Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Nicole Steinberg

Nicole Steinberg's selections:

Saint Nobody by Amy Lemmon (Red Hen Press)

A Plate of Chicken by Matthew Rohrer (Ugly Ducking Press)

Apocalyptic Swing by Gabrielle Calvocoressi (Persea Books)

The Dance of No Hard Feelings by Mark Bibbins (Copper Canyon)

Advanced Elvis Course by CAConrad (Soft Skull Press)

Ka-Ching! by Denise Duhamel (University of Pittsburgh Press)

* * *

Nicole Steinberg is an editor-at-large of LIT, contributing editor to BOMB, and the founder, curator, and host of Earshot (http://earshotnyc.com), a reading series dedicated to emerging writers. Her work appears in Coconut, BOMB, Barrow Street, Wheelhouse, No Tell Motel and elsewhere, and she’s the author of the forthcoming chapbooks Undressing (Scantily Clad Press) and Gamblers (Taiga Press). She lives in Queens, NY.

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Justin Marks (part 2)

Justin Marks' selections:

Stars of the Night Commute, by Ana Božičević (Tarpaulin Sky)

No Theater, by Chris Tonelli (Brave Men Press)

Areas of Fog, by Joseph Massey (Shearsman Books)

Sent Forth to Die in a Happy City, by Keith Newton (Cannibal Books)

* * *

Justin Marks' first book is A Million in Prizes (New Issues Press). He is also the author of several chapbooks, the most recent being Voir Dire (Rope-a-Dope Press). He is a co-Editor of Birds, LLC and lives in Woodside, Queens with his wife and their infant son and daughter.

This Week at No Tell Motel

Brenda Sieczkowski lets the bees keep their needles this week at No Tell Motel.

No Tell Motel's Pushcart Nominations

“Papoose” by Deborah Ager

“Tigers” by J.P Dancing Bear

“Pool Cue Ode” by Adam Deutsch

“Craze, Novel, Pink” by Anne Gorrick

“River of Feather & Web” by Carolyn Guinzio

“The Monster’s Bride Questions the Motives of Her Creator” by Tiffany Midge

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Laynie Brown

Laynie Browne's suggestions:

The Rose Concordance by Angela Carr (Book Thug)

Natural Light by Norma Cole (Libellum)

To After That (Toaf) by Renee Gladman (Atelos Books)

Humananimal: a Project for Future Children by Bhanu Kapil (Kelsey Street Press)

The Names of the Lion by David Larsen (Atticus Finch)

Magenta Soul Whip by Lisa Robertson (Coach House Books)

m-Talá by Chus Pato, translated by Erín Moure (Shearsman Books)

A Toast in the House of Friends by Akilah Oliver (Coffee House)

Hecate Lochia by Hoa Nguyen (Hot Whiskey)

Transcendental Studies by Keith Waldrop (University of California)


* * *

Laynie Browne is the author of seven collections of poetry, most recently The Scented Fox and Daily Sonnets. She has two collections forthcoming; The Desires of Letters (Counterpath 2010) and Roseate, Points of Gold (Dusie, 2010). She teaches at the Poetry Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Poetry Holiday Shopping Guide - Scott Abels

Scott Abels' suggestions:

The Dream Songs by John Berryman, (a used copy of any edition).
For someone healthy in your life. Make sure they´re strong, and healthy, and tell them, read one sonnet a day for 77 days, and then it will be spring.

If, this year, you caught yourself saying you´re "at the age where all your friends are having babies" then give all your friends Macular Hole by Catherine Wagner (Fence, 2004).

Or, alternately, this Christmas send them an e-book they will appreciate.

* * *

Originally from Nebraska, Scott Abels currently lives and teaches on the coast of Oaxaca, Mexico. His poems can be found (or are forthcoming) in Lungfull!, Sixth Finch, No Tell Motel, Past Simple, Action, Yes, Sawbuck, Shampoo, Spooky Boyfriend, BlazeVOX, Word for /Word, and others. He has a little web presence at http://scottabels.blogspot.com/.

