National Poetry Month: Week 5

For the final week of National Poetry Month, Clarence Major shares his poem "Evening Newspaper" from his most recent poetry collection, DOWN AND UP (2013, pg. 46).

Evening Newspaper

Going home on the subway,
when you open the newspaper
you'd just picked up
at the corner
before coming down the steps,
there is always the person
next to you slyly reading
over your shoulder
and getting visibly upset
when you turn the page
before they finish the story
about some woman in Mexico or Brazil
discovering the Virgin's face in a mango
or seeing it in a puddle of water
in the road to the junkyard
or the Granada dig uncovering the bones
of people fallen in their tracks
during attacks in a medieval street battle.
Keep turning.

About the Poem
The poem is based on my experience living and teaching in Manhattan when I rode the subway a lot. If you have nothing to do while sitting on the subway it can be pretty boring. On such occasions I always had something to read--a book, a magazine or newspaper. The event described in the poem occasionally happened to me

About the Poet
Clarence Major, prizewinning poet, painter, and novelist, is the author of twelve previous books of poetry. As a finalist for a National Book Award he won a Bronze Medal for his book Configurations: New and Selected Poems, 1958–1998. Among other awards he is also the recipient of a National Council on the Arts Award, a New York Cultural Foundation Award, and the Stephen Henderson Poetry Award for Outstanding Achievement, all three for poetry. His poetry has appeared in hundreds of anthologies and periodicals, in English and in foreign languages, such as several of the Norton anthologies, including Postmodern Poetry in America; American Poetry Review; Kenyon Review; Callaloo; El Corno Emplumado (Mexico); East and West (India); Tuatara (Turkey); Vinduet (Norway); and Literatura na Swiecie (Poland). He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of California at Davis.

For more information about National Poetry month, visit www.poets.org. For more poetry from the UGA Press, visit the poetry section of our website here.

Short Takes

CNN interviews Kate Sweeney about her new book, AMERICAN AFTERLIFE. "Sweeney's book . . . is sure to get people talking about death." Read the full article here.

The Times-Picayune describes John Griswold's PIRATES YOU DON'T KNOW, AND OTHER ADVENTURES IN THE EXAMINED LIFE "probing, impassioned and occasionally tongue-in-cheek."

C-SPAN interviewed Michele Gillespie about her book, KATHARINE AND R. J. REYNOLDS. The video is available here. It will also air again on C-SPAN 2 on May 5 at 4:00am.

Congratulations Glenn T. Eskew and Paul M. Pressly! Their books, JOHNNY MERCER and ON THE RIM OF THE CARIBBEAN, are the co-winners of the 2014 Malcolm Bell, Jr. and Muriel Barrow Bell Award for the best book in Georgia history published in 2013. The Bell Award, presented annually by the Georgia Historical Society, is named in honor of Malcolm Bell, Jr. and Muriel Barrow Bell in recognition of their contribution to the recording of Georgia’s history. The award was presented at the Society’s 175th Annual Meeting on April 30 Savannah. (UGA Press books have won the award 11 times since the it was established in 1992.)

Mark your calendars for May 6! David Dominé will be signing copies of his book, OLD LOUISVILLE, at the Louisville Convention & Visitors Bureau in downtown Louisville, KY that day from 11:30-2:30. The event is part of the Hometown Tourist Celebration happening in May.

Also, on May 28, Glenn T. Eskew will be speaking about his book, JOHNNY MERCER, at the UGA Richard B. Russell Special Collections Libraries auditorium. He will be signing books after the talk. Come join us!

Deadline extended for the Loraine Williams Horizon Award

The deadline for the 2014 Loraine Williams Horizon Award for Manuscripts in Georgia History, Culture, and Letters has been extended to June 30. More information about the award, including the submission guidelines, can be found on our website.

This award honors Loraine Williams, an Atlanta-based philanthropist and patron of the arts. The winning author receives a cash award of $500 and, after successful editorial review, a publication contract with UGA Press.

