I own an early copy of this book, and the copyright page indicates: "This collection was originally published as Road Apple Review Volume IV, number 2, summer 1972." The copyright is 1974, and the volume I own is 3rd printing.
I am grateful to Brian Salchert (thinkinglizard@aol.com ) for recalling the publication history of this seminal Midwestern book. With his permission, here is the sequence of three editions of this book:
"William Kloefkorn's popular first book of poems, Alvin Turner as Farmer,
was originally published by Road Runner Press in 1972 as a special issue
of Road Apple Review vol. iv no. 2. Mr. Kloefkorn's friend and colleague,
Bill Evans, did pen and ink sketches for the book, one of which was for
the cover. Terry Smith and Brian Salchert were the editors. Both the
press and the magazine were established by Doug Flaherty.
"Subsequently, Ted Kooser's Windflower Press published Alvin Turner as Farmer
in 1977. (This date is correct according to mockingbird.creighton.edu/.)
"In 2004 Logan House Press published Alvin Turner as Farmer a third time."
I do not know how mockingbird.creighton.edu arrived at 1977 as a copyright date. Was this another edition? Does anyone have any information?
Thanks!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Aspiring writers often ask me how to be published. One way to shortcut the learning curve is to take classes such as these offered by the Writers Place in Kansas City. These classes are bargains, and I vouch for all the instructors.
Fall Workshops at The Writers Place:
Fall Workshops at The Writers Place:
Writing Creative Nonfiction with Conger Beasley, Jr., Saturday, September 6, 11 AM - 1 PMCost: $20 members / $30 nonmembers
Master Class in Fiction with Robert Day, Friday, September 12,10 AM - 1 PMCost: $25 members / $35 nonmembers
Master Class in Poetry with Robert Day, Saturday, September 13, 3 PM - 6 PMCost: $25 members / $35 nonmembers
Getting Started Writing Short Stories with Adam Desnoyers, Wednesdays, October 1 & 8, 6 – 9 PMCost: $40 members / $60 nonmembers
Writing Persona Poems with William Trowbridge, Saturday, October 4, 11 AM – 12:30 PMCost: $15 members / $25 nonmembers
Writing for Young Audiences with Eileen Bluestone Sherman, Saturday, October 18, 11 AM – 1 PMCost: $20 members / $30 nonmembers
Call The office at 816-753-1090 or check the web site at http://www.writersplace.org/default.aspx?PageID=44for more information.
Monday, August 18, 2008
AD ASTRA POETRY PROJECT #20
PHILIP MILLER (1943 - )
This poet has been a mainstay of the Kansas City poetry scene, where he co-founded the Riverfront Reading Series. He served on the editorial boards of Woodley, Potpourri, and BookMark Presses and on the boards of The Kansas City Artists Coalition and The Kansas City Writers Place. He co-edited (with Carl Bettis) the magazine The Same (2000-2007), for which he is the current editor. He is also contributing editor to the online magazine, Big City Lit. After retiring, he moved to Mount Union, Pennsylvania. His poetry is chock-full of surprising language and philosophical twists. “Like a Tree” is a poem I have tried to write many times, without this poet’s success. Miller compares his body at length to a tree with the idea that human organic forms are like other natural forms—hair is like “leaves”; digits are like “twigs”; and lungs have bronchial alveoli like “sponges.” This breaks down the separation of body and mind, expounded in the philosophy of René Descartes. Miller posits reality as a unified field, where thought is a natural process, like gravity. Humans and trees both are mortal and eventually will fall.
The poem shifts into high gear with the description of the head, which includes “inner petals” where he connects “what our brains conceive” to the physical voice. The poet’s words are organic constructions, “unwrapped and uttered by way of bone and blood.”
