Saturday, April 05, 2008

On call this week. Friday 5pm to Friday 5pm. Quiet so far (knock on wood).

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March reading (in no particular order). Perhaps you will find a book you have not heard of before here, or be reminded of one you were meaning to read sometime.

The Collected Poems 1956-1998, Zbigniew Herbert* I especially admire the Mr. Cogito poems.

Narrative Medicine, Rita Charon* She is brilliant. I love the story about a patient dying of cancer recognizing Charon's last name as the same as the ferryman in Hades.

Fir to Fire, Mark Doty. I like the "Theory of . . . " poems in the new section.

The Color of Light, Marilyn Chandler McEntyre. An entire book of ekphrastic poems based on Van Gogh paintings. Gorgeous.

Secret Weapon, Eugen Jebeleanu. A new translation of the Romanian dissident poet.

West of Yesterday, East of Summer, New and Selected Poems (1973-1993), Paul Monet.* I found a mint condition hard-cover of this at the used bookstore. The poems hold up well to time.

The Splintered Face, Tsunami poems, Indran Amithanayagam. Poems from a survivor of the Sri Lankan tsunami.

Fata Morgana, Reginald Shepherd. Wonderful.

A Little Travel Story, David Oliveira. New poems from the Fresno poet. Many arising from his time in Cambodia.

The Earth in the Attic, Fady Joudah. The new Yale winner. Lyric-surreal poems from a Palestinian-American poet doctor "without borders."

Also skimmed to various levels the latest issues of Poetry, Fine Madness, The Sun, Sunset, Smithsonian, The Nation, National Geographic, and Utne Reader, and numerous online mags.

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And this weekend is the book release party for good friend Rosanne Olson's new book This Is Who I Am. I can hardly wait!

4 comments:

RJGibson said...

The then "new" poems in the Monet were startling to me as a young'un. It's been ages since I've read them.

That's a great find. Somewhere, I have a first edition of his first book.

James Allen Hall said...

Paul Monette is an enormous influence and inspiration; I'm so jealous you have a hardcover of his new and selected! Have you seen the documentary?

Peter said...

RJ, JAH:
I first read Monet's Love Alone: 18 Elegies for Rog, and was very moved by it. It was an intense time, a very dark time, the late 80's, and this book was a source of light.

I haven't seen the documentary. I'll have to search it out.

RJGibson said...

Peter: I came to him through the memoirs. I think "Last Watch of the Night" is beautiful. I found the poetry a couple of years later. The documentary is really amazing.