Reading in 2023

I added twenty-three more titles to my Library Thing account during 2023, which brings my total number of books to 1,109. About six of these twenty-three titles are books of nonfiction that I picked up at library sales. Some books cost as little as twenty-five cents. I probably had good intentions when choosing these books, believing that I would quickly start reading them, but I haven’t yet started any of them as of yet, despite my battling a severe chest infection that has recently kept me housebound.

Early in the year, I started reading Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins on my phone when I had problems sleeping. I had downloaded a free sample through the Kindle app. It was a hefty sample, probably about a seventh of the book. My son gave me a cloth copy of the book for my birthday so that I could read the remaining six hundred and some pages. Sonny Rollins’s devotion to his craft was intense and admirable. I hadn’t fully heard the background information regarding his decision to spend a year practicing on the Williamsburg Bridge. One musical experiment of Sonny Rollins’ that I liked discovering was his inclusion of Rufus Harley, who played the bagpipes on one of Sonny's albums. The book itself is a great resource when listening to Sonny’s albums and when discovering previously neglected ones.

Sometime early in the year I also read Doug Peacock’s Walking It Off: A Veteran’s Chronicle of War and Wilderness. Peacock, by the way, was the inspiration for the character Hayduke in Edward Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang. I particularly liked one of Peacock’s later essays when he describes hiking across a desert bombing range as the jet fighters occasionally flew overhead. It was a cathartic moment for him as he risked death during the few days that it took to cross the bombing range. 

Eight of the books that I added to my LibraryThing account were published by the press that my wife and I run—Choeofpleirn Press. Our nonfiction book contest selected Jacquelyn Shah’s Limited Engagement: A Way of Living. As a memoir, it describes the author’s early experiences and her decision to live life on her terms, without much concern for what her father wanted, what other men wanted, and what society as a whole wanted from her. 

We received about twenty selections for our poetry chapbook contest. Anita Skeen, our judge, selected Vivienne Shalom’s The Truth Is as the winning manuscript and Linda Enders’ Consider the Gravity as the finalist. 

My wife worked with a photographer from Wichita to create the book Wildflowers of Wichita, a combination of photos and text. 

Although technically journals but the size of books, we released our annual four collections, Coneflower Café (photos, short fiction, and poetry), Glacial Hills Review (photos, nonfiction, and poetry), Rushing Thru the Dark (photos, drama, and poetry), and Best of Choeofpleirn Press, the winning work that we published during the year. 

The capstone to our publication efforts was my wife’s Pitiless Bronze: A Postpatriarchal Examination of Prepatriarchal Cultures, the result of about seven years of research and a year or more of writing. Eventually, as she was engaged in research, I had to remind her of Eli S. Ricker, the Nebraska judge who spent ten years conducting research into the clash of cultures on the Great Plains during the 19^th century and who never got the writing done. Pitiless Bronze uses literature and archaeological history to reveal the dominant role of women before their power was usurped by men, once men discovered that they had a role in procreation, something that they only discovered through the careful examination of swans and their mating habits.

The remaining books that I acquired during the year were collections of poetry. Jody Stewart was kind enough to give me a copy of her This Momentary World: Selected Poems. I added Anita Skeen’s Outside the Fold, Outside the Frame and Never the Whole Story to the other books of hers that I own. From reading the anthology The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection and Joy, a kind of sequel to the previous anthology edited by James Crews—Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness and Connection, I discovered more work by Faith Shearin and ended up buying two of her books and ordering three other books of hers through Interlibrary Loan. I ordered a couple of books by two other poets through Interlibrary Loan as well.

Except for allowing myself to be tempted by the books found at library sales, I have done better at limiting how many books that I purchased during the year. I still need to glean through my books so that I can make a sizable donation to my local library. One problem I have is that getting access to some of my bookshelves requires moving several pieces of furniture. I have so much packed into one little room that accessing my books is not always easy.

Nonfiction Book Contest

The deadline for our nonfiction book contest is fast approaching. Get your manuscripts in by December 31.

Poem in Slant: A Journal of Poetry

Another recent poem of mine has recently appeared in Slant: A Journal of Poetry. My poem, "Living Within Its Shadow," can be found at the following link: https://slantpoetryjournal.wordpress.com/james-p-cooper/?fbclid=IwAR1OlLMCS84nvzsB2wTXggZn-FhEAtBkv4bB3LWhCC-jN5nRbpyTDX00Kuw

Autumn, 2023

Because of the lengthy drought that we have been having in northeast Kansas, autumn has not been as colorful this year as it had been in previous years. I am adding a few of my pictures, nonetheless.

