University of Arizona Poetry Center Enewsletter February 2009

A Celebration of Pablo Neruda
lecture and bilingual reading
"Residence on Earth: A Celebration of Pablo Neruda," a lecture and bilingual reading of Neruda’s work by visiting scholar Audrey Lumsden-Kouvel, will take place at the Poetry Center on Wednesday, February 18 at 6 pm.

The emphasis here will be on Neruda’s personality and the inclusive range of his poetry. From the early love poetry of his teens to the tortured introspection of his life in Southeast Asia, from his view of the Spanish Civil War to his Communist exile from his native Chile, he remains always “on earth”: evoking things, places, and events with a force unparalleled by any other poet of the twentieth century.

Read the interview | More about this event
Neruda poem translated by Lumsden-Kouvel

Fieries and Snuffies Onward and Upward, Fieries and Snuffies!
A look at the successes of our former writers in residence
The Poetry Center has offered month-long residencies to 15 emerging writers since 1994. Most of these residents have gone on publish their work, and quite a few have won awards for their poems, stories, essays, manuscripts, books, and chapbooks. Here, we present a sampling of those works, though it is by no means comprehensive.

The deadline for 2009 poetry residency is February 27 and will be judged by Yale Younger prize-winning poet Richard Siken.

Check out the bibliography | More about the Residency

Geraldine Connolly Geraldine Connolly: Hand of the Wind
A sneak peek at a Poetry Center instructor's forthcoming work
Poet Geraldine Connolly has been teaching classes and workshops at the Poetry Center since 2005. "Most poets long for community," says Connolly. "The richness of my students’ life experiences and their hunger to learn from each other creates a community of spirit in our Poetry Center classes." Geraldine Connolly has a new book coming out from Iris Press in Oakridge, Tennessee, and here we have a sneak peak.

Poem by Geraldine Connolly | Introduction to Poetry

Peter Gizzi Peter Gizzi
Poet and Jack Spicer Scholar
A gifted poet with an astonishing range, Peter Gizzi has reignited interest in another exceptional poet, the late Jack Spicer. Editor of The House That Jack Built: The Collected Lectures of Jack Spicer (1998), Gizzi has just released My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer, which he edited with Kevin Killian. Peter reads his own work at the Poetry Center February 26.

Peter Gizzi's Reading| Shop Talk on Peter Gizzi
Boston Review review of Gizzi'sThe Outernationale
A Review of Peter Gizzi's collected Jack Spicer poems

Gary Paul Nabhan
Prose Series Reading
Gary Paul Nabhan, a Lebanese-America writer of literary nonfiction about place, food, farming, cross-cultural reconciliation, wild creatures, history, travel, and even poetry, will read on Thursday, March 5 at 8pm. Last December he gave the annual Lawrence Clark Powell Memorial Lecture for the Pima County Public Library.

Listen to Nabhan's lecture | Gary Paul Nabhan's reading

Renee Gladman & Renee Angle The Renees!
Renee Gladman and Renee Angle to read for POG
Renee Angle, poet and Poetry Center Program Coordinator, and Renee Gladman, author of Newcomer Can't Swim (Kelsey Street) and The Activist (Krupskaya), will read on February 21 for POG Poetry Collective.

POG's Calendar of Events
Read Renee Gladman's work in Tarpaulin Sky | Read Renee Angle's work in Diagram