Louis Jenkins, prolific prose poet, has just released a limited edition collection of poetry and prose,
European Shoes centering on his travels in the late summer and fall of 2007. We'll be celebrating this release with a
reading/reception on
Sunday, December 7th, 3:30pm at the
Quaker Meeting House 1802 East First Street, Duluth, MN.
A bit about Louis Jenkins- a Duluthian since 1970; widely published and anthologized; a contemporary master of the prose poem known for his clever, dry wit; winner of awards; Prairie Home Companion star; and now skating his way on to
just-off Broadway for a workshop of a play based on his poetry.
Visit
his press and click on "listen" to hear him read various poems!
A bit about
European Shoes- "useless as a travel guide and offers no insight whatsoever into European art, culture, politics or daily life" proclaims the preface. The insight may not be offered, per se, but is rather discovered through the journey. Jenkins alternates between journal entries on topics of travel, and art, people and history - emphasizing a sense of place through careful details of sights and gestures, as well as noting names of people and places. It recreates the feeling of being captivated in a new place - a lot familiar, a lot foreign, and the reluctant realization that you're the foreigner.
The poetry, like a viking ship, travels near and far, attacking quickly but also known to "slip sideways into the lee of the wind. So even with the most skilled sailors [readers] it [is] easy to get blown of course." But that's where we find the insights: a little bit sideways rather than straight on.
One of these insights that I appreciated is that of the writing process. Since these poems are dry and often border on the absurd, it's nice to see them in communication with the journal entries to see the initial spark, as it were (or may have been).
The subjects range broadly: shoes, breakfast, bicycle abandonment, masonry, trains, goddesses, and artists. The speakers change just as much as they remain still:
When it first happened I thought my acquaintance was speaking to someone else. I looked around but there was no one else there. I've tried moving to adjust the conversational direction, but the speaker only readjusts. I realized that if I kept moving our conversation would be going in concentric circles.
(from "Out of It")
Come on out. Enjoy the reading. Chat with Louis and other poetry lovers. Pick up your copy or copies of the book!
We're very proud to announce that the One Book, One Community selection for this spring is Population 485 by Michael Perry. Small town life viewed through the lens of an EMT re-entering his community after being gone for 12 years. Raucous, tragic, humorous, touching and insightful - these accounts are written with a careful ear for language and a finger on the pulse of the relationships that make and sustain communities. 
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