LIKE A TREE
The body owns us, lets us, inside it, live
and breathe through branchy sponges it provides:
the head covered with hairs like leaves,
the trunk’s limbs sprouted
with fingers and toes like twigs,
and within, the heartwood’s dark thuds
are the ax man’s steps, which will bring it down,
this body with a head like a bloom,
and with inner petals, too, delicately tissued
purses and pods of sap and seed,
and the Adam’s apple, the vocal chords and tongue
give us a voice which is the body’s voice,
full-throated, words of the flesh,
unwrapped and uttered by way of bone and blood.
Only by the always-bodily thing are we
brought to what our brains conceive
before the body falls like a tree.
Education: Philip Miller attended public schools in Kansas City, Kansas. He received a B.A. (English and Psychology 1965) and M.A. (English 1966) Emporia State University.
Career: This poet taught English at Kansas City Kansas Community College (1986-2002). His books are: Cats in the House, Woodley Memorial Press, 1987; Hard Freeze, BookMark Press, 1994; From the Temperate Zone (with Keith Denniston) Potpourri Press, 1995; Branches Snapping, Helicon Nine Editions, 2003; Why We Love Our Cats and Dogs (with Patricia Lawson) Unholy Day Press, 2004; The Casablanca Fan, Unholy Day Press (forthcoming). He won the Ledge Press chapbook award (1995).
____________________________________________________________ © 2008 Denise Low, AAPP 20 © 2003 Philip Miller, “Like a Tree,” in Branches Snapping. © 2001 Denise Low photo.
This poet has been a mainstay of the Kansas City poetry scene, where he co-founded the Riverfront Reading Series. He served on the editorial boards of Woodley, Potpourri, and BookMark Presses and on the boards of The Kansas City Artists Coalition and The Kansas City Writers Place. He co-edited (with Carl Bettis) the magazine The Same (2000-2007), for which he is the current editor. He is also contributing editor to the online magazine, Big City Lit. After retiring, he moved to Mount Union, Pennsylvania. His poetry is chock-full of surprising language and philosophical twists. “Like a Tree” is a poem I have tried to write many times, without this poet’s success. Miller compares his body at length to a tree with the idea that human organic forms are like other natural forms—hair is like “leaves”; digits are like “twigs”; and lungs have bronchial alveoli like “sponges.” This breaks down the separation of body and mind, expounded in the philosophy of René Descartes. Miller posits reality as a unified field, where thought is a natural process, like gravity. Humans and trees both are mortal and eventually will fall.
The poem shifts into high gear with the description of the head, which includes “inner petals” where he connects “what our brains conceive” to the physical voice. The poet’s words are organic constructions, “unwrapped and uttered by way of bone and blood.”
LIKE A TREE
The body owns us, lets us, inside it, live
and breathe through branchy sponges it provides:
the head covered with hairs like leaves,
the trunk’s limbs sprouted
with fingers and toes like twigs,
and within, the heartwood’s dark thuds
are the ax man’s steps, which will bring it down,
this body with a head like a bloom,
and with inner petals, too, delicately tissued
purses and pods of sap and seed,
and the Adam’s apple, the vocal chords and tongue
give us a voice which is the body’s voice,
full-throated, words of the flesh,
unwrapped and uttered by way of bone and blood.
Only by the always-bodily thing are we
brought to what our brains conceive
before the body falls like a tree.
Education: Philip Miller attended public schools in Kansas City, Kansas. He received a B.A. (English and Psychology 1965) and M.A. (English 1966) Emporia State University.
Career: This poet taught English at Kansas City Kansas Community College (1986-2002). His books are: Cats in the House, Woodley Memorial Press, 1987; Hard Freeze, BookMark Press, 1994; From the Temperate Zone (with Keith Denniston) Potpourri Press, 1995; Branches Snapping, Helicon Nine Editions, 2003; Why We Love Our Cats and Dogs (with Patricia Lawson) Unholy Day Press, 2004; The Casablanca Fan, Unholy Day Press (forthcoming). He won the Ledge Press chapbook award (1995).
____________________________________________________________ © 2008 Denise Low, AAPP 20 © 2003 Philip Miller, “Like a Tree,” in Branches Snapping. © 2001 Denise Low photo.
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