The Man In The Booth In The Midtown Tunnel by Doug Holder
(Somerville, Mass.)
Ibbetson Street Press founder Doug Holder will be releasing a new collection of his poetry this summer (2008) through the Cervena Barva Press (http://cervenabarvapress.com ) "The Man In The Booth In The Midtown Tunnel"
Here is a review from Luke Salisbury author of the award winning novel "Hollywood and Sunset," and a Professor of English at Bunker Hill Community College ( Boston):
The Man In The Booth in The Midtown Tunnel
Doug Holder is a very funny man and a very funny poet, but his new collection is much more than funny. There's a profound seriousness in this book. Holder deals with his past and sometimes sour present. He doesn't spare us the intensity and craziness he sees and feels around him. The title poem, a very fine poem, catches the fears and wonders of a New York childhood. I also felt loneliness, fear and a tantalizing feeling of being trapped in a grown-up world riding through the Midtown Tunnel.
Another poem speaks of "A bus full of exiles." We're all on that bus and Holder doesn't let us off until we have shared his feelings of desolation and even madness everywhere from "effete ivied walls" to the wards of McLean Hospital, stopping off for some of "The Love Life Of J. Edgar Hoover (The poem is everything you hope and expect it will be -"Mother downstairs/Off her rocker"), to "Killing Time at The 99" which has the fine lines "And drink/To all/This/Loneliness/Made visible" (Great lines I think), to "hoping/there/is/still/someone/out there" when using the "Pay Phones On The Boston Common" to final observations of a "Rat's Carcass."
The collection isn't depressing. It's alive. Alive with vitality, ugliness, sadness, sex, even love. It's all here. This is Holder's best to date.
I found myself on a cool evening in April walking to Dunkin Donuts in Harvard Square with Aeronwy Thomas, daughter of the late great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Aeronwy Thomas, a well-regarded educator and poet in her own right, is on a national tour talking about her father Dylan, who wrote some of the most revered verse in the 20th Century, as well as a critically acclaimed play "Under Milk Wood."
Somerville resident, Wellesley College professor, and owner of the famed Grolier Poetry Book Shop, Ifeanyi Menkiti hosted a reading with Aeronwy Thomas, her husband Trevor Ellis, and Peter Thabit Jones, a respected Welsh poet and editor of the Swansea Poet Magazine. I asked Menkiti why he decided to host this event organized by publisher Stanley Barkan of Cross Cultural Communications. Menkiti said:" I Love Dylan Thomas' sense of community. His work releases a poeticimpulse across the world. It travels across borders. In the publication "Wellesley Week" Menkiti adds: " Whether one reads his poems alone, by oneself, or hears them read aloud by him or others, or perhaps hears read aloud the captivating words of " A Child's Christmas in Wales," one always comes away with a sense of ineffable magic in the air-a sense that words are potent things."
Dylan Thomas (who died at 39 in 1953) first gained significant praise for his poetry collection: " 18 Poems" He is also well-known for his poem to his dying father "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," as well as many other works. He died in New York City at St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village from suspected chronic alcohol poisoning.
Thomas' Daughter Aeronwy first read the poems of her famous father 20 years after his death in 1973. She was sheltered from his "wild public" lifestyle. Now she is the midst of a whirlwind national tour: "Dylan Thomas Tribute," where she and Jones read from Thomas' poetry, their own poetry, and discuss Thomas' body of work and his life.
The evening started out on Plympton Street in Harvard Square at the Grolier, but the actual reading took place at Harvard's Adams House several doors down the block. In addition to the reading by Jones and Thomas, Tino Villanueva, Aldo Tambellini, Kristine Doll, Pavel Grushko, and Aled Llion Jones read translations of Dylan Thomas' work.
One of Thomas' poems that Jones read concerned of all things: a rat:
"Rats swam the canal of my childhood fears.../ a rat's meal is my thought/ it eats in my sleep."
Aeronwy Thomas read her own poem that harked back to her childhood memories of the great poet titled: "Later Than Laugharne:"
"...The memories race back- ... And the thrill of peeping through the keyhole (I was always the most naughty) to see my father writing his poems about gulls, hills, cormorants on estuaries which he saw through his wide-vista window, as he sat, bent, writing in crabbed letters, pressing against the hard surface of the kitchen table that was his desk..."
Aeronwy's husband Trevor sang traditional Welsh folksongs that were a welcomed addition to the reading.
After the event I managed to interview Thomas about her late father. As for Dylan Thomas' ill-fated love affair with alcohol, Aeronwy said his trips to the United States did him no good. When he was in his native Wales he was surrounded by family and friends and drank the weak beer of the local pubs. He wrote in his "shed" every day. In the United States he was offered hard liquor like whiskey and Martinis, etc... He was unmoored, away from home and structure, and this lead to his downfall.
As far as Bob Dylan, who lifted Dylan Thomas' first name for his last, Aeronwy Thomas admires his song lyrics. But she did say that Bob Dylan did admit to lifting Thomas' name, but now he states that he has done more for Thomas than Thomas did for him.
