Behind in my Praise of Other Poets...

For the longest time, I've been meaning to mention these wonderful poets on my blog and not only has time slipped away from me, but I've slipped away from time.

So with no further hesitation, these are some poets I've been reading, some poets I want to share, and some poets I've neglected to mention because I lost my way for a few months...

I love Marjorie Manwaring.

The very first time I heard her read her poem "Rejection Letter from Gertrude Stein," I was hooked.

Rejection Letter from Gertrude Stein

Dear Poet Dear Author Dear Someone:

We are pleased very pleased
To regret sir.
Regret to inform you the list for
Talents selected not you dear.
So many many and many
Many talents not you dear.
Received many fine not you.
Thank you extremely fine thank you.
Keep us in mind please keep us.
Please keep
Your submission in mind.
Entries so fine many fine
Winners selected not you.
Not you. Not quite
What we need
At this time not quite.
Keep in mind best of luck next time.
Editors wish you this guideline.
Best of selected regret.
Not chosen you were not able.
We inform our regret.
We reject your receive.
We receive we regret. Inform you we do.
We do as we do.
Today: To do: Don’t forget.
Difficult choice we regret.
Space an issue weren’t able. Limited
Space unable.
Please
Accept this issue.
Our complimentary
Gift to you.
Letterpressed gift in which you
Do not appear we regret you.
We regret to reject with respect
Please accept. Do
Not not accept
This reject
If you do
If you do
With respect
With respect
We reject you.

Now, Search for a Velvet-Lined Cape her full collection is out here.

She's an amazing talent.

________________________________

And there's Todd Davis.

I've been enjoying his book In the Kingdom of the Ditch for a couple months now.  He's a poet I started reading a few years (or more) ago, and just find that I connect with the humanness of his work.

I thought this was a perfect description of the book:

In poetry that is at once accessible and finely crafted, Todd Davis maps the mysterious arc between birth and death, celebrating the beauty and pain of our varied entrances and exits, while taking his readers into the deep forests and waterways of the northeastern United States. With an acute sensibility for language unlike any other working poet, Davis captures the smallest nuances in the flowers, trees, and animals he encounters through a daily life spent in the field. Davis draws upon stories and myths from Christian, Transcendental, and Buddhist traditions to explore the intricacies of the spiritual and physical world we too often overlook. 

In celebrating the abundant life he finds in a ditch—replete with Queen Anne’s lace and milkweed, raspberries and blackberries, goldenrod and daisies—Davis suggests that life is consistently transformed, resurrected by what grows out of the fecundity of our dying bodies. In his fourth collection the poet, praised by The Bloomsbury Review, Arts & Letters, and many others, provides not only a taxonomy of the flora and fauna of his native Pennsylvania but also a new way of speaking about the sacred walk we make with those we love toward the ultimate mystery of death.

* * * *

If you're tired of "not understanding" poetry, read Todd's work.  He tells stories, places you in a scene, and doesn't try to lose you or be abstract just to be interesting.  The beauty of his work lies in the narrative and image. 

Oh and one of my favorite poems opens, "Bees have made honey under the ribs of the dead..."  Gorgeous.

___________________________


And there's this poet, Tim J. Myers on my blog.

His new book is: Dear Beast Loveliness: Poems of the Body

I tried to copy and the paste his poem here, but it came out with a yellow background, but to read a poem by him and read the praise for his book, go here: a poem by Tim J. Myers & info on his new book.

And there's incredible poem about anorexia here.  And another amazing opening line:

~

I hope to share more of what I've been reading with you in September, and maybe a couple more favorite poets in August.

Read and write on...

~ Kells

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