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1. Letter from the Editors

Dear Readers,

In our prose series this week. we present "Chapter 3: Twisted Branches," from Strange Paradise: Portrait of a Marriage, by Grace Schulman:

"[T]he only visitor who did not intimidate me was Marianne Moore, whom my parents met through Ted Kauffer, the designer of one of her books.... Inspired by her and by Glenway Wescott, I wrote my first poems and sent them to her. She wrote back, 'The flawless typing shows the work to its very best advantage and is in itself a great pleasure.' It was my introduction to her way of dodging a negative response. She spoke truth tactfully, and with a positive spin."

Look for it here.

Enjoy this week's poems!

Warmest regards,

Don Selby & Diane Boller

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2. Sponsor Messages

 Online Poetry Coaching & Mentorship from Warm, Enthusiastic, Accomplished Poets
A OneRoom poetry coach can help you deepen your writing practice, improve your craft, and finish a big project like a chapbook or collection. Poet member Ash Goodwin says: “Oneroom helped me clarify my goals, and I’m ecstatic that in 2017 I completed more than 100 new poems in three different projects. I’ve made rich connections with fellow writers and love that element of community. My coaches offered perspectives, approaches and considerations that have shaped my writing practice for the better in many ways.” You can apply to join the program at https://www.joinoneroom.com/genre/poetry/apply. We look forward to hearing from you!

 Perugia Press Prize
A prize of $1000 and publication by Perugia Press is given annually for a 
first or second unpublished poetry collection by a woman. Submit manuscripts 
for the 2019 prize with a $27 entry fee between August 1 and November 15, 
2018. Both online and paper submissions are accepted. Visit our website for 
complete guidelines.      
 
The 2018 winner, Girldom, by Megan Peak, is available from Perugia Press.
 
Perugia Press - Publishing the Best New Women Poets since 1997
P.O. Box 60364
Florence, MA  01062

 15th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival
15th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival - Delray Beach, Florida, January 21-26, 2019. Focus on your work with 8 of America’s most celebrated poets: Ellen Bass, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Stuart Dischell, Aracelis Girmay, Campbell McGrath, Matthew Olzmann, Gregory Pardlo, Eleanor Wilner. Six days of workshops, readings, craft talks, manuscript conferences, panel discussion, social events and so much more. Special Guest, Sharon Olds, Poet At Large, Tyehimba Jess. Visit palmbeachpoetryfestival.org to apply online. Deadline: November 12, 2018.

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3. Poetry News Links

News and reviews from around the web, updated daily:

• An obituary for Tom Clark, 77. (Berkleyside)
• Rebecca Foust introduces "When Rivers River to the Edge," by Arisa White. (Women's Voices for Change)
• Rich Copley interviews Ada Limón about her new book The Carrying. (Lexington Herald-Leader)
• Shannon Osaka talks to Craig Santos Perez. (Grist)
• Colson Whitehead and Alicia Ostriker named state author and state poet respectively. (nwitimes.com)
• Rita Dove introduces a poem by Marilyn Chin. (The New York Times Magazine)
• And more...

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4. New Arrivals

These new arrivals are available for purchase via Poetry Daily/Amazon.com.

• How Poems Get Made, James Longenbach (W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.)
• 1950-2012 Selected Poems, Adrienne Rich (W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.)
• Culture, Politics, and the Art of Poetry: Essential Essays, Adrienne Rich, Sandra M. Gilbert, Ed. (W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.)
• Half-Light: Collected Poems 1965-2016 (softcover), Frank Bidart (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• The Carrying, Ada Limón (Milkweed Editions)
• Autobiography of a Wound, Brynne Rebele-Henry (University of Pittsburgh Press)
• How to Avoid Huge Ships, Julie Bruck (Brick Books)
• Passing Worlds: Tahiti in the Era of Captain Cook, Elizabeth Holmes (Louisiana State University Press)
• Gather the Night, Katherine DiBella Seluja (University of New Mexico Press)
• The Future Has an Appointment with the Dawn, Tanella Boni, tr. / Todd Fredson (University of Nebraska Press)
• American Radiance, Luisa Muradyan (University of Nebraska Press)
• Dark Testament and Other Poems, Pauli Murray (Liveright)
• Birds in the Ancient World: Winged Words, Jeremy Mynott (Oxford University Press)

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5. This Week’s Featured Poets

The work of the following poets will appear as Today's Poem on the days indicated:

Monday - Ada Limón
Tuesday - Lloyd Schwartz
Wednesday - Thomas Reiter
Thursday - Kai Carlson-Wee
Friday - Peter Cooley
Saturday - Edmund Keeley
Sunday - W. S. Merwin

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6. Featured Poets August 13 - August 19, 2018

These and other past featured poets may be found in our archive:

Monday - Alice Notley
Tuesday - D. Nurkse
Wednesday - Kim Hyesoon
Thursday - Nam Le
Friday - Nicholas Samaras
Saturday - Tristan Tzara
Sunday - Chase Berggrun

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7. Last Year’s Featured Poets

These poems will be retired from our archive during the coming week.

Paul Martin, "The Fig Tree"
David Budbill, "Invisible Visitors"
Maureen N. McLane, "Forest" and "Folk School"
Randy Blasing, "Summer Evening in New England"
Ned Balbo, "Stray Crow"
Mary Jo Salter, "Here I Am"
Adrienne Su, "Ancestors"

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8. Poem From Last Year

Stray Crow

Once, long ago, I played the rescuer
to your lost kin, stray crow. Not ten years old,
I found a soaked near-drowned bird in the filter
of our pool. Is water memory,

the flood that bears us, stunned, into what's next?
If so, then I'm surprised that we're so calm,
one of us having flown, somehow, through time:
some cosmic rip intangible, yet near—

It must be you, because I'm all grown up
and you're still black, bright black, like polished stone
layered, engraved. You're grounded, but alive,

and if you had the power of speech, would you
bring news of that boy or, perhaps, his father
who removed you, saved, till you took flight?

                                  •

Today, I find you, tail askew, successor
or original, where you took shelter
after storms, now hobbled. Stairwell dweller
towel-caught, eyeing movement through the weave

and basket lid, you glimpse my wife (she drives
us to the Rescue in her stalwart Saturn,
having traveled time to be with me
and save you, too). What joins us is some pattern

no one knows, that prints its secret text
upon our lives... And when the sign appears,
a flaming phoenix, nailed to a post,

I know I'm in the present, not the past
from which you flew, stray crow, the ride uphill,
sun-crossed, leaf-shaded, heading into light.

 

Ned Balbo
Upcycling Paumanok
Measure Press

Copyright © 2017 by Ned Balbo
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission