Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver

Now that I’ve caught up on scheduling publications for MasticadoresUSA, FEED THE HOLY, and LatinosUSA-English Edition, and I’ve promoted my new book The Lost Book of Zeroth, and I’ve finished cooking meals ahead, I can boost some cool books I’ve been reading. Here is one collection of short reviews. More are of Barb’s Wordy Blurbs are coming!

End of Earth by Nolcha Fox and Mike Armstrong

Nolcha Fox and Mike Armstrong have paired up to produce a stunning collaboration of abstract art and free verse poetry. I love this book! As you read it, you appreciate the conversations they are having about life, nature, relationships, self, aging, loss, and grief. The poem that responds to the cover image is a good example.

Birds walk the streets

they don’t bother with their 
wings,
fallen angels seeking bread-
crumbs
the wind left behind.

Files of Information on People Who Don’t Exist by Peter Mladinic

In Peter Mladinic’s poetry collection Files of Information on People Who Don’t Exist, the minutia of daily forgetting become memoirs set in free verse. With the precision of a reporter, Mladinic uncovers our deepest impulses, surrenders, and sins. A keen observer, he writes with such honesty, we hide our eyes and say, “I wonder if that is me!” Mladinic is both detached and empathetic, and thus, compassionate. As we read, we cry because we are seen. We are finally known to exist.

Here is a sample poem. I chose it because I enjoy drives along the Missouri River at the Wetlands, close to where I live. I appreciate Mladinic’s ability to weave stories, and I grew up with the magazines he mentions in the poem. His poetry often elicits nostalgia.

Hills                                                                                                                                       

The way you take the side of a lead
pencil and shade something in
is the way the river came at me,
whether looking out second-floor glass
or standing on a bank, the river shape
was part curve, part zigzag, as a hand 
with a pencil-on-paper horizontal.

By contrast, the human-made cascade,
shelved, tiered zines at Cakers’ came down,
a waterfall of Life, Look, Mad, Motor-Trend
Dude, Nugget, Better Homes and Gardens.
It was before they separated the dirty ones
from the ones pure as Reader’s Digest. 
My back to them, at the fountain I nursed

a vanilla egg cream, looked at Mr. or Mrs.
Caker. Behind him or her a wall mirror.
Their corner confectionary sat at the top
and the river at the bottom of my world.
Between them, Voorhis Ave., tree-lined, 
winded to woods that sloped to the river. 
Stepping back to look at the whole thing,

I see lots of trees and hills. Voorhis, flat,
winds like a snake. No sharp turns but lots
of gracious curves, it leads to a plateau, 
a sudden drop to slopes of woods; then,
eureka, the winding river I don’t ever want
to be thrown in. It’s polluted. I watch myself
stuff Mad into my windbreaker as if I were

Mr. Caker. I catch myself stealing. At least 
it’s not one of those dirty zines. Alfred E.
Neuman grins from Mad. He wears a tie,
Mr. Caker an open collar and apron. Bobby
Parker comes in. A black pompadour spills
over his forehead. Cascades like the tiers
of glossies, Mr. Caker says, “Put it back.”

Celebrating Poetry by Cindy Georgakas

Celebrating Poetry by Cindy Georgakas is a radiant collection of a soul’s love songs

to those who grieve. To those who are lost. To those who are unable to let go of

obstacles. To those who worry. This book will hold and carry us each day into the

arms of nature for healing. We will be “transformed, shimmering, and glistening”.

Her poems are “The gifts of a cold, dreary day to shed some hope.” Prayers that

will lift us “safely out of harm’s way”. During these days as dark as magenta night,

we find the strength from these heartfelt poems to endure sorrow and to release

the heavy limbs binding us to fear.

I also published a book promo for Cindy’s book on MasticadoresUSA.

“The Sun Rises” in Celebrating Poetry by Cindy Georgakas