Synopses & Reviews
Prose. Poetry. Selected by Dennis Phillips for the 2001 Gertrude Stein Poetry Award, LETTERS TO UNFINISHED J. is comproised of 66 "letters," composed from 1994-1996, in which poet Shelia Murphy further establishes herself as a major author of the prose poem. Her text is equally at home in depths and surfaces that conjoin as she excavates and questions at multiple levels. Unexpected images, perceptions, and word combinations emerge, resulting often in political and societal critiques. Each of the letters is tightly composed, hightly concentrated, and fraught with motion.
Synopsis
Sheila Murphy's writing is infused with a particularly American tone; these short, numbered prose poems, often "Twirl on the tongue, as most active verbs are replenished by something garni." There is a true sense of place and being in the American space that surrounds Murphy's poems as the Florentine remands "Popeye to involuntary punches held close to the chest.
Synopsis
Winner of the 2001 Gertrude Stein Award, Letters to Unfinished J., selected by Dennis Phillips, reveals a fresh writing infused with a particularly American tone. These short, numbered prose poems, often "twirl on the tongue, [as] most active verbs [are] replenished by something garni." Here place and being in the American space surrounds the poems.
Synopsis
Winner of the 2001 Gertrude Stein Award for Poetry, selected by Dennis Phillips.
About the Author
Sheila E. Murphy (b. 1951, Mishawaka, Indiana) is an American text and visual poet who has been writing and publishing actively since 1978. She currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona. She earned: B.A. degree (music/English) from Nazareth College, Kalamazoo, Michigan M.A. degree (English Language and Literature) from The University of Michigan Ph. D. degree (Educational Administration and Supervision, Emphasizing Community Education) from Arizona State University. With Beverly Carver, Murphy co-founded and coordinated the Scottsdale Center for the Arts Poetry Series for twelve years. Murphy has engaged in a broad range of poetic styles over nearly three decades of writing and publication.