The Big Poetry Giveaway 2012 has begun!



I'm taking part in the Book of Kells  2012 Big Poetry Giveaway created by the fabulous poet Kelli Russell Agodon for National Poetry Month. I'm giving away a copy of my book The Alchemist's Kitchen, published by White Pine Press as well as a copy of Catherine Barnett's heartbreakingly gorgeous collection Into Perfect Spheres Such Holes Are Pierced published by Alice James Press . Want to win? Just leave a comment on this post now through April 30 and I'll pick winners for each book during the week of May 1. To see the full list of poet bloggers taking part in the giveaway, visit Kelli's blog, Book of Kells.

Here's a little bit about the books:






Alchemist's studied revelation in ordinary matter; they conceived their purpose as transformation -- not of ordinary metals into gold, rather they were experimenting to save their souls. These poems take ordinary life --- the life of a 19th century woman photographer and a 21st century traveler and try to understand them in new ways. Tulips, Bosnia, and sailing ships are also included. Here's one brief poem:



The 4 ‘0’ Clock News @ House of Sky
                                                     
In the beginning we wanted

to cast ourselves
as opera stars, to break apart

like gorgeous women
palm reading at the piano bar ~

music stinging like salt from the sea.

We were spiraling ridges, dust-darlings
and dangerous.

We were peonies ~ cut
and arranged like astronauts

in flight. We soaked in syllables

not water; rode the Southern
drawl of the wind

over cobalt glass ~
backlit by a disc of sun.                                          first  published in Diode Journal
 



The Alchemist's Kitchen was a finalist for the ForeWord Book of the Year Prize in Poetry and the Washington State Poetry Award. It has one shiny sticker -and I will happily sign it for you.

(If that's what you want.)

Book 2






Catherine Barnett's book will leave you breathless. Here is praise from Linda Gregerson:

If death could be undone by love ---that deathless human wish -- if death could be undone by formidable mindfulness and immaculate craft, these poems would revive the dead. The miracle they do work is nearly of that scale: they forget, and forge on our behalf, a model of the soul.



Aubade

Irregular song, irregular heartbeat,
anaphora’s

stutter that neither
warns nor comforts:

I thought it was a man’s voice
all this time, calling for help.

I thought it was a man
calling scared from the ditch.

Hopeless barking it was, a dog trapped
somewhere, and lonely—

then suddenly quiet.
Someone must have hitched her collar up,

stitched her mouth down,
or shot her dead—

how else break such pitch.


                                           Catherine Barnett

Into Perfect Spheres Such Holes Are Pierced won the Beatrice Hawley Prize from Alice James Books. Barnett's second book, The Game of Boxes: Poems, will be released from Greywolf Press in August.

The Alchemist's Kitchen drawing is open from now through ALL OF APRIL, National Poetry Month!


If you'd like to be entered, please leave your name and email address by midnight, APRIL 30th, 2012 in the comment section of this post and I'll be randomly choosing 2 lucky winners for the books during the week of May 1st, 2012.


Good luck & Good Reading!

Comments

  1. Lovely giveaways. I have your wonderful collection but not Barnett's.

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    Replies
    1. Maureen, you just won Barnett's! Congratulations and let me know an address for you. All best, Susan

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  2. I'm in! Pick me!

    I have your wonderful book already, but would love to share your poetry with others.

    Thanks for the great offerings.

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  3. beautiful poems, i would love to win either book =)
    thisquiethour at gmail dot com

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  4. Susan,

    Hope this works now. Would love either book!

    Suzanne
    seedison@seanet.com

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  5. Awesome giveaway!

    kelli at pfrog dot net

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  6. I'm in! and I LOVE the first poem so much. great line breaks and "dust-darlings / and dangerous" - brilliant!

    laura davis

    lauraelizabethdavis at gmail dot come

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  7. I'm in. I have your book, but would happily pay it forward if I won! djvorreyer at gmail dot com

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  8. I would love to win a book. Thank you.

