This Week at No Tell

Kate Schapira invites the bird of spite to live in your mouth this week at No Tell Motel.

Poems That Make Me Go All Tingly

A few weeks ago, Reb asked me if I would like to go through the No Tell archives and write a little bit about some poems that really got to me. After accepting this “mission”, I began browsing poems that have been published on the website and Bedside guides, and found several that seemed to stick with me as I did my search. As a result, I’ve ended up with a pile of poems that could use a second read.

At the Museum, Molly
By Shann Palmer

This is a tight little poem with an overload of images. Each line builds up to the embrace between two people and the “statue of a faceless women,/Jaipur marble perfectly carved” that seems to watch them. The description of the sun in this poem is another thing that made me like it. How it “slides into the wall, touch behind her ear, treasure her”. The opening two stanzas I liked a lot for their description of the museum and of Molly. The air in the museum that tastes “like fresh peaches” and Molly with “a mouth full of feathers”, humming Dulce Domum.

Copper Harbor
By Mary Biddinger

Here is a poem that I really like for it’s rhythm and sound. Lines like “the dark smudge of fish/ shanties and smokehouses.” and “The seagulls were quick as equinox, Evinrude,/ flypaper lit with a zippo.” make this poem fun to read. The rhythm and images flashing past you with every line keeps you on your toes till the very end. Also, this is another poem I really liked for it’s images; “your body an arrow into the lake.” and “the ether surge of a mower on the parkway slapped us out of reverie.”

Parlor
By Charles Jensen

This poem is one of my favorites. With it’s simple language, you really get the feeling of closeness the speaker has for his lover, who is laid out in a funeral parlor. With stanzas like “He’s laced your fingers/ incorrectly. Your left handed:/left thumb goes on top. A lover would know/ those little details…”, the feeling of intimacy is cemented in the readers mind. Yet through the mourning, signs of humor can be found as well. “The undertaker is young, attractive-/ your type. Sharp suit. Muted Tie./ The kind of moment where I’d imagine/ you’d make a joke about things that are “stiff”,

These poems can be found in The Bedside Guide to No Tell Motel - Second Floor along with plenty of other great ones for you to get lost in. Keep a look out for more poems that make me go all tingly, and if you have any that you think should be brought back from the past, just comment or leave me a message.

This Week at No Tell

Stuart Greenhouse reads from the stone slab at the basin’s head this week at No Tell Motel.

Galatea Resurrects #11 featuring 72 new reviews!

AT http://galatearesurrection11.blogspot.com

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No Tell contributor highlights:

Steven Karl Reviews SHY GREEN FIELDS by Hugh Behm-Steinberg

Tom Beckett Reviews YOUR TEN FAVORITE WORDS by Reb Livingston

Eileen Tabios Engages DEMENTIA BLOG by Susan M. Schultz

Eileen Tabios Engages RED by Marilyn R. Rosenberg

Steven Karl Reviews STATE OF THE UNION--50 POLITICAL POEMS, Edited by Joshua Beckman & Matthew Zapruder

Karen Rigby Reviews THEORIES OF FALLING by Sandra Beasley

Nathan Logan Reviews THE ROMANCE OF HAPPY WORKERS by Anne Boyer

Nathan Logan Reviews ON THE FLY by Amy King

Eric Gelsinger Reviews SO THAT EVEN by Tawrin Baker

Pamela Hart Reviews THIS IS WHY I HURT YOU by Kate Greenstreet

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This Week at No Tell

Laynie Browne is holding something in one hand as you walk away from something else this week at No Tell Motel.

Best Poetry Books 2008 - Bruce Covey

Bruce Covey's choices:

Sandra Beasley, Theories of Falling (New Issues)

Anne Boyer, Romance of Happy Workers (Coffee House)

Brenda Coultas, The Marvelous Bones of Time (Coffee House)

Barbara Guest, Collect Poems (Wesleyan)

Lyn Hejinian Saga/Circus (Omnidawn)

Sueyeun Juliette Lee That Gorgeous Feeling (Coconut)

Bernadette Mayer Poetry State Forest (New Directions)

K. Silem Mohammad Breathalyze (Edge)

Alice Notley, Grave of Light (Wesleyan)

Danielle Pafunda My Zorba (Bloof)

Ariana Reines, Coeur de Lion (Mal-O-Mar)

Aram Saroyan, Complete Minimal Poems (Ugly Duckling)

Leslie Scalapino, It's go in horizontal (U California)

Sandra Simonds, Warsaw Bikini (Bloof)

Jack Spicer, My Vocabulary Did This to Me (Wesleyan)

Jen Tynes, Heron/Girlfriend (Coconut)

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Bruce Covey lives in Atlanta, GA, where he teaches at Emory University and edits Coconut Poetry. His fourth book, Glass Is Really a Liquid, will be published by No Tell Books in 2009.