Each day leading up to the April 16 announcement of the Minnesota Book Awards, and in collaboration with community editors from the award-winning Saint Paul Almanac, we highlight one of the thirty-two finalists. Today we feature 2016 Poetry finalist:
Modern Love & Other Myths by Joyce Sutphen
Published by: Red Dragonfly Press
Category Sponsor: Wellington Management
Joyce Sutphen’s sixth collection of poetry explores love as a landscape that is public yet personal, real yet mythic, leaving us to question the meaning and nature of love, even as we understand it anew. Rich in observation, insight and imagination, Modern Love & Other Myths portrays love and its many facets in ways that are at turns wise, witty, funny, tender, intimate or full of longing and regret. Modern Love & Other Myths takes its readers to places that are familiar and unfamiliar, lived and dreamed, all the while reminding us what it is to love and be loved. In essence, what it is to be human.
The poems in this collection explore, as Elizabeth Bishop phrased it, “efforts of affection” in our contemporary world. The poet’s appraisals—both personal and general—resonate deeply with all who have mapped the story land between “hello” and “goodbye.” The title invites us to examine what we mean by myth, and whether, in fact, love can ever be regarded as modern. Wise and inquisitive, the poems in this collection travel across continents as easily as into the heart.
Author Bio:
Poet Joyce Sutphen grew up on a farm in rural Minnesota. A graduate of the University of Minnesota with, among other degrees, a Ph.D. in Renaissance Drama, Sutphen teaches literature and creative writing at Gustavus Adolphus College. She has published several books of poetry, of which Modern Love & Other Myths is her sixth. Her first poetry collection, Straight Out of View (1995), won the Barnard New Women Poets Prize. Her second poetry collection, Coming Back to the Body, (Holy Cow! Press, 2000), was a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award. Naming the Stars, her third book, also published by Holy Cow! Press, won a Minnesota Book Award in Poetry. Her poetry has been published in Water~Stone Review, American Poetry Review, Poetry, Luna, Hayden’s Ferry, Shenandoah and The Gettysburg Review. She served as co-editor, along with Connie Wanek and Thom Tammaro, of To Sing Along the Way: Minnesota Women Poets from Pre-Territorial Days to the Present (2006). She has served as Minnesota’s Poet Laureate since 2011.
Joyce Sutphen is on Facebook
An excerpt from Modern Love & Other Myths:
A Kind of Wild Justice
Living well is the best revenge,
and revenge
is a kind of wild justiceI knew this when I stepped to
the edge, licking my fingers,
the delight of cloudedblackberries filling my mouth
the little needle of regret
stitching out an endingLiving well is the revenge
I will take I said
as I beganto walk on air, waving
an indifferent hand
at the stonesthat wanted to nestle in my pockets
at the long shadow waiting
for me to fallRead more at Small Press Distribution “Peek Inside“
Listen:
Garrison Keillor reads “Things to Watch While You Drive” from Modern Love & Other Myths:
Review:
“Joyce Sutphen opens her sixth poetry collection with a reference to the Greek myth of Leda, but this and her title are misdirections. The book immediately moves from the mythic to the personal with quiet and accessible poems about the end of a relationship. Although the book focuses on a breakup, it isn’t bogged down by regret. Instead, it is punctuated by vibrant images and realizations: ‘I won’t forget I once was loved like that.’ Overall the book is a satisfying read.”—Star Tribune
Watch:
SELCO librarian Jennifer Harveland reviews Modern Love & Other Myths by Joyce Sutphen.
The evening features a Preface Reception with complimentary passed wine and cash bar, author meet-and-greet, book sales and signing; the Awards Ceremony with live music, celebrity presenters, artisan cheese plates and breads, complimentary wine and lemonade, with emcee Stephanie Curtis of MPR; and the Epilogue After-Party with complimentary champagne, sumptuous desserts, and additional live music. Tickets now on sale, or click here for more information.
Today’s winner: Renate Courtright. (We’ll be in touch via email, and arrange getting the book to you!)
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