Maybe Next Week...

Hello and apologies again for not having a book review up for this Friday. Please drop in again Monday and I’ll try to finish my book before next Friday…

Blue Mesa Review Poetry Contest

Co-poetry editor Nora Hickey passed along the details for the contest below:

2012 poetry contest guidelines:
 All unpublished poetry manuscripts of 5 poems maximum will be considered.
 The winner will receive $750 and publication in Blue Mesa Review Issue 25, and two copies of issue 25.
 Please submit and pay $17 online to our new online submission manager
 ENTRY DEADLINE: BY DECEMBER 31st, 2011
 Submit here: http://bluemesareview.submishmash.com/submit

*Also, Dana Levin is judging the contest

To visit the main website go to:

http://www.unm.edu/~bluemesa/


Good luck to all who submit, please stop by again soon…

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://www.calamaripress.com/3rdBed/3rd_bed-issue%204.pdf
Jason Nelson’s “Pathology and Pathologic Anatomy” (page 13)

http://www.poolpoetry.com/poetthirteen.html
Ronnie Yates’ “Cigarette Smoke”

Thanks for clicking in, please check in tomorrow for more Open Submissions…

The Measure of Small Gratitudes by Ann Menebroker

Ann Menebroker’s The Measure of Small Gratitudes is published by Kamini Press and is a smart collection of poems encompassing the every-day yet memorable moments of life in a gentle and grand-sweeping gesture. Reading these poems makes me feel like I am being shown a photo album and being told the stories behind the photos. Ann Menebroker has published over twenty collections of poems and has appeared in numerous anthologies, including The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry and she is part of a documentary based on poets in Sacramento tilted I Began To Speak. Ms. Minebroker’s most recent collection from Kamini Press is a pleasure to read, so much so that I think I’d like to share each and every poem but cannot so here are a few for you to savor:

For Joe DiMaggio

for a long time baseball has been a boy’s
dream and spring, his time to be kissed awake
because the grass smells good, is tall enough
to cut down, his mitt oiled and fits him
like a pattern of his leanest need
something he starves for, but the regulators
for a busy life tell him the game’s too slow
the heroes are no longer on the mound, at bases
or in the field. you could build a small village
by the top of the ninth inning, and extra
innings are torture. but he still believes
in the game. he still believes in the pitcher’s
magic, the hitter’s power, the catcher’s technique.
the umpire’s call. in his dream it’s the seventh
inning and the crowd knows all the words to the song.
the bat boy is so full of joy he trips over home plate.

I love poems about baseball, I love the game even though I don’t follow it closely, it just reminds me of summer and good times with friends and family. In this poem, I love that Ms. Menebroker reveals the nostalgia of a young man’s heart despite the changing times and pace of the world around him. The game is so loved that even the bat boy trips for joy over the home plate at the end of the poem, lovely.



What Doesn’t Fit Here

i’m old style, honey
wax paper wrapped sandwiches
and odd smelling lunch boxes
with handles, a thermos
with o.j. and gin, a banged-up
old portable radio once belonging
to an aunt of mine, playing songs
from the thirties and me, lighting
a cigarette from the matchbox
my mom got from “windows on the world”
when she flew to new york, alone
telling her children we didn’t spend
much time with her, had dinner
at the world trade center and got
a little drunk at age seventy-nine.

This poem tugs at my own nostalgia for old lunch boxes and my own love of old-fashioned songs. At the end of the poem you realize that the world trade center has been brought up as something to have nostalgia for, that the poem encompasses not only the personal memories of the poet but now we also pine for the old days when the world trade center was still standing. How lucky her mother was to visit it and bring back the small memento with which our poet lights her cigarette. This small moment shared with us and in turn, shared with the world.



The Quiet House

east of the city, the off-street parking
of my apartment is my
scenic view, and pole lines and trees –
even one filled with oranges, planted
in the backyard of a two-story white
wooden house whose owners
have a lighting system
that goes on at night, as if
someone is there.
but as much as i look, no one
is home. the kitchen is neat
and untouched, like my future.
the stove is never on, and if the
refrigerator hums, i’ve never heard it.

This is another poem which tugs at me in a personal way. I am obsessed with houses and always have been, every shape and size, curious about the people who live inside. I love driving in neighborhoods where children are riding bicycles, couples walk hand-in-hand down the street, where neighbors tend their front lawns full of flowers and that seems to be disappearing quickly these days. This poem brings that idea to life, this perfect little house in which nothing appears to be happening, no sign of life, no sign that the house is actually a home. The lines: “the kitchen is neat/and untouched, like my future” further builds the stark contrast between activity versus the hope of impending activity. I love that the ending line is about never hearing the refrigerator hum because we never hear our neighbor’s refrigerators hum but the house is so quiet that the poet believe she should be able to hear it. I love this poem, it paints the picture I fear most: Perfect little houses with no life in them.


