Category Archives: Poetry

Feb 25 2019
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Appalachia, Black History, Fayette County, Labor History, Nonfiction, Poetry, Print, West Virginia History, Women's History

Georgia Review

The writer Jessica Smith graciously reviewed The Book of the Dead—a new edition of Muriel Rukeyser’s famous poem cycle about the Hawk’s Nest Tunnel Disaster–for The Georgia Review:

Admirers of Muriel Rukeyser have been waiting for a reprint of The Book of the Dead, long out of print, and West Virginia University Press’s new edition does not disappoint. Of course, it’s exciting to have Rukeyser’s seminal hybrid poetic work of social justice in its own affordable softcover volume (with French flaps!), but the great surprise for fans and scholars of Rukeyser is Catherine Venable Moore’s extended introductory essay, which comprises the first half of this volume.

Read the full review…

Jan 27 2019
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Education, Nonfiction, Poetry

WV Wesleyan Teaching

This winter I’m a visiting nonfiction writer at the low-residency MFA program in Creative Writing at West Virginia Wesleyan. Back in December, I had ten days in residency in Buckhannon, where I taught a workshop and gave a seminar called “Nonfiction for Poets.” The campus looked nothing like the photo above, because winter, but the feeling was like those orange lilies; it was such a warm, welcoming crowd to get to know. The whole experience leaves me grateful to have found this talented crew of writers so close by, and I’m pumped to keep working with my advisees for the rest of the semester. Check out the program’s podcast, where you can hear seminars and readings by other visiting writers.

Oct 29 2018
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Nonfiction, Poetry, Women's History

Millay Colony

This October, I’ve been in residence at the Millay Colony in Austerlitz, NY, working on my book. Once the home of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, it’s now a place for writers and artists to come for intense periods of work and wonder, punctuated by long wanderings through the meadows, hills, and forests of Steepletop, Millay’s gorgeous estate in the foothills of the Berkshires.

White with daisies and red with sorrel
   And empty, empty under the sky!—
Life is a quest and love a quarrel—
   Here is a place for me to lie.

(from “Weeds,” Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1921)

Jun 05 2018
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Announcements, Appalachia, Black History, Fayette County, Labor History, Nonfiction, Photography, Poetry, Print, West Virginia History, Women's History

Two Reviews

Two review-essays prompted by WVU Press’s recent reprint of Muriel Rukeyser’s 1938 poem cycle, The Book of the Dead, to which I wrote an introduction…

Los Angeles Review of Books, “I Wake Up Choking,” by Maggie Messitt:

The Book of the Dead is a story about race. It’s about industry. It’s about being held accountable and the right to a safe workplace. But, to me — like so many Great Depression narratives — it’s about wealth and power and the ways in which that has trumped humanity and justice across time.

The Paris Review, “Muriel Rukeyser, Mother of Everyone” by Sam Huber:

We often lament our porosity to the world’s data as a uniquely contemporary curse. Rukeyser imagines it instead as a capacity we might cultivate, no easier for having been attempted before by others like her, from whom we are lucky to learn, and by many more who will not be preserved or restored. So often in her poems, Rukeyser is both student and teacher.

Feb 21 2018
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Announcements, Appalachia, Black History, Fayette County, Nonfiction, Photography, Poetry, Print, West Virginia History, Women's History

Taylor Books Reading March 1

Wrapping up a series of readings for the re-issue of Muriel Rukeyser’s poem collection, The Book of the Dead, by West Virginia University Press. One more chance to catch a reading here in the region, and this one should be pretty special. I’ll be joined by several descendants of Hawks Nest Tunnel silicosis victims, who will read from Rukeyser’s work. I’ll also read a bit of my nonfiction essay that introduces the new edition of the book. March 1, 5:30-7:00 PM. Visit the event page for details.

Sep 24 2017
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Appalachia, Black History, Fayette County, Labor History, Nonfiction, Photography, Poetry, Print, West Virginia History

WVU Press Re-publishes “The Book of the Dead”

“Written in response to the Hawk’s Nest Tunnel disaster of 1931 in Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, The Book of the Dead is an important part of West Virginia’s cultural heritage and a powerful account of one of the worst industrial catastrophes in American history. The poems collected here investigate the roots of a tragedy that killed hundreds of workers, most of them African American. They are a rare engagement with the overlap between race and environment in Appalachia.

Published for the first time alongside photographs by Nancy Naumburg, who accompanied Rukeyser to Gauley Bridge in 1936, this edition of The Book of the Dead includes an introduction by Catherine Venable Moore, whose writing on the topic has been anthologized in Best American Essays.“ Read more at West Virginia University Press…