Gaye Gambell-Peterson's new self-published book, MYnd mAp, is described in an interview with Catherine Rankovic here: http://theconfidentwriter.blogspot.com/2009/10/talking-with-gaye-gambell-peterson-wine.html. Gaye talks about the creative process of combining poetry and visual art, in her usual precise and cross-pollinating way.
Gaye previously published pale leaf floating with Cherry Pie Press, and has created the cover artwork for some of the earlier Cherry Pie chapbooks (Breathing Out, The Permeability of Memory, Rotogravure). She has also provided support of the unmeasurable kind to Cherry Pie: humor, clarity of purpose, and indestructible nerve when I needed it most. Her poetry embodies those three qualities. Highly recommended.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
More on lunch pail poetry
Tess Gallagher, in a speech to the graduates of the 2009 Whidbey Writers Workshop, reminds us that "as a writer, one may not hold oneself above or apart from one’s hoped for readership. . . . We won’t be able to imagine in a clear-hearted way those whom we seek to reach or even that part of ourselves we court in the writing."
She also comments on the practicalities of the writing life, and the need to fit writing in -- "learning to work anywhere and under adverse conditions is a boon to staying a writer."
Read the entire commencement address here: http://whidbeystudents.com/about/2009-commencement-address/
She also comments on the practicalities of the writing life, and the need to fit writing in -- "learning to work anywhere and under adverse conditions is a boon to staying a writer."
Read the entire commencement address here: http://whidbeystudents.com/about/2009-commencement-address/
Lunch pail poetry
RATTLE has just released its RATTLE e.7 supplement to the summer print issue, and you can download it here in pdf format: http://rattle.com/eissues/eIssue7.pdf
The highlight is an interview with Bruce Cohen on his new book from Dream Horse Press, Disloyal Yo-Yo. I was impressed with Cohen's take on the place of writing in his life, and he touched on a theme close to my heart: how to balance work, life, poetry. For some, poetry as a career works just fine, and for others (me!) it does not. Cohen says, "I intuitively suspected that if my career were dependent upon poetry, my poetry might get stale and suffer." From someone who now has two books out after long years of work, and lots of balancing, that's encouraging stuff. He talks about his "anti-poetic career" in academic support programs for athletes, and how he was grounded in the knowledge that poetry was its own center: "I knew I would compose poems for my entire life; it would be a constant in my world. That knowledge calmed me, left me less anxious."
He talks about balancing his career, his wife's career, different work schedules, raising two boys and all the Boy Scouts and other activities that adds to the mix, and still finding room for poetry.
Here's Cohen on what it takes to be a writer: "But my approach to writing is not lazy; it’s blue collar, working man. I write something every day whether I feel like it or not and put my time in. I go to work sick. I’m rarely inspired and I have no patience for waiting for some sort of Muse. In fact, I don’t think I have a Muse, I just try to talk to people in my poems who I know and want to talk to. My father got up at five every morning, went to work and never complained. I try to do that—especially with my poetry. Lunch pail stuff."
The highlight is an interview with Bruce Cohen on his new book from Dream Horse Press, Disloyal Yo-Yo. I was impressed with Cohen's take on the place of writing in his life, and he touched on a theme close to my heart: how to balance work, life, poetry. For some, poetry as a career works just fine, and for others (me!) it does not. Cohen says, "I intuitively suspected that if my career were dependent upon poetry, my poetry might get stale and suffer." From someone who now has two books out after long years of work, and lots of balancing, that's encouraging stuff. He talks about his "anti-poetic career" in academic support programs for athletes, and how he was grounded in the knowledge that poetry was its own center: "I knew I would compose poems for my entire life; it would be a constant in my world. That knowledge calmed me, left me less anxious."
He talks about balancing his career, his wife's career, different work schedules, raising two boys and all the Boy Scouts and other activities that adds to the mix, and still finding room for poetry.
