apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Let's give a warm welcome to Molly Arden, the winner of our poetry contest:

I am thrilled that my cento, "This Be the Place," won the Apartment Therapy contest. Given the choice of either money toward a book of poetry or four free posts I decided to take the latter so that I could spread the word about the poetry I'm reading these days.

David Lehman's new book of poems knocks me out. "When a Woman Loves a Man," published by Scribner, has just arrived in book stores and I think you will like it too. Here's "Radio," a poem in "When a Woman Loves a Man":

Radio

I left it
on when I
left the house
for the pleasure
of coming back
ten hours later
to the greatness
of Teddy Wilson,
"After You've Gone,"
on the piano
in the corner
of the bedroom
as I enter
in the dark

This is what Robert Olen Butler, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, said about "When a Woman Loves a Man":

Very few writers can actually shape how you see the world. David Lehman is such a writer. His poetry rides the currents of the zeitgeist in ways that are deeply influential. And if you let him alter you, he confers something like peace upon you, for in Lehman the darkest moments are always a beat away from laughter and the lightest things are always going dark around the edges. What strange and profound comfort that is. When a Woman Loves a Man is a truly important collection.

I guess I should declare an interest: I have assisted David for a couple of years on "The Best American Poetry." And he has been very supportive of my career. But I think I would like his poems regardless. Especially the love poems!

You can hear David Lehman read his funny sexy poems and support the new independent bookstore on the block in its sleek inviting space:

Monday, April 18th, 7:00 P.M.

McNally Robinson Bookstore
52 Prince Street
New York, NY
212/274-1160
www.mcnallyrobinsonnyc.com

I'll be there!
Molly Arden