Poem: "Gate C 22" by Ellen Bass

At gate C 22 in the Portland airport
a man in a broad-band leather hat kissed
a woman arriving from Orange County.
They kissed and kissed and kissed. Long after

the other passengers clicked the handles of their carry-ons
and wheeled briskly toward short-term parking,
the couple stood there, arms wrapped around each other
like satin ribbons tying up a gift. . . .

[Continued on the website of The Missouri Review,
where "Gate C 22" by Ellen Bass was published in 2002.]

A Few Books, Mostly Memoirs

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Despite loving Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, I hadn't read any of her books that dealt more with religion than writing. Recently, though, I read all three of them, and found that, like Bird by Bird, each was at least as much memoir as how-to manual.

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith
Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith

Trust me when I say that this was the first time I'd ventured into the Religion section of a bookstore for some new reading material.
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Also very late in the game, I finally read David Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty One Day. I'd had two of his books on my shelves for years; I'm now moving on to the second (more recent) one.

A few months ago, I bought a book of essays that was supposed to be witty and wonderful, and I don't know--it just didn't work for me. I plowed through the entire book trying unsuccessfully to understand what the reviewers were raving about. So I tried not to pay attention to all the hype about Me Talk Pretty One Day to avoid being similarly disappointed, but this book was terrific.
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I meant to add this to one of my blog posts a long time ago: a chapbook from Dancing Girl Press called The Terrible Baby, a collection of poems by Rebecca Cook. The cover is what initially drew me to that particular chapbook; it's a painting by Lauren Matthews Levato called "Maternal." (The second draw was the tantalizingly provocative title of the chapbook.)

The Fall 2008 issue of the Apple Valley Review

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The Fall 2008 issue of the journal features fiction by Alex Myers and Rachel Ephraim; memoir by Panteha Sanati; prose poetry by Julie Babcock; poetry by Vince Corvaia, Keetje Kuipers, Philip Matthews, M.J. Iuppa, Miranda Steffens, Andrew Slattery, Richard Stolorow, Margaret Rozga, Naira Kuzmich, Jim Murdoch, Susan Culver, and Heather Mercer; and artwork by Rob Evans.

The Apple Valley Review is a semiannual online literary journal. The current issue, previous issues, subscription information, and complete submission guidelines are available at www.applevalleyreview.com.

A Short Collection of Poetry

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While I was at the conference in New York, I bought a copy of Late Wife by Claudia Emerson (from the Southern Messenger Poets series, Louisiana State University Press, 2005). This book also won The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2006, though I was (ever shallow) first drawn to its appearance.

These four were my favorites from the collection:

"Pitching Horseshoes" (originally published in Blackbird, Spring 2003, Volume 2, Number 1)

"The Practice Cage"

"Driving Glove"

"Buying the Painted Turtle" (originally published in Shenandoah)

Two Stories from One Story, One from Steve Almond, and a Novel

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Given the reasonable subscription price and the time-friendly format, it's not difficult to read everything published by One Story. The stories are also consistently excellent, so I feel like it's saying something that these two have stood out in my mind:

"Culottes" by Eileen FitzGerald (One Story, Issue Number 82, October 20, 2006)

"What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us" by Laura van den Berg (One Story, Issue Number 102, March 10, 2008)

I finally finished Steve Almond's The Evil B.B. Chow and Other Stories (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2005). Steve Almond's stories typically feature great beginnings and witty, acerbic observations. I'd read some of his other writing (e.g., the novel he co-wrote with Julianna and many of his dead-on essays for Poets and Writers) and admired his style. In The Evil B.B. Chow, though, he does use language and subject matter that are more graphic than he might use in, say, a P&W essay. At any rate, the story that really got me was one toward the end: "Wired for Life," which originally appeared in The Missouri Review.

And I'm going to add one other book here, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (first published in 1847). I just find it remarkable that this novel, comprised of plot points that make it seem almost impossibly dated, can still strike a chord.

