x-acto knives and pasting them down with melted wax or rubber cement.
As far as ideas, I’m honestly not sure whether they come to me more easily over time. Coffee for me is probably a bigger factor than experience.
NA
Will you talk a little about the process of creating a book cover? What makes a cover work? And not work?
GS
The process can vary a lot. A cover design might call for the use of a photo that’s found through research, or it could involve a pre-selected photo, or maybe an illustration will be appropriate, or the design might be purely typographic. Probably the only thing that holds true for every book design is that the process is going to be collaborative. And for the CKP books I’ve designed, Joan and Florenz have done a great job directing me so we wind up with covers that work well, are right for the books.
I think a cover works when it intrigues people enough to get them to look inside the book. A cover is basically a mini-poster. But because it’s also going to be an actual part of the book a cover shouldn’t be too trendy, or feel like a desperate ad. You want a cover to wear well—its author will be living with it for a long time.
I suppose a cover doesn’t work if it doesn’t appeal to its intended audience at all.
NA
Do you sometimes want to comment on the books directly? Or make an editorial contribution?
GS
Years ago, I gave a talk about visual communication to a class of fifth-graders. I showed them slides of medieval manuscripts where bored monks had sneaked whimsical drawings—caricatures, animals, geometric doodles—into the margins of what they were transcribing. I think the only time I’ve done something similar was when I designed a collage for the cover of a New York Times engagement calendar. I slipped the name of my childhood hometown into the collage, which is a prank almost as wild and edgy as a medieval monk’s!
But to actually answer your question, Nin—I’m sure there have been times where I’d like to play editor, but I always snap out of that. I’m the visual guy, not the word guy.
NA
Does it ever help to talk to the writers directly about their work?
GS
That can help, absolutely. And because poetry can be so nuanced, I’d say with CavanKerry authors in particular it’s helpful to get input as to whether a design idea jives with the poems.
NA
Do you have other artistic projects that you are currently working on? Or that you have worked on in the past?
GS
I still play around with oil paint. Sometimes I think someone should pick up where John Singer Sargent left off—do a 21st century take on that style of portraiture. But I’ve read Sargent’s complaint to fellow artists that a portrait is a painting where there is “something wrong about the mouth.” So if even Sargent, one of your all-time virtuosos, was plagued by complaints from sitters, you’ve got to feel for all portrait painters. I don’t think I’ll try to pick up that particular mantle.
NA
What is the most challenging part of creating a book jacket? What is the most rewarding part of creating a book jacket?
GS
There are a few challenges. You’re trying to serve the author’s work. You’re hoping to come up with something that will help sell the book. A big additional challenge nowadays is trying to interest readers who are already barraged by visuals day and night.
I find it rewarding when I’m told I’ve gotten it right. I recently got a kick out of reading that when Steve Jobs asked Walter Isaacson to write his authorized biography, Jobs gave Isaacson free rein to interview anyone he wanted and to write anything he wanted, good or bad. However, for the book’s jacket design, Jobs insisted on retaining complete control. Book design is a pretty anonymous field, so I enjoy knowing that Steve Jobs, the supreme business genius of our era, not only noticed and valued book design, he designed his own bio’s jacket as his goodbye to the world. And no surprise, it’s a great jacket. That calligraphy class he took at Reed College finally paid off!
NA
Would you be willing to post a few of your covers below and/or provide links to them?
GS
The CavanKerry covers I’ve done since 2010 are of course viewable at this website. I also have some cover designs viewable at my ancient website, in a slide show I put up a while ago.
NA
Do you ever have exhibits of your work? Or are the books your ongoing exhibition?
GS
I guess the books are the ongoing exhibition, though I’ve had design work recognized here and there along the way. Probably the most conspicuous moment for any of my covers was when Jay Leno held up a book I’d designed—SPAM: A Biography—and made fun of it during his monologue. I wish it had been Johnny Carson.
Nin Andrews interviews Cavan Kerry’s book designer Greg Smith
NIN ANDREWS
First, I just want to thank you for all of your beautiful covers. They not only help sell CKP books but also complete them.
GREG SMITH
Thank you, Nin. CavanKerry’s mission is a great one. And I appreciate getting to work on books featuring such top-notch writing.
NA
How and when did you decide to become a book designer?
