Celebrating Poetry in Pittsburg at the Eclectic Soul Studio on July 21

Pittsburg, KS – Three poets will be reading and talking about poetry on Saturday, July 21, 4-6pm at the Eclectic Soul Studio, 601 North Broadway. All have had books published by Meadowlark Books, Emporia, within the last year.

Olive Sullivan, Pittsburg, debuts Wandering Bone, her first full-length book of poetry. In addition to writing, Sullivan performs in the band Amanita, and in her free time, likes to fly-fish with her husband, the scholar and writer Stephen Harmon; takes long walks with dogs; and travel anywhere that requires a passport. She is an apprentice bookbinder.

Sullivan will be joined by Ronda Miller, Lawrence, author of

WaterSigns and MoonStain, both published by Meadowlark Books. Miller is the current state president of Kansas Authors Club, a writing organization that has been supporting authors since 1902. She is a Life Coach who specializes in working with clients who have lost someone to homicide.

The third poet in the trio is Izzy Wasserstein, Topeka,  author of When Creation Falls. Wasserstein teaches English at Washburn University, writes poetry and fiction, and shares a house with a variety of animal companions and the writer Nora E. Derrington. Her first poetry collection, This Ecstacy They Call Damnation, was a 2013 Kansas Notable Book.

Meadowlark Books is an independent publisher, specializing in printing books by authors from the heartland since 2014. Learn more at www.meadowlark-books.com.

The event will take place at Eclectic Soul Studio in Pittsburg. Eclectic Soul Studio offers a variety of classes and workshops including belly dancing. Owner Lastacia Ross is a certified intuitive healer. who offers reiki and meditation as well as sound healing and other services. 

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A Publisher's Diary - When Creation Falls

Izzy's first box of books arrived on Friday and I've been turning the cover over and over in my hands, caressing it, loving the image and the color. When we first began talking about the cover concept for When Creation Falls, I had never heard of the Stone Flower monument in Jasenovac, Croatia.

A monument stands
at Jasenovac, a flower
or a plume of smoke
opening to the sky.

~from "I find My Own Name in Shoah Records," Izzy Wasserstein, 

When Creation Falls (Meadowlark, April 2018)

I have read these poems at least a dozen times  throughout the process of selecting Izzy's book for publication, editing the book, and working with Meadowlark's layout and design intern, Sammy Beck, turning a manuscript into pages with a cover. I am struck by the number of times Izzy's poetic phrases have come to me, as comparison to things I've seen/done, as related to something I've read in the news, as memory. And I look at this cover and think that it is a perfect example of how the world is tied together in so many ways we don't often give ourselves time to imagine. Izzy Wasserstein was born and raised in Kansas. Meadowlark is a publisher of books with strong ties to the Midwest. Yet this cover depicts a stone flower that stands in Croatia, a monument that until a few months ago did not exist for me, a monument that has opened my eyes to far-reaching results of a story I thought I knew.

Nothing is so strange or new if you open your eyes wide enough, if you allow your mind to process the fact that everything is connected, that all of us are connected. Family Photo, I Rarely Write Before Dawn, Confessions of a Homeschooler, A Time Traveler Sends a Postcard Home... these are the titles of one poet's work, Izzy Wasserstein. These are the titles of poems where I see myself, as well, and because each time I come up with new connections, I will read these poems again and again.

...from "You Will Come Up Short", by Izzy Wasserstein:

The walls you build around yourself will crack.

The poem you write will fail.

This poem will fail.

Your song of protest will not sway the President,

nor the mayor, nor the mayor's dog.

You will pull apart your pockets seeking change,

and finding none, you will give up the milk,

   or the eggs, or the flour.

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Starting with her Kansas childhood, Izzy Wasserstein explores questions of science and faith, myth and politics, When Creation Falls. From nights listening to Royals baseball on the radio to paleontology, from prehistoric past to end of world, these poems explore how we relate to an indifferent universe, how we make meaning, and how we might create something better.

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Cover Image: Bobonajbolji (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jasenovac_HDR_C.jpg), removed tree, mirrored image, added overlay - image alterations by Meadowlark Books. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode