Archive for November, 2009

Molossus describe themselves as, “an online broadside of intelligent world conversation, with a primarily—though not exclusively—literary focus. We publish original interviews, reviews, essays, reportage, & more. We reprint selected work, too. We publish interviews & reviews on a weekly basis, with a commitment to contributing toward the transatlantic and English-language diaspora dialogue. We are especially keen to review literature in translation & book arts editions of contemporary literature.”

Here at BOA, we feel strongly that poetry-in-translation

For the past 20 years, BOA poet Michael Blumenthal (AND, 2009), has written a “Thanksgiving/Christmas/Chanukah/New Year’s poem” which he sends to friends and family. This year, Michael has graciously allowed us to post the poem and share it with all of you – our BOA friends and family. So here is “Be Kind” by Michael Blumenthal. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you from all of us.

Be Kind

Not merely because Henry James said

there were but four rules of life—

be kind be kind be kind be kind—but

because it’s good for the soul, and,

what’s more, for others, it may be

that kindness is our best audition

for a worthier world, and, despite

the vagueness and uncertainty of

its recompense, a bird may yet wander

into a bush before our very houses,

gratitude may not manifest itself in deeds

entirely equal to our own, but there’s still

weather arriving from every direction,

the feasts of famine and feasts of plenty

may yet prove to be one, so why not

allow the little benevolent squinches and

squigulas to prevail? Why not inundate

the particular world with minute particulars?

Dust’s certainly all of our fate, but why not

make it the happiest possible dust,

a detritus of blessedness? Surely

the hedgehog, furling and unfurling

into its spiked little ball, knows something

that, with a gentle touch and unthreatening

tone, can inure to our benefit, surely the wicked

witches of our childhood have died and,

from where they are buried, a great kindness

has eclipsed their misdeeds. Yes, of course,

in the end so much comes down to privilege

and its various penumbras, but too much

of our unruly animus has already been

wasted on reprisals, too much of the

unblessed air is filled with smoke from

undignified fires. Oh friends, take

whatever kindness you can find

and be profligate in its expenditure:

It will not drain your limited resources,

I assure you, it will not leave you vulnerable

and unfurled, with only your sweet little claws

to defend yourselves, your wet little noses,

your eyes to the ground, and your little feet.

BOMB magazine just published this Q & A with BOA poet Ray Gonzalez. Ray is a long-time BOA author and we’re proud to have just released his newest collection, [Cool Auditor].

[BOMB Interview with Ray Gonzalez]

I’m not usually a fan of prose poetry, however Ray Gonzalez’s new book Cool Auditor (BOA Editions Ltd. 2009) has made me a believer.

You ask & we deliver! Fred Courtright of [The Permissions Company] has been handling BOA’s permission requests for many years. If you want to [reprint] a BOA poem for an anthology, book, course packet, etc. then you’ll eventually talk to Fred. But Fred lives in Pennsylvania and BOA is way over here in Rochester, NY. So, even though he’s an indispensable part of our organization, Fred has never actually seen the BOA office!

Fred sent a “comment” after one of our recent blog entries asking for photos of the BOA office. It occurred to us that other people might be interested in seeing the office too. So, without further ado, here is a mini-photo tour of BOA headquarters. Just click on the photo for a short description of each scene.

Cecilia Woloch was interviewed on 11/15/2009 for the The Moe Green Poetry Dissicusion with Rafael F.J Alvarado & Chelsea Bayouth. The Moe Green show has featured numerous BOA authors over the years, giving listeners a chance to hear them reading and discussing their poetry in their own words.Below is the intro and bio posted on the Moe Green site.

You can link to the interview here:
[Cecilia Woloch on Moe Green Poetry Discussion]

[Purchase Carpathia]

W. D. Snodgrass, affectionately known as “De” to his family, friends and students, was one of America’s finest contemporary poets. De published many collections of poetry, as well as books of translations, essays and a memoir. De’s first collection The Fuhrer Bunker: A Cycle of Poems in Progress was BOA’s first title, published in 1977. That book was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award (see our earlier post for an original copy of that nomination letter), as was the last book De published with BOA – Not For Specialists: New and Selected Poems (2006). In between those collections, were four other BOA/Snodgrass books, each one driven by De’s impeccable ear for the music of language, his deft use of meter and various rhyme schemes and patterns, his vivid imagination and a gutsy intelligence that took on all subject matters, even those as “unfashionable” as the Nazis of the Third Reich. Oh yes, his first book, Heart’s Needle, published back in 1960, captured the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry – no small achievement.