"The Happy Memories Club"

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Best of the South: From the Second Decade of New Stories from the South (1996-2005), edited by Shannon Ravenel, with stories selected and introduced by Anne Tyler, has been on my nightstand for years now. It sounds silly, but there are certain books that I've looked forward to so much that I don't want to spoil the anticipation by actually reading them.

Anyway, I've read some real clunkers lately and needed something good. So I finally opened Best of the South yesterday, and immediately read a short story that I've read numerous times: "The Happy Memories Club" by Lee Smith. It was originally published in The Atlantic Monthly, and it's one of my all-time favorite stories.

The writing is good, of course--sharp, sometimes funny, perfectly wrought--but there is also something about this story that is just so poignant.

LINKS:

"The Happy Memories Club" at The Atlantic Monthly online

Lee Smith reading "The Happy Memories Club" in the audio archive for the WUNC 91.5 FM show "The State of Things"

News of the Spirit (a collection of short stories by Lee Smith), New Stories from the South (1996), and Best of the South (1996-2005), all of which include "The Happy Memories Club"

My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead

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It's taken several weeks, but I've finally finished every story in the anthology I've been reading: My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead: Great Love Stories, from Chekhov to Munro edited by Jeffrey Eugenides (HarperCollins, 2008).

Intimidated by Eugenides's introductory description of Robert Musil's "difficult and rather punishing 'Tonka,'" I read it last, though I mainly found the story intriguing. There were quite a few familiar stories in the anthology (Chekhov's "The Lady with the Little Dog," Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," Nabokov's "Spring in Fialta," Raymond Carver's "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love") combined with several authors/stories which were refreshingly new, at least to me (Eileen Chang's "Red Rose, White Rose," David Bezmozgis's "Natasha," Richard Ford's "Fireworks," Milan Kundera's "The Hitchhiking Game").

This was a strong collection overall, but my two favorites were "Something That Needs Nothing" by Miranda July and "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" by Alice Munro. One other story that stood out in my mind was "Jon" by George Saunders.

Amazon's page for the book includes Q & A with Jeffrey Eugenides, including a note about a story he selected but wasn't able to include ("Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proulx) and information about the student writing programs offered by 826 Chicago (which will receive all author proceeds from sales of the anthology).

Short fiction by Thomas Kearnes

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I recently read "The Game of Memory," a short story by Thomas Kearnes, at Pequin (where the writing is "hotter than habanero"). I liked the story so much that I looked around for some of his previously published work. Below are links to a few other stories:

"Last Dance" by Thomas Kearnes (SmokeLong Quarterly, Issue 15)

"A Failed Story About My Father" by Thomas Kearnes (Thieves Jargon, May 11, 2008)

"Girl on the Floor" by Thomas Kearnes, read by Ann Rushton (Bound Off: Literary Audio Podcast, Issue 11, December 15, 2006)

Eat, Pray, Love

Well, I think I've finally caught up with everyone else in America by reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. For some reason, I was under the impression that this was a self-help book, but it is (of course) really a memoir about divorce, depression, travel, enlightenment, spirituality, and amazing Italian food, among other things.

This is a book that has really stuck with me; I've been reading it since the end of April, when I picked up my sister-in-law's half-finished copy and couldn't put it down. I ended up thinking about it for the entire hour that I was stuck in traffic in Toronto on the way home, and as soon as possible I got a copy for myself so that I could continue reading. It was slow going, though; there was too much to think about and process. It may not be a self-help book per se, at least not in the sense that I thought it was, but it did speak to a lot of things I've been thinking about over the last couple of years.

For anybody who's already read Eat, Pray, Love and was as bewitched by it as I was, Elizabeth Gilbert's website has a page of frequently asked questions about the journey she took. There are also photographs of some of the people and places she described in the book. Good stuff.

Lars and the Real Girl (and other stories)

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Last December, I saw Lars and the Real Girl (2007) in the theatre, and then again yesterday on DVD. This film is really charming, with a strong story line and a pitch-perfect cast. Nancy Oliver's screenplay was nominated for an Oscar and several other awards, and Ryan Gosling and Emily Mortimer also received recognition for their respective roles.

