Blog Posts - Marianne Murphy Zarzana

The Writer's Almanac Posts Sutter's Poem, "Hoarfrost and Fog"

1/12/2015

So many beautiful high-contrast and other worldly images captured in today's poem, "Hoarfrost and Fog," by Barton Sutter, SMSU alumnus, posted on The Writer's Almanac.

And wonderful to be able to listen to Garrison Keillor read it over the website in our first class of Advanced Poetry Workshop today at SMSU.

There's been a good run of SMSU-related poets posted recently on The Writer's Almanac: Barton Sutter, Philip Dacey and Stephen Dunn.

The SMSU Creative Writing Program has a strong, vibrant legacy, and we stand on the sturdy shoulders of all those who came before us. Check out our programs and share with others: www.SMSU.edu/go/English

Barton Sutter's poem, "Static," on The Writer's Almanac

1/9/2015

Great poem, entitled "Static," posted on The Writer's Almanac yesterday by Barton Sutter, Southwest Minnesota State University graduate.

The speaker's voice in this poem captures that post-breakup ambivalence many of us have experienced--wistful and nostalgic for the good aspects of a past love but also clear-eyed about all the "static." I admire Bart's use of slant rhyme or off-rhyme couplets. The rhymes are a bit "off," not true rhymes, just as the couple almost clicked but not quite--too much static. Form and content work well in tandem here, something I focus on in my own poems and encourage my writing students to consider as well.

At SMSU, we're proud of Bart for many reasons, but especially because he is the only Minnesota author to win the Minnesota Book Award in three different categories:

1992 for Fiction (My Father's War and Other Stories, Viking, 1991, U of MN 2000)
1994 for Poetry (The Book of Names: New and Selected Poems, BOA Editions, 1993)
1999 for Non-fiction (Cold Comfort: Life at the Top of the Map, U of MN, 1998)

Bart has a collection of haiku, Chester Creek Ravine, coming out this spring from Nodin Press. I love reading haiku and look forward to buying a copy of Bart's new book.

Philip Dacey's Poem, "Guest of Honor," on The Writer's Almanac Today

12/29/2014

The poem of the day chosen for The Writer's Almanac, "Guest of Honor," was written by Philip Dacey, a friend and an SMSU Professor Emeritus of English. It's from his new book of poetry, Church of the Adagio, Rain Mountain Press, 2014. Click here to read a review.

If you're not already familiar with Phil Dacey's work, I encourage you to dive in. He's prolific, a regular "poetry factory," in his own self-effacing words. But unlike the products most factories turn out, Dacey's poetry soars with fine craftsmanship and sings with full and open heart.

Alixa Doom's New Poetry Book, A Slow Dissolve of Egrets, Reviewed in Star Tribune

12/7/2014

Alixa Doom's new collection of poetry, A Slow Dissolve of Egrets, published by Red Dragonfly Press, had a recent review in the Star Tribune.
Congratulations, Alixa! I look forward to reading this book over the Christmas break.

Poet Susan McLean Reads from Her New Book, The Whetstone Misses the Knife at SMSU, Oct. 20

10/29/2014

Susan McLean, a brilliant poet and professor of English at Southwest Minnesota State University, gave a wonderful reading from her new book of poetry, The Whetstone Misses the Knife, Winner of the Donald Justice Poetry Prize, at SMSU on Monday, Oct. 20. The video of her reading also includes McLean's Q & A following the reading. Enjoy!

"Susan McLean's poems are...a delight to read....A super book, and one to return to often."
--Dick Davis

Here is a review of Susan's book by Constant Reader posted on Amazon.com :

"Unlike the knife in her title poem, Susan McLean couldn't be sharper. She cuts to the heart of her subjects with language as precise as a scalpel and as surprising as a prison shiv. Small wonder that The Whetstone Misses the Knife won the prestigious Donald Justice Prize, or that McLean followed the likes of A.E. Stallings and A.M. Juster in winning the Richard Wilbur Award for her earlier collection, The Best Disguise. In Whetstone she takes on subjects ranging from love to loss, sex to sexism. She is funny, touching, sardonic, playful, often enlightening, always entertaining--and brilliant, as Dick Davis notes in his jacket blurb, at balancing "the messiness of life" with "the formal perfections of art." McLean is not just one of the best poets writing today, but one of the best at working within--and against--poetic forms, ranging from sonnets and villanelles to ballades and double dactyls.

"Among the standouts in this collection are "The Mirror's Desolation," a surprisingly poignant message from a mirror to its owner ("I care for you too much to lie,/ copying lines you would erase..."), "Dear John," a hilarious letter to a certain below-the-belt "John Thomas," "No Thanks," on why the narrator doesn't want to play a damsel in distress, and "Rules for Love," which deserves to become a manifesto for a new generation of feminists (""Don't play dumb or play his games. Don't stop/ reading or saying what you think. Don't flatter.../ If he won't love you, you'll do fine alone.") .

