Join us under the Poet's Tree for our Sunday Picnic

[alee_grrl]

Sunday, every Sunday, let's have a community picnic. It's probably been a long week, and it's lovely to have a few minutes to sit back and relax and enjoy some good conversation in a less formal space. Feel free to bring something for the Picnic Basket - a poem you liked this week, a thought you had or something you experienced, or even something completely unrelated to poetry whatsoever that you just feel like sharing. Just take a moment to say hello, and maybe have a bite to eat; no one is going anywhere fast, and the shade promises some relief from the everyday heat. Let’s get to know each other a bit better, here under the branches of the poet’s tree.

Comments

[zirconium]

Hello, everyone! Two things from my virtual backpack:

* A friend pointed me toward Nan Cohen's A Newborn Girl at Passover, which I really liked.

* Currently on my To Do list: finishing my assigned reviews for the upcoming issue of Galatea Resurrects. I mention this because there are heaps of books waiting to be reviewed that might be of interest to some of you, and Eileen (the editor in chief) is always interested in fresh blood for future issues. Payment is in copies of books from Meritage Press (which Eileen runs) or Eileen's own titles.

[jjhunter]

I'd love to re: the latter, but I'm very, very busy until April 16th and it sounds like April 15th is the deadline for the current issue. Are there similar opportunities for latter on in the year?

[zirconium]

Yes -- she has to mail the review copies to you anyway, so any requests now would definitely be for a later issue (I don't know whether that would be August or November, though). Sorry about not explaining that clearly!

[jjhunter]

Ah--thank you for the clarification! I'll bookmark this and come back to it after this week's busyness is over. By and by, did you see the notice several threads down about the call for more people to sign up as weekly Poetry Hosts? Is that something that might be of interest to you? We also have slots for single-day Hosting available for the upcoming multi-Hosted week April 23rd on teaching poetry/poetry critique & analysis. If you've been doing a fair amount of poetry reviewing, maybe a post or two on the subject might come easily...

[zirconium]

It does sound interesting! I need to wait until summer to sign up, but I'll put it on my list of "things to consider after the smoke clears."

[jjhunter]

p.s. that final line of the poem you shared gives me wonderful shivers

The taste of apricots is in store for her.

Yes, oh yes beautiful yes.

Are you familiar at all with the poetry of Rabbi Rachel Barenblat? She's one of our past Poetry Hosts (and those posts are well worth reading & commenting on!), and she's been posting some very interesting stuff over at her Velveteen Rabbi blog, including this mini-series about toddlers and various Jewish traditions. This poem reminds me of her work very much.

[zirconium]

Rachel and I are friends. (Among other things, she's responsible for telling me about Tmol Shilshom, a book-themed cafe in Jerusalem.) I'm so glad that you enjoy her work!