Elizabeth Hazen Interviews Dean Smith, Author of Baltimore Sons
Elizabeth Hazen sits down with fellow Baltimore poet Dean Smith for the Baltimore Fishbowl
Introduction authored by Elizabeth Hazen for the Baltimore Fishbowl:
"Dean Bartoli Smith’s second poetry collection, Baltimore Sons, paints a brutally honest portrait of Charm City – a place bursting with personality and charm, but also marred by poverty and violence. In these poems, readers will find neighborhoods filled with vibrant people who, along with the city itself, have shaped the speaker’s perspective.
Smith’s poems range from snapshots of childhood pastimes and homages to iconic Baltimoreans to missives about gun violence and even poems from the weapons’ perspectives. Despite the grit and realism in his work, Smith never despairs, instead highlighting the humanity that ultimately redeems the city and its residents. According to Smith, 'No one really knows what to make of native Baltimoreans. The city remains a wildcard that’s hard to define,' but through these poems, Smith has certainly given us a powerful representation.
A Baltimore native with a background in reporting and a journalistic eye for detail, Smith has written a collection that is accessible, heartbreaking, and 'the most painful love letter I’ve ever written.'"
Katherine E. Young Breaks Down Her New Translation of LOOK AT HIM by Anna Starobinets
Katherine E. Young appears on Leslie Pietrzyk “To be Read” blog series to discuss her new translation of a book that “ignited a firestorm” in Russia
Challenge and Ambition: Rose Solari Releases new Poetry Reviews for WIRoB
Rose Solari’s reviews this month focus on four collections that “challenge and stretch the reader’s expectations in terms of content, form, or both.”
Rose Solari Joins in a Dickinson Tradition at this Year’s Tell it Slant Festival
While the Emily Dickinson poetry marathon is not a marathon in the traditional sense, it does test the endurance, fortitude, and preparedness of all its participants. Over a seven day period, 14 hours in all, participants will read every one of the enigmatic 19th-century poet’s 1,789 poems in the order prescribed by R.W. Franklin’s The Poems of Emily Dickinson.