Authors - C

And Today I Am Happy (Chatoyant, 2000) are vulnerable and emotionally-wrought elegiac city scapes of narrative poems by Penny Cagan. To quote Stanley Plumly, "The crosshatching of her poetic detail is like papercuts, yet there is something beautiful in Cagan's humility and healing strength."

 King's Highway (Washington Writers Publishing House, 1997) is a taut gathering of lyrics, lyrical narratives and dramatic monologues by Nancy Naomi Carlson. The poems here are attuned to the subtle motions of grief, love and loss, articulated with compassion and inner strength. She follows this up with Complications of the Heart (Texas Review Press, 2003), winner of the 2002 Robert Phillips Chapbook Prize, a small book of great range and balance. (updated 11/05)

Catherine Carter's The Memory of Gills (LSU, 2006) is, as poet Kathryn Stipling Byer aptly describes it, "an astonishing, seductive, and irresistible book of poems. Carter is a skillful, imaginative and witty visionary."  It was the intelligence, sly humor and inventiveness that caught this reader's eye, as well as her graceful writing and terrific metaphor. Recommended. .(added 11/06/06)

The Scottish Cafe (Slapering Hol, 2002), by Susan H. Case, is a wonderful, unsentimental narrative of pre-World War Two Polish mathematicians who gathered regularly to debate theory and solve mathematical puzzles. As poet Charles Martin says, "By recalling with celebratory joy the vigor, the messiness, the courage of life as it was once lived in a terrible time by the mathematicians at the Scottish Cafn Lvov, these poems do a very great service." (added in 2006)

 Elizabeth Biller Chapman gives us the lovely Candlefish (Arkansas 2004) which frames the transient nature of all life in these poems based on the natural world. Both grieving and celebratory, she gives voice to the details of her world. Additionally, she has two excellent chapbooks: Creekwalker (Mother Tongue Press, 1995), published under the name Elizabeth Biller, is filled with rich, luscious language in poems of nature and the heart while Backbone of Night (Creekwalker Press, 1997) features some longer poems. (updated 11/05)

 *** Robin Chapman’s newest book is Smoke and Strong Whiskey (Word Tech 2008), moving meditations set in the Canadian Rockies featuring the natural world, its flora and fauna, its sparkling Arctic cold, the inner silence. In one woman’s rediscovery of self, the reader, too, is reborn. Previous books include The Dreamer Who Counted the Dead (Word Tech, 2007). Here, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of love are the themes. Political poems, the natural world, and ekphrastic pieces mix to weave a wise tapestry. Other work includes two previous books: Learning To Talk (Fireweed, 1991) and The Way In (Tebot Bach, 1999). We are drawn into the poet’s world with her deft language and moving narratives. These are elegiac, recollective poems , both luminous and bittersweet, sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes hilarious. (updated 4/08)

Spiritual arguments ground Sharon L. Charde's chapbook Bad Girl at the Altar Rail (Flume, 2005). The struggle for personal identity despite great personal loss gives us its theme. The poems are searingly honest in their examination of death and sin, sacrifice and guilt, grief and love. The metaphors are wise and daring, convincing us that love is worth its price. (added 11/05)

Casey Charles:  Controlled Burn (Pudding House, 2007) recounts the stories of gay Americans living in the open spaces of the West where men hide their differences, act rough and tough to survive. These are unsentimental poems, forthright in their detail, compassionate, and written with great skill and tenderness.. Especially striking is the ten part poem, "The Shameless Sonnetteer." 32 pages. added 9/07.

*** Notable poet and fiction-writer Kelly Cherry has authored seven full-length collections of poetry: Lovers and Agnostics (Carnegie Mellon, 1975),Relativity (LSU, 1977), Natural Theology (LSU, 1988), God’s Loud Hand (LSU, 1993), Death and Transfiguration (LSU, 1997), Rising Venus (LSU, 2002) and now, a new and collected poems, Hazard and Prospect (LSU, 2007). This stunning volume presents the poems ordered anew so as to tell the whole poetic story the way it happened, not bordered by artificial borders of when they were created chronologically. They shine in this new presentation, and there is a hard-won serenity to be found in her newest poems. "Kelly Cherry’s poetry is marked by a firm intellectual passion, a reverent desire to possess the genuine thought of our century – historical, philosophical, and scientific– and a species of powerful ironic wit that is allied to rare good humor." So says the citation naming her as the first James G. Hanes Poetry prize recipient given by the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Hers is a formal poetry dealing with the basic questions of life, the inevitability of death and loss, and the redeeming power of faith. She wrestles with theology and produces song from the struggle. And what poet can resist the sparkling wit of "Grammaire Generale: A Review" from God’ Loud Hand? (added 4/08)

