your october annogram

 

Dear annogrammers, Happy October! Hope you get outdoors to sip some hot cider as you pick out a pumpkin or a farm-stand apple pie. The cooler weather makes me hungry for good things, and I hope you find a few here.

When the Pilotless Plane Arrives

 

My chapbook, When the Pilotless Plane Arrives (Trainwreck Press) debuts this month. Pilotless taps into 1950s sci-fi/horror film narratives as metaphors for the perils of writing poetry—you will recognize sometimes cringe-worthy scenarios that publisher John C. Goodman calls “great fun.” You can order your copy here.

 

 

Et voici la chanson in print

 

Congratulations to Hélène Sanguinetti, whose amazing book, Et voici la chanson [And here’s the song] (Lurlure) is once again in print:

 

In this “song” the ear sees and the eye hears. [Its characters] Joug and Joui are day and night, moon and sun, water and thirst, Eros and Thanatos, but also the Evil and Mercy of narrative. And here's the song is their story, where writing leads the dance and sings in a broken voice. Stay alive, exist in the here and now in these volts, entanglements, momentum, and fractures.

 

Wow! And I have a completed translation of this book. Hello, publishers? What are you waiting for?

 

 

Cousin Brucie and ‘Come and Get Your Love’

 

I was mind-blown when Cousin Bruce called out “Cousin Ann Cefola” and played “Come and Get Your Love” –agreeing “a great song”– on his Saturday Night Rock & Roll Party (09-18-21, 95:07). That song, on many of your playlists, is helping drive this petition to get the Native-American Redbone into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

 

 

How to Up Your Poetry Game

 

I loved, loved, loved John C. Goodman’s Poetry Tools and Techniques: Writing Engaging Poetry (Gneiss Press). This slender volume covers everything in a tone worthy of an etiquette manual, giving the reader confidence to develop his or her own poetic. It’s a compassionate response from an online journal editor who witnessed the missing knowledge which could afford new poets more deliberate and powerful writing.

 

 

Lit Balm Reading

 

Such a pleasure to attend Lit Balm last month featuring Ralph Culver, Bob Heman, DeWitt Henry, Cindy Hochman, and Jon Wesick. The 5pm ET Zoom/Facebook global reading is hosted by poets Marc Vincenz, Cassandra Atherton, and Jonathan Penton. Tune in this week for Hannah Sullivan, Kathleen Ossip, Julia Story and Peter Campion with guest MC David Blair.

 

 

Video Reactions

 

You’ve likely seen The Twins review Phil Collins’s “In the Air Tonight,” which boosted Collins’s music sales a whopping 1100 percent last year. Michael and I spent a Saturday night binging reactions, such as DramaSydETV on the Zombies’ “Time of the Season.”  Rolling Stone says this trend bridges cultural divides, as young reviewers encounter metal, country, and classic rock songs for the first time.

 

 

New and Recent Releases

 

Clara Mae Barnhart, Susie Susequehana and The River Valley Blues (Main Street Rag)

John Bradley, Hotel Montparnasse, Letters to César Vallejo (Dos Madres Press)

Pamela Laskin, The Lost Language of Crazy (Atmosphere Press)

 

First Literary Review – East, September issue

 

Laurel Peterson, The Fallen (Woodhall Press)

Hélène Sanguinetti, Et voici la chanson (Lurlure)

 

Anthony Seidman, trans., Contra Natura by Rodolfo Hinostroza (Cardboard House Press)

Joann Smith, A Heaven of Their Choosing (7.13 Books)

 

Pedestal 88.5

 

 

Creative Workshops

 

All-Genre Writers Group, 6:30pm, Thursdays

 

John McMullen Poetry Workshop, 6pm, fourth Wednesdays

 

Mahopac Poetry Workshop, 6pm, second Wednesdays

 

ModPo, University of Pennsylvania’s free poetry course and global community

 

Norwalk Poetry Workshop, first and third Mondays, 6:30pm; email poet_laureate@norwalkpl.org to register

 

The Poets Salon, led by Ed Ahern and Alison McBain of Fairfield Scribes Press, 10am, every second Saturday

 

Stealing from the Poet’s Toolbox: A Fiction Writers Workshop with Estha Weiner (LIVE), October 22, 10am-4pm

 

Writers and Artists Lunch Conversation, second Fridays, noon

 

 

October Readings and Events – ET

 

Laurel Peterson

October 2, 3pm, Norwalk Public Library, Laurel Peterson book launch, The Fallen; email clahey@norwalkpl.org for Zoom link

October 3-4, 10am-5pm, The Brooklyn Book Festival

 

October 3, 3pm, A Conversation with Naomi Shihab Nye & Pádraig Ó’Tuama; register here

 

Jerry T. Johnson

October 6, 6:30pm, Norwalk Public Library, Laurel Peterson hosts Writers in Conversation: Brian Cordell and Jerry Johnson;email clahey@norwalkpl.org for Zoom link 

October 17, 4pm, Katonah Poetry Series, Forrest Gander, $15, register here

 

Pamela Laskin

October 24, 9pm, Chax Press reading series: Yan An, poet; and Chen Du, and Xisheng Chen, translators

November 3, 7pm, Wordup Books, Pamela Laskin book launch, The Lost Language of Crazy

 

 

Monthly Readings – ET

 

First Sunday, 4pm, Poetic License (Austin)

 

Every Tuesday, 2pm, Spoken Word World (Paris)

 

Every Tuesday, 7pm, Curley’s Diner

 

Third Fridays, 7pm, Hudson Valley Writers Center Open Mic – click third Friday for details

 

Every Saturday, 5pm, Lit Balm

 

 

Zucchini Patties

 

When grabbing last tomatoes and corn at your local farm, get some zukes for this easy recipe—a mainstay chez Cefola and often seen here:

 

2 cups coarsely grated zucchini

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

¼ cup minced onion

¼ to ½ cup all-purpose flour, as needed

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

Salt and black pepper

Vegetable oil

One lemon

 

Place zucchini in strainer and press out as much moisture as possible. Mix zucchini with eggs and onion in a large mixing bowl. Combine flour, cheese, baking powder, and seasonings and add to the zucchini mixture. Shape into four or more patties. Heat oil over medium heat, and fry patties until lightly browned on both sides. Drain the cooked patties and drizzle with lemon juice. Serve immediately.

 

 

ʼRound the Net

 

Chard Deniord

Poet Susanna Case on her new book, The Damage Done, forthcoming from Broadstone Books

 

Poet Chard Deniord for producing Nora Jacobson's film on Vermont poet Ruth Stone (1915-2011)

 

Poet Bob Heman on sharing the 700^th anniversary of Dante’s death

Kathleen Jamie

Poet Kathleen Jamie on becoming Scotland’s new Makar (Poet Laureate)

Poet Heller Levinson for this wonderful review of his book Lurk (Black Widow Press)

Author Laurel Peterson for her guest post, “Writing Race” on the It’s Not Always a Mystery blog

 

Yorktown Poet Laureate John McMullen for his September 24^th letter to the New York Daily News, “Psst — poems don’t have to rhyme, and The News should not be furthering a misconception that turns young readers away from poetry” (Bravo, John!)

Tom (1937-2014) and Ray Magliozzi
of "Car Talk"

 

WBUR on the end of “Car Talk”

 

 

Send Me Your News

 

About a month in advance. Add any pertinent links to books, publishers, and reading or exhibit venues—and extra brownie points if you attach them to book titles and/or events, etc. Your success inspires and helps others, so sharing is an act of generosity. Be creative, be productive, be heard and seen!

 

Until next time,

Ann