I asked Thomas about the movie adaptation of "Under Milk Wood" that starred Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. She said that she was grateful someone made a movie of her father's play. She feels Burton was a classic narrator. She did have some reservations about what she characterized as "additions" to the work, but overall she was happy with the movie.
The evening ended with a small wine and cheese buffet. Thomas signed books and was surrounded by admirers and well wishers. After this long evening no one would blame Aeronwy Thomas if she did "go gently into that good night" to get a well-earned sleep.
DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night. Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night. Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Assignment #1: Write a poem about Baseball and God
And on the ninth day, God In His infinite playfulness Grass green grass, sky blue sky, Separated the infield from the outfield, Formed a skin of clay, Assigned bases of safety On cardinal points of the compass Circling the mountain of deliverance, Fashioned a wandering moon From a horse, a string and a gum tree, Tempered weapons of ash, Made gloves from the golden skin of sacrificial bulls, Set stars alight in the Milky Way, Divided the descendants of Cain and Abel into contenders, Declared time out, time in, stepped back, And thundered over all of creation: "Play ball
Torque is the third release in the Ahadada Books Online Chapbook series edited by Catherine Daly - it's the eighteenth online chapbook offered by Ahadada.
Born Born in 1962, Alison Croggon is one of a generation of Australian poets which emerged in the 1990s. She writes in many genres, including criticism, theatre and prose. She is Melbourne theatre critic for the national daily newspaper, The Australian, and keeps a blog of theatre criticism, Theatre Notes.
Her poetry has been published widely in anthologies and magazines in Australia and overseas. Her most recent poetry publication is a chapbook, Ash (Cusp Books, Los Angeles 2007). A new full collection, Theatre, is forthcoming in 2008 from Salt Publishing. Other titles include November Burning (Vagabond Press Rare Objects Series, Sydney, 2004); Mnemosyne, (Wild Honey Press, Ireland, 2001); The Common Flesh (New and Selected Poems) (Arc Publications, UK, 2003) and Attempts at Being, (Salt Publishing, UK, 2002).
An article from The Somerville News Somerville, Mass.
( pic--Doug Holder/ Somerville poet.)
Wanted: A poet for Somerville
By George P. Hassett
Their numbers are rivaled only by Manhattan. They have been coming here for decades, "not by design but naturally." Looking onto a Union Square street from a coffee shop window, walking on a Davis Square sidewalk, or riding on the 89 bus - they try to capture the city's sights and energy with the written word. (
They are the poets. And soon one could be selected from the ranks to be the city's first poet laureate.
The idea of an official city poet appointed by the local government was proposed last week by Ward 7 Alderman Robert C. Trane. The initial spark came from Somerville News Arts Editor Doug Holder. He said he was recently attending a party for Boston's first laureate Sam Cornish and thought to himself, "Damn! Why doesn't Somerville have something like this?"
Boston has Cornish, Cambridge has a poet populist and Holder wanted Somerville to get its literary due. He raised the issue with Trane at a Somerville News Contributor's meeting, wrote a column stating his case and an official city poet is now a possibility in this city of 80,000 people and four square miles.
"I didn't start this so I would become the poet laureate," he said. "Honestly."
Boston's laureate has a budget of $3,000. In Cambridge it is $1,500. Trane said he has asked a local business to contribute to a budget for a Somerville laureate.
"These are tight fiscal times but I think this is worthy," he said.
Holder said a good poet laureate would "know how to press the flesh."
"We don't need someone who sits in an ivory tower. They need to be able to go into the schools, the nursing homes, the streets and bring poetry to the people," he said.
Among city poets there is excitement about the idea and a feeling that a laureate should have deep roots in the city.
"It would be awful to have someone who's only lived here two months [be poet laureate]," said Gloria Mindock a poet and publisher of Cervena Barva Press who draws inspiration for her work from bus rides through the city.
They say instituting a city poet is long overdue and point to a Granta Magazine survey that said Somerville trails only Manhattan for writers per capita.
"Somerville has a writing scene as active as Cambridge or Boston. They used to look down on Somerville from the other side of Mass Ave. but literary resources have been coming here one by one for years now, not by design but naturally," said Ifeanyi Menkiti owner of the Grolier Poetry Bookshop.
He said walking through Davis Square and witnessing the city's diverse population take on everyday tasks inspires his verses.
Union Square writer Lee Kidd said "poetry is an outlaw thing" and an official city writer should be an "instigator." Kidd said his literary center is Union Square and the poetry written in the neighborhood's coffee shops help shape his city. "Poets are very important to a society. A city without poets has nothing to say."
Trane said Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone has expressed support for the idea. The specific selection process has not yet been decided but he said he wants to organize a committee of local writers to begin nominating candidates soon.
In an interview, Trane was not quick to rattle off names of illustrious poets but said he still had an appreciation for the craft.
"Am I a poetry guy? Not really. But we all understand the written word is a powerful thing."
