It's Here!

Edition 2 arrives this Wednesday at 7:30pm

at the Tavern of Fine Arts
313 Belt Ave, 63112

Reading promptly at 8pm:
              Ray Holmes
              gaye gambell-peterson
              Shane Seely

Come a little early to get a drink or a bite from the Tavern's excellent menu, and hang out afterwards for as long as you like.

Edition 2 will go on sale on the web May 3, and will become available at our brick and mortar partners over the following week.

"Diving Into the Wreck" - Commentary by Don Raymond, Jr.

... and I tried to explain to her last night that we are all alone, born alone, die alone, and - in spite of True Romance magazines - we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way.

                        -- Hunter S. Thompson

There is a poem which has haunted me since I first read it, twenty years ago. In “Diving Into the Wreck” Adrienne Rich describes an explorer preparing for her mission. The first stanza begins with a check-list of scuba equipment, then ends with a sudden, almost bitter turn:

I am having to do this
not like Cousteau with his

assiduous team
aboard the sun-flooded schooner

but here alone.

This contrast runs through the remainder of the poem: loneliness versus teamwork, darkness and light. This contrast has also run through my own life: there is no one else. I have to do this alone ... no help is coming, and none can be expected.  But for all that we might wish to be a part of Cousteau’s “assiduous team,” there is also a certain rebellious streak of pride in the solitary challenge of the lone diver.  After all, that’s what poets, explorers, scientists, do – go off alone into the wordless places and bring back something that might be the truth.  And there is a price to be paid for that.

What Is It About That Wheelbarrow?

Poetry is a mystery to most people, and poems like this one don’t help matters:

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens.

-William Carlos Williams


Nothing happens in this poem. There are no people who might converse about or use the wheelbarrow. There is only the wheelbarrow itself, some chickens, and recent rain. And yet, the poets insist, it’s a great poem. But why?

Edition 2 Will Be Here Soon!

There are a couple of opportunities coming up to check us out:

First, Architrave poets Emily Grise, Ray Holmes and I will be guests of Nicky Rainey on KDHX 88.1FM's Literature for the Halibut Monday April 30 from 9-10pm. If you're not in St. Louis, you can stream the broadcast live from their website.

We'll talk about the press, read from our own work plus some of the poems the press has published, including a sneak peek at Edition 2.  Since all three of us are also students in the Creative Writing MFA program at the University of Missouri - St. Louis we'll talk about that as well as UMSL's Graduate Writers Association.


Then the big event:
Edition 2 Reading & Release Party!

Wednesday May 2, 7:30pm
at the Tavern of Fine Art

           
Reading promptly at 8pm:
Ray Holmes
gaye gambell-peterson
and Shane Seely



Come early to get a drink or a bite to eat from the Tavern's excellent menu.
Poems from both editions will be available for purchase.

Helvetica

Helvetica film still

So far on this blog the subject has been poetry, but Architrave is also about the art of type. Recently I re-watched Gary Hustwit's film Helvetica and I was reminded of some of the many commonalities between the two art forms.