Author Archives: Tyler

“The Feeling of Knowing”: Brent Corcoran’s Review of Fire

      Comments Off on “The Feeling of Knowing”: Brent Corcoran’s Review of Fire

I remembered the other day that the Fall 2012 issue of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought includes a review of Fire in the Pasture. It’s titled “The Feeling of Knowing” and was written by Brent Corcoran, a fellow poet (his name’s in the index included at the end of the anthology) and Dialogue‘s production manager. Here’s a snippet, which… Read more »

Sampling Fire

      1 Comment on Sampling Fire

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 »

Public Uses of Poetry: Two AML Proposals

      2 Comments on Public Uses of Poetry: Two AML Proposals

I submitted two proposals for this year’s AML Conference, both poetry-centered, of course. Here they are: Proposal 1: Live Poetry Anthology: Mormon Poets Read (Two full sessions) Based on the success of the two poetry reading panels I organized for last year’s AML Conference, I approached my poet friends to see if there was any interest in organizing more readings… Read more »

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

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

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

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

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 »

Scott Cameron On God’s Restlessness

      1 Comment on Scott Cameron On God’s Restlessness

Anthology Poet Highlight 45/82: Scott Cameron, “Water Has No Memory” [soundcloud id=’58705907′ playerType=’Standard’ width=’46%’ color=’#003366′]   I’m enamored of Scott’s description of a restless God, mostly because “a restless God” wasn’t language I’d considered before hearing Scott read this poem at our group faculty reading in June (which is where I snagged the recording). But it struck me as apropos… Read more »

“This Guy Can Walk on Anything”: Dayna Patterson’s “Our Lord Jesus in Drag”

      1 Comment on “This Guy Can Walk on Anything”: Dayna Patterson’s “Our Lord Jesus in Drag”

Poet Highlight: Dayna Patterson, “Our Lord Jesus in Drag” In my sonnet “On Crucifixion by J. Kirk Richards,” I use the practice of cross-dressing as an analogue for Christ condescending from godhood to put on mortality: “When God cross-dresses in death,” I say, “does / the universe blush?” In her poem, “Our Lord Jesus in Drag,” Dayna also offers a… Read more »

I Will Praise Thee with the Psaltery & Lyre

      1 Comment on I Will Praise Thee with the Psaltery & Lyre

(Cross-posted here.) In early June, Dayna Patterson launched a new poetry publication called Psaltery & Lyre. It’s housed under the auspices of Doves & Serpents, a group blog that, Dayna told me in an email interaction, “caters to [the] sort of open-minded/misfit Mormon crowd.” In fact, the blog’s byline is “With open minds and Mormon hearts,” a statement that wants… Read more »

Poetry of the Void: Melissa Dalton-Bradford’s “House for Rent”

      1 Comment on Poetry of the Void: Melissa Dalton-Bradford’s “House for Rent”

Anthology Poet Highlight 44/82: Melissa Dalton-Bradford, “House for Rent” (Scroll down, both there and here) Language came to me deeply when my paternal grandfather started to decline, when his body began to give in to the detritus of age, when I was faced with his loss. I’ve noted elsewhere that “our words, we hope, will ward off death. Looking into… Read more »

Mirroring Mortality: Calvin Olsen’s Haiku #100

      2 Comments on Mirroring Mortality: Calvin Olsen’s Haiku #100

Anthology Poet Highlight 43/82: Calvin Olsen, Haiku #100 I’ve been fascinated with haiku since I started writing poetry and for a time I, like Calvin, used haiku as a springboard into writing longer poems. I think I was drawn to the form because it’s short, yes, but also because there’s a great deal of intricacy at work in the image-heavy… Read more »