GS
The first book work I did, very briefly in the 1980s, was medical illustration—depictions of skeletal and muscular structures, how-to drawings of procedures, physical therapy instructions. I’d stumbled into that, and I wasn’t actually looking to be an illustrator, let alone a medical illustrator. What I wanted to do was book design, because I loved typography and old books, so I soon found my way into that, first with AP (now part of Elsevier), then with Harcourt’s trade department (now part of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), then on my own.
NA
What is your background in art?
GS
I got my bachelors degree in fine arts, in painting. But I was a boringly sane painting major, so sometime in my final year three nagging thoughts began to recur. The first was uh oh, the second was grad school, and the third was graphic design. The first and third thoughts won out, so then the question was: advertising or books? I preferred the idea of books, far and away. And over the years I’ve designed a range of printed items, but the books just matter a lot more.
NA
How long have you been with CavanKerry?
GS
The first CavanKerry book project I was involved with dates to 2009. I’m a poetry absorber, so helping to put these books together has been a great thing from the outset.
NA
How many book covers have you designed? Does it get easier with time?
GS
I’ve done design work for hundreds of books. I have given up estimating how many books it is where I’ve done the cover, how many where I’ve done both cover and interior text, how many where I’ve done just the text, and/or charts, graphs, endpaper maps, and/or photo section layouts. I do know that I’ve designed books in nearly every genre, with more than half of the books being academic/educational.
Software has made a lot of aspects of design far easier. The “cut” and “paste” commands on computers are of course concepts taken from what my fellow designers and I actually were doing for many years, physically—cutting up sections of type with x-acto knives and pasting them down with melted wax or rubber cement.
As far as ideas, I’m honestly not sure whether they come to me more easily over time. Coffee for me is probably a bigger factor than experience.
NA
Will you talk a little about the process of creating a book cover? What makes a cover work? And not work?
GS
The process can vary a lot. A cover design might call for the use of a photo that’s found through research, or it could involve a pre-selected photo, or maybe an illustration will be appropriate, or the design might be purely typographic. Probably the only thing that holds true for every book design is that the process is going to be collaborative. And for the CKP books I’ve designed, Joan and Florenz have done a great job directing me so we wind up with covers that work well, are right for the books.
I think a cover works when it intrigues people enough to get them to look inside the book. A cover is basically a mini-poster. But because it’s also going to be an actual part of the book a cover shouldn’t be too trendy, or feel like a desperate ad. You want a cover to wear well—its author will be living with it for a long time.
I suppose a cover doesn’t work if it doesn’t appeal to its intended audience at all.
NA
Do you sometimes want to comment on the books directly? Or make an editorial contribution?
GS
Years ago, I gave a talk about visual communication to a class of fifth-graders. I showed them slides of medieval manuscripts where bored monks had sneaked whimsical drawings—caricatures, animals, geometric doodles—into the margins of what they were transcribing. I think the only time I’ve done something similar was when I designed a collage for the cover of a New York Times engagement calendar. I slipped the name of my childhood hometown into the collage, which is a prank almost as wild and edgy as a medieval monk’s!
But to actually answer your question, Nin—I’m sure there have been times where I’d like to play editor, but I always snap out of that. I’m the visual guy, not the word guy.
NA
Does it ever help to talk to the writers directly about their work?
GS
That can help, absolutely. And because poetry can be so nuanced, I’d say with CavanKerry authors in particular it’s helpful to get input as to whether a design idea jives with the poems.
NA
Do you have other artistic projects that you are currently working on? Or that you have worked on in the past?
GS
I still play around with oil paint. Sometimes I think someone should pick up where John Singer Sargent left off—do a 21st century take on that style of portraiture. But I’ve read Sargent’s complaint to fellow artists that a portrait is a painting where there is “something wrong about the mouth.” So if even Sargent, one of your all-time virtuosos, was plagued by complaints from sitters, you’ve got to feel for all portrait painters. I don’t think I’ll try to pick up that particular mantle.
NA
What is the most challenging part of creating a book jacket? What is the most rewarding part of creating a book jacket?
GS
There are a few challenges. You’re trying to serve the author’s work. You’re hoping to come up with something that will help sell the book. A big additional challenge nowadays is trying to interest readers who are already barraged by visuals day and night.
