Poetry Readers Challenge discussion

"So thank you Mr. Mill for writing this book and expressing your views, I hope more people will read your book. You're spot on with expressing the different ranges of feelings of love, lust and all the feelings that come into play with a break up and I liked how you suggested for someone in a similar position to speak with a true friend, someone who really cares. That's Important."

Free to download on the 9th of March 2018.
Butterflies in my stomach: Love is wicked. http://amzn.to/2oEE0ND

My latest poetry pamphlet The Submerged Sea is now listed on Goodreads and available from the publisher and Amazon UK (amongst other places)

Earlier this year, suddenly and quite distressingly (to me), my Elgin-Award-honored, whale,-immigrant,-and-myth-themed 2016 poetry collection A HISTORY OF THE CETACEAN AMERICAN DIASPORA went out of print for reasons beyond my control. Fortunately, the truly wonderful small press Indolent Books has disentangled the book from the fishing net of oblivion by arranging to issue it in the gorgeously designed new edition you see below. I'm thrilled to have found a publisher who believes enough in my book to put this much care into reviving it and putting it back into the hands of readers. And I'm deeply grateful to all of you who helped make this possible by facilitating connections, giving advice, or simply making it known via reviews or social media vociferations that you think CETACEAN is a book worth taking a chance on.

The new edition will be available from the usual booksellers (including the big "A" and the big "B") later this spring, as well as at my upcoming readings. But if you're considering buying the book, I encourage you to do so through the Kickstarter link at the bottom of this post. Even though the Kickstarter has already met its goal, the link will remain active through March 31. Benefits of going through the Kickstarter include free shipping and the opportunity to add other upcoming Indolent Books titles to your order at a steep discount. Just select the reward tier of your choice on the Kickstarter page, and then Indolent will email you a form where you can indicate which title(s) you want and where you'd like it/them shipped. If, like I do, you feel Indolent deserves support for their willingness to take a chance on diverse and frankly strange books like mine, please consider visiting the link and/or sharing it.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...



In A History of the Cetacean American Diaspora Jenna Le’s furious and steeled voice leaves nothing unturned, propelling these poems through explorations of displacement, womanhood, the body and its endured violences, by confronting a history as tenuous and elusive as the ghosts it conjures. She has created her own version of the Ark, one where the whale, forgotten in the original, is now carried as “a child of immigrants, like me.” In these tender, earnest yet fierce poems, Le does not reinvent myth, but expands it to include our most damned outsiders. And how lucky we are that, like the great Robert Hayden, she has created a vision where “Nothing human is foreign….” As such, this book is as much about loss as it is about art-making and being human—and utterly, forgivably alive.

—Ocean Vuong

It has been a long time since I have read a book as memorable as Jenna Le’s A History of the Cetacean American Diaspora. She makes the forms sound new, but it is also the memorability of her subject matter. An immigrant is compared to a whale; Noah’s ark is replayed in a taxi; and physical self-love is transformed into “fish’s skin [that] will turn crisp / in a copper pan above a kitchen blaze.” The work is both clever and poignant, with unexpected characters like William Butler Yeats’s mistress and a narcoleptic who is scripted into a romance narrative that involves abuse; yet, as Le writes, “At seven years old, that’s what I thought love was.” If you thought you knew what formal poetry was, you need to read Jenna Le’s magical, original book.

—Kim Bridgford

Jenna wrote: "Earlier this year, suddenly and quite distressingly (to me), my Elgin-Award-honored, whale,-immigrant,-and-myth-themed 2016 poetry collection A HISTORY OF THE CETACEAN AMERICAN DIASPORA went out of..."

Congratulations. Really pleased for you.

Wow. How awful that you were abandoned but how wonderful that you found a more enthusiastic publisher.

And the deals on the kickstarter page are very tempting.

Thanks, J.S. and Jen! And J.S., congrats on your own book!

And yes, Jen, once you get to the $20-or-higher brackets, the deals become quite good (for example, three books for a total of $20 is really not bad at all)! Among the other books available via the Kickstarter, the only other book I've read so far besides my own is the other one I'm in: the anthology Poems in the Aftermath, which, besides my own poem, also includes a poem I adore by Jason Schneiderman as well as poems by Denise Duhamel, Cornelius Eady, Timothy Liu, and other luminaries in addition to some fine emerging poets. It's an interesting read.



Among the other Kickstarter rewards, I'm most tempted by Jameson Fitzpatrick's book -- I really love some of his poems (e.g., "I Woke Up"), and the description of his book is to die for: http://www.indolentbooks.com/mr-by-ja...

Love "I Woke Up." If I have any money at the end of the month, I may have to indulge in some Indolence. I've recently realized that I have few individual books of poetry. Instead I have collections, which can be a slog, even the worthwhile ones. I need some more manageable books (or this is how I'm beginning to rationalize buying more books before finishing the ones on my shelves).

