Category Archives: Anthology Poets

Reliving “Legacy”

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On October 24, 2011, I posted about Michael R. Collings’ poem “Legacy.” Here’s an excerpt from that post and my reading of the poem:; The excerpt: Michael’s longish poem, “Legacy,” breaches the subject of family in a way that neither sentimentalizes the good nor that glosses over the difficult. This is apparent in the first lines in which the poet… Read more »

The Present Sense and Semantics of Pain

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I’m revisiting Elizabeth Garcia’s poem “The Semantics of Blessings”. Here’s an excerpt from my 23 October 2011 post on the poem and my recent reading of it. The excerpt: The first four lines are especially striking: “Do not steal my fire and ice, make null / my trial, void it with another name / than pain. The cut of a… Read more »

Another Quick Roll Down Mark Bennion’s Backyard Slope

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I’m revisiting my reading of Mark L. Bennion’s poem “Still Life” (scroll down). Here’s an excerpt from my original 11 October 2011 post and my recent reading of Mark’s poem: The excerpt: In “Still Life” the poet captures that childhood longing (though I don’t think kids see it that way) to forge some union with the earth, with the people… Read more »

Marilyn and Mozart: Playing it Again

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violin concert from ovidiu onea on Flickr

I’ve started revisiting old posts, adding audio files of me (or someone else) reading the poems I discuss in those posts. Last month, I revisited my commentary on Neil Aitken’s first poetry collection. Today, I’m returning to my thoughts on Marilyn Bushman-Carlton’s poem “Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major. To that end: here’s me performing her poem:

boxcarpoet: Neil Aitken takes SoundCloud

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(Well, sort of.) In October 2011, I posted my capsule review of Neil Aitken’s prize-winning first book, Lost Country of Sight. In the time since I first published that review in Mormon Artist then re-posted it here, Neil’s become active on SoundCloud, sharing recordings of poems from projects old and new. In my effort to flesh out the multimedia profile… Read more »

On Language and Connection via S.P. Bailey’s “spark”

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Anthology Poet Highlight 46/82: S.P. Bailey, “spark” Even though it’s short, S.P. (Shawn) Bailey’s “spark” has potential for diverse readings—even moreso, I think, because it’s not punctuated. This places greater emphasis on the words and the lines themselves and invites readers to contemplate how these words and lines work together as a series of signs and sounds, arranged by the… Read more »

Remembering Paul

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Today is the anniversary of Paul Swenson’s birth. If my calculations are correct, he was born in 1935 and would have turned 78 this year. I’ve thought about him off and on since he passed, mostly because I know that at the time of his death he was working with Dream Garden Press to publish his second poetry collection. According… Read more »

Sampling Fire

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Good news: Fire in the Pasture’s publisher, Peculiar Pages, recently released a sampler of poems from the anthology (formatted by the very capable Elizabeth Beeton of B10Mediaworx). It presents poetry from twenty of Fire’s poets, including a poem by the late Paul Swenson, who passed just over a year ago. (God rest his soul.) As with the anthology, my intention… Read more »

In the Beginning, the End: Some Initial Thoughts on Susan Elizabeth Howe’s Salt

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This past Saturday, my review copy of Susan Elizabeth Howe‘s new book, Salt, arrived. I’ll be reviewing it for A Motley Vision and expect to have my essay completed and posted sometime in the next month or two, but in the meantime I wanted to post my initial response to the collection. While I haven’t yet read beyond the first… Read more »

Mormon Poetry, Have You Met TED? The Case of Calvin Olsen

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Maybe that should read, in the voice of Robert Pinsky, “TED, have you met Mormon Poetry?” Or more specifically, though still in Pinsky’s voice, “TED, have you met Calvin Olsen, American Poet?” But I’ll get to Pinsky and Calvin soon enough. TED is no stranger to contemporary poetry. On the TED stage, former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins has admitted… Read more »