Here's Cohen on what it takes to be a writer: "But my approach to writing is not lazy; it’s blue collar, working man. I write something every day whether I feel like it or not and put my time in. I go to work sick. I’m rarely inspired and I have no patience for waiting for some sort of Muse. In fact, I don’t think I have a Muse, I just try to talk to people in my poems who I know and want to talk to. My father got up at five every morning, went to work and never complained. I try to do that—especially with my poetry. Lunch pail stuff."
Monday, October 05, 2009
gaye gambell-peterson at The Big Read
This just received:
Ta da! gaye gambell-peterson announces that her next chapbook of poetry + art is out into the world!! The newest is MYnd mAp (Agog Press), resplendent with 14 FULL-COLOR illustrations, joining pale leaf floating (Cherry Pie Press), also with illustrations.
Your first opportunity to get MYnd mAp ($15) is this coming Saturday,
October 10th, at The Big Read in Clayton.
At The Big Read Festival on Saturday, October 10, 2009, from 3:00 - 3:30pm, gaye gambell-peterson will sign copies of both her books at the St. Louis Writers Guild booth.
The festival runs from 9:00am-4:00pm at Clayton High School, Mark Twain Circle & Topton Way, Clayton, MO.
The Big Read is free and open to the public. The festival features publishers, book-sellers, national authors, readings, book signings, panel discussions, workshops, demonstrations and an interactive children’s area. The St. Louis Writers Guild will be represented at two booths--one for SLWG info-sharing, one for book sales and book signings. A schedule for workshops and lectures by "bigger names" is available on www.bigread.net/schedule.htm.
See www.gayegambellpeterson.com for more details and other chapbook events.
Ta da! gaye gambell-peterson announces that her next chapbook of poetry + art is out into the world!! The newest is MYnd mAp (Agog Press), resplendent with 14 FULL-COLOR illustrations, joining pale leaf floating (Cherry Pie Press), also with illustrations.
Your first opportunity to get MYnd mAp ($15) is this coming Saturday,
October 10th, at The Big Read in Clayton.
At The Big Read Festival on Saturday, October 10, 2009, from 3:00 - 3:30pm, gaye gambell-peterson will sign copies of both her books at the St. Louis Writers Guild booth.
The festival runs from 9:00am-4:00pm at Clayton High School, Mark Twain Circle & Topton Way, Clayton, MO.
The Big Read is free and open to the public. The festival features publishers, book-sellers, national authors, readings, book signings, panel discussions, workshops, demonstrations and an interactive children’s area. The St. Louis Writers Guild will be represented at two booths--one for SLWG info-sharing, one for book sales and book signings. A schedule for workshops and lectures by "bigger names" is available on www.bigread.net/schedule.htm.
See www.gayegambellpeterson.com for more details and other chapbook events.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Poets House - new digs!
Poets House, where some of the Cherry Pie chaps happily reside, has new digs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/books/25poetry.html?_r=1&ref=books
It sounds like a magical place.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/books/25poetry.html?_r=1&ref=books
It sounds like a magical place.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Resources for Poets
A blizzard of manuscripts have come to Cherry Pie Press in the last few months, a result (I think?) of the increasing readership for the nine chapbooks now in print, and of the unexpected and welcome publicity from a review in Prairie Schooner of Nan Sweet's chapbook Rotogravure, and finally the attentions of Poets & Writers in highlighting Cherry Pie in their recent articles on chapbook publishers.
Welcome, poets! I'm a little slow at responding to manuscripts because of the welcome flood (and also because of the demands of the non-poetry office job, taking up much of my mental powers and many of my weekends now as we wind through yet another corporate merger -- but hey I LOVE THAT JOB just in case my boss is reading). The range and quality of the poetry is wonderful to see. My process, as always, includes reading through a manuscript at least three times. If it retains spark and complexity after three readings, it's a serious candidate or, at minimum, receives a serious and detailed response, and whatever encouragement is possible through the venue of an email.
