Arizona's Banned Books

Last week was the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week. Coincidentally, Librotraficante's underground library was set to open at the main YWCA branch here in El Paso this past Saturday. The American Library Association states that "while books have been and continue to be banned, part of the Banned Books Week celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, the books have remained available. This happens only thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, students, and community members who stand up and speak out for the freedom to read."

I'm proud to have witnessed such efforts this weekend in my hometown. The vision and dedication of Tony Diaz from Librotraficante and Cemellí de Aztlán and Sandra Braham of the YWCA is inspiring.  People were moved to tears during and after the organizers and guests spoke about the importance of saving our books for future generations. The company producing Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima as a movie (release date is September 21, 2012), donated 40 copies of the book, 20 in English and 20 in Spanish. I watched a woman brush away tears while signing out one of these copies and will never underestimate the power of a book again.


If Arizona is banning Mexican-American studies and confiscating books as if they're illegal drugs, what is going to happen to the education and supporting literature of other cultures, the very cultures like our own who helped define America over the past decades?

How can we help save these books? Donate a book, read one of these books and share it with a friend or family member, host a book club, help sponsor an upcoming event, just go out and witness an event such as this in your local area.

"I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples." - Mother Teresa

For more on the Librotraficante movement:

Activists defend Chicano literature - El Paso Times, February 2012
Librotraficante: On the way to Arizona - The Texas Observer, March 2012
El Paso library to fight bans on books - El Paso Times, September 2012
The Battleground for America's Narrative: An Annotated Bibliography of 80 Banned Books in America - Compiled by Elaine Romero, located on Librotraficante's website

Small Talk about Heavy Petting

If you haven't read Gregory Sherl's poetry collection Heavy Petting from YesYes Books, you need to put it on your reading list. Even if you're not a huge fan of poetry. I'm enamored with it. I take baths with it. I sleep with it on my back lawn. I brush my teeth and stare at it longing for my hands to be free so I can read it some more.

When I found out I won this book thanks to the great people at YesYes Books, a friend mentioned that this book was her boyfriend for a good while. Now I know what she meant. And yesterday, I came across the poem "Opening Credits" and my lust level reached a new height. I'd fall in love with the man who wrote me a poem with lines such as these:

I'm glue residue 

on your fingers. I'm hair and you're a Bon Jovi cover band.

Let me stay in the morning and I'll read you the backs of cereal boxes.

This book is a wild ride through obsessive-compulsive disorder about the little things in life that thrill us like cereal, Crystal Light, cookies, TV, nostalgia for our youth, and the larger things in life like love, sex, and fear. It's an oxymoron that keeps you coming back for more.

Some links for you:

Three poems from Heavy Petting

"Sestina for Your Dead Heart" (text and audio) - from Heavy Petting

Interview with Gregory Sherl at Monkeybicycle

What have you been reading?

Why We Read

"We read to find ourselves, more fully and more strangely than otherwise we could hope to find." 

- Harold Bloom

What are you reading right now that you're finding yourself in?

Poetry Pairing: The Library as Home

It's National Library Week, so what better way to celebrate libraries and National Poetry Month than with another poetry pairing? And like last week, there's an added bonus.

The New York Public Library put together a powerful video starring a few of it's loyal patrons answering the question: "Where Do You Call Home?"

This video made me think of Charles Simic's poem "In the Library." A few lines from it:

Now the sun is shining
Through the tall windows.
The library is a quiet place.
Angels and gods huddled
In dark unopened books.

And for the added bonus, you can read Simic's moving essay for The New York Review of Books: "A Country Without Libraries."

How do you feel about your local library? 

Almost Invisible and Other Good Finds

Image by TrailSource.com via Flickr

Mark Strand has a new book out! I need to order Almost Invisible. It's on my wish list for now because I have too many books in the pile, but I may just have to skip over a few and come back to them! My poem for the week is Strand's "Harmony in the Boudoir" from this new collection.

A few other good finds from this past week:

Another book I can't wait to get my hands and eyes on: Jack Gilbert's Collected Poems 

"How to write a letter to a fan" by Roald Dahl

I love this flash fiction story by Tawnysha Greene in Dogplotz: "Woman Things"


What's going on in your world? What are your good finds of the week?

