WEALTH OF IDEAS

The Sacramento Poetry Center presents John Amen and Scott Weiss on Monday Oct. 5, at 7:30 PM. John Amen is the founder of the online literary journal The Pedestal , which was the first to publish and pay me for the first short story in what I am now calling the Mukoma series. That story is entitled "Mukoma's Marriage" and an early version of it can be read at The Pedestal Magazine. I am happy that John will be in Sacramento, although I cannot attend the event due to a schedule conflict. I, however, would like to talk briefly about his latest poetry collection, At the Threshold of Alchemy , which I was reading earlier today. First, you need to know that John Amen takes his poetry seriously, like all poets do, of course, but he goes above and beyond in terms of promotion. He is currently on a national tour, visiting several major cities. And he has reason to; his new collection is spellbinding. John Amen has been described as "brutally realistic", a poet who ...

Since the beginning of summer (let's be honest, since February) my reading has been focused on literary fiction, particularly the short story. The poetry books have been piling up, waiting to be read. I can't wait to get started on John Amen and Alice Teeter's new collections. I love reviewing poetry, so watch this space. I'm, as they say, kinda busy and should take it easy on reading for pleasure, but I can fit in one or two volumes of poetry here and there.