Everything But the Kitchen Skunk by Molly Fisk
Usha fell in love last year with Everything But the Kitchen Skunk: Ongoing Observations from a Working Poet by Molly Fisk.
Read MoreTHERE SHOULD BE FLOWERS by Joshua Jennifer Espinoza
HERE SHOULD BE FLOWERS by our very own Joshua Jennifer Espinoza was an immediate hit with Usha. He’s been hoarding the book, sleeping on or next to it, and softly noses around the pages finding his favorite poems.
Read MoreThe Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection & Joy
Today’s pick by Usha was The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection & Joy, editd by James Crews with a foreword by Danusha Laméris. This fabulous anthology just arrived in the mail, and I sat reading it when Usha took over, crawling on my lap and leaving no space, knocking the book down unceremoniously. He was made to pose with the book after knocking it down. Because that is polite.
”Crews, a fine poet and teacher, appears to have a Midas touch when it comes to gathering wonderful poems and growing popular anthologies.”
- Naomi Shihab Nye, Young People's Poet Laureate
In our next Soul Bone Literary Festival we’re having an anthology reading of this wonderful anthology with James Crews, Danusha Laméris, Molly Fisk, and Emilie Lygren. Emilie is a student in our MFA program and Molly and Danusha are repeat residency guests..
You can buy the anthology from Abe Books here.
Quantum Heresies by Mary Peelen
Usha had an early love for Quantum Heresies, poems by Mary Peelen published by Glass Lyre Press. Book lying around on the couch. A curiosity. Some sniffing. Mishu joins Usha. A few nice poses for Mary!
”Mary Peelen’s spare poems pulse with what they contain and describe—in both the imagistic and the mathematical sense of the word—harnessing the power of the sciences to navigate the chthonic worlds of illness, loss, and desire on both personal and planetary scales. Peelen denies the divisions of mind and body, art and science, precision and ardor. Her poems resonate with allusion (Lady Lazarus’s hair as a supernova) and sound (copernicium, ununoctium). Peelen unveils new ways to make sense of our complicated, contradictory world.”
— Elizabeth Bradfeld, naturalist and author of Once Removed
Find Quantum Heresies on the website of Glass Lyre Press here.
The More Difficult Beauty by Molly Fisk
In Spring ‘22, Usha picked The More Difficult Beauty by Molly Fisk. He dragged it off the couch, pulled it onto the rug, and perused the pages, nibbling on a few delectable ones. Then he slept on the book and would not let me read it for a few hours, guarding his treasure.
”Molly's voice is crisp and decided yet relaxed and just close enough somehow ... and the pieces all are impeccably shaped and written. Fearless, clear-eyed work. - John Updike The inimitable Molly Fisk, known for the quirky warmth of her radio essays, revered as the mentor-coach of the on-line Poetry Boot Camp, is a poet who writes with her whole heart, making her second volume a tour de force of sensuality and hard fact. The More Difficult Beauty returns emotion to the American poem with its supple lines, tempering the difficult - death, and love - with the zinnias of bright, ebullient imagery. Fisk is luminous and loud, lucid and soft, driven and wandering. Candor and humor are her hallmarks in these poems, marvels of sheer whimsy and broad, wicked observation. - Molly Peacock Whether coming to terms with middle age, an abusive childhood, or pondering the 'conspiracy' of the Truckee River's 'ten thousand drops', Molly Fisk's careful eye takes it in. This poet braves the more difficult places and in doing so reveals the world's simple truths.”
- Dorianne Laux
Molly’s recommended place for buying her books is Bookshop.org. Check it out here.