Black Friday PERSONATIONSKIN SALE + FREE BOOK

Purchase a copy of Karl Parker's PERSONATIONSKIN at the discount price of $12 (retail $17) and receive a FREE copy of Reb Livingston's Your Ten Favorite Words (Coconut Books). Shipping $3.

Offer valid from Thursday, November 26, 2009 12:01 a.m. thru Sunday, November 29, 2009 11:59 p.m.

To take advantage of this sale, click the BUY NOW button below:

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Kim Gek Lin Short

Kim Gek Lin Short's suggestion:

The Book of Frank by CAConrad (Chax Press)
For the erudite voyeur crotch-stuffing high-heeled fantasist orphan. This book will put a glistening vaginal beard where your brain was and bite marks in your heart.

* * *

Kim Gek Lin Short is the author of The Bugging Watch & Other Exhibits (Tarpaulin Sky Press forthcoming), and the chapbooks The Residents (dancing girl press 2008) and Run (Rope-a-Dope Press forthcoming).

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Donald Illich

Donald Illich's suggestions:

Slamming Open the Door by Kathleen Sheeder Bonanno (Alice James Books)
So gripping I read it in one sitting. Tells the story of the author's daughter's murder and its aftermath. The poetry itself is moving and flawless.

Shannon: A Poem of the Lewis and Clark Expedition by Campbell McGrath (Ecco)
Addictive in a different way, this book tells story of a soldier on Lewis and Clark Expedition who gets lost for weeks in the wildnerness. There's plenty of room in the story for beautiful verse on nature and discovery, as well as meditations on God and country.

Dark Things by Novica Tadic (BOA Editions)
Short, sharp poems that are dark as obsidian, but are like popcorn. It's hard to stop with one and not read the whole book.

* * *

Donald Illich has published poetry in LIT, The Iowa Review, No Tell Motel, and other journals.

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Julie R. Enszer

Julie R. Enszer's selections:

Slamming Open the Door by Kathleen Sheeder Bonanno (Alice James Books)
Bonanno's first collection of poetry is riveting and powerful. I heard about this book not through traditional poetry networks but through Terry Gross's interview with Bonanno on Fresh Air. The book is based on Bonanno's experience of her daughter's murder and the subsequent trial of her murderer. It was gripping to her Bonanno talk about the experience and even more so to read the book. The first poem, "Death Barged In," concludes with these lines

Even as I sit here,
he stands behind me
clamping two
colossal hands on my shoulders
and bends down
and whispers to my neck:
From now on,
you will write about me.

Slamming Open the Door is a stunning debut collection and, for me, one of the best poetry books of 2009.

Heathen by Lesley Wheeler (C&R Press)
Wheeler's first collection of poetry, Heathen, is smart and quirky. Wheeler mines odd images to make them odder, more disturbing or askew and then brings her readers insight and revelation from this vision of the world. For instance in "Neanderthal Love Song," Wheeler imagines a world of Cro-Magnon guys and the one she loves, "a face in the mud,/those prosperous buttocks." As the poem progresses, she wonders,

When you wait below ground and the breath
of the train lifts the hairs on your arms,
can you glimpse me in the crowd,
does the ice still follow you, do you know
that you are meat, and mud, and ghost,
does your body remember me?

As these lines demonstrate, there is an interesting mind at work in these poems and Heathen is a strong debut. My favorite poem is "Virginia is for Heterosexual Lovers" for the way that Wheeler allies herself with the gay and lesbian community in response to the homophobia of young children. This political sensibility, a sensibility I insist on calling feminist, informs the entire book. Wheeler's second collection has just won a prize and been accepted for publication. This is a poet to watch.


