You can learn about more Eleanor Lerman here, her own web site, which lists her books, and where I was pleased to find her new novel, Janet Planet, from Mayapple Press. I had seen the cover (wolf head floating on crescent moon) visiting Mayapple before, but this time I got smacked in the head with it.
They also give me something to be cranky about in the proofreading department. Just like my mom, I find myself reading with a pencil and making little corrections—adding a "d" here, deleting a "y" there, and shuddering at the use of "lightening" for "lightning." Once again, I ask, "Why, why isn't an editor doing this?" How can a fine book of poems like this get out into the world with errors like that? (And I don't know who to blame, a proofreader or the lack of a proofreader, or a copy editor who introduced the errors instead of correcting them...and why am I so darn persnickety?)
The lack of periods also drives me a little crazy, but that is a clear choice so I tell myself it has something to do with the meaning and the inextricability of form and content of poetry. I choose to think the lack of periods adds to the eerie floating quality in these poems. And sort of suggests immortality or afterlife
**please note lack of period above**
3 comments:
Thanks for this reading suggestion, Kathleen. These poems sound really good (but I cringe at editing flubs too).
Sarah
Oh, you hit a nerve! That "lightening" for "lightning" error is worse than nails on a blackboard. I did want to add a black dot at the end of the jackal's nose....Okay, so we create a job stimulus package based on fining or taxing all material that has not been edited and proofread. All sorts of companies would want to hire English majors to avoid the fines.
Excellent! Job creators for English majors!
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