tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50998452012-02-26T17:41:59.480-08:00Boston Area Small Press and Poetry SceneThis blog consists of reviews, interviews, news, etc...from the world of the Boston area small press/ poetry scene and beyond. Regular contributors are reviewers: Barbara Bialick, Lawrence Kessenich, Lo Galluccio, Zvi Sesling, Irene Koronas, Rene Schwiesow, Dennis Daly, and others.
Founder Doug Holder: dougholder@post.harvard.edu.
* B A S P P S is listed in the New Pages Index of Alternative Literary Blogs.Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.comBlogger15251100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-41059600317634894612012-02-26T17:28:00.003-08:002012-02-26T17:41:59.488-08:00Review, Poetica Magazine, Contemporary Jewish Writing, Holocaust Edition,
Review, Poetica Magazine, Contemporary Jewish Writing, Holocaust Edition Spring 2012, PO Box 11014, Norfolk, Virginia 23517, www.poeticamagazine.com, Michal Mahgerefteh, Editor-in Chief, 64 pages.
Review by Barbara Bialick, author of TIME LEAVES
At my age, the word “holocaust” reminds me of when I read about all of the horrors, as a child in Hebrew School, of the slaughter by the Germans Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-63867307309572407062012-02-26T06:02:00.001-08:002012-02-26T06:03:45.711-08:00Women’s History Month Event: Hilary Tann Premiere Featured at Concert Celebrating 400th Anniversary of Anne Bradstreet’s Birth
Women’s History Month Event:Hilary Tann Premiere Featured at Concert Celebrating 400th Anniversary of Anne Bradstreet’s Birth
By Beth Purcell
Cappella Clausura presents Mistress: A Celebration of the 400th Anniversary of the Birth of America’s First Poet, Mistress Anne Bradstreet. The commissioned Contemplations (8, 9) by composer Hilary Tann will receive its premiere, joined on this Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-62836609550317916102012-02-24T12:23:00.005-08:002012-02-24T12:58:17.022-08:00Photos from the Ibbetson Street Press/Endicott College Visiting Author SeriesPhotos from the Ibbetson Street Press/Endicott College Visiting Author Series
*** Mack performed excerpts from " Conversation with my Molester." It had been premiered at the Boston Playwright Theatre at Boston University.
Left Poet/Performer Michael Mack, Right Series Director Doug Holder
( Click on pic to enlarge)
( click on pic to enlarge)Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-77551214778050992852012-02-23T06:03:00.004-08:002012-02-23T06:07:39.670-08:00Train Wreckard 1-14 By Dennis Sheehan
A BagelBards Second Look Book Review
“Track Wreckard 1-14”
By Denis Sheehan
Bone Print Press, No price listed
Reviewed 2/13/12, Re-reviewed 2/20/12 by Paul Steven Stone
If it wasn’t a pun, I’d say here’s one for the books! How often does one write a book review one week, then come back the next week with an entirely different interpretation of what he read, and what the Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-84023929815867856482012-02-22T02:19:00.000-08:002012-02-22T03:16:10.631-08:00Last Call: The Bukowski Legacy Continues
Last Call: The Bukowski Legacy ContinuesEditor: RD ArmstrongLummox Presswww.lummoxpress.comISBN: 978-1-929878-86-4$18.00
Review by Dennis Daly
Here you will find shit jobs, mad women in miniskirts, junkies, cigar smoke, insomniacs, booze, broads, swollen testicles, and despair. Sound like the world of the late writer and poet Charles Bukowski. Well it’s not. But it is an anthology Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-86899452848798761132012-02-21T07:56:00.000-08:002012-02-21T08:24:01.425-08:00Review of “Are There Zombies in Heaven”
Review of “Are There Zombies in Heaven”, poetry by Eric “The Moebius Kid” Morlin, Wilder Publications, Inc., PO Box 10641, Blacksburg, VA 24063, 149 pages, 2011
Review by Barbara Bialick
There are some 101 poems with interesting titles listed in the table of contents of this book, 102 if you count the disclaimer as a prose poem. But the title poem boasts a great line in this tome Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-71491603394901113222012-02-19T06:59:00.000-08:002012-02-21T07:51:15.556-08:00The Dream of the Black Topaze Chamber by Hugh Fox
The Dream of the Black Topaze Chamber (Skylight Press, Great Britain, England)
www.skylightpress.co.uk
By Hugh Fox
Review by Pam Rosenblatt
In 2011, the late Hugh Bernard Fox published The Dream of the Black Topaze Chamber (Skylight Press, Great Britain). Also, in 2011 – September 4, 2011 – Fox sadly passed away. This short 110 page book reflects Fox’s writing, poetic, Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-55770342350988649162012-02-17T02:53:00.000-08:002012-02-17T02:58:43.921-08:00Secrets No One Must Talk About: Poems by Martin Willitts Jr.
Secrets No One Must Talk About
2011 Dos Madres Press Inc.
Poems by Martin Willitts Jr.
Loveland OH
Softbound, 31 pages, No Price
ISBN 978-1-933675-44-4
Review by Zvi A. Sesling
There are places, like a dust storm, we cannot avoid.
They prick like cactus and sting of scorpion rains.
They hold secrets better than a poker game.
The people in this place have to know how to survive.
It is Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-38976489493102195762012-02-16T06:04:00.000-08:002012-02-16T06:09:40.225-08:00let it be now by robert collet tricaro
let it be now
robert collet tricaro
Finishing Line Press 2011
ISBN 1-59924-927-8
"Life's theme is accretion, sapling
and fawn. Each seeking to add..."
The poems in "let it be now" is a Spartan chap book of couplets; they
reach for the quiet tones:
"As though taking hold of the ends of a rope
we jump at a pace that builds
as the music gathers. We hear
countless lines of Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-14498379523599411012012-02-15T11:08:00.000-08:002012-02-15T12:06:38.344-08:00Looking Up by Linda Pressman( Linda Pressman)
Looking Up
Linda Pressman
Available at Amazon.com
$12.67
Review by Rene Schwiesow
Linda Pressman is the adult child of two holocaust survivors. The horrific ordeal that her parents, family, and their friends endured was a constant underlying trauma throughout her childhood.