    Katie

    Cadenza17@gmail.com

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  9. Thanks so much for the chance to win. -Wendy
    wmscher at gmail dot com

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  10. I'd love to be included!
    All best, Katrina

    robertkc@whitman.edu

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  11. OOh count me in on hoping to add to my poetry library!!

    Carolyn
    sgtcrone@aol.com

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  12. Pleased to meet you, Susan! (And I loved your work that appeared in Fire on her Tongue

    Allyson Whipple
    whipple[at]gmail[dot]com

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  13. Count me in!

    Tara Mae Mulroy
    taramaemulroy@gmail.com

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  14. All the books you are giving away sound great, and I would love to read more poetry before I start my MFA. Thanks so much for doing this!
    Lisa McMurtray
    lcmcmurtray@gmail.com

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  15. Wonderful! Nicki Leone southernbooklady@gmail.com

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  16. would love to read both books.
    estanford1@gmail.com

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  17. Happy National Poetry Month, Susan! It's great to meet you. I'd love to be entered in your giveaway. Sincerely, Theresa (theresamacnaughtonatgmaildotcom)

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  18. Discovering your site through the Giveaway. Would be right chuffed to be considered in the drawing. :)

    Joseph Harker
    linksfreude [at] gmail

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  19. Have been lurking about but now are joining in on the fun. Please count me in!

    Karen Weyant
    KJWeyant@gmail.com

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  20. Hello, Susan. Please put my name in the hat for the two books. Your blog has been a beacon to me as a writer. Thanks for that!

    Gretchen

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  21. Please add me to the drawing - thanks!

    mollycspencer at gmail dot com

    and come on over to my blog to enter my drawing if you like: http://mollyspencer.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/3rd-annual-big-poetry-giveaway-get-your-free-poetry-here/

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  22. Please add me to the drawing. Your book, if there's an option.
    Barbara Young
    briarcat@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  23. Susan, I'd love to be included in this! Many good wishes, —Mari

    mari@marilesperance.com

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  24. Happy National Poetry Month!

    Jin Kaps
    jbkaps01(at)gmail(dot)com

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  25. Oh, these both look so good!
    Best,
    Molly
    www.mollysuttonkiefer.com
    www.mapsandpoetry.blogspot.com
    molly.sutton.kiefer at gmail (the rest)

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  26. Please throw my name into the hat, too! Would love to have either of those books.

    And over my blog I am giving away three chapbooks I love:

    http://www.catiporter.com/tidbits

    email: Cati_Porter (at) Yahoo (dot) com

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  27. I was in Seattle for many years, but don't think I met you. Looking forward to your reading(s) at Mass Poetry Festival this month.

    Marissa Martinez

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  28. Thanks for doing this! I'm hoping for Barnett's book but only because I already won The Alchemist's Kitchen from you before. (Incidentally, I read that alongside Brenda Hillman's Loose Sugar, another book that took on alchemy as a motif and structure. You may like that, too.)

    Andrew Ty
    eldritch00 at gmail dot com

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  29. Hi, I entered last year, hoping I'd win a copy of your book. Crossing my fingers that two times' a charm :)

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    Replies
    1. Katie -- you did win a copy of my book. Congratulations! If you would send me your address I'm happy to sign it and send it out to you. Look what happens when you persist!

      Delete
  30. I'm in, Susan, though I already have your wonderful book. But I'd be willing to share your words with others and I don't have Barnett's. Don't really want to publicize my e-mail here, but we can work that out if I win. :-)

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  31. Please count me in! Thanks for doing this! Nandini

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  32. Susan,

    Yes, please. Count me in. Please double check for duplicate entry--I had a some problems commenting.

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  33. Susan,
    Thank you for a wonderful session yesterday at the Field's End Conference! Nita Please include me in the drawings: nconlan2@earthlink.net

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    Replies
    1. Dear Nita,
      Thank you so much for writing! I really wished we had had more time. An hour just goes too fast. I'm so glad that you enjoyed it. Maybe think about checking out the one week class in Ireland that I'm teaching in August. Poetry and travel in one fell swoop.
      All best,
      Susan

      Delete
  34. Happy Poetry Month!

    Justin Carter
    justinryancarter@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete

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