I find it rewarding when I’m told I’ve gotten it right. I recently got a kick out of reading that when Steve Jobs asked Walter Isaacson to write his authorized biography, Jobs gave Isaacson free rein to interview anyone he wanted and to write anything he wanted, good or bad. However, for the book’s jacket design, Jobs insisted on retaining complete control. Book design is a pretty anonymous field, so I enjoy knowing that Steve Jobs, the supreme business genius of our era, not only noticed and valued book design, he designed his own bio’s jacket as his goodbye to the world. And no surprise, it’s a great jacket. That calligraphy class he took at Reed College finally paid off!
NA
Would you be willing to post a few of your covers below and/or provide links to them?
GS
The CavanKerry covers I’ve done since 2010 are of course viewable at this website. I also have some cover designs viewable at my ancient website, in a slide show I put up a while ago.
NA
Do you ever have exhibits of your work? Or are the books your ongoing exhibition?
GS
I guess the books are the ongoing exhibition, though I’ve had design work recognized here and there along the way. Probably the most conspicuous moment for any of my covers was when Jay Leno held up a book I’d designed—SPAM: A Biography—and made fun of it during his monologue. I wish it had been Johnny Carson.
Upcoming News and Events: Week of May 7th
Events
Kevin Carey, Beverly Public Library, Sohier Room (32 Essex Street, Beverly, MA)
Thursday May 10th, 7:00pm
A Book Release Party for Kevin Carey’s new book of poems, “The One Fifteen to Penn Station.” Followed by book signing. Hors d’oeuvres, wine, and soft drinks.
Visit website for details
News
Michael Miller
His poem “Rue Cambon” is in the current issue of The Yale Review
Joan Seliger Sidney, Craig H. Nielsen Foundation Residency Fellowship Award.
Joan won this fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center. It will pay room, board and travel expenses and a personal care assistant for a four-week residency.
Nin Andrews interviews CKP's social marketer Angela Santillo
NIN ANDREWS
First, I just want to thank you for trying to help us out. I, for one, could sure use some help on the marketing side of life.
ANGELA SANTILLO
Thanks so much! I’m happy to be working with CavanKerry. It’s been great so far.
NA
How did you happen to come to CKP?
AS
I met Teresa Carson in grad school at Sarah Lawrence College. She’s great, the best. She was a big part of my grad school career both as a friend and a fellow artist. Before I attended grad school, I was a producer for a small theater in San Francisco and also a marketing associate for a theater in upstate New York. She knows I have marketing experience, especially when it comes to social media. As CKP started talking about having a larger online presence, she called me up to see if I was interested. The rest is history.
NA
What is your background? I think I heard you are an actress?
AS
Yes, I am an actress and playwright. I also teach drama and have a lot of producing experience. I guess the easiest thing to say is that I am a theater artist, it covers just about everything. I am obsessed with telling stories, important stories that help and hurt and make us think and look like dreams. Actually, when I first started writing, all I wrote was poetry. But then I randomly decided to write a play and I felt like a spectacular mad scientist, so I started writing primarily for the stage.
I moved from Los Angeles to start my theater career in San Francisco and now I am in New York City. I just had a show I wrote close in February and I am getting ready to perform a show in San Francisco this summer, so things are moving right along.
You can check out more about my theater ventures on my personal website.
NA
What do you hope to accomplish at CKP?
AS
An online presence that is interesting and engaging. That sounds so dry, I know. But I think what is great about social media is that organizations can show their personality and they can interact in a way that really informs as well as entertains. I hope that as we progress with our marketing plan people look forward to seeing our posts, articles, and newsletters. I hope we start to have more dialogue with people that follow our various sites and that we can feature more information about the poetry world as a way to connect with other organizations and share information.
NA
Can you talk a little bit about marketing, maybe give us all some tips?
AS
Oh man. Okay…first love what you are talking about. Passion translates into everything and your excitement will make people take notice. Second, know your audience and what you want to achieve. Every marketing plan has a mission and a target. Third, don’t underestimate the power of words and images. A great visual is stellar and but less is more when it comes to words. No one likes seeing long emails or blurbs.
That is all really technical…I suppose my own taste in marketing is that it should be bold. Dare to be goofy or serious, have character! To me, marketing is all about creating a character (see I have theater in my DNA), and that is what separates a competent marketing plan from a fantastic one.