Of special note, poetry of extremely high quality has come in from exactly the type of poets Cherry Pie was meant for -- women in the midwest (or, stretching it a little, the west) who are excellent writers, with fresh viewpoints and use of language, active in their local poetry communities and in many cases giving back significantly to that community with their time and talents, and a little separated from the mainstream well-funded well-supported larger world of poetry in the city or poetry in the academy. I am encouraged, and not surprised at all, to note that some of the finest poetry I've seen in the recent flood comes from places like a feedstore owner in Nebraska, or a mother home-schooling her children when she's not out working the ranch. (Ladies, you know who you are -- please keep writing!) Poetry is essential, but there's a real life there too in the balance. Children or an office job or some other kind of ballast is frequently a very good thing.
Submissions have also come in from Chicago, Michigan, Missouri -- many of them compelling, surprising in the best way. Thank you all!
With only one or two chapbooks a year, I send out more rejections than acceptances, and wanted to highlight some resources for poets looking for encouragement and a way to keep up their daily obligations but still get some wider connection to poetry. One well-categorized and very useful resource is http://resources4poets.homestead.com/index.html, from Bernadette Geyer. It's a series of how-to guides and articles and recordings of readings that is easy to dip into or to take a long nosedive into, as time allows.
One more slot filled in the tool-belt, girls!
Welcome, poets! I'm a little slow at responding to manuscripts because of the welcome flood (and also because of the demands of the non-poetry office job, taking up much of my mental powers and many of my weekends now as we wind through yet another corporate merger -- but hey I LOVE THAT JOB just in case my boss is reading). The range and quality of the poetry is wonderful to see. My process, as always, includes reading through a manuscript at least three times. If it retains spark and complexity after three readings, it's a serious candidate or, at minimum, receives a serious and detailed response, and whatever encouragement is possible through the venue of an email.
Of special note, poetry of extremely high quality has come in from exactly the type of poets Cherry Pie was meant for -- women in the midwest (or, stretching it a little, the west) who are excellent writers, with fresh viewpoints and use of language, active in their local poetry communities and in many cases giving back significantly to that community with their time and talents, and a little separated from the mainstream well-funded well-supported larger world of poetry in the city or poetry in the academy. I am encouraged, and not surprised at all, to note that some of the finest poetry I've seen in the recent flood comes from places like a feedstore owner in Nebraska, or a mother home-schooling her children when she's not out working the ranch. (Ladies, you know who you are -- please keep writing!) Poetry is essential, but there's a real life there too in the balance. Children or an office job or some other kind of ballast is frequently a very good thing.
Submissions have also come in from Chicago, Michigan, Missouri -- many of them compelling, surprising in the best way. Thank you all!
With only one or two chapbooks a year, I send out more rejections than acceptances, and wanted to highlight some resources for poets looking for encouragement and a way to keep up their daily obligations but still get some wider connection to poetry. One well-categorized and very useful resource is http://resources4poets.homestead.com/index.html, from Bernadette Geyer. It's a series of how-to guides and articles and recordings of readings that is easy to dip into or to take a long nosedive into, as time allows.
One more slot filled in the tool-belt, girls!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
I guess she didn't like the plot much...
A postcard just in from one of our favorite pugs, Squirt. Her mother reports: "I guess she didn't like the plot much."(Disclaimer: Squirt was raised here in Cherry Pie land and frequently heard poetry being read as a pup. Obviously some of that literary influence proved lasting. The power of poetry...)
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Why a small press?
Why am I doing this? The opposing twin of this question is, Why are you sending your work to Cherry Pie for possible publication, instead of to someplace else?
It's never simple. Kate Gale, co-founder of Red Hen Press in Los Angeles, does a good job of explaining what a small press is -- the 'why' of it.
It's never simple. Kate Gale, co-founder of Red Hen Press in Los Angeles, does a good job of explaining what a small press is -- the 'why' of it.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Does poetry really matter etc?
Will the little poem I'm working on today really matter to anyone?
