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It's my absolute honor to introduce this month's featured poet on SHINE...Dr. Hiram Larew. Hiram and I became acquainted through the DOOR = JAR Summer 2024 Reading Event, and I was immediately enamored with his writing. So I was incredibly pleased when he submitted his work for a feature on SHINE! Please enjoy "Wilt or Stray," which first appeared in Poetry Bus, and "Life with a Candle," which first appeared in Innisfree. Thank you, Hiram, for sharing your gift. Wilt or Stray  Life with a Candle   Dr. Larew is a Courtesy Faculty at five U.S. universities. He lives in Maryland, USA, where he assists Baltimore (MD) WBJC Classical Radio (91.5 FM) to identify poets for featuring on the widely broadcast Booknotes program. Larew's poems have received the Louisiana Literature Prize, the washington review poetry blue ribbon and have been nominated for four Pushcarts. His work appears widely, including in recent issues of Poetry South, The Brown Critique, San Antonio Review, Contemporary American Voices, Honest Ulsterman, Iowa Review, Amsterdam Quarterly and Best Poetry Online. Recipient of grants from state and county Arts Councils, as well as the United Nations for his Poetry X Hunger initiative (which features poetry from the international community to help alleviate hunger), Larew is also founder of Voices of Woodlawn, a powerful program of poetry, music and art that explores America’s tragic history of plantation-based slavery. Larew’s sixth collection of poems, Patchy Ways was released from CyberWit Press in 2023. Learn more at: www.HiramLarewPoetry.com.
A Mob of Kangaroos, forthcoming from Ridge Books, is a poetic expose of the American political climate of recent years. From the first poem, “Tensile Strength,” I was completely drawn in to this new chapbook by Kip Knott. (As it happens, I have a poem by the very same name, but I think I much prefer Knott’s!) While many of the poems included in A Mob of Kangaroos are reflections on the January 6, 2021, insurrection, Knott touches on a variety of other social issues, as well – from school shootings to global unrest. Ultimately, there is a broad underlying message at work in this book – one of peace in the face of violence. Though it's hard to pick a favorite from Knott's poems, “Original Sin,” “Nightly News,” and “An American Prayer" were all stand-outs for me. Below, please take a moment to reflect on “Spring Constellations,” written for the tragic shooting in Uvalde, TX in 2022. To learn more about Knott’s writing, check out his Bio which follows. A Mob of Kangaroos (Ridge Books) will be available October 5, 2024. Spring Constellations |
SHINE - International Poetry Series
Curated by Samantha Terrell
From the international poetry community, we have a "luxury of stars," as Sylvia Plath might say, and it is my honor to provide a home for their words through SHINE Poetry Series.
NOW IN PRINT!
Stars Over the Dordogne
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