A poem by R.S. Thomas from The Writer's Chronicle and three poems by Keetje Kuipers from her book The Keys to the Jail

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To all light things

I compared her; to

a snowflake, a feather. . . .
 --From "Comparisons," a poem by R.S. Thomas, from Collected Later Poems 1988-2000 (Bloodaxe Books, 2004), reprinted in The Writer's Chronicle (October/November 2013), p. 56.  

 

It was the season of dead moles,

black silken pelts like evening purses

abandoned along the forest path. . . . 

--From "Our Last Vacation," a poem by Keetje Kuipers, published by Connotation Press, Volume 5, Issue 8 (April 2014) and reprinted in her collection The Keys to the Jail (BOA Editions, 2014), p. 15.    

 

 

What if I came here with some idea

of this place, of who I could be when I'm

 

in it: Learned the names for every clouded

body of water. . . .  

--From "Dog Gun Lake," a poem by Keetje Kuipers, published by Lo-Ball and reprinted in her collection The Keys to the Jail (BOA Editions, 2014), p. 59.  

 

 

It was a beautiful night for the rodeo. 

Rain all day and then a sheen of evening

sun.  I went to the grocery store, bought

someone else's bread, some else's

milk. . . .    

--From "A Beautiful Night for the Rodeo," a poem by Keetje Kuipers, published by American Poetry Review (May/June 2013) and reprinted in Poetry Daily and in her collection The Keys to the Jail (BOA Editions, 2014), p. 81.   

Collections of short stories and novellas, and a poem

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No one belongs here more than you. Stories by Miranda July (Scribner, 2007).

(If you visit the website for the book, look for the tiny pink arrows at the bottom right of each page. The site is quirky, just like her writing.)

She does occasionally go off in a direction I don't love, but she's such an interesting writer. A few of my favorites:

"The Man on the Stairs" (originally published in Fence): "The man on the stairs pauses for such incredibly long periods of time, I almost wonder if he is having a problem. Like maybe he's disabled or very old. Or maybe just really tired. Maybe he's already killed everyone else on the block and now he's all worn out." (pp. 36-37)

"Something That Needs Nothing" (published in Bridge, The New Yorker, and My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead, edited by Jeffrey Eugenides, which I blogged about here).

"The Boy from Lam Kien" (published by Cloverfield Press)

"Birthmark" (published in The Paris Review, Spring 2003)

"How to Tell Stories to Children"

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Publish and Perish: Three Tales of Tenure and Terror, a collection of three novellas by James Hynes (Picador USA, 1997).
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"Across a Great Wilderness Without You" by Keetje Kuipers, probably my favorite poem from her collection Beautiful in the Mouth (BOA Editions, 2010). "Across a Great Wilderness Without You" first appeared in 42opus and on p. 36 of Beautiful. (I think it goes without saying that I also liked "At Stanfield Reservoir and Wildlife Preserve," which first appeared in the Apple Valley Review and is on pp. 44-45 of the book.)

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.