Diversion: Tupelo Press "Subscription" for 2012 (Poetry)

"You know my methods, Watson," says my inner Sherlock Holmes in response to the sensible question, "Why are there poetry diversions on a blog about and for mysteries and their authors and readers?" Me, I enjoy the sharp difference of genres, and as a writer, I think poetry can sharpen descriptive skills, improve the "music" of the narrative flow, and prevent writer's block.

So for others who might want to sample some "new" poetry but don't necessarily know how to choose it, here's a great solution: Tupelo Press offers a subscription to its poetry books each year. For $99, you get nine books of poems, hot off the press, often signed by the authors. The editors at this Vermont publishing firm have good eyes and ears for what's fresh, vivid, and often provocative. I sign up for the year's worth, knowing I'll get surprised each time one of the books arrives. And this year's line-up of poets looks strong -- I actually would go way out of my way for anything by Ilya Kaminsky. Here's the Tupelo Press subscription link, making it easy.

Among last year's books were Atlas Hour by Carol Ann Davis (experiments with the line, reminding me of  M. Nourbese Philip's Zong!; wrestles with European artists and the Holocaust), Sanderlings by Geri Doran (lush narrative poems with strong ties to the landscape and to the senses), Lucky Fish by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (surprising and delightful; ranges from the Philippines to India to the Ozarks), Manoleria by Daniel Khalastchi (poetry for liberal question askers!), Severance Songs by Joshua Corey (modern sonnets that explore hungers for faith, history, unrest), and Circle's Apprentice by Dan Beachy-Quick (award-winning and dense; builds outward -- or inward? -- from a Ralph Waldo Emerson essay). And the 2012 list is here:

2012 Poetry & Prose Series Subscription
Ilya Kaminsky and Katherine Towler	A God in the House: Poets on Faith	(essays/interviews)
Rusty Morrison	After Urgency	(poetry)
Alan Michael Parker	Long Division	(poetry)
James Friel	The Posthumous Affair	(novel)
Lee Upton	Swallowing the Sea	(essays)
Karen An-hwei Lee	Phyla of Joy	(poems)
Patricia Rosoff	The Innocent Eye	(essays)
CM Burroughs	The Vital System	(poems)
Kathleen Jesme	Meridian	(poems)