NA
Will we meet you at CKP events or at AWP in Boston?
AS
Perhaps. CKP is one of my many jobs and my theater schedule seems to run my life. There is a common theater joke that the standard response to anything non-theater related is, “I can’t, I have rehearsal.” So if there is an event and I don’t have rehearsal, maybe!
NA
Are there any changes at CKP or upcoming events that you would like to alert us to?
AS
Well, there have been a lot of changes so far. We now have a blog, we are on Twitter as well as Facebook. We are now emailing our newsletters, so be sure to sign up if you aren’t already on our mailing list.
Right now the website features information and articles about CKP writers and events. We are going to start featuring more content from “around the web” and other small presses. I’m excited about that, the chance to not only create a dialogue about CKP but also the poetry world at-large. So stay tuned for that!
NA
How can we help you?
AS
I love hearing what other people think and also getting ideas for new postings. So if you see something interesting or if you have any ideas, shoot me an email at [email protected].
Besides that…keep reading and keep writing. The world needs stories.
Nin Andrews on NPR!
Upcoming News and Events: Week of April 30th
Events
Baron Wormser, Tenants Harbor Library (Tenants Harbor, Maine)
Wednesday, May 2 at 7PM
Baron will read from his latest collection of poems, Impenitent Notes.
Click here for more info
Joseph O. Legaspi, Fordham University at Lincoln Center, Plaza Level Atrium (113 W. 60th St. @ Columbus)
Friday, May 4th at 7M
CURA Personalis, A Reading Gala. Readings with Dennis Barton and Evie Shockley
Heavy hors d’oeuvre reception and all proceeds benefit Covenant House.
Cocktail attire, space is limited
More details and ticket information can be found here
Judith Hannan, Peggy Penn, and Carole Stone (4 Mountain Road, Lebanon, NJ)
Sunday, May 6th at 2PM
Judith Hannan, Peggy Penn, and Carole Stone will read from their collections at this CavanKerry Poetry Salon
To RSVP contact Sondra Gash at 908-832-5801 or [email protected]
Eloise Bruce, Grounds for Sculpture (Hamilton, New Jersey)
Sunday, May 6th at 2PM
Poetry in the Park: Cool Women
Click here for more info
News
Richard Jeffrey Newman is facilitating a group for the Queens Council on the Arts called a Peer Leadership Circle for writers. The goal of the group, which will meet once a month for six months, is to create a community of writers who will help each other move forward in their careers.
Adriana Páramo’s recent publications include:
“QuarterLife of Love.” So to Speak Journal: A Feminist Journal of language and Art (Spring 2012)
“A Commie a la Colombiana.” Lake Effect: A Journal of the Literary Arts 16 (Spring 2012)
“Hey You, Dr. Paloma.” Phati’tude Literary Magazine Magazine (Spring 2012)
The many poems in Danny Shot's pocket
Danny Shot writes:
I always carry a few poems with me, well because I teach a few classes and I don’t like to repeat myself.
This year’s collection will include:
Jack Wiler’s “Poetry For Fun and Profit” and “For Levi”
Sylvia Plath’s “Mad Girl’s Love Song”
Pedro Pietri’s “Telephone Booth #508”
Bukowski’s “Style”
The many poems in Danny Shot’s pocket
Danny Shot writes:
I always carry a few poems with me, well because I teach a few classes and I don’t like to repeat myself.
This year’s collection will include:
Jack Wiler’s “Poetry For Fun and Profit” and “For Levi”
Sylvia Plath’s “Mad Girl’s Love Song”
Pedro Pietri’s “Telephone Booth #508”
Bukowski’s “Style”
The poem in the pocket of John McDermott
John McDermott writes:
I’ll carry about 50 copies of “A Drinking Song,” which is really a love poem, and very short, so easy to copy and give away.
A Drinking Song
Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That’s all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift my glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.
W.B. Yeats 1910
Andrea Carter Brown on Five Points Blog
In honor of National Poetry Month, Andrea Carter Brown’s essay on the “poem in her pocket” is featured on Five Points Blog.
Read her essay here
Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day!
We’ve been sharing poems all month from CKP writers, staff, and friends.
Want poem is in your pocket today? Leave a comment, write it on our wall, we want to know!
