I am blown away. Flummoxed. Exalted!
There is a new brilliantaceous star atop my publishing tree this Christmas, thanks to editor, artist, and poet Carol Bass. Many moons ago, Carol accepted three of my poems for her then-unnamed anthology, which (as she puts it) “began as a plea to the state of South Carolina to protect its many rivers, not to squander the waters to out-of-state industrial farms and sell its rivers to Wall Street entities, but to respect its citizens rights and its God-given resources .”
A couple of weeks ago the finished book arrived: a gorgeous, full-color-throughout compendium of poems, paintings, prose, and photographs that is easily the most beautiful anthology—physically, visually, literarily—that I have ever seen.
I have to say, selfishly, that a particular thrill rippled (!) through me when I read the astonishing list of writers among which Carol had included me. Here is a selection:
Wendell Berry
Lucille Clifton
Billy Collins
Kwame Dawes
Jim Harrison
Jane Hirshfield
Langston Hughes
Ted Kooser
Mary Oliver
Octavio Paz
Rainer Maria Rilke
William Stafford
Arthur Sze
Connie Wanek
Walt Whitman
William Carlos Williams
You can see, I imagine, why being included here is such an honor, and why I’m encouraging everyone—shamelessly, pridefully—to buy the book (here or here).
Congratulations, Joe. What company you keep! Or maybe vice versa. Stunning cover.
Congratulations, well deserved. Onward!
Congratulations! It looks like an amazing anthology and a vital cause!