E T E L     A D N A N

1925 ~ 2021

M O R E

JOSEPH SPENCE ~

 

LOVE, ICEBOX ~

 

R E A D      M E

The John Cage Trust

2019

ADA LIMON ~

 

A Name

When Eve walked among

the animals and named them —

nightingale, red-shouldered hawk,

fiddler crab, fallow deer —

I wonder if she ever wanted

them to speak back, looked into

their wide wonderful eyes and

whispered, Name me, name me.

________________

Ada Limón

The Carrying

Milkweed Editions

2018

Ada Limón - Image: Christopher.Michel on Visual Hunt

GEORGE R. STEWART (NAMES OF THE LAND) ~

 

R E A D     M E

EVERYTHING SHE TOUCHED ~

 

R E A D    M E

Chronicle Books

2020

THE COMPLETE MEMOIRS (NERUDA) ~

 

R E A D     M E

W.G. SEBALD ~

 

R E A D      M E

There have been at least three biographies 

all by women, all about men 

each one outstanding —

Thoreau

Hemingway

now, Sebald

Thoreau, a life by Laura Dassow Walls

Ernest Hemingway, Mary V. Dearborn

Speak, Silence, Carole Angier

No hesitation

TASH SULTANA ~

 

THE WAY TO HOLD A CONCERT (1969) ~

 

POEM FOR STILLNESS ~

 

Poem for Stillness

He stirs his tea with a gun barrel

He solves the puzzle with a gun barrel

He scratches his thoughts with a gun barrel

And sometimes

he sits facing himself

and pulls bullet-memories

out of his brain

He's fought in many wars

but is no match for his own despair

These white pills

have left him so colorless

his shadow must stand up

to fetch him water

We ought to accept

that no soldier

has never returned

from war

alive

___________________

Garous Abdolmalekian

Lean Against This Late Hour

Penguin, 2020

NABANEETA DEV SEN ~

 

First Confidence

Rain sweeps through my drapes

this monsoon morning, as curtains toss,

every door flies open toward the past.

The dry leaves melt away, soaking wet,

the footprints now lie hidden in moss.

I unfold my face into the rain,

I wrap my body in drenched gair.

Now, lifting my eyes, I stand tall

and, in this free and weightless light,

I say with confidence, for the first time —

I have forgotten all.

Sometimes, Love

It comes when called. Like a pet cockatoo,

it sits on my finger, fluttering.

It sways its neck, fluffs its feathers, swings its crest,

and recites its practiced lines, uttering

every pleasing word.

My lily-white bird

repeats to me all that it's been taught and sings best.

Saying just what I want to hear,

it pours honey into my ear.

But behind my back, soon after,

alone, perched on its base,

my lily-white bird

clatters its shiny shackles

as it cackles with laughter,

shedding feathers

in empty space.

Acrobat

Nabaneeta Dev Sen

translated by Nandana Dev Sen

Archipelago Books 2021

BOB ARNOLD, BACKROAD CALLER ~

 

Bob Arnold

Back Road Caller

Longhouse 

2021

A fine sheaf

many-colored

& limited

$10

postpaid

We accept Paypal

Please use our email address of 

longhousepoetry@gmail.com

Payable by check ~

Longhouse 

PO Box 2454

West Brattleboro, Vermont 05303

HIMALAYA ~

 

R E A D      M E

Norton 2021

KOKO TAYLOR ~

 

CARNIVAL OF SOULS ~

 

WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE ~

 

SUPERNATURAL AMERICA ~

 

R E A D     M E

University of Chicago Press

2021

THE SHEPHERD'S LIFE ~

 

Flatiron 2015

JULIE FELIX ~

 

JERRY LEE LEWIS (1983) ~

 

FROM MONTANA: BOB LOVE POEMS ~

Bob Love

Kinnikinnick

Longhouse 

2021

A fine sheaf of poems from a

Montana logger

many-colored

& limited

$10

postpaid

We accept Paypal

Please use our email address of 

longhousepoetry@gmail.com

Payable by check ~

Longhouse 

PO Box 2454

West Brattleboro, Vermont 05303

THE GREAT MORT SAHL ~

 

M O R T      S A H L

GUIDO MORSELLI ~

 

R E A D     M E

New York Review of Books

2020

JOHN BRADLEY KNOWS VALLEJO ~

 

Hotel Montparnasse

Written in soap on the mirror in Vallejo's room:

Paul Celan does not like to be touched.

Remedios Varo does not like talking turnips.

Frida Kahlo will not eat uncooked termites.

Robert Desnos does not like to wear a tether.

Lenora Carrington does not like to be tickled.

Jerzy Kosinski does not like to cut his toenails.

Kiki will not go near a jar of pickled tonsils.

Frederico Garcia Lorca is allergic to pasta a' la Franco.

Charlotte Corday does not like a wet wig.

Apollinaire does not like to ride in a blimp.

Mayakovsky does not like to be truncated.

Julio Cortazar does not like a wet matchstick.

Gertrude Stein does not like to be called Twinkle Toes.

Joyce Mansour cannot tolerate the sound of a tuning fork.

Pablo Picasso will not dine near Charles Baudelaire.

Cesar Vallejo does not like giving birth to Cesar Vallejo.

[ Unsigned ]

_________________________

John Bradley

Hotel Montparnasse

Letters to Cesar Vallejo

Dos Madres, 2021

This glorious book of poems (portraits)

is an ideal finished film script for

Wes Anderson to now take over

THE SORRENTINOS ~

 

Christopher Sorrentino’s parents, Gilbert and Vicki, circa 1972. Sorrentino examines their confounding marriage in his memoir, ‘Now Beacon, Now Sea.’Credit...via Christopher Sorrentino

R E A D     M E

(an excellent review

of this son's memoir)

Catapult, 2021

BLANCA VARELA ~

 

Railing

which is the light

which the shadow

Game

within my grasp

the angel burned

Then

beyond the rose

shadow

Night

old craftswoman

see what you've made by lying

another day

Justice

along came the bird

and devoured the worm

along came the man

and devoured the bird

along came the worm

and devoured the man

Eve Leaves

animal of salt

if you turn that head

on your body

you will become

              and you will have a name

and the word

slithering

will be your footprint

Curriculum Vitae

let's say that you won the race

and that the prize

was another race

that you didn't drink champagne

but your own sweat

that you didn't hear cheering

but dogs barking

and that your own shadow

was your sole

and disloyal competitor

____________________

Blanca Varela (1926-2009)

Rough Song

translated by Carlos Lara

The Song Cave, 2020