Praise for I am the Maker of all sweetened possum, found poetry by james w. moore

On March 10, 2014, Silver Birch Press released I am the Maker of all sweetened possum: found poetry in Scarlet Sister Mary by james w. moore. Here’s what editors and poets are saying about the full-color, 64-page collection:

“moore enters a dialogue with Peterkin’s text by excising, erasing, and in one case literally stitching words together to create poems whose subjects are as creative and diverse as the methods he employs. moore’s visually rich and lyrically sophisticated poems traverse the traditional boundaries of found poetry and are a significant contribution to the genre.” Jenni B. Baker, Found Poetry Review editor-in-chief 

“moore imagines words in a setting beyond the blank page and gives them a visual context to communicate their truths. The book begins with a warm and friendly commentary, as if you and he are engaged in a conversation about his process. As the book evolves, so does the complexity and creativity of setting for moore’s remix of Peterkin’s words, until we reach the final exultant ‘Heaven.'” Margo Roby, poet

“Within within these pages we are treated to an exotic cross-media journey through the modified pages of Julia Peterkin’s original text. It is rare, if not unique to find such painstaking craft and depth of creative imagination so adeptly and seamlessly married with found poetry as in Scarlet Sister.” Winston Plowes, poet

“moore set out to write poems that sounded like the kind he would write, even while using Julia Peterkin’s words. The poems achieve this intent as a collection that reads neither as a criticism of the original text, nor as a disconnected effort. We get to glimpse Moore’s ‘universe’ through his particular exploration of found poetry, and it is a distinct pleasure.” Beth Ayer, Senior Poetry Editor, Found Poetry Review

Find I am the Maker of all sweetened possum by james w. moore at Amazon.com.

A dream maybe., found poem by james w. moore

A dream maybe.
by james w. moore

She sat close to
the grateful warmth
for
She
on the
folded arms
dozed
She   her eyes
the dim light
did
hear a
a
a
Sound
a baby’s voice.

A dream maybe.

back to her
foolish
dreams
turned in her
too and she
No
she heard
No
What could
it be?

SOURCE: “A dream maybe.” appears in I am the Maker of all sweetened possum: found poetry in Sister Scarlet Mary by james w. moore (Silver Birch Press, 2014), available at Amazon.com.

New SBP Release: I am the Maker of all sweetened possum, found poetry by james w. moore

Silver Birch Press is pleased to announce the March 10, 2014 release of I am the Maker of all sweetened possum: found poetry in Scarlet Sister Mary by james w. moore.

BOOK DESCRIPTION: 

I Am the Maker of all sweetened possum is the strangely-capitalized, full-color collection of found poetry by james w. moore. Working from the text of Julia Peterkin’s Scarlet Sister Mary, moore has created visually striking poems that acknowledge their source while making new worlds for Peterkin’s words.

Found poetry is a method of creating poems from already existing work; moore’s found poetry acknowledges its source material by creating the poem directly out of a page of text. His work strives to stand out in words and in the visual remaining on the page. Using exacto knives, whiteout, markers, paint, and even cross-stitch, moore’s work has a homemade feel that reflects the source text. In the introduction, he says, “there’s a handmade quality to Scarlet Sister Mary. seemingly every interaction happens while someone is making food, or mending garments, or picking crops. i strove to reflect that tactile feeling in my work. i wanted each piece to feel like you can see the marks left behind.”

james w. moore took part in Found Poetry Review‘s 2013 National Poetry Month initiative — The Pulitzer Remix — where 85 poets each selected a Pulitzer prize winning work of fiction and created a poem for each day of the month. This collection rounds up poems that were created as part of the Pulitzer Remix.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: james w. moore is a writer of poetry, plays, and short stories. his poetry has appeared in the Found Poetry Review, the Silver Birch Press Noir Erasure Poetry Anthology, the Houston Chronicle and on Vermont Edition. five of his full-length plays have received world premieres, including original works such as cart (which American Theatre magazine called “a wonderfully surreal comedy”), and adaptations of Robin Hood and Rapunzel for the Northwest Children’s Theater. he was twice awarded residencies at Caldera Arts, and his one act play Ubu’s Last Krapp was featured as part of the End of the Pavement series. his work has been performed in Chicago (SOLO Festival), Seattle (On the Boards), Portland (Oregon—PICA’s TBA Festival and JAW), and in Burlington, Vermont. he currently lives and creates in Winooski, Vermont. For more about james, visit the author’s blog.

