What I’ve Read - November ‘22
OCTOBER, spookiness is in the air. Portland was bizarrely warm for most of the month and my mind didn’t shift out summer probably until the last week. Now I’m living in rain, inside, off my bike, trying to push through the dark mornings and early evenings. Spent a lot of the month watching scary movies which definitely cut into reading time.
THE CHECK IN
My practice has slipped a little, I’ve been sleeping in more. Coming off a generative program, I always want a moment to breathe before diving back in. I think I have breathed deeply and need to tighten down a show up. I think a lot about Yoga with Adrienne and her approach to encouraging viewers who probably aren’t hardcore yoga people. She often congratulates you for showing up to your mat and to your practice. I aim to treat writing the same way, step one is showing up. My submission list is drying up (only 2 open subs right now one of which is from January) and I think filling that out with 3-5 subs per piece I like is an achievable goal before the end of the year. I’m also looking at other channels besides submittable, which is wonderful for managing subs, but I feel like twitter and instagram are both constantly showing me journals and presses that I miss on submittable’s search.
THE SHORT LIST
Being Geniuses Together (1920-1930) - Robert McAlmon / Kay Boyle (still, read about this book in my last update)
Of Love and Pain - Rachel Duvall
All the Months in December - Allison Lee Riechman-Bennett
an arduous blooming - Loren Ivester
** These last three are all chaps available through Bottlecap Press **
THE BOOKS
Of Love and Pain - Rachel Duvall
Of Love and Pain snowballs emotion from the first page. Grief and love are often what connect us as people and reading a single poem touching on those emotions is sometimes dismissible. Rachel Duvall gets to the core of those emotions and yanks the reader in the pit of those feelings. the crowning achievement of this chap is how complete it feels. At the end, it felt as if I’ve taken a journey, from one cliff to the cliff on the otherside.
All the Months in December - Allison Lee Riechman-Bennett
What a title, when I saw this chap I was angry at how good of a title it has. The shell of what the cold months feel like is encapsulated in these pages so well. There’s a sense of survival between the pieces and an undertone of overcoming the space cold weather and cold emotions make. As a writer, I always appreciate a piece that speaks to writing and love this bit from a piece titled Limes":
”Poets do not write of all the moments writing feels arresting, / but the bittered limes sit on the Sunday table, moving to waves of bells in the morning wind.”
an arduous blooming - Loren Ivester
There’s a romanticism between all four sections of Loren Ivester’s an arduous blooming. Each piece felt like biting a piece of cake and trying to pinpoint ingriedents. There’s also a delightful sense of self-awareness that I could follow as a reader. Each piece wrapped nicely with a sense of enlightenment and left me with a feeling of being deeper in touch with part of myself. When I revisit this chap it would not be surprising to find something new and resonate in every additional read.