Flood Stage: An Anthology of Saint Louis Poets

Fresh out from Walrus Publishing, a new poetry anthology -- Flood Stage: An Anthology of Saint Louis Poets.  Poems were selected and compiled by St. Louis's own Matthew Freeman.  This is an exciting, eclectic collection.  The book launch and reading would be greatly enhanced by your presence!  Details --

WHO:       St. Louis Poets (many and various)
WHAT:     Flood Stage: An Anthology of Saint Louis Poets - a reading, book signing and reception
WHERE:    Left Bank Books Downtown, 321 N. 10th Street, 314-436-3049
WHEN:     Friday, July 16, 2010, 7 p.m.
ADMISSION: Free  (of course!)

SPONSORS:
St. Louis Poetry Center, http://www.stlouispoetrycenter.org/
Walrus Publishing
Left Bank Books, http://www.left-bank.com/

We DID see you there!

The reading at Left Bank Books was a delight. Thanks to all the poetry fans who braved some nasty weather to listen to us and see all the chapbooks from Cherry Pie Press. gaye gambell-peterson read from her two recent chapbooks, and I read some of my own work and then selections from the 9 chapbooks from Cherry Pie Press.

The photo is courtesy of gaye's husband, Jerry Peterson. (I've oftened wondered how those two get along so well -- he with normal capital letters in his name, she insisting on lowercase throughout. I guess they thrive on that delightful dissonance.)

See you there!

Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid, in the St. Louis West End neighborhood...

http://leftbankbooks.indiebound.com/event/rebecca-ellis-and-gaye-gampbell-peterson

Poetry reading December 2

On the night of the next full moon, Wednesday, December 2, 2009, Rebecca Ellis and gaye gambell-peterson will read recent work, showcase chapbooks and art at 7 p.m. at LEFT BANK BOOKS, 399 N. Euclid, St. Louis. The reading is in celebration of women poets and women-run independent presses.

Rebecca Ellis will read her own work and selected poems from the nine chapbooks she has edited and published in the Midwest Women Poets Series from Cherry Pie Press.

gaye gambell-peterson will read from two recently published chapbooks, and provide a peek at original artwork used as illustrations. Her chapbooks are pale leaf floating, recently published by Cherry Pie Press, and a new release, MYnd mAp, from her own imprint, Agog Press.

Download the whole gosh-darn flyer for this event here.

Rotogravure - Nanora Sweet reviewed

Nan Sweet's Rotogravure has been reviewed by Stephen C. Behrendt in the Winter 2008 issue of Prairie Schooner. Behrendt generously lets the poems do most of the talking, observing that Sweet's chapbook is "big with histories and memories." He quotes from one of my own favorites, "Council Grove," and says ". . .what fascinates Sweet [is] that barely definable 'power' that infuses and moves the world, carrying with it the sheer animal force of history that inhabits all places, all things."

The recent issue of Prairie Schooner is available locally at Left Bank Books (where you can also pick up a copy of Nan Sweet's Rotogravure!), or order from the Prairie Schooner website.

A Stranger Here Myself - kudos received

This praise just in to Niki Nymark on the release of her chapbook, newly available now through Left Bank Books:

Jerry and I celebrated a warm (as in not hot) Saturday afternoon by trekking to the Central West End. I had Barry [of Left Bank Books] dig A Stranger Here Myself out of his office so I could buy it. Then, as we waited on a shady sidewalk for our turn on Duff's patio, I read your poems out loud to Jer. What nice moments you provided!...

Huzzah to you, and to your publisher. I am also Greatly Impressed that the suitably flattering back cover blurbs are by Richard Newman and Steven Schreiner. Whoo hoo.

A gorgeous book in every aspect.

gaye gambell-peterson

The Urge to Believe - noted by Left Bank Books

Left Bank Books has picked The Urge to Believe is Stronger than Belief Itself as a 'recommended pick' in its July newsletter. A short review by Left Bank staff member Erin Quick:

St. Louis poet Erin M. Bertram's latest chapbook, The Urge to Believe is Stronger than Belief Itself, is a collection of prose poems grounded in the experience of dealing with cancer--namely breast cancer, though it largely goes unnamed in the book. With a daughter's kind, eager eye, she looks at what safety can be found in a name, gleaned from the seeming order of definition (whether from a dictionary or medical pamphlet) even when faced with the treachery of meaning. From the opening lines of Rilke to the book's final words, the solid actuality of language belies our frankly human experience of loss and its echo, pain. In such a world, where we are always reaching, even our mother's breasts bear the fragility of existence. In such a world, "any change is worth noting."