The Horizon Award aims to recognize quality narrative writing grounded in sound research. Melissa Fay Greene (Praying for Sheetrock) and John Berendt (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil) are among the best known writers to treat Georgia topics using narrative nonfiction techniques. Other well respected and widely read narrative works about Georgia include Erskine Clarke’s Dwelling Place, Laura Wexler's Fire in a Canebrake, and Gary Pomerantz’s Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn. These writers have taken well researched, factual topics and have responsibly incorporated dialogue, description, character development, and other creative writing elements into their work. Their books have both enthralled readers and revealed something new about Georgia.

At a national level, writers like Laura Hillenbrand (Unbroken and Seabiscuit) and Jon Krakauer (Into the Wild and Under the Banner of Heaven) epitomize the popular and critical heights that can be achieved by narrative-driven nonfiction. The Horizon Award will honor the best books on Georgia written within this tradition.

Dates for submission:
Manuscripts may be submitted between February 1 and June 30, 2014. The winning author will be contacted directly and the Horizon Awards winner will be announced in November 2014 at the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame (http://www.georgiawritershalloffame.org/). The winning manuscript will be published in Fall 2015.

Queries:
Contest queries can be directed to press@ugapress.uga.edu. Telephone queries are not permitted. If you encounter any technical difficulties while using the submissions manager, don't hesitate to contact our submission manager support: http://help.submittable.com/

Selection process: 
All eligible works will be reviewed by an award committee of three judges, who will select the winning manuscript. Please do not call the Press to check on the status of your submission. The decision of the judges is final. The winning author receives a cash award of $500 and, after successful editorial review, a publication contract with the University of Georgia Press.

Eligibility: 
1. Manuscripts considered for the Horizon Award may cover any aspect of State of Georgia history, culture, and letters.
2. Literature and the arts in Georgia may be dealt with, provided that a historical approach is taken.
3. Biographies are eligible if they take a “life-and-times” approach that shows Georgia, and not just the individual subject, in a new light.
4. Manuscripts simultaneously submitted for publication consideration at other presses are not eligible.
5. Fiction, poetry, memoirs, and works of article length are not eligible.
6. Battle, campaign, or regimental histories of any war or conflict are not eligible.

2014 Manuscript Guidelines: 
1. Manuscripts must be submitted by June 30, 2014.
2. Manuscripts may be submitted in hard copy or digitally. Hard copies should be submitted in double-spaced, 12-point New Times Roman font; the physical address follows below. Hard copies of manuscripts will not be returned and will be recycled after the competition. Online submissions will be accepted only through Submittable (https://georgiapress.submittable.com/submit); manuscripts will not be accepted by email attachment.
3. Manuscripts must be no shorter than 40,000 words and no longer than 90,000 words, including notes and ancillaries.
4. All submissions should include a current curriculum vitae, an overview of the project, and the complete manuscript including all illustrations and supplementary materials. The overview (one to two pages) must address the scope, focus and purpose of the work.
5. Portions of submitted manuscripts may have been previously published in magazines, journals, or other venues.
6. By submitting to the competition the author warrants that he or she is allowing the University of Georgia Press the right of first refusal to publish the manuscript.
7. Submissions that do not receive the Horizon Award may also be considered for book publication..
8. The prize be awarded annually; however, the Press reserves the right to make no award in any given year.

To submit hard copies of the materials required in the Manuscript Guidelines, send them to:

The University of Georgia Press
ATTN: Loraine Williams Horizon Award for Manuscripts in Georgia History, Culture, and Letters
Main Library, Third Floor
320 South Jackson Street
Athens, GA 30602

Confirmation of receipt and notification: 
Receipt of your submission will be confirmed via e-mail. An announcement of winners and finalists will be sent to all entrants via e-mail.

About the University of Georgia Press: 
Since its founding in 1938, the primary mission of UGA Press has been to support and enhance the University’s place as a major research institution by publishing outstanding works of scholarship and literature by scholars and writers throughout the world. UGA Press is the oldest and largest book publisher in the state, currently publishes 60-70 new books a year, and has a long history of publishing significant scholarship, creative and literary works, and books about the state and the region for general readers.