I might have taken more pictures if I had not fallen while taking pictures one Sunday afternoon. I was walking backwards down a hill, lost my footing, and did a complete flip. I ended up having to go the ER to have a gash on my arm stitched up. My jaw started swelling afterwards as well because I cracked a tooth and ended up having to have it removed. I have since resolved to stay on pavement when I am walking or taking pictures.

Poem in Evening Street Review

One of my newer poems recently appeared in Number 39, Autumn 2023, of the Evening Street Review. My poem is partly based on William Wordsworth "Ode: Intimations of Immortality" and a jazz song by Matthew Halsall, "I Have Been Here Before," which appears on his album Colour Yes.

https://eveningstreetpress.com/product/evening-street-review-number-39-autumn-2023/

 

Manhappiness

My friend Derick Burleson, the poet who died in 2016, used to refer to Manhattan, Kansas as "Manhappiness" when we were graduate students at Kansas State University. It seemed at the time that he had coined the word. 

I was surprised recently to see a building in Aggieville, the entertainment district near the campus, with the word Manhappiness above its doors. I didn't go inside the building. From what I noticed when walking by, it contained apparel for Kansas State fans. The previous building used to house Varney's bookstore when I was a student.

I am sure that Derick would have loved to see his word being used to describe Manhattan and one building in particular.

Late Flowers in Bloom

The autumnal equinox occurred a few weeks ago. Even so, some flowers remain in bloom. The first freeze in my area doesn't usually occur until late October. 

Sunsets

Although sunsets are often thought of as cliches, some of them can be quite spectacular. They continue to appear in my poems and in my pictures, despite my colorblindness. What often happens is that I miss capturing the good ones because I don't have my camera with me. I am adding a few pictures of the sunsets that I have captured.

Elusive Turtles

The geese, both the adults and the goslings, were strangely absent when I was walking at Lake Jeanette on Sunday. They apparently have gone some place where the grass is watered more often. I have been trying to capture the turtles sunning themselves. They seem to have incredibly sensitive hearing because as soon as I come close, they dive into the water. There are sometimes as many as four turtles on the branch appearing in the picture below. I need to attach a stronger lens to my camera the next time. 

When I was a kid growing up in Maryland, I found a box turtle in the field opposite our house and brought it back to our yard, thinking it would remain there as a pet. Unfortunately, when I looked for it the next day, it had escaped. Since we moved so often and gave away our animals as we moved to my father's new naval duty station, I didn't have a pet of my own, and I think of this turtle as my first pet even though our relationship was brief.

Clicking on the picture will enlarge it.

Native Flowers

Occasionally, I have been taking a break from the classes that I have been teaching this summer to cultivate two flowerbeds of native flowers. I transplanted the Black-eyed Susans from another spot in the yard a couple of years ago and have been pleasantly surprised at how abundant they have gotten. I haven't had to do much to the phlox and coneflowers. Although the phlox were slow to bloom, they typically remain in bloom until late summer or early fall. 

I'm reluctant to disturb the soil in these flowerbeds, even though I should add richer soil, because I don't want to lose the seeds from these flowers. I planted more coneflower seeds this spring, but the seeds didn't produce the number of plants that I expected. It may take another year before I will see much more growth.

I am adding a few pictures of the flowers in my yard. Clicking on each picture will enlarge it. 

Seeking Submissions for Rushing Thru the Dark

 

Rushing Thru the Dark, our autumn journal at Choeofpleirn Press, is now seeking submissions of one-act plays, short screenplays, poetry, and art. We prefer that one-act plays be less than 20 pages and screenplays less than 90 pages. No translations, please. If you are submitting poetry, send no more than three poems. There is no fee to submit unless you wish to be considered for one of our annual awards. Deadline is August 27, 2023. More details can be found on our website.

Geese, Goslings, and Great Blue Heron

I finally managed to get pictures of the geese and this year's goslings on the grounds of the Veterans Administration. Someone was feeding them bread while I was there, despite the signs warning people not to feed the geese. At one point, the goslings ran toward me, thinking that I was going to feed them as well. I probably would have picked up a package of organic spinach on the way if I had intended to feed them.

Accepting Poetry Chapbooks until April 30

Two weeks remain for poets who have not yet published a chapbook or a full-length collection to submit their poetry chapbooks to Choeofpleirn Press. Clicking on the picture below will make the text within the advertisement much clearer.

Open for Submissions