Wednesday, August 31, 2011
I'm proud to announce that the Maine edition of LocusPoint has been released, featuring the poetry of Jay Franzel, Nancy Henry, Leonore Hildebrandt, Carl Little, Anne Britting Oleson, Bruce Spang, and myself, along with a brief introductory essay about writing in Maine. It was such a pleasure to work on this project. I look forward to hearing what you think.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I hesitate to tell you what I think. It is not my wish to thump on you here. But I think you want honesty.
I love the project but not the tone infusing the essay or the poems, a tone that seems uni-focal. I am so disturbed by the portrayal of Maine here. I wonder how the poems chosen represent a broad and balanced view of this state. Seems to me this darkness is only one point of reference. Or was the project designed to show the underbelly of each of the locus points of the US writing scene? I will have to read those other points to see whether the dark side is the focus. For now I am so upset I cannot read any more.
I ask now if this is but one view and maybe there will be other "Maine Editions" that balance the view of Maine and its writing. I hope so. We are so much more than killers of trees and children. No romantic view needed, just balance.
Hmm. It seemed to me that many of these poems were infused with hope and with love. And certainly, yes, we are far more than killers of trees and children. We are also, as Bruce wrote, filled with the innocence of springtime, of "coming-out." Jay's poems, to me, speak particularly of that delicate attention to new life, to kindness, to recovery. I do agree, however, that all of these poets recognize that dark and light are bound together.
Post a Comment