Go Cat Go Poetry Reading
 |
| Ann with Kevin Pilkington |
What a pleasure last month to
read at Gracie’s Corner Diner on Manhattan’s Upper Eastside! Special thanks to National Poetry
Award-winning poet Kevin Pilkington and his wife Celia for attending, as
well Meredith and John Moses, family friend Larry Schwartzman, and of course my
biggest fan, Michael Cefola. Deepest appreciation
to our enthusiastic host, poet Peter Chelnik: Go cat go!
ModPo Madness
Assisi: For the Feast of St. Francis
I am thrilled that my poem, "Venerablis," appears on page 123 of the new issue of Assisi. The Feast of St. Francis is this Sunday (October 6), a day when many churches open their doors to pets and animals to be blessed. My poem is about one of the first dogs I ever owned. Thanks to Wendy Galgan for publishing it!
Sanguinetti on Asymptote
A translated fable from Hélène
Sanguinetti’s Le Héros (Flammarion, 2008) goes live on Asymptote October 15. I adore this poetic tale of two animals who
find solace and joy in their journey together.
The author, from Provence, has a gift for fable and I encourage you to
discover her striking language. Thanks
to Aditi Machado for selecting this piece!
Scottish novelist Regi Claire
I had the good fortune to interview Regi
Claire, an award-winning
novelist in Scotland, for Small Print Magazine about her latest book, The Waiting (Word Power Books, 2012). Scottish literary critics rave about the
Swiss-born Claire, whose writing has been called “beautifully precise,” and
“heartbreakingly real.” I hope you read
the journal to learn about Claire’s creative process.
 |
Linda Simone, Terry Dugan and Ann
flank Sarah on her big night |
Primary
Lessons Book Launch
Congratulations to Sarah Bracey
White on the full house
for her book launch, September 24 at the Greenburgh Public
Library. Sarah read from her memoir, Primary Lessons (CavanKerry Press, 2013), which has
already gone into second printing. Photographer Margaret Fox snapped these great shots. From the long lines at the author's table,
you can be sure a third printing is around the corner.
Postcard from Alaska
 |
| Mendenhall Glacier |
Photographer Elaine Whitman took this beautiful photo of the Mendenhall Glacier on a 30th anniversary trip with her poet-husband Neal recently. Thanks, Elaine, and may you and Neal enjoy many more years of travel, poetry, art and joy!
Vijay Seshadri on Frost,
Williams and Auden
Poet Vijay
Seshadri gave a lecture,
“The poem beneath the poem (beneath the poem),” in New York last month as part
of the Sarah Lawrence Faculty on the Road Series.
Seshadri, a brilliant literary analyst, unpacked poetic meaning in Frost’s
“The Road Not Taken,” Williams’s “This is Just to Say,”
and Auden’s “Musee des Beaux Arts.”
In Auden’s poem, I had never realized that the voice is written to sound
like a docent. Seshadri’s latest book is
3 Sections: Poems, (Graywolf, 2013).
Rosalind Solomon at Fridman
Gallery
Rosalnd Solomon
gave a rare talk at Fridman Gallery in Soho last month. The acclaimed photographer shared how her
extrovert parents often exhorted their book-lover daughter to “cheer up.” This childhood wound blossomed into an
ability to take eerie and stark photos of broken dolls, people with chronic
illness, and Central American villagers.
See this extraordinary exhibit at the gallery.
Gigi and the Lend-Me-A-Hand Band, which
includes my favorite lead guitarist Michael Cefola, are
performing at the Bronx Zoo every Saturday and Sunday this month
at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Gigi leads the daily Halloween parade into the
Grizzly Goodies Picnic Area. Discover
children’s music with a grown-up rock edge and why WNBC-TV
calls the band a “Best Bet” in family entertainment.
Toadlilly debuts new collection
Congratulations to Toadlily
Press on its new book, Mend
& Hone, featuring
poets Elizabeth Howort, Dawn Gorman, Leslie LaChance, Janlori
Goldman. Poets House will host a book launch party on October
6 at 2 pm. Come help Toadlily, which has
promoted emerging poets for years, celebrate its new authors!
Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon
On Wednesday, October 16, at 7 pm, Janie Cohen, director of the Fleming Museum of
Art at the University of Vermont in Burlington, will share her revelatory new work on Picasso’s Demoiselles
d’Avignon
(1907) at the Fridman Gallery in Soho.
Learn about one of the most pivotal paintings from the early 20th
century. This talk is free and open to
the public.
Rodin in Bronxville
Come see an exhibition of Auguste Rodin
portrait sculptures at OSilas
Gallery at Concordia College
through November 27, 2013. This once-in-a-lifetime exhibition—The Bronze
Age: Rodin& amp; the Methods of a Master features Rodin bronze portrait
sculptures on loan from the Iris and
B. Gerald Cantor Foundation, and cast models for the sculpture Sorrow–on
loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Winter Warmers in Brooklyn
If you live in or visit Brooklyn,
treat yourself to a s’more and hot cocoa at Winter
Warmers. This new shop features yummy comfort food
designed to drive away the autumn chill.
With all kinds of s’mores, your selection can be adventuresome or
traditional. Congratulations to proprietor
Eric Holstein on this welcome addition to metro area dining!
Seamus Heaney
In August the literary
world reeled at the loss of the Irish-born Seamus Heaney (1939-2013), winner of
the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. The
prolific poet also translated Beowulf (Norton, 2001) and Sophocles. When
I saw Mr. Heaney read at NYU, his brogue-tinged speech was so lyrical that it
was hard to tell if he was simply speaking or reading a poem. Here is an obituary, words from Mr. Heaney himself,
reading Beowulf and identifying places he
loved.
‘Round the Net
Thanks to the following people who sent me these great
announcements and/or links:
·
Poet Terry Dugan for her quote in this article
on the Manhattanville MFA Program
We also lost John Hollander (1929-2013)
in August, and in his remembrance, I include this poem.
Until next time,
Some Playthings
A trembling brown bird
standing in the high grass turns
out to be a blown
oakleaf after all.
Was the leaf playing bird, or
was it
"just" the wind
playing with the leaf?
Was my very noticing
itself at play with
an irregular
frail patch of brown in the cold
April afternoon?
These questions that hang
motionless in the now-stilled
air: what of their
frailty, in the light
of even the most fragile
of problematic
substances like all
these momentary playthings
of recognition?
Questions that are asked
of questions: no less weighty
and lingeringly
dark than the riddles
posed by any apparent
bird or leaf or breath
of wind, instruments
probing what we feel we know
for some kind of truth.
Excerpt from A DRAFT OF
LIGHT. Copyright © 2008 by John Hollander.
Come
hear Ann read Sunday
I’m
thrilled that my poem, “How My Father Looked Like Superman,” will be part of Drawn to Marvel: Poems from the Comic Books (Minor Arcana Press). Recently I found out that my grandmother, Lovrien Price
Gregory (1888-1972), was one of the first U.S. female cartoonists in the early 20th
century. A classically trained artist, she
was awarded a scholarship from the French government to the Ecole
des Beaux Arts at Fontainebleau among other achievements. I was surprised to discover her humble if
very hip beginnings.
Winter Warmers
· Art
historian Beth Gersh-Nesic for letting us know that Paul
Werner will give a free talk on his book about the Metropolitan Museum of
Art at Fridman Gallery on
Saturday, December 7 at 4 p.m. Reception
to follow.