"Although McLean is bound to strike a chord with readers of many ages, I particularly recommend her books as gifts for older teenagers and young adults. In a society that often makes people feel they must look or act a certain way, the protagonists of McLean's poems are independently, unapologetically, themselves. They embrace math and sex, shun makeup and diets, read Gloria Steinem, have crushes on Mr. Spock. As McLean writes in "Ad Lib," "The secret to doing what you please/ is never to ask permission." Here's hoping she keeps doing just that for many volumes to come."

2014 Lakeside Writers Weekend: "Write Where You Are" Workshops for Emerging and Experienced Writers

8/18/2014

Need to carve out writing time away from home? Crave feedback on a writing project that's been cooking a while?

Join us for the 2014 Lakeside Writers Weekend, "Write Where You Are," at the Lakewood Supper Club, Ortonville, Minn., kicking off on Friday, Sept. 19 with a public reading at the Ortonville Public Library, then workshops on Sat., Sept. 20 from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. and Sun., Sept. 21 from 9 a.m. -1 p.m.

The two workshop presenters are Judy Wilson and myself, Marianne Zarzana, creative writing professors at Southwest Minnesota State University, Marshall, Minn.

Wilson, returning by popular demand after leading the September 2013 workshop, will present an advanced workshop for writers of fiction and creative non-fiction. Wilson has published a book of short stories titled Trespass. In addition, she has been published in Renovated Lighthouse Literary Magazine, Product, Southern Literary Festival Anthology, Skylark Literary Annual, Mississippi Review, and The Atlantic Monthly’s Atlantic Unbound.

My workshop is open to writers at all levels of writing experience and covers all genres—poetry, non-fiction and fiction—as well as blogging. On Sunday during the workshop, we will both present information on promoting and publishing literary work. I have recently published essays in Notre Dame Magazine, and my poetry has appeared in Savoring (a collaborative art and poetry exhibit), Dust & Fire, Farming Words, Blue Earth Review, Minnesota River Review, Umbrella Journal, and Kitchen Scraps among other publications.

For more information and to register, go to www.bigstonearts.com
Questions? Call Maureen Stores at 320-265-6121
or email maureenstores@centurytel.net

This activity is made possible by voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

The Marsco Dissident Now Available in Print

8/1/2014

I'm thrilled to let you know that The Marsco Dissident by James A. Zarzana is now available in print on Amazon after being published one year ago as an e-book.

As Jim's wife, I may be biased, but I know good writing. So do the readers who've posted reviews on Amazon. The characters and plots twists in this riveting dystopian novel will pull you in and make you hungry for the next three novels in The Marsco Saga. "It's a Marsco world."

Zarzana Reading at SMSU Fine Art Celebration, April 7

4/6/2014

Jim and I will read from our fiction, non-fiction and poetry at the 8th Annual Fine Arts Celebration at Southwest Minnesota State University on Monday, April 7, 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Whipple Gallery, located in the SMSU McFarland Library.

Jim will read from his sci-fi novel, The Marsco Dissident, published last summer on Amazon Kindle, and I'll read an essay, "The Biker Code," which will be published in the spring 2014 issue of Notre Dame Magazine.

We'll both read companion essays that we wrote for Story Guru web site about being writing partners as well as life partners for over 30 years: "A Shared Writing Life" and "A Writing Partners Honey Do List."

Join us, bring your lunch, and fill your own artist's well!

Kevin Zepper's Poetry Reading at SMSU

3/27/2014

I admire Kevin Zepper's poetry on many levels--the craft, the lively music, the word play, and the delightful range, as Mark Vinz writes, "from whimsy to tender sensuousness, always full of surprises, full of love for language, full of love."

I hope you enjoy watching this YouTube video of Kevin's reading as much as I enjoyed a front-row seat in Charter Hall 201 this past Monday night at Southwest Minnesota State University.

Some of my favorite Zepper poems from this reading are "Botany," "Rose Girl," "Sugartown," "Beef Pot Pies" (I loved them as a kid), "Big Mother Boots," and "Java Dive."

Kevin's four chapbooks are Sugartown, I Bring You Dead Things, The Fifth Ramone: Prose Poems and (Suffering from) An Apartment Complex.

Poet Kevin Zepper, author of Sugartown, to read at SMSU Visiting Writers Series on Monday, March 24

3/22/2014

Join us at the Southwest Minnesota State University Visiting Writers Series on Monday, March 24 for a poetry reading by Kevin Zepper, author of Sugartown and three other chapbooks.

Zepper will read from Noon - 1 pm at the Marshall-Lyon County Library and from 7-8 pm at SMSU, Charter Hall 201. Zepper teaches at Minnesota State University--Moorhead. Author Lin Enger writes about Zepper's poems: "In a tone both wistful and amazed, he alliterates, puns and raps his way from Pez candies to pot pies, from Icarus to Johnny Cash. Zepper is the bard of the beet fields, the psalmist of potato salad. This guy can write a poem about anything. He can also remind you of things you never realized you knew."

Hope to see you there!