Go look and listen here, and be awed:
http://cabinet-of-wonders.blogspot.com/2009/08/hubble-deep-field.html
Now go back to your desk and finish that little poem. Every speck matters.
Go look and listen here, and be awed:
http://cabinet-of-wonders.blogspot.com/2009/08/hubble-deep-field.html
Now go back to your desk and finish that little poem. Every speck matters.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Stirrup Pants gets more press
Stirrup Pants, the new chapbook store on Cherokee Street, gets a look from the St. Louis Magazine's arts blog, Look/Listen. Check it out, for pictures of the store and information about Maggie Ginestra, the owner -- http://stlmagblogs.typepad.com/looklisten/2009/07/guest-blog-post-chapbooks-on-cherokee.html.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Read a Poem, Save the World
Words on Purpose is sponsoring another of its wonderful poetry events, this one to benefit Veterans for Peace, an educational and humanitarian organization dedicated to the abolishment of war. Veterans for Peace is a national organization, and headquartered in St. Louis.
Who's reading: James McGarrah, a Vietnam veteran and author of the war memoir A Temporary Sort of Peace, and Woody Powell, co-author of Two Walk the Golden Road chronicling the lives of two Korean War vets, one Chinese, one American.
When: Saturday August 29, at 4 p.m.
Where: Black Bear Bakery, 2639 Cherokee, St. Louis
Recommended donation, $5. All proceeds go to Veterans for Peace.
Words on Purpose is a committee of socially concerned writers who produce literary readings to support community-based efforts that improve quality of life and promote equality of opportunity. They are wonderful folks, and we love 'em.
Who's reading: James McGarrah, a Vietnam veteran and author of the war memoir A Temporary Sort of Peace, and Woody Powell, co-author of Two Walk the Golden Road chronicling the lives of two Korean War vets, one Chinese, one American.
When: Saturday August 29, at 4 p.m.
Where: Black Bear Bakery, 2639 Cherokee, St. Louis
Recommended donation, $5. All proceeds go to Veterans for Peace.
Words on Purpose is a committee of socially concerned writers who produce literary readings to support community-based efforts that improve quality of life and promote equality of opportunity. They are wonderful folks, and we love 'em.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Poetry at the Point Tuesday, August 25
gaye gambell-peterson will read from, and sign, her new chapbook of poetry+art, pale leaf floating, on Tuesday, August 25 at 7:30 p.m. for the Poetry @ the Point reading series sponsored by the St. Louis Poetry Center. The reading will be at The Focal Point, 2720 Sutton, Maplewood, MO 63143. This event is free and open to the public.
If you don't yet have in hand your own copy of gaye's gorgeous chapbook, you can view the cover and a sample poem here.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Stirrup Pants, where you can buy chapbooks
There's a new store in town, with two highly improbable characteristics -- its name is Stirrup Pants, and its sole reason for being is to display and sell poetry chapbooks. (Thanks to local poet Jennifer Tappenden for seeing this notice in a neighborhood newspaper!)
On opening day, I visited to take a look. The store is located in the St. Louis Cherokee Street arts / shopping area, in a quiet unassuming building that's easy to overlook. A tiny sign hangs on the door, and a blue and white tennis shoe hangs over the address numbers. (A bird nest in there? I wondered.) Inside, Maggie, the proprietor, was delightful, and explained she is mostly in theater but loves poetry, thinks the chapbook market is seriously underserved, and so she wanted to use this storefront to correct the situation.
Chapbooks were on display in small quantities but huge variety - Tinfish, Ugly Duckling Presse, Sarabande, Invisible Ear, Glitter Pony, and others. I bought five and felt rich and well fed. I left copies of the Cherry Pie chaps with Maggie for perusal and review.
Stirrup Pants is located at 2122 Cherokee Street, and is open Saturdays only, from 10 am - 3 pm. You can also reach Stirrup Pants at stirruppantschapbooks at gmail dot com.