As I said, this collection of poems is filled with wonderful gems and I have had a very hard time selecting just a few to share. To order a copy of The Measure of Small Gratitudes from Kamini Press there are signed editions for $10.00 and limited editions with artwork for $25.00 (both include shipping and handling) at:

www.kaminipress.com


You may also e-mail Henry Denander for an alternative way to pay besides Pay Pal by e-mailing him at:
editorATkaminipressDOTcom

Thanks always for reading, please click in tomorrow for more Poems Found by Poet Hound…

The Fiddler Crab Review

I know I have featured them before but I like sharing them again because it IS the holiday season and they have reviewed a wonderful variety of chapbooks and I think you ought to check out their web-site. I also urge you to support the small presses and buy poetry books/chapbooks/broadsides as Christmas presents for those who can appreciate the written word, so to find some good reviews of good poetry in addition to what you find here, please visit:

http://fiddlercrabreview.blogspot.com/

Thanks always for clicking in, please stop by tomorrow for another featured poet…

Joni Cole’s Contest Winner IS…

Sarah Jane from the blog: the rain in my purse
http://theraininmypurse.blogspot.com/

Congratulations!

Sarah Jane, please e-mail me your mailing address to forward to Ms. Cole so you may receive your prize, the wonderful collection of short stories Another Bad Dog Book!


Thanks to all who entered! Please drop in again soon...

Joni Cole’s Another Bad Dog Book and Give-Away Contest

If you want a book that is funny, heart-warming, with moment of poignant reflection, this is the book for you! I would also say it will make a great Christmas gift for anyone in your family who enjoys stories about children, parents, and feeling like a fish-out-of-water. Joni Cole has been featured on Poet Hound before with her funny and helpful book Toxic Feedback, and is back with her equally funny book Another Bad Dog Book Tales of Life, Love, and Neurotic Human Behavior. Not only that, but she suggested giving a copy away! The rules are simple, just leave a comment or send me an e-mail that you would like to be entered into the contest and names will be drawn at random out of a hat and the winner announced on December 4th, Sunday, 2011.

There are a number of reasons I enjoy this collection: She talks about the trials and tribulations of being a writer, of being an outsider to Vermont and trying to fit in, of visiting her father in a nursing home, of jealousy when her daughters favor hanging out with a friend of hers instead of their own mother. There is a story in here for everyone, from reminiscing about that first crush in the teenage years and the disappointment of discovering who they are as adults to missing a friend who has passed away.

One of the many stories I loved was one in which she visits a friend of hers and complains about trying to fit in to the “Vermont” way of life. I have moved many times in my life and I completely understand her point of view. Even though her friend has also moved into Vermont from somewhere else, the friend displays all the characteristics of typical Vermonters such as growing and producing one’s own food from vegetables to chickens, making your own herbal tea, and skiing. The way Mrs. Cole describes the whole scenario is hilarious as she jealously watches her friend brewing a cup of home-made herbal tea and setting out fresh hand-picked strawberries. As a woman, it is endearing and hilarious to find someone like her who thinks those same jealous thoughts I have when trying to fit in somewhere new.

Another story I enjoyed was one about her mother who is described as saying “Bullshit” and being fiercely determined to keep a clean house. Joni’s mother would vacuum every morning before going to her first-grade class to teach and prompt her children about housekeeping rules such as making them finish sentences like “Shoes off…” with Joni finishing “in the house,” and dutifully remove her shoes. While my mother was not so extreme I have met many like her and to see it from the perspective of a kid who lived it is enlightening and entertaining all at once.

All of Mrs. Cole’s stories are entertaining, even when they have the potential to break your heart such as when she describes her father’s aging process and his former vigor. No matter what your background I truly believe you’ll enjoy the stories in this book which reads like a well-thought out collection of short memoirs.


If you enjoyed this review, I urge you to purchase a copy of Another Bad Dog Book by Joni Cole for yourself and even as a gift for a friend by going to your local book-store or on-line at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1935557165/?tag=pageturners0c&link_code=as3&creativeASIN=1935557165&creative=373489&camp=211189


To WIN a copy of this book: Simply leave a comment in the comments section or send me an e-mail titled “I Want To Win.” The winner will be announced Sunday, December 4th, 2011. Please leave a contact e-mail address so I am able to send an e-mail and request a mailing address, thank you.