The number 7 is a sacred number. In Hebrew the number signifies completion. Linda Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-27269314520486164842012-02-14T05:19:00.000-08:002012-02-14T05:45:13.472-08:00Track Wreckard 1-14 By Denis Sheehan
A BagelBards Book Review
“Track Wreckard 1-14”
By Denis Sheehan
Bone Print Press, No price listed
Reviewed 2/13/12 by Paul Steven Stone
“Track Wreckard 1-14” is the linearly told tale of two weeks in the life of the author, who set himself the literary task of recording 14 consecutive nights down at a local Pub in Rockland, Mass, which is on the South Shore of Boston, for all you Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-88690754908727423952012-02-13T10:25:00.001-08:002012-02-14T03:22:51.755-08:00Ariel Freiberg: A Somerville Artist who wants you to inhabit her paintings
Ariel Freiberg: A Somerville Artist who wants you to inhabit her paintings
By Doug Holder
Ariel Freiberg is a 30 something artist who recently moved from across the river (I mean the Charles not our beloved Mystic)in Brookline, Mass. to the Paris of New England, Somerville, Mass. Freiberg said wanted to be closer to her space at the Vernon St. Studios. She reports that she really Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-48949231238262265532012-02-13T08:51:00.000-08:002012-02-13T08:53:34.926-08:00From The Viewing Stand Poems by Madeline Tiger
From The Viewing Stand
Poems by Madeline Tiger
2011 Dos Madres Press Inc.
Loveland OH
Softbound, 24 pages, No Price
ISBN 978-1-933675-67-1
Review by Zvi A. Sesling
When I open a book of poetry and find favorable comments on the poets previous work by poets such as Alicia Ostriker, Toi Derricotte and Gerald Stern, I naturally expect to find enjoyable, even deep work by the Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-69692337986892230882012-02-11T14:07:00.000-08:002012-02-11T14:11:29.063-08:00Wild as in Familiar By Ellaraine Lockie
Wild as in Familiar
By Ellaraine Lockie
Finishing Line Press
Georgetown, Kentucky
www.finishinglinepress.com
26 Pages
$12.00
Reviewed by Dennis Daly
Wild as in Familiar treats nature’s assaults on man and man’s interventions into nature’s processes with a critical eye and an aggressive imagination. To fully appreciate these poems go immediately to page twenty-two Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-58565663869359615842012-02-10T19:32:00.000-08:002012-02-10T19:35:36.922-08:0069” S. (The Shackleton Project)/ Phantom Limb/ ArtsEmerson /February 07-12
69” S. (The Shackleton Project)
Phantom Limb
World Première
February 07-12 ONLY
ArtsEmerson
Paramount Center Mainstage
559 Washington Street in Boston’s Theatre District
Tickets online at www.artsemerson.org or by phone at 617-824-8400
Limited Engagement!
Review
By Amy Tighe
artighe@aol.com
I love the Paramount. It feels splendid and yet inviting, comfortably kitschy in places andDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-10693739964151469022012-02-09T14:22:00.000-08:002012-02-09T14:22:01.371-08:00826 Boston's free youth writing programs sponsors a Moustache-A-Thon!Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your moustache!
A Moustache-a-Thon works much in the same way as any ordinary walkathon, marathon or telethon fundraiser. Instead of walking, running or answering phones on television, however, Moustache-a-Thon participants, men and women alike, shoulder the mighty job of growing or crafting their own unique moustaches in support of 826 Boston's free youthDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-51405667906285446202012-02-04T17:21:00.000-08:002012-02-04T18:12:10.544-08:00Kathleen Bitetti: An artist with one eye on public policy and another on her art.
(For You..., Dec 18th 2011: Airport site, performative action done on Dec 18th to commemorate International Migrants Day by Kathleen Bitetti)
Kathleen Bitetti: An artist with one eye on public policy and another on her art.
By Doug Holder
Like T.S. Eliot who wrote in his famed poem "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"--I have indeed "measured my life in coffee spoons"...and Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-16425735897488896302012-02-02T00:01:00.000-08:002012-02-02T00:03:55.834-08:00UNEXPECTED SHINY THINGS By Bruce Dethlefsen
UNEXPECTED SHINY THINGS
By Bruce Dethlefsen
101 pages / 81 poems / $16
ISBN: 978-0-9846568-0-6
Cowfeather Press
PO Box 620216
Middleton, WI 53561
www.cowfeatherpress.com
Review by – Charles P. Ries
Word Count = 514
I was thinking as I read Bruce Dethlefsen’s Unexpected Shiny Things, what makes a poet great? Certainly they have to find the poetic form effortless and created theirDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-11228980224896438872012-01-31T03:49:00.000-08:002012-01-31T03:54:47.924-08:00The Joy of the Nearly Old by Rosalind Brackenbury
The Joy of the Nearly Old
By Rosalind Brackenbury
Hanging Loose Press
231 Wyckoff Street
Brooklyn, New York 11217
http://hangingloosepress.com
98 Pages
$18.00
Reviewed by Dennis Daly
Rosalind Brackenbury delivers a movable feast of poems in her new book, The Joy of the Nearly Old. These are poems of privilege set in Paris, Nice, Key West, New York, England, Peru, and places in Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-63406320372419306122012-01-27T19:16:00.000-08:002012-01-27T19:18:58.923-08:00The Lamp with Wings: love sonnets by M.A. Vizsolyi
The Lamp with Wings
love sonnets
by M.A. Vizsolyi
Harper Perennial
New York, NY
Copyright © 2011 by M.A. Vizsolyi
ISBN: 978-0-06-206901-6
Softbound, 63 pages, $13.99
Review by Zvi A. Sesling
This book was selected as one of the 2010 National Poetry Series winners, the one selected by poet Ilya Kaminsky and it presents to us the love sonnet in a way that
Galileo or Copernicus presented the Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-56530797838049682072012-01-25T10:50:00.000-08:002012-01-25T11:05:00.031-08:00Somerville Bagel Bard Zvi Sesling gets Poet Laureate for Brookline
I am a lover of irony. It seems that a Somerville Bagel Bard Zvi A. Sesling( Who resides in Brookline) lobbied and spurred the city on to have a Brookline Poet Laureate. I told him about the lack of interest in our beloved burg and it inspired him to get one for his town...they finally saw the light. The light in Somerville is still way, way at the end of the tunnel...sadly. Here is an articleDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-5354921753075125792012-01-22T06:41:00.000-08:002012-01-22T06:43:01.536-08:00Ghazal-Mazal By Linda Zisquit
Ghazal-Mazal
By Linda Zisquit
Finishing Line Press
Georgetown, Kentucky
ISBN: 978-1-59924-914-8
28 Pages
$12.00
Reviewed by Dennis Daly
Poet Linda Zisquit in her twenty-eight page chapbook, Ghazal-Mazal, stretches the usually strict and demanding poetic form of ghazal into a playful set of variations—etudes really—that highlight this kind of poem’s potential in the English Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-62258785971894774092012-01-19T06:07:00.000-08:002012-01-19T06:32:11.923-08:00Linda Larson: A Poet Who Writes What She Loves and Loves What She Writes.
Linda Larson: A Poet Who Writes What She Loves and Loves What She Writes.
Interview with Doug Holder
Linda Larson has been a journalist, poet, writing teacher, and a writing student in the course of her career. One thing she likes about the role of a poet is that she gets to write about what she loves. And it is evident in her body of work that she has a deep love for her subjects Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-47949021299673625002012-01-18T09:09:00.000-08:002012-01-18T09:12:23.460-08:00Morning By Thomas Fitzgerald
Morning
By Thomas Fitzgerald
ISBN: 1-59924-807-7
Finishing Line Press
www.finishinglinepress.com
Georgetown, Kentucky
18 pages
$14.00
Reviewed by Dennis Daly
I remember Sister Therese Immaculata, one of the more enlightened Sisters of Charity at my school, explaining the tortures awaiting many of us in Purgatory. She described this state of being to our fourth Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-68017074383153748642012-01-17T02:36:00.000-08:002012-01-18T09:21:16.001-08:00There’s Jews in Texas? Poems by Debra L. Winegarten
There’s Jews in Texas?
