NightBallet Press remembers, honors, and celebrates Prince Rogers Nelson on what would have been his 58th birthday (June 07, 2016), with the publication of Delirious: A Poetic Celebration of Prince.
Edited by Dianne Borsenik, Delirious contains 98 pages of poems written by 70 different poets from across the United States, England, and the Philippines. The poems range from a 5-word haiku to a 3-page crown of sonnets; also included are shape-poems, abecedarians, a poem written in java script, a conversation with a 97-year-old mom, poems with lines meant to be sung, a touching tribute to a "best friend," a smile in turquoise, and reminiscences about the soundtracks of younger selves.
Each poem is a distinct facet of the glittering world of Prince, his music, his words, his art, his sexuality, his fashion, his convictions, and his impact on an entire generation.
Prince influenced lives on multiple levels, giving face and voice to nonconformity and self-expression, encouraging and validating creativity and sensitivity. This book pays homage to the remarkable life of a very special man.
It became obvious early on in the call for submissions that we were receiving far more poems than we could accept if we kept the saddle-stapled format NBP has always used. We made the decision to utilize a flat-spine approach for the anthology in order to include as many poems as possible. So, for the first time ever, we sent the book to a printer to have it perfect-bound!
Many thanks to all the poets who contributed their work and made Delirious possible. Each contributor who had poems chosen for inclusion receives a free contributor's copy, which will be mailed during the month of June. NBP is truly impressed and delighted by the scope of the work submitted.
The contributing poets are (in the order their poems appear in the book):
George Wallace Paul Koniecki Robert Walicki Skaidrite Stelzer Steve Abbott Lorraine Cipriano Joey Nicoletti Victor Clevenger Thasia Lunger A. S. Coomer Reuben Jackson Heather Ann Schmidt Jill L. Cooper Marie C. Lecrivain Karen Scott Anna Cates Steven B. Smith Jason Preu Juliet Cook Joel Dias-Porter Derek Kannemeyer Tony Brown Katie Mullins Amy Baskin V. C. McCabe Heather Davis Catfish McDaris Jason Webber Kerry Trautman Dana Aritonovich Adrian Manning Michael Skau Candrice Jones Crystal Rudds Julie Ursem Marchand Theresa Brightman Cody Walker Valentina Ranaldi-Adams Kiley Creekmore Shayla Hawkins Suzi Q. Smith LeConté Dill Julian Randall Rosemarie Wilson Maura Alia Badji Marj Hahne Wynne Huddleston Jonie McIntire RA Washington Meg G. Freyermuth Cathy Porter Amy Debrecht Kari Gunter-Seymour Jonel Abellanosa Sherese Francis Emma Lee Lowell Mick White Vince Gotera John Burroughs Tony Moffeit Maria Lisella Jennifer Hambrick C. M. Brooks Jameson Bayles Raymond Maxwell Craig Firsdon Punch Lori Ann Kusterbeck Kathleen Lawrence Tsaurah Litzky
The gorgeous cover photo is by Cleveland poet John Burroughs, and was taken at the event Pandemonium in Cleveland a couple of years ago. NBP feels it perfectly captures the excitement and sparkle of Prince and the poems that were written for him.
Dianne Borsenik is active in the northern and mid-Ohio poetry scenes and is the publisher/editor at NightBallet Press.
Her most recent books are Raga for What Comes Next (Stubborn Mule Press, 2019) and Flight of Honey (Luchador Press, 2023). In 2023, Raga for What Comes Next was studied as part of the Modern & Contemporary American Poetry course at Muskingum University.
Borsenik's poems have appeared in hundreds of journals, anthologies, magazines, and more, including in Chiron Review, Main Street Rag, Voices of Cleveland, Poem for Cleveland, and I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing: Ohio's Appalachian Voices. You can see the full list of her publications and performances on her website at www.dianneborsenik.com.
Lit Youngstown printed her poem "Disco" on their tee shirts, and Speak of the Devil, an acclaimed cocktail bar in Lorain, Ohio, named a cocktail after her, both of which make her feel like a rock star!