books
april is for poetry
April is always a brighter month for my inbox. Each day, Knopf Poetry sends out a free poem from a diverse roster of writers including Marge Piercy, Mark Strand, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Edward Hirsch. It’s Knopf’s way of celebrating National Poetry Month and bringing some well-deserved attention to the genre. The program also offers bonus features such as downloadable broadsides, audio clips and signed books.
This beauty by Anne Michaels arrived one April morning last year — right next to the cell phone bill and news of a Dutch lottery jackpot — and took my breath away. Hope it fuels your creative fires, too.
There is No City that Does Not Dream
There is no city that does not dream
from its foundations. The lost lake
crumbling in the hands of the brickmakers,
the floor of the ravine where light lies broken
with the memory of rivers. All the winters
stored in that geologic
garden. Dinosaurs sleep in the subway
at Bloor and Shaw, a bed of bones
under the rumbling track. The storm
that lit the city with the voltage
of spring, when we were eighteen
on the clean earth. The ferry ride in the rain,
wind wet with wedding music and everything that
sings in the carbon of stone and bone
like a page of love, wind-lost from a hand, unread.
go indie
photo by Juanjo Gaspar
It’s not always easy being independent. The rise of click-and-ship buying has delivered a coordinated hit on neighborhood bookstores. Indie retailers need an iron will (and a bulletproof business model) to keep breathing in today’s market.
More than anything, they need loyal customers — people willing to step away from the screen or the big-box outlet and spend their dollars locally. It’s a vote for choice and independence, and nine-and-a-half times out of 10, you’ll benefit from staff and owners who really, really know their stuff.
This is where IndieBound comes in. It’s a community-based movement launched by independent members of the American Booksellers Association. From the IndieBound website, users can search for stores, add new locations to the ever-growing database, and connect with other community members. You can also download the new iPhone app, which offers book recommendations from indie booksellers and direct e-book purchase links. It also uses iPhone location data and comprehensive maps to help you find stores at home and when you’re on the road.
The movement began with books, but it’s expanding to include independent coffee shops, bike stores, movie theaters and more, across both the U.S. and Canada. IndieBound also produces a monthly Next List, billed as “inspired recommendations from indie booksellers.” This list formalizes the best part of shopping indie — connecting with a passionate, knowledgeable bookseller — and leverages that experience across multiple platforms and social networks.
Slick websites and smartphone apps will never replicate the experience of wandering among well-stocked shelves, hearing the wooden floorboards creak beneath your feet, but they’re strategic weapons in the battle against a bland, corporate shopping monopoly. IndieBound is using the techy tools of those mainstream competitors to promote its members’ key advantage: choice, diversity, character and an everyday love of great literature.
photo by Shelby H.