Jen wrote: "Love "I Woke Up." If I have any money at the end of the month, I may have to indulge in some Indolence. I've recently realized that I have few individual books of poetry. Instead I have collections..."

I find I tend to oscillate: last year, almost all the poetry books I read were individual collections by contemporary poets, and by the end of the year I felt the need to pivot back to the other end of the spectrum and start reading books with the title Selected Poems by mid-career/end-career poets again. So far this year, I've read three individual collections and two selecteds (largely because that's what my lovely little local used bookstore had to offer when I stopped in). It's so hard to strike the right balance to satisfy the needs and wants of one's own individual mind, and I do think seasonality has a lot to do with it.

Hello poetry people! My beautiful new book of poems, One Flew Over The Heart, just came out and is waiting to reach many readers. And I will be much obliged if you could read and review my poetry and help me get my words to the rest of the world. Here's the link:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

And all the best to new poets and new books :)

Hello everyone, I have published my first poetry collection few weeks ago, here's a link to my book on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... i'm also offering free PDF Format for reviewing purposes. Let me know if you're interested in reading it. Thank you!!

A Rising Moon on Domestic Violence

Hi everyone, I have written this book that was released last year, I also have signed copies available with a inscription too if anyone is interested.

Hope everyone had a terrific weekend. 😊

Also here is a link where you can purchase a copy.

https://whitelightshop.com/collection...

Over on YouTube there is now a video of me reading some of the poems from my recent pamphlet, The Submerged Sea. If you want to take a peek you can find it at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eme_u...

Thanks to all who supported the Indolent Books Kickstarter in March -- the Kickstarter rewards began going out this week, so yours should arrive soon -- thanks for your patience and overall awesomeness. If you didn't arrange to get a copy of my book's second edition then but think you might still like one, it is now available on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/History-Cetace...

And directly from the publisher, Indolent Books:

http://www.indolentbooks.com/a-histor...

If you read it and enjoyed it, please consider leaving a small review on Amazon or Goodreads!

J.S., it was delightful to see and hear you read some of your sea poems.

J.S. wrote: "Over on YouTube there is now a video of me reading some of the poems from my recent pamphlet, The Submerged Sea. If you want to take a peek you can find it at: https://www.youtube.c..."

Very cool video, J.S. You sound so... British. And I marveled that the audience applauded after each poem. Here it's mostly at the end of the reading that you get the applause.

Thank you Ken and Ellen. I'm pleased I sound British. It would worry me if I didn't ;-) It depends on the venue as to whether the audience clap each poem or wait to the end of a reading. The more formal literary groups often wait to the end, but this group were keen and appreciative and I was happy to be clapped.

You can never be clapped enough, I always say.

Roses by Moonlight

Hi everyone,

Here is my newest poetry book. Hope you enjoy it!

Dear Friends,

My first poem 'Knowledge' in the series is now in video form.
This poem is from my book 'Paper Asylum'.

Watch it.
Tell us what you think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUwM1...

Thanks,
~Rochelle

Hello everyone,

I wanted to share my first collection that I published in April
Thoughts from the Borderline

https://www.amazon.com/Thoughts-Borde...

I'm offering a free PDF to anyone who'd be interested in reviewing! email me - [email protected]

Tanya GuleriaJelly Belly: Humour and Poetry

Tanya Guleria

Alcestis in the Underworld
Friends,
this is my book, coming out this Spring -- please let me know if you'd like an advanced copy to review.
Thank you!

Tanya G. Guleria is an author of "The Dog And Its Dead Owner" and "Jelly Belly", books with poetry and fables. She has also published some medical books which you can find in most online bookshops. She writes poetry in classical style with rhymes and rhythm which are touched till perfection. I hope you will enjoy.

I may have posted this ages ago, but I'd rather borrow free ad space twice than never. Here are my two full length collections. You can see more with a blog and sample poems here: http://alariepoet.com/

Newest (2017) Waking on the Moon
https://smile.amazon.com/Waking-Moon-...

Before that
https://smile.amazon.com/Running-Coun...

Last Flocks of the Geese, my new book of poems, published in February, 2019.

Last Flocks of the Geese

Hi everyone! Here are new poetry books published this year:
The Murmuring Embers
The Sailors of the Skies

My very first book has been published. It is based on stories I heard from veterans, especially those from Vietnam. Now begins the arduous process of sharing it with the world:

by Jimmy Pappas

Jimmy wrote: "My very first book has been published. It is based on stories I heard from veterans, especially those from Vietnam. Now begins the arduous process of sharing it with the world:

[bookcover:Scream ..."

Whoo hoo!!! Congratulations, Jimmy, that's terrific!

