Saturday, March 21, 2015

Wonderful News!


When I started this blog, I promised myself that it wouldn't be an "about-me" blog, and I've tried to keep that promise. This week, however, I'm excited to share some really special news with you in lieu of a prompt or guest blogger post.

My new book, A Lightness, A Thirst, Or Nothing At All, is now ready for immediate shipment (at a generous discount) via Amazon.com.

 

Trailer



If you haven't already ordered a copy,
I very much hope you will (and thank you in advance for your support)!
  

CLICK HERE TO ORDER


(You may also place an order through your favorite bookseller.)
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From the Publisher's Press Release


"Welcome Rain Publishers (www.welcomerain.com) is pleased to announce publication of A Lightness, A Thirst, Or Nothing At All by Adele Kenny, a collection of 53 prose poems. Prose poems, which are arranged in short paragraphs rather than in lines, include deliberate fragments, the language of dreams, and an occasional nod to the surreal. Kenny combines these techniques with her signature elements of striking imagery and compelling immediacy to inform an enhanced view of the ways in which the interior life intersects with the outside world. These poems startle, surprise, and tell us things about ourselves that we didn't know."
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About the Book


"A gorgeous, deeply pondered work of art. I love it."
             
          —Renée Ashley, Poetry Editor of The Literary Review

"In language so subtly pitched, paced and modulated it captures our attention without drawing attention to itself, Kenny draws us into discovering that what never changes is all around us in the ever-changing world, that one is only approachable, knowable, bearable through the other.  We trust her to be our guide because her vision is so unwavering."

          —Martin J. Farawell, Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival Director

"Talk about channeling! Here reborn is Emily Dickinson, replete with the mystery, the haunting spirituality, and the metaphysical imagery. Adele, more than any other contemporary poet, balances all these elements so well, though with a touch far more personal than Dickinson’s." 
                             
          —Charles DeFanti, Author of The Wages of Expectation

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Sample Poems


Click Here for Video Remix of "Twilight and What There Is" (Video and Reading by Nic Sebastian)


WHAT YOU KNOW

A stray dog laps the moon from a broken flowerpot. Silk hydrangeas bloom against the fence. A heron stands on the clothesline—bluer than blue—perched where (sky, earth) edges converge.

On the wall, the painting of a clock ticks, hands painted in at three forty-seven. She takes a wax apple from the bowl and peels it with a silver fruit knife. Sugared bread dries on the table. Across the room, a dimensional window masquerades as persuasion. If you believe it, it is.


WHAT CALLS YOU

Back then, I wasn’t sure what calling meant. I thought something mystical—God’s hand on my arm, a divine voice speaking my name. Instead, I discovered the colors of cyclamen, how even the meanest weeds burst into bloom.

It works like this—among the books and fires—grace comes disguised as the winter finch, its beak in the seed; the twilight opossum that feeds on scraps—her babies born beneath my neighbor’s shed. Every day, I learn what love is: the finches, the opossum, the child with Down Syndrome who asked, Can I hug you a hundred times?

Whatever idea I had of myself turns on this: what lives on breath is spirit. I discover the power of simple places—silence—the desire to become nothing.

  

26 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Adele! Your book looks intriguing.

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  2. This IS wonderful news! Congrats, Adele.

    The sample poems are very compelling.

    I've ordered my copy!

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    1. Thanks much, Jamie! Let me know what you think when the book arrives!

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  3. Congratulations, Adele!

    I just ordered two copies -- one for me and another to share with the students.

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    1. Thanks, Rich, and thanks so much for your order!

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  4. YIPPEE!

    Great news, indeed!

    Congratulations!

    P.S. Sometime a little "about me" is appreciated by your readers. We like hearing about you and what you're up to!

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    1. Oops ... typo alert ... first word in the P.S. should be "sometimes." Sorry!

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    2. Thanks, Sandy! Your comment is much appreciated (and I didn't even notice the typo until I read your second comment.)

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  5. Even today's posting is not "about you"… The samples and the trailer are gifts to us, a space you created and so generously invite us to share.

    A splendid accomplishment. I am running to Amazon to buy my copy and those extra ones I will give as gifts to my friends.

    With my best wishes on your day of celebration…


    Basil

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    1. Thanks so much, Basil—what a lovely thing to write! Thank you for ordering!

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  6. Máire Ó Cathail (Ireland)March 22, 2015 at 8:35 AM

    Lovely news, Adele! The cover and sample poems are spectacular.

    Congratulations!

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  7. Congratulations, Adele! I just received my copy and am anxious to dive in. Beautiful trailer!

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    1. Thank you so much, Jama! And thank you for ordering. I'd be happy to know what you think (these poems are quite different from my usual style).

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  8. That cover image is amazing! And the trailer was enough to make me order the book. I can't wait for it to arrive.

    Congratulations!

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  9. Thank you Thank you Thank you, Adele! I got my copy and am savoring it slowly each delicious page by page

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    1. Thanks so much, Risa, for your comment and for your kind words.

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  10. Dear Adele,

    I opened my mailbox yesterday and found your books. I sat down and never stopped.

    There were three horses: A brown, a white and a black — one for each chapter:

    "All things considered"
    "Whatever meaning"
    "This"

    I rode them all. Not galloped, just trotted with them to magic domains of each horse 's own choice.

    The poems took me off the main road to existentialism, to metaphysical mirages and to untitled meadows, somewhere between memory, desire and acceptance of things "in perfection the way they are."

    Those sixty pages of prose poems took my mind and heart by surprise: How can poetry grapple with that complexity through such simplicity.

    To all the readers of this blog, I say, if you can carve an hour to disengage from the every day world and immerse yourself into spiritual, magic and mysterious fields of pleasure, then buy and savor this book. I think you will understand Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and you will agree with him when he says: Poetry and physics deal with essentially the same things.

    Basil Rouskas

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    1. Thank you so very much, Basil, for your kind and generous words. I'm deeply grateful for your comments here and on Amazon.

      The reference to Heisenberg is lovely and, yes, I believe it to be true!

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    2. Well done, Adele!

      The book is on its way. It is always a pleasure to read your work...that conjures up feelings of well being.

      Wishing you the very best.

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    3. Thanks so much, Lewis! I hope you enjoy the book!

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  11. Amita Jayaraman (Mumbai)March 25, 2015 at 8:13 AM

    Congratulations, Adele! The cover is amazing, and the trailer and sample poems are all awesome. I wish you every success with this new book.

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    1. Thanks so much for your kind words, Amita! I love the cover too and am grateful to my publisher for buying the rights to use it—it's a perfect fit for the poem from which the book takes its title.

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  12. Your book arrived yesterday, and I'm stunned by what you've done! This is sheer brilliance. A sure and wonderful leap from the standard fare poetry serves up these days!

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