Here we are…the most wonderful time of year. Or so said Edward Pola and George Wyle, who, in 1963, wrote the song with the same title for the Andy Williams Christmas Special.
But we, poets that we are, have found ourselves interrogating that declaration. We’d like it to be true, of course; but the ongoing war in Ukraine and the ongoing war in Gaza and constant breaking news—none of it is wonderful.
And we, the humans that we are, have asked ourselves how we can think of celebrating when so many people, here at home and abroad, are going through such horrible things.
And yet. Tonight is the fourth night of Hanukkah, the annual Jewish celebration that coincides with the winter solstice, in which a new candle is lit on the menorah each night to bring in the light. A literal making of light in this world that, so often, is so very dark.
And still. We look back on the past year and see so much light in our tiny corner of the world. The poetry we’ve read. The conversations we’ve hosted. The poets we’ve come to know. And we are grateful for each one. We are grateful for you.
We’ll be taking the rest of December to find our light—with our families, with poems, with traditions, with quiet time and relaxation. And we’ll be back in January with a class from Jessica Johnson (!!!) and new announcements about In Conversation events and upcoming classes.
Don’t forget to read all the way to the bottom, where we ask you if you want to teach—or if you know someone who does. Along the same lines, if there is a poet (or poets) that you’d love to suggest for an In Conversation event, we’d love to hear that too! Feel free to reach out anytime at info@thenotebookscollective.com.
Allison Adair, poetry editor of A Mighty Blaze, continues to host Poets in Conversation, most recently Tishani Doshi and Zeina Hashem Beck.
Kathleen Aguero will read with Julia Lisella, at Gibson’s Bookstore, 45 South Main St.,Concord, NH, on Wed Mar 15, 2023, 4:30-6pm as part of the Poetry Society of New Hampshire’s reading series.
Kathleen Aguero and Eileen Cleary will read in person with Jeanette de Beauvoir and Krysten Hill on Saturday, March 11 at 2 pm at Bread & Roses Bookstore & Café as part of the Voices of Poetry Reading Series.
Ellen Austin-Li‘s poem “Mountain Song for My Nephew” was published in the Summer 2022 issue of Lily Poetry Review.
So let’s talk about my week instead. I spent it with Anne-Marie Oomen’s newest memoir in essays, As Long As I Know You: The Mom Book, winner of the Sue Silverman Prize for Creative Nonfiction. It was my companion as I sipped my first cup of coffee on weekday mornings, my lunch date on Saturday, and my break at work, between meetings and desk shifts. It made me smile. It made me cry. It reminded me that good memoirs are built from tight yet breathable essays, that essays are constructed from paragraphs weaved together to tell a bigger story, and that paragraphs don’t sing without exquisitely written sentences. And, even if someone accomplishes all of that with technical skill, a good memoir in essays needs an invisible scaffolding: lacework of deep thinking and a willingness to be vulnerable, to show our bruises, to face ourselves in the most unflattering light without being so focused on the I that we exclude the reader from the truths we’re trying to share.
The Event
Please enjoy this in conversation with Anne-Marie Oomen & Patricia Ann McNair:
When we started thinking about forming an online literary community, one of the things we talked about was that word: community. What does it mean to us, and what do we hope to accomplish?
There is no us without the friends and colleagues who trust us enough to hold their book launches or read from their work or join in conversation with another creative.
And we want to celebrate past contributors, supporters, and friends as they publish new work, win awards, and otherwise continue to do what matters to us all: the work.
So, please, check this space each month for updates from the incredibly talented people we get to work with and celebrate with us by sharing their successes on social media or reaching out to tell them what you love about their work!
José Angel Araguz‘s lyric memoir, Ruin and Want, was the winning selection of Sundress Publications’ 2022 Prose Open Reading Period. The memoir is scheduled for release in 2023. José also published two poems, “On Touch” and “Listening,” in the journal Talking Writing; the poem “Pen” in The Shore, “Mexican” in Thrush Poetry Journal, and “Certain Rivers,” “Conditioning (City Study),” and “Four Dirges” in Poetry is Currency. He wrote a blog post titled “Finding Your People” for Grubstreet and, as editor of Salamander, published the magazine’s 53rd issue.
