By While hanging out at ESU’s Memorial Union this afternoon, I ran into Kevin Rabas, poet, jazz musician, Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Emporia State.
Kevin published his first book of poetry a couple weeks ago: Bird’s Horn and Other Poems.
Luckily, I just happened to have my camera:
I also had 10 bucks on me, so now I have my very own personalized, autographed copy of Bird’s Horn.
You can read some of his poems here.
If you like what you read in that sample, you can purchase Bird’s Horn, 50 pages of Kevin’s poems, for a mere $10 plus $1.50 shipping (order form.)
Denise Low, Kansas’ brand new Poet Laureate, had this to say about Kevin Rabas, “As an accomplished musician, he has the ability to translate sound into words. His are some of the best jazz poems around, and in this book he illuminates the Midwestern musician’s culture. This debut collection reads like the work of a veteran poet.”
See ya later, I’m gonna go sit on my front porch and read the book.
UPDATE- a brief review
Kevin Rabas uses everyday words and tells everyday stories. There are no references to obscure literature, so that made the book very readable for me.
That simple language makes his poetry deceptive. Sitting with one of his poems for awhile is like looking at a stereogram – the real picture soon appears.
No word is wasted and each one is cross-trained to do the work of a dozen words. His imagery is sometimes palpable, as in the poem “Reseed” … “Bring sky. Settle my mind. No, fill my veins with red ants.”
Great poems, great book.
Cheryl, great composition in Kevin’s photo.
Well? How is Kevin’s book of poetry, Cheryl?
There. I just added my review to the original post.
Thanks, Cheryl. I’ll get a copy from Kevin. You bought his only extra copy yesterday, the one pictured.