Yusef Komunyakaa's "Gingkoes" (The Worcester Review, Volume XXXIII)

This month, we present you with the second sample poem from Volume 33, the latest issue of The Worcester Review.  The theme of this issue was "Chris Gilbert: Into the Emerging Landscape." 

Gingkoes

by Yusef Komunyakaa

When I retrace our footsteps
to Bloomington I recall talking jazz,
the half-forgotten South
in our mouths, the repitlian
brain swollen with manly regrets
left behind, thumbing volumes
inscribed to the dead in used
bookstores, & then rounding
griffins carved into limestone.
The gingkoes dropped fruit
at our feet & an old woman
scooped the smelly medicine
into a red plastic bucket,
laughing.  We walked across
the green reciting Hayden,
& I still believe those hours
we could see through stone.
I don't remember the girls
in summer dresses strollng
out of the movie on Kirkwood,
but in the Runcible Spoon
sniffing the air, Cat Stevens
on a speaker, we tried to buy
back our souls with reveries
& coffee, the scent of bathos
on our scuffed shoes.

           -- for Christopher Gilbert


Yusef Komunyakaa has published extensively: Copacetic, a collection of colloquial and jazz poems, 1984; I Apologize for the Eyes in My Head (1986), San Francisco Poetry Center Award; and Dien Cai Dau (1988), The Dark Room Poetry Prize; The Chameleon Couch (2011); Warhorses (2008); Taboo: The Wishbone Triology, Part 1; Pleasure Dome: New & Collected Poems, 1975-1999 (2001); Talking Dirty to the Gods (2000); Thieves of Paradise (1998), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; Neon Vernacular: New & Selected Poems 1977-1989 (1994), Pultizer Prize and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award; and Magic City (1992).  His prose work is Blues Notes: Essays, Interviews & Commentaries (University of Michigan Press, 2000).  He co-edited The Jazz Poetry Anthology (1991), and co-translated The Insomnia of Fire by Nguyen Quang Thieu (1995).  He received many awards including the National Endowment for the Arts, and was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 1999.  He lives in New York City where he is currently Distinguished Senior Poet in New York University's graduate creative writing program.

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Submissions Update

A note from your friendly managing editor

Dear Submitters:

Thanks to all who submitted during our winter submission period. Our editors are hard at work reading your poems and stories.

In case you were wondering how our process works, each piece is read by two separate editors. Editorial pairings are made such that each pair includes one scholar and one creative writer. The editors do not consult one another, so for a piece to be accepted, it must have independent approval from two editors. We accept less than 5% of submissions.

I have begun notifying submitters of the status of their work this week. I will continue responding to both paper and electronic submissions as editors complete their reading. I anticipate that I will be able to notify all submitters by mid-May. If you do not hear from me by mid-May, please drop me a line. I have had several emails bounce back to me already. If an email does not go through, I send a letter via snail mail, but if you did not include a SASE, I have no way to reach you.

If your work has been accepted elsewhere, please let me know as soon as possible. Further, if you submitted online, you can log on to your account and withdraw work yourself. I understand that we are slow to respond and we encourage writers to send simultaneous submissions, but it is very important for us to know if your work is no longer available.

On our end, we are working hard to improve reporting times. If you submitted between November 2012 and January 2013, your response time will be 4-7 months, which--while still slow--is much faster than our previous record of about 12 months. We will continue striving to improve in this regard, but please know that we are a volunteer editorial board. The Worcester Review is truly a labor of love, and we are grateful for the chance to read your work. We'd rather take our time to thoughtfully consider each piece than rush through the submissions.

We will reopen to submissions on May 1. We look forward to reading more great stories and poems!


Sincerely,

Diane Mulligan

Contact Diane

Interview with Managing Editor Diane Mulligan

Thanks to The Review Review for interviewing Diane Mulligan about The Worcester Review. You can read the full interview here.

Sample Poem 1: Among Books (Volume XXXIII)

Among Books*

By Linda Opyr

Let me die among books
that have been read -
spines bent through use
but still able to hold
their place in line.

I want their pages traveled -
margins inked, even a corner bent.
Let my books speak
of where I've been,
not where I'd hoped to go.

