Tag: bookstore
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rad Wallace Stevens
This week’s poem – “The House Was Quiet and The World Was Calm” by Wallace Stevens – takes me back to a conversation I had with a co-worker when I worked at a bookstore years ago. I had been arranging the poetry section for National Poetry Month and positioning a Wallace Stevens book to face…
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* elsewhere with amy gerstler
I don’t remember when exactly I learned the word “engrossed” but it quickly became associated with the act of reading. When I worked at bookstores, engrossed is what people became when they found themselves not just leafing through but reading a book. All small talk and random gazing ceased; all thoughts of good posture…
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* containing with edward hirsch & some news
I remember reading this week’s poem – “Special Orders” by Edward Hirsch – in a Borders back in 2008 when his book (of the same name) came out. Reading through the book, I marveled at Hirsch’s ability to navigate rich emotional territory through an engaging line. His ability to stack various worlds (work, memory, the…
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* key connections with James Merrill
The above is a photo taken at my former place of work, Smith Family Bookstore in Eugene, Oregon. I found myself a little home(stacks)sick this past week as I took a stroll at a nearby bookstore. For me, there’s no real comparing bookstores with each other because, given enough time, things happen at one store…
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* on poetry readings
If poems are children, poetry readings are PTA meetings. — Vera Pavlova You don’t go to poetry readings for the poetry. Mind you, this isn’t a remark from a cynic, far from it. I am a believer in the poetry reading, both its flaws and magic. From the rambling what should I read next talk to…
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* Eugene Gloria & the friday influence
This week on the Influence: Eugene Gloria! I have only recently become acquainted with Gloria’s work through his second collection, Hoodlum Birds. Through the collection, he displays an ease and elegance with the line that is both admirable and engaging. In the poem below, I’d like to point out two dynamic parts (among others) to watch…
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* some origins, manu chao & the friday influence
In regards to the question “When did you start writing?” I give several answers depending on context. If it’s a professional context, I say seventeen, that being the year that I first typed up, printed, and sent off poems to a real lit mag. I call it the year I began to take my writing…
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* quick update
Hey y’all! Just a quick post to announce an upcoming reading: Tuesday, February 19th 5:30pm @ the Eugene Public Library I will be reading alongside fellow Eugene writer Eliot Treichel. It will be my first official reading for my chapbook, The Wall. I look forward to putting some of these poems in the air. For…
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* Phil Levine & the friday influence
This week on the Influence: Philip Levine. When I read the following poem to Ani she picked up on something I did not when I first read it four years earlier: that it takes place in Spain. This makes sense seeing as Phil Levine has spent much time in Spain and written often on the…
The Friday Influence 