Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange

Among recent and forthcoming publications by members of the Exchange:

• Main Street Rag has published Judith Robinson's Orange Fire. Judy, a Poetry Exchange stalwart, teaches poetry at Carnegie-Mellon's ALL program, co-edited the anthologies Along These Rivers and Only the Sea Keeps, and blogs about poetry for Pittsburgh's Jewish Chronicle.
• Congratulations to Andrew Sydlik, who has won first and third prizes in Taproot Review's annual poetry contest. His poems appear in issue 24. Launch party for teh issue takes place on Saturday, January 14, from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm, at Laughlin Memorial Library, 99 11th Street, Ambridge, PA. The library can be reached from Downtown Pittsburgh by #14 bus.

• Sankar Roy, Moon Country (Tebot Bach).
  This first full-length book by the author of several chapbooks and editor of Only the Sea Keeps: Poetry of the Tsunami wins praise from Lynn Emanuel for its depiction of this alien country--our own.

• Mike James, Past Due Notices, Poems 1991-2011 (Main Street Rag Press). William Wright writes that these poems "reveal a subtle, lucid, and observant mind...unafraid of direct statement and bare acuity." Through February 2012, advance orders are discounted and may be purchased through the Main Street Rag web site for $9.50 or by sending a check to Main Street Rag.

• Ed Murray, a/k/a The Stranger. Stranger's Pilgrimage.

  Saving Our Public Libraries: Why We Should. How We Can. by janet jai.
  Success stories, best practices, expert advice, and innovative ideas from 50-plus library experts. This book can help public libraries survive NOW and thrive in the long run.

  Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange stalwart Judith Robinson, who teaches poetry at Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning and who edited Along These Rivers with Michael Wurster, among other service to poetry, is now blogging about poetry over at The Jewish Chronicle. (All welcome.)

  Your humble webmistress, Arlene Weiner, now is contributing short bloggish essays to Coal Hill Review and Ragged Sky Press.

  Award-winning photographer Ruth Ella Hendricks has made a DVD devoted to poet Michael Wurster, mainstay of Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange.
  It received its premiere on Monday, November 15, 2010, at Simmons Hall of the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (Fifth and Shady Avenues, Pittsburgh).
  Doors open at 7:00 p.m. Screening at 7:30 p.m. Light refreshments. DVDs available for purchase. Kandinsky and the Stars, chapbook by Madalon O'Rawe Amenta Finishing Line Press. $12 plus $1 shipping. This generous-hearted poet quotes Camus, "I know of only one duty, and that is to love."

  CD!
  Michael Wurster and Romella Kitchens have collaborated with Cap Gun Quartet in Several Other Sounds, a CD available from Amazon, iTunes, Emusic, and Rhapsody. Check out this exciting words + music disc!

  BOOKS

• A number of members of Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange along with other poets participated in a project, Fission of Form. Each poet chose a small sculpture by a member of the Society of Sculptors, lived with it for three months, and wrote a poem in response to it. Then members of the Society of Illustrators each randomly drew a poem. They in turn made an illustration based on the poem. All the trios were exhibited at the Panza Gallery. There is a very beautiful book softbound comprising photos of the art and texts of the poems. Some copies of the book are still available and can be purchased with PayPal .

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• NEW! Michael Wurster's new book, The British Detective,is available for purchase from Main Street Rag Press.

  The power of what's not said. The guide who doesn't use maps. The power of what's almost forgotten. How does Michael Wurster catch us so unprepared, make us stop everything and look up, wonder aloud with him, and marvel us with just words? How does he do it? This collection is more than you can ever imagine. Read it. -- Hiram Larew

  The British Detective may also be ordered by check or credit card directly from the publisher; price $12 per book--postage included. Send to: Main Street Rag, PO BOX 690100, Charlotte, NC 28227-7001. Credit card orders, call 704-573-2516 (M-F 9am-5pm EST)..

• NEW! Joe Kaldon, Rust Belt.
• NEW! Two books of poetry by Joseph Karasek, Beyond Waking and Love and the Ten Thousand Things, will be published in December 2009 by Tebot Bach. A Pittsburgh book launch date in December 2009 will be announced soon. The companion books will be available in pre-publication sale through December 1: $25 for both books (and free shipping) online or by sending a book order to Tebot Bach, Box 7887, Huntington Beach, CA. 92615-7887.

• NEW! Romella Kitchens, The Red Covered Bridge. Poetry chapbook concerning the odyssey of an African American men from the South to McConnell's Mill in Pennsylvania for a job in a flour mill in a differing but accepting community. $10.00 per book, 29 pages, published by Pudding House Press in Ohio. Email the author at romellakitchensATyahooDOTcom [converting the words in caps to the usual symbols] to order the book. When emailing use the title of the book in the subject legend so she will know it is not spam.

• Judith R. Robinson, Dinner Date. "...essential poems...suffused with delicate irony and pungent imagery" --Helen Faye Rosenblum. "Wow!" --Michael Wurster. Available at readings or from the publisher, Finishing Line Press. $14 + $1 shipping. (Click on "New Releases and Forthcoming Titles.")

• Joan Bauer, The Almost Sound of Drowning Main Street Rag Press, 2008).

• Lori Wilson, House Where a Woman Autumn House, 2008).

• Along These Rivers, edited by Judith Robinson and Michael Wurster (Quadrant Publishing), is an anthology celebrating the poetry and photography of the PIttsburgh region. Nearly ninety artists are represented. See Readings for a schedule of poetry readings in connection with this beautiful book.

• Ziggy Edwards and Arlene Weiner have edited a collection of poems, Stories About Time, (Monkeysea), in tribute to Michael Wurster. Copies are available from the editors for $8.

• Joan Bauer's chapbook, Another Country, has been published by Pudding House Publications. Copies are available at $10 from the author (in person) or from the Pudding House website.

• Sankar Roy has published THREE chapbooks. All from Pudding House Press:
  
  • The House My Father Could Not Build
    
  • Mantra of the Born-Free (both 2007), and
    
  • Moon Country, 2006.

• Marc Jampole, Music From Words, Bellday Books

• Mike James, Alternate Endings, Foothills

• Ziggy Edwards, Hope's White Shoes, PPE.
  Watch for readings for the opportunity to buy this fine book!

• Arlene Weiner, Escape Velocity, Ragged Sky. Available from online booksellers.

• Timons Esaias, The Influence of Pigeons on Architecture Yellow Pepper Press.
  Sadly, Yellow Pepper is defunct, so, to get this witty book, now in its second printing, attend a reading, contact the author by e-mail (see his website), or send a check for $8.50 to

  Timons Esaias
  6659 Woodwell St.
  Pittsburgh, PA 15217-1320

• Sankar Roy, Judith R. Robinson, & Joan E. Bauer (eds.), Only the Sea Keeps: Poetry of the Tsunami. (Rupa & Co, India, and Bayeux Arts, Canada, 2005). Poetry in response to the December 2004 tsunami. Powerful and humane. Available from online booksellers.

• Michael Wurster, The Snake Charmer's Daughter. Elemenope Productions, 2000. $13.00).  Judith Vollmer says about these poems: "In the company of this poet, we touch human urgency and grace."  

• Also by Michael Wurster, The Cruelty of the Desert (Cottage Wordsmiths, 1989).
  $8.00. Both of Michael Wurster's books are available in bookstores, through amazon.com and by mail from the author at P.O. Box 4279, Pittsburgh PA 15203.