Two established poets published stunning collections this year that are among my favorites. Marilyn Hacker's Names (W. W. Norton) demonstrates her command of formalism as a strategy to make poetry even more immediate and relevant to our everyday lives. These are poems of urgency and beauty rendered in forms that delight and dazzle combined with Hacker's exquisite diction and irrepressible wit. I love everything about this book. Alicia Ostriker's The Book of Seventy (University of Pittsburgh Press) is a stunning collection of a mature poet. Ostriker returns to themes that have been central to her work and thought both in her previous poetry and also in her prose and makes them new and compelling. My favorite part of this book is the series of dramatic monologues (Persephone, Gaia, Demeter) that comprise the third section, but the entire collection is profound and deeply satisfying.

There are four books published in 2009 that I want to read and I think might make my list before the year is out. They are Noelle Kocot's Sunny Wednesday (Wave Books), Marie Ponsot's Easy (Knopf), Julie Kane's Jazz Funeral (Story Line Press), and Brenda Hillman's Practical Water (Wesleyan). I've got a lot of reading to do before December 31st!


* * *

Julie R. Enszer is a poet living in Maryland. She has an MFA from the University of Maryland and is currently enrolled in the PhD program in Women’s Studies at Maryland. She has previously been published in Iris: A Journal About Women, Room of One's Own, Long Shot, Feminist Studies, and the Harrington Lesbian Literary Quarterly. You can read more about her work at www.JulieREnszer.com or her blog http://JulieREnszer.blogspot.com.

Poetry Holiday Shopping Guide - Evie Shockley

Evie Shockley's suggestions:

1) Just in time for the giving season, Doug Kearney's The Black Automaton will be released next month (Dec.) by Fence Books. If you (or your gift recipient) like(s) poems that do not sit in well-behaved rows of uniform font on the left margin, there will be plenty in this book to please you.

2) I just got my hands on Will Alexander's newest book, The Sri Lankan Loxodrome (New Directions). You know you want to know what (Will Alexander will say) a loxodrome is. There's only one way to find out.

3) Not quite in time for the holidays, but right on time for belated holiday gift-giving, in January Duke Press will release Fred Moten's new collection, B Jenkins. Theory-heads: get ready -- you will love everything about this book, beginning with the table of contents. Everyone else: if you read poetry out loud, then you will also find a sweet spot in this volume.

4) Another January release to get pumped for is Camille T. Dungy's Suck on the Marrow, which is coming out of Red Hen Press. She will get all elegantly gritty on you and make you homesick for Virginia, even if you've never been there. I thought you knew.

5) This one is probably going to be far too late for the holidays altogether, nonetheless I am excited to note that Barbara Jane Reyes' next book, Diwata, will be coming out of BOA Editions in 2010. Reyes is known for speaking in tongues -- my way of referencing her unabashed multilingualism *and* her (in my opinion) divinely inspired truth-telling. Give yourself Christmas in July (or thereabouts) by making a note in your 2010 calendar now to buy her book as soon as it spins off the presses.

* * *

Evie Shockley is the author of a half-red sea (Carolina Wren Press, 2006) and 31 words * prose poems (Belladonna* Books, 2007). She co-edits jubilat and teaches African American literature and creative writing at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.

Poetry Foundation Launches Poetry Tour of Washington, DC

For Immediate Release
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/foundation/announcements.html


Poetry Foundation Launches Poetry Tour of Washington, DC

Free downloadable audio tour shines a literary light on the nation’s capital

CHICAGO—The Poetry Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of the Washington, DC, Poetry Tour. The interactive tour, freely available at www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrytour, reveals our nation’s capital through the eyes of its great poets, including Walt Whitman, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Elizabeth Bishop, among many others. From the hallowed halls of the federal buildings to neighborhood side streets, the tour features poems written in and about DC, as well as original photographs by poet Thomas Sayers Ellis.