Statement of Integrity: 
The University of Georgia is thoroughly committed to academic integrity in all of its endeavors, and the University of Georgia Press adheres to all University of Georgia policies and procedures. To help ensure the integrity of the competition, manuscripts are judged through a blind review process. Judges in the Horizon Award competition are instructed to avoid conflicts of interest of all kinds.

Upcoming Events

Mark your calendars for these upcoming UGA Press author events:

Thursday, May 1
5:30 PM
JIM CROW, LITERATURE, AND THE LEGACY OF SUTTON E. GRIGGS, Edited by Tess Chakkalakal and Kenneth W. Warren
Location: Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
Description: Book Launch

Saturday, May 3
3:00 PM
PIRATES YOU DON'T KNOW by John Griswold
Location: BookPeople, Austin, TX
Description: Talk and Signing

Monday, May 5
7:00 PM
RETHINKING THE SOUTH AFRICAN CRISIS by Gillian Hart
Location: Bluestockings Books, New York. NY
Description: Talk and Signing

Tuesday, May 6
7:15 PM
AMERICAN AFTERLIFE by Kate Sweeney
Location: Decatur Library, Decatur, GA
Description: Reading & Signing

Saturday, May 10
2:00 PM
AMERICAN AFTERLIFE by Kate Sweeney
Location. Tall Tales Bookshop, Atlanta, GA
Description: Reading & Signing

Thursday, May 15
1:00 PM
AMERICAN AFTERLIFE by Kate Sweeney
Location: Athens-Clarke County Library, Athens, GA
Description: "Brown Bag Lunch" Reading & Signing

6:30-7:30 PM
AMERICAN AFTERLIFE by Kate Sweeney
Location: Avid Bookshop, Athens, GA
Description: Reading & Signing

Friday, May 16
9:00 AM
WALKING IN THE LAND OF MANY GODS by A. James Wohlpart
Location: Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL
Description: The 34th Annual Florida Native Plant Society Conference

Sunday, May 18
3:00-4:00 PM
AMERICAN AFTERLIFE by Kate Sweeney
Location: Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
Description: Compassion and Choices Atlanta, Reading and Talk

Tuesday, May 20
7:00 PM
A PEOPLE'S WAR ON POVERTY by Wesley G. Phelps
Location: Brazos Bookstore, Houston, TX
Description: Talk and Signing

Sunday, May 25
2:00-5:00 PM
AMERICAN AFTERLIFE by Kate Sweeney
Location: Historic Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta, GA
Description: Reading and Signing

Saturday, May 31
8:45-10:00 AM
DARKROOM by Jill Christman
Location: The 3rd Annual River Teeth Nonfiction Conference, Ashland University, Ashland, OH
Description: Panel discussion "Going Long: Challenges and Opportunities of Moving from the Essay to the Memoir" with Sonya Huber and Steve Harvey

The Kentucky Derby and OLD LOUISVILLE

The 2014 Kentucky Derby is just around the corner, and, according to the official Kentucky Derby website, this year's event marks the "140th renewal of the The Greatest Two Minutes in Sports." With that, there has been an enormous amount of discussion across the media about the horses, trainers, and jockeys. For the last month, The New York Times has posted a weekly update about the Kentucky Derby contestants: “The Kentucky Derby Dartboard.” They list each horse, breakdown their respective record and odds, and provide input from two Derby experts. With these stats and others like them, dedicated Derby fans are well informed as they place their bets and desperately hope they make the right choice. Time shall soon tell the results as participants and attendees gear up for the race on May 2-3, 2014 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Louisville is certainly home to the Kentucky Derby, but there is much more to the city. For example, the city of Louisville is one of the world's leading producers of bourbon (1/3) and disco balls (90%). Additionally, it is home to over 120 parks, approximately 2,500 restaurants, the nation’s largest urban forest, and Belle of Louisville, the oldest existing operating Mississippi style sternwheeler steamboat. Additionally, Louisville has a famous historical downtown area known as Old Louisville.