Ellen Austin-Li published several poems: “The Rainstorm” was published in the August issue of Anti-Heroin Chic; “Anam Cara” was published in Sheila-Na-Gig; “Wound City Diptych” was published in Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices; “In Which Little Red Riding Hood Learns a Lesson” was published in the spring 2022 issue of Words, the literary arts magazine of Thomas More University; “House of Trees” and “The Katsura at 4249,” will be in Poetry Contests for a Cause’s anthology Whispering Willow: Tree Poems, with book proceeds to benefit the Arbor Day Foundation; “Spring Morning at Bryce Canyon” and “The Miracle Between My Mother and Me” were published in The Well as part of its “Mindful Poetry Moments” in conjunction with NPR’s “The On-Being Project;” “Incidental Pollen,” “Monarch,” and “Magicicada, 2021” were published in Stone Canoe, issue 16; “Visible Woman” was published in the March issue of Masque & Spectacle; “Found Poem of War” was published in New Verse News in March; “If a Woman’s Eggs Had No Expiration Date,” “Means Freedom in Hebrew,” “At Home in the World,” and “To Save My Sister from Drowning” were published in Pink Panther Magazine.
M. Soledad Caballero‘s collection I Was a Bell won a gold medal in the Juan Felipe Herrera Best Poetry Book Award from the International Latino Book Awards and was a Silver Winner in the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Book Award. Her poem, “Someday I Will Visit Hawk Mountain, was featured in the podcast Poetry Unbound from OnBeing.
Eileen Cleary published the Summer 2022 volume of The Lily Poetry Review (Volume 8). She also interviewed Robbie Gamble about his poetry chapbook A Can of Pinto Beans for the spring 2022 issue of Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices.
Daniel B. Summerhill was named a Baldwin Fellow for the 2022-23 Baldwin For the Arts Residency. His poem “Pimu” was published in Tikkun, and he was commissioned by The Wall Street Journal to write a poem (“In Praise of Floating“) for its section “An Ode to the Home Office and 5 More Poems About Life in 2022.” Daniel will also be a featured poet at this year’s Dodge Poetry Festival.
Co-founder and director Lisa Allen‘s poem “Bragging Rights” was published by Anti-Heroin Chic; her poem “And Now That I Am 51” was published by The Normal School; and her poem “Prolapse: Etymology” was published by South 85 Journal and nominated for the Best of the Net anthology.
Co-founder and director Rebecca Connors‘ poem “Womb Weary” was published in the April issue of Anti-Heroin Chic.
Does anyone else have a love/hate relationship with this month? It’s not that we don’t love it. We do. But….to love September requires a willingness to roll with things, to embrace the uncertain. Sure, it’s partly the weather: (some) mornings require a sweater but afternoons can creep back up into sweltering temps. Our air conditioners are confused, at least here in Kansas!
Even so, there’s something wonderful about this month. Thoughts of new school supplies (fun new notebooks & journals to try!), the beginning of classes, and the promise that leaves will soon begin to turn and drop are all welcome signs that the world keeps turning, despite it all.
We’re feeling that renewed fervor here at The Notebooks Collective, too, and we’re giddy to share our list of upcoming events and plans.
In the meantime, tell us what you’re reading and writing! We’d also love to know what you’re listening to. Is there a podcast you love? A playlist? Hook us up!
In Conversation: Anne-Marie Oomen and Patricia Ann McNair
In Conversation: Anne-Marie Oomen & Patricia Ann McNair
Join us for the virtual book launch of Anne-Marie Oomen’s new book, As Long as I Know You: The Mom Book. Published by University of Georgia Press, this book was selected by Aimee Nezhukumatathil for the Sue William Silverman Prize for Creative Nonfiction. Anne-Marie will be in conversation with Patricia Ann McNair, author (most recently) of Responsible Adults.
Anne-Marie and Patricia are longtime friends who have supported one another throughout their respective writing careers. This event will be a celebration of Anne-Marie’s newest memoir, but it will also be a conversation between working creatives who have written their way through life and all its iterations. We are certain you don’t want to miss it! RSVP here.
