Verseweavers: The Oregon Poetry Association Anthology of Prize-winning Poems 2015

Verseweavers: The Oregon Poetry Association Anthology of Prize-winning Poems 2015 (Number 20) contains the that won The Oregon Poetry Association's Spring and Fall 2015 contests as well as commentary from the judges of the myriad categories. It's easy to see why a vast majority of these poems won even without reading the competing poems. While a few didn't quite hit the mark for me, I'm sure they would for other people. The poems explore a wide variety of forms and themes offering something for just about any poetry reader. Verseweavers 2015 was printed in  limited edition and therefore might not be easy to acquire a copy of; however, if you can it's worth a read.

This particular issue isn't available on The Oregon Poetry Association website as of the publication of this blog post; however past issues are. 

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange is a poem written for a stage performance or a play written in poetic form. Perhaps it is appropriate to call it both. There are moments in the reading when the stage direction feels incredibly integral to the experience of reading and others when it's slightly distracting. Shange brings her characters to life and delves into the beauty and the hardship of life with equal intensity. Shange's poetry  For Colored girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf offers a commentary on myriad issues and highlights the connections between us and our actions that we often fail to see or even willfully refuse to see. I longed to see the stage performance as I read. I will likely watch the movie on YouTube some time soon. The DVD of both the movie and the Broadway Theatre Archive versions are available on Amazon.

 

Mad Country by Samrat Upadhyay

Mad Country by Samrat Upadhyay puts the reader into the minds and hearts of a hodgepodge of characters while examining the social and political issues that govern their lives. These snippets of life push the reader to think about life from different perspectives perhaps even questioning the conventions of life we often accept without a moment's thought. Mad Country delves into the raw emotions and the intense dogmas held by people that create division and destroy communication while pushing the reader to cheer for some characters, commiserate with others, and despise others and sometimes doing all three for the one character or the other. Upadhyay writes stories that feel like snapshots of his characters' lives and drawing parallels that remind the reader just how interwoven all our lives really are.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

I started reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot without much knowledge about HeLa cells and particularly little know about their widespread use in medical research. Skloot tells the story not only of Henrietta and her family but of the evolution of medical research combined with glimpses into the history of race relations in America, at least in part. Skloot focuses on Henrietta and the Lacks family in a way that sometimes feels almost invasive but nonetheless is fascinating.  The Lacks family is a family like any other filled with interesting, multifaceted characters. There was an honesty and a rawness that was almost painful to read at times. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks demonstrates on almost every page just how interconnected we are. Skloot's investigation into the research that uses HeLa cells leaves little doubt that you and I are only alive today because of said research. Skloot tells a story that engages and enlightens by keeping the focus on the family and their experience even when she follows the HeLa cells to various labs around the world where they're used to make medical and scientific advances that benefit everyone even as the Lacks family struggles to make ends meet. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks weaves together the biography of a woman, a family saga, and a look into medical research in a way that is both thought provoking and enlightening.

The After Party by Jana Prikryl

The After Party by Jana Prikryl left me with more of a feeling or the impression of being than it did a distinct reaction to individual poems. There's a current of accepting the idea of just being that weaves itself through the myriad poems that took me on a journey alongside Prikryl. I appreciated Prikryl's use of language to examine how interconnected we are with one another with all our similarities and our differences as well as with the past, the present, and the future. As I read The After Party I often lost track of the words in an immersion of mood, atmosphere, and emotion feeling rather surprised when I came to the end of the poem. 

Emma's Choice by Loretta Porter

Emma's Choice by Loretta Porter pulled me in right away. My heart ached for Emma as she grieved. I identified with the desire to run away to a new place and start over where no one knows what one has experienced. In the midst of grieving the loss of her family, Emma moves from the United States to England as easily as moving from one state to another. She runs away from not only her grief but her support system. Emma came across as far too naive at times making me cringe and, to be honest, pulled me out of the story a few times. As she meets new people and starts to build a new life, her grief vacillates wildly, even uncomfortably so. Emma's Choice offers a rollercoaster of emotions that serves as a reminder just how fragile life is and how important living is.

Bluegrass State of Mind by Kathleen Brooks

I started reading Bluegrass State of Mind by Kathleen Brooks while on a flight to Kentucky, and I finished it on the flight home about a week later. Bluegrass State of Mind offers romance with a dash of danger and dark intrigue. The lost love connection fighting to find its footing intrigued me but fell into the typical breakdown in basic communication that seems to permeate romance novels. Given the high profile of several of the characters, I wondered how certain bits of information could remain unknown by other characters. Brooks' characters, though at times falling victim to stereotypes, are interesting and even intriguing. I wanted to know what happened to the characters even when I questioned how plausible certain parts of the story were. Bluegrass State of Mind is a fun read, particularly if you enjoy romances.