I'll conclude this post with a tweet that made me stop and reflect on my writing life (I need to listen more!) from Poets House:

We sit together, the mountain and me,
until only the mountain remains.
                      -Li Po

Tomatoes and Other Good Finds

Tomato 1 by sfxeric via Flickr

Sorry I'm a day late with this post. My husband built me a small garden to plant in and we took advantage of the sunny Sunday we received. All in all, we've four tomato plants, two jalapeño, two cilantro, two basil, one rosemary, two strawberry, and one zucchini.

Because I'm still floating on new gardener air, I wanted to find a poem on gardening, or more specifically, tomatoes, and though this poem for the week isn't specifically on gardens or growing tomatoes, it does mention tomatoes in a dark yet touching sense: "Early Cascade" by Lucia Perillo.

Some other good finds:

How to be left alone to read while traveling (I got a good chuckle out of this write-up! I almost felt as if I was reading my own writing)

New video version of Taylor Mali's poem "What Teachers Make" via Jessie Carty

A favorite blogger of mine, Natalia Sylvester, on The Importance of Fictional Truths

Some Thoughts on the Lost Art of Reading Aloud via The New York Times - Do you read aloud anymore?


How was your week? Any good finds to share?

Happy Monday! Andrea

One With Others Pairing

I've been fortunate enough to join a poetry group via a few friends on Twitter. In two short months, I've read poetry collections that have buried themselves in my soul. C. D. Wright's One With Others is a what the writer herself defines as a "hybrid form." Wright artfully and gracefully weaves news reports, interviews, stories, and personal experience into a collection that breathes the history of her mentor, V, and the Civil Rights movement in Arkansas. I don't know that I will ever read a book that will move me more than this one. In the video below she talks a little about One With Others and reads a few of my favorite passages:

In arriving at the section in the book detailing the students walking to the all-white school and bravely linking arms together while singing "Like A Tree Planted by the Water," I stopped to google the song because I couldn't recall ever hearing it. After listening to the video below, I sat in silence with an aching yet hopeful heart. There are so many things we never learn in history class, and I am forever grateful for C. D. Wright and her poetry that articulates "the cruel radiance of what is."




What is the most important book you feel you've read in your life and why did it touch you as it did?

A Moment to Believe In and Other Good Finds Sunday

The Purple-Leaf Plums are blooming in my backyard

I've selected Anne Sexton's "The Expatriates" as the poem for this week. "...it was a moment/ to clutch at for a moment/so that you may believe in it..."

Other good finds from this week:

Librotraficante is smuggling banned books back into Arizona in the coming weeks

It's Women's History Month! How are you celebrating? Here's a poetry pairing for it!

I want to go for a ride with Terrance Hayes - fabulous poetry article! 

The back story for my poem "Flying Ant" is now up on Rose & Thorn Journal's blog

A lovely music video to inspire you: "Did Skies Divide" by Leora Caylor

What has inspired you? What are you looking forward to this week?

So Emotional

I still can't wrap my head around the fact that Whitney Houston is gone. Every time I turn on the television and see the news, I can't help but think it isn't real. I'm stunned.

One of the first songs I remember falling in love with is "So Emotional." Whenever one of my good friends and I heard this song come on the radio while hanging out at her grandmother's pool on a hot afternoon, we immediately began screaming out the song with our squeaky little voices trying to compete with Whitney's. No one can compete with her. Music won't be the same without her.

The poem I've selected for this week is in tribute to Whitney: "The Role of Elegy" by Mary Jo Bang.

May her soul rest in peace and her family and loved ones find healing and peace in their hearts after their tragic loss.

What memories does Whitney Houston evoke for you? What was your favorite song of hers?

---

Some other links I thought I'd share:

An inspiring article on working toward success by Dan Blank: "Being a Success, Without Being a Bestseller"

Many of us can relate with this question: "Can there be a day to celebrate failure?"Read an excerpt from Paige Taggart's poem "Get Your Slip On" via The The Poetry

Are you as crazy about Pinterest? (It has become a bad, bad habit for me!) Check out these boards for book-lovers! And if you have any others you follow and would like to share, please let me know!

Four Comforts After My Husband's Surgery

My husband underwent surgery yesterday morning that will hopefully result in our beginning a family soon. The day was nerve-wracking and I don't know what I was thinking not taking the day off work (you know how Murphy's Law goes) but it ended with my being grateful for many things. Four stand out from the crowd:

1. We always know at some point in our lives, we tend to take the small things for granted. I try not to do this but the demands of work and life in general somehow sometimes overshadow the importance of these small yet essential things. Like how much time you enjoy spending with your husband on a daily basis. And how much he really helps around the house. Quiet time is nice, but too much quiet time, well, it's lonely, and I can't wait to have my husband back to his normal, jovial self.