September Write-Together
Please join us at our next community gathering — the September Write-Together. We will meet, say hello and set intentions, and then get to work! Set aside some time for your work — join us! If you can’t make it on the 15th, we’ll have another on October 11th.
Other Notes
This month we are revisiting one of our first events: the launch of Randall Horton’s newest memoir, Dead Weight: A Memoir in Essays. Randall and event moderator Ashley M. Johnson talked, via email, about the questions Ashley had for the launch, but we didn’t have time to include.
One always wonders which story to tell, which narrative to give when an adequate explanation of why you were locked up would really be complicated.
One of the first events we hosted was the launch of Randall Horton’s newest memoir, Dead Weight: A Memoir in Essays. We were honored to be asked to host; we were also giddy to have a front row seat to Randall’s reading, and nervous that somehow we’d not do Randall–or his work–justice. Turns out, when you put Randall in a room (virtual or otherwise), his voice will fill it and everyone will be glad they were there to hear it. The only regret we have is that time moves too quickly when Randall is reading and discussing his work. We wished for a few more hours together so our moderator, Ashley M. Johnson, could ask every question she’d prepared for Randall.
We don’t always get what we wish for, but in this case we have the next best thing: a conversation between Ashley and Randall, via email. This is only lightly edited in some places for organization or clarity, and, we hope, will be a welcome extension of the book launch event you can watch here. We hope you’ll buy his book, share his work, and help us extend a warm thank you to both Randall and Ashley for continuing the conversation.
Ashley M. Johnson (AJ): What were you after in this book? Can you share a question or idea that you were probing in the essays?
Randall Horton (RH): I’m trying to figure out what it all meant in terms of race, growing up in Birmingham, and then being consumed with the idea of selling drugs to the point that I actually believed that was a viable occupation.
AJ:What does dead weight signify and how did you choose the title?
RH: At its core, Dead Weight is about the memories that I carry that will never go away. They will forever be part of my memory process, of how I remember the past. Of course, there is a connection to after incarceration and being labeled an ex-felon and ex-convict, but it really is about those personal experiences that kinda haunt me. I tell people all the time, I didn’t go to prison for selling Girl Scout cookies.
AJ: You pose this rhetorical question: “How does a person negotiate the dead weight that attaches itself to the body after being discharged from prison?” Here’s what I want to ask you: How do you navigate or negotiate situations that require explanation of your past?
RH: I tend to be straight forward these days. I have learned over the years it’s best to get that stuff right out in the open, and then we go from there. I mean, it can be hard, of course. And, one always wonders which story to tell, which narrative to give when an adequate explanation of why you were locked up would really be complicated.
AJ:Randall, you talk about HBCUs, notably, Howard and Central State. This is the epiphany you share: “I am left with the terrible realization that the institutions I love so much are helping to perpetuate a troubling brand of blackness.”
I’m curious if you have you experienced or witnessed institutional hypocrisy at an HBCU? If so, does this create a moral dilemma, and what does it indicate (if anything) about redemption with the Black community? What’s the real HU?
RH: Well, of course, when I was rejected from both Howard and CSU, the hypocrisy was on full display, Here you have an institution that was founded on the premise of helping black people, and you are living in a time when young black men are being incarcerated at a higher clip than any other social group, and you have one that is trying to do better, and yet you shut him out the educational process. What other way can I look at it?
When I say the real HU, I mean the other Howard University. The one that loves below the surface of Between the World and Me.
One always wonders which story to tell, which narrative to give when an adequate explanation of why you were locked up would really be complicated.
Randall Horton
AJ: Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man inspired Elizabeth Cattlet’s statue by the same name. In Dead Weight, you have a conversation with Cattlet’s statue and name the figure Cutout Man (which is perfect because Cutout Man’s presence is defined by absence).
There’s a transition from operating underground with the “common element” within the narrative and adopting a more noticeable way of living. When people move in unorthodox ways, they usually do all they can to stay invisible.
Reading the book made me consider what it takes for the invisible (wo)man (a Cutout Man) to become visible. It makes me wonder: Have you ever felt in control of your visibility and then discovered that you were not? How do you go about (re)establishing your visibility? When did you realize that reappearing is not as easy as you thought it would be?