Narrator and inaugural poet Elizabeth Alexander leads the tour from the stacks of the Library of Congress to Civil War battlefields to the Capitol steps, from the National Zoo to the U Street Corridor to the Busboys & Poets Café. Archival recordings from canonical poets including Langston Hughes, Robert Hayden, Sterling Brown, Randall Jarrell, and Ezra Pound chronicle DC’s rich literary history, while contemporary poets such as Linda Pastan, Quique Avilés, Yusef Komunyakaa, Naomi Ayala, A.B. Spellman, and Jane Shore share their experiences, through both poetry and commentary, of national monuments and monumental poets alike.

The DC Poetry Tour presents the development of the capital’s poetry scene over the last century and a half, from its interplay with musicians Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, and Ben Webster, to the creation of the office of poet laureate, to the legendary literary salons hosted by Georgia Douglas Johnson, to the multifaceted work of numerous poet-activist groups. Local poets and scholars—including E. Ethelbert Miller, director of the Afro-American Studies Resource Center at Howard University; David Gewanter of Georgetown University; and Kim Roberts, editor of Beltway magazine—provide the framework for understanding the moments and movements that have shaped DC’s literary culture.

Listeners to the tour, which includes 34 stops throughout the National Mall and Northwest DC, learn that Washington is not only our government’s headquarters but an important American literary capital as well. Historical images and artifacts provide a glimpse into DC’s storied past, while photographs by poet Thomas Sayers Ellis, who was born and raised in Washington, give viewers an inside look at DC’s neighborhoods and people. Poem text is presented along with original audio recordings and archival images, as listeners step into the national arenas that continue to inspire poets today.

“Tracing the history of American poetry against the culture and geography of our national capital helps readers develop a better sense of our shared literary heritage,” notes Anne Halsey, media director of the Poetry Foundation. “Poetry lovers visiting Washington can download free audio tours and maps to take guided poetry walking tours of the National Mall or Northwest DC—but you don’t have to be in DC to explore the city’s literary history. The full multimedia tour can also be experienced virtually at poetryfoundation.org/poetrytour.”

Beginning at the Library of Congress—the home of the first Poetry Consultant, Archibald MacLeish—the tour discusses the contributions of such heralded poets as Robert Lowell, Robert Frost, and William Carlos Williams. MacLeish declares, “A poem should not mean / But be.” Later, Williams fashions a modernist American poetry: “Never reverse a phrase that is your language as you speak it . . .Then you’ve started to create a culture in your place as you are.”

Contemporary poets from throughout the Beltway also present poems. Poets such as Brian Gilmore, who relates his personal interest in Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Myra Sklarew, who discusses May Miller, recognize the influence of their predecessors, reflecting upon them as President John F. Kennedy did when he spoke of Robert Frost: “Our national strength matters; but the spirit which informs and controls our strength matters just as much. This was the special significance of Robert Frost.”

The Washington, DC, Poetry Tour, an original production of the Poetry Foundation created in collaboration with Tierra Innovation, was written and produced by Curtis Fox. Special collaborators on the project include Grace Cavalieri, Katie Davis, Patricia Gray, E. Ethelbert Miller, and Beltway magazine editor Kim Roberts.

For more information, go to http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrytour
***

About the Poetry Foundation

The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine and one of the largest literary organizations in the world, exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience. The Poetry Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, and encouraging new kinds of poetry through innovative literary prizes and programs. For more information, please visit www.poetryfoundation.org.

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Suzanne Frischkorn

Suzanne Frischkorn's selections:

The First Risk by Charles Jensen (Lethe Press)
"...epic in approach, experimental in intent, and lyric in result," Jim Elledge beat me to it, but let it be known I wholeheartedly agree and I would also add innovative. Jensen's The First Risk is one of my favorite books of 2009 and any year for that matter.

Disappears in the Rain by Matthew Thorburn (Parlor Press)
One of the lines of this long poem set in Japan

I dream that all our conversations / are dubbed -- it's easier /

reminds me of its cinamatic quality, and I'm here to tell you that Thorburn's camera work is amazing. Disappears in the Rain is written in a loose version of the traditional renga form of linked verse and produced as a limited edition chapbook.

