The selected early poems by Mark Doty including the complete texts of Turtle, Swan and Bethlehem in Broad Daylight for which Mr. Doty has contributed a new introduction.
"Alphabetically arranged entries present 62 contemporary gay American poets and dramatists. While the majority of included writers are younger artists who came of age in the post-Stonewall United States, some are older authors whose work has continued or persisted into recent decades. A number of these writers are well known. Each entry is written by an expert contributor and includes a biography, a discussion of major works and themes, an overview of the author's critical reception, and primary and secondary bibliographies."--BOOK JACKET.
Using as her starting point the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, Melissa F. Zeiger examines modern transformations of poetic elegy, particularly as they reflect historical changes in the politics of gender and sexuality. Although her focus is primarily on nineteenth- and twentieth-century poetry, the scope of her investigation is grand: from John Milton's "Lycidas" to very recently written AIDS and breast cancer elegies. Milton epitomized the traditional use of the Orpheus myth as an illustration of the female threat to masculine poetic prowess, focused on the beleaguered Orpheus. Zeiger documents the gradual inclusion of Eurydice, from the elegies of Algernon Charles Swinburne through the work of Thomas Hardy and John Berryman, re-examining the role of Eurydice, and the feminine more generally, in poetic production. Zeiger then considers women poets who challenge the assumptions of elegies written by men, sometimes identifying themselves with Eurydice. Among these poets are H.D., Edna St. Vincent Millay, Anne Sexton, and Elizabeth Bishop. Zeiger concludes with a discussion of elegies for victims of current plagues, explaining how poets mourning those lost to AIDS and breast cancer rewrite elegy in ways less repressive, sacrificial, or punitive than those of the Orphean tradition. Among the poets discussed are Essex Hemphill, Thom Gunn, Mark Doty, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, and Marilyn Hacker.
If you want to try something different for Advent this year, "Bethlehem's Closet -- A Reunion of Grace" is a great resource that provides congregations with an intriguing learning experience. It's a unique series of five monologues telling the fascinating stories, warts and all, of the women mentioned in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus. Donald Neidigk believes that the embarrassing events in some of these women's lives are important for us to know, since they demonstrate that Jesus was born into an imperfect family, with secrets in the closet, just like you and me. And that makes him a sympathetic Savior -- exactly what we need. So even though the shepherds and wise men may be more typical of the season's characters, "Bethlehem's Closet -- A Reunion of Grace" offers a refreshing way to celebrate Christ's birth. Each monologue comes with a children's message (using easily obtained objects to reinforce the lesson) and a convenient order of worship. The monologues examine these women: - Tamar -- A Wronged Widow - Rahab -- A Former Prostitute - Ruth -- A Moabite Convert - Bathsheba -- A Violated Wife - Mary -- A Young Mother Donald H. Neidigk is a graduate of New Mexico State University (B.S.) and Denver Seminary (M.Div.), with additional graduate study at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is currently the pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, and also serves as the Circuit Counselor for the Sandia South Circuit of the Rocky Mountain District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Neidigk is the author of "The Gifts of Lent" and "Conversations With the Savior" (CSS).
"At its center, Heresy and the Ideal is based on Baker's sense of Romantic poetics, especially on how contemporary poets have applied, altered, or rejected certain Romantic principles. He uses the Romantic trope to measure the tension between passion and reason and between the problems of literary transcendence and the obligations of social engagement."--Jacket.
Outside the Lines gathers interviews with some of the most significant poets in contemporary American poetry. While each poet is gay, these encompassing, craft-centered interviews reflect the diversity of their respective arts and serve as a testament to the impact gay poets have had and will continue to have on contemporary poetics. The book includes fourteen frank, intense interviews with some of America's best-known and loved poets, who have not only enjoyed wide critical acclaim but who have had lasting impact on both the gay tradition as well as the contemporary canon writ large, for example, J.D. McClatchy and Frank Bidart. Some of the most honored and respected poets, still in the middle of their careers, are also included, for example, Mark Doty and Carl Phillips. Each interview explores the poet's complete work to date, often illuminating the poet's technical evolution, emotional growth, probing shifts in theme, and even investigating links between verse and sexuality.
Provides entries on life and culture of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer people since 1945, topics include dance, education, health, and politics.
"Winner of the American Book Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Stanley Hanks Memorial Poetry Award (judged by Philip Levine), and the Oklahoma Book Award, Jim Barnes has been hailed as ""a masterful poet, a most worthy voice for his generation"" (Samuel Maio) and ""one of the finest poets now writing in the United States"" (David Ray). This generous volume brings together for the first time three acclaimed collections of Barnes's poetry: The American Book of the Dead, A Season of Loss, and La Plata Cantata."
"Creole poets have always eluded easy definition, infusing European poetic forms with Louisiana themes and Native American and African influences to produce an impressive variety of highly accomplished verses. The first major collection of its kind, Creole Echoes contains over a hundred of these poems by more than thirty different poets, presented by M. Lynn Weiss in their original French alongside new English translations by Norman R. Shapiro.The poems gathered here were all composed in French by Louisiana residents of European, African, and Caribbean origin. Their themes range from love and history to nightmare and childhood recollection. In these pages somber elegies meet whimsical surprises, and rhyming animal fables meet political panegyrics. "