For Immediate Release

Looking for a Prince: a collection of senryu and kyoka by Alexis Rotella, Published by Modern English Tanka Press

Looking for a Prince: a collection of senryu and kyoka by Alexis Rotella has been published by Modern English Tanka Press in a trade paperback second edition. In this classic collection, "With just a few words, Alexis Rotella catches life’s revealing moments with an insight and depth that the movies—if they were able—would take millions of dollars and the talents of hundreds to capture. Some of her poems throw off stars like a wand in a Disney cartoon, drawing pictures of the Cinderellas of this world as they try to balance their romantic dreams with reality. Others lay bare, as in a Capra comedy, the foibles of all kinds of people, .... She can create darker moods, too, reaching out a hand to open the curtain on psychological dramas of silence and repression like those found in Bergman. Or she may direct a love scene with such a bittersweet mixture of emotion and humor it rivals one of Chaplin’s. She opens our eyes to nature, too, with the kind of love of rain and sunlight that stains with beauty the films of a Kurosawa. You may even find a few Hitchcockian mysteries!" —Cor van den Heuvel

Baltimore, Maryland – September 7, 2008 – Looking for a Prince: a collection of senryu and kyoka by Alexis Rotella, has been published in a second, revised edition in trade paperback by Modern English Tanka Press. This classic collection had been too long out of print and Modern English Tanka Press is proud to be make it available to Rotella fans and the whole reading public once again.

"Alexis Rotella’s work reflects the wide spectrum of the Creation itself—glowing with the special light of art. With just a few words, she catches life’s revealing moments with an insight and depth that the movies—if they were able—would take millions of dollars and the talents of hundreds to capture. Some of her poems throw off stars like a wand in a Disney cartoon, drawing pictures of the Cinderellas of this world as they try to balance their romantic dreams with reality. Others lay bare, as in a Capra comedy, the foibles of all kinds of people, from heart-surgeons to innkeepers, from upper-class matrons to feminists. She can create darker moods, too, reaching out a hand to open the curtain on psychological dramas of silence and repression like those found in Bergman. Or she may direct a love scene with such a bittersweet mixture of emotion and humor it rivals one of Chaplin’s. She opens our eyes to nature, too, with the kind of love of rain and sunlight that stains with beauty the films of a Kurosawa. You may even find a few Hitchcockian mysteries!" —Cor van den Heuvel, Editor, The Haiku Anthology (Simon and Schuster)

"Alexis Rotella uses a paintbrush most of us think is a song and calls in the invisible scents we're all trying to see instead of feel.’ — HAIKU (The Art of the Short Poem), Tazuo Yamaguchi, Brooks Books, Decatur, Illinois, 2008

Alexis Rotella served as President of the Haiku Society of America (Japan House) in 1984 and edited Frogpond , Brussels Sprout and The Persimmon Tree. Her haiku, senryu and tanka have won many awards and recognition. Her work appears in numerous anthologies including Global Haiku (Twenty-five Poets World-wide), George Swede and Randy Brooks, Mosaic Press; How to Haiku, Haiku Moment, both by Bruce Ross, Tuttle; Beneath a Single Moon (Buddhism in Contemporary American Poetry), Johnson and Paulenich, Shambhala; The Haiku Anthology 3^rd ed., Cor van den Heuvel, Norton; Haiku I (Poesies Anciennes et Modernes) Jackie Hardy, Editions Vega; Haiku for Lovers, Manu Bazzano (MQP); Czeslaw Milosz/ HAIKU (Krakow, Poland); Synesthesia in Haiku and Other Essays, Toshimi Horiuchi (University of Philippines Press) and Haiku in English, Hiroaki Sato (Simul Press, Japan).

Rotella’s longer work and Japanese related poems have appeared in hundreds of journals and magazines including The New York Times (Metropolitan Diary), Christian Science Monitor, Family Circle, Glamour, New Letters, The Paterson Literary Review , Chiron Review, Blue Mesa Review, The Madison Review, Lynx, Frogpond, Modern Haiku, Simply Haiku, Red Lights, and Bottle Rockets. Alexis is author of the poem Purple which appeared in numerous publications including Chicken Soup for the Soul and Love, Magic and Mudpies by Bernie Siegel, M.D. (Rodale Press). Alexis was the 2007 grand prize winner of the Kusmakura Haiku Competition where she traveled to Kumamoto, Japan for the awards ceremony. Rosenberry Books recently published A SPRINKLE OF GLITTER (one liners). They will republish Alexis' ASK!, aphorisms and zen drawings, as well as an illustrated volume of PURPLE (A Parable). Alexis Rotella maintains a personal blog at www.alexisrotella.com. She lives in Arnold, Maryland where she is a practitioner of Oriental Medicine.

For media inquiries or to arrange an interview with the author, contact Alexis Rotella by e-mail at rengagirl@yahoo.com. Publisher information at: www.modernenglishtankapress.com 

This book is available from www.Lulu.com/modernenglishtanka , from major booksellers, and from the publisher. Complete information and a mail or email order form are available online at www.modernenglishtankapress.com . Price: $11.95 USD. ISBN 978-0-9817691-5-8. Trade paperback. 124 pages, 6.00" x 9.00", perfect binding, 60# cream interior paper, black and white interior ink, 100# exterior paper, full-color exterior ink.

Modern English Tanka Press is an independent equity publishing house in Baltimore, Maryland, dedicated to producing books and periodicals of lasting literary value, especially poetry. A family business, we treat our customers and partners in publishing like family. We use modern print-on-demand production and distribution methods. Our special mission is to promote the tanka form of poetry and to educate newcomers about this most ancient poetic form. We operate www.TankaCentral.com, the internet megasite for tanka, with its popular "Tanka News" blog, and the poetry web hub, www.ShortVerse.com.

Contact:

Denis M. Garrison, owner
Modern English Tanka Press
443-802-1249
Email to dmg@themetpress.com
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www.shortverse.com www.tankacentral.com  www.tankanews.com  www.modernhaiga.com  

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