WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4 11:30-12:45 | Website session: Rod Torreson with students, Thru the 3rd Eye; David Cope on professional websites and use of online sources. Location: 108 Sneden Exploration of Thru the 3rd Eye, Rod Torreson’s laureate project with students and former students: the website as a way of making connections, developing interviewing and review […]
This compelling collaboration began in 2006 when award-winning poet Linda Nemec Foster first viewed the work of photographer Jacko Vassilev. His portfolio, “The Dance of Zlatio Zlatev,” appeared in Harper’s Magazine and gave visual testimony to the impoverished and marginalized people of Eastern Europe. Vassilev’s haunting portraits inspired Foster to write a sequence of poems, […]
Writers block doesn’t scare Linda Nemec Foster–she’s always writing. As Grand Rapids’ first poet laureate, from 2003 to 2005, her literary oven is always cooking, although she hesitates to talk about the projects that are still in the works. “I’m superstitious. If I talk too much about a project when it’s still in the hopper, […]
On Monday, April 2, another first for Grand Rapids occurs when Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) hosts The Grand Rapids Poets’ Conference: A Celebration of Grand Rapids Poetry. The four-day event is set with panel discussions, seminars and learning sessions at 108 Sneden Hall during the day, and evening readings on the second floor of […]
Found Poem: 35 Years Later, The English Professor Tries to Change My Grade Dear Ms. Nemec Foster: As I clean and clear my office for someone new to occupy, I think how the years have gotten away from me. I think how long it has taken me to write this letter, even though I suspect […]
A review of Talking Diamonds, Linda Nemec Foster’s new collection of poems.
Talking Diamonds proves to be a fitting title for Linda Nemec Foster’s latest collection of poetry as the poems within sparkle with brilliance. Honored as a finalist in ForeWord Magazine’s 2010 Book of the Year Award in Poetry, Talking Diamonds is arguably Foster’s strongest collection yet — quite a feat for Grand Rapids’ former poet laureate, who adds this, her ninth collection of poems, to her lengthy list of literary accomplishments.
Featuring a sprouting amaryllis bulb, a handful of seashells, and a holy card of the Virgin and Child—all bathed in red—the cover of Talking Diamonds sets the tone for the many somber poems in this, Foster’s ninth collection. Other books by Foster, who was named the first poet laureate of Grand Rapids in 2003, include Amber Necklace from Gdansk and Ten Songs from Bulgaria.
The Michigan Poet distributes poetry from major Michigan based poets to: 1) Highlight the “backyard” talent of contemporary poets, and 2) Use poetry as a means of developing deep, unique cultural identities that have formerly suffered under commercial and industrial economic emphasis. Starting in February 2010, it has published monthly broadsides featuring one poem and distributed copies […]
I first became acquainted with Cervena Barva Press through Kevin Gallagher, an author from my own press, who sent me a copy of his Cervena Barva chapbook Isolate Flecks. One of the great things about being an editor of a small press without an editorial hierarchy is that one is the sole arbiter of what […]