BOOK DETAILS: 64 pages, full color (5.5 x 8.5″)

AVAILABLE: Amazon.com

The Letter, poem by Amy Lowell

THE LETTER
by Amy Lowell

Little cramped words scrawling all over the paper
Like draggled fly’s legs,
What can you tell of the flaring moon
Through the oak leaves?
Or of my uncertain window and thebare floor
Spattered with moonlight?
Your silly quirks and twists have nothing in them
Of blossoming hawthorns,
And this paper is dull, crisp, smooth, virgin of loveliness
Beneath my hand.

I am tired, Beloved, of chafing my heart against
The want of you;
Of squeezing it into little inkdrops,
And posting it.
And I scald alone, here, under the fire
Of the great moon. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Amy Lowell (1874-1925) was an American poet of the imagist school from Brookline, Massachusetts, who posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926.

The Letter, poem by Amy Lowell

THE LETTER
by Amy Lowell

Little cramped words scrawling all over the paper
Like draggled fly’s legs,
What can you tell of the flaring moon
Through the oak leaves?
Or of my uncertain window and thebare floor
Spattered with moonlight?
Your silly quirks and twists have nothing in them
Of blossoming hawthorns,
And this paper is dull, crisp, smooth, virgin of loveliness
Beneath my hand.

I am tired, Beloved, of chafing my heart against
The want of you;
Of squeezing it into little inkdrops,
And posting it.
And I scald alone, here, under the fire
Of the great moon. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Amy Lowell (1874-1925) was an American poet of the imagist school from Brookline, Massachusetts, who posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926.

Libraries Are a Mainstay of My Life, Quote by James A. Michener

“Public libraries have been a mainstay of my life. They represent an individual’s right to acquire knowledge; they are the sinews that bind civilized societies the world over. Without libraries, I would be a pauper, intellectually and spiritually.”

          JAMES A. MICHENER (1907-1997), Pulitzer Prize winning author of Tales of the South Pacific (basis of the Rogers & Hammerstein musical South Pacific). A prolific author of fiction of nonfiction, Michener worked up to the time of his death at age 90.

Photo: James A. Michener at work in his home office.

Writing the Good Stuff by Theodore Roethke and Charles Bukowski

“In order to write good stuff you have to hate adverbs.” 

THEODORE ROETHKE

 (winner, Pulitzer Prize  & National Book Award for poetry)

as quoted in The Glass House: The Life of Theodore Roethke

by Allan Seager

Illustration: Jill Blackmore, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Documentary About John Kennedy Toole

The comic masterpiece A Confederacy of Dunces was published in 1980 — eleven years after author John Kennedy Toole‘s tragic death. The author’s mother Thelma doggedly tried to get A Confederacy of Dunces published and finally managed to place the manuscript into the hands of novelist Walker Percy, who recognized the book as a work of genius. Toole’s novel — which had been rejected repeatedly before it was finally published by Louisiana State University Press — won the Pulitzer Prize in 1981.

The documentary film John Kennedy Toole: The Omega Point — available online for free at jktoole.com —  offers a fascinating look into the life of John Kennedy Toole and his masterwork. I’m a huge fan of A Confederacy of Dunces and was riveted to the screen every second of this 56-minute documentary. Highly recommended! 

Rolling Down the U.S. Highway

…they were clear of the last twinkling streetlight of the last swampy suburb. Then they were in darkness in the center of the salt marshes. Ignatius looked out at the highway marker that reflected their headlights. U.S. 11. The marker flew past. He rolled down the window an inch or two and breathed the salt air blowing in over the marshes from the Gulf…He breathed again, this time more deeply. The dull headache was lifting.”

From the final page of A Confederacy of Dunces, Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel by John Kennedy Toole, originally published in 1980

Photo: Victor Grigas (street art in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil)