Celebrate National Poetry Month all month long!
Cut loose, man/woman up, dare, blare, revel in words. Buy a copy of the 2012 Asheville Poetry Review. Editor, Keith Flynn, has assembled a remarkable selection of poems ranging from Sam Hamill, R.T. Smith, Pablo Neruda, Tu Fu, great poet of the T’ang dynasty, and other memorable selections. Essays, interviews and poems about Sam Hamill, written by Rebecca Seiferle, Esteban Moore, Lisa Morphew, Sebastian Matthews, and Eleanor Wilner enrich the 2012 issue. This journal is a must-read.
Keith Flynn will read from his new collection, Colony Collapse Disorder, (reviewed by Rob Neufeld in the March 10 issue of the Asheville Citizen-Times). Keith will read at Malaprops on April 6 at 7 p.m.
NC Poetry News
Joseph Bathanti was named North Carolina Poet Laureate. Joseph is professor of creative writing at Appalachian State University where he directs Writing in the Field and Writer-in Residence in the University’s Wautauga Global Community.
The Blue Ridge Bookfest will take place May 17 and 18. Check out www.blueridgebookfest.org for more details.
AND there’s Word Fest, May 3 and 4, Asheville’s premiere celebration of the word. Joseph Bathanti will read, as well as Cornelius Eady, John Lock, Keith Flynn, Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, and Evie Shockley. Visit www.ashevillewordfest.org for details. Most events will take place at Lenoir-Rhyne University, Asheville.
This is a great month to read and listen!
Back to Sam Hamill. Four years ago I heard a young poet say, “It is a poet’s job to be brave.” Sam Hamill has published forty books, fifteen of them poetry. He was founder and editor of Copper Canyon Poetry Journal until he stood up, spoke up, and faced head-on none other than Mrs. Laura Bush.
In 2003, he declined an invitation to read at the White House. He set about notifying other invited poets of his decision, and thus gave birth to Poets Against The War.
He collected 20,000 poems of protest. Let’s hear it for Sam Hamill, Man of Courage! From his poem, “Lessons from Thieves,” the final two lines: The flower is in the pot/The blossom is in the mind”