BOA Blog

[caption id="attachment_691" align="alignleft" width="123" caption="Kazim Ali. BOA poet."][/caption] BOA poet Kazim Ali (The Fortieth Day) has written an illuminating essay on the poetics of Lucille Clifton. The essay first appeared in Barn Owl Review and is now posted in its entirety at Delirious Hem. It will also appear in Kazim's upcoming book, Orange Alert: Essays on Poetry, Art and the Architecture of Silence, which is forthcoming from University of Michigan Press. The essay begins: "Lucille Clifton is known as a poet of simple and clear diction, informed by trickster sensibility, and is as facile with the cadences of King James...

Poetry and Wine! Join us as we celebrate the publication of the A. Poulin, Jr. Prize-winning debut poetry collection Beautiful in the Mouth by Keetje Kuipers The night will include two additional BOA poets— Cecilia Woloch and Dan Albergotti —who will read from their own fantastic books of poetry. Bonus Prize: The first 15 guests to buy a book will also take home a free bottle of wine! When: Friday, April 9th at 8pm Location: D'Vine Winery 1660 Champa Street (just one block from the main conference hotel!) [Free admission and open bar] [caption id="attachment_679" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Keetje Kuipers. BOA...

"Plastic Beatitude", by Laure-Anne Bosselaar, was featured by the Writer's Almanac blog on March 23rd, 2010. The poem is from Bosselaar's 1997 book, The Hour Between Dog and Wolf. In his foreward, Charles Simic describes Bosselaar's work as "an authentic poetic voice, one serious enough to be heard at the end of this long and brutal century." The book captures the lives of "lost souls running," speaking of eccentric, vibrant people, who lived in Europe in the midst of and the fallout from the World Wars. An Exerpt from "Plastic Beatitude": Our neighbors, the Pazzotis, live in a long narrow...

[caption id="attachment_653" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="6x6x2010"][/caption] In 2008, BOA and Rochester Contemporary Arts Center got together to put on Postcards in Jazz. The event featured BOA poet Wyn Cooper reading from Postcards from the Interior (BOA, 2005) along with a jazz combo featuring musicians Chris Azzara, Dave Blask, Jeff Campbell and Mark Kellogg. It took place during the Rochester International Jazz Festival which brings together some of the world's best jazz music for a weeklong celebration. The event was so much fun - we're going to do it again! This year's event (tentatively titled Jazz is Poetry) will feature BOA poet...

[caption id="attachment_639" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Intern Liz Mullins and Peter Conners"][/caption] Last Friday, I attended Traditions and Translations: A Celebration of Japanese Culture at the Memorial Art Gallery as part of BOA Editions. That's me (Intern Liz Mullins) sitting next to Peter Conners, editor. We sat in the foyer of the gallery amidst others selling pertinent wares-- traditional Japanese paintings, kimonos and sake, of course-- as event participants browsed. It was my first outing as a BOA intern and it didn't disappoint. We were there from 2-5PM with several books of poetry by asian artists or in translation, as well as...