your golden light of august annogram

Best American Poetry

Good news! This month The Best American Poetry Blog highlights my Illuminations interview with J. Chester Johnson, and Sophie Chouinard reviews Face Painting in the Dark (Dos Madres Press, 2014) in Cahoodaloodaling. In addition, Earth’s Daughters accepted my poem, “Royal Quiet DeLuxe,” and my interview with memoirist Sarah Bracey White will appear next month in the Southern Literary Review.

The energized blues-rock of Little Games

Little Games is developing quite a following--please stay tuned for future gigs. The band features vocalist/guitarist Michael Cefola, bassist Larry Schwartzman, drummer Tommy Vinton, and guitarist/vocalist Don LaSala.  Speaking of blues, Michael highly recommends this collection of interviews with B.B. King in the latest Guitar Player.  


View from the Chair and New Mobility

Maggie and Jim Sinocchi

A great gift in my career has been working closely with members of the disabilities community—although “disabilities” hardly describes professionals whose talents far exceed my own. In View from the Chair, Jim Sinocchi faces some end-of-life planning most of us avoid; and in New Mobility, Jim Barry recalls one spring when he got “hammered.” I adore both Jims, and now you can get to know them too.



Eric Greinke and Dolly

Poets in Review

Thanks to Eric Greinke for including his review of Hence this cradle (Seismicity Editions, 2007) in Poets in Review (Presa Press, 2015). Hence is my translation of the second collection by French contemporary poet Hélène Sanguinetti. Eric’s essay joins many notable reviews he has written over two decades. 

Brilliant Blunders at Iona

Astrophysicist and cosmologist Mario Livio will speak at the Murphy Center auditorium at Iona College in New Rochelle on Thursday, September 10, at noon. The talk will focus on “Brilliant Blunders,” major errors committed by such luminaries as Darwin, Einstein and Pauling, in describing the evolution of Earth, human life, and the universe as a whole. Free. Directions here.

1.5 Million Black (Wo)Men Missing

A panel, “More Than a Protest Novel: Connecting the Dots - 1.5 Million Black (Wo)Men Missing,” will take place Tuesday, September 15, 2015, 6:30 – 10:00 p.m., at The New School’s Lang Center. While looking at policy initiatives and antiviolence solutions, this free event will consider the deaths of Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, and Charleston victims. Book-signing of Petra Lewis’s Sons and Daughters of Ham (PEL Press, 2014) follows. 

A Fast Niçoise

Oh, the lowly can of tuna!  Soon drenched in mayo and hidden in rye. Redeem your modest can of tuna with this one-serving recipe which is both healthful and tasty:

1 5 oz. can albacore tuna in water (avoid brands with soy in ingredients)

1 handful of baby spinach or mixed greens

10 Kalamata pitted olives

1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive (EVO) oil

Place greens in bowl and top with olives.  Drain water from tuna can and break up tuna over greens. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and EVO.  Toss and enjoy!

’Round the Net

Congratulations and/or thanks to the following:

Regi Claire

Editor Rachel Adams on latest issue of Lines + Stars

Poet Joel Allegretti on Rabbit Ears (NYQ Books, 2015) launch scheduled for December 14, 6:30 p.m., at Bowery Poetry Club

Poet John Amen on his upcoming reading tour through New Mexico and New York

Novelist Regi Claire on chairing the Scottish PEN/Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers Series at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

Artist Deborah Coulter for her Visual Play blog
Feminist Studies on their Multimedia Issue (available through JStor)

Hans Hofmann, The Gate

Art historian Beth Gersh-Nesic for this last call to see murals by Hans Hofmann

Translator Ann Gwin for noting that two Hugo Awards went to translated work

Poet and editor Cindy Hochman on the latest issue of First Literary Review-East

Actor Tony LoBianco on offering acting and coaching lessons

Poet Mary Ladd McCray on 10 Ways to Be a Better Poetry Reader

Poet Kevin Pilkington on Michael Dennis’s review of Ready to Eat the Sky (River City
Publishing, 2004)

Linda Simone at the Twig

Tech guru Justin Simone for 29 Incredibly Useful Websites You Wish You Knew Earlier

Poet Linda Simone on her Archeology (Flutter Press, 2014) book-signing at San Antonio’s Twig Book Shop and Tina Tocco’s book review in First Literary Review-East

Music archivist Jay Shulman for this article on Groucho Marx’s passion to master guitar

The brouhaha over Go Set a Watchman (Harper, 2015) has died down.  Some have read it; others, like me, have not.  Happily for all, the controversy revisited the profound impact of To Kill a Mockingbird, as well as the movie, upon the American imagination.  The week that Watchman appeared, the journal Still Crazy published Neal Whitman’s poem which he generously shares here:

Our Kind

“I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks.”

        -- To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (1960)

It was an old town,

a tired old town.

In rainy weather,

its streets turned to red slop.

It felt hotter then.

It inspired her to write one book.

Just one.