On opening day, I visited to take a look. The store is located in the St. Louis Cherokee Street arts / shopping area, in a quiet unassuming building that's easy to overlook. A tiny sign hangs on the door, and a blue and white tennis shoe hangs over the address numbers. (A bird nest in there? I wondered.) Inside, Maggie, the proprietor, was delightful, and explained she is mostly in theater but loves poetry, thinks the chapbook market is seriously underserved, and so she wanted to use this storefront to correct the situation.
Chapbooks were on display in small quantities but huge variety - Tinfish, Ugly Duckling Presse, Sarabande, Invisible Ear, Glitter Pony, and others. I bought five and felt rich and well fed. I left copies of the Cherry Pie chaps with Maggie for perusal and review.
Stirrup Pants is located at 2122 Cherokee Street, and is open Saturdays only, from 10 am - 3 pm. You can also reach Stirrup Pants at stirruppantschapbooks at gmail dot com.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Cranky Yellow hosts a poetry party
Cranky Yellow, a new arts-music-literature hub in the Cherokee Street district of St. Louis, is hosting a poetry and pleasure party with burlesque ladies! The ladies include the ever-surprising and wonderful Colleen McKee, author of My Hot Little Tomato from Cherry Pie Press.
When? Sunday, July 19th
6-8pm: Erotic poetry by Colleen McKee and others, and various additional sinful attractions
8-whenever: Turn the Other Cheek Burlesque
Where? Cranky Yellow, 2847 Cherokee, 63118
How much? Poetry is free; $5 for burlesque. Of course, there are many attractive goodies for sale at Cranky Yellow. Cash only!
For more info? 314.773.4499 or info@crankyyellow.com
Friday, July 03, 2009
Review: Fear, by Pamela Garvey
A review I wrote of Pamela Garvey's chapbook Fear, out from Finishing Line Press, is posted at RATTLE. Read the review here.
Fear was a finalist for the New Women's Voices Competition, and is available at Left Bank Books in St. Louis, and also at Amazon. Garvey lives in St. Louis, where she has long been appreciated for co-founding Words on Purpose, a group of socially concerned writers who organize benefit readings.
Fear was a finalist for the New Women's Voices Competition, and is available at Left Bank Books in St. Louis, and also at Amazon. Garvey lives in St. Louis, where she has long been appreciated for co-founding Words on Purpose, a group of socially concerned writers who organize benefit readings.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
St. Louis photos - would this work for poetry?
Here is an interesting photo project that I think would work equally well for poetry -- anyone want to try it?
A hundred local photographers threw darts at a St. Louis city map. Each person had to follow his or her dart (to whatever city block it had landed on) within the next month and come back with photographs. This web site shows the amazing results.
http://www.dartstlouis.com/
A hundred local photographers threw darts at a St. Louis city map. Each person had to follow his or her dart (to whatever city block it had landed on) within the next month and come back with photographs. This web site shows the amazing results.
http://www.dartstlouis.com/
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Cherry Pie chapbooks on Fiddler Crab Review
Two of the Cherry Pie chapbooks have been reviews on Fiddler Crab Review's website. Niki Nymark's A Stranger Here Myself, and Donna Biffar's Kiss Me Cold, were reviewed by Mary Ellen Geer, who has been an editor at Harvard University Press and has published a poetry chapbook through Finishing Line Press.
The Fiddler Crab website / blog is a great resource for seeing the range of what's available in poetry chapbooks. It's a new venture, and full of energy -- see it here: http://fiddlercrabreview.blogspot.com/.
The Fiddler Crab website / blog is a great resource for seeing the range of what's available in poetry chapbooks. It's a new venture, and full of energy -- see it here: http://fiddlercrabreview.blogspot.com/.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Cherry Pie on Poets and Writers
Cherry Pie, logo and all, is on the front page of the latest Poets & Writers email announcement! Clicking on the cherry pie logo will take you to the Small Presses database which P&W hosts -- here also is a link to that database, where you may look up Cherry Pie, or browse at will for other small presses -- http://www.pw.org/small_presses?apage=*
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