Volume 12:2, Spring 2011
This is the second special issue of Beltway Poetry Quarterly to focus on notable first full-length, single-author books. The first one, published in Spring 2009, was such a success that I determined to do it again. All seven of the featured authors presented here have strong ties to Washington, DC andwhile their backgrounds and writing styles are widely diverseall have developed distinctive voices that make their books fascinating and highly recommended.
I thank Alice James Books, Black Lawrence Press, Cider Press Review, David Robert Books, GirlChild Press, Washington Writers’ Publishing House, and WordTech Editions for their permission to reprint selections from their books. If you enjoy what you read, please support these authors and buy their books! A link to each press is provided at the bottom of each web page.
While I could only highlight seven authors in this issue, I can also highly recommend these other recent full-length first books by authors with ties to DC as well. Please also look for these titles:
Derrick Weston Brown, Wisdom Teeth (Busboys & Poets/PM Press, 2011)
Jamie Brown, Conventional Heresies (Bay Oak, 2009)
Mark Fitzgerald, By Way of Dust and Rain (Cinnamon Press, 2010)
Christopher Goodrich, Nevertheless, Hello (Steel Toe Books, 2009)
Margaret B. Ingraham, This Holy Alphabet: Lyric Poems Adapted from Psalm 119 (Paraclete Press, 2009)
Charles Jensen, The First Risk (Lethe Press, 2009.
John Murillo, Up Jump the Boogie (Cypher Books, 2010)
Kim Roberts, Editor
Table of Contents
Reginald Dwayne Betts
from Shahid Reads His Own Palm (Alice James Books, 2010)
Supreme Mathematics
The Day Carlos Jumped from the Top Tier
A Cell Houses a One-Sided War
Red Onion State Prison
Saturdays Waited
Marcela Sulak
from Immigrant (Black Lawrence Press, 2010)
The History of the Date
The History of Brussels Sprouts
The History of the Radish
The History of the Watermelon
Holly Karapetkova
from Words We Might One Day Say (Washington Writers’ Publishing House, 2010)
Love and the National Defense
How the Earth Lost Its Moon
Atlas
Cadaver Room
Sonya Renee Taylor
from A Little Truth on Your Shirt (GirlChild Press, 2010)
Fragility of Eggs
Pronunciations (In Three Syllables)
Kathleen O’Toole
from Meanwhile (David Robert Books, 2011)
Reading Obituaries
County Antrim Archeology
At Kelly Ingram Park
Proving Ground
Meanwhile
Landon Godfrey
from Second-Skin Rhinestone-Spangled Nude Soufflé Chiffon Gown (Cider Press Review, 2011)
On Black Cloth with White Chalk I Drew the Stars
Self-Portrait
Chanel N° 5
Hard Thaw
Kimberly L. Becker
from Words Facing East (WordTech Editions, 2011)
The Catch
Language Class
River of Words
Word as Fish