By Cortney Davis

can’t believe it’s April again.   

Here in Connecticut, patches of stubborn snow still pattern our front yard, a square patch of grass hidden by trees.   In the basement corner where I do my writing it’s also pretty chilly and dim—not because of a lack of sun but because of a general lack of poems.  April is National Poetry Month, for goodness sake.  So why am I suffering such profound writer’s block?   

This is a question I ask myself every year when Poetry Month rolls around.  The answer is always the same:  I’m just not a springtime writer.  I’m an end-of-summer writer, an autumn writer, a winter writer.  I write in the months of involution and change, in the dark months, because I’m a poet who also happens to be a nurse.  Or maybe I’m a nurse who also happens to be a poet.  In any event, suffering, death and transcendence are my daily fare; the laying on of hands is my daily task.  Friends ask me, Can’t you ever write a happy poem?   

My hospital world is a place of both safety and pain, a microcosm, if you will, of each of our lives.  It’s a world with an undercurrent of mystery, sensuality, spirituality, and a primal love that mimics the bond between parent and child or between lover and loved, with all the fear, longing, difficulties, tensions and joys of those relationships. 

Continue reading “Praise for the April Poems, the April Poets”

ast year when I was in London I went to visit my favorite bookstore, Books for Cooks. I marveled at the collections of books by authors who are not so well-known in the United States. The section devoted to Jane Grigson was particularly impressive. There was a book on mushrooms, on charcuterie, on fish, on fruit, on vegetables, on English food, even a book about famous figures in history and their food habits. I was overwhelmed. Where to start? Jane Grigson’s Fruit Book and Jane Grigson’s Vegetable Book, both available as reprints from Bison Books, are two of her more … Continue reading Grigson’s Pleasures of Fruits and Vegetables

STARRED REVIEW Pulp Writer: Twenty Years in the American Grub Street by Paul S. Powers, edited by Laurie Powers “This is a real gem. . . . [A] lively, outspoken, hugely entertaining chronicle. . . . Although the memoir was written more than half a century ago, much of what Powers says about getting started in the publishing game still holds. In addition, editor Laurie’s introduction offers a concise and informative history of the pulp era. . . . [R]ecommended enthusiastically to writers of all stripes and to anyone interested in the history of pulp publishing.”—Booklist _________________________ More praise for … Continue reading Praise for Pulp Writer

The Floor of the Sky by Pamela Joern “The Floor of the Sky honors the pleasures and pitfalls of family without a shred of sentimentality. . . . Joern . . . is a fine writer incapable of excess or artifice. Written in present tense, the book has an unintentionally cinematic quality. Its dialogue is varied and authentic. . . . Ron Hansen [Flyover Fiction series editor] . . . uncover[s] a quiet little gem in Joern’s debut.”—Pamela Miller, Minneapolis Star-Tribune Read More Praise for The Floor of the Sky Continue reading More Praise for The Floor of the Sky

Level Playing Fields:
How the Groundskeeping Murphy Brothers Shaped Baseballby Peter Morris

“Peter Morris’s short but masterly Level Playing Fields: How the Groundskeeping Murphy Brothers Shaped Baseball looks at the development of professional baseball and, indeed, at Americans’ changing image of their society, from a much-neglected angle, that of the material conditions of play. The careers of Tom and John Murphy were pivotal. . . .  This book is packed with insight and telling detail on both baseball and the American temper.”—Katherine A. Powers, Boston Globe

Read More Praise for Level Playing Fields.

Continue reading “More Praise for Level Playing Fields”

Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman by Lee Lowenfish “Given the high-stakes nature of contemporary baseball, it’s fascinating to get a glimpse of the game’s roots, and Lowenfish deftly etches the frustrations and difficulties of small-market life. . . . Lowenfish’s take is detailed and nuanced, balancing the issue of integration with the economic and competitive imperatives of running a professional baseball team. . . . Where Lowenfish is at his best is in explicating the complex and often contradictory impulses that drove his subject, as well as his almost evangelical sense of self. . . . All this leaves us … Continue reading More Praise for Branch Rickey

t’s cold here in Nebraska.  Last week, the weather was in the 70s.  Today, it’s not going to make it to 40 degrees Fahrenheit!  Granted, 39 degrees isn’t unbearable–it’s not even the coldest its been this year–but I got so used to those warm and sunny days. If I can help it, I’m going to stay inside as much as possible today.  And to stave off the boredom, I’ll read some poetry blogs.  Why poetry blogs?  Because it’s National Poetry Month (hence our poetry sale)!  Poets keep blogs:The Poetry Foundation has a blog called Harriet which discusses all things poetry … Continue reading A Healthy Dose of Poem