Blue Night & the inadequacy of long-stemmed roses by Larry Kimmel Published by Modern English Tanka Press

Blue Night & the inadequacy of long-stemmed roses by Larry Kimmel brings his unique blend of east-west aesthetics into full fruition with various short poems, including free verse, tanka, free-verse tanka, tanka sequences, haiku, and other fusions of Asian and American poetry. This is a collection to be read over, from different angles and in different lights. It is well worth the read.

Baltimore, Maryland – March 15, 2009 – Blue Night & the inadequacy of long-stemmed roses, Second Edition with The Temperature of Love, by Larry Kimmel has been published in hard cover and trade paperback editions by Modern English Tanka Press. In Blue Night & the inadequacy of long-stemmed roses (two books in one, as the title implies), Larry Kimmel brings his unique blend of east-west aesthetics into full fruition. Here are to be found various short poems, including free verse, tanka, free-verse tanka, tanka sequences, haiku, and other fusions of Asian and American poetry. Kimmel has always displayed a wide range of subject matter using all five senses in his highly imagistic style, but here we find, for the first time, a lightly suggested metaphysics, somewhat reminiscent of Cid Corman. While Blue Night is a wonderfully woven tapestry of variety, complexity and unity, the second of the two books, the inadequacy of long-stemmed roses, is a collage of cherita. The cherita is a recent assimilation of the haiku and tanka techniques brought into an English-language short verse form. Kimmel has made the cherita his own, using it both as a nano-narrative and lyrical vehicle. Always a restless experimenter, Kimmel is certainly the prime mover and definitive master of the cherita. Added to this collection is The Temperature of Love, a free verse sequence hinting at a disquieted mind that finds an uneasy, sometimes resolution. All told, this second edition of Blue Night & the inadequacy of long-stemmed roses is a fascinating journey into the mind-scape of a poet, one who is acquainted with the night in all its cosmic ramifications.

"Blue Night & the inadequacy of long-stemmed roses is a master class in the prosody and expressive power of short poetry. Kimmel is a post-orientalist, able to draw on tanka, haiku, sijo and the balanced Chinese couplet whilst being beholden to none. His cherita collage likewise explores the margins between series and sequence, linkage and separation. This is fine writing, a long stride in the direction of a unified literature." —John Carley, renku poet and translator

"Blue Night ... is not a linear experience. The gimbal-eyed poet sees clearly in the clutter and mess of his reality. This is a collection to be read over, from different angles and in different lights. It is well worth the read." —Denis M. Garrison, from a review in Modern English Tanka journal

"concerning the inadequacy of long-stemmed roses: Kimmel is a writer and a poet I have time for. ... [discover] this author’s wide range of subject matter, his fine use of language, and more importantly, the way he allows the form to grow through him, delivering to us his personal truths." —ai li, editor of still, a journal of short verse

Larry Kimmel was born in 1940, in Johnstown, PA. He holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and Pittsburgh University, and has worked at everything from steel mills to libraries. Now self-employed, he lives with his wife in the hills of western Massachusetts. Other books by Larry Kimmel include: Betrayal On Maple Street (short stories), A Kind of Knowing (conversations with spiritual healer, Floyd McAuslan), As Far As Thought Can Reach (mini-essays), the necessary fly: new & selected haiku 1995–2006, a river years from here: haibun & poems, A Small Silent Ordeal (novel), and this hunger, tissue-thin (poems).

For media inquiries or to arrange an interview with the author, contact Larry Kimmel by e-mail at winfred@crocker.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. Trade paperback: $12.95 USD. ISBN 978-1-935398-02-8. 132 pages, 6.00" x 9.00", perfect binding. Hard cover edition with dust jacket $25.95 USD. ISBN 978-1-935398-03-5.

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
www.modernenglishtankapress.com www.modernenglishtanka.com  www.atlaspoetica.com
www.shortverse.com www.tankacentral.com  www.tankanews.com  www.modernhaiga.com  

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