*Of interest to readers of contemporary poetry and audiences who follow contemporary art. The book has a lot in common with process-oriented and performance-based art projects, and also shares concerns with art engaging social practice and relational aesthetics. Also, translators, translation scholars, people who are bi-lingual or multi-lingual, especially bi-lingual Spanish & English speakers.*Author is an Assistant Professor of the Practice of Literary Arts, Brown University*Author was Senior Editor for BOMB Magazine from 2007–2016, and, at present, contributing editor, and poetry editor for the Brooklyn Rail from 2001–2006. She is also a board member of Triple Canopy and Futurepoem . *Author recieved Literary Translation Grant, New York State Council on the Arts, Lucas Artist Residency at Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA, Lannan Foundation Residency, Marfa, TX, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry, MacDowell Colony Residency, and is a Fulbright Scholar
Poet Lenard D. Moore is known internationally for his involvement with the Haiku Society of America and is a revered North Carolina poet and founder of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective. He edited Blair’s anthology All the Songs We Sing: Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective. Blair is reissuing this collection, The Geography of Jazz, first published in 2018.
Elke von der Horsts Gedichte sind in Inhalt und Form höchst unterschiedlich: persönlich und sensibel, lebenserfahren, direkt und ehrlich, tief verarbeitend, dann wieder humorvoll und manchmal auch salopp und banal greifen sie – gereimt und ungereimt – vielfältige Anlässe im Erleben von Innen- und Außenräumen auf.
Wer bin ich? In was für einer Welt lebe ich? Was ist der Sinn dieses Daseins? Was ist es, das «die Welt im Innersten zusammenhält»? Dieser Band enthält etwa 90 Gedichte über die Unendlichkeit des Seins wie über das Wunder des Menschseins. Die Texte sind im Spüren nach dem Wesentlichen aus der Stille entstanden.
This book of poetry is a must read in its fresh approach to life and intimacy. It draws on raw emotion in its attempt to get into the minds of its subjects. The wordplay is dynamic and displays a real vulnerability that most people experience but never admit. It is an appreciation of many subjects in life from womanhood and feminism to senseless acts of violence and racial harmony. The poems serve as a reminder that we are all alike because we all feel helplessness, heartbreak, and fear but also love, resilience, and joy when we finally choose to take that Jump into our destiny.
“It felt emotional…the plea reminded me of how helpless you feel especially during times like that. I also loved the dynamic of the Billie Jean poem…not being just a girl…a lover” (AH).
These poems were written to humble as well as inspire.
My early lessons taught me to work hard and fight through the obstacles that would be encountered in my life. My poetic efforts began simply, without much structure, as I wrote about the issues that I was dealing with daily. Surviving homelessness and the culture that pierces through it, such as substance abuse, hostility, personal safety, etc., I was compelled to write about topics in a way that was clear and not overly symbolic. I soon began to feel drawn to issues that in my earlier days I was not active in, such as politics. Throughout this journey, most of my other interests would find their way to my paper as I tried to reexamine those concepts from a different vantage point. And though using “old-school” rhyme may not be the most popular these days, it is within my comfort zone as I continue to be a work in progress.
Songs I Sing is the raised curtain to a woman, wife, mother, and leader who writes poetry because she must. These one-hundred-plus songs—simple, sweet, sacred, serious, silly, and sensual—seek to upturn every stone in the readers’ heart, resonate in the readers’ mind, and coax a repartee that reflects the impact of the poet’s thoughts, her experiences, her aspirations, her principles. Set to the melody of self-reflection, the rhythm of purposeful living and the tempo of tolerance, Songs I Sing speaks first and foremost to the author, demanding of herself honesty and forthrightness and shunning the unexamined life. A humble exploration of rhyme and prose, reason and rhetoric, commentary and confession, this second book of poetry by B. Germain Reynolds catalogs her love relationship with words and coerces the listener to erupt in song—songs that anyone can sing.
ESL or You Weren’t Here tells the story of a queer Pinoy who immigrates to New York in the 1990s in order to be reunited with their parents. What follows is the poet’s awakening to the legacy of American imperialism & colonialism in the Philippines, and to the experience of living between languages, cultures, temporalities, and genders—untranslatable. ESLasks the reader to bear witness to embodied histories of forced immigration, separation and abandonment rooted in patriarchal racism.
Immer und überall So ist mein Büchlein betitelt. Dieser Titel ist Programm, ein Fingerzeig auf eine gezielte Vielseitigkeit der Gedichteinhalte. Da darf die Leserin, da darf der Leser einiges erwarten. Natürlich Liebesgedichte, aber auch gereimte Märchen, weiter gespannte Verserzählungen, pointierte Vierzeiler, Lebenseinsichten, aber auch Lebenstiefstände, Lebensszenen Jung und Alt. Vieles dabei hat autobiographischen Hintergrund. Dazu dient es der Sache, einen Blick auf den Autor zu werfen. Wir lernen ihn kennen als vielseitige Persönlichkeit: ein, Sports- und Sangesfreund, jugendbewegt, stark familienorientiert, bei seinen Kollegen als Philologe (durchaus Alt- und Neu-) als sprachenbewusst und humorgesteuert anerkannt. Dichten ist für ihn ein spannendes Erlebnis. Bleibt zu hoffen, dass diese Bekenntnisse den Leserinnen und Lesern helfen können bei Verständnis und Sensibilisierung der Gedichte, bei der Freude an ihnen.