* * *

Suzanne Frischkorn is the author of Lit Windowpane, (2008) and Girl On A Bridge forthcoming in 2010, both from Main Street Rag Publishing. In addition she is the author of five chapbooks, most recently American Flamingo, (2008). A 2009 Emerging Writers Fellow of The Writer's Center, her honors also include the Aldrich Poetry Award and an Artist Fellowship from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Mike Young

Mike Young's suggestions:

The Difficult Farm by Heather Christle (Octopus Books)

The Book of Frank by CA Conrad (Chax Press)

A Mouth in California by Graham Foust (Flood Editions)

Skirmish by Dobby Gibson (Graywolf)

Sunny Wednesday by Noelle Kocot (Wave Books)

A Million in Prizes by Justin Marks (New Issues)

Areas of Fog by Joseph Massey (Shearsman Books)

The Front by K Silem Mohammad (Roof Books)

I Am Going to Clone Myself Then Kill the Clone and Eat It by Sam Pink (Paper Hero Press)

Selected Poems by Dara Wier (Wave Books)

* * *

Mike Young is the author of the forthcoming poetry collection We Are All Good If They Try Hard Enough (Publishing Genius 2010) and the chapbook MC Oroville's Answeirng Machine (Transmission Press). He co-edits NOÖ Journal and Magic Helicopter Press. Visit him online at http://mikeayoung.blogspot.com. He lives in Massachusetts and is currently enamored of carrot cake.

"a pretty wild and interesting ride"

Read Jim Carmin's review of PERSONATIONSKIN by Karl Parker



BUY NOW at Lulu
Coming soon to retail outlets

This Week at No Tell Motel

Luisa A. Igloria is intimate as language exchanges in the dark this week at No Tell Motel.

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Susan Denning

Susan Denning's selections:

Take It by Joshua Beckman (Wave Books)

Archicembalo by G.C. Waldrep (Tupelo Press)

The Bitter Withy by Donald Revell (Alice James Books)

As Is by James Galvin (Copper Canyon Press)

Skirmish by Dobby Gibson (Graywolf Press)

* * *

Susan Denning has had poems recently in New York Quarterly and Shampoo. She edits the online magazine Caffeine Destiny. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Sampson Starkweather

Sampson Starkweather's selections:

Stars of the Night Commute by Ana Božičević (Tarpaulin Sky)
I've been waiting for this book to come out since I first saw Ana close her eyes and read, from memory, the entire sequence from the last section (Document) of her book. "Light is the first animal of the visible" "So. Go be the reaper in the fields." and when Ana finished, the bartender, transfixed like everyone else, said "Holy shit, now that's poetry!" The bartender, like the Stars of the Night Commute, proved to be prophetic.

A Million in Prizes by Justin Marks (New Issues Press)
Another book I feel like I've been waiting for forever, a book that already feels like part of my life. My friend tells me in Iran, instead of the radio, the cab drivers quote you poetry, that when someone dies, when you are sad or happy or in love or heartbroken, that you turn to poetry for --who knows-- whatever it is that we turn to poetry for, a sudden widening of the world I suppose. The poems in A Million in Prizes are like friends that comfort me, I carry these lines around like my own mini-survival kit: "I have this idea, but then I have to make the language." "The day crawls by like a living document, the prettier for having forgotten me." "Trying/ to be oneself// honestly/ finding the words// allowing their arrival/ arriving at them// easily/ a life's worth of work."

The Dance of No Hard Feelings by Mark Bibbins (Copper Canyon)
Question: How can a book be charming, funny, beautiful, angry, while maintain a bristling, eletric, and shape-shifting language, being politicaly gut-wrenching and somehow full of hope all at the same time?
Answer: Read The Dance of No Hard Feelings.


