Poetry-and-novel roundup

Today's another celebratory day, as my youngest child will have his Eagle Ceremony, along with miles of cake and ribs at the Scout compound at Crumhorn Mountain... Meanwhile, here's a roundup of my poetry-and-fiction news.

"the ink seed," July 

"Something like a Memory" appeared in the current issue of Books and Culture, and is now up on the website here. The magazine (edited by that wide reader, John Wilson) has been a big supporter of mine, a thing I very much appreciate.

Mezzo Cammin, June 28

 

Lovely day doing various events at International Arts Movement and Fujimura Institute's Culture Care Day at Cairn University (Langhorne, Pennsylvania) on Wednesday, lovely day with family at graduation today... And now I find  some poems just up at Mezzo Cammin--here is a taste of what is there, titles and opening lines. Thanks as always to editor and poet and culture maker Kim Bridgford.

 Portrait of Carolyn Wyeth with Leaves

 Leaves moving in the evening light and air—
Some are lit from within, irregular

 Bride, with Magnolia Blossom

 The piano-and-fiddle tune is faint,
As light as eyes in the daguerreotype…

 My Lover Sang to Me

 He sang a ballad in my ear;
 Song echoed like a shell.

 The Dream of the King's Clothes

 Seven years we toiled, collecting the orb
Spiders at dawn, coaxing the spinnerets

 Eldest

 Firstborn, strange in the womb, too-late turner, brow-positioned—
 In the cathedral I wandered to the Lady Chapel

Lament for the Dead, July 4

LAMENT FOR THE DEAD IS AN ONLINE COMMUNITY POETRY PROJECT WHICH WILL MARK THE DEATH OF EVERY PERSON KILLED BY POLICE THIS SUMMER, AND EVERY POLICE OFFICER WHO LOSES LIFE IN THE LINE OF DUTY, WITH A POEM.

http://www.lamentforthedead.org/…/unknown-man-60s-or-70s-sa…. 

Back at the start of May, Carey Wallace asked me to write for Lament for the Dead and to suggest some other poets--my day to write was July 4th (thank you, Carey) and here is the link to my 7-part poem. Interesting to see my words centered--looks like a different poem! Thanks to Carey for all her hard work on Lament for the Dead. Take a look at the many varied poems...

Maze of Blood news, 2 July

Art by Clive Hicks-Jenkins

1. News: My youngest has graduated, with many frolics and much company, and I had a wonderful time at the Culture Care Day at Cairn University (sponsored by Fujimura Institute and International Arts Movement), where I did a poetry reading, an interview and fiction reading, a small kickoff reading for the concert, and a taped interview. Whew. What a week that was!

2. Pages

New page
on Maze of Blood at Facebook here.  
(Evidently Facebook will not allow the world "blood" as part of a page title!)

Old page on my website, now updated, here. 

Art by Clive Hicks-Jenkins,
design by Burt and Burt

3. Recent comments on a Maze of Blood galley
at twitter, with slash marks to separate each tweet:

5 tweets from editor John Wilson ‏@jwilson1812 Jun 28:
The novel is inspired by the life of Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan the Barbarian), and Coleridge is a / tutelary spirit. (Cover and illustrations by Clive Hicks-Jenkins.) Like all of Marly's books, it's one of a kind. / I marvel at the arc you've followed. Each time you start from scratch, in a new direction, so that a bald summary of your / novels would seem to suggest that "Marly Youmans" is actually 8 or 9 different writers, and yet in fact each book is so / clearly and distinctively yours, with your "inscape."

3 Tweets from John Wilson, editor of Books and Culture:
Saved galley of Maze of Blood (new novel by @marlyyoumans) for this trip. Finished it yesterday: wonderful. Coming in Sept from @mupress / The novel is inspired by the life of Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan the Barbarian), and Coleridge is a ... / tutelary spirit. (Cover and illustrations by Clive Hicks-Jenkins.) Like all of Marly's books, it's one of a kind. @marlyyoumans @mupress

And here's a 4-tweet quote, John Wilson ‏@jwilson1812 Jun 28
"And so the tale of a Green Knight with his chopped-off head still holding a knight of the Round Table to promises made / is no less true than the tale of a man crammed with secrets who spontaneously combusts and leaves behind only a black, / tallowy mark on the floorboards, and his story in turn is no less true than the tale of a Texas sharecropper's wife who / has had a miscarriage only ten days before but just this morning was walking behind the mule and guiding the jerking plow."