A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

Poetry

Celebrating the Wide Embrace

By Jesse Graves

July 29, 2013 “One of the most persistent themes in the poetry of Jeff Daniel Marion is a recognition of transience, that what is here now can quickly vanish into the air.” Poet Jesse Graves considers the lessons he’s learned over the the years—about poetry, love, home—from poet Jeff Daniel Marion. Jesse Graves and Jeff Daniel Marion will appear at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13. All festival events are free and open to the public.

Talking with the Dead

By Pablo Tanguay

July 16, 2013 Like James Merrill’s Sandover trilogy, which critic Helen Vendler described as “a conversation with dead friends and spirits in another world,” Rick Hilles’s new book of poems invokes the dead, most dramatically by assuming their very personae. This poetic strategy may be the result of hubris or humility or both, but whatever it is, it works. The great strength of A Map of the Lost World, beyond its thematic gravity and masterful architecture, is its extraordinary writing. Rick Hilles will appear at the twenty-fifth annual Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 11-13. All festival events are free and open to the public.

“Chloe Blooming”

By Corey Mesler

June 20, 2013 Corey Mesler is the author of five novels, two books of poetry, and three story collections. He lives in Memphis, where he is the co-owner, with his wife Cheryl, of Burke’s Book Store. “Chloe Blooming” is an excerpt from his newest poetry collection, Our Locust Years, available from Unbound Content on July 1, 2013.

"Motherhood"

By Jan LaPerle

May 10, 2013 Jan LaPerle is from a small town in northern New Hampshire. She lives in East Tennessee with her husband, Clay Matthews; daughter, Winnie; and dog, Morty. Her poems and stories have been published in Pank, Rattle, BlazeVOX, Subtropics, and other places, too. Her e-chapbook of flash fiction, Hush, was published by Sundress Publications, and a poetry collection, It Would Be Quiet, is just out from Prime Mincer Press.

Great Stories Live Here

By Tina LoTufo

May 6, 2013 “Being Southern is something you just are,” novelist Elizabeth Spencer said at last month’s Celebration of Southern Literature: “I couldn’t turn it off if I tried. And I never tried.” Held April 18-20 in Chattanooga and sponsored by the Southern Lit Alliance (formerly the Arts & Education Council), this year’s gathering—the seventeenth biennial—included participation by more than twenty-five members of the Fellowship, who handed out ten awards for fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and drama, including the Cleanth Brooks Medal for Lifetime Achievement to Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Beth Henley.

Saying What You Want to Say in Your Own Way

By Amaryllis Lyle

April 26, 2013 Acclaimed poet Charles Wright, who hails from Kingsport, Tennessee, recently talked with Georgetown’s Vox Populi about his past work as a young writer. He explained how he started out as a history major at Davidson and how he also flew under the radar when aiming for one of the country’s top graduate writing programs:

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