Good luck to all who enter the contest, please drop in again on December 4th, I’ll be taking a week off as I prepare for the holidays at my new job as an Activities Director of a long-term-care facility (you would call it a Nursing Home). I’ll be creating a monthly newsletter, helping my staff change out the calendars and decorating for the holidays so I’ll see you the following week and in the meantime I hope you’ll enter the contest and enjoy reading Ms. Cole’s review and secure a copy for yourself…

The Cafe Review Open Submissions

Open year round, always a plus! They do require snail mail, a $1.00 reading fee which I think is worth it for the site is great and the issue is sure to be better and a stamped return envelope so please see the guidelines copy-and-pasted below:

Poetry
Submissions to The Café Review should not exceed three poems (any length) and should arrive with a self addressed stamped envelope. All submissions should be accompanied by one dollar ($1.00), our reading fee, which we put directly back into the production of our publication. Manuscripts will not be returned unless requested by the author and a self-address envelope with correct postage is included with the submission.
Send submissions to:
The Café Review
c/o Yes Books
589 Congress St
Portland, ME 04101
No on-line submissions please

To learn more, go to the link below:

http://www.thecafereview.com/?page_id=26



Good luck to all who submit and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you as well!

Poems Found by Poet Hound

https://sites.google.com/site/scotsiegel/scot-siegel
Scot Seigel’s “California Travelogue”

http://www.thecafereview.com/?page_id=38
Edward Sanders’ “Saying Goodbye”

Thanks for clicking in, please drop by tomorrow for more Open Submissions…

My Apologies Again...

Hello everyone, I am going to be sparse for now on reviewing poetry since I have none left on hand and have not been to the library yet. If you’d like me to review your collection please e-mail me or message me on Facebook, otherwise I will try to get to the library as soon as I can, thanks for your patience.

Please click in tomorrow for more Poems Found by Poet Hound

Paige Ryan's Blog

Paige Ryan’s blog contains poetry and amusing musings, be sure to check it out at:


http://jpaigeryan.blogspot.com/

Thanks for clicking in, please drop in again tomorrow for another featured poet…

Sorry Again...

Sorry folks, I have been transitioning into a new job and refreshing a former career so I ran out of time to post a book review for today although I have several excellent books I have been reading for the Friday review. Please stay tuned and please continue to click in throughout the coming days…

Arsenic Lobster Open Submissions

Arsenic Lobster publishes issues in December, April, and August. The open submssions run from Sept. 1st to April 30th and I have copy-and-pasted the guidelines below:

All submissions must conform to the following guidelines,
• Poems should be timeless, rich in imagery, and edgy. That is, no political rants or Hallmark poetry.
• Must be submitted electronically in the body of an email. Please, no attachments.
• All works must be previously unpublished.
• Each email may include 3-5 poems, any length. Please keep all poems in one email.
• Simultaneous submissions are OK, but please let us know if work is accepted elsewhere.
• Include a short, lively bio.
• Please write your first initial, last name, date and what you are submitting in the SUBJECT LINE.
Example: D. Carson 3/06/07 Poetry.
• Please limit your submissions to one per issue.
• Send your email to LOBSTER@MAGERE.COM .
• We will take submissions from September 1 through April 30.
For more details go to:

http://arseniclobster.magere.com/1submission.html

Good luck to all who submit, please drop in again…

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://www.blossombones.com/winter_spring2011/martin_ws2011.html
“Michael” by Dana Guthrie Martin


http://arseniclobster.magere.com/260401.html
“To the girl who made the leaves fall” by Megan Tutolo


Thanks for clicking in, please stop by tomorrow for more Open Submissions…

Seth Steinzor’s To Join The Lost

First, let me just say that this is the first poet whose modern take on a poet of the past has inspired me not only from beginning to end in this modern take of Dante’s Inferno but has also inspired me to seek out the original collection for reference and insight. Seth Steinzor’s To Join The Lost is a modern take on Dante Alighieri’s collection Dante’s Inferno. Seth Steinzor was born to a Jewish family in California in 1952 and has been writing poetry since his teen years. After studying at Middlebury college he then studied Law at the University of Maine School of Law and his knowledge of law comes into play in this collection in a most refreshing way. Steinzor’s version is modern, smart, at times humorous and at times grotesque in the best possible ways. With Dante as his guide to the underworld we journey through Hell and experience Hell alongside Steinzor and Dante. The poems themselves are long and while I cannot include them in their entirety I can certainly share sections of them with you and if I could, I’d urge you to read both versions in their entirety. They are illuminating, frightening, and inspiring.


Excerpt from Canto XIV:

They were so grimy they seemed to be clothed. Perhaps
that hid from me what was untoward.
“Who are these?” I asked. “Ssh! Listen and watch.”
At Dante’s words a bulky man
straightened his back and turned from the group, and my stomach
flipped when I saw what his shoulders carried
over to our feet. What do you see
when I say faceless? Maybe a smooth
ovoid, perhaps with a cute potato-ish bump where the
nose should be, and dimples for eyes, and a

lipless, toothless hole, of course, for a mouth.
Focus on that hole. Surround it with
bruised, swollen, pulped and ragged tissue.
Some of the blood is congealed, some runs.
It’s said that Serbs would beat their Bosnian captives
beyond individual recognition
until they were brokenly, broadly, barely human.
Like this. Words frothed from him. The voice
was like a wind among rocks. He spoke at length,
and when at last my comprehension

stumbled into action, my horror eroded
to astonishment to hear
the two of us berated for our “errors”
by this pitiful wreck, who offered
“correction” and with each correction raised
a quivering arm and smashed his fist
into what uncorrected had been his face,
exclaiming “nono!” with each punch.
Once, I had to step back to escape the spatter.
Of what he said, I remember little.

