And while you're there, be sure to click on the RSS feed link so you won't miss any author information, book reviews and excerpts, Monday poems, or lists of recently-published books.
There's also lots going on at our Facebook page.
Monday, June 17, 2013
The Write Question blog has moved
And while you're there, be sure to click on the RSS feed link so you won't miss any author information, book reviews and excerpts, Monday poems, or lists of recently-published books.
There's also lots going on at our Facebook page.
Monday Poems: "The Voice of the Father" -- by Joe Wilkins
Often, as mother bent her slender back
to the fields, or pulled the bloody slip
of a lamb into the world,
I wandered the house,
studying motes of dust brought to life
by sunlight. I was looking for you.
And though you were near—
in the picture on the piano, in the looping
scrawl on your old calendar, in that finger's width
of black hair tucked in an envelope
by mother's bed—I never found you,
never opened the door
that led to the cool room where you knelt
with your rag, where the polished wood of rifles
gleamed and the soap smell of oil
laddered the air.
Yet you spoke to me.
When I climbed the piano bench
an wiped dust from the glass, you said, Look,
I charm the great dark bird from the sky,
I wear a tie and hold your mother at the waist,
I am this perfect hand of cards.
When I pulled the calendar from the wall
and rubbed my grubby fingers across your script,
you said, See the price of lambs last year,
get a nickel better. The battery in the Ford should last
until you're fourteen. For the best meat,
drop a doe after the first frost.
And when I snuck
into mother's lonely room of rumpled sheets, opened
the yellow envelope, and touched to my lips
your clipped black lock, you said,
I have left you.
-------------------------
Joe Wilkins was raised on the high plains of eastern Montana and now lives in northern Iowa. His poems, essays, and stories have appeared in The Georgia Review, The Southern Review, Harvard Review, Ecotone, The Sun Orion, and Slate, among other magazines and literary journals. "The Voice of the Father" was published in his 2012 collection of poems, Notes from the Journey Westward.
to the fields, or pulled the bloody slip
of a lamb into the world,
I wandered the house,
studying motes of dust brought to life
by sunlight. I was looking for you.
And though you were near—
in the picture on the piano, in the looping
scrawl on your old calendar, in that finger's width
of black hair tucked in an envelope
by mother's bed—I never found you,
never opened the door
that led to the cool room where you knelt
with your rag, where the polished wood of rifles
gleamed and the soap smell of oil
laddered the air.
Yet you spoke to me.
When I climbed the piano bench
an wiped dust from the glass, you said, Look,
I charm the great dark bird from the sky,
I wear a tie and hold your mother at the waist,
I am this perfect hand of cards.
When I pulled the calendar from the wall
and rubbed my grubby fingers across your script,
you said, See the price of lambs last year,
get a nickel better. The battery in the Ford should last
until you're fourteen. For the best meat,
drop a doe after the first frost.
And when I snuck
into mother's lonely room of rumpled sheets, opened
the yellow envelope, and touched to my lips
your clipped black lock, you said,
I have left you.
-------------------------
Joe Wilkins was raised on the high plains of eastern Montana and now lives in northern Iowa. His poems, essays, and stories have appeared in The Georgia Review, The Southern Review, Harvard Review, Ecotone, The Sun Orion, and Slate, among other magazines and literary journals. "The Voice of the Father" was published in his 2012 collection of poems, Notes from the Journey Westward.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
An Interview with Russell Rowland
High and Inside documents with stark clarity one man’s struggle with the dark side of fame, as well as his internal battles with alcoholism and a crumbling sense of self-identity. A community of people who love him and a generous inheritance aren’t enough to counterbalance Pete’s apparent determination to sabotage every healthy aspect of his life. It’s a downward spiral that won’t end until he’s forced to confront not only his own ugly past but his unfulfilled future as well.
With wit and compassion, sharp humor and startling insight, author Russell Rowland gives us not only a portrait of fame and addiction, but also an indispensable glimpse into the character of the modern West.
Find out more about Russell Rowland and listen to the program online, on the radio.
- Thursday, June 13 at 7:30 p.m. on Montana Public Radio
- Thursday, June 13 at 6:30 p.m. on Yellowstone Public Radio
- Sunday, June 16 at 3 p.m. on KSJD
- Sunday, June 16 at 6 p.m. on Spokane Public Radio
- MTPR podcast
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Young Adult Book Review: 'Eleanor & Park' by Rainbow Rowell
St. Martin's Griffin, 2013
“He'd stop trying to bring her back,” is the first line of this second novel by Rainbow Rowell. We soon learn that “he” is Park, a sixteen-year old half-Asian boy who used to be friends with some of the popular kids on the bus and now mostly tries to lay low and stay out of their way.
And "she" is Eleanor – the new kid in school, with wild matted red hair and crazy clothes with patches and eccentric accessories, who doesn't even make any effort to try and fit in. She's new at school and, by the time she arrives, all of the seats on the bus are taken.
She stands uncertainly in the aisle until Park takes pity on her and tells her (in a not-very-nice way) to sit down next to him. For a long time, they don't look or speak to each other at all. But one day, Park notices that Eleanor is reading his comic books over his shoulder, and a tentative friendship gradually develops.
The foreboding of the opening sentence of the novel hangs over the reader's head as we slowly fall in love with Park - the son of an all-American Vietnam veteran and his Korean hairstylist wife, and Eleanor - who lives in abject poverty and fear of her abusive step-father. And Eleanor and Park fall in love with each other.
The story takes place in the eighties, so Park and Eleanor share cassette tapes and listen to punk rock. But today's teens will have no trouble identifying with the intense feelings they develop for one another, and will unfortunately recognize some of the incidents of cruelty that Eleanor suffers at the hands of her peers as well.
If this book were a movie, it would be rated R for language, violence, and sex. But the tenderness of the love between the two protagonists, provides a stubborn sense of hope, against a backdrop of impending doom. I won't give away the ending. But I can almost guarantee that mature teen readers will love this book (and its quirky characters) as much as I did.
_______________________________________________________________
Rainbow Rowell lives in Omaha Nebraska, with her husband and two sons. She's also the author of Attachments. Visit her web site at www.rainbowrowell.com.
_______________________________________________________________
Renée Vaillancourt McGrath has worked at Montana Public Radio as a program host since 2002. Her background is in librarianship and she currently works as a freelance editor, blogger, and website developer. Check out more of her book reviews at reneesreads.com.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Monday Poems: "Gathering Mint" -- by Laurie Wagner Buyer
He woke quiet, ate potatoes and eggs
sitting alone on a cottonwood stump in the sun.
At noon he took a rifle, burlap bag, and handful
of dried apples,
saddled the glass-eyed gelding, corralled
the wayward mare,
whistled one long high note for the hound
and was gone.
It was late the first summer, river running
low, meadow grass tassels paled by wind.
I weeded the garden one faded row at a time
while the goats lazed in barn shade
and the mare paced,
nickering again and again.
He returned at dusk, drunk on solitude, singing
in time with the gelding's rocky trot,
moccasined feet wet with mud,
the burlap bag he tossed me
stuffed full of mint
from the beaver slough.
--------------------------------------------------
Laurie Wagner Buyer's freelance articles and photographs have appeared in dozens
of reviews, periodicals, journals, and anthologies. She is the author of
seven collections of poetry, Glass-eyed Paint in the Rain, Red Colt
Canyon, Across the High Divide, Cinch Up Your Saddle, Infinite
Possibilities: A Haiku Journal, Accidental Voices, and Reluctant Traveler; a novel based on a true story Side Canyons; two memoirs, Spring’s Edge: A Ranch Wife’s Chronicles and When I Came West; and an e-book guide of self-editing tips Working with Words.
Laurie has received the Beryl Markham Prize for Creative Nonfiction, the Western Writer’s of America Spur Award in Poetry, has twice been named a finalist for the Colorado Book Award and for the Women Writing the West Willa Cather Literary Award. She also received the 2010 ForeWord Review Book of the Year Award Honorable Mention for When I Came West.
"Gathering Mint" was published in Graining the Mare: The Poetry of Ranch Women.
sitting alone on a cottonwood stump in the sun.
At noon he took a rifle, burlap bag, and handful
of dried apples,
saddled the glass-eyed gelding, corralled
the wayward mare,
whistled one long high note for the hound
and was gone.
It was late the first summer, river running
low, meadow grass tassels paled by wind.
I weeded the garden one faded row at a time
while the goats lazed in barn shade
and the mare paced,
nickering again and again.
He returned at dusk, drunk on solitude, singing
in time with the gelding's rocky trot,
moccasined feet wet with mud,
the burlap bag he tossed me
stuffed full of mint
from the beaver slough.
--------------------------------------------------
Laurie has received the Beryl Markham Prize for Creative Nonfiction, the Western Writer’s of America Spur Award in Poetry, has twice been named a finalist for the Colorado Book Award and for the Women Writing the West Willa Cather Literary Award. She also received the 2010 ForeWord Review Book of the Year Award Honorable Mention for When I Came West.
"Gathering Mint" was published in Graining the Mare: The Poetry of Ranch Women.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Jo Deurbrouck, author of 'Anything Worth Doing
Clancy’s motto, ‘Anything worth doing is worth overdoing,’ leads them into a decade of beautiful — and beautifully strange — river adventures. Then, on June 8, 1996, in pursuit of a 24-hour speed record they intend to share only with a handful of friends, the men launch Clancy’s handmade dory, his proudest possession, onto Idaho’s renowned Salmon River at peak flood of an extreme high water year. This time the odds catch up with them.
Anything Worth Doing is a 2012 National Outdoor Book Award winner.
Find out more about Jo Deurbrock and listen to the program, on the radio or online.
- Thursday, June 6 at 7:30 p.m. on Montana Public Radio
- Thursday, June 6 at 6:30 p.m. on Yellowstone Public Radio
- Sunday, June 9 at 3 p.m. on KSJD
- Sunday, June 9 at 6 p.m. on Spokane Public Radio
- MTPR podcast
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Children's Book Review: 'Giddy-Up Daddy!' by Troy Cummings
written and illustrated by Troy Cummings
Random House, 2013
The dad in this story is really good at playing horsey... so good that when he is practicing jumps in the backyard, he is captured by horse rustlers!
The kids follow his footprints to a rodeo, where their dad catches sight of them and they hop onto his back. They ride the horse-dad right out of the rodeo and into a circus tent with the rustlers hot on their heels. They flee the circus, through a polo field, around the track at the Kentucky Derby and right into the wilds of Canada.
There, the children show their true identities as Canadian Mounties and capture the rustlers. They are celebrated in a huge parade featuring characters from all of the other scenes they have passed through on their chase.
The illustrations have a cartoony-clownish look which is appropriate to the over-the-top plot and non-stop action of the story. The first grade class I shared this with enjoyed the book, although it was a little long to sustain their attention. It may appeal more to the slightly older elementary crowd who will recognize the style of humor and design inspiration from cartoons such as Phineas and Ferb.
Perhaps the best part of the story is the clever ending, in which the children and their father return home to their mother who is waiting with open arms...
"Who wants an airplane ride?" she asked. The mom was pretty good at airplane rides. Seriously, she was the best.And on the very edge of the back end page is depicted the end of the mother's legs and feet, against a backdrop of sky.
_______________________________________________________________
Troy Cummings has been chomping at the bit to write this story ever since his two kids jumped on his back and started making horsey sounds. His illustrations have been featured in newspapers, magazines, card games, Humane Society newsletters, and an opera. Giddy-Up Daddy! is Troy's second picture book. You can see more of his work at trox5.com.
_______________________________________________________________
Renée Vaillancourt McGrath has worked at Montana Public Radio as a program host since 2002. Her background is in librarianship and she currently works as a freelance editor, blogger, and website developer. Check out more of her book reviews at reneesreads.com.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Monday Poems: "Sisyphus Bee" -- by Robert Wrigley
I couldn't help it, I nearly fell asleep
on the grass in front of the tulips,
but lying there seemed to be
the best angle from which to see
and study the way the bee
worked from red lip to lip,
his legs by the third filled up
and by the fourth so heavy he
fell from the blossom onto me,
and I let him rest easy
for a while, though he slipped
on my belly hair and sipped
at a drop of sweat, maybe--
he was, it seemed, so thirsty --
then walked the half-length of me,
or of my torso at least, a trip
that cost him each step
a milligram of the load we
both knew was his goal and misery,
and how it was he'd come to be,
of all unflowery places, on me,
though in the sun I could also see
his long trail up my belly,
and the gold left behind each step,
before he flew, awkwardly,
to the next waiting tulip.
------------------------------------------------
Robert Wrigley has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Idaho Commission on the Arts. His poems have been widely anthologized, twice included in Best American Poetry, and featured on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac.
He has taught at Lewis-Clark State College, Warren Wilson College, the University of Oregon, the University of Montana, Warren College, and the University of Idaho. He lives in Idaho with his wife, the writer Kim Barnes.
"Sisyphus Bee" was published in Wrigley's 2010 collection Beautiful Country.
on the grass in front of the tulips,
but lying there seemed to be
the best angle from which to see
and study the way the bee
worked from red lip to lip,
his legs by the third filled up
and by the fourth so heavy he
fell from the blossom onto me,
and I let him rest easy
for a while, though he slipped
on my belly hair and sipped
at a drop of sweat, maybe--
he was, it seemed, so thirsty --
then walked the half-length of me,
or of my torso at least, a trip
that cost him each step
a milligram of the load we
both knew was his goal and misery,
and how it was he'd come to be,
of all unflowery places, on me,
though in the sun I could also see
his long trail up my belly,
and the gold left behind each step,
before he flew, awkwardly,
to the next waiting tulip.
------------------------------------------------
Robert Wrigley has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Idaho Commission on the Arts. His poems have been widely anthologized, twice included in Best American Poetry, and featured on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac.
He has taught at Lewis-Clark State College, Warren Wilson College, the University of Oregon, the University of Montana, Warren College, and the University of Idaho. He lives in Idaho with his wife, the writer Kim Barnes.
"Sisyphus Bee" was published in Wrigley's 2010 collection Beautiful Country.
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