Written by David Dominé and photography by Franklin and Esther Schmidt, OLD LOUISVILLE tells the story of this forty-five-square-block neighborhood in the heart of Kentucky’s largest city. Old Louisville is among the largest and most significant historic preservation districts in America. Comprising some 1,400 structures built primarily between 1885 and 1905, it is a veritable time capsule of late-Victorian and early twentieth-century architecture. The broad avenues and quiet courts of this beautifully embowered space are lined with notable examples of Gothic Revival, Richardsonian Romanesque, Queen Anne, Italianate, Châteauesque, Second Empire, and Beaux Arts dwellings typifying the style and elegance of the Gilded Age.

This book takes an intimate tour of fifty residential designs, from grand mansions to cozy cottages, from familiar house museums and boutique hotel adaptations to private homes of charm and sophistication. Many of these residences have never been opened to the curious eyes of readers who are fascinated with old homes and interior design and intrigued by the skill and imagination necessary to rescue endangered buildings and convert them to the needs and comforts of modern living. Old Louisville is alive today with the busy activities of commerce and creativity. It is abuzz with people heading off to work at an office downtown or to a studio downstairs, while next door or down the block new neighbors are hunkering down to restore an old gem from a bygone era. Street fairs and art festivals roll with the vitality of contemporary life in a historic setting, and the pleasant sounds of Derby party celebrants mingle with the echoes of those now past.

For more information about the Kentucky Derby 2014, click here. Also, check out everything that the city of Louisville has to offer by clicking here.

National Poetry Month: Week 4

For the penultimate week of National Poetry Month, Cynthia Lowen shares the poem "Oppenheimer Studies the Art of Surrender" from her latest poetry collection, THE CLOUD THAT CONTAINED THE LIGHTNING (2013. pg. 46).

Oppenheimer Studies the Art of Surrender

Aphrodisiac, they say, oysters, the way we crack
their lids of while alive, unzip all at once
the salty sea and pulp, tip nacre to lip, and slurp

them up quick and whole, almost missing that life
as it glides over tongue. I thought muscle might hold
the hinge shut. I suffered a lack

of imagination or, rather, the unlikely hope
some pearl, some tough kernel
might keep the mouth from completing its advantage.

Such bad foresight, nature, failing to anticipate
the fisherman's prying fingers and the shucking knife wedged
between the shell that becomes a comb
and the shall that will be a button.

About the Poem
When an atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima, the temperature at the epicenter spiked to over four thousand degrees celsius. In this poem, I wanted to depict the havoc that this weapon unleashed on the human body, which, unbelievably, seemed to have not been fully appreciated or anticipated by the scientists and the military in their decision to use the bomb, even after the Trinity Test turned the New Mexico desert to glass. With this poetry collection as a whole, I wanted to speak to that question of what compelled so many people to create such a terrible weapon. With this poem in particular, I wanted to depict the willful ignorance of how this bomb would affect those on the ground, and this weapon's inability to discern between military targets and innocent civilians.

About the Poet
Cynthia Lowen has an MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She was selected for inclusion in Best New Poets 2008 and is a recipient of the Campbell Corner Poetry Prize and a winner of the “Discovery”/Boston Review Poetry Contest. She served as a screenwriter and producer of the 2011 documentary Bully.

For more information about National Poetry month, visit www.poets.org. For more poetry from the UGA Press, visit the poetry section of our website here.

National Poetry Month: Week 3

For the third week of our National Poetry Month showcase, Frank X Walker shares the poem "Ambiguity Over the Confederate Flag" from his book, TURN ME LOOSE (2013, pg. 4).

                  Ambiguity Over the Confederate Flag

                   In the old south        life was full of work

  we would sit on the veranda       from sunup to sundown

  look out over the horizon at       nothing but fields of cotton

                           the young       children

   who happily played behind       tried to pick their own weight

              while their mothers       by age 13 filled 500 lb sacks

      sang rapturous spirituals       and lived the blues

     those were good ol' days       for plantation owners

   not having to use the whip       sharecropping and extending debt

              was more civilized       was almost more profitable

                                   than slavery

About the Poem
This poem is a contrapuntal that can be read three different ways. It sets the stage for the dialogue that occurs throughout the book and reflects the intentional structure of the book that is reflected in the oppositional dynamics of the two songs "Dixie" and "Strange Fruit."