One of Ryan Gosling's earlier movies, Half Nelson (2006), is also one of my current favorites. It's a lot darker than Lars but also an intensely well-crafted piece with its own string of award nominations/wins.

To add to this tangential list, one of Emily Mortimer's earlier movies, Lovely and Amazing (2001), also features really strong performances from her, Catherine Keener, and virtually everyone else in the movie, including a young Jake Gyllenhaal. This movie was written and directed by Nicole Holofcener and was described in one quote on the cover as a "witty moving comedy!" Lovely and Amazing was witty, and it was moving, but in my opinion, it was definitely more of a drama.

Stranger Than Fiction (2006) featured Will Ferrell in a straight role. I think the man is a talented comedian, but after watching him on Saturday Night Live and later in a string of occasionally funny comedies, I wasn't sure he could carry this off. I was very pleasantly surprised by his acting in this movie. Maggie Gyllenhaal (Jake's sister) played the baker that Will Ferrell's IRS agent character is auditing, and Emma Thompson played an author with writer's block.

I don't know if I can continue the connect-the-actors element of this post, but there are a few other strong scripts I'd like to add to the list:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, and--in a minor role--Mark Ruffalo),

The Truman Show (1998, also starring Jim Carrey and the lovely Laura Linney, who starred in 2000's You Can Count on Me with Mark Ruffalo),

Love Actually (2003, with a large ensemble cast including Emma Thompson, Laura Linney, Colin Firth, and Hugh Grant),

Sideways (2004, with the underappreciated Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, and Sandra Oh),

and Little Miss Sunshine (2006, with Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Alan Arkin as the grandfather you might not want your kids to hear, the incomparable Steve Carell, and Bryan Cranston in a small but pivotal role).

Happy Poetry Month! (Part 2)

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A couple of days ago, I posted links to some poetry online, and today I wanted to highlight some alternatives to traditional print reading:

Visit Born Magazine, "an experimental venue marrying literary arts and interactive media." One of Born Magazine's recent collaborations featured a poem called "What Afterlife" by Keetje Kuipers paired with an interactive design by Andrew Kostuik. In addition to the multimedia version, there is an option to view the poem in a static form.

Sign up for Knopf's Poem-a-Day mailing list and receive one poem via e-mail on each day in April. To subscribe, send a blank e-mail message to sub_knopfpoetry (at) info.randomhouse.com or visit www.randomhouse.com/knopf/poetry/poemaday.
The first poem to be featured this year was "A Phone Call from the Future" by Mary Jo Salter, from her book A Phone Call to the Future: New & Selected Poems. Knopf's site also has links to the poems, broadsides, and a podcast, which includes Mary Jo Salter reading this poem.

Listen to more poets reading on the web. The April is National Poetry Month podcast features a number of poets reading and discussing their own work. One of my favorite poems I've heard so far was "The Big Picture" by Ellen Bass. (You can get to this one by scrolling down toward the bottom of the page and clicking on the accompanying Play button.)

Become a vector (or just print a lovely broadside for yourself) at Broadsided. Their current feature is "Among Trees (or) The Heart Is a Bee Hive" with art by Elizabeth Terhune and poetry by Cindy St. John. (Please click here to view this broadside as a pdf).

Then, when you're tired of cruising around on the web, go outside! It's finally April. Walk to your local bookstore and buy a literary journal or a book of poetry, or attend a reading or other event celebrating Poetry Month. The Academy of American Poets has a calendar of events happening throughout the United States, and the League of Canadian Poets has a readings calendar for Canada.

Happy Poetry Month!

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Now that we're into April, I wanted to post links to some poetry:

"Purple Peruvian Potatoes" by Rosa Salazar (a poem from r.kv.r.y., Winter 2008)

"The Lake Oswego Girls' Soccer Team at the Hilton Pool" by Keetje Kuipers (a poem from From the Fishouse, December 2006)

"The Sleepwalker's Wife" by Zachary Greenwald (a poem from The 2River View, Summer 2006)

"Swallowed" by Anne Haines (a poem from Valparaiso Poetry Review, Spring/Summer 2007, and reprinted in Best of the Net 2007)

"Dreaming Your Death" by Karen Buckley (a poem from Orbis, Spring 2005)

"she told me her mother slept with a revolver" by Justin Hyde (a poem from The Orange Room Review, October 2007)

Money and Class in America

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Penguin had a table at the book fair in New York City, and one of the books I bought was a collection called The Haves and Have-Nots: 30 Stories About Money and Class in America (edited by Barbara Solomon).