The blows with which he destroyed his person also
drove from my mind the ideas that drove them.
“Who is this?” I repeated, sidled behind my
guide for protection. “Pius the Ninth,”
Dante answered, “and in his circle, those who
presumed to rise above fallible mankind
and speak for god. Here’s Jim Jones, a gaggle
of Southern Baptists, the ayatollah
who lowered the fatwah on Salmon Rushdie, Hindu
fanatics, a gang from the Thirty Years War.”


In this excerpt I have to say I think it’s clever that the religious zealots appear in Hell as I have often thought that those who loudly condemned others for not believing in their particular take on religion could not possibly be speaking for God. The fact that Pius punches himself into unrecognizable flesh in Hell is also something that makes sense as those that preach the loudest are often the biggest sinners from what I’ve seen in life. I have to say, I really enjoy Mr. Steinzor’s take on the religious zealots.


Excerpt from Canto XXI:

Remember that package of pork ribs you brought home
the day it was marked for expiration?
You slid it onto the shelf beneath the drawer
in which you keep the cheeses and cold
cuts, meaning to grill tomorrow, but it rained.
It rained the next two days, and then you
forgot the ribs for a few days more. Remember what
blossomed forth when you pierced the shrink wrap?
That scent, blended with undertones of urine
and diarrhea’s rounded sourness,

filled the ditch we came to now, and greeted
us before we reached its lip.
Within, the sources of the stench sat slumped
in rows of wheelchairs facing outwards
to the iron-colored walls, much like the
residents of a nursing home I’d
visited several decades ago, who’d lined both
sides of a windowed hallway. But they’d been
positioned so that the things before their eyes
were each other, to whom their indifference

equaled that of those in the recreation
room to the snowy imbecility
of the ceiling-mounted television
they were parked beneath. These,
unlike those still awaiting death at L.A.’s
Veterans’ Administration, reposed in
pools of their own filth and – even from our
perch so many feet above – the
oozing pressure sores that cratered legs and
buttocks sometimes to the bone…

…”Not even you, my
heavenly wop, are going to spring
one of my wards from here.” At that I almost
gave up hope, but faith in Dante
kept me on my knees. “Ah, Malacoda,
lording it over these fraudsters so long has
robbed you of any sense of the truth, not even
if it bit you on that musical
ass of yours,” my leader said, “though even when
fewer scam artists clogged this sewer,

you were dim enough. So I will put it in
terms of the kind that you are used to.
Do you know Winston Crawfield? He is yet a
countryman of my companion’s.”


In this scene, Dante is trying to hid our poet, Mr. Steinzor, as he speaks to the keeper of the “residents” in the Nursing Home from Hell where it turns out the damned are former scam artists. I share this passage because I have been and will be working in long-term care and it has always been disheartening to hear people refer to such places as a living hell. In this, Steinzor notes that “unlike L.A.’s Veterans Administration” the damned sit in pools of their own filth so while he is not saying that nursing homes are hell he does take the collective populace’s imagination and pushes it to the extreme in this scene which I thought was interesting. Especially since it is reserved for scam artists who frequently target the physically vulnerable and the elderly.


I will end the excerpts here as there are so many sections that I would love to feature in great length but do not have the ability to choose among them. I can only say that Seth Steinzor personalizes his own experience traveling through Hell with Dante as his guide and it is a page turner to the end. I really am jealous of his modern take on Dante’s Inferno and my father-in-law bought the original by Alighieri for me with uncharacteristic enthusiasm since I was so enamored with Steinzor’s version. I urge you again to read both versions, it is well worth it.

I hope you enjoyed this review, this book inspired me to dive into the original Dante’s Inferno by Dante Alighieri and that is rare for me. To be honest, I don’t think I can possibly do this collection of poems justice and I promise you that it is worth every penny if you decide to purchase a copy of Seth Steinzor’s To Join The Lost for $23.00 at the link below or at least seek it out at your local library:

http://antrimhousebooks.com/steinzor.html

Seth Steinzor is part of the TLC Book Tour which I am proud to be a part of, to learn more go to:

http://tlcbooktours.com/2011/08/seth-steinzor-author-of-to-join-the-lost-on-tour-november-2011/


Thanks always for reading, please click in again tomorrow for more Poems Found by Poet Hound…