About the Poet
Frank X Walker is the 2013-2014 poet laureate of Kentucky. He is an associate professor of English at the University of Kentucky and the editor of Pluck! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture. A Lannan Literary Fellowship for Poetry recipient, he is the author of five collections of poetry, including Buffalo Dance: The Journey of York, which won the Lillian Smith Book Award, and Isaac Murphy: I Dedicate This Ride.

For more information about National Poetry month, visit www.poets.org. For more poetry from the UGA Press, visit the poetry section of our website here.

Short Takes

Gillian Hart argues, during a recent interview with KPFA 94.1's "Against the Grain," that the African National Congress's rule in South Africa has been disappointing to many since it began in 1994. Hart is the author of the new book, RETHINKING THE SOUTH AFRICAN CRISIS. Listen to the podcast here.

Kate Sweeney answered questions about her new book, AMERICAN AFTERLIFE, during a recent interview with WFAE 90.7's "Charlotte Talks." Listen to the podcast here. Also be sure to check-out her recent television interview with GPB's "On the Story." Watch the video here. (Sweeney's segment begins around the 15:00 mark.)

Patricia Vasquez gave a talk at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC on March 21 related to her new book, OIL SPARKS IN THE AMAZON. Oil & Gas Journal has a write-up about the event and Vasquez's book. Watch the video below to see the full talk or watch the webcast of the talk on the Wilson Center website.

Carmaletta M. Williams and John Edgar Tidwell discussed their book, MY DEAR BOY, on Channel 6 Lawrence's "The Not So Late Show." Watch the video here.

Los Angeles Review of Books calls Idra Novey's EXIT, CIVILIAN "imperative and timely."

The Santa Barbara Independent recommends Frank X Walker's TURN ME LOOSE as a must-read for National Poetry Month.

The Electronic Green Journal reviewed THE WORLD OF THE SALT MARSH, saying the author Charles Seabrook "makes an impassioned and impressive appeal in this book for the protection of the South Atlantic Bight."

In the News: Dr. Louis W. Sullivan and his new book, Breaking Ground

Dr. Louis W. Sullivan's unusual yet innovative stance on the Affordable Care Act has captured the attention of many healthcare journalists in recent weeks. Unlike most, Dr. Sullivan is one Republican that is a strong supporter of Obama's healthcare law. At the opening session of the Association of Health Care Journalists 2014 conference in Denver last month, Sullivan discussed his unique stance and talked about his experience with health care. The Huffington Post reported, "[Sullivan] noted that many of the major provisions of the Affordable Care Act are based on the reform proposals he and other Republicans crafted more than two decades ago." (Click here to read the full article.)

Sullivan also talked about his perspectives of the Affordable Care Act during his interview with WGBH News in Boston last week. 

Along with Dr. Sullivan's insights on current healthcare provisions, Sullivan also spoke about his experience with major healthcare issues from the past. Reuters quoted Sullivan's remarks of his experience with the HIV/AIDS Crisis at the 1990 International Conference on AIDS, "I wanted to have that conversation to try and establish a better relationship with AIDS groups." (Click here to read the full article.) Reuters noted the conflict between the George H.W. Bush Administration and AIDS groups that arose surrounding the healthcare issues of the time.

Other articles from the conference in Denver announced Dr. Sullivan's predictions and plans for the future. The St. Louis American quoted Sullivan who said:

We need to be sure that our population 50 years from now is educated and also has good health; and that population is going to be Latino, African American, Native American, as well as white, so from the standpoint of investing our future as a country, we need to be sure that all segments of our society are well-educated and also are healthy. (Click here to read the full article.)

Sullivan is working toward the goal of health awareness as Chairman of the Atlanta-based National Health Museum. Georgia Health News wrote that the museum "will have a global online network and digital information hub called the Cyber Museum, and a visitor center at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park called the Experience Museum . . . [which] is expected to offer a series of self-guided journeys focused on life, health, and the human body." (Click here to read the full article.)

