Poem Broadside to Benefit New Hope For Women

Doug and I are delighted to have produced this limited edition poetry broadside to help raise money for New Hope for Women and awareness of domestic violence.

I’ve attached a jpeg of the original announcement from their Fall newsletter.

Below is a copy of the Cert that comes with the broadside. The broadside is 5” x 7” with 8” x 10” archival matting and back board. Each print is hand numbered and signed by both Doug and me.

To get one, send $25 to me at

Jeff Roberts
618 Chickering Road
North Andover, MA 01845

or

New Hope for Women
Attn: Glen Rainsley
P. O. Box A
Rockland, ME 04841-0733

Ask for the Jeff Roberts Black Hole Print
Make Checks payable to New Hope for Women

Please share with your friends and contacts as appropriate.

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

Black Hole Broadside: Poem by Jeff Roberts; Drawing by Doug Heinlein

From an edition produced exclusively for the benefit of New Hope for Women offering support to people in Lincoln, Knox and Waldo counties (Maine) affected by domestic and dating violence: http://www.newhopeforwomen.org/. The poem and drawing first appeared in the book Chatter in the Canopy, ISBN-13: 978-1439214817, published by BookSurge, Charleston SC.

“An exquisite blend of art and verse.” -Midwest Book Review

“…fiercely observant, honest and keenly sensitive, without self-pity…” -Ned Clay

“Roberts’s poems bring us …the kind of experience that both aches and heals at once…” -Paul Haenel

About the Poet
Jeff Roberts lives in North Andover, Massachusetts with his wife, Barbara Hyle. Jeff is a 2009 Pushcart Prize nominated poet whose work has been published in The Aurorean, Meanie Magazine, Recursive Angel, 15 Credibility Street, Gotta Write, The Unpublished Author, The Hudson Street Review, The Pictish League, and Ectoplasmic Necropolis from Blood Pudding Press. Three poems have won awards in the annual Lawrence (Massachusetts) Eagle-Tribune Poetry Contest.

About the Artist
Doug Heinlein is the Academic Director for the Graphic Design and Interactive Media Design Departments at the Art Institute of Seattle, and is also an award-winning artist and designer with many years experience in interactive media, multimedia and traditional design practices. You can visit Doug’s blog at http://47nx122w.blogspot.com/. For this drawing, Doug borrows from, and adds to, the ancient ink and wash language of sumi-e, relying on the integrity of single brush strokes of various length and depth to build an abstract vision with intense emotional impact.

About the Edition
This edition is limited to 55 prints, including 5 Artists’ Proofs. The poem and drawing are printed on Hahnemühler Albrect Dürer 210 gsm digital fine art watercolor paper, using Epson Durabrite Ultra® pigment-based inks, and mounted using archival mats, back board and rice paper tape.

For more information, Contact: Jeff Roberts, 618 Chickering Rd, North Andover, MA 01845
Web: http://jeffrobertspoetry.blogspot.com/; Email: jeffrobertspoetry@gmail.com; Phone: 978-257-0898

Pushcart Prize Nomination!

Nice way to start a day. eh? -Jeff

Nov 5, 2009

Dear Jeff,

We are very pleased to inform you that your poem, “Beach Glass” is one of our six nominations for the Pushcart Prize for calendar year 2009. Indeed, it is our honor that you have shared your poetry with the Aurorean.

In gratitude,

-- Cynthia Brackett-Vincent
Publisher, editor, the Aurorean
P.O. Box 187
Farmington, ME 04938

E-mail: aurorean@encirclepub.com
Website: http://www.encirclepub.com/

Published since 1995
Published April & October
Deadlines 2/15 & 8/15
$11 single copy; $21 year (two issues), U.S.

Chatter in the canopy - CD Audio Book

Poems by Jeff Roberts - Read by the Author

Self-produced CD Audio Book with cover illustration by Dick Roberts. Signed on the CD.

All the poems from the book plus 6 bonus tracks of new material not in the book!

Available from Etsy.com!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32654284

About the Book:

Chatter in the Canopy

Poems by Jeff Roberts

Drawings by Dick Roberts and Doug Heinlein

ISBN-10: 1439214816;

ISBN-13: 978-1439214817;

Also available from Etsy.com

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vl_other_2&listing_id=20584985

“An exquisite blend of art and verse.” -Midwest Book Review

“…fiercely observant, honest and keenly sensitive, without self-pity…” -Ned Clay

“Roberts’s poems bring us to a place where we remember and might reclaim the kind of experience that both aches and heals at once…” -Paul Haenel

The Aurorean Chooses "Beach Glass" as Best Poem

The Aurorean chose my poem Beach Glass as "best poem" from its Spring/Summer 2009 edition.

