National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month. Do you read poetry? Do you write it? Does the very word frighten you?

I used to be an avid poetry reader, and I have the collection to prove it. I still enjoy it when my mom-of-a-toddler brain emerges from the fog.

My first favorite poet was Emily Dickinson. I started reading her when I was around seven because we shared first names.

I Felt a Funeral in My Brain
by Emily Dickinson

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading – treading – till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through –

And when they all were seated,
A Service, like a Drum –
Kept beating – beating – till I thought
My Mind was going numb –

And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again,
Then Space – began to toll,

As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange Race
Wrecked, solitary, here –

And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down, and down –
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing – then –

Review: Good Poems

"...no one

can have poetry or dances, prayers or climaxes all day;...

only Dostoevsky can be Dostoevskian at such long

long tumultuous stretches;..."

from "Moderation Is Not a Negation of Intensity; But Helps Avoid Monotony" by John Tagliabue

This book is just what the title says, good poems. They were selected by Garrison Keillor from poems heard on The Writer's Almanac. Any compilation of the best books or the best poems is going to be subjective, but what I liked about this one is that it is not claiming to be the best poems, just good poems. And most of them were. I would not have chosen them all, but I was introduced to many poems and poets that I never would have looked at otherwise.

If you like poetry, this is a good book to read. If you're afraid of poetry but have always wanted to give it a try, this is a good book to start with. It had a good mix of old and new, traditional and experimental. And it had a lot of Emily Dickinson, my own favorite poet, so you certainly can't go wrong there.

A Short Poem

I love local poet and editor Vinnie Kinsella. He says so much in such small bites of poetry. Check out today's offering, I think it's one of my favorites: When I Fall Apart

Online Chapbook

A teacher and friend of mine from PSU and Ooligan Press just published an online chapbook of poems chronicling his weight loss. The poems are snapshots of his journey to finding the man behind the fat. I recommend this quick and entertaining read for anyone--whether you want to be inspired to your own weight loss goals or are in perfect physical shape. Click on the link below to be taken to his website where you can download the chapbook for free.

Tales of Contraction
by Vinnie Kinsella

The Birth of a Book

Almost two years ago, I sat down with poet Anne Jennings Paris to discuss her book. Today I opened my mailbox and found the finished book, bound and printed. I was introduced to some of these poems when they were only ideas. And now I have a tangible book to hold in my hands and read again and again. Words I looked at and scribbled over countless times are now beautifully printed on the page of a book. And one of those pages has a clean white space awaiting the author's signature at next week's book launch (Tuesday, October 20 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, OR).

Don't let the fact that this is a book of poetry scare you away. It's concrete poetry that tells a story--five stories, in fact. Part poetry, part historical fiction, Paris gives voice to voiceless historical figures from the well known (York, the slave of the Lewis and Clark Expedition) to the obscure but fascinating (Charity Lamb, Oregon's first convicted murderess). With a special emphasis on the Pacific Northwest, Killing George Washington opens windows into the history of America itself--frontiersmen, slaves, explorers, pioneers, immigrants, and architects.

I know these poems backward and forward, but I can't wait to read them again--to turn my editor's brain off and fully enjoy the beauty of the language and the power of the stories.

Killing George Washington: The American West in Five Voices
Anne Jennings Paris
Published by Ooligan Press
$13.95

Buy it at: Powell's Books or Amazon