Poems by Debra L. Winegarten
Poetica Publishing Co.
Copyright © 2011 by Debra L. Winegarten
ISBN: 978-0-9836410-6-3
Softbound, 22 pages, $10
Review by Zvi A. Sesling
Debra Winegarten’s small, but packed book of poems was winner of the Poetica Magazine, Contemporary Jewish Writing 2011 Chapbook Contest, and with good reason. First, as the title would Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-6146076787198904172012-01-14T17:09:00.000-08:002012-01-14T17:31:01.897-08:00The Awful Rowing Toward Anne Sexton by Lawrence Kessenich
Lawrence Kessenich is one of the managing editors of the literary magazine Ibbetson Street. He is also a former editor at Houghton Mifflin and worked with Diana Hume George and Diane Wood Middlebrook on the Selected Poems of Anne Sexton as well as a subsequent biography. He was generous enough to send this essay about his experiences to the Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene.
The Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-53666551549333833272012-01-13T19:05:00.000-08:002012-01-13T19:06:21.829-08:00Poesy XXXIX
Poesy
Publisher/Editor: Brian Morrisey
Boston Editor: Doug Holder
Contributing Editor: Joe Pachinko
ISSN: 1541-8162
Review by Dennis Daly
Some covers tease. Some lure. Some enhance. The cover of Poesy XXXIX tests. A photograph of a grime-encrusted broken foam- cushioned chair with rolling arms, going to seed, the type often found in the darkened corners of factories, or Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-74815957223734765382012-01-12T09:55:00.000-08:002012-01-12T10:16:16.263-08:00Somerville Poet Amanda Torres: A Chicago Native Struts Her Stuff In Somerville
Somerville Poet Amanda Torres: A Chicago Native Struts Her Stuff In Somerville
By Doug Holder
Amanda Torres who is well-established as a writer, teacher, youth leader and poet in Chicago decided to leave the safe environs of her hometown to test the waters and her talents in Somerville, Mass. Torres, who is Mexican-American, came from the the wrong side of the tracks in Chicago, Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-28649136784036538262012-01-11T02:28:00.000-08:002012-01-11T02:30:48.263-08:00Review of IMAGES OF BEING, poetry by Diane Sahms-Guarnieri
Review of IMAGES OF BEING, poetry by Diane Sahms-Guarnieri, Stonegarden.net Publishing, www.stonegarden.net, California, 85 pages, 2011, $7.95
Review by Barbara Bialick, author of TIME LEAVES
To Diane Sahms-Guarnieri, images are an all-important way she remembers people from her childhood and on into motherhood. Sometimes the images are unremarkable and common in their humanity; at Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-59252124546373531652012-01-09T06:07:00.000-08:002012-01-11T09:20:53.601-08:00Marc Zegans: A Creative Person Who Helps Creative People.(Photo by Scott Erb)
Marc Zegans: A Creative Person Who Helps Creative People.
By Doug Holder
Every now and then I find it necessary to leave my beloved Somerville and go into the hinterlands of the Republic of Cambridge. But let's face it both cities trade precious body fluids so this is inevitable. So I found myself talking to Marc Zegans at Harvard Square's bustling Au Bon Pain Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-29670254190545597932012-01-09T02:04:00.000-08:002012-01-09T02:07:46.140-08:00Beyond the Great Abyss by Becca Chambers
Beyond the Great Abyss
Becca Chambers
Transformations
$18.00
Review by Renee Schwiesow
“Love and truth are the most powerful forces in the universe, and they reside in all of us as the embodiment of our eternal spirits, ready always to lead us to joy, true love and happiness.” In “Beyond the Great Abyss,” Becca Chambers takes us on a journey of her own personal transformation that includesDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-9073986955292144862012-01-06T01:10:00.000-08:002012-01-06T07:04:02.452-08:00Blue Collar Review: Journal of Progressive Working Class Literature
Blue Collar Review: Journal of Progressive Working Class Literature
Review by Prema Bangera
The landscape of a magnificently robust fist resurrecting above an ensemble of forlorn bodies with picket signs rising together awakens you and pulls you into the Summer 2011 issue of the Blue Collar Review. One of the picket signs on this front cover reads: You Say “Cut Back.” We Say Fight BackDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-29565297788496025792012-01-05T00:38:00.000-08:002012-01-05T00:41:47.953-08:00The Accidental Navigator :New and Selected Poems and a Story by Henry Denander
The Accidental Navigator
New and Selected Poems and a Story
Henry Denander
Lummox Press 2011
ISBN 978-929878-88-8
$15.00
The Poems in, The Accidental Navigator, are conversations with
the reader and each verse suggests a complete understanding as to
the nature of silence in people, place and objects. Denander
speaks to us with a quiet voice that only someone who lives with
himself,Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-7212721382527082062012-01-04T09:26:00.000-08:002012-01-04T09:41:52.071-08:00Somerville Bagel Bard Kathleen Spivack in the News....
Kathleen Spivack recently won the New Guard Award for Poetry, ( Judged by Charles Simic,) and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her novella won the Carpe Articulum prose award. Kathleen’s “Lowell et al “ memoir is coming out in the fall. Kathleen is taking clients again after the end of January, and will be teaching in Cambridge and in Paris at the Writing Conference in late Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-42293713431999333322012-01-03T21:58:00.001-08:002012-01-11T09:24:20.015-08:00SOMERVILLE WRITER JOE TORRA: A Man who gives it to you straight--with no chaser.
SOMERVILLE WRITER JOE TORRA: A Man who gives it to you straight--with no chaser.
By Doug Holder
" I think poets and artists often take themselves too seriously. I mean everybody is important in some way. Hey--my plumber is more important to me than most poets at any given time. When my pipes are clogged--and I got to go...who am I gonna call? We all have our god given talentsDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-5773648285076872102011-12-31T14:42:00.000-08:002011-12-31T14:47:29.630-08:00This Time by Robert Gibbons
This Time
By Robert Gibbons
ISBN: 0-9824263-3-X
Nine Point Publishing
Bridgton, Maine
Ninepointpublishing.com
216 pages
$29.95
Reviewed by Dennis Daly
As I read through Robert Gibbons’ lengthy book of prose poems, This Time, I felt transported from page to page, not in the usual bookish way, but architecturally. The poems have the feel of lived-in rooms, each decorative Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-90213233876711339872011-12-29T06:52:00.000-08:002011-12-29T09:13:59.448-08:00Ibbetson Street Press/Endicott College: An Affiliation. A Literary Community.
Ibbetson Street Press/Endicott College: An Affiliation. A Literary Community.