Chapbook:

No Theater by Chris Tonelli (Brave Men Press)
This book reminded me of reading old school poetry, I mean the masters, like when I first read Rilke and Dickenson and Basho and Lorca and felt like I knew what silence and transformation meant for the first time. Poems that are crafted and felt, as if they've been there for a thosand years and will be there for a thousand more.

* * *

Sampson Starkweather lives in the forest. His most recent chapbook is The Heart is Green from So Much Waiting from Immaculate Disciples Press. He is also the author of City of Moths from Rope-a-Dope Press and The Photograph from horse less press. Recent or forthcoming work can be found in Action Yes, Sink Review, SIR!, Open Letters Monthly, Pax Americana, RealPoetik and Ekleksographia.

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - David Wolach

David Wolach's selections:

Disaster Suites by Rob Halpern (Palm Press)

The Shunt by David Buuck (Palm Press)

Censory Impulse by Erica Kaufman (Factory School)

The Port of Los Angeles by Jane Sprague (Chax Press)

Hegemonic Love Potion by Jules Boykoff (Factory School)

Adorno's Noise by Carla Harryman (Essay Press)

NO GENDER: Reflections on the Life & Work of kari edwards by multiple authors, kari edwards (Belladonna Books/Litmus Press)

Eel on Reef by Uche Nduka (Black Goat)

The Book of Frank by CA Conrad (Chax Press)

WIW?3 by CJ Martin (Delete Press)

Terminal Humming by K. Lorraine Graham (Edge Books)

Felonies of Illusion by Mark Wallace (Edge Books)

* * *

"David Wolach" is professor of text arts, poetry, & new media at The Evergreen State College, and visiting professor in Bard College's Workshop In Language & Thinking. "He" is "author" of several books, most recently Occultations (Black Radish Books, forth. 2010), Prefab Eulogies Vol. 1: Nothings Houses (BlazeVOX, forth. 2010), Hospitalogy (Scantily Clad Press, forth. 2009-10), and book alter(ed) (Ungovernable Press, 2009). "His" work has appeared in various journals, most recently No Tell Motel, XPoetics, Dusie, 5_Trope Ekleksographia (Ahadada Books, Amy King ed.), and Little Red Leaves. "Wolach's" work is often site specific and uses multiple media. It's been performed at venues such as Buffalo Poetics Series, The Stain of Poetry Series, The American Cybernetics Conference, and The EconVergence Conference 2009. "Wolach" is a member of Nonsite Collective and founding editor of Wheelhouse Magazine & Press, a tiny press dedicated to radical text arts & politics, which curates the yearly series PRESS in collaboration with The Evergreen State College. For readings, calls for submissions, & other items, visit "David's" blog.

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Kristi Maxwell

Kristi Maxwell's selections:

Stars of the Night Commute by Ana Božičević (Tarpaulin Sky)
"for people who should also read Claire Hero's Sing, Mongrel (Noemi Press)"

Lisa Robertson's Magenta Soul Whip by Lisa Robertson (Coach House)
"for people who should also read Laura Sim's Stranger (Fence Books)"

In Ways Impossible To Fold by Michael Rerick (Marsh Hawk)
"for people who should also read Don Bogen's An Algebra (U of Chicago)"

I Have To Go Back To 1994 and Kill A Girl by Karyna McGlynn (Sarabande)
"for people who should also read Sachiko Murakami's The Invisibility Exhibit (Talonbooks)"

A Nest This Size by Ann M. Fine (Shearsman)
"for people who should also read Dana Ward's Roseland (Editions Louis Wain)"

* * *

Kristi Maxwell is the author of Realm Sixty-four (Ahsahta Press, 2008), Elsewhere & Wise (Dancing Girl Press, 2008), and Hush Sessions (Saturnalia Books, 2009). She is currently a PhD candidate in English & Comparative Lit at the University of Cincinnati, where she completed a graduate certificate in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Kathleen Rooney

Kathleen Rooney's selections:

Sometimes My Heart Pushes My Ribs by Ellen Kennedy (MuuMuu House) Kathleen's review

Poemland by Chelsea Minnis (Wave Books) Kathleen's review

* * *

Kathleen Rooney is a founding editor of Rose Metal Press and the author, most recently, of Oneiromance (an epithalamion) (Switchback Books, 2008) and Don't ever stay the same; keep changing (Spooky Girlfriend Press, 2009, with Elisa Gabbert). Her essay collection For You, For You I Am Trilling These Songs is forthcoming from Counterpoint in 2010.

This Week at No Tell

Tony Mancus licks everything he can touch this week at No Tell Motel.

Great Books by Women that Publisher’s Weekly Missed in 2009

Hi,

I just wanted to drop you a line and let you know that Guerrilla Girls on Tour was just republishing the WILLA wiki list of Great Books by Women that Publisher’s Weekly Missed in 2009. Folks should feel free to add other great titles to our open edit response!

http://willalist.wikia.com/wiki/The_WILLA_List_Wiki

yours,
Danielle

Danielle Pafunda
Outreach Committee Chair
WILLA Women in Letters and Literary Arts
www.willaweb.org

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Jessy Randall

Jessy Randall's selection:


Scary, No Scary by Zachary Schomburg (Black Ocean)

A poetry book with an index! The back cover says, borrowing imagery from Schomburg, that this book will crawl inside your chest and pump lava through your blood. But I think, borrowing imagery from Schomburg, that it is more like a hummingbird that will climb inside your heart and beat its little wings upon you.

* * *

Jessy Randall's collection of poems A Day in Boyland (Ghost Road Press, 2007) was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award. Her new young adult novel The Wandora Unit (Ghost Road Press, 2009) is about love and friendship in the high school poetry crowd. Her website is http://personalwebs.coloradocollege.edu/~jrandall.

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Neil de la Flor

Neil de la Flor's selections:

1. Cave of the Yellow Volkswagen by Maureen Seaton (Carnegie Mellon Press)
"For cave divers, volkswagen lovers, and queens of South Beach."

2. Weapons Grade by Terese Svoboda (The University of Arkansas Press)
"One day groundhogs will rule the world."

* * *

Neil de la Flor earned an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Miami. His first book of poetry, Almost Dorothy, won the 2009 Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize and will be published in 2010. His literary work has been published in Hayden’s Ferry Review, Barrow Street, Sentence, 42opus, Court Green and others. In 2006, Facial Geometry (NeoPepper Press), a collaborative chapbook of triads co-authored with Maureen Seaton and Kristine Snodgrass, was published. He currently lives in Miami and teaches at Miami Dade College and Nova Southeastern University. He can be reached at neildelaflor.com.

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Steven Karl

Steven Karl's selections:

Hurry Home Honey by Sawako Nakayasu (Burning Deck)

Delivered by Sarah Gambito (Persea Books)

A Toast in the House of Friends by Akilah Oliver (Coffeehouse Press)

Quantum Jitters by Patricia Carlin (Marsh Hawk Press)

Tuned Droves by Eric Baus (Octopus Books)

A Difficult Farm by Heather Christle (Octopus Books)

Stars of the Night Commute by Ana Božičević (Tarpaulin Sky)

The Dance of No Hard Feelings by Mark Bibbins (Copper Canyon)


Chapbooks:

Your Name is the Only Freedom by Janaka Stucky (Bravemen Press)

Play by Mathias Svalina (Cupboard Pamphlet)


* * *

Steven Karl is the author of State(s) of Flux, a collaborative chapbook with the artist, Joseph Lappie (Peptic Robot Press) and author of forthcoming chapbooks, (Ir)Rational Animals (Flying Guillotine Press) and Saturday(s) (Scantily Clad Press). He lives in New York City.