2. Someone taking the time to come and sit with you at the hospital helps so much. Even though you pack a book or your laptop with you, these activities don't really distract you all that much when trying not to worry. Having someone to talk to, to wait out time with you, and help after surgery means more than most of us realize until we have it happen to us. I promise I will pay it forward. I'm blessed to have Tim's mom as my mother-in-law. The surprise of her face in the waiting room was and always will be a welcome one.

3. Chicken noodle soup is a staple after surgery. For the patient and for the caretaker. Even though I was beyond tired, I didn't want to leave Tim at the house by himself, and thank goodness I go a little crazy with vegetables at the grocery store and always have a surplus of chicken stock, pasta, and wine, because I had just what I needed to make my very first pot of chicken noodle soup. Yes, it was delicious. Tim lapped it up and was happy. I was even happier because after a stressful day, I felt as if I was seven again, sitting at my Grandma's kitchen table, enjoying a steaming hot bowl of feel good without a worry in the world.

4. A book is always a nice little escape from reality. I lost myself in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins last night. It was past my bedtime, but all I wanted to do was read one chapter. Just one. And then another flew by, and then this paragraph:

In late summer, I was wasting up in a pond when I noticed the plants growing around me. Tall with leaves like arrowheads. Blossoms with three white petals. I knelt down in the water, my fingers digging into the soft mud, and I pulled up handfuls of the roots...

What comforts does today bring you? What small things are your grateful for today?

Poem Share and Other Good Finds Sunday

I love mail! New reading material...

The poem for this week is "Changing Genres" and comes from a book I am about to start reading, Dean Young's Fall Higher. I thought the mail would never arrive! There are other poems from his book included at this link. Which one is your favorite?


The Washington Post brimmed with great stuff this week. "Is poetry dead? Or, in the age of the Internet, does it offer us what nothing else can?" The photo gallery heading this post is a must-see. What does poetry bring to your life?

Clifford Garstang's 2012 Pushcart Prize Rankings for Poetry are out. He also compiles rankings on fiction and non-fiction.

An eloquent essay on poetry and its shifts of focus in life is Roya Hakakian's "A Revolution On The Page: Finding Identity in Poetry" and includes "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke.

There is a new eBook Anthology of Contemporary Women's Poetry out. Read about Fire on Her Tongue  on Diane Lockward's blog.

And last but not least, give yourself two minutes of joy by watching this video: The Joy of Books. What book would you want to see dancing along the shelves in this video?

Oh, and one last thing, the Winter issue of Rose & Thorn Journal came out this morning! I'm humbled to have two poems "Affair" and "Flying Ant" in their line up along with my friend Jill Klein's wonderful pair of poems "Migraine" and "Midnight Music."


Wishing you happiness in your week, Andrea

Poem Share and Other Good Finds Sunday

The poem I've selected for the week is "Poppies" by Jennifer Grotz. I came across the link to this poem along with a nice introduction by Ta-Nehisi Coates in The Paris Review. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. My favorite lines in the poem are:

when the moths perch on the white walls,
tiny as a fingernail to large as a Gerbera daisyand take turns agitating around the light.


What does this poem say to you? Any favorite lines?

Other good finds of note this week are:

Today is Elvis Presley's birthday! Happy birthday, Elvis! Are You Lonesome Tonight?  I'll keep you company. ;)

I'm a big fan of The New York Times' "Poetry Pairing" series. This week Jill Alexander Essbaum's poem "Precipice" is paired with a philosophy blog and a painting about time. Is there anything else you can think to pair with it?

A friend of mine, Jill Klein, has a lovely poem out in the new issue of Grey Sparrow: "My Breasts are A-okay." I love the sound in this poem!

Goodreads is holding a 2012 Reading Challenge. How many books will you pledge to read this year? I'm shooting for 64.

A funny comic for the week shared by Richard Fenwick via his Twitter account: Chicken Poetry by Doug Savage

How does your week look? Wishing you an inspiring one!

If Every Teardrop is a Waterfall...

Lots of people are sharing their resolutions on their blogs, which is a great thing and I love reading them, but just in case everyone's resolutions are either spreading you a little thin in the blogosphere, I intend to keep mine short and sweet.