And should I die with a bookmark
still in place -
pick up, finish for me
as if this story, our story,
were just too good to put down.

----
* from If We Are What We Remember: New and Selected Poems, Whittier Publications, 2005

Author Bio:  Linda Opyr is the Nassau County Poet Laureate 2011-13.  She is the author of seven collections of poetry - the latest, The Ragged Cedar (2012).  Her poems have appeared in the New York Times, The Hudson Review, Paterson Literary Review, Atlanta Review, and numerous anthologies, journals, magazines, and newspapers.

Press Release: Sound Ideas: Hearing and Speaking Poetry

Hobblebush Books is very pleased to announce the release of our newest book, Sound Ideas: Hearing and Speaking Poetry. Sound Ideas takes the stance that hearing and speaking are essential to making poems live, and explains how to find the way to the heart of a poem by taking it off the page. Authors Gene McCarthy, a longtime editor of The Worcester Review, and Fran Quinn, another familiar voice on the Worcester poetry scene, have taught poetry successfully with this method for many years, and now they share it beyond their own classrooms. 

A book launch for Sound Ideas will be held at the Worcester Public Library (3 Salem Square, Worcester, MA 01608) on April 2 from 4:00–7:00 p.m. Drinks and appetizers will be served, books will be sold, and the authors will be reading from and discussing their book. All are welcome

 .

Contact: Kirsty Walker, Marketing Director

Hobblebush Books

kirsty.hobblebush@charter.net 

2013 Annual WCPA Poetry Contest: The Frank O'Hara Prize

 

CONTEST DEADLINE: April 1, 2013

JUDGE: Alice Fogel 

 

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

• Poems must be the original work of the entrant, in English, and not previously published.
• Submit no more than THREE (3) poems in any form.
• Manuscripts should not be stapled or attached in any way.
• Poems must be typed on 8 1/2" x 11" white bond paper. Clean and clear photocopies are acceptable. Email submissions will not be accepted.
• Do not put your name on the individual poems!
• Include a cover sheet with your name, address, telephone number, and the title of each poem.

 

ELIGIBILITY

• Residents of Worcester County OR
• WCPA Members in good standing OR
• Students or employees of institutions within Worcester County 
• First Place winners of previous WCPA annual poetry contests are not eligible.

 

ENTRY FEE

• THERE IS NO ENTRY FEE FOR WCPA MEMBERS.
• Non-WCPA members: $5.00 to submit up to 3 poems (not per poem). 
• Make checks payable to: Worcester County Poetry Association.
• You may join the WCPA or renew your membership with your entry.  $12 Student/Elders/Low Income Membership $30 Individual Membership.  Go to the WCPA Membership page for additional membership categories.

 

CONTEST DEADLINE

• All entries must be postmarked by April 1, 2013
• Follow contest guidelines carefully; entries not in compliance may be disqualified.

Mail contest submissions to:

WCPA Poetry Contest 2013

1 Ekman Street

Worcester, MA 01607

 

JUDGING AND AWARDS

• First Place $100 - Second Place $50 - Third Place - $25
• Winning poems published in The Worcester Review, after which all rights revert to poet.
• Contest winners announced June 2013
• Winners' Reading & Award Ceremony to be held September 2013
• Submissions will not be returned. Entrants who wish to be notified of contest results must enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope with their entry.
• WCPA Poetry Contest does not pre-select poems: all entries are seen by the contest judge.

Photos from The Worcester Review #33 Launch Party

Thank you to everyone who attended The Worcester Review #33 Launch Party on Sunday, January 20, 2013!

 

The event focused on a celebration of Chris Gilbert with a panel led by Jonathan Blake (Panelists: John Hodgen, Mary Bonina, and David Williams). The panelists shared their past memories of Chris, the poetry community of the late 70s and early 80s, and the story of how the Free Peoples Workshop was initiated based on a request by poet Etheridge Knight right before he left Worcester.

 

At the end of the event, members of the audience shared their favorite Chris Gilbert poems. Catherine Reed also shared her poem in memory of Chris, which was published in Issue 33.

 

Here are a few of the pictures captured at yesterday's event.