Reuben Jackson Makes Banshee Press’ 2020 Best Short Readings List
Jackson's poetry cycle, "Kelly's Love for Waltzes" (published by Boston Review) is chosen by Jaydn Dewald for the year-end list.
THIS YEAR, the Irish publisher, Banshee Press, asked its editors and contributors to pick "their favourite shorter reads of the year." Poet, Jaydn Dewald, whose work has appeared in Banshee and numerous other journals, chose Reuben Jackson's poetry cycle "Kelly's Love for Waltzes" for the list. The cycle was originally published by Boston Review and includes poems that utilize a waltz-like form, each line containing three words.
In "Kelly's Love for Waltzes" Reuben, who achieved considerable recognition for his narrative-driven poetry about lovers Khadijah and Amir, showcases a new voice, that of Kelly, loud and frustrated over racial inequality. Reuben's most recent collection Scattered Clouds features a plethora of his narrative and character-based poetry, and includes of all of his Khadijah and Amir poems. You can pick that up from ASP here.
Scattered Clouds is a volume of lyrical, emotionally forthright meditations on love, loss, and longing. The volume contains the complete text of the author’s award-winning first collection, fingering the keys; his nationally lauded poem, “For Trayvon Martin”; and his suite of ruminations on a long-time and deeply missed friend, the late barbershop owner Amir Yasin, and his widow Khadijah Rollins. These poems, exploring Amir’s late-life romance with Kadijah, became a national internet sensation.
An introduction by poet Abdul Ali places Jackson in his rightful context as a Black American poetry elder, who has influenced generations of younger poets with his musical wisdom as well as his poetry. Ali is a Cave Canem alum and the author of the poetry collection, Trouble Sleeping.
Earth Day Reflections: To See for the First Time
“Our communications are profuse and immediate, as is our consciousness of the interrelationship of all that exists. We’ve seen what we often leave in our wake—homeless populations, spoiled wilderness. We can see the way the decisions and investments that we make, here, everyday, can effect just how much milk a baby in Uganda gets. Our world is a teeming, mysterious, multi-cultural mousetrap of a place where everything seems to hinge on something else. We share a new concept of this planet as a finite space, dense, and more difficult than ever to navigate. We live in an environment fraught with hazard, and it is important to have good guides, guides with insight—those who tread softly.”
Joanna Biggar’s Picks for NPM (Week 3)
Week three of National Poetry Month is here and we are still celebrating! So as the champagne continues relentlessly foaming for party-goers catching their tipsy mid-air, we asked author, Joanna Biggar, to select three poems she thinks are worthy of applause between wassails.
James J. Patterson’s Picks for NPM (week 2)
In honor of National Poetry Month, We asked author and essayist extraordinaire, James J. Patterson, to select three poems he’d like to see celebrated. Along with Walt Whitman’s “On the Beach at Night Alone” (featured above), he chose Wordsworth’s “The World is too much with Us”, And Last but not least, the famed American Poet Robert Bly performing the poem “On Being a Man” by the famed Spanish poet, Antonio Machado.