Monthly Archives: January 2009

New Issues!

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The new issues are out of Barn Owl Review. Margie‘s has some great poems by Allison Joseph, Alicia Ostriker, Marge Piercy, and soon to be released are: My Litte Red book, among others. As a small side note, while working on my thesis I researched many of Piercy’s books. She’s definitely one of my favorite feminist authors. My beloved books from that work include: the bread riot City of Darkness City of Light, the meditation on open marriage in Summer People, and the utopia or dystopia or some type of gender fluid topia Woman on the Edge of Time. At the NWSA conference this summer, there was some talk about Sex Wars (2006), a book on post-Civil War NYC starring Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Margaret Sanger. I may have to add this to my reading list.

literary journals

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I’ve been skylarking through my literary journal stack and want to share some of the highlights. Though, I should warn you, that though I’ve read many, many of them over my little winter break, this is only a wee snippet.

In Art & Letters (spring 2008) there are two great essays on the body. Heather Seller’s “Face First” describes her experiences with prospagnosia and Laura Hope-Gill‘s “Descrescendo” tells of her slow loss of hearing. The Iowa Review spring & fall 2008 both contain graphic essays by Maggie McKnight. Last year’s Poetry , the translation issue, is a delight.

on the subject of nanking cherries

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As mentioned in a previous post, after looking through gardening catalogs and at specifically, native fruits, I stumbled onto this photo:

with this description:

Self-pollinating variety grows 6 to 8 ft. tall and bears up to 8 qts. of fruit in July.

Nanking Bush Pie Cherry trees are early and extra productive! Produces sweetly scented spring flowers and tremendous crops of tasty fruit. Bears up to 8 quarts of bright red cherries, ripens in July. Grows 6-8 feet high, looks good in a hurry. For best yield, plant 2 or more.

Cherries are an excellent choice for home gardens. The incredibly juicy, bite-size treats begin to ripen to June- earlier than other tree fruits- and the fruit can be used in so many ways! Many varieties are self-pollinating, too, so you can pick a bountiful crop even if you have room for only one tree.

The first summer here, of course, we were hit with a late frost. The lilacs and this mysterious other bushes along the back fence did nothing but green. I didn’t know the lilacs were lilacs until this last summer. Then, come July these strange red berries appeared a bit after the whitish, pinkish flowers. What were they? I didn’t know and I dared others to try one. Take a little bite. But no one would. Seeing this photo made me sure, indeed, I must have three bushes of nanking cherries (prunus tomentosa).

Info says the seeds are poisonous. One can make wine and, apparently pies and jellies. The question is, do I really have a nanking cherry? I’ll have to wait until July to find out.

guilty pleasures: gardening

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My guilty pleasure is gardening. Last summer, I doubled the size of my veggie garden and plan to double it again this spring—watermelon, strawberries, bell and hot peppers, romas, butternut squash, pumpkin, herbs, green onions, onions, raspberries, and sunflowers. Along the back fence are lilacs and, I’m pretty sure, Nanking cherries. This past summer, my pumpkin vines slithered up and through the tops of the lilacs.

To the left of the back porch are magenta tea roses which are fronted by a bed of catnip, lavender, and tulips. In front of my house, morning glories in purple, pink, magenta, and white twirl and twine around the rails of the steps to the gas lamp. Before them and in early spring, purple alliums, pink and white hyacinths, irises, and violet crocus bloom. Hostas, vica, paint plants circle the magnolia tree.

Beside the driveway lilies, daffodils, a butterfly bush, autumn joy, phlox, and others all take their turn. What are my future plans, you ask? I’ve just ordered dwarf lemon, tangerine, and pomegranate plants for the patio garden to complement my coffee plant.

And of course, much, much more.

best poetry 2008

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Out goes 2008, welcome 2009! But before I obliterate a year of poetry reading, it’s time to reflect on poetry. Now granted, my life in poetry has mainly been located in the poetry I taught in 2008 and the poetry located in the rubric of my reading lists for my comprehensive exams (aka comps or, as I affectionately call it in verb form, comping). Thus my tastes are not located in 2008 primarily, but span, say 108 years. Please, no ad hominem attacks, no factious comments, no bathetic praise for my idiosyncratic reading practices. I’m at fault, but feel free to divert responsibility elsewhere. Blame the weather, blame the election coup of the media, blame the garden, etc.

*cough* the list then:

Kumin, Maxine. Selected Poems: 1960-1990.
Campo, Rafael. What the Body Told.
Grahn, Judy. Work of a Common Woman: The Collected Poetry of Judy Grahn: 1964-1977.
Bradfield, Liz. Interpretive Works
Miller, Leslie Adrienne. The Resurrection Tale: Poems
Raz, Hilda. All Odd and Splendid.
Swenson, May. Nature: Poems Old and New.
Ostriker, Alicia Suskin. No Heaven.
Cihlar, Jim. Undoing.
Bosselaar, Laure-anne. The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: Poems.

Honorable mentions include the rereading of works by Audre Lorde, Elizabeth Bishop, and Carl Sandburg.

The new year has begun and I’m cuddling up with Pound, Stevens, Roethke, and a few others I haven’t met yet.