Marsh Hawk Press Blog

Paul Pines' latest Marsh Hawk Press book, DIVINE MADNESS, receives insightful treatment by reviewer Naftali Rottenstreich over at BIG BRIDGE. Here's an excerpt:

Paul Pines begins Divine Madness, his latest collection of poems, with the following bit from Phaedrus: "if any man come to the gates of poetry without the madness of the Muses, persuaded that skill alone will make him a good poet, then shall he and his works of sanity with him be brought to naught by the poetry of madness... ." It's a provocative epigraph and conditions our expectations even before we've ventured into the text. For anyone familiar with his career, however, the epigraph makes clear that Divine Madness will continue the important job Pines began more than forty years ago.

In that time, Pines has been producing a diverse body of work whose central concern has been, to use Harold Brodkey's term, the "runaway soul." In modes as diverse as the crime novel (The Tin Angel), the memoir (My Brother's Madness), opera, and eight volumes of poetry, Pines pursues-with keen and nuanced observation-the psyche's flights, fissures, mania, and brilliance.

Also offering insight is a review by Jonathan Cohen of one of Paul's projects, DARK TIMES FILLED WITH LIGHT: THE SELECTED WORK OF JUAN GELMAN. Click HERE for the review.

Congratulations to the winner and finalists of the 2013 Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize judged by Charles Bernstein:

Winner:

DIPSTICK(DIPTYCH) by Tom Beckett

Runner-Up:
CANT by David James Miller

Finalists:
Grace Marie Grafton, Bern Mulvey, Dennis Trudell, Heather Winterer, Jerred Metz, David Watts, Gail Hosking, Jean Hollander, Annemarie S. Drury, Arpine Konyalian Grenier, Daniel Y. Harris, Sean Singer, Kirsten Jorgenson, Jean McDonough. Michael Trocchia, Russell Susumu Endo, Lisa Britain Washburn, Matthew Zingg, James Wells, Sarah Wetzel, Travis Macdonald, Arthur Brown, Susan Thomas, Michael Leong, Noah Eli Gordon, Sarah Wangler, Adam Day, Scott Withiam, Elisabeth Frost, Seward Ward, Eric Elshtain, Jenn Marie Nunes, Wendy Burk

There are some wonderful early responses to Paul Pines' recent book, NEW ORLEANS VARIATIONS & PARIS OUROBOROS, his tale of two cities linked for the poet as powerful landscapes. The first is from Doug Holder in THE SOMMERVILLE NEWS, the next a recommendation from Eileen Tabios’ BLIND CHATELAINE, and the third an observation on these poems and the state of poetry in general from LOUIS PROYECT’S always smart THE UNREPENTANT MARXIST. The poet thanks all commenters for:.

http://www.thesomervillenews.com/archives/39421#more-39421

http://angelicpoker.blogspot.com/2013/06/and-moi-linkedin-recommendation-4.html

http://louisproyect.org/2013/06/20/poetry-notes/


Books can be ordered directly at Dos Madres Press or Amazon