By Doug Holder
I have always been a proponent of a literary community to nurture young writers. Many a graduate of MFA programs have told me that the most important part of their experience was the community they were involved in for a couple of years. The chance to be with folks of their ilk Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-41467951890784977062011-12-28T09:08:00.000-08:002011-12-28T18:55:50.961-08:00Gloria Mindock: A Somerville Poet with an Eastern European Sensibility
Gloria Mindock: A Somerville Poet with an Eastern European Sensibility
Interview with Doug Holder
Gloria Mindock has lived, written, and created in Somerville, Mass for many years. Not only does she have the respect of the local and national poetry community but she has quite a following abroad. She edits the Istanbul Literary Review from her home in the Union Square section of Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-11776392565016872582011-12-26T09:57:00.000-08:002011-12-26T09:58:33.018-08:00Fast and Soon: Poems, Drawings, and Stories By Bryan Bingham , Danielle Laura Blumstein, Emily Blumstein, Richard P. Keeshan , J. “Max,” RuschakFast and Soon: Poems, Drawings, and Stories
By Bryan Bingham
Danielle Laura Blumstein
Emily Blumstein
Richard P. Keeshan
J. “Max” Ruschak
packhyderm press
rpkfilm@yahoo.com
2011
Review by Dennis Daly
A disembodied arm and hand, seemingly attached to an oddly perched hat, reached across a table at the Au Bon Pain in Somerville Mass and handed me a thin red chapbook by five authorsDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-71789713107413622792011-12-24T14:26:00.000-08:002011-12-24T14:47:11.203-08:00Poet Robert K. Johnson: A Smiling Norman Rockwell With A Knife Behind His Back.
Poet Robert K. Johnson: A Smiling Norman Rockwell With A Knife Behind His Back.
BY DOUG HOLDER
Robert K. Johnson is an avuncular presence....but don't be fooled. Behind the folksy voice and courtly manner is a poet with a dagger. Johnson often harks back to wholesome familial memories in his poetry, but behind these benign scenes there are surprises, and some tragic, well... just Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-89281205635032821502011-12-23T18:48:00.000-08:002011-12-23T18:54:34.755-08:00Emblem By Richard Hoffman
Emblem
By Richard Hoffman
ISBN: 978-0-9819876-5-1
Barrow Street Press
New York City
$16.95
Reviewed by Dennis Daly
In his new book, Emblem, Richard Hoffman etches poetic visuals of timeless wisdom and dolorous beauty. His lucid metaphors are burned into each page. The introductory poem, as well as twelve additional poems at the heart of the book, is an emblem inspired by the Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-64032977204860644982011-12-20T03:02:00.000-08:002011-12-20T03:06:56.347-08:00GARGOYLE 57 (2011)
When the U.S.P.S. mail hand-delivers a 600pg book it’s either a novel, or an annual anthology from Arlington VA; this time it's:
GARGOYLE 57 (2011) edited by Christine Ebersole & Richard Peabody.
1-1/8 inches thick by 5 ½ x by 8 ¼,
ISBN 978-0-931181-36-8, 600pp, USD$24.95
www.gargoylemagazine.com,
gargoyle@gargoylemagazine.com
(703) 525-9296.
Review by Bill Costley
Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-32432630453019082072011-12-16T18:41:00.000-08:002011-12-16T18:49:15.330-08:00George Whitman of Shakespeare and Company, Paris died Wed. Dec 14, 2011
BY KATHLEEN SPIVACK
George Whitman of Shakespeare and Company, Paris died Wed. Dec 14, 2011
In 1991 George asked me to write something abut Shakespeare and Co, where I spent many happy months reading and being. I had stayed at Shakespeare and Co in the past as did many other writers. Also helped out at the bookshop. In the old days there was no real register, and no Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-51659521736374287052011-12-15T09:20:00.000-08:002012-01-04T03:34:55.028-08:00Somerville Poet James Caroline: Plays Hard on the Page and the Stage.
Somerville Poet James Caroline: Plays Hard on the Page and the Stage.
Interview with Doug Holder
James Caroline started out mainly as a Slam poet getting his feet wet at the famed Cantab Lounge in Cambridge, Mass. when it was under the reign of Michael Brown. Since then he has become as respected on the stage as the page. And in fact the poetry is much more important to Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-12694072615761086792011-12-14T11:40:00.001-08:002011-12-15T01:03:03.540-08:00Somerville Poet Samantha Milowsky: Making the small press a home at the Mass. Poetry Festival
Somerville poet Samantha Milowsky has for the past few years immersed herself in the Boston area literary scene. Milowsky, a software technology executive is the founder and managing editor of Amethyst Arsenic and her work has appeared in magazines like the 2River View, White Whale Review,The Written Wardrobe, and is forthcoming Revolution House. She is now involved with the Mass. PoetryDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-56410743591162690822011-12-13T06:57:00.000-08:002011-12-13T07:04:57.537-08:00Poesy Magazine-- Due to be released Dec 19, 2011
For the past 13 years I have been the Boston editor of Poesy Magazine http://poesy.org. After a 2 year hiatus Poesy should be online around Dec 19, 2011 and is already at the printers. I am glad to have an interview with Boston Poet Laureate Sam Cornish in this upcoming issue. See below:
Message from Brian Morrisey founder of Poesy
December 11, 2011
Final edits on XXXIX
This Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-31753521124547942322011-12-11T06:41:00.000-08:002011-12-11T10:12:51.144-08:00A “Teaching Moment:” Jazz and Poetry
Our correspondent Rosie Rosenzweig reviews a performance of jazz and poetry at the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston in Newton, Mass... Dec 10, 2011.
-------------------
A “Teaching Moment:” Jazz and Poetry
By Rosie Rosenzweig
Resident Scholar in Women’s Studies Research Center
Brandeis University.
Stan Strickland began with something celestial-sounding on his bass Flute. Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-89527219744589874072011-12-08T04:38:00.000-08:002011-12-08T04:41:09.637-08:00Exhibit of the Forking Paths By James Grinwis
Exhibit of the Forking Paths
By James Grinwis
ISBN: 978-1-56689-280-3
Coffee House Press
800-283-3572
info@coffeehousepress.org
$16.00
Review by Dennis Daly
Artistic forces channel through James Grinwis’s poems in a very unusual way. His book juxtaposes eighteen lined, near conventional poems with twenty-nine prose poems, each one a meditation on an electronic mechanism Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-33554598003548979072011-12-07T12:45:00.000-08:002011-12-07T12:47:45.541-08:00Check Points By Michael Casey
Check Points
By Michael Casey
ISBN: 978-0-9838238-1-0
Adastra Press
16 Reservation Road
Easthampton, MA 01027
18.00
Review by Dennis Daly
At its core black humor usually camouflages a tragic reality. These poems by Michael Casey effectively make use of this type of humor, but do more than just camouflage. They provide a serious tool with which one can confront the horror of Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-6273373455725370652011-12-05T23:21:00.000-08:002011-12-06T08:12:15.347-08:00Richard Kostelanz: The Avant Garde at Brown University: 1960 (Excerpt only)
Richard Kostelanetz, the noted avant-garde writer, was kind enough to send this excerpt of an interview conducted at Brown University in 2004 to the Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene.
