"But it shouldn’t take a scholar to be moved by the written word—great literature has something to offer everyone. All our lives are compelling, full of joys and burdens and profound experiences we should be sharing—and poetry is the most intimate way to share it. When you read a poem, you become the medium; the poet speaks in your voice, paints the canvas of your inner eye."
- in RATTLE, whose mission is to promote the practice of poetry.
The four books above were selected as winners of the 2016 Rattle Chapbook Prize. Each of them seems to be a very clearly and strongly motivated collection.
3arabi Song by Zeina Hashem Beck is, like the music of Umm Kulthum, Fairuz, or Abdel Halim Hafez, an introduction to the feeling inside Arab hearts and lives. I'm reading some of the poems now. Here is a sung reading:
Heather Bell's Kill the Dogs, is about women, who are "faced with a choice: kill the dogs or let them eat everything we have ever loved." Read/listen to “Haircut”
Denise Miller's Ligatures wrestles with the language of murders of black people by police. Read/hear “What I Learned at the Academy: Another Officer’s Confession.”
Turn Left Before Morning by April Salzano is an experience of autism from the point of view of the parent. Sample.
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