New Able Muse (Print Edition, No. 19, Summer 2015) + Jan D. Hodge's new book
 

http://www.ablemuse.com/v19/images/v...ont-cover2.jpgThe NEW ISSUE of ABLE MUSE, Print Editon (Number 19) - Summer 2015, has just been released, with order/subscription information (for print & Kindle, NOOK, Kobo, & iBooks editions), with online excerpts at: www.AbleMuse.com. The digital and web editions of the complete issue (provided to the print edition subscribers only as a bonus), is also available now online at www.ablemuse.com, along with generous excerpts of the issue for non-subscribers.

editorial: Alexander Pepple • featured artist: Wayne Levin (interviewed by Sharon Passmore) • featured poet: Eric McHenry (interviewed by Cody Walker) • fiction: Linda Boroff, Richard Dokey, Michael Bradburn-Ruster, Zara Lisbon, Lane Kareska • essays: Catharine Savage Brosman, Kevin Durkin, Robert Earle, Eric Torgersen • book reviews: Reagan Upshaw • poetry: Jay Rogoff, Meredith McCann, William Baer, Jan D. Hodge, Stephen Scaer, William Thompson, Martial, Susan McLean, Carrie Shipers, Maura Stanton, Stephen Gibson, Len Krisak, Glenn Freeman, Richard Cecil, Bruce Bennett, Julie Steiner, Eric Torgersen, Ed Shacklee.

Read all the details at Able Muse.

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With special thanks for an outstanding new issue to -- Stephen Kampa, Callie Siskel, Reagan Upshaw (Assistant Poetry Editors), Gregory Dowling (Nonfiction Editor), Karen Kevorkian (Fiction Editor), Jonathan Danielson, Rob Wright (Assistant Fiction Editors).

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New and now pre-released from Able Muse Press --

Congrats to Jan D. Hodge for his new book:
http://www.ablemusepress.com/sites/j...pe-cover-m.jpgTaking Shape - carmina figurata
~ In paperback & hardcover ~
ISBN 978-1-927409-56-5 (paperback); 978-1-927409-58-9 (hardcover).
An eclectic mix of shapes and subjects populate Taking Shape—Jan D. Hodge’s full-length collection of carmina figurata (sometimes called shaped poems, pattern poetry, or figure poems). Hodge’s many masterpieces include depictions of a saxophone, a Madonna and Child, a combination piano/guillotine, and other silhouettes of amazing difficulty and detail. These poems are not only visually stunning, they are also sonically beautiful, and retain a transcendent freedom while conforming to both illustrative and metrical constraints. Taking Shape is a visual feast of inspired poetry.

• “In Jan D. Hodge’s Taking Shape the subjects have burst from their cages and confront us immediately with what they are.” —Fred Chappell
• “Here is a perfect matching of shapes and poetry.” —Robert J. Conley
• “Jan D. Hodge is the master par excellence of carmina figurata . . . Hodge knows of grace, his poems are full of grace, and Taking Shape, like grace itself, is a gift of utter beauty.” —Vince Gotera
. . . more at Jan's website here

Find these and more at Able Muse Press

My congratulations to Jan D. Hodge for the new collection of shaped poems: I've little doubt it's done well, but what a strange thing to do! I'm intrigued.

Best,

Ed

Congratulations Jan. A well-deserved publication.

Jan's carmina figurata are done very well indeed, Ed. I expected the gimmick to overwhelm the poetry, but the aural and visual aspects complement each other nicely, to create a really thought-provoking and beautiful experience.

Three of them appear in this issue of Able Muse, if you'd like a preview. They're delicious.

Might as well take this opportunity to say thanks here to those who commented on my sonnets "Color Blind" and "Tone Deaf" when I workshopped them recently. These are two of the six sonnets in my series "Sensory Integration," which appears in this issue of Able Muse. Definitely the most personal poems I've ever published, so I really appreciate the helpful comments on the two parts that gave me the most trouble.