The Intimacy of Spoons, my newest book of poetry, is now out—wahoo! It’s been sixteen years since Burning Heaven, my previous book of poetry, was published, so I’m thrilled to hold this new one in hand and share it with you. And the cover is gorgeous, thanks to Suzanne Stryk.
Here’s a description: The Intimacy of Spoons explores the many metaphors of the spoon: from love and marriage to the spoon of a grave that holds our bodies; from the darkness of loss and night, where “the Big Dipper is nothing but / the oldest spoon pointing us home”; to the darkness of lungs transformed into art. The poems cover a wide variety of topics—cultural, political, familial, and natural—and always, underlying these poems is the song of birds—with broken wings or clear voices, avian muses filling our forests now or long gone. Like the spoons we use every day, the poems of The Intimacy of Spoons return us to everyday stories and objects, common yet profound.
Nickole Brown author of To Those Who Were Our First Gods says this and more about it: “…each poem a spoonful of medicine to administer healing to our broken world.”
For more early reviews, as well as event details and other information, please visit www.jim-minick.com.
To celebrate, I’ve lined up a slew of events. Come if you can—it’d be grand to connect.
Events: (All events are free and open to the public unless stated otherwise.)
--Feb 29, 6:00 PM Wytheville Lib. Wytheville Lib FOL.
--March 6, 6:00 PM City Lights Bookstore, Sylva, NC. Joint reading with Darnell Arnoult and Bernard Clay.
--Appalachian Studies Conference, March 7-9, at Western Carolina U. (Registration required).
--March 14, 7:00, Blacksburg Books.
--March 26, 2:00, Augusta University, Without Warning Reading/Lecture.
--March 26, 7:00, The Book Tavern, Augusta, GA, The Intimacy of Spoons Reading.
--April 4-6, Tennessee Mountain Writers Conference. I’ll be teaching 3 workshops. (Registration required).
--April 7, 3:00. Abingdon, VA, Washington County Library Sunday with Friends. With Linda Parsons and others.
--July 13, 2:00-4:00. Online. Poetry Society of Tennessee, Reading and Workshop. Annual membership of $25 to PST required. Join for this and many more benefits.
--Sept 6-7. Carolina Mtns Lit Fest.
--Oct. 26-27. Southern Festival of Books.
Recent News and Media:
--Without Warning: The Tornado of Udall, Kansas, my most recent book of nonfiction came out in May 2023. Last fall, it won the Martin Kansas History Book Award from the Kansas Authors Club, a huge honor.
--Without Warning also was reviewed favorably by Chapter 16.
--The literary journal from East Tennessee, Appalachian Place, featured several poems from Spoons.
--This fine magazine also published an interview about Without Warning.
--Several other poems from The Intimacy of Spoons have been published online. These include:
--The Beat Podcast featured a few of my poems along with “The Oven Bird,” a favorite Robert Frost poem.
--“Why Birds?” – Salvation South
--“Good Dirt” (and other poems) - Cutleaf
--“Whale Light” - The Ekphrastic Review
--“Jim and James Ponder Enough” and “Spangled” – Still: The Journal.
--“To Spoon,” “Earth Diving,” “Ode to a Basket,” and “Hawk Says Finally”--New River Review
And I’m super honored to have poems included in several anthologies:
--The Southern Poetry Anthology, Vo. IX: Virginia from Texas A&M University Press.
--Wanderings I and Virginia, both anthologies published this coming year by NatureCulture in support of land conservation.
--Southern Voices: 50 Contemporary Poets from Lamar University Literary Press, again coming out later this year.
More Miscellaneous News
--Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, a literary magazine I help edit, is open for submissions. Our website is down, so for more info contact me at this email.
--On June 21, Wytheville’s Chautauqua Creative Writing Day will feature the great writer, David Joy. It’ll be a fine time so come if you can. 10:00 AM at St. Paul UMC.
Gratitude and Help:
The Intimacy of Spoons has been in the making for 16 years, which also means that many people helped in its creation. A huge thanks to all. The acknowledgements section is rightfully long, and hopefully I didn’t miss anyone.
There are still many ways you can help in the book’s success. Specifically:
--If you’re on social media, spread the word and post about the book. Reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, and elsewhere make a difference.
--If you’re a writer, podcaster, journalist, reviewer, radio/TV host, etc. interested in this book, let’s talk.
--If you are part of a school, bookstore, library, museum, etc. and interested in hosting an event like a reading, conversation, slideshow, etc., again, let’s talk.
--Same with book clubs. If you’re part of one, suggest this book. I’ve had terrific conversations via Zoom with book clubs all over the country.
--Ask your local libraries (public and/or university) to order the book.
Lastly, these email newsletters are very occasional, but even if they still clog up your inbox too much and you no longer want to receive them, I understand. If so, please respond by adding REMOVE to the subject line, without deleting the rest of the subject line.
For all your kindness and help, thank you. The hepatica, one of the first signs of spring here in Virginia, are just leafing out in the woods—I wish you a life full of such beauty.
All best,
Jim
Here’s a description: The Intimacy of Spoons explores the many metaphors of the spoon: from love and marriage to the spoon of a grave that holds our bodies; from the darkness of loss and night, where “the Big Dipper is nothing but / the oldest spoon pointing us home”; to the darkness of lungs transformed into art. The poems cover a wide variety of topics—cultural, political, familial, and natural—and always, underlying these poems is the song of birds—with broken wings or clear voices, avian muses filling our forests now or long gone. Like the spoons we use every day, the poems of The Intimacy of Spoons return us to everyday stories and objects, common yet profound.
Nickole Brown author of To Those Who Were Our First Gods says this and more about it: “…each poem a spoonful of medicine to administer healing to our broken world.”
For more early reviews, as well as event details and other information, please visit www.jim-minick.com.
To celebrate, I’ve lined up a slew of events. Come if you can—it’d be grand to connect.
Events: (All events are free and open to the public unless stated otherwise.)
--Feb 29, 6:00 PM Wytheville Lib. Wytheville Lib FOL.
--March 6, 6:00 PM City Lights Bookstore, Sylva, NC. Joint reading with Darnell Arnoult and Bernard Clay.
--Appalachian Studies Conference, March 7-9, at Western Carolina U. (Registration required).
--March 14, 7:00, Blacksburg Books.
--March 26, 2:00, Augusta University, Without Warning Reading/Lecture.
--March 26, 7:00, The Book Tavern, Augusta, GA, The Intimacy of Spoons Reading.
--April 4-6, Tennessee Mountain Writers Conference. I’ll be teaching 3 workshops. (Registration required).
--April 7, 3:00. Abingdon, VA, Washington County Library Sunday with Friends. With Linda Parsons and others.
--July 13, 2:00-4:00. Online. Poetry Society of Tennessee, Reading and Workshop. Annual membership of $25 to PST required. Join for this and many more benefits.
--Sept 6-7. Carolina Mtns Lit Fest.
--Oct. 26-27. Southern Festival of Books.
Recent News and Media:
--Without Warning: The Tornado of Udall, Kansas, my most recent book of nonfiction came out in May 2023. Last fall, it won the Martin Kansas History Book Award from the Kansas Authors Club, a huge honor.
--Without Warning also was reviewed favorably by Chapter 16.
--The literary journal from East Tennessee, Appalachian Place, featured several poems from Spoons.
--This fine magazine also published an interview about Without Warning.
--Several other poems from The Intimacy of Spoons have been published online. These include:
--The Beat Podcast featured a few of my poems along with “The Oven Bird,” a favorite Robert Frost poem.
--“Why Birds?” – Salvation South
--“Good Dirt” (and other poems) - Cutleaf
--“Whale Light” - The Ekphrastic Review
--“Jim and James Ponder Enough” and “Spangled” – Still: The Journal.
--“To Spoon,” “Earth Diving,” “Ode to a Basket,” and “Hawk Says Finally”--New River Review
And I’m super honored to have poems included in several anthologies:
--The Southern Poetry Anthology, Vo. IX: Virginia from Texas A&M University Press.
--Wanderings I and Virginia, both anthologies published this coming year by NatureCulture in support of land conservation.
--Southern Voices: 50 Contemporary Poets from Lamar University Literary Press, again coming out later this year.
More Miscellaneous News
--Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, a literary magazine I help edit, is open for submissions. Our website is down, so for more info contact me at this email.
--On June 21, Wytheville’s Chautauqua Creative Writing Day will feature the great writer, David Joy. It’ll be a fine time so come if you can. 10:00 AM at St. Paul UMC.
Gratitude and Help:
The Intimacy of Spoons has been in the making for 16 years, which also means that many people helped in its creation. A huge thanks to all. The acknowledgements section is rightfully long, and hopefully I didn’t miss anyone.
There are still many ways you can help in the book’s success. Specifically:
--If you’re on social media, spread the word and post about the book. Reviews on Goodreads, Amazon, and elsewhere make a difference.
--If you’re a writer, podcaster, journalist, reviewer, radio/TV host, etc. interested in this book, let’s talk.
--If you are part of a school, bookstore, library, museum, etc. and interested in hosting an event like a reading, conversation, slideshow, etc., again, let’s talk.
--Same with book clubs. If you’re part of one, suggest this book. I’ve had terrific conversations via Zoom with book clubs all over the country.
--Ask your local libraries (public and/or university) to order the book.
Lastly, these email newsletters are very occasional, but even if they still clog up your inbox too much and you no longer want to receive them, I understand. If so, please respond by adding REMOVE to the subject line, without deleting the rest of the subject line.
For all your kindness and help, thank you. The hepatica, one of the first signs of spring here in Virginia, are just leafing out in the woods—I wish you a life full of such beauty.
All best,
Jim
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