On January 13 of this year, De passed away at the age of 83 at his home in Erieville, New York. Soon after Peter Iglinski, Executive Producer of News & Public Affairs for WXXI public radio in Rochester, New York, recognizing the importance of this major American poet, asked Kathy Snodgrass (De’s wife and a musician and translator herself), BOA poet William B. Patrick and BOA Editor Thom Ward to be part of a live radio tribute to De. What follows is that conversation on February 6, 2009 at the WXXI studios in downtown Rochester. Besides hearing Kathy, Bill, Peter and Thom, you will hear excerpts from tributes from BOA poets Barton Sutter and X. J. (Joe) Kennedy. We hope this interview concerning the innovative writing and teaching of W. D. Snodgrass enlivens and informs your day.

Click here this to listen to a streaming file of the [W. D. Snodgrass Tribute]

In 2007, BOA Editions published The Clean Shirt of It through our Lannan Translation Selections Series. The Clean Shirt of It is the first English translation of a full-length poetry title by acclaimed Brazilian poet Paulo Henriques Britto. The book was masterfully translated by Idra Novey who also wrote an Introduction to the collection.

American Poet had this to say about the collection: “Britto is deeply aware of and involved in the poetics and politics of his country but, as is expressed through his poetry, lives in the shifting, indefinable cultural space that often produces the most felt and honest poetry…His poems manage to be extremely contemporary and timeless, political, yet not rhetorical or nationalistic.”

You can read more about the book (including how to buy a copy) here:

http://www.boaeditions.org/bookstore/details.php?prodId=150

We were busting with pride to learn that

BOA is housed in a big funky building that used to be a shoe factory. Now it’s home to some of the most talented artists in Rochester – and to us!

Each December, the building holds a Holiday Gala and all the artists throw open their doors to display and sell their work. There is live music, snacks and beverages, and every kind of artwork you can imagine (pottery, sculpture, fine art jewelry, textiles, paintings, photography…).BOA also takes the opportunity to hold an open house during the Holiday Gala. All our books are on display and all the staff and many board members are on-hand to talk BOA and celebrate the start of the holiday season. We also discount books for the event – and put out all sorts of good things to eat and drink. This year, we’re going to hold a poetry reading here too (we’ll reveal who will be reading later).

If you’re in the Rochester area, we invite you to come down to BOA to meet everyone and get a start on your holiday book buying. The address is 250 North Goodman Street and BOA is located on the 3rd floor in Suite 306. We’ll be here Friday, Dec. 4th, 5-8PM and on Saturday, Dec. 5th, 11AM – 4PM. If you have any questions, just email: info@boaeditions.orgHope to see you at the Holiday Gala!

This is the last month to submit a manuscript to BOA’s 9th annual first-book contest, the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. So it’s a perfect time to celebrate the success of a previous Poulin Prize winner: Dan Albergotti. Dan’s first poetry collection, The Boatloads, was chosen by final judge Edward Hirsch as winner of the 6th annual contest. Dan’s manuscript rose to the top of 888 submissions that year, because, as Hirsch wrote, “Dan Albergotti’s first book, The Boatloads, is filled with the spirit of mystery. It is a startling achievement that begins in wonder and ends in awe. Albergotti is a poet of deep conviction, a rare quality in our cynical times. He is a genuine seeker, a man on a spiritual quest, a stubborn questioner, and his poems are infused with the sense that the earth itself is sacred.”

Since it’s publication in 2007, The Boatloads has gone into a second printing and was named

Wyn Cooper’s first BOA poetry collection, Postcards from the Interior, appeared in 2005. The book is a collection of postcard poems ’sent’ from varied places, and states of heart and mind. The collection balances prose poems, free verse, and formal verse. The first section, “Postcards from Vermont,” is composed of poems from Vermont towns and historical landmarks. The second section includes postcard poems from other settings, real and imagined.

Now we’re gearing up to publish Wyn’s new collection, Chaos is the New Calm, in May 2010.