Yes, I make resolutions/goals at the start of the year. They act as my compass throughout the fleeting twelve months. I make two sets: three personal and three professional. This year, I'm adding another set for my writing (poetry) as well as my blog and they seem to go hand-in-hand.

For my writing:

1. Bring it into FULL focus. Attend a writing workshop in May. Take another online class at some point. Keep researching MFA programs and possibilities. Keep connecting with other writers and continue building my writing community.
2.  Dedicate one hour to writing and one to reading each day. #52poetry will live on in 2012 and I'm adding one novel per month to the mix.
3. Strengthen my blog, which leads us to...

For my blog:

1. Blog three times each week. Sundays will be dedicated to a poem for the week along with various reading and writing notes/resources. Tuesdays will be for talking/learning/exploring craft and I will continue to sprinkle in bits of Jack Myers' The Portable Poetry Workshop. Thursday posts will be a tad more personal in nature and will include advice from Grandma/lunch with Grandma and will bring back lunch observations.
2. Increase readership of other blogs and engage more in conversation. I've found a good handful of blogs I enjoy reading for diverse reasons, but they are all central to writing or poetry in some form or another. I want to keep building upon this community and with you.
3. This is still up in the air but the wheels in my head are still turning about including a video reading once a month from a fellow poet/writer if they are willing. I've met some incredibly talented people and want to share the writing that inspires/moves me with the rest of you. (Fingers crossed.)

And last but not least, I always pick a song as my motto for the year, so without further ado, I bring you Coldplay's "Every Teardrop is a Waterfall." What are your resolutions and what song would you chose as your motto?

52 Poetry Books on the Wall

At the beginning of 2011, a group of us on Twitter made resolutions to read 52 books of poetry this year, as suggested by Larry Lawrence, aka @TheAmericanPoet, and who accomplished his goal. We all followed along using #52poetry and I am happy for the little community we built as we shared the books we were reading and discovered some new poets through recommendations.

And I'm doing it again in 2012! And adding one fiction book a month to the line-up.

Here's my #52poetry list for 2011:

Curses and Wishes by Carl Adamshick
Enter chapbook by Robert Lee Brewer
Escape chapbook by Robert Lee Brewer
Paper House by Jessie Carty
All of Us by Raymond Carver
Flies by Michael Dickman
Lighthead by Terrance Hayes
After by Jane Hirshfield
Come, Thief by Jane Hirshfield
When the Only Light is Fire by Saeed Jones
Neon Vernacular by Yusef Komunyakaa
What Learning Leaves by Taylor Mali
The Memory of Water by Jack Myers
Words Under the Words by Naomi Shihab Nye
Transfer by Naomi Shihab Nye
Ariel by Sylvia Plath

The Colossus by Sylvia Plath

Next Extinct Mammal by Ruben Quesada

Hammerlock by Tim Seibles

Transformations by Anne Sexton
Blizzard of One by Mark Strand

Above the Hum of the Yellow Jackets chapbook Jackets by Carol Stephen
Come On All You Ghosts by Matthew Zapruder

That's 23 books, and I know I've forgotten a few, but I didn't start keeping a list until mid-year. (I know better for this year.) And I'm currently a quarter of the way through Tess Gallagher's Midnight Lantern.

Also, I read all issues of Poetry Magazine along with a number of excellent literary journals. And I added two new subscriptions for 2012.

What was on your reading list this year? Any favorites? And what is on your list for 2012?

Happy reading, Andrea

Decking the Halls

As I finish wrapping, decorating, and decking the halls with many other projects, I wanted to offer a "Wrap Up" of sorts for my blog this year.

First and foremost, thank you to everyone who visits and reads my blog and graciously offers feedback and insight. You all have enriched my life.

I started a two new traditions this year. One was to keep a daily journal of one thing I appreciate/love about my husband. I am working this week on compiling it all into a book for him just in time for his birthday on the 28th. While it is a gift for him, it was undoubtedly a wonderful gift for myself in that it made me focus on the positive daily. 2011 has been a tough year for us as we have tried to start a family and this journal helped me keep perspective on the incredible man in my life and what we have built together over the past eight years.

We also began a new tradition last night of Christmas light strolling through Eastridge. We bundled up in scarves and gloves, filled the thermos up with tea (we've decided on hot chocolate for next year), and off we went to gaze at all the creative light displays a few neighborhoods away. We even saw a jeep driving through all lit up. I regret not taking my camera!

