Of Whiskey and Winter

by Peter Conners, Peter Johnson (Introduction)

Overview

“Peter Conners' stunning prose poems are packed with keen sensitivity, dreaminess, and wit. I love his time travels, the vibrant layering of image and detail. This is language and vision I want to come home to again and again.”—Naomi Shihab Nye

“I don’t know what’s more remarkable about the poems in Of Whiskey and Winter, their exquisite music or their startling, acrobatic leaps. By turns manic and contemplative, zany and wise, his rollicking poems have the power to simultaneously challenge, illuminate and praise the illusive character of the world.”—Gary Young

Peter Conners lives in Rochester, New York, and is an editor for BOA Editions, Ltd.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781893996892
Publisher:	White Pine Press
Publication date:	09/01/2007
Pages:	88
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Peter Conners is founding co-editor of Double Room: A Journal of Prose Poetry & Flash Fiction. He also edited PP/FF: An Anthology which was published by Starcherone Books in 2006. He works as Editor and oversees marketing for BOA Editions. Peter Johnson is the founding editor of the Prose Poem: An International Journal and in addition to his three books of prose poems he is the author of I'm A Man, a book of short stories also published by White Pine Press. Raised in Buffalo, NY he currently teaches at Providence College in Providence, R.I.

Editorial Reviews

"The spiders of December spin frost webs across the windows." Conners crafts a selection of prose poems that celebrate seasons of beginnings, survival, forgiveness, and the dailiness of an ordinary life. Yet there is nothing ordinary about these often ironic and witty poems. Especially strong are those that consider the interminable winters of Rochester, NY. In one, Conners juxtaposes shoveling snow with the act of writing: "My fingers pzrotest this plot we have shoveled out for ourselves." His fingers work slowly, "lugubriously." "They curl and glower at me from their home row perch." Conners, who has written extensively about the prose poem, deftly uses language to create layers of meaning in his own. In "Certified Alive," the narrator seems to pass his worrisome physical exam, but all isn't necessarily well: "It will take/ till spring to spell the names of my discontent" and "If I am too late, only [the postman's] shadow will appear." Conners's language is gritty and visceral. Readers will feel cold seep through blown-open windows and smell spring earthworms churning debris. And yet, "The/ seasons hold us tight: the storms have betrayed our trust but they/ must be forgiven." Highly recommended for contemporary poetry collections.-Karla Huston, Appleton Art Ctr., WI

Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal