The Writings of Emilie Glen 4 (Paperback)

THE WRITINGS OF EMILIE GLEN 4 - POEMS FROM MANUSCRIPTS. This fourth and final volume collects all the unpublished manuscripts left by New York poet Emilie Glen. These 180 poems, lyric and narrative, far from being the "bottom drawer" of the poet's work, contain the same urban savor as her longer works. Some of these poems were read by the poet repeatedly at the poetry salon she ran in Greenwich Village, and prior to that, at the salon she ran at her high-rise apartment on the Lower East Side in the 1960s and 1970s. As always, her most engaging poems are miniature short stories, all set against a noir Manhattan that includes both shocking murders as well as moments of unexpected beauty among fire escapes, trash cans, alley cats, and the migratory birds in Central Park. The book includes several surprisingly experimental works and a true account of a horrifying psychopath who ran a Greenwich Village coffee house.

While most poets write much, maybe too much, about the literary life, Emilie seldom does so. She doesn’t gossip about other poets. She doesn’t peddle manifestos. And she doesn’t complain about rejections and the dismal return on investment of the poetic life. One atypical, wry poem, “Crack Our Code,” makes fun of bizarre poetry journal titles. The most surprising poem in the book is “Middle Of,” an experiment in stream-of-consciousness.

Published March 2017. 152 pages, illustrated. The 228th publication of The Poet’s Press. 6 x 9 inches, paperback. ISBN 978-0922558872.