Poetry Book Giveaway 2010: Getting Prepped for National Poetry Month

And here we go. Poet Kelli Agodon over at Book of Kells is reinterpreting a cool project that bloggers in the visual arts world have been doing for awhile. The idea is that giving something of value away (a book of poems or a piece of handmade jewelery) benefits both the artist and the audience. Starting tonight and continuing through the month of April, I will be collecting names of people who leave comments on my blog (yay! I love, love, love, receiving comments) and two of those lucky people will receive a free book of poems.

According to Kelli, it will work nicely to have one of the books be one of mine and the other be a book by a poet that I am strongly influenced by. So if you want a free book of poems leave me comments on my blog as often as you would like and I will put your name in the Poetry Book Giveaway. It doesn't matter where you live, I will post the book to you free of charge. Trust me, I will be participating as a blog reader as well as a blog writer.

So which books will I choose? The first one is pretty easy ... ta-da! Still hot off the press is The Alchemist's Kitchen published by White Pine Press this month. 

Carolyn Forche writes: "This is art in the light of conscience, as Marina Tsvetaeva has written, voicing the sufferings of Somalia, Sarajevo, and Srebrenicia, history and its black ash of question marks yet it is also an art of praise."

Brian Turner states: "These are poems of praise and wonder graced by a delicate touch."

My second book will be Bellocqs Ophelia by Natasha Tretheway because it is a book I admire again each time I read it. Tretheway won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Native Guard, but I think this book is even better. It is the collection that made me a believer in ekphrastic poems. She took the tradition and made it new. This a book that teaches me how to be a better poet. Let the comments begin!