If you want to be clear, if you want to be quoted, using effective language must be your top priority.In today's business and politics this is hardly ever the case. In many instances, imprecise language is used intentionally to avoid taking a stance. This is hardly a recent problem, and as George Orwell wrote in his 1946 essay, Politics and the English Language, the condition is curable. By following Orwell's five rules for writing, you'll distinguish yourself from competitors and clearly communicate your ideas:
This last effort of the mind cuts out all stale or mixed images, all prefabricated phrases, needless repetitions, and humbug and vagueness generally. But one can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I thinkthe following rules will cover most cases:
Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
Never use a long word where a short one will do.
If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
Never use the passive where you can use the active.
Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
These rules sound elementary, and so they are, but they demand a deep change of attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the style now fashionable. One could keep all of them and still write bad English, but one could not write the kind of stuff that I quoted in those five specimens at the beginning of this article.
I hope you find these rules a good start. If you enjoyed this brief journal entry, be sure to read Orwell's original essay. It has many helpful examples and is a joy to read.
A native of Southern California, Lou Rowan began his writing career in New York City, where he earned his living as teacher and as an institutional investor. He lives and writes in Seattle. His current projects include a novel about the losing of the West, a sequel to My Last Days, stories, and his editorial dutiesat Golden Handcuffs Review. Click here to visit Lou Rowan's website.
Writes Patrizia Hayashi:
With incisive wit and a remarkable eye for the human condition, Lou Rowan weaves together a collection of short stories that will arouse laughter, nostalgia, and an occasional dose of pity. In Sweet Potatoes, the author lays his characters bare, digging into their psyches, presenting their foibles, and in doing so, holding up a mirror that dares the reader to recognize himself.
Writes A.J. Glusman: "Lou Rowan . . . is retired, in love and charged. He was raised by horse breeders and went to Harvard and thus possesses an outward polish. But he talks like a radical, his speech incongruous with his buttoned-down appearance. Golden Handcuffs Review, the local literary magazine that Rowan founded and edits, is much like the man himself: appealing and presentable on the outside, a bit wild and experimental at the core.
What Others Say About Sweet Potatoes
Lou Rowan's exuberant and richly varied book presents a series of dramatic monologues whose personal and imaginary components are fused in the blaze of the author's enthusiasm. The feeling that he is doing exactly what he wants to do produces consistently lively results, no matter how downbeat the struggles described - with parents, lovers, wives good and bad, business problems, and of course the inescapable self. In the final story, a counterpoint of these voices raises the narration to a level of intensity both harrowing and irresistible... -Harry Mathews, author, My Life in CIA
The stories in Lou Rowan's collection "Sweet Potatoes" are brilliantly rendered in a mesh of grim and exuberantly funny shifts of highly original tale-telling. The variety of characters are utterly real and fascinatingly complex. Their daily actions and experiences offer a mesmerizing picture of much in society that is false and outrageous and yet all too forgiveably human. Rowan tunes up his one of a kind narrative voice with resonances of Rabelais, Voltaire, and Mickey Spillane. -Rochelle Owens, author, Luca: A Discourse on Life and Death, and Futz
These very short stories are a blend of maybe memoir, crazed case history, and raunchy comic fiction spun by a deadpan narrator with a gift for dazzling transitions. -David Antin, author, i never knew what time it was, and what it means to be avant-garde
Over the past three decades Judith Skillman has written and published numerous poems for books, journals, and anthologies. She has collaborative translations from Portuguese, Italian, and French. Skillman's publications include FIELD, The Iowa Review, The Southern Review, Poetry, The Northwest Review, and Midwest Quarterly. She has ten books of poems.
From 1977 - 1978 she held a teaching assistantship at the University of Maryland, while working towards her masters degree in English Literature. She received the King County Arts Commission's Publication Prize in 1987, judged by Madeline DeFrees. This prize enabled her to find a publisher for her first book, "Worship of the Visible Spectrum" (Breitenbush Books.) In 1991 Skillman was awarded a Washington State Arts Commission Writer's Fellowship.
Skillman's poems move out from their opening point meditatively and delicately to embrace distant sights, memories of the past, other countries, and also mythologies and similarities. "Bearing the universal/forward in each particular...," she writes in "Cardoon." She is not seeking anything in this movement--neither knowledge nor possession nor control. The movement is not an urge, but rather the natural penchant to connect with what is beyond the immediate self. Things within the broader world are connected by a tissue of shared qualities. "Increments of blue and pink chalk/can be made..."-- from "On Circe's Island". Or, as she writes in "Zaydee," "...pink fragments claim/the edge of a wave...." Skillman's poems are created by following where an initial sensed quality leads; and all of the world, from objects to envisionings, is spun together by qualities similar and different. -Henry Berry
Hi all! Am happy to say we've just received David Axelrod's newest title, Deciduous Poems, from the printer! Writes Hugh Seidman of David Axelrod's latest volume:
These poems movingly explore both the highs and the lows of the family drama and of the down-to-earth variety of everyday experience. Axelrod is tender, angry, playful and vulnerable. As he says in one gentle love poem, ‘So many pieces to the heart'.
Copies of Axelrod's latest are presently on their way to Small Press Distribution - we'll give you a heads-up when they are available for purchase.
Until then, feel free to query us for purchase information! More from us all soon!
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Torque by Alison Croggon (145 KB )
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