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Justin Marks

Justin Marks' selection:

Having 9 month old twins, I haven't had much time for reading this year, but I loved loved loved:

The Hot Tub/Glory Hole by Jon Leon and Dan Hoy (MAL-O-MAR)

The speaker in Glory Hole “heart[s] synthetics / of all kinds,” “tell[s] the sky / to suck the fat one“, and “drive[s] like an asshole because it’s the truth.” The Hot Tub is a collection of prose poems about “How we are decaying as we party hard.” Poetry has made the narrator so rich and famous “helicopters buzz above my head and paparazzi disappear among telephone poles” as he rides his bicycle in Versace pajamas, drinks, does copious amounts of drugs and has lots of sex.

* * *

Justin Marks' first book is A Million in Prizes (New Issues Press). He is also the author of several chapbooks, the most recent being Voir Dire (Rope-a-Dope Press). He is a co-Editor of Birds, LLC and lives in Woodside, Queens with his wife and their infant son and daughter.

This Week at No Tell

Jenna Cardinale is herself a mysticism this week at No Tell Motel.

Best Poetry Books of 2009 - Joshua Marie Wilkinson

Joshua Marie Wilkinson's selections:

Tuned Droves by Eric Baus (Octopus Books)

With Deer by Aase Berg (Black Ocean Books)

Free Cell by Anselm Berrigan (City Lights Publishers)

A Mouth in California by Graham Foust (Flood Editions)

The Sound Mirror by Andrew Joron (Flood Editions)

Humanimal: A Project for Future Children by Bhanu Kapil (Kelsey Street Press)

Penury by Myung Mi Kim (Omnidawn Publishing)

Neighbor by Rachel Levitsky (Ugly Duckling Press)

Clampdown by Jennifer Moxley (Flood Editions)

My New Job by Catherine Wagner (Fence Books)

* * *

Joshua Marie Wilkinson is the author, most recently, of The Book of Whispering in the Projection Booth (Tupelo 2009). Two new projects are due out next year: Selenography, a collaboration with the Polaroids of Califone's Tim Rutili (Sidebrow Press) and an anthology of short essays by 101 contemporary poets on teaching poetry (U of Iowa Press). He lives in Chicago and Athens, Georgia.

This Week at No Tell

Miriam Bird Greenberg looks askance with her white eyes like a rabbit shucked of its skin in one fluid motion this week at No Tell Motel.

ROCKPILE COMES TO WASHINGTON

Tuesday, November 3, noon-1:30 pm
Poets in the (Think) Tank: ROCKPILE Symposium
Co-sponsored by Split This Rock (www.SplitThisRock.org) and the Institute for Policy Studies (www.ips-dc.org)
Brown bag lunch
The Institute for Policy Studies
1112 16th Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC
Farragut North or Farragut West Metro
For more info: info@splitthisrock.org, 202-787-5210

In anticipation of what is sure to be a music and poetry extravaganza at Busboys and Poets November 4, ROCKPILE artists David Meltzer and Michael Rothenberg host an open discussion on Art and Activism, Poetry, Music and The Troubadour Tradition, Censorship and The Academy, Community and Collaboration. Panel participants include David Meltzer, Michael Rothenberg, and Fred Joiner (bio below). Moderator: Sarah Browning

Wednesday, November 4 ROCKPILE PERFORMANCE
Host: Busboys and Poets: “Hump Day Groovez” w/ Burnett Thompson and The New Columbia Orchestra
Time: 9pm-11pm
2021 14 St. NW
Washington, DC 20009
202-387-9757
http://www.busboysandpoets.com/
admission—10 dollars at the door

Praxilla - New Online Journal

Poems by David Lehman, Yermiyahu Ahron Taub, Yoko Danno, Jennifer Michael Hecht and others

Potomac Review Issue #46

Order your copy now and join us as they hike the Appalachian Trail, belly dance at Sharm El Sheikh, drink tea in Kazakhstan and dig in an Italian vineyard. They are pleased and proud to offer poetry by Amy Holman, fiction by Myfanway Collins, Irene Keliher, Jeff Fearnside and many others.