Cynthia Manick's Blog

2016 Lascaux Prize in Collected Poetry

The Winner:

Cynthia Manick, Blue Hallelujahs receives a cash prize and a bronze medallion. 

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Cynthia Manick

Black Lawrence Press, 2016

“I don’t stray far from earth- / ly things,” announces the speaker of Blue Hallelujahs. In this debut collection, Cynthia Manick writes poems of lived embodiment as she discovers herself “elbow deep” in equal parts beauty and pain. http://scoutpoetry.com/blue-hallelujahs/

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Shout out to hand games (Miss Mary Mack Mack), kitchens, Cave Canem, Natalie Diaz, Summertime from Porgy and Bess, and Lucille Clifton! And to quote Mo Brown “blacks girls are so fly, the sun be jealous” https://www.on-poetry.com/#/episode-13-cynthia-manick-on-poetry/

Shout out to hand games (Miss Mary Mack Mack), kitchens, Cave Canem, Natalie Diaz, Summertime from Porgy and Bess, and Lucille Clifton! And to quote Mo Brown “blacks girls are so fly, the sun be jealous” https://www.on-poetry.com/#/episode-13-cynthia-manick-on-poetry/

2017 begins with a review of Blue Hallelujahs by Michael Denis http://michaeldennispoet.blogspot.ca/2017/02/blue-hallelujahs-cynthia-manick-black.html

2016 is ending with a review of "Blue Hallelujahs" by the Kenyon Review http://www.kenyonreview.org/reviews/micro-reviews-dec-2016/ Thank you for the luv

I’m so pleased to announce a partnership with Motionpoems and Cave Canem has led to poems in unexpected places. When the call came to apply for my poem to become a film, I thought it was a shot in the dark. So I applied, put it behind me, and left it to the fates. Then fate answered in the form of a film for “Things I Carry Into the World” by filmmakers Pat Heyward and Jamil McGinnis and producer Claire Mc Girr.  In the poem, the feminine body is center of the elements and the film embodies this and more. The film premiered at the Walker Art Center in MN, and most recently on the global channel Nowness.

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During the month of October, Black Lawrence Press poet Cynthia Manick is offering consultations on poetry collections and folios. The deadline to submit work for this consultation program is October 31. Cynthia will complete her work and respond to all program participants by November 30.

When reading individual poems I look for the creative spark first. I’m most drawn to poems that inform the reader; the word or line that pulls me into the poem or represents a change in thinking. For me that’s the moment when the poem takes flight. I believe poems should introduce questions, issues, characters, and images; and poets should use all the tools in their toolbox. In the same vein, good poems can reflect conflict and celebrate joy; each represents parts of the human experience. I always think of the poet CD Wright saying “you have deer here, but give me venison” meaning don’t shy away from details that enrich the work. Every poet has a unique voice and I enjoy discovering that voice in the work. 

http://www.blacklawrence.com/consultations/manick/