LOCH RAVEN REVIEW; Talking with Glenn Bach at Gatsby

Monday, May 16, 2016

Alexis Rhone Fancher in LOCH RAVEN REVIEW; Talking with Glenn Bach at Gatsy’s Celebration of the Chiron Review

Two weeks ago, on Sunday, May 1, Michelle Bitting and I gave a reading at Gatsby Books and we were fortunate enough to have ten people show up for it. I say “fortunate” because there had been a reading at the same store the evening before that went for at least five hours and the store was packed with just about everybody on the local scene. The occasion was a celebration of the Chiron Review, whose editor had come out all the way from Kansas to be part of the reading. The older poets included Gerald Locklin and Charles Webb, both renown for their prime roles in establishing and promulgating the Stand Up school of poetry. Other poets I spotted in attendance included Laurel Ann Bogen, Michael C. Ford, Joan Jobe Smith, and Fred Voss. I didn’t get there until about 8:00 p.m., by which point Alexis Rhone Fancher had already read. I heard from a student the next day, however, that Alexis’s presentation was exceptionally dynamic. That report did not surprise me, for Linda and I had both heard her read with two of her friends at Beyond Baroque several weeks ago, and her poems glowed with passionate candor.

I received this past weekend a note from Alexis in which she passed on some good news about her writing as well as a link to some recently published work. The delightful announcement is that Edward Hirsch has chosen Alexis’s poem “when I turned fourteen, my mother’s sister took me to lunch and said:” for reprinting in The Best American Poetry of 2016. The link to Loch Raven Review is:

https://thelochravenreview.net/alexis-rhone-fancher/

Despite the low (but understandable) attendance at Gatsby for Michelle and me, I am very happy for the success of the event the night before. Wendy Rainey had invited me to join the reading (though I have never contributed to CHIRON), but I decided that it would be better to get some sleep and left the reading by 9:30. Before I left, however, I had a chance to chat with Glenn Bach, poet and sound composer who told me that he had just finished his 600 page project and was hoping to find a publisher. If anyone wants to start their cultural project with the work of one of the most interesting artists around, get in touch with him. He is ready to roll.

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