The poem in Florenz Eisman's pocket
Florenz Eisman, CKP’s Managing Editor, writes:
On days when a smile is called for, I turn to my favorite nonsense poem: “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll.
It brings me back momentarily to childhood when a wonderful teacher introduced it to my third-grade class without explanation or analysis. Was that when I learned that words (strange or plain) strung together can be magical? I think so.
Jabberwocky
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
‘Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!’
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought —
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood a while in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One two! One two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
‘And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’
He chortled in his joy.
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Lewis Carroll
The poem in Florenz Eisman’s pocket
Florenz Eisman, CKP’s Managing Editor, writes:
On days when a smile is called for, I turn to my favorite nonsense poem: “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll.
It brings me back momentarily to childhood when a wonderful teacher introduced it to my third-grade class without explanation or analysis. Was that when I learned that words (strange or plain) strung together can be magical? I think so.
Jabberwocky
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
‘Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!’
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought —
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood a while in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One two! One two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
‘And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’
He chortled in his joy.
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Lewis Carroll
Robert Cording: Finalist for the 2012 Poets’ Prize
The Poets’ Prize of $3,000 honors a book of poems published two years prior to the award year. The annual prize is donated by a committee of about 20 American poets, who each nominate two books and who also serve as judges.
Winner of the 2012 Poets’ Prize:
NED BALBO
The Trials of Edgar Poe and Other Poems
Story Line Press (2010)
AND FINALISTS:
ROBERT CORDING, Walking with Ruskin, CavanKerry Press
MAURYA SIMON, The Raindrop’s Gospel:
The Trials of St. Jerome and St. Paula, Elixir Press
The prize was presented on
Thursday, May 17 at Nicholas Roerich Museum
(319 West 107th Street, New York, NY)
Funding for the Poets’ Prize is administered by the West Chester University
Poetry Center and is contributed by the members of the Poets’ Prize Committee:
Dick Allen
Colette Inez
David Mason
Lynn Emanuel
Major Jackson
Linda Pastan
Claudia Emerson
Allison Joseph
Robert Phillips
B. H. Fairchild
Julie Kane Marie Ponsot
Richard Foerster
Margaret Lally
Timothy Steele
R. S. Gwynn, Chair
Peter Makuck
Leon Stokesbury
Andrew Hudgins
Charles Martin
“We believe there is no greater honor than to be awarded a prize by a jury of one’s peers.”
Judith Hannan interviewed on Soaringwords
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/40886087 w=500&h=281]
Judith Hannan discusses and reads selections from Motherhood Exaggerated on Soaringwords, an organization devoted to developing and implementing strategies to lesson the impact of serious illness on the lives of ill children and their families.
To read Soaringwords’ Book Club Discussion Guide for Motherhood Exaggeratedvisit their website.
Deborah Henry's "Poem in Your Pocket"
Deborah Henry writes:
I would say my daughter Sara’s awesome poem, “Train Home From Work,” which was published in England but she would be mortified that her work was being promoted by me….
So . . .
“Birthday Present” by May Sarton
Like a shooting star,
As the soul,
Unencumbered,
Alive, ageless,
Meets the pristine moment:
Poetry again.”
I love the “alive, ageless” sense of truth and passion that we often forget.
Deborah Henry’s “Poem in Your Pocket”
Deborah Henry writes:
I would say my daughter Sara’s awesome poem, “Train Home From Work,” which was published in England but she would be mortified that her work was being promoted by me….
So . . .
“Birthday Present” by May Sarton
Like a shooting star,
As the soul,
Unencumbered,
Alive, ageless,
Meets the pristine moment:
Poetry again.”
I love the “alive, ageless” sense of truth and passion that we often forget.
Sondra Gash featured on Jama's Alphabet Soup
Sondra Gash featured on Jama’s Alphabet Soup
Three for this Tuesday: Poem in Your Pocket
Adele Kenny chose:
“Why I Wake Early” by Mary Oliver
Adele explains: This poem is a mini-lesson in gratitude, in paying attention, and in reverence. It’s a poem about waking that wakes us up (emphasis on “up”). The poem’s spiritual literacy is based in profound attention to the natural world. Accessibility and immediacy come together through the ordinary miracles of morning and invite the reader to “Watch … in happiness, in kindness.”
Adele Kenny is the author of 23 books (poetry and nonfiction) and the recipient of various awards for her poetry, including fellowships from the NJ State Arts Council. She is a former professor of creative writing, poetry editor of Tiferet, and founding director of the Carriage House Poetry Series.
Laurie Lamon chose:
“Gifts of Love” by Yehuda Amichai
Laurie Lamon is professor of English at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington where she lives with her husband, William Siems, and their Scottish Terrier, Maude. Her two collections of poems are The Fork Without Hunger and Without Wings
Carole Stone chose:
Elizabeth Bishop’s “One Art”
Carole explains: No matter how many times I read it I am so moved by the way she builds from small losses like car keys to the large one of her lover with its poignant description —Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love). Her vilanelle has been a great inspiration for mine.
Carole Stone’s book of poems American Rhapsody was published by CavanKerry Press in March, 2012. She has poems forthcoming in Exit Thirteen and Lips.
Nin Andrews gives us the "poem in her pocket"
Nin Andrews selected:
“Neruda’s Hat” by Kelli Russell Agodon
On a day when weather stole every breeze,
Pablo told her he kept bits of his poems
tucked behind the band in his hat.
He opened the windows to nothing
but more heat, asked her to wander with him
down to the beach, see if their bodies
could become waves.
When they returned he placed his hat,
open to sky, in the center of the table.
She filled it with papaya, figs, searched
for scraps of poems beneath the lining.
By evening, the hat was empty
and his typewriter, full
with pages that began something about ocean,
something about fruit.
And they didn’t notice the sky, full of tomorrow’s
stars or the blue and white swallow
carrying paper in its beak.
They sat outside until the edge of daylight
stretched itself across a new band of morning,
the shadow of a hat washing onto the shore.
Nin Andrews is the author of several collections of poetry including Why They Grow Wings, Midlife Crisis with Dick and Jane , The Book of Orgasms, Sleeping with Houdini, Dear Professor, Do You Live in a Vacuum, The Secret Life of Mannequins, and Southern Comfort. For more info, check out her blog at http://ninandrewswriter.blogspot.com.
Nin Andrews gives us the “poem in her pocket”
Nin Andrews selected:
“Neruda’s Hat” by Kelli Russell Agodon
On a day when weather stole every breeze,
Pablo told her he kept bits of his poems
tucked behind the band in his hat.
He opened the windows to nothing
but more heat, asked her to wander with him
down to the beach, see if their bodies
could become waves.
When they returned he placed his hat,
open to sky, in the center of the table.
She filled it with papaya, figs, searched
for scraps of poems beneath the lining.
By evening, the hat was empty
and his typewriter, full
with pages that began something about ocean,
something about fruit.
And they didn’t notice the sky, full of tomorrow’s
stars or the blue and white swallow
carrying paper in its beak.
They sat outside until the edge of daylight
stretched itself across a new band of morning,
the shadow of a hat washing onto the shore.
Nin Andrews is the author of several collections of poetry including Why They Grow Wings, Midlife Crisis with Dick and Jane , The Book of Orgasms, Sleeping with Houdini, Dear Professor, Do You Live in a Vacuum, The Secret Life of Mannequins, and Southern Comfort. For more info, check out her blog at http://ninandrewswriter.blogspot.com.
Upcoming News and Events: Week of April 23rd
Events
Wanda S. Praisner, County College of Morris (214 Center Grove Road, Randolph, NJ 07869)
Wednesday, April 25th at 7 PM
She will be reading at the award ceremony and publication party for Charlotte Mandel, winner of the New Jersey Poets Prize.
Event website
Richard Jeffrey Newman, Hudson Park Library (66 Leroy Street, NY)
Saturday, April 28th at 2PM
Richard will be reading in the Rhyming Poets reading series. Free and open to the public.
Event website
Nin Andrews, Mac’s Backs-Books (1820 Coventry Road, Cleveland, OH)
Saturday, April 28th at 7:00PM
Nin will be reading selections from her books, Southern Comfort and The Secret Life of Mannequins.
Event website
News
Richard Jeffrey Newman: The website LoveLifePoems has chosen the poem “Light” from The Silence of Men for their “Best of the Web” series.
Read Richard’s blog post on the about the selection:
Richard Jeffrey Newman on Tiferet Talk this Sunday
Richard Jeffrey Newman will be on Tiferet Talk with Melissa Studdard this Sunday, April 22st, at 7 pm EST.