I Have Learned Five Things (Lake Shore Publishing, 1996), by Elaine Christensen, is a lovely book: poems of memory, especially childhood and her grandfather, poems of seasons, of love, of her children, poems of both celebration and sorrow, and two fine poems taken from Andrew Wyeth paintings. And the title poem is a winner!

Bitter Larder (New Spirit Press,1994), by Vivina Ciolli (aka Vivian Ackerman) and Consolation of Dreams (Talent House Press, 2001) are both prize-winning short chapbooks with well-crafted and elegant poems relishing the thrust of life, both in nature and in human love. There are several excellent form poems as well (sonnet, villanelle, sestina).

A Common Language (Lake Shore, 1995) is the NFSPS winning book for 1994 by Kathryn E. Clement. These are delicate but natural poems that range through a Wyoming childhood. Written in simple language and tight, well-crafted lines, they make a rich, durable collection that nourishes and sustains the reader.

Toronto poet David Clink brings us Come-on from the Horse on 7^th Avenue (believe your own press, 2002), The Surly Blondes of Earth (believe your own press, 2002) and His name was Gord and he used to run with the bulls (Junction Press, 2001). Even the chapbooks' titles catch your attention and these poems make you laugh at life's absurdities. They make you think and feel as well, with their strong images, manic energy, outrageous humor and empathy.

*** Cathryn Cofell:  Sweet Curdle (Marsh Hawk, 2006) comes from the distinctive pen of Cathryn Cofell. Both the longing for motherhood and its fulfillment inform the chapbook, as well as the joys and imperfections of mid-life, the bewilderments of youth and the various faces of love. This is a beautiful book of personal journey, the poems tender, witty and engaging. Poet Marilyn Taylor describes the book as "Irresisistible" and it’s a good word for it. (11/06)   Now out is Kamikaze Commotion (Parallel Press, 2008), a 40 page chapbook of further journeys in the same waters. Cofell is such a strong poet that this seems blessing instead of repetition. The book begins with the childhood memory of being forced to eat a hated food, in the prose piece: :"Five Small Spoons of Green Bean Soup" and follows with a few more "then" poems before she leaps into the waters of now: hospice, illness, obituaries, grief, the midlife of present life, all ablaze in delicious irony and without recrimination. A very good addition to the poetry shelf.. http//parallelpress.library.wisc.edu.. (Updated 2/08)

Joan Cofrancesco's three books are Walpurgis Night (Sam Diego Poets Press, 1993), Cat Bones in the Trees (Hale Mary Press,1998) and Riding on Dragons (Hale Mary Press, 1999).. Irreverent and witty, these are original poems celebrating life in all its variations.

Earl Coleman gives us a dozen of his poems with their varied forms and content in his Greatest Hits (Pudding House, 2004). He includes an especially readable and interesting biography as well. For Earl and related poets click here: http://www.nearbycafe.com/litandwriting/stubbornpine/

While in the World (FootHills 2003) is a delightful book of poetry and flash fiction by Peter Conners. These pieces are filled with crisp ideas, sharp images and snappy music all set in contemporary language.

Nancy Kenny Connolly won the 2002 Main Street Rag chapbook contest with I Take This World (Main Street Rag, 2002), poems of her life in the culture of India as student, wife, mother and, finally, as visitor showing her daughter the land from which she came, a country much trans-formed and modernized. It is an engrossing story, the poems first-rate.

Edmund Conti's Greatest Hits (Pudding House 2000) contains a dozen of this New Jersey poet's famous light verse, including two one word poems. These twelve are very funny indeed.