A couple of weeks ago, then, while I was still in the middle of The Haves and Have-Nots, I found a copy of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. This is a compulsively readable book, and a video of the author discussing it can be found on the website for Simon & Schuster (simonsays.com) and apparently also on Amazon.

The Glass Castle has its dark moments, but in a larger sense it is about resilience, and what it means to be a parent, and the effect alcohol and other vices can have on a family. Again, too, it is about money and class in America.

When I finished it, I finally got a copy of a book I've been meaning to read since it was published in 2001, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. I'd highly recommend this book, which is, to use one of the author's most poetic lines, about "the juxtaposition of terrible heat and cool, inaccessible water" (p. 88).

The Spring 2008 issue of the Apple Valley Review

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The Spring 2008 issue of the journal features fiction by Kathy Anderson and John Lowry; poetry by Pat Daneman, Anna Evans, Lucia Zimmitti, Laurie Junkins, Brian R. Lutz, Lyn Lifshin, David N. DeVries, Elizabeth Barbato, Lori Huskey, George Moore, Tammy Ho Lai-ming, Julie L. Moore, and Mark Thalman; and artwork by Cynthia Tom.

The Apple Valley Review is a semiannual online literary journal. The current issue, previous issues, subscription information, and complete submission guidelines are available at www.applevalleyreview.com.

AWP in NYC

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On Sunday, I returned from the AWP conference in New York City. It was an amazing experience all around, and I was able to hear readings by some of my favorite writers. This seems like a great excuse to post links to some of their work.

Billy Collins read on Saturday afternoon, and he was paired with Frank McCourt (Angela's Ashes). The two men were good friends, and they were both wildly entertaining readers. I enjoyed everything they read, but the piece that sticks out in my mind is one of Billy Collins' poems, "The Lanyard." This has always been one of my favorites, but his delivery made it ten times better. The long pause before "and I gave her a lanyard" left me laughing so hard I cried.
Link: The Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems (which includes "The Lanyard") by Billy Collins.

I was really, really looking forward to the reading by Joyce Carol Oates. Seriously. I sat outside the room for the entire previous session so that I could dash in and get a good seat for her reading. And it was worth it. I can't imagine anything more gracious than the way she began her speech: "It's a pleasure to be in the company of so many fellow writers."
Link: Joyce Carol Oates' new novel, The Gravedigger's Daughter.

Mark Strand. The woman I was sitting next to at the Mark Strand reading asked if I had ever heard him read before. When I said no, she said, "You're in for a treat." He was tall and elegant, and had a voice to match.
Link: The book that made me a fan of Mark Strand, Blizzard of One.

I hadn't seen Julianna Baggott in person in about nine years. She was as lovely and sweet as ever, and I really enjoyed catching up with her again. She participated in a couple of panels and signed copies of her newest book, Compulsions of Silkworms and Bees, on Friday afternoon at the bookfair. 

Link: Julianna Baggott's first collection of poetry, This Country of Mothers. 

Sharon Olds has a beautiful voice. I was one of the 100+ people sitting or standing at the back of the room during her reading, and I was too far away to see her clearly, but she had a microphone and she sounded terrific. 

Link: In addition to some more recent work, Sharon Olds read the poem that I always think of when I think of her, "I Go Back to May 1937." 

Amy Bloom is one of my all-time favorite writers (please see my previous blog entry for more about her and her new novel, Away). On Thursday morning, I attended a panel subtitled "Being Crazy Doesn't Make You Interesting" (an evocative title that was apparently her idea). This was a good panel in general, and I discovered that she's as interesting in person as she is on the page. 

Link: Amy Bloom's first published collection of short stories, Come to Me.