your midsummer annogram

Here I am enjoying some ice cream generously shared at a client's office–mm-mm good!  And now delicious days after a New York heat wave: The glorious weather has heralded news that three of my poems will appear in Cicada, and the receipt of my beautiful copy of Raising Lilly Ledbetter: Women Poets Occupy the Workspace (Lost Horse Press, 2015).

Go Set a Watchman

Dancer Elyse Faltz asked me today what I thought about  this controversial publication. I had recently seen the PBS American Experience film on Harper Lee, and it reinforced the importance in the American psyche of To Kill a Mockingbird.  I am inclined to think that, with Ms. Lee’s lawyer-sister gone, and Ms. Lee a stroke victim, the publisher took advantage of a pre-Kill draft. After writer Jeanette Briggs shared this NPR review, I decided not to read the “sequel” if it is one. Let the original stand.

New York Poetry Festival

The New York Poetry Festival takes place Saturday through Sunday this weekend on Governors Island–a 172 acre island in the heart of New York harbor, only 800 yards from Lower Manhattan and even closer to Brooklyn. Come hear Kattywompus Press poets Susanna Case and Margo Stever read on Sunday, July 26 at 1 p.m. at the Chumley Stage, and Slapering Hol Press poets on the White Horse Stage at 2:30 p.m.

Little Games at the Eastchester Inn

Little Games will play the Eastchester Inn Saturday, August 1, at 9 p.m. The band welcomes talented guest guitarist Don LaSala, a recording engineer who did sound for NRBQ and Warren Zevon US tours. Join lead vocalist/guitarist Michael Cefola, bassist Larry Schwartzman and drummer Tom Vinton for another great night of rock!

Tribute to B.B. King

Imagine opening for the great B.B. King! That’s what Johnny Moses did with his freshman rock band at Trinity College in 1968.  Here’s his recollection behind this memorable photo:

B.B. King and Johnny Moses, 1968

In my eagerness I tried to show him all the styles of guitar I could in one-minute country bends, R&B chops and, of course, blues. He listened, then smiled. As he reached out to touch my shoulder (the money shot), he said, “Maybe you have a new style there”–his gracious way of saying, “Don’t play too much, keep it simple and soulful.” Then he said, “Treat your guitar like a woman, slow and easy.” Finally, he showed me a high note trick with left hand vibrato he used throughout his career to punctuate a phrase. Wow, what a lifelong lesson!

Meetinghouse Readings in Canaan, NH

Poet and translator David Ferry will read with novelist Megan Mayhew Bergman at the Meetinghouse on July 30, at 7:30 p.m.  Free admission. 

New—one free!—books

Congratulations to these talented authors on new works and one well-deserved reissue:

Rómulo Gallegos’s Doña Barbara, translated by Robert Malloy (University of Chicago Press, 2015) – free e-edition during July

Gary Glauber’s Small Consolations (Aldrich Press, 2015)

JoAnne McFarland’s LOOSE HORSE IN THE VALLEY: A Modern American Lullaby (Red Glass Books, 2015) available for $12 check to from JoAnne McFarland, 20 Henry Street, Apt. 2DN, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Hélène Sanguinetti’s Alparegho, pareil-à-rien (reissue - Editions L’Amandier, 2015)

Rosmarie Waldrop’s In Pieces (O’Clock Press, 2015)

Meatless Loaf for Your Next Picnic

Make this loaf in the cool of the day and you can slice and enjoy in a lovely summer sandwich or entrée. A family favorite chez Cefola.

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup your choice of any combo diced celery, green pepper, carrots, mushrooms, olives, favorite vegetables, etc.

1 cup chunk-style peanut butter

1 cup cooked rice

1/3 cup bread crumbs

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in a skillet and sauté the vegetables until limp. Combine the vegetables with remaining ingredients. Mix well, adding some liquid if it seems too dry. Pour mixture into a greased loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes. Serve hot or cold.

’Round the Net

Congratulations and/or thanks to:

Publisher Steve Brannon for the great Spring/Summer 2015 issue of Small Print Magazine

Essayist Jeanette Briggs for this sobering NPR review of Go Set a Watchman (HarperCollins, 2015)

Publisher Libby Hodges on the publication of issue 2 of the translation journal SpringHouse

Publishing guru Jan Kardys for letting us know that the must-attend Unicorn Writers Conference takes place next month

Publisher Simon Lewis for this memorable speech by the Rev. Pinckney, one of the Charleston nine, honoring the Civil War dead

Actor Tony LoBianco on his marriage to Alyse Best Muldoon on June 27, 2015

Fiction writer Maureen Pilkington for her essay, “Stuck in an Elevator with Sixteen Republications,” appearing in SohoNYC

Computing pioneer David Schwartzkopf

Poet Hélène Sanguinetti on this fantastic podcast on FranceCulture (the “PBS” of France) on the reissue of Alparegho, pareil-à-rien (Editions L’Amandier, 2015)

Disabilities activist David Schwartzkopf on his profile in the US Department of Labor’s 25-year tribute to the Americans with Disabilities Act

Bassist Larry Schwartzman for this optical illusion

Music archivist Jay Shulman for this tribute to Dylan’s “Like a rolling stone” recorded 50 years ago this summer

Poet Linda Simone on joining the San Antonio Poet Source

Poet Margo Stever and son, James Taft Stever, on publication of Looking East: William Howard Taft and the 1905 U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Asia, The Photographs of Harry Fowler Woods (Orange Frazer Press, 2015)

Photographer Joe Vericker for this sport-legend photo (left to right) Mets pitcher Tom Seaver, Yankee shortstop Phil Rizzuto, Giants’ Lawrence Taylor, Yankee catcher Yogi Berra, Jets Super Bowl III QB Joe Namath, and Daily News sports cartoonist Bill Gallo

Here's hoping you knock it out of the park in your creative pursuits!

Until next time,

Ann