I
Richard Kostelanetz, born in New York City in 1940, went to Brown in 1958, graduating with honors in American Civilization early in 1962. He later did graduate work at Columbia University in Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-7630219944934416332011-12-04T04:11:00.000-08:002011-12-04T04:38:46.006-08:00“The Dangerous Islands” (a novel) by Séamas Cain
“The Dangerous Islands” (a novel) by Séamas Cain
The Red Jasper press (The.Red.Jasper.gmail.com)
Kit Fryatt, Curator
26D Saint Brigid’s Road Lower, Drumcondra
Dublin 9, Ireland
--review by Tomas O’Leary—
This book by the Irish writer Séamas Cain poses a serious challenge to the intellectual,aesthetic, philosophical, physical, metaphysical and omni-forbearing wherewithal of a humbly Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-64275053625588994652011-12-02T07:21:00.000-08:002011-12-02T07:38:24.030-08:00The Measure of Small Gratitudes by Ann Menebroker
The Measure of Small Gratitudes
ann Menebroker
Kamini Press 2011
ISBN 978-91-977437-7-8
order@kaminipress.com
"i'm old style, honey
wax paper wrapped sandwiches
and odd smelling lunch boxes
with handles, a thermos
with o.j. and gin, a banged-up
old portable radio once belonging
to an aunt of mine, playing songs
from the thirties and me, lighting
a cigarette from the matchbox
my mom Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-36008982692011301392011-12-01T09:00:00.001-08:002011-12-01T09:06:25.700-08:00Presa 14: Tribute to Hugh Fox
Presa 14
Tribute to Hugh Fox
Presa :S: Press
2011 $8.50
Thirty three writers have given their tribute to the poet/writer Huge Fox. The last verse
of John Marvin's poem, sums it up nicely:
"then splashing in a quiet pool
singing soft songs of silence
treading water toward a center
smooth on its surface
then drifting in a current
growing swifter with depth
grasing waist and ankles
so gentle so Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-4122485565127484662011-11-30T02:31:00.000-08:002011-11-30T02:54:12.987-08:00Ibbetson St Press Sponsors: Jazz at the JCC: Robert Pinsky, Stan Strickland, John Lockwood, Rakalam Bob Moses...
(Stan Strickland)
(Robert Pinsky)
I have been on the Arts/Idea faculty at the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston for several years-and I was asked to sponsor Jazz and Poetry at the JCC--This is a great event that combines the music of poetry with the music of Jazz...hope you will attend.--Doug Holder/Ibbetson Street Press
JAZZ AND POETRY AT THE JCC
NEWTON, MA – Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-44781570655524770252011-11-29T01:03:00.000-08:002011-11-29T01:09:32.527-08:00Hanging Loose 99 // Editors: Robert Hershon, Dick Lourie, Mark Pawlak
Hanging Loose 99
Editors: Robert Hershon, Dick Lourie, Mark Pawlak,
Hanging Loose Press
ISSN: 0440-2316
$9.00
Review by Dennis Daly
Cityscapes as soaring, airy and luscious as any watercolor abstracts I’ve ever seen greet you and draw you into the new issue of Hanging Loose. The watercolors are entitled, “Downtown Windows: Ten Watercolors” and include both the front and back covers Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-32265641618295011212011-11-28T02:32:00.001-08:002011-11-28T02:37:43.776-08:00Greg Delanty: THE NEW CITIZEN ARMY
Greg Delanty: THE NEW CITIZEN ARMY (9”x55/8” =230mm x 143mm, 68pp, #249/300,
Combat Paper Press, Burlington VT USA, 2010, USD$18)
It’s not often that a book’s cover is as or even more interesting than its contents.
This small-press chapbook, I tell my longtime friend & publisher Marshall Brooks
in West Dover VT who sent it to me, shows that “The pkg. is the msg,” McLuhanly,Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-41149028058123450972011-11-27T06:39:00.000-08:002011-11-27T07:10:53.842-08:00Somerville Poet/Philosopher Jody Azzouni: A Poet who works within his limitations.
Somerville Poet/Philosopher Jody Azzouni: A Poet who works within his limitations.
By Doug Holder
Jody Azzouni is a poet who works within his own limitations. This accomplished bard and Philosophy Professor at Tufts University believes we can't see these limits because of our own "blind spots." And like many writers, Azzouni does quite well within the confines of his own limits.
Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-22396834280024357262011-11-23T01:36:00.000-08:002011-11-23T01:46:13.401-08:00Anne Frank Lives: A Play by Lawrence Kessenich(Lawrence Kessenich--playwright)
Anne Frank Lives
A Play by Lawrence Kessenich
Reading at Boston Playwrights’ Theater
Boston MA
Review by Zvi A. Sesling
When I first heard of the idea behind the play: Anne Frank survived the Holocaust and was alive in New York circa 1962, I had grave doubts about one of the iconic symbols of the six million who died at the hands of the Nazis Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-44858885125912385792011-11-22T07:41:00.000-08:002011-11-22T09:49:22.379-08:00Ploughshares 40th Anniversary Edition
Ploughshares 40th Anniversary Edition
Ploughshares
Emerson College
120 Boylston St.
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 824-3757
pshares@emerson.edu
$14.
Review by Alice Weiss
DeWitt Henry, founder and longtime editor of Ploughshares, has made the adventure of contemporary writing synonymous with his name. 1970’s criticism by conservative critics claimed contemporary literary Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-48017386848301489552011-11-19T19:35:00.000-08:002011-11-30T10:46:31.735-08:00Somerville Artist Hope Ricciardi: Paints the Painful Past of her Ancestors
Somerville Artist Hope Ricciardi: Paints the Painful Past of her Ancestors
By Doug Holder
To know what we are, we must know where we come from. The past is often muddled, memory fails us, often familial histories are selective and leave out the painful moments. Somerville artist Hope Ricciardi addresses her ancestral past through her evocative art. Sadly, past generations of her Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-46385164462571183372011-11-19T12:56:00.000-08:002011-11-19T13:02:09.357-08:00The American Eye by Eric Hoffman
The American Eye
by Eric Hoffman
Copyright 2011 by Dos Madres Press inc.