RH: Yes, when I was selling drugs for a while. I felt in control of my life, as weird as that may sound. I felt I was going against the grain of society. I was that so-called common element.
When I began my journey after prison, I realized I would have to fight for my visibility, that in order to be seen, I would have to work at it, and understand life will only give me the history I have made to learn from.
AJ:Erasure and reinvention are consistent themes in the memoir. Is there a difference between “erasure” and “reinvention” as the terms relate to self and place or idea?
RH: I think, at the core, they are theoretical twins, concepts driven by the ability to be seen and unseen on the scene. They both have to do with a reconfiguration of the body, and yet they both cancel each other out, feel me?
AJ:How do you shed the dead weight; can it ever truly be excised? What part of shedding the weight is tied directly to changing language and labels? Is jumping in front of the narrative helpful?
RH: I don’t know. I write and try to work it on the page. I think that is my therapy when it comes to this kind of weight. I do a lot of talks, and so when I am in front of an audience, I am always trying to educate others about my experiences and why these labels are dangerous.
When I got out of prison, I jumped in front of the narrative. I did not want to be known solely as the prison writer, so I did not write about my experience until I felt I wanted to go down that road. I was not going to travel that road until I was ready, not what the public demanded.
AJ: After this conversation, what term or language would you like us all to think about moving forward?
RH: I would love for us all to reimagine how we think and talk about those entangled in this constructed system of justice and punishment and understand language does matter. Period.
Hello and happy July! While we continue to watch the world unfold in infuriating and unsettling ways, we’re grateful for the reprieve that poetry—indeed, all good writing—brings. We’ve thought about how to reach out to you lately, especially via social media. It seems wrong, somehow, to promote events and books and writers when so many harrowing events are in the news. But we also know that joy is a form of protest and that now, more than ever, the world needs poets and poetry. So onward we go! We’re so glad you’re with us.
Poet Marcia Karp (top) and Poet George Kalogeris (bottom) discussing their work and their decades-long friendship.
If you missed June’s In Conversation event with Marcia Karp and George Kalogeris, we’ll have the recording up on our YouTube channel soon. We hope you’ll take the time to listen in on their reading and conversation. It was a lovely confluence of friendship, respect for each other’s work, and the importance of language in our everyday lives.
Marcia and George’s books are available for purchase here. We hope you’ll support these authors by purchasing their books!
July Write-Together
Please join us at our next community gathering — the July Write-Together. We will meet, say hello and set intentions, and then get to work! Set aside some time for your work — join us! If you can’t make it on the 16th, we’ll have a second July Write-Together on July 27th.
In Conversation: Jessica Cuello & Jan Beatty
Poets Jessica Cuello and Jan Beatty will join The Notebooks Collective on July 21, at 7:30 PM EST to read and discuss their work. Jessica’s most recent collection, Liar, was selected by Dorianne Laux for the 2020 Barrow Street Book Prize and was published in 2021. Jan’s seventh book, American Bastard, won the Red Hen Nonfiction Award, 2021. Her new chapbook, Skydog, was released in May, 2022, by Lefty Blondie Press. Purchase their books here.
We are thinking about our reading lists for The Sealey Challenge! We’re also excited to offer a class that will help you take a much-deserved deep breathe mid-August to both reflect on the challenge itself and help you develop strategies to jump-start your own writing, using what you’ve read during the challenge as inspiration.
“Fall in love with someone else’s work,” Meg Kearney told us. “It’s the best way to stave off the jealousy and that insidious belief that we do not belong.”
And how can we not fall in love with other people’s work when poets like Eileen Cleary and Allison Adair make the falling so easy? How can we not fall in love with Eileen’s clear and haunting images, her mastery of form? How can we not fall in love with Allison’s ability to find beauty in the dark, in her lush language?
I could go on and on, cite poems from these two poets that have kept me up and night and poems that have soothed me on difficult days. I could tell you how much I admire how they move in the world, how they champion other poets, how they continually put good work into the world and notice the same of others.
But mostly, I want you to take the time to listen to this conversation, because it is like being at the table with two generous and brilliant people. If you haven’t already, you will fall in love with their work.