Listen to the interview live and online by going to blogtalkradio
Welcoming Friday with Three "Poems in Your Pocket"
Martin Farawell chose…
“Northern Pike” by James Wright
Martin explains: The first time I read this poem, I don’t know how many years ago that was, I wanted to carry it with me. So I’ve carried it in the pocket of my memory ever since. It reminds me how powerful and evocative an apparently quiet, simple poem can be.
Martin Farawell is the Director of the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival
Diane Lockward chose…
“The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry
Diane explains: A wonderful poem to get you through the dark days of raising teenagers.
Kevin Carey chose…
“Starlight” by Phil Levine
Kevin Carey teaches writing at Salem State University. His book The One Fifteen to Penn Station, has just been released. kevincareywriter.com
Welcoming Friday with Three “Poems in Your Pocket”
Martin Farawell chose…
“Northern Pike” by James Wright
Martin explains: The first time I read this poem, I don’t know how many years ago that was, I wanted to carry it with me. So I’ve carried it in the pocket of my memory ever since. It reminds me how powerful and evocative an apparently quiet, simple poem can be.
Martin Farawell is the Director of the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival
Diane Lockward chose…
“The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry
Diane explains: A wonderful poem to get you through the dark days of raising teenagers.
Kevin Carey chose…
“Starlight” by Phil Levine
Kevin Carey teaches writing at Salem State University. His book The One Fifteen to Penn Station, has just been released. kevincareywriter.com
January Gill O'Neil's pick for "Poem in Your Pocket"
January Gill O’Neil writes…
My poem this time around will be William Carlos Williams’ poem “To Elsie.” It’s a poem I rediscovered recently, one I’ve always loved. And seems more relevant and timely than ever in our supercharged election season. How can you miss with a first line, “The pure products of America/ go crazy–” and the last lines, “No one/ to witness/ and adjust, no one to drive the car”? I believe that first line inspired Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” the poem that made me pay attention to poetry. Both poets were New Jersey natives.
“To Elsie”
William Carlos Williams
The pure products of America
go crazy
mountain folk from Kentucky
or the ribbed north end of
Jersey
with its isolate lakes and
valleys, its deaf-mutes, thieves
old names
and promiscuity between
devil-may-care men who have taken
to railroading
out of sheer lust of adventure
and young slatterns, bathed
in filth
from Monday to Saturday
to be tricked out that night
with gauds
from imaginations which have no
peasant traditions to give them
character
but flutter and flaunt
sheer rags-succumbing without
emotion
save numbed terror
under some hedge of choke-cherry
or viburnum-
which they cannot express
Unless it be that marriage
perhaps
with a dash of Indian blood
will throw up a girl so desolate
so hemmed round
with disease or murder
that she’ll be rescued by an
agent
reared by the state and
sent out at fifteen to work in
some hard-pressed
house in the suburbs
some doctor’s family, some Elsie
voluptuous water
expressing with broken
brain the truth about us
her great
ungainly hips and flopping breasts
addressed to cheap
jewelry
and rich young men with fine eyes
as if the earth under our feet
were
an excrement of some sky
and we degraded prisoners
destined
to hunger until we eat filth
while the imagination strains
after deer
going by fields of goldenrod in
the stifling heat of September
Somehow
it seems to destroy us
It is only in isolate flecks that
something
is given off
No one
to witness
and adjust, no one to drive the car
January Gill O’Neil is the author of Underlife (CavanKerry Press 2009) and the forthcoming Misery Islands (CavanKerry Press 2014). She is an assistant professor at Salem State University and executive director of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival.
January Gill O’Neil’s pick for “Poem in Your Pocket”
January Gill O’Neil writes…
My poem this time around will be William Carlos Williams’ poem “To Elsie.” It’s a poem I rediscovered recently, one I’ve always loved. And seems more relevant and timely than ever in our supercharged election season. How can you miss with a first line, “The pure products of America/ go crazy–” and the last lines, “No one/ to witness/ and adjust, no one to drive the car”? I believe that first line inspired Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” the poem that made me pay attention to poetry. Both poets were New Jersey natives.