One tradition that has been going strong for nearly a decade now is baking with my mom on Christmas Eve. We load the CD player with Christmas albums, we pour ourselves some sparkling white wine, and bake the night away. Rum cakes, red velvet cookies, lemon bars, fudge, turtles, the list goes on...It is my favorite way to spend time with my mom. The sweets are endless and so are the memories.

For some book reading: Letras Latinas shared a wonderful blog post on poetry collections published this year by a Latino or Latina poets. My reading list just grew.

For a fun blog reading: A wildly creative person with an equally creative "old school literary yearbook" whose rock band I want to be in.

For inspiration: Jodi Picoult's essay, "To my 16-year-old self" which begins with, "Since everyone is always telling you what's important in life, I'm going to tell you what isn't." One word: Incredible.

What are your holiday traditions? Any you care to start? And what's on your reading list?

I look forward to seeing you all in 2012!

Love, peace, joy and hope to you all, Andrea

Parting with a Book

A few months ago, I began writing a found poem after each poetry collection I read. It started with Anne Sexton's Transformations and moved on to Naomi Shihab Nye's Transfer along with Jane Hirshfield's Come, Thief. I try to capture my favorite moments within each book and weave them into something for myself and further reflection. It's become my way of letting go of the book, a sweet parting of ways for now.

Currently, I'm on the last chapter of Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. I'm thinking about extending my found poem tradition to fiction books too.

What are you reading right now and what do you do once you've finished with a book?

Recycle or Trash Bin?

I found three poems at the bottom of my duffel bag today. Two of them are unfinished are are destined to remain as such, I think. I may steal a few lines from them at some point. I may just throw them away altogether.

Do you ever experience this? Do you ever look at a poem you've written and think, "Wow, I really need to experience the world a little more and get some new or better writing material"? I think I'm in need of some travel...

Good thing I have poetry to transport me. I'm taking my time with Jane Hirshfield's Come Thief. There are also a few lit mags on my nightstand waiting patiently.

There are four more days to enter to win Jack Myer's brilliant collection entitled The Memory of Water. One can never have too many books to read. ;)

I hope your Thanksgiving not only left your belly full, but your heart as well.

Working Along the Edges

"Poetry, and all art, is a very dangerous, life‐changing enterprise if it’s done with heart and seriousness‐of‐purpose." - Jack Myers in the interview posted below...


Yesterday, a friend of mine sent me the link to an interview Jack had about Richard Hugo, his mentor. I feel compelled to share it with you: Kent McCarter interview with Jack Myers about Richard Hugo.


At the interview's conclusion, Jack says, " I wouldn’t want to take responsibility for directly influencing the way someone has chosen to lead his life." He believed he had a different way of teaching his students, one where he remained in the periphery, working "along the edges, hoeing and weeding, alongside them."


He didn't just help me to tend and trim the perimeter, Jack taught me about the importance of the seed before it ever gets planted. And I think he deserves more credit that I know he would ever give himself. (I wish I could have thanked him myself.)


If you haven't read The Triggering Town by Richard Hugo, I highly recommend reading it. And if you haven't read Jack's The Memory of Water, I'm giving away a free copy of his book at the end of this month HERE.


Who has influenced your writing?

Poetry as a Reason for Living

But only the poem you leave behind is what's important.
Everyone knows this.
The voyage into the interior is all that matters,
Whatever your ride.
- from "Littlefoot: A Poem" by Charles Wright



 What is poetry to you?

*And if you haven't read The Memory of Water by Jack Myers, nominated for a Pulitzer, and its poem "Necklace of Moss" for a Pushcart, you can enter to win a free copy HERE (and read this poem!)

The Memory of Water Prize Nominations

A few days ago, Thea Temple, Jack's wife shared some incredible news: Jack's poetry collection, The Memory of Water, has been nominated for a Pulitzer and one of its poems, "Necklace of Moss" for a Pushcart!

Just as Thea said in her Facebook post, I'm sure all who were blessed to know Jack "wish he were hear to hear and feel the buzz..." I wish I could hug and congratulate him right now.

So, I'm passing the buzz on. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, because I am more than grateful for the fate of meeting and learning from Jack, and in remembrance of him this November 23rd, I am giving away another copy of The Memory of Water. You can read my review on Goodreads about Jack's book here.

Entering is easy, simply leave me a comment with your name, email address, and a note or memory about someone who's most influenced your life. I will draw a name randomly on Wednesday, November 30, 2011. And as with all good things, I hope you share the news. ;)

Happy Friday, everyone!  Andrea