Mary Badham, Gregory Peck
in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

On his movie script,

Gregory Peck wrote:

Fairness

Stubbornness

Courage

Love

Until next time,

Ann

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

your summer solstice annogram

Still glowing

From my book launch this spring!  Thanks to the more than 40 people who came to the Hudson River Museum to hear me read from Face Painting in the Dark (Dos Madres Press, 2014). I have such a beautiful circle of talented artists, musicians, poets, and writers in my life, and more in the wider annogram community. You know who you are!  

Auden, Johnson, and the Psalms

When the Episcopal Church set about updating the Book of Common Prayer, its committee to retranslate the Psalms faced a daunting task: Not only did it have to rework the Psalms, but the committee’s one poet, W. H. Auden, was returning to his native England.  In the current Illuminations, I interview poet and translator J. Chester Johnson on how he came to replace Auden, correspond with him, and help refine the Psalms in light of new scholarship. 

Alan Shulman in 1954

Alan Shulman and New York’s Golden Age of Music

Imagine, as part of the NBC Orchestra, rehearsing to perform for the Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann, in 1949.  Leonard Bernstein is unhappy with Kurt Weill's arrangement of the Israeli national anthem.  Cellist Alan Shulman offers to rearrange it and, doing so, earns the legendary conductor's “gratitude and great respect.”  To learn more, read this fascinating article by Alan’s son, Jay Shulman.

Carol Booth admires her and
Michael Holstein's photos

Cuba: Contrasting Visions

Congratulations to Michael Holstein and Carol Booth for photos exhibited this month in Cuba: Contrasting Visions at the Museum Gallery at the Palm Beach (FL) Photographic Centre.  Two years ago, Michael and Carol snapped up colorful photos of Cuba—while practicing their other passion—conversing in Spanish.

Texas, fair pay, and cars

I am thrilled to have work in Raising Lilly Ledbetter: Women Poets Occupy the Workspace (Lost Horse Press, 2015); Coming off the line:  The Car in American Culture (Main Street Rag Press, 2015) the 2016 Texas Poetry Calendar (Dos Gatos Press, 2015).  Order now to receive prepublication discounts.

New books

Alexandra Van de Kamp

A Liquid Bird Inside the Night by Alexandra Van de Kamp (Red Glass Books, 2015): “Each night I sleep wrapped in a gown / of crying stars. Whether they cry / to plea or sing is always difficult / and tenuous to decipher….” from “Nightgown.”  Send $12 check (includes shipping) payable to Alexandra van de Kamp, 206 E. Lullwood Avenue, Apt. A, San Antonio, TX 78212. 

Soft Passer by Shane Anderson (Mindmade Books, 2015) pulses with an alluring mosaic-like dissonance. Order for $7 or as part of Mindmade Books’ 2015 series for $25, which includes work by Pedro Xavier Solís Cuadra (trans. Suzanne Jill Levine), Piotr Macierzyński (trans. Aleksandra Malecka & Piotr Marecki), and Ciara Miller.

Summer Solstice Pita

Now is the time to eat light, and this pita is a no-brainer.  Serves two with side such as coleslaw:

One whole pita

Juice of ½ organic lemon

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive (EVO) oil

Handful of organic baby kale

½ cup shredded organic carrots

¼ organic English cucumber, sliced

½ organic avocado, sliced

2-4 slices of smoked salmon (optional)

Halve pita so two pockets form. Toast until crisp in toaster oven.  Combine lemon juice with olive oil.  Stuff each pita-half with vegetables in above order and salmon if desired; drizzle with lemon dressing.  To make chips: Slice whole pita in pie sections, splitting each apart.  Sprinkle with EVO and broil in oven or toaster oven until curled and starting-to-brown. Great for dips and to replace potato chips!

’Round the Net

Congratulations and/or thanks to:

Guy Bennett, poet and publisher, for alert that Mindmade Books is on Facebook

Sarah Bracey White, memoirist, on giving keynote address at Morgan State's Writing Center's First Annual Open House

Lilac and Gold by Hector Bitar

Michael Cefola, guitarist, for this great Gibson interview with Les Paul

Terry Dugan, poet and filmmaker, for this too-true "workshop" critique of Jane Austen

Gary Glauber, for work in Crab Fat Literary Magazine, Pilgrimage, Silver Birch Press, and West Trade Review

Beth Gersh-Nesic, art historian, for introducing me to Hector Bitar’s work, and scholarly review of the Demoiselles Staring Back

Janet Kaplan, poet and publisher, on editing Hofstra’s new literary journal, AMP

Kevin Pilkington, poet, for having his poem appear in the Poetry Society of America's Poem-A-Day

Linda Simone, poet and artist, for this fascinating history on Brooklyn's Free African-American neighborhood

Jay Shulman, music archivist, for remembering jazz saxophonist Ornette Colman and Ronnie Gilbert of the Weavers

Frank Vitale, filmmaker, for Episodes 18-20 of the Metropolis Organism

Wishing you a summer of spontaneity and joy!

Until next time,

Ann