Allison Adair’s debut collection, The Clearing, was selected by Henri Cole as winner of Milkweed’s Max Ritvo Poetry Prize and named a New York Times “New and Noteworthy” book. It is coming out in paperback on June 9th. Allison’s work has been honored with the Pushcart Prize, the Florida Review Editors’ Award, the Orlando Prize, a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant, and first place in the Fineline Competition from Mid-American Review. Originally from central Pennsylvania, Allison teaches at Boston College and Grub Street.
Eileen Cleary is the author of Child ward of the Commonwealth’(Main Street Rag Press, 2019), which received an honorable mention for the Sheila Margaret Motton Book Prize and 2 a.m. with Keats (Nixes Mate, 2021). In addition, she co-edited the anthology Voices Amidst the Virus, the featured text at the 2021 Michigan State University Filmetry Festival. Her poem “The Way We Fled” was recently anthologized in Tree Lines: 21st CenturyAmerican Poetry (Grayson Books, 2022.)
Hello and welcome to June! We’re in a bit of denial that we’ve hit 2022’s half-birthday; and since we’re honest, we’ll also admit that we’ve been on a teeter-totter of sorts. We suspect the same is true for you. It’s a strange reality to watch world events shake our foundation while we celebrate joy and triumph in poetry and the folks who write it.
We’re thinking especially of Allison Adair and Eileen Cleary, whose reading and conversation was like a coffee date with the smartest, most engaged friends we could imagine. There’s something magical when poets know and admire other poets’ work, and we’re pretty sure that’s where the magic started for Allison and Eileen’s event. Not only did they talk about craft, but they sunk into the work of what it means to witness each other’s lives as we move in this most untenable world.
Poet Allison Adair (top) listens while poet Eileen Cleary (bottom) reads from her book, 2 A.M. With Keats.
Please join us at our next community gathering — the June Write-Together. We will meet, say hello and set intentions, and then get to work! Set aside some time for your work — join us!
We are interested in hearing from you! Do you have a suggestion for an event or workshop or class? Please pitch us your ideas. We are scheduling for Fall 2022 right now and would love to hear what you. And as always, if there is programming you would like to see, we love suggestions.
On March 1, 2022, the Notebooks Collective hosted memoirist/poet/musician/teacher Randall Horton for the release of his second memoir, Dead Weight: A Memoir in Essays, published by Northwestern University Press. The event was moderated by Ashley Monet Johnson and included guests Mark Johnson and Gary Lyles.
About the Event
Randall asked Mark and Gary to help him launch this book because he wanted a different kind of discussion. He asked them to be join him because they knew him before he was the Dr. Randall Horton we know today. They knew him when he was Hook, when he smuggled dope, when he was incarcerated.
He asked Ashley to moderate the event for two reasons. First, because she is a remarkably talented emerging writer and second, because she is Mark’s daughter. She’s known Randall as a family friend and as an MFA mentor. Her insight is unparalleled. We hope this is a way for you to hear not just Randall’s work, but also about his life and the transformation he was able to make.
The Launch
About Randall
RANDALL HORTON is the author of a previous memoir and several books of poetry, including Pitch Dark Anarchy: Poems (TriQuarterly Books, 2013) and The Lingua Franca of Ninth Street. In 2019 he served as poet-in-residence for the Civil Rights Corps in Washington, DC, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to challenging systemic injustice in the American legal system. The recipient of numerous awards, including the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award, the Bea González Poetry, a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in Poetry, and a Right to Return Fellowship from the Soze Foundation, he currently sits on the Advisory Board of PEN America’s PEN Prison Writing Program. He is a professor of English at the University of New Haven.
About Ashley
Ashley Johnson’s essays have appeared in Sleet, Glassworks, and Iron City Magazine. Her essay Sing was nominated for a 2020 Pushcart Prize. She is currently working on a hybrid-memoir that examines the residual effects of mass incarceration on the Black family structure. Ashley holds her MFA from the Solstice MFA Creative Writing Program of Pine Manor College, MA in Education from UMUC, and BS in Criminal Justice from Marymount University. Ashley currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland with her husband and their two sons.