Following his speech at the opening session of the Association of Health Care Journalists 2014 conference, Dr. Sullivan signed copies of his new book, BREAKING GROUND, which reports on his life and involvement with medicine and healthcare.

National Poetry Month: Week 2

Continuing the celebration of National Poetry Month, Coleman Barks shares the poem "Hummingbird Sleep" that inspired the title of his latest poetry collection, HUMMINGBIRD SLEEP (2013, pg. 79).

Hummingbird Sleep

A hummingbird sleeps among the wonders.

Close to dark, he settles on a roosting limb

and lowers his body temperature

to within a few degrees of the air's own.

As the bird descends into torpor,

he assumes his heroic sleep posture,

head back, tilted beak pointing to the sky,

angling steep, Quixotic, Crimean.

This noctivation, the ornithologist word for it,

is very like what bears do through the winter.

Hummingbirds live the deep drop every night.

You can yell in his face and shake the branch.

Nothing. Gone. Where? What does he dream of?

He dreams he is the great air itself, the substance

he swims in every day, and the rising light

coming back to be his astonishing body.

About the Poem
I am told that the science here is accurate, that hummingbirds do go into a hibernative state each night. The poem is meant to celebrate the "deep drop" we all do each night that restores and renews us. The word "Crimean" may seem strange here, and oddly taken out of the current news. It refers to Tennyson's poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," and the hopeless heroism of those raised swords charging the cannons of the Russian positions.

About the Poet
Coleman Barks is the best-selling translator of The Essential Rumi The Soul of Rumi, and Rumi: The Book of Love and author of numerous volumes of poetry including Winter Sky: New and Selected Poems, 1968-2008 (Georgia). He taught creative writing and American poetry in the English Department at the University of Georgia for thirty years and currently lives in Athens, Georgia.

For more information about National Poetry month, visit www.poets.org. For more poetry from the UGA Press, visit the poetry section of our website here.

Announcing the New Perspectives on the Civil War series

The University of Georgia Press is pleased to launch a new series on the American Civil War. New Perspectives on the Civil War is dedicated to the publication of primary sources of the Civil War era from a wide diversity of perspectives—respecting the soldier’s voice, but not privileging it over every other voice.

Much like the UnCivil Wars series which focuses on unconventional social types and less mainstream history, books in the New Perspectives on the Civil War series will highlight the many diverse voices from the Civil War era that need to be heard. Soldiers, civilians on the home front, slaves, political officials, government bureaucrats, newspaper correspondents, diplomats, and foreign observers all have a particular insight and deserve to have their stories told. The series will also seek to broaden the period of study beyond the 1861-1865 timeframe, recognizing that the attitudes that led to the war began years before the first shots were fired, and the repercussions of the war continued long after the surrender at Appomattox.

Through its unique approach on a popular topic, the books in the series will appeal to both scholars and general readers interested in the Civil War. The series will include a digital component to provide an enhanced experience for each volume to make them more appealing for classroom adoption.

Series editor Judkin Browning has a clear editorial policy. “All books will have introductions that place the letters in context, clear editorial methods, comprehensive annotations, full bibliographies, and intuitive indexes,” says Browning. “This will provide both consistency and high quality and set a level of excellence that scholars and general readers will come to expect.”

Series editor:
Judkin Browning is associate professor of history at Appalachian State University. He is the author of Shifting Loyalties: The Union Occupation of Eastern North Carolina and The Southern Mind Under Union Rule: The Diary of James Rumley, Beaufort, North Carolina, 1862-1865.

Contact info:
Judkin Browning: browningjj@appstate.edu

To inquire about publishing in the series, please contact:
Mick Gusinde-Duffy, editor-in-chief, the University of Georgia Press
mgd@ugapress.uga.edu

UGA Press
Founded in 1938, the UGA Press is the oldest and largest book publisher in the state. It has been a member of the Association of American University Presses since 1940. With a full-time staff of 26 publishing professionals, the press currently publishes 60-70 new books a year and has more than 1,800 titles in print. It has well-established lists in Atlantic World and American history, American literature, African-American studies, southern studies and environmental studies, as well as a growing presence in the fields of food studies, geography, urban studies, international affairs and security studies. For more information on UGA Press, see www.ugapress.org/

National Poetry Month: Week 1

Throughout the month of April, we will be celebrating National Poetry Month. Each week we will highlight one UGA Press poet and a poem from one of his or her books. Besides choosing the poem to showcase, each poet will provide some background information on the selected work.

