Christine Stewart-Nunez will read from her new book of poems, Keeping Them Alive, (WordTech Editions, 2010), on Thursday, March 3, at 7 p.m., in CH 201, Southwest Minnesota State University, as part of our Visiting Writers Series.
Her first book of poems, Postcard on Parchment (winner of the 2007 ABZ Poetry Contest, ABZ Press, 2008), explores her travels in Turkey. Her chapbook, The Love of Unreal Things (ABZ Press, 2005), focuses on Catherine of Siena, an Italian mystic and saint. Writer Jesse Lee Kercheval called the poems "stunning, brave and original, taking one of religion and history's most loved yet. . . least understood figures, bringing her to life on the page, giving her voice and making her human."
Christine's second chapbook, Unbounded and Branded, (Finishing Line Press, 2006) focuses on supermodel Kate Moss as a fashion icon.
Here's one of my favorite poems of Christine's, which was published in newspapers nationwide in Ted Kooser's weekly column.
American Life in Poetry: Column 249
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE
One of the wonderful things about small children is the way in which they cause us to explain the world. “What’s that?” they ask, and we have to come up with an answer. Here Christine Stewart-Nunez, who lives and teaches in South Dakota, tries to teach her son a new word only to hear it come back transformed.
Convergence
Through the bedroom window
a February sunrise, fog suspended
between pines. Intricate crystals--
hoarfrost lace on a cherry tree.
My son calls out, awake. We sway,
blanket-wrapped, his head nuzzling
my neck. Hoarfrost, tree—I point,
shaping each word. Favorable
conditions: a toddler’s brain, hard
data-mining, a system’s approach.
Hoar, he hears. His hand reaches
to the wallpaper lion. Phenomena
converge: warmth, humidity,
temperature’s sudden plunge;
a child’s brain, objects, sound.
Eyes widening, he opens his mouth
and roars.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2009 by Christine Stewart-Nunez, whose most recent book of poems is Postcard on Parchment, ABZ Press, 2008. Poem reprinted from the Briar Cliff Review, 2009, by permission of Christine Stewart-Nunez and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2009 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.
Her first book of poems, Postcard on Parchment (winner of the 2007 ABZ Poetry Contest, ABZ Press, 2008), explores her travels in Turkey. Her chapbook, The Love of Unreal Things (ABZ Press, 2005), focuses on Catherine of Siena, an Italian mystic and saint. Writer Jesse Lee Kercheval called the poems "stunning, brave and original, taking one of religion and history's most loved yet. . . least understood figures, bringing her to life on the page, giving her voice and making her human."
Christine's second chapbook, Unbounded and Branded, (Finishing Line Press, 2006) focuses on supermodel Kate Moss as a fashion icon.
Here's one of my favorite poems of Christine's, which was published in newspapers nationwide in Ted Kooser's weekly column.
American Life in Poetry: Column 249
BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE
One of the wonderful things about small children is the way in which they cause us to explain the world. “What’s that?” they ask, and we have to come up with an answer. Here Christine Stewart-Nunez, who lives and teaches in South Dakota, tries to teach her son a new word only to hear it come back transformed.
Convergence
Through the bedroom window
a February sunrise, fog suspended
between pines. Intricate crystals--
hoarfrost lace on a cherry tree.
My son calls out, awake. We sway,
blanket-wrapped, his head nuzzling
my neck. Hoarfrost, tree—I point,
shaping each word. Favorable
conditions: a toddler’s brain, hard
data-mining, a system’s approach.
Hoar, he hears. His hand reaches
to the wallpaper lion. Phenomena
converge: warmth, humidity,
temperature’s sudden plunge;
a child’s brain, objects, sound.
Eyes widening, he opens his mouth
and roars.
American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2009 by Christine Stewart-Nunez, whose most recent book of poems is Postcard on Parchment, ABZ Press, 2008. Poem reprinted from the Briar Cliff Review, 2009, by permission of Christine Stewart-Nunez and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2009 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.
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