Thursday, June 18, 2009

Caedmon’s Call

By his verse the minds of many were often excited
to despise the world, and to aspire to heaven.
-St. Bede

Beth, I hear you calling, but I can’t come home right now.
-Kiss

My friend says he can’t write anymore
Unless his heart’s been kicked. He means
By a woman, and he’s old enough to know
The costumes they wear and the ways
They call to us in dreams. Their dissonance

Drives the night trains, their sirens,
Their whistles, their two-footed poetry,
Signaling what is and what should be.
Then they leave us alone, expecting us
To choose, to sleep, to live.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

MBR Review - Chatter in the Canopy

Carl Logan of the Midwest Book Review (MBR) has written a short but good review of Chatter in the Canopy.

If you go here: http://www.midwestbookreview.com/rbw/jun_09.htm

And select Logan's Bookshelf, it's the second review down this month - June - (pasted below).


N.B. In the text on the MBR page there is a typo that I've asked the Editor to fix. The illustrator Doug Heinlein's name is spelled "Dog". I've fixed it in the paste below.

-j

Chatter in the Canopy
Jeff Roberts
Book Surge
7290-B Investment Drive,
Charleston, SC 29418
9781439224373, $12.99, http://www.booksurge.com/

Widely published and experienced poet Jeff Roberts brings poetry lovers a delight with "Chatter in the Canopy". His solid work with the English language is enhanced by great black and white art work from Dick Roberts and Doug Heinlein. An exquisite blend of art and verse, "Chatter in the Canopy" should be a consideration for many a poetry fan. "Seduction": It's the sand in your voice that holds me./That and the moonlight buttering your long ribs./You can shout into the wind through cupped hands./I can smell the salt and wet canvas./What if I surrender to your rolling, black valleys -/To the tops of mountains kissed away?/When we collapse, flat-faced and ordinary,/On tar-colored foam and a dead skate-what then?

Carl Logan
Reviewer