Autumn has arrived. That means shorter days and cooler weather for most folks in the Northern hemisphere. It also means more time to slide into your Snuggie and curl up with some good reading. This week’s recommendations include digital as well as hard copy reading, not to mention a nod to spoken word poetry.
Fred’s Pick:
Iowa State’s MFA program-run journal Flyway shares Precipitate’s commitment to visual and literary art about place. And the latest journal issues of both, released in October, deliver in abundance, like trees in arboretums. This particular issue, Flyway’s first online, features poetry and prose ranging from a Jessica Young poem comparing death to the sun; to Cynthia Neely’s “Broken Water,” winner of this year’s Hazel Lipa Chapbook Contest; to the pièces de résistance, a Rick Bass interview and novella, “Sawtooth Ridge.”
Right now, unfortunately, you can’t sample the current issue’s contents online; it’s something the editor tells me is in the works. But believe me: this issue alone is worth the $24 for a year’s subscription, which I hear might drop now that Flyway’s migrated online. Let’s hope so; there’s work in these pages that deserves to read by as many as can possibly be reached.
Caitlin’s Pick:
Even though I’ve officially been a resident of the Lone Star state for three years and counting now, my heart still lies in Denver with poet & activist, Andrea Gibson. I first saw Andrea perform as one of Jesus’ disciples with the group, Vox Feminista. Vox Feminista is a theatre troupe of womyn who craft & present plays that address hot topic political & cultural issues.
Aside from that fact that she makes one good disciple, she is also an astounding spoken word artist. Place seems to be a focus for Andrea through the emotional nature of her writing, which often seems to take an autobiographical turn when addressing subjects from war and work to family and the GLBT community. Andrea is a poet whose work I have shared not only with my friends, family & colleagues but also with my English Composition students-and there was even a hint from their reaction that they thought poetry might be just a tad hip! If you have a second, take a listen to “For Eli” as your first initiation into the realm of Andrea’s work; I promise it’ll really move you across your idea of what the page can do.
Gwynne’s Pick:
“The Last Brother,” Nathacha Appanah, Trans. Geoffrey Strachan (Graywolf Press, 2010). If asked to share my thoughts on Mauritius, I might wax on about African postcolonial identity and even the decimation of the dodo bird population (Mauritius may have been the only place on this good Earth where the dodo made a home). I would not known its connection to the Jewish Holocaust.
Told from the perspective of an elderly Mauritian named Raj, “The Last Brother” is set on the island during the final turbulent years of WWII. Younger Raj guides us through the thick jungle and unpredictable weather that claimed the lives of his two older brothers but which also leads him to a secret Jewish refugee internment camp deep within the jungle where he befriends David, a young Jewish boy whose parents died before arriving on Mauritius. A story about identity, exile, home, family, and memory, “The Last Brother” may just be my favorite short novel of the year. Don’t blame me if it makes you cry, though.
Andi’s Pick:
In his essay, “The Argentine Writer and Tradition,” Jorge Luis Borges argues against the idea that region (or country) must dictate the style/word choice/etc. of any writer who wishes to be seen as part of that community. Borges outlines the necessity of outside literary influences which can be used to sharpen work and open new, sometimes untouched, areas of writing. In addition, he argues that it is often the “local flavor” dialects, symbols, and images that imply an outsider’s position rather than that of a member of the community, explaining that what is said with “local flavor” is often the stereotype of a region rather than its full embodiment.
While the essay directly discusses the Argentine debate about regional vs. non-regional writing, the essay works on many levels for any writer who uses “place” as a touchstone for creativity. As a writer often drawn towards writing “regionally,” I find that this essay speaks to those like me, offering a challenge and a push towards writing in new directions, as well as it speaks for those of us bound and not bound by the place from which we write.