Dos Madres Press
Loveland OH 45140
Softbound, 71 pages, no price
ISBN 978-1-933675-65-7
Review by Zvi A. Sesling
Found poetry has become a favorite tool for a number of poets. Search through writings of those who not always closely associate with poetry and find in their prose something
akin to poetry and use as Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-31956390510754232402011-11-16T09:12:00.000-08:002011-11-16T09:37:31.352-08:00Bards,Bagels and Co-Existence
I never thought of this when Harris Gardner and I started the Bagel Bards at Finagle- A- Bagel in Harvard Square in 2004. But I happened to be teaching a Creative Writing class at Endicott College and we were studying the poetry of San Francisco poet A.D. Winans. In an interview I conducted with him (that I used for a class discussion) he mentioned a hangout of his: the Co-Existence Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-60376698954054255162011-11-16T04:06:00.000-08:002011-11-16T04:07:53.366-08:00Review of THE HALLELUJAH OF LISTENING by Preston H. Hood
Review of THE HALLELUJAH OF LISTENING by Preston H. Hood, Cervena Barva Press, PO Box 440357, W. Somerville, MA 02144-3222, www.cervenabarvapress.com, 59 pages, $7, 2011
Review by Barbara Bialick, author of TIME LEAVES
Preston H. Hood’s writing is in a rolling rhythmic voice. Some of his images are powerful, while others are plain and every day. Is he the American Every Man Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-35613432791098049172011-11-14T10:40:00.000-08:002011-11-14T10:48:15.309-08:00Choir of Day: New and Selected Poems By Robert K. Johnson
Choir of Day: New and Selected Poems
By Robert K. Johnson
ISBN: 978-0-979-5313-3-0
Ibbetson Street Press
$14.00
Review by Dennis Daly
If you like taut moments, touching scenes and wings of sunlight, these tempered yet beautifully written poems are for you. In a Morning to Remember Johnson takes a very ordinary Norman Rockwell-like slice of life memory and injects it with Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-83256304669691419482011-11-13T05:48:00.000-08:002011-11-14T09:05:09.313-08:00Ralph Pennel: From the Twin Cities to the Paris of New England
Ralph Pennel: From the Twin Cities to the Paris of New England
By Doug Holder
Poet and writer Ralph Pennel met me in the comforting confines of the Bloc 11 Café in Union Square, Somerville to talk about the writing life. Pennel has moved from his home in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Somerville, Mass. He lives in the hinterlands of our town, where the Spanish eatery Dali looks across Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-32391177171654467692011-11-12T16:55:00.000-08:002011-11-12T16:58:16.688-08:00Four Elements: Reflections on Nature by John Donohue
Four Elements
Reflections on Nature
John Donohue
ISBN 978-0-307-71760-3
Harmony Books, a Division of Random House
Contact: Nora O’Malley 212-782-8370
Review By Dennis Daly
As a rule, books categorized by their publishers as inspirational cause me to avert my eyes and hold onto my wallet. Four Elements by John O’Donohue is not one of those. It is rather a series of beautifully crafted Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-69288643949709744862011-11-11T06:54:00.000-08:002011-11-11T10:32:21.561-08:00Somerville Writer Janet Mendelsohn: Bringing her passion to the passion of her subjects.(Picture by Stu Rosner)
Somerville Writer Janet Mendelsohn: Bringing her passion to the passion of her subjects.
By Doug Holder
Janet Mendelsohn is a passionate writer who writes about other people’s passions. This Davis Square resident has the ability to hone in on her subject like some predatory literary bird, and peck out what makes them tick—to strain an analogy. I met Mendelsohn on a Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-39149818387539764302011-11-09T11:31:00.000-08:002011-11-09T11:35:51.889-08:00Macbeth// Music by Guiseppe Verdi Libretto by Maria Piave and Andrea Maffei// after William Shakespeare’s drama// Shubert Theater, Boston MA.
Macbeth
Opera by Verdi
Shubert Theater, Boston MA.
November 4 -13, 2011
Review by Zvi A. Sesling
If Shakespeare is the ultimate dramatist, Verdi is arguably his counterpart in opera. In his earlier years Verdi’s La Traviata, Rigoletto and Il Trovatore have become standards of opera company repertoire, while his later operas, considered by many his greatest works include Otello, Faust Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-72940312478942494022011-11-08T06:50:00.001-08:002011-11-08T06:58:23.657-08:00Sipping Memories: Poetic Journal to Morocco: Poems by Michal Mahgerefteh
Sipping Memories
Poetic Journal to Morocco
Poems by Michal Mahgerefteh
Poetica Publishing Co.
Copyright © 2011 by Michal Mahgerefteh
ISBN: 978-0-9836410-1-8
Softbound, 31 pages, $15
Review by Zvi A. Sesling
The opening welcome is provided by “a large woman flashes gold teeth/offers fresh round bread topped with pecan butter/walnut and pistachio cookies and hot green tea”
She takes you Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-75543864909111975342011-11-07T02:11:00.000-08:002011-11-07T02:14:45.760-08:00What’s Left Behind: Poems by Michal Mahgerefteh
What’s Left Behind
Poems by Michal Mahgerefteh
Poetica Publishing Co.
Copyright © 2011 by Michal Mahgerefteh
ISBN: 978-0-9836410-2-5
Softbound, 31 pages, $15
Review by Zvi A. Sesling
This book is dedicated by the author “to my father, for his unconditional love and support of my mother.” It is a book about the author’s mother who was diagnosed with breast cancer a the age of 41 and Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-39890174988007942482011-11-05T21:03:00.000-07:002011-11-05T21:10:33.347-07:00PUSHCART PRIZE NOMINEES "IBBETSON STREET" 2011
PUSHCART PRIZE NOMINEES
“Ibbetson Street” 2011
(Nominators: Kim Triedman, Robert K. Johnson and Harris Gardner)
“Town Park, Late Autumn”- Author: Ted Kooser
“Creation” - Author: Bonny Barry Sanders
"Amish Country" - Author: Joyce Wilson
"New Hire Orientation" – Author: Patricia L. Hamilton
"From Stars" – Author:- Donna Johnson
"The Impressionists Indoors”-Author: Jennifer Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-49748588455260623012011-11-03T03:42:00.000-07:002011-11-03T03:43:26.310-07:00Gifts of Nature, Gifts of Grace. . . Linda Thayer
Gifts of Nature, Gifts of Grace. . .
Linda Thayer
Cat’s Paw Press
$5.00
Review by Rene Schwiesow
If you lived anywhere near Boston during 2004 you could not miss the fairy tale season of the Red Sox. Thayer’s section of “Gifts of Nature, Gifts of Grace. . .” entitled “real faith,” is dedicated to the Red Sox and their miraculous season. A season that ended with their winning the Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-49937662500499718052011-11-01T22:38:00.000-07:002011-11-01T22:40:29.660-07:00Review of UNEXPECTED SHINY THINGS, poems by Bruce Dethlefsen
UNEXPECTED SHINY THINGS, poems by Bruce Dethlefsen, Cowfeather Press, PO Box 620216, Middleton, WI 53562, cowfeatherpress.org, , 103 pages, $16, 2011
Review by Barbara Bialick, author of TIME LEAVES
A new book by the Poet Laureate of Wisconsin for 2011/2012 speaks with shininess of the plain-spoken yet profound things in life.
You can sense the influence of midwestern scenery in Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-84224594892988253442011-11-01T07:09:00.000-07:002011-11-01T07:40:17.315-07:00Madness at the Grolier: In spite of Trials and Travails Poetry Prevails.
Madness at the Grolier
Bloc 11
11 Bow St. Union Square, Somerville.
Nov. 6, 2011
3:30PM
Madness at the Grolier: In spite of Trials and Travails Poetry Prevails.
