Edward Byrne - edwardbyrne

VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW

Volume XIII, Number 1
Fall/Winter 2011-20112

Contents:

Featured Poet: Ned Balbo

Additional Poets: David B. Axelrod, Lisa Barnett, Michael Bazzett, Philip Belcher, Deborah Bogen, Karina Borowicz, Sarah Busse, Jared Carter, Joanne M. Clarkson, Carol V. Davis, Susan Donnelly, William Ford, Rebecca Foust, Ron Houchin, Bethany Schultz Hurst, Marci Rae Johnson, Greg Keeler, Stephen Lackaye, Sandy Longhorn, Sheryl Luna, Mary Makofske, John A. Nieves, Edward Nudelman, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, William Page, Rita Signorelli-Pappas, Ricardo Pau-Llosa, Allan Peterson, Doug Ramspeck, Liz Robbins, Brian Simoneau, Joannie Stangeland, Jeanine Stevens, Robin Tung, Shari Wagner

Reviews: Ned Balbo Reviewed by Angela Alaimo O’Donnell; Martha Silano Reviewed by Barbara Crooker; Alison Stine Reviewed by Nick Ripatrazone; Larry D. Thomas Reviewed by Jeffrey Alfier; David Orr Reviewed by Edward Byrne

Cover Art Commentary: Gregg Hertzlieb on Jim Dine’s Rancho Woodcut Art

Recently Received and Recommended Books

In May, I announced the launch of a new literary journal, Valparaiso Fiction Review, for which I am serving as a co-editor alongside Jonathan Bull. This semi-annual online magazine has been established to feature works of short fiction by new, emerging, and established authors, and it might be seen as a sister publication to Valparaiso Poetry Review. Once again, I am honored to state that Valparaiso Fiction Review, like VPR, will be published in association with Valparaiso University and its Department of English.

At the time of my announcement last spring, I presented a call for submissions to be considered for the debut issue of Valparaiso Fiction Review, which is scheduled for release in the beginning of December. I am delighted to report the response during the summer months since that message was posted has exceeded expectations, and I can offer my belief that contents in the initial issue of Valparaiso Fiction Review will be outstanding contributions to anyone's reading list of contemporary short stories. Indeed, I feel readers will also discover the premiere of VFR to be a valuable addition to the community of literary journals.

Consequently, I am pleased to note that Valparaiso Fiction Review is now reading manuscripts of short fiction for its spring issue, which is scheduled for publication in May of 2012. All pending manuscripts currently on hand will be considered for the spring issue. In addition, I invite readers of this blog to submit work for the upcoming issue, and I urge everyone to spread the word about this new venue for the publication of short stories. Guidelines for submission to Valparaiso Fiction Review are located at the following:

http://scholar.valpo.edu/vfr/

I also remind all that Valparaiso Fiction Review has its own address on Facebook. I invite everyone to visit the VFR Facebook page and click on the “like” icon to express support for this new literary journal:
http://www.facebook.com/valparaisofictionreview

I am pleased to report that on August 1st the State of Indiana announced finalists for the annual “Best Books of Indiana” competition sponsored by the Indiana Center for the Book, supported by the Indiana State Library, and the three finalists in the poetry category are as follows:

Poetry from Paradise Valley edited by Edward Byrne (Pecan Grove Press)

Seeded Light by Edward Byrne (Turning Point Books)

Shadows Set in Concrete by J.L. Kato (Restoration Press)

I am grateful that two of my volumes have been chosen, and I am particularly pleased Pecan Grove Press and Turning Point Books are included in the recognition. I wish to express my appreciation to the editors for both of those presses. In addition, I salute all the authors whose works were included in the anthology of poems selected from Valparaiso Poetry Review.  I am also delighted to have my books named alongside J.L. Kato’s fine poetry.

A description at the government web page revealing the finalists for “Best Books of Indiana”—which are separated into four categories: Children/Young Adult, Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry— declares that “the Best Books of Indiana contest was created to honor Indiana's long and illustrious literary heritage and recognize Hoosier authors.” I am elated to have my work considered.

I am pleased to announce the launch of a new literary journal, Valparaiso Fiction Review, for which I will be serving as a co-editor alongside Jonathan Bull. This semi-annual online magazine will feature works of short fiction by new, emerging, and established authors. We are currently considering work for the debut issue of Valparaiso Fiction Review, scheduled for publication in the fall.

I am honored that VFR will be published in association with Valparaiso University and its Department of English. I invite readers to consider submitting, and I urge everyone to spread the word about this new venue for the publication of short fiction.

Valparaiso Fiction Review is located at the following:

http://scholar.valpo.edu/vfr/

TINTED DISTANCES by Edward Byrne (Turning Point Books, 2011) ISBN: 978-1936370337. The poems of Edward Byrne’s TINTED DISTANCES strongly inhabit the world, even as they meditate on how that world is perceived in art and memory.

No matter where Edward Byrne angles the lens of the lyric—on the natural world, other artistic mediums, or language itself—each image in his beautiful new collection TINTED DISTANCES is “as accurate as the slit / a sculptor could chisel out of granite.” Balancing with deft precision the immediate and intimate with the cultural and historical, Byrne’s masterfully honed poems offer us the “clarity of fresh footprints” and the “new blueprint above, / that far bright pattern of fixed stars.”  TINTED DISTANCES is the achievement of a wise and discerning poet.

—Claudia Emerson

By taking on the rigors of the couplet, Edward Byrne manages by bracing counterpoint to draw into focus the minute particulars of the world both around and within him. There aren’t many collections of poetry for which the terms loving, open-hearted, and humane apply, but TINTED DISTANCES is one such collection. After reading it, I felt I understood a little better Chekhov’s belief that art exists to prepare the soul for tenderness. And what more could one ask poetry to do? This is a wonderful book, one that readers will return to again and again.     

—Sherod Santos

Edward Byrne’s TINTED DISTANCES is a tender meditation that reveals a careful eye and steady devotion to elegy and ode—gentle illuminations on the landscape and people dear to this poet’s heart.

—Dorianne Laux