BOA Blog

[caption id="attachment_1868" align="alignleft" width="165" caption="True Faith, released in April 2012"][/caption] In a recent review in Bangor Daily News, Dana Wilde described Ira Sadoff's new collection, True Faith, as a worthy contribution to the tradition of confessional literature that has emerged and flourished since the 1960s. True Faith, Wilde writes, is “an entry in that persistent flow” of autobiographical introspective literature by the likes of such artists as Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Robert Lowell, John Berryman, and John Ashbery. According to Wilde, the complexity of Sadoff's work lies in the way the poems "surf idiosyncratically in and out of the waves...

Ko Un's Flowers of a Moment is currently being featured in the Summer 2012 issue of Ceries Press, in an essay by Melissa Kwasny entitled "The Flower Artist." In her essay, Kwasny explores the nature and identity of the flower in and as art, referencing a diverse canon of floral study that includes Charles Baudelaire, the German mystic poet Novalis, Morris Graves, Piet Mondrian, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, and BOA's own poets Ko Un and Adonis. Kwasny describes how the flower is a conduit and reflection of human experiences, acting as a point through which we both access and view what Baudelaire...

Ira Sadoff is already receiving sparkling reviews for his recent True Faith, just released this past spring! In "That's Where My God Is: A Review of True Faith," Anne Webster of The Chattahoochee Review has called Sadoff's collection "an unflinching exploration of himself and his life," specifically referring to his relationship with faith, mortality, disillusionment, and "the search for meaning." Webster goes on to describe the work's three sections, which move from Sadoff's childhood past and the factors that influenced his addressing of religion, to exploration of major events in his spiritual life, to "present-day influences and his resulting skepticism"...

To our readers, an apology-- BOA has been giving you so many good reads lately, your eyes are probably exhausted. To make amends, we offer this great audio discussion from the Poetry Foundation on the late W. D. Snodgrass! The discussion, titled "People Don't Read This Way Anymore," explores the late, great W.D. Snodgrass's formalism, dark humor, and passionate reading style. It is part of the Poetry Off the Shelf series, in which Producer Curtis Fox and Ernest Hilbert examine the world of contemporary American poetry with readings by poets, interviews with critics, and short poetry documentaries. So go ahead-...

Aracelis Girmay, receiving non-stop praise for her new collection Kingdom Animalia, will be one of the poets featured this upcoming month at the 2012 annual Poets House Showcase. This FREE exhibit, which will be open to the public and held at the Poets House in New York, NY, is the only event of its kind, giving dedicated attention to all things poetry. The FREE event is "diverse" and "inclusive," and is committed to making sure that "books from micro-presses receive the same care and attention as major publishers." The FREE Showcase Opening will be held this Saturday, June 30 (that's...