To start off our poetry celebration, Idra Novey shares the poem "Aspect" from her book  EXIT, CIVILIAN (April 2012, pg. 13).

Aspect
For the aunt who only ate sugar packets from Applebee's,
we say poor Fay,
who didn't age well.

For the uncle who overdosed on stolen pills, we talk
of good Jerome,
who had too much sorrow.

Of the speeding tickets my father doesn't pay, he says honey,
out of state
may as well be fable.

About the night my mother spent in jail, we say nothing; once
my grandmother said imagine,
your pantyhose stripped in a hallway.

Of the fumbling years, all the waiting for her to look up again,
I say the rub
of my childhood, the thistle.

About the Poem
"Aspect" was one of the first poems I wrote for the book that would become EXIT, CIVILIAN. It took me two years to finish this poem, but once I did other poems came more quickly. I find certain poems are like that. They are keys and it takes incredibly long to get the grooves in them just right. Once that key poem is finished, however, you can get into the castle up into the turrets where all the other poems have been locked away and await their release.

About the Poet
Idra Novey is the author of The Next Country and has received awards from the Poetry Society of America, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the PEN Translation Fund. Her translations include Clarice Lispector’s The Passion According to G.H. (New Directions, 2012). She has taught in the Bard College Prison Initiative and in Columbia University’s School of the Arts.

For more information about National Poetry month, visit www.poets.org. For more poetry from the UGA Press, visit the poetry section of our website here.

Short Takes

Andrew Sullivan shares an excerpt from Kate Sweeney's AMERICAN AFTERLIFE on his blog, The Dish. The excerpt, with accompanying YouTube video, highlights Eternal Reefs, "a company that 'mixes the cremated ashes of your loved one with a cement compound to create part of an artificial coral reef.'"

On March 24, Ronald Angelo Johnson gave a talk on his book, DIPLOMACY IN BLACK AND WHITE, at the Pickering House in Salem, MA. The event was hosted by the Pickering House and the Salem Athenaeum. In its write-up about the event, the Boston Globe says it "drew a pack of dedicated history buffs, partly because it also featured a talk by Pickering family descendant Thomas R. Pickering, a former US ambassador to the United Nations who also served as ambassador to the Russian Federation, India, Israel, El Salvador, Nigeria, and Jordan."

James Marten, author of the forthcoming AMERICA'S CORPORAL, answers questions about James Tanner, the subject of his book, for the Civil War Monitor. Check out the video below for the full interview. Also pickup the spring issue of Civil War Monitor for Marten's article on Tanner.
In Sunday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution (subscription required), the "Personal Journeys" story about Robert Currey, a storehouse furniture founder, mentioned one of our books in the article:

Then came John McCown, a black activist who arrived in 1967 as executive director of the Georgia Council on Human Relations, a civil rights organization. Blacks considered him a savior; whites, a scoundrel, according to BLACK BOSS: POLITICAL REVOLUTION IN A GEORGIA COUNTRY written by John Rozier and published by the University of Georgia Press. Rozier credits McCown with transforming Hancock into the first black-controlled county in the United States since Reconstruction.

Michele Gillespie's KATHARINE AND R. J. REYNOLDS is a "well-researched joint biography," according to the Journal of Southern History. Gillespie "takes care to situate the couple in the economic, political, and social currents of their time . . . [she] informs readers about southern history and conveys appreciation for the lives of the couple."

A review by Hispanic American Historical Review says Robert J. Cottrol's THE LONG, LINGERING SHADOW has "made an immensely valuable contribution to analyses of racial formation and jurisprudence."

According to History: A Review of Books. Erica Ball's TO LIVE AN ANTISLAVERY LIFE "is a valuable addition to the cultural and intellectual history of antebellum America."