Talking Back (Shadow Ink, 2005) is a 40 page chapbook of witty verse by Deborah P. (Debby) Cooper who uses rhyme skillfully in these clever poems. Observations of a Dinosaur (Shadows Ink, 2004), Chortle Blossoms (Shadows Ink, 2004), and Venus On The Half-Shell (Small Poetry Press, 1996) mine similar territory with similar success as she follows in the footsteps of Carroll, Nash, Silverstein and Dr. Seuss.

Robert Cooperman is a familiar name to readers of poetry. His fine books In The Household of Percy Bysshe Shelley (University Press of Florida, 1993), Petitions for Immortality: Scenes from the Life of John Keats (Higganum Hill Books, 2004), In The Colorado Gold Fever Mountains (Western Reflections, Inc. 1999), The Widow's Burden (Western Reflections, 2001) and A Killing Fever (Ghost Road, 2006) display his vivid free-verse narrative persona poems at their very best. One chapbook, A Tale of the Grateful Dead (Main Street Rag, 2004), crafts a retelling of the Good Samaritan tale. The first two listings focus on the lives of two unconventional and tragic Romantic poets. The latter three tell tales of settlers of the Old West. Rich with vernacular speech and historical detail, they read like exciting novels while exhibiting skillful poetic craft. (updated 8/06)

Anne Coray's precise, austere yet sensuous language is a fine instrument for tracing the harsh geography of her native Alaska. Cool as the moon, her poems shine a clear light on unforgiving landscapes and on tough truths of the heart." (Stephen Kessler) Bone Strings (Scarlet Tanager, 2005) is an outstanding debut collection, especially in its devotion to the natural and its relation to the human heart. Click here for more on Scarlet Tanager Books. (added 8/05)

*** New England poet Page Coulter has given us Snow Over the Ossipees (Top of the World Press, 2008), a book of seasonal delights and meditations on the passage of time. Her poems are imagistic, Zen-like, and a love of nature shines through them. The language is lovely and flowing, portrays the New England landscape she loves. Previously, The Cowbridge At Dawn (Edwin Mellen Press, 1992) and New England Weather (Edwin Mellen Press,1997) also weave a magical blend of lyric and narrative poems bringing us closer to the natural world in its seasons of pruning and harvest, of growth and lying fallow. Link here to her book from Mellen: Pond Fire.  (Updated  4/08)

Too Much Explanation Can Ruin A Man (David Robert, 2005) is Robert W. Crawford's collection of gracefully formal poems exploring New England landscapes, nature and the seasons, and relationships, especially love. These are works of verbal music, superbly crafted. Click on poet's name for more.

*** "The poetry of Barbara Crooker revels in the sensory pleasures of living on this remarkable earth yet acknowledges the hard shadows that fall across our joys. It is poetry that is as vibrant as the beloved French painters whom she salutes and honors." So says poet Baron Wormser about this Pennsylvania poet’s award-winning first book Radiance (Word Press, 2005), a book bursting with abundance and joy. Her second book, Line Dance (Word Press, 2008),embraces the world, celebrates all the ordinary moments of life and finds them extraordinary, and makes the reader glad to be alive. The poems are loving, wise and, above all, human. This is a truly extraordinary book – outstanding. Crooker. has authored nine chapbooks: Looking for the Comet Halley (Sunrust, 1987), The Lost Children (Heyeck Press 1989), Obbligato (Linwood, 1991,In The Late Summer Garden (H & H Press, 1998), Ordinary Life (Byline, 2001), Paris (sometimes Y publications, 2002), The White Poems (Barnwood, 2001), Greatest Hits (Pudding House, 2003) and Impressionism (Grayson, 2004). She is also co-author, with Katharyn Howd Machan, of Writing Home (Gehry Press, 1983). Sample poems from Radiance, winner of the Word Press first book prize, are available Word-press.com and Writer's Almanac. More poems:(updated 9/05) at abalonemoon.com (updated 3/08)

 I Am Woman by Rite (Samuel Weiser, 1995) by Nancy Brady Cunningham, is actually a book of women's rituals with one or two of Nancy's delicate spiritual poems highlighting each section, a total of 31 poems in all. This book would be especially meaningful to anyone with an interest in Wicca or Goddess spirituality.