Category: Poetry

Intermission: Indulge me my other passion?

I know, I know. You were expecting another “tragic tell” from the new guy. But I thought I’d give the heavy going a break for a week and come up for a breather as I reappraise and revise the concluding sections of my series and get my family packed and ready to move to Idaho (don’t you go too far though; you’re obviously anxious for Part IV–coming next week).

And I thought, hey, since I’ve got a captive audience *uhm-hmm* I’ll riff off of and indulge AMV’s readers (or at least myself) with one of my recent poems, originally published on my personal blog.

So without further ado… Continue reading “Intermission: Indulge me my other passion?”

Mormon Poetry for National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month, so in view of our recent conversations about Mormon poetry, I though it might be a good idea to review what Mormon poetry is in print at the moment, and ask those who visit to take a look. [The links are to the Amazon page for the book – no link means that the book isn’t available on Amazon.]

I think we would also love to know of any books that aren’t on the list. I pulled this information from a number of sources, but like any bibliographies of Mormon materials, it is very hard to get everything.

The list is interesting for several reasons:

Continue reading “Mormon Poetry for National Poetry Month”

Ideas for the field: Poetry chapbooks and PDFs

A reader recently wrote in to LDS Publisher asking, “Is there any hope of selling a poetry collection to any publisher?”

The answer, of course, is: No.

LDS Publisher puts it more diplomatically, of course:

The only way you’re going to sell a book of poetry to an LDS publisher is if it’s a gift book, a children’s picture book, or part of an anthology (like Especially for Mormons)–but even those are tough sells.

In my comment, I point out that even though Signature stills publishes about one volume of poetry a year, if you are simply looking to publish Mormon poetry, then Dialogue, Irreantum, Sunstone, Segullah and BYU Studies are really your only options.

This brought to my mind Kent Larsen’s posts on poetry chapbooks — News: Poetry Chapbook from MAG and The Importance of Chapbooks — both are must reads for Mormon poets. Continue reading “Ideas for the field: Poetry chapbooks and PDFs”

Heads and Tails High: Honoring Leslie Norris

When my friend and mentor Leslie Norris died on April 6, 2006, I was unable to attend his funeral or participate in Irreantum’s “Readers Write” feature addressing the topic, “Leslie Norris Among the Mormons.”  With this post I’m making up for lost time.  It runs long, and I beg your indulgence, dear reader. 

If we pay any attention at all to where we’re going and to what we’re doing, we might meet someone who changes everything for us.  Someone whose presence tunes our language, so that we become better spoken, more lyrical in thought and belief, and much deepened in feeling.  Someone who makes us wonder what might have become of us had he or she not come along. Continue reading “Heads and Tails High: Honoring Leslie Norris”

The Importance of Chapbooks

After my post a week ago on the launch of a poetry chapbook, William commented:

Considering what a large role chapbooks play in the larger poetry community, I’m a bit suprised that there haven’t been more published for the Mormon literary market (even as small as it is).[see comment]

In response, I promised this post on Chapbooks and what their role is and can be. Continue reading “The Importance of Chapbooks”