By Doug Holder
Ifeanyi Menkiti, Lo Galluccio, Paul Steven Stone, Alice Weiss and I have organized the literary event “Madness at the Grolier” for a number of reasons. We want to inaugurate a new Grolier Poetry Book Shop Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-72768423098699271312011-11-01T01:29:00.000-07:002011-11-01T01:37:31.857-07:00A Chinaman's Chance: New and Selected Poems 1960-2010 by Alex Kuo
A Chinaman's Chance
New and Selected Poems 1960-2010
Alex Kuo
Wordcraft of Oregon Publisher
ISBN 978-1-877655-71-5
$15.00 2011
"It was another Asian body
Its brains blown out by necessity
Splattered on TV's evening news
Almost twenty years ago
We wondered then if color returned
To his face under the moon
And if his firebombed village
Had a prayer to move next to
Never again Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-28690162146378870512011-10-30T07:00:00.000-07:002011-11-02T03:36:13.284-07:00Poems for Somerville: Akshay Ahuja brings poetry to the people.
By Doug Holder
It was an odd day at the Au Bon Pain in Davis Square. An October snowstorm was at the cusp of the Boston Area, and for several days before the weather was decidedly winter-like, even before the ghouls of Halloween pounded the mean streets. On this morning I met Somerville writer Akshay Ahuja, to talk about a new literary project he is engaged in.
Ahuja is a new arrival to ourDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-39532809533353661002011-10-27T00:50:00.000-07:002011-10-27T00:52:31.019-07:00The Anthology of Rap: Adam Bradley, Andrew DuBois, editors
The Anthology of Rap
Adam Bradley, Andrew DuBois, editors
Yale University Press
$25.00
Review by Rene Schwiesow
I know, long ago you wrote off Rap as a musical movement that had only minor impact. Perhaps that was at its inception during the 70’s or, perhaps, more recent than that. Rap, however, has clearly had an influence on both music and poetry and “The Anthology of Rap” is Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-6316945229790877402011-10-26T02:27:00.000-07:002011-10-26T02:41:41.650-07:00All of the Above by Jim Daniels
All of the Above
Jim Daniels
Adastra Press
ISBN 978-0-9838238-2-7
2011 $18.00
The poems in All of the Above loosely follow Jim Daniel's definition of ghazals in Outlier and Ghazels. He writes, "I have not adhered to the strictness of metrics and structure of the ancient practitioners, with the exception of using a minimum of five couplets. The couplets are not related by reason Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-43789684079342064562011-10-24T11:16:00.000-07:002011-10-24T11:50:50.294-07:00“The Whore’s Child” by: Richard Russo-- Review by Samille TaylorEndicott College Literature major Samille Taylor has reviewed a booklet put out this year by the Boston Book Festival: "The Whore's Child" by Richard Russo. "The Whore's Child" is a short story from a collection of stories by Russo of the same title. This is one of a series of reviews by Endicott College English /Creative Writing Majors for the Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene.
Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-29145381745038166742011-10-23T13:45:00.000-07:002011-10-23T13:46:58.494-07:00Review of DRIVE-BY VIGILS poems by R. Zamora Linmark
Review of DRIVE-BY VIGILS poems by R. Zamora Linmark, Hanging Loose Press, 231 Wyckoff Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217, http://hangingloosepress.com, 82 pages, January 2012, $18
Review by Barbara Bialick, author of TIME LEAVES
This novelist-playwright-poet has a voice that I have not personally heard of until now—that of a Filipino-American who was born in Manila, educated in Honolulu, Hawaii, Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-71056899527253026722011-10-19T10:58:00.000-07:002011-10-23T09:28:20.557-07:00The Front and Back Cover for Ibbetson Street 30 due out in late Nov. 2011Front Cover Art for the new Ibbetson 30 is by the artist Bridget Galway. Both front and back covers were designed by Steve Glines; the back cover art is by artist Irene Koronas- The issue should be out in late November.
(Click on picture to enlarge)
(Click on to enlarge picture)Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-20785178672416506572011-10-17T13:14:00.000-07:002011-10-17T13:16:49.723-07:00Review of The Book of Arrows by Mike Amado
The Book of Arrows by Mike Amado
Review by Pam Rosenblatt
In 2011, The Book of Arrows by Mike Amado, edited by Jack Scully and Nancy Brady Cunningham, was published by Cervena Barva Press, Somerville, Massachusetts. A sixty-two page book, The Book of Arrows is a well-written, well-edited, well-published, and well-designed poetry book. Even the cover with its bright turquoise color and Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-48037648598039379092011-10-15T09:39:00.000-07:002011-10-16T10:24:01.772-07:00An Afternoon with Tranströmer in Stockholm by Steven Ford Brown
Article by Steven Ford Brown
An Afternoon with Tranströmer in Stockholm
I first met Monica and Tomas Tranströmer in 1983, in Houston. I had left my hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, to attend a graduate writing program and nominated myself to pick them up at the airport. We immediately had a connection, since I had met Robert Bly in the 1970s and published a special feature on Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-75252439513028226612011-10-14T18:01:00.000-07:002011-10-14T18:03:38.841-07:00Catalina by Laurie Soriano
Catalina by Laurie Soriano
Review byLawrence Kessenich
The impression I come away with after reading Laurie Soriano’s powerful first book of poetry, Catalina, is that she is a brilliant portraitist. She is like a skilled painter or photographer, who first sees the world with absolute clarity and then selects the details that will make it come alive for us. What she chooses to see most Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-35154361941213747282011-10-13T12:01:00.000-07:002011-10-14T13:59:42.850-07:00The Speaker’s Progress:Sulayman Al-Bassam Theatre: Written and Directed by Sulayman Al-Bassam
The Speaker’s Progress
Sulayman Al-Bassam Theatre
Written and Directed by Sulayman Al-Bassam
October 12-16, 2011
Presented by ArtsEmerson
Playing at the Paramount Center Mainstage
Special Post Performance Discussions
For information and tickets:
www.artsemerson.org
617-824-8400
Review by Amy Tighe
At the end, the stage is chaotic. The sand that has been flowing from the Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-2162217187643736952011-10-12T10:40:00.001-07:002011-10-12T10:40:39.122-07:00Mass. Poetry Award Must Read Poster 2011( Click on Picture to Enlarge)Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-53601515451145935742011-10-11T12:11:00.000-07:002011-10-11T12:20:54.783-07:00Compartments: Poems on Nature, Femininity and Other Realms by Carol Smallwood
Compartments: Poems on Nature, Femininity and Other Realms by Carol Smallwood (Paper, $15, ISBN: 978-1-937-53600-8, LCCN: 2011912611, 146 pp, 6x9, August 2011, Anaphora Literary Press)
Review by Dr. Christine Redman-Waldemeyer
If there is one thing that vexes a woman, it is her sewing box. Carol Smallwood is the sorter, a poet who can enter a poem and untangle thread. "The Sewing Box" is only Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-13699097441901471482011-10-10T09:48:00.000-07:002011-10-12T07:14:41.584-07:00Singer/Songwriter Jennifer Matthews brings 'Tales of a Salty Sweetheart' back to Somerville, Mass.
Singer/Songwriter Jennifer Matthews brings 'Tales of a Salty Sweetheart' back to Somerville, Mass.
