Robert Peake’s glorious poetry collection & glowing review of “Middle of the Night”

Last Sunday, we drove my 90 year old father-in-law Ralph up to the 5,000′ pass at Pine Mountain in the Los Padres National Forest to see all the fresh snow, which fell unusually low for our area the previous day–snow actually dusted the streets of Ojai Valley as well as the San Fernando Valley.

Then on our way to Boccalli’s for dinner, we swung by Robert Peake’s place in Ojai and he and I exchanged our new poetry books.

Robert’s book is part of The Lost Horse Press New Poets series edited by Marvin Bell. Volume V “New Poets and Short Books” features three books by California poets: Robert Peake’s “Human Shade,” “What’s Truly Feral” by Valentine Freeman, and “On the Murder of Juan de la Cruz” by Jensea Storie.

The book is beautifully produced and Robert also offers a CD of him reading his poems. I’ll be reviewing the book more completely soon once I’ve had a chance to read all of it–not just Robert’s part which I read immediately and found to be exceptional!

You can order Robert’s book directly from him and he’ll send you a free copy of the CD also but you’ll have to wait a week or so–he’s out of books right now!

Robert posted his wonderfully glowing and thoughtful review of my poetry collection “Middle of The Night” yesterday.

Robert’s review means a lot to me because I admire his writing so much and enjoy reading his blog. I also asked him to review my book because it talks about love and loss, something that he knows something about and has written about eloquently, including in his own book.

I especially love how he says this about my book:

In taking up Emily Dickinson’s charge to “tell all the truth but tell it slant,” Alley also tells it sleepily, through her dreamlike “315 mind.”

Robert also quotes from several poems so for tomorrow’s Monday Poetry Train, I will post the whole of the one from August 2, 2005.

At en theos press, you can order copies of the signed and numbered chapbook (in an edition of 108) that I made of my book for the Women’s Conference. Or you can wait until March 15 and get a regular paperback edition which I’d be happy to sign for you! I’m also feeling inspired to do a cd of some of the poems, perhaps one from every year that I plan to read at my feature on Tuesday March 15 at the Artists Union Gallery, 330 S. California St, Ventura.

You’ll also find me and my new poetry collection at a St Patrick’s Day party in the El Jardin Courtyard on Main in downtown Ventura on Thursday March 17, I’ll be at the Ojai Book Fair Saturday March 19, and I’ll be reading and signing at WordFest’s Well Red event in Ojai Friday March 25.  On Tuesday March 29, I’ll be reading  in the 7 minute open mic at the Cobalt in the San Fernando Valley where the Accidental Novelist, Danika Dinsmore, the woman who got the experiment going back in 1993, is featuring startting at 9pm.

See you soon–on the stage or on the page!