Feeding the Crow

(1999)

New Voices Series

Edited by Susan Bright

Lyman Grant, Robin Britton, Jill Wiggins, Carlyn Luke Reding, Peggy Lynch, Jennifer Cárdenas, Phillip T. Stephens, Alyce Guynn

"This collaborative, experimental poetry project uses threaded polymetaphoric images by eight Austin poets . . . Peggy Lynch is a well-known Austin poet whose work is admired by every serious poet in town. Lyman Grant edited the late, great men's movement magazine Man! Much of his work is simultaneously classic and deeply personal. Phillip T. Stephens is a longtime local poetry activist gone quiet of late, but his poetry, political and punchy, still burns. The others I know less about, but we know that Susan Bright, who directed this project, is one of the most well-respected poets in Austin, not to mention the rest of the planet, so expect something special."
(Ric Williams, Austin Chronicle)

Beautiful myth and music poems by Alyce Guynn, urban America through the eyes of a young Chicana poet, Jennifer Cardenas, songs of a Texas woman coming of age by Carlyn Luke Reding, jewel-like image and lyrical poems from Jill Wiggins, a crow poem by guest poet, Jose Flores Peregrino and an introduction by Susan Bright.

"'Feeding the Crow" ... is a poetic wonderland filled with imagistic and metaphoric delights. The anthology ... stands head and shoulders above any that I have read recently. Crows have an eye for things that shine.... Shine is exactly what this anthology does, like a galaxy of poetic supernovas. And I'll certainly never look at crows ... without thinking of this wonderful collection of contemporary poetry."
James Darrell Skaggs, Professor of English, University of Puerto Rico San Juan

"'Feeding the Crow' delights ... What a richness! The range of forms, styles, themes, attitudes could occupy serious students for years, and beginning or recalcitrant students could certainly be won to poetry by the feast--offering of 'Feeding the Crow.'"
Terry Everett, Poet and Instructor, Delta State University, Cleveland, Mississippi

"These 'crow' poets do more than caw (although they certainly caw forthrightly for justice). They sing with lyric voices about the rich complexity of life when borders are crossed, cultures are blended, and the soul is exposed."
Betty Youngkin, Associate Professor of English, The University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio

"What happens when eight people get together ... to write and share their work under the sign of the crow, that figure of lingering wildness in the modern city? The human village reconvenes in these pages, and by the time you're done reading this abundant collection, you'll feel as if you have been spending the weekend with relatives you didn't even know were family. 'Feeding the Crow' is good entertainment and a useful introduction to how to write the modern lyric poem in all its variations."
Paul Christensen, Professor of English, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas

"Welcome to 'Feeding the Crow,' where the local and the colloquial are more than colorful. This collection braids together personal narratives and poems vivid with courageous detail, as each writer challenges us to sing our own "serious songs" in our many voices and languages. Excellent models for students of writing everywhere."
Marty Williams, Teacher and Writer, San Francisco Unified School District and Bay Area Writing Project

194 pgs, $17.95, ISBN: 0-911051-26-0

About the Authors

Lyman Grant is Jacob Grant's and William Grant's dad, and he is Colleen Waller's partner. Lyman wrote these poems before, during, and after Colleen"s pregnancy with Jacob. While teaching at Austin Community College for the last twenty years, he edited The Letters of Roy Bedichek and New Growth: Contemporary Short Stories by Texas Writers and "MAN! Magazine." His poems have appeared in "Sulphur River," "Enkidu," "Icarus," "At the Riverside," "Di-Verse-City," "BestTexas Writing I", and in his volume "Text & Commentary."

Robin Britton works for Pueblo de Los Ninos, a child care center for teenage parents who attend an alternative, charter school, the American Institute for Learning. Her poetry has been published in a series of small, hand-made books entitled Wake Up Calls, and in Poetography I & II and Diverse-city.

Jill Wiggins: "When I was eight, my family and I moved to Ohio from England, which was still recovering from the war. These two characteristics -- being English and being an immigrant --define me and color my poetry more than any others. I moved to Austin in 1982." Wiggins has a degree in art from St. Edward's University and works as a writer and graphic designer. She has two grown daughters and is married to an actor, with whom she occasionally performs in participatory murder mysteries. Her poetry has appeared in "Poetography," "Diverse-city," "Patchwork" and in a chapbook, "Lemon Curd and Other Poems."

Carlyn Luke Reding is a sixth generation Texan and a native of Brazoria county. Her non-fiction, poetry, and photography have been published in Image magazine in Lake Jackson, Texas. She earned her B.A. in history from the University of Texas and her M.A in humanities from the University of Houston--CLC. Her poetry has been published in "Di-Verse-City" and in "The Austin Writer."

Jennifer Cardenas is the third of six children belonging to Jesus and Alicia V. Cardenas. She is a proud product of the Edgewood ISD, home of the Edgewood v. Kirby, 1989 Texas Supreme Court case. She is a member of Yoniverse, an all-woman performance poetry ensemble. She now lives and works in Austin, attending the University of Texas.

Peggy Zuleika Lynch is a poet and author in her native Texas. Her poems have been published in the United States, Italy, India, Canada and on the continent of Africa. A knighted Dame of Grace by the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem in Malta, she was received as an honored poet in Italy and Switzerland. She has read and lectured in the USA, France, Canada and Puerto Rico. Mr. Richard Roy, Founder, Director of the Paris American Academy, Paris, France has named Peggy as the permanent Poet in Residence. She has been honored with three different Pushcart Prize nominations. Her medals, awards and diplomas include, among others, honors from the World Congress of Poets, the Houston Poetry Fest Literary Arts Award, the Poetry Society of Texas Hilton Ross Greer Outsanding Service Award (an elected office by the membership at large), and the Stephen Gill International Peace Award for Poetry. Her books include, "God and Inspired Songs in the Night," "Stacks and Files," "Ups and Downs," "Whorl around the Renga," "A Drink of Malta" (both co-authored with Bettye Givens), "Love Love Peggy!," "To You Beloved" and "The Gandy Dancers." She has co-edited several poetry anthologies including "Behold Texas," "From Hide and Horn," and most recently, "French Windows--Anthology of French Poetry." In 1983 she and her husband, Major General Edmund C. Lynch (now deceased) cofounded Poetry in the Arts, Inc.

Phillip T. Stephens hasn't published a best-selling novel since 1954. Easily suggestible, but suffering from nearsightedness, he practices random acts of irony and senseless metaphor. One of the first reporters to blow the whistle over the Martian Pathfinder cover- up, he performs daily with partner Hep Cat at http:www.io.com/~stephens.

Alyce McCullough Guynn is an Austin writer who arrived in the mid-sixties as a journalist. She has long been connected to the Austin music scene, beginning her public poetry readings at the Alamo Lounge and emma joe's. In addition to her writing, her performance poetry, Alyce is a full-time antitrust investigator, hosts regular living- room concerts in her home, and is the mother of three children. Geoffrey is a computer technician at Austin Community College. Justin is studying film at Tisch School of Fine Arts at New York University, and Mercedes sings in the choir and is an honor student and cheerleader at James Bowie High School.