An esteemed New England poetry journal published continuously since 1995, The Aurorean has been feature-profiled in Poet's Market, and three times named a "PIC" by the prestigious Small Press Review.

The award includes a generous check (for poetry journals), an announcement in The Aurorean's Fall/Winter issue, and publication on the journal's web site for the next year
(http://www.encirclepub.com/poetry/aurorean).

The Aurorean's anonymous judge's comments about Beach Glass are these:

"Beach Glass" is a well-thought-out poem—imaginative in its turns of phrase ("as if we were something's great hobby") and in its imagery ("a bit of bobeche from a grand chandelier").

It moves, like the waves [it] speaks of; it narrates—brings the reader in immediately with "we"; and makes sweeping statements ("...the tumbling will give us a texture/that transcends the standards/by which we are judged..."), but carries it all off successfully because of its precision. I am inspired by this poem—I feel better for having read it—without feeling as if I have been preached to.

And a re-post of Beach Glass:


Beach Glass
(for Anne Cowles Pinkney)


We could be the neck of a milk bottle
or a bit of bobeche from a grand chandelier.

It doesn’t matter what we were a part of
before we were broken, only that we were

broken and a part of something
and that our young edges were sharply fragile
and our translucence too common.

We know of waves, and still, now and then
feel them vacuum the sand from beneath our feet
and pull us out and over and back, across the sand
as if we were something’s great hobby
tumbling in finer and finer and finer grit.

And it is the tumbling that matters
so much more than the approval
of combers or children, for if we have time
the tumbling will give us a texture
that transcends the standards
by which we are judged.

We remember so little
of how the tumbling smoothed us
only that, in the end, we are smooth.

Poetry Reading

I'll be reading in a group event on November 1, 2009 at the Fall Arts & Sounds Festival, Rolling Ridge Conference Center, 660 Great Pond Road, North Andover, Massachusetts 01845 at 11:00 AM.

Directions here: http://rollingridge.org/directions.html

I'll only have about 5 minutes, so if you're not local, don't feel obligated.

Cheers,

Jeff

Chatter in the Stacks Near the Lake

I'm happy to announce that Chatter in the Canopy is now available at the Inn on the Library Lawn Bookstore in Westport, NY. (http://www.theinnonthelibrarylawn.com/bookstore1.html)

I'm happy to recommend the bookstore as well as Anthony and Alexandra Wheeler's lovely Inn to travelers to the Adirondacks and its environs. Barb and I have stayed here many times and enjoy the large, comfortable, exquisitely decorated guestrooms, the breakfasts, and the lively conversation with the hosts.

While in town, be sure to play a round at the Westport Country Club's 110-year-old mountain course (http://www.westportcountryclub.com/). Say, "Hi" to John and Lynn Hall, who rent the carts, cut the greens, give lessons, cook the burgers, pour the Tanqueray, take care of everyone anytime. Please let me know how you fared on the signature 12th hole. (http://www.westportcountryclub.com/adirondack_signature_hole.htm)

And don't miss at least one dinner on the deck on the lake at the Bistro - quite unexpected fine French cuisine with a gorgeous view. (http://www.bistrodulac.com/)

In Here Says Bob

In here, says Bob, tapping his temple,
I play the clarinet — Peanuts Hucko style.

In there, between solos on Robbin’s Nest
With Hawk and Sir Charles and Tyree,
And Ruby and Fathead and Trummy, Bob rests
Tapping his right foot on the studio floor.

Out here, Bob grabs a smoke — leaning against
A bass drum road case stenciled Do Not Drop
In white spray paint with bleeding edges, holding
A pawnshop licorice stick with busted spoon keys.

Out there, Bob transcribes a Sun Ra riff
On a wet reed with mouthpiece and ligature.
No barrel, no bore, no bell. Squawk goes Saturn
In a Blue Universe. Squawk goes the Solar Myth.

In here, says Bob, tapping his temple,
I blow the Huckle-Buck to the Omniverse.