“To Elsie”
William Carlos Williams
The pure products of America
go crazy
mountain folk from Kentucky
or the ribbed north end of
Jersey
with its isolate lakes and
valleys, its deaf-mutes, thieves
old names
and promiscuity between
devil-may-care men who have taken
to railroading
out of sheer lust of adventure
and young slatterns, bathed
in filth
from Monday to Saturday
to be tricked out that night
with gauds
from imaginations which have no
peasant traditions to give them
character
but flutter and flaunt
sheer rags-succumbing without
emotion
save numbed terror
under some hedge of choke-cherry
or viburnum-
which they cannot express
Unless it be that marriage
perhaps
with a dash of Indian blood
will throw up a girl so desolate
so hemmed round
with disease or murder
that she’ll be rescued by an
agent
reared by the state and
sent out at fifteen to work in
some hard-pressed
house in the suburbs
some doctor’s family, some Elsie
voluptuous water
expressing with broken
brain the truth about us
her great
ungainly hips and flopping breasts
addressed to cheap
jewelry
and rich young men with fine eyes
as if the earth under our feet
were
an excrement of some sky
and we degraded prisoners
destined
to hunger until we eat filth
while the imagination strains
after deer
going by fields of goldenrod in
the stifling heat of September
Somehow
it seems to destroy us
It is only in isolate flecks that
something
is given off
No one
to witness
and adjust, no one to drive the car
January Gill O’Neil is the author of Underlife (CavanKerry Press 2009) and the forthcoming Misery Islands (CavanKerry Press 2014). She is an assistant professor at Salem State University and executive director of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival.
Susan Jackson wins Tiferet Writing Contest
Susan Jackson is one of the winners of the 2011 Tiferet writing contest and two of her poems are featured in their current digital issue, The Fifth Gate.
This free digital book showcases stories, essays and poetry- in their entirety.
To download The Fifth Gate click here
Triple Tuesday: Poem in Your Pocket!
Baron Wormser chose:
“Low Red Moon” by Irene McKinney
Baron Wormser is the author/coauthor of a dozen books. He lives with his wife in Cabot, Vermont
Joseph O. Legaspi chose:
“Song” by Laura Kasischke
Joseph O. Legaspi is the author of Imago (CavanKerry Press) and resides in Queens, NY. Visit him at www.josepholegaspi.com.
Jeff Hale chose:
“The Children’s Year” from Life With Sam by Elizabeth Hall Hutner.
Jeff Hale is Director of Development for the Society of Arts in Healthcare.
Read Teresa Carson's pick for "Poem in Your Pocket"
Teresa Carson writes:
At this year’s Massachusetts Poetry Festival, Dawn Potter and I will be teaching a workshop called: The Dramatic Monologue: Writing the Other “I.” We will use “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning to show how writing in the voice of someone else can teach you how to write in your own voice. It is an understatement to say that I am obsessed with this poem right now. On every re-reading of it I find something new—another layer of meaning, another perfect word choice, another place in which sound enhances meaning, another insight into the Duke’s character. Last week I marveled over the opening four words (“That’s my last Duchess”) and how the meaning of those words shifted—ever so slightly but oh so importantly— depending upon which one I chose to stress. Over the weekend I wondered why Browning, who chose words very carefully, chose “stoop” instead of “bow” and so to the OED I went. Today I’m thinking about the echo of Macbeth in “that spot” on the Duchess’ cheek. Why do new aspects of this poem keep opening to me? Because Browning, to paraphrase John Keats, loads every rift of his subject with ore; may we strive to do the same in our poems.
“My Last Duchess”
by Robert Browning
That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now; Fra Pandolf’s hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said
“Fra Pandolf” by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myself they turned (since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
How such a glance came there; so, not the first
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ’twas not
Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek; perhaps
Fra Pandolf chanced to say, “Her mantle laps
Over my lady’s wrist too much,” or “Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Half-flush that dies along her throat.” Such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart—how shall I say?— too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
Sir, ’twas all one! My favour at her breast,
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
She rode with round the terrace—all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
Or blush, at least. She thanked men—good! but thanked
Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame
This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
In speech—which I have not—to make your will
Quite clear to such an one, and say, “Just this
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
Or there exceed the mark”—and if she let
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse—
E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose
Never to stoop. Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet
The company below, then. I repeat,
The Count your master’s known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretense
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed
At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me