Being a writer is more fun than being a salesperson.

Jimmy wrote: "Being a writer is more fun than being a salesperson."

Yeah, I'm one of the few poets I know who actually enjoys promoting her work. If I weren't working as a medical editor, maybe I'd be a publicist.

Congratulations Jimmy!

Here's my book Mothers Over Nangarhar published earlier this year by Sarabande Books.

http://www.sarabandebooks.org/titles-...

Let me know what you think and thanks for reading.

This anthology, in which I'm excited to have a poem alongside some pretty amazing poets (Ashbery, Dove, Graham, Hayes, Pardlo, Plath, Strand, Trethewey...) -- with Sylvia Plath art on the cover! -- is now available for preorder:

https://www.amazon.com/More-Truly-Str...

Jenna wrote: "This anthology, in which I'm excited to have a poem alongside some pretty amazing poets (Ashbery, Dove, Graham, Hayes, Pardlo, Plath, Strand, Trethewey...) -- with Sylvia Plath art on the cover! --..."

Congratulations to all those poets on being in your great company, Jenna!

Jan wrote: "Jenna wrote: "This anthology, in which I'm excited to have a poem alongside some pretty amazing poets (Ashbery, Dove, Graham, Hayes, Pardlo, Plath, Strand, Trethewey...) -- with Sylvia Plath art on..."

Ha, that's very kind of you to say, Jan! Needless to say, I'm super-thrilled to be in this company.

Tuesday night, March 24th at 9 PM EST, I will be reading and talking about poetry and life live on the Rattlecast. I hope people will get a chance to listen in and maybe even comment or ask questions. Here is the link: 

https://www.rattle.com/rattlecast/

Jimmy wrote: "Tuesday night, March 24th at 9 PM EST, I will be reading and talking about poetry and life live on the Rattlecast. I hope people will get a chance to listen in and maybe even comment or ask questio..."

I'm very happy you have that opportunity, Jimmy, and look forward to hearing you. I'm going to share the news on Facebook, too.

Thank you, Alarie. I'm still figuring out Skype. Got plenty of time.

Good luck. It's still a mystery to us. We always have a younger, tech savvy person on the other end to make it happen.

I'm guessing this is the best place to post an announcement. I have a new chapbook in preorders with Finishing Line Press. Here's the synopsis and link:

England, Paris, Greece Rome: a European grand tour at age 12?
Evacuation from Egypt was the pivot point of a two-year adventure during my childhood when my father got a Fulbright grant to teach English abroad. The poems in TRANSPORTED describe and reflect on that experience and how it shaped the person I became.

TRANSPORTED is listed on the Finishing Line Press website at:
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/pr...

Thanks for taking a look, if you are so inclined.

Ellen wrote: "I'm guessing this is the best place to post an announcement. I have a new chapbook in preorders with Finishing Line Press. Here's the synopsis and link:

England, Paris, Greece Rome: a European gra..."

Congrats, Ellen!

Hi, everyone! My chapbook, trauma suture, was recently published by above/ground press. Here's a link to the book if you'd like to check it out: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

Trauma Suture uses erasure to excavate small truths & reconstruct identity. This book works with two texts: Indexing by Seanan McGuire, and Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. Most of the erasure or remixed poems were created using a single page of text. Grateful to editors who have published some of these poems including Petrichor: A Journal of Text & Image, Reality Beach, Rogue Agent, Dream Pop Press, Pretty Owl Poetry, & others.

Thanks for reading!
Melissa

Thank you. https://kattywompuspress.com/shop/boo...

Congrats, Ellen and Melissa!

I'm a bit tardy to announce this but I have a book out, Hotel Almighty! It's visual poetry, combining erasure poetry with visual elements like collage and stitching.
It came out in September, when it was featured in The New York Times' "new and noteworthy poetry" list.
Here is the link to the publisher page: https://bit.ly/3mc4671

Sarah wrote: "I'm a bit tardy to announce this but I have a book out, Hotel Almighty! It's visual poetry, combining erasure poetry with visual elements like collage and stitching.
It came out in..."

Exciting stuff. Congratulations!

I just received my first Pushcart nomination from Rattle for "The Gray Man" from my chapbook Falling off the Empire State Building.

https://www.rattle.com/info/news/

Congrats, Jimmy!

Hi Everyone!!

I was hoping if anyone would be interested in reading my book “Unanswered Verses”. I would be happy to give a PDF Copy.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

It is a collection of poems that strives to capture the varied emotions of life in its rawest form. It aims to indulge the reader in asking questions pertaining to the three entities that govern our lives. Namely the mind, the heart and the soul. Written in a simple and lucid manner, the book is divided into three chapters related to the attainment of peaceful bliss, love and worldly freedom.

Thanks & Best Regards

Tajammul Kothari