Summer of Bowering: November

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In the Summer of Bowering, Geist blogger and Poetry Is Dead magazine Editor-in-Chief Daniel Zomparelli will be reviewing George Bowering's latest poetry collection, My Darling Nellie Grey. The collection is divided into twelve chapters, named for each month of the year, and Zomparelli will review one chapter a week all summer long. 

The Summer of Bowering is nearing it's end and I already have a deep desire to start summer all over again. Bowering's November chapter "Valley" did not help the cause at all. It travels through the Okanagan Valley of his childhood and the hot summer days with peach juice and jazz sweat. 

I personally make a trip to the Okanagan every summer and this chapter felt like I took an additional road trip this year. It reminded me of Ivan Coyote's work, but if she were to write poetry. That cowboy, rustic, cactus, juice on the family kitchen table style of writing that pushes you instantly out of the city. Or makes you long for home that isn't necessarily yours.

Bowering notes that he imagines this chapter would be read aloud. This fluidity and language of the poetry definitely deserves to be read aloud, except not from me. My voice sounds like what would happen if Eeyore had a baby with Lindsay Lohan ... or something of the sort. Either way, I am going to spend my last few days of summer outside, sipping some peach juice and gobbling up some Okanagan cherries.

Update from last week: I received an email from Jean Baird, and they contained the rest of the covers I missed from the last post in which I attempted to find all of the covers using my internet "skills." So here it is again, once more with feeling (sorry for the really weird slide show program and terrible advertisement).

I'm definitely breaking this copy in.