BY WAY OF

by Matthew Nienow, Emily Carr, Diana Woodcock

In BY WAY OF, Toadlily Press has again resurrected the chemistry of four seemingly disparate travelers hurtling in unison toward something unknown. You, reader, will know them, as I now do, in a manner deeper than an anthology can offer. You are along for the ride, your ticket punched. By way of sequestering these four unique and powerful poets in the small berth between the covers of this beautiful, perfect-bound volume, both reader and author are traveling together. By way of their dissonance you will find a harmony and by way of their poems you will come to recognize yourself. --Sean Nevin, finalist for the Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize from University of Pittsburgh Press and the Stan and Tom Wick Prize from Kent State University.

Genres: Poetry

69 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Matthew Nienow’s most recent collection, If Nothing, was recently published by Alice James Books. He is also the author of House of Water (Alice James Books, 2016). His work has appeared in Gulf Coast, New England Review, Ploughshares, and Poetry, and has been recognized with fellowships from the Poetry Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Artist Trust. He lives in Port Townsend, Washington, with his wife and sons, where he works as a mental health counselor.

Reviews

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poet Cynthia Hogue says of BY WAY OF:

Nienow’s poems are lyrically spare and mysterious, often striking a perfect balance between concrete and abstract, as in the brilliant “String Theory”: “Burnished. Bead. Spotted/ and shining. . . . What could be is only/ a limit of the mind.” Emily Carr’s experimental poems soar in image, shimmer in syntax: “casting its shadow over birdsong &/ sunbreaking, . . . a rainbow unspools from a white crucifix.” Diana Woodcock tracks her family’s roots in language both attentive and gorgeous: “The withes of river willows waver/ between yellow and green. I offer one/ to the skein of parting geese passing over.” The volume closes with Diana Alvarez’s bold poetics: “I call her Bruja but she is Curandera: Mistress of spheres://. . . She chants at your door…” BY WAY OF ‘s rich variety creates real poetic alchemy.

[Gary McDowell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strong collection of 4 poets here, but I'm enjoying Nienow's work most. A beautiful book, too. I was fortunate enough to come across this book/press/poet through a chapbook exchange with Nienow, and I'm glad I did. A striking voice, thick with trees and leaves, green and brown, longing and misery... but somehow the poems are also unapathetic and completely full of life. Recommended.