Interview with Doug Holder
Somerville musician Jennifer Matthews was in the words of Willie Nelson, 'on the road again' for the past several years, and she has brought home 'tales of a salty sweetheart.' The sweetheart is not exactly flesh and blood, but her new album to be released in Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-40856724240802017532011-10-09T04:42:00.000-07:002011-10-09T04:46:09.844-07:00In the Shadow of Al-Andalus: Poems by Victor Hernandez Cruz
In the Shadow of Al-Andalus
Poems by Victor Hernandez Cruz
ISBN 978-1-56689-277-3
Coffee House Press info@coffeehousepress.org.
Distribution: 800-283-3572
Review by Dennis Daly
Like cubist paintings, the words and the cadences of these poems insist on taking you elsewhere. The Caribbean, Moroccan Africa, and Andalusian Spain are divided and sub-divided into sparkling shards of Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-52666338830208702412011-10-08T13:28:00.000-07:002011-10-08T13:32:34.635-07:00Review for Emerson Presents/Emerson College Faculty Film Series Boston, Mass.(Paramount Theatre--Boston)
Review for Emerson Presents/Emerson College Faculty Film Series Boston, Mass.
Oct7, 2011.
By Amy R. Tighe
Turns out, I know more than I think I do. When I got assigned to review the Emerson Faculty Film series called Emerson Presents, I was a little concerned. I admit it, I don’t really know the difference between a film and a movie. I probably never willDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-54805036871880952932011-10-08T07:55:00.001-07:002011-10-08T08:00:53.578-07:00Reflections In A Smoking Mirror : Poems of Mexico&Belize by Paul Pines
Reflections
In A Smoking Mirror
Poems of Mexico & Belize
Paul Pines
Dos Madres Press 2011
ISBN 1-933675-60-2
Many of the poems seem to take place when seafaring
men jump out of their boats with sword in hand, ready to conquer
the enemy with the clash of weapons and political demise. Someone
has to lose but it is not the verse. These poems are similar to a
Keith Jarret Concert. They Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-90724853103472223692011-10-05T11:10:00.000-07:002011-10-05T11:10:43.143-07:00Review of MUD SEASON, by Pamela Annas
Review of MUD SEASON, by Pamela Annas, Cervena Barva Press, PO Box 440357, West Somerville, MA 02144-3222, www.cervenabarvapress.com, 41 pages, $7, 2011
Review by Barbara Bialick, author of TIME LEAVES
MUD SEASON is an elegantly written chapbook that comes out when the author is nearing retirement—and deserves a wider audience in the military, civilian and literary realms. It’s written Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-40134558628403095242011-10-04T00:19:00.000-07:002011-10-04T00:29:09.765-07:00Our Daily Words by Bernard Horn
Our Daily Words
Bernard Horn
Old Seventy Creek Press Poetry Series 2010
ISBN 1450526004
It is impossible for me to not love these poems when in the first poem
'The Smell of Time,' emits beauty and turtle shell hard as rock to knock our
heads against, the poems are at once our home and the author's home:
“...time enters the mind on waves of odor:
in chills and songs, in turtle eyes
thatDoug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-8557545742571540332011-10-02T04:22:00.001-07:002011-10-02T17:13:38.815-07:00DEWITT HENRY: PLOUGHSHARES and other ‘Sweet Dreams’
DEWITT HENRY: PLOUGHSHARES and other ‘Sweet Dreams’
Interview with Doug Holder
DeWitt Henry is an acclaimed essayist, and fiction writer. He is the founding editor of Ploughshares literary magazine. Ploughshares is perhaps the most influential literary magazine in the country. Henry has a new memoir out, Sweet Dreams, that covers his youth, his time at Harvard, the formation of Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-17577135934482087862011-09-26T11:27:00.000-07:002011-09-26T11:29:46.082-07:00Mike Amado’s "The Book of Arrows"
Mike Amado’s The Book of Arrows
reviewed by Alice Weiss
Mike Amado’s posthumous fifth book of poetry, The Book of Arrows, edited by Jack Scully and Nancy Grace Cunningham, gives us a chance to do two things, consider his poetry as Amada himself said, “In all its beginnings. . .its blooming. . .its endings,” and to consider his position as a poet in a community.
It is this last that I Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-74440396775011385252011-09-25T06:27:00.001-07:002011-09-25T06:28:43.359-07:00Lawrence Kessenich: A Somerville Bagel Bard with a flair for “flash” playwriting
Lawrence Kessenich: A Somerville Bagel Bard with a flair for “flash” playwriting.
Lawrence Kessenich is a member of Somerville ‘s Bagel Bards and was an editor at the prestigious Boston publishing house Houghton Mifflin. During his time at Houghton Mifflin, Kessenich recruited W. P. Kinsella author of “Shoeless Joe,” Rick Boyer’s “Billingsgate Shoal”, a mystery that won an Edgar Award for best Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-14029507365792608052011-09-24T14:16:00.001-07:002011-09-24T14:28:07.529-07:00Somerville Writer Alan Ball: Working with kids after work and after-school.
Somerville Writer Alan Ball: Working with kids after work and after-school.
Interview with Doug Holder.
Alan Ball has worked 25 years as a medical journalist. He moved from NYC to Somerville in 1978. Since then he has worked with school kids by organizing after school creative writing groups at the A.D. Healey School, and formed the student newspaper. He founded the print and online Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-14622838816588028522011-09-23T02:11:00.000-07:002011-09-23T02:14:47.266-07:00Mortal Terror: A Play by Robert Brustein
Mortal Terror
A Play by Robert Brustein
At the Modern Theater, Boston MA.
Review by Zvi A. Sesling
Robert Brustein’s “Mortal Terror” is more a comment on contemporary life than life in the Shakespearean era it portrays. It is also an expression of the universal theme “what goes around, comes around.”
Using the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, Brustein presents seven characters who represent not only Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-45231110176708535482011-09-22T01:04:00.000-07:002011-09-22T01:07:37.901-07:00Review of THE POSSIBILITY OF SCORPIONS by Connemara Wadsworth
Review of THE POSSIBILITY OF SCORPIONS by Connemara Wadsworth,
Winner of the White Eagle Coffee Store Press Fall 2009 Chapbook Contest, 24 pages, White Eagle Coffee Store Press, PO Box 383, Fox River Grove, IL 60021-0383, www.whiteeaglecoffeestorepress.com
Review by Barbara Bialick
It’s easy to see why this chapbook was a winner. It’s trim, neat, and organized.
It’s well on the mark as a Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5099845.post-7659808106632939372011-09-17T13:53:00.001-07:002011-09-17T13:57:54.791-07:00If I Take You Here by Martha Carlson-Bradley
If I Take You Here
by Martha Carlson-Bradley
Copyright 2010 by Martha Carlson-Bradley
Adastra Press
Easthampton, MA 01027
Softbound, 34 pages, $18.00
ISBN 10: 0-9822495-9-4
ISBN 13: 978-0-9822495-9-8
Review by Zvi A. Sesling
In reading chapbooks from Adastra Press, Gary Metras’s publishing house in Easthampton, MA, I have never been disappointed by the poetry they contain and If I Take You Doug Holderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05003269684850096238noreply@blogger.com0