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Another mind-bending Overlook release hits bookstores next week: The Gospel and The Zodiac. Here's what Kirkus Reviews has to say: "Irish Unitarian minister and journalist Darlison elucidates the zodiac's significant place in the Gospels, most specifically in the Book of Mark. Considered the "Cinderella Gospel"�briefest, least literal, colloquial, an abbreviated version of Matthew and Luke—Mark is full of the kind of unintelligible metaphors that prove most knotty to scholars of the "historical" Jesus. However, Darlison argues cogently, Mark in fact contains a highly sophisticated series of parables and mysteries intended to lead the reader on the path to self-transformation based on the cycle of the zodiac. "Mark's Gospel is a textbook of the spiritual journey written in an astrological code," the author writes. Once deciphered, this code "completely transforms our understanding of the Gospel's original nature and purpose." Jesus's miracles and parables were not to be taken literally, the author demonstrates through a systematic reading of his life and teaching, but as "dramatizations of internal processes." The Gnostics believed that the Gospel story was not an eyewitness account, but an allegory in which the seeker's internal journey mirrored the sun's 12-month cycle. Mark's primary metaphor is the yearly journey of the sun through the signs of the zodiac, and Darlison reflects this structure in his own narrative, moving from Jesus's baptism and the beginning of his ministry in Aries, the time of the spring equinox and theme of newness, through his suffering, death and resurrection in Pisces. The author debunks New Age-y nebula surrounding today's zodiac reading and reminds us how fluent ancient writers were in the language of the constellations. Judaism is steeped in the tradition, and many mythical seekers (Gilgamesh, Hercules, Theseus, etc.) were "solar heroes" whose series of ordeals were patterned on the sun's annual cycle. Darlison's accessible literary reading of the Gospels is especially useful in isolating original Greek words misconstrued over the ages. An intriguing leap into faith, and not at all the loony speculation the title might suggest.

Saturday night I had the good fortune of listening to Paul Janeczko speak at Hollins. I was looking forward to hearing him speak out of all of the speakers this summer, and he did not disappoint.

Paul Janeczko is a former English teacher. Paul Janeczko wasn't a good student but as a young child was a collector. He thinks that paved the way for his obsession of collecting poems. He has written novels, nonfiction, poetry collections, and edited over 20 poetry anthologies.

He says he travels around to preach the gospel of the possibilities of poetry. He wants kids to know that poetry doesn't have to rhyme, have a certain form, or be long, boring, and stupid.

He is probably most famous for his numerous poetry anthologies. With each anthology he is always wanting to show a new way of looking at things.

He talked about several poetry anthologies:
1) Poke in the I--A collection of concrete poetry illustrated by Chris Raschka. Concrete poems are typically in the form of a shape. They play around with language and white space. Some don't read like a regular poem, and in fact, they would be hard to read like a regular poem. Some do read like regular poems, but they are arranged differently.
2) Stone Bench in an Empty Park--A collection of haiku set in the city. He wanted students who lived in big cities to know that they could write haiku. Some kids thought since they didn't live in the middle of the country (nature) that they couldn't write haiku. He said they needed to see that they could write haiku, they just had to slow down and pay attention to their life and their surroundings. This haiku collection is illustrated in black and white photographs.
3) Wing Nuts: Screwy Haiku (my review of this book here)--He cowrote this with J. Patrick Lewis. This book is actually a collection of senryu, a type of Japanese poetry that has the same form as haiku, but instead of being about nature, it's about human nature.
** On a side note--I personally use the three poetry anthologies above ALL of the time. I highly recommend them to use with young writers.
4) Dirty Laundry Pile: Poems in Different Voices--This book is full of persona or mask poems. These poems are written from the point of view of an object.
5) Hey You!--This is a collection of poems of address. They are talking to something or someone. This one is brand new and I can't wait to get ahold of it!

One of the books he spent a lot of time talking about was a collection of poems he wrote about a circus tent fire in Connecticut in 1944. The book is entitled Worlds Afire. Each poem is told from a different person's perspective. Each of the people were in some way involved or affected by the fire that killed many. He did a lot of research for this book and was able to see his poems performed on stage at a local theater in Maine.

His advice to promising poets:
1) To get your foot in the door, send poems to magazines. It's a good way to get started with some publishing credits and gives you some credibility when you send off a collection of poems.
2) Read a LOT of poetry. Read as many poets as you can get your hands on. Then you can start to see which poets you really like and study them.

Paul Janeczko is getting reading to update his website. He is in the final proofreading now. So stay tuned for more.