The Poetry Book Society Bulletin on Linda Lamus's A Crater the Size of Calcutta (Mulfran, 2015)

"Published posthumously following her death from cancer in 2008, Linda Lamus' debut collection affords us an all-too ephemeral glimpse of a nascent talent tragically lost to us. Edited by Carrie Etter and with a foreword by Tim Liardet, these are intricately crafted poems, distilled impressions of her world travels in crystalline snapshots of people and places which linger long in the memory. It is down to the sterling work of Carrie Etter and Mulfran Press that we can hear Lamus' startling voice: 'Look. I am the shadow watching from the stars.'"

Forrest Gander's Torn Awake (New Directions, 2001)

In preparation for Forrest Gander's reading at Burdall's Yard on 26 November (you can book tickets here), I've been catching up with his work. Here are some favourite passages from this collection:


Look how your relation to truth creates a tension
you have slackened with compromise.

*

...measuring out an exile between self and self.

*

There is something more 
                                          than rhythms of distance and presence....

*

But who is it that is speaking
in the glorious, unstrung light?

from "The Hugeness of That Which Is Missing"

While the stars flare and the waitress crumbs

the tablecloth, are you just opening again

to the lust to be filled with something? What is it?

from "To the Reader"

...and the canyon opening

out in front of them its magisterial consequence....

from "Line of Descent"

Pain as utterance

withheld.

from "Carried Across"

Love solves nothing, though it has made me appear.

 from "To the Invisible World"

It seems the best way to obtain Torn Awake in the UK is from Abe Books here.

 

UK online magazines for poetry &c.

I knew there were online magazines produced in the UK that I didn't know about, so yesterday I put a call out and was amazed to learn of so many. Here's what I found. Please let me know of any I've missed, and I'll update accordingly.

The list so far of online-only, poetry-publishing, UK-based mags, last updated 10 November:

Amaryllis Poetry (http://www.amaryllispoetry.co.uk/)

And Other Poems (https://andotherpoems.wordpress.com/)

Angle (http://anglepoetry.co.uk/)

Antiphon (http://antiphon.org.uk/)

Blackbox Manifold (http://www.manifold.group.shef.ac.uk/)

Black Sheep Journal (http://www.blacksheepjournal.com/)

Burning Bush 2 (http://burningbush2.org/)

Canto Poetry (http://www.cantopoetry.co.uk/)

Clear Poetry (https://clearpoetry.wordpress.com/)

ctrl+alt+del (http://theabsurd.co.uk/cad/)

The Clearing (http://theclearingonline.org/)

Compass Magazine (http://www.thecompassmagazine.co.uk/)

Datableed (http://www.datableedzine.com/)

The Fat Damsel (https://thefatdamsel.wordpress.com/)

Ground: Poetry Faith and Doubt (http://www.ground.org.uk/)

I Am Not a Silent Poet (https://iamnotasilentpoet.wordpress.com/)

Ink, Sweat & Tears (http://www.inksweatandtears.co.uk/)

Intercapillary Space (http://intercapillaryspace.blogspot.co.uk/)

The Island Review (http://www.theislandreview.com/)

Keep Poems Alive (http://keeppoemsalive.com/)

The Lake (http://www.thelakepoetry.co.uk/)

Lighten Up Online (http://www.lightenup-online.co.uk/)

Litter (http://www.leafepress.com/litter/)

London Grip (http://londongrip.co.uk/)

M58 (http://www.m58.co.uk/)

The Manchester Review (http://www.themanchesterreview.co.uk/)
Message in a Bottle (http://www.messageinabottlepoetrymagazine.com/)

Molly Bloom (http://mollybloompoetry.weebly.com/)

Morphrog (http://www.morphrog.com/main_frame.htm)

Nutshells & Nuggets (http://nutshellsandnuggets.tumblr.com/)

The Open Mouse (https://theopenmouse.wordpress.com/)

Poems in Which (http://poemsinwhich.com/)

Prac Crit (http://www.praccrit.com/)

Snakeskin (http://www.simmers1.webspace.virginmedia.com/index.html)

Spontaneity (http://spontaneity.org/)
Starting Out (https://thecurlymindblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/06/starting-out/)

Stepaway Magazine (http://stepawaymagazine.com/)

Stride (http://www.stridemagazine.co.uk/)

Tender Journal (http://www.tenderjournal.co.uk/)

Three Drops from a Cauldron (http://threedropspoetry.co.uk/)

Turbulence (http://turbulencepoetry.blogspot.co.uk/)

The Undertow Review (http://theundertowreview.webs.com/)

Your One Phone Call (https://youronephonecall.wordpress.com/)

Enjoy!

Launching Linda Lamus's A Crater the Size of Calcutta, 30 October 2015

It was a splendid evening on Friday, 30 October at the Boston Tea Party on Park Street in Bristol. Many of Linda's friends and family came to celebrate the publication of her collection, A Crater the Size of Calcutta, by Mulfran Books, and ten of us read a poem each. Thanks to Karen Hoy for these photos.

 Dikra Ridha reads "Ghazal."

 

John Terry gave a wonderfully exuberant performance of "Signor Floretto's Italian Flea Circus."

A full room, with some audience members following along in their copies of the book.

 Madeline Gittus reads the title poem.

There will be a second launch of the book in Cardiff on Thursday, 5 November as part of the First Thursday series at Chapter Arts Centre.