The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You
A reading compiled and curated by AB Gorham “A work that asks for more than one reader to carry its load is a work that will inevitably build a community. The first time that I read Frank Stanford’s The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You, my first impulse was to share the poem with someone else. In awe of its manic cadence and its capacity for burst-fire dream sequences, I called on others to churn my initial bewilderment into pure fancy of this lodestar’s almost feral beauty …” - AB Gorham
Read the full introduction here.
Where to find more writing by Frank Stanford:
About the readers:
Kevin Weidner: 1-510—Kevin Weidner lives in an off-grid yurt in Vermont and received an MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Alabama. His poems, short fiction, and reviews have appeared in Passages North, the Southeast Review, storySouth, The Hairsplitter, and elsewhere. He’s on Instagram @thatyurt and @weidnerkevin
C. D. Wright: 511-1020—Born in Mountain Home, Arkansas, on January 6, 1949, C.D. Wright received a B.A. from Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) in 1971 and an M.F.A. from the University of Arkansas in 1976. Her collection Room Rented By A Single Woman was the first release of Frank Stanford’s Lost Roads Publishers; Wright took over stewardship of Lost Roads following Stanford’s death in 1978 and served as co-editor with her husband Forrest Gander for many years. Her published works include ShallCross (Copper Canyon Press, 2016); One With Others (Copper Canyon Press, 2010), which received the 2011 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets and the National Book Critics Circle Award; 40 Watts (Octopus Books, 2009); Rising, Falling, Hovering (Copper Canyon Press, 2008), which won the 2009 International Griffin Poetry Prize; Cooling Time: An American Poetry Vigil (Copper Canyon Press, 2005); One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana (Copper Canyon Press, 2003), with photographer Deborah Luster, which won the Lange-Taylor Prize from the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University; and Steal Away: New and Selected Poems (Copper Canyon Press, 2002); as well as two state literary maps. Copper Canyon published her collection of essays, The Poet, The Lion, Taking Pictures, El Farolito, A Wedding in St. Roch, The Big Box Store, The Warp in the Mirror, Spring, Midnights, Fire & All in 2016. Wright was the recipient of the Lannan Literary Award, the 2005 Robert Creeley Award, a Whiting Award, the Witter Bynner Prize, and fellowships from the Bunting Institute, the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She served as state poet of Rhode Island from 1994 to 1999, and in 2013 was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. She was a mentor and friend to countless writers, including many in this collection, while at Brown University. Wright passed away on January 12, 2016.
Abe Smith: 1021-1530— Abraham Smith is the author of five poetry collections: Destruction of Man (Third Man Books, 2018); Ashagalomancy (Action Books, 2015); Only Jesus Could Icefish in Summer (Action Books, 2014); Hank (Action Books, 2010); and Whim Man Mammon (Action Books, 2007). In 2015, he released Hick Poetics (Lost Roads Press), a co-edited anthology of contemporary rural American poetry and related essays. He is the recipient of fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center and the Alabama State Council on the Arts. Tuskaloosa Kills, a prose patchwork co-written with Scott McWaters, was published last month by Spork Press. Smith is an Assistant Professor of English at Weber State University, Ogden, UT.
Bill Willett: 1531-2040—Mtn. Home, Arkansas native, 12/30/47. Univ. of Arkansas graduate 1971. BSBA. Self-employed, General contractor, specializing in landscapes, water features. Single, son and daughter. Practice Tai Chi. Friend of Frank Stanford since 1962.
Heather Green: 2041-2550— Heather Green’s translation of Noontimes Won, by Tristan Tzara, was recently published by Octopus Books. In 2017, Goodmorning Menagerie released a handmade edition of her translation of Tzara’s Guide to the Heart Rail. Her own poems have appeared in Denver Quarterly, Everyday Genius, the New Yorker, and elsewhere.
Chris Mink: 2551-3060—Chris Mink earned a Ph.D. in English from Florida State University and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Texas at Austin. His poems have appeared in Hobart, Storyscape, The Swamp, It Was Written: Poetry Inspired By Hip-Hop, and other journals. He currently teaches High School English and Creative Writing at N.Y.O.S Charter School in Austin, TX.
Robin Behn: 3061-3560—Robin Behn is the author of five volumes of poems, Quarry Cross, The Yellow House, Horizon Note, The Red Hour, and Paper Bird, and two chapbooks. She is co-editor of The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach, and editor of a new resource for young writers, Once Upon a Time in the Twenty-First Century: Unexpected Exercises in Creative Writing. Robin Behn teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at The University of Alabama and lives in Birmingham.Robin is also a musician, and has played flute and penny whistle in Waxwing Band, composed and performed Fiddle Tune Poems that combine poetry and music, and written the libretto for an opera, Freedom and Fire! A Civil War Story. She has collaborated with visual artists, choregraphers, composers, and other writers. Samples at https://robinbehn.com/
Lisa Tallin: 3561-4081—Lisa Tallin completed her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Alabama in 2013. Her poetry manuscript, The Lost Summer, was a finalist for Switchback Books’ 2013 Gatewood Prize. Her chapbook, Referent, Part 1, won Furniture Press Books’ 4×4 Chapbook Award in 2014. Recent accomplishments include a residency at the Vermont Studio Center, a fiction publication in Waccamaw that was submitted for a PEN prize, and becoming a licensed psychotherapist in Vermont.
Nathan Hauke: 4082-4590— Nathan Hauke is the author of Every Living One (Horse Less Press, 2015), In the Marble of Your Animal Eyes (Publication Studio, 2013) and four chapbooks. His poems have appeared in a wide variety of journals, including American Letters & Commentary, Colorado Review, Denver Quarterly, Dusie, Interim, New American Writing. Typo, and Zen Monster; they have also been anthologized in Hick Poetics (Lost Roads Press, 2015) and The Arcadia Project: North American Postmodern Pastoral (Ahsahta Press, 2012). He was born and raised in rural/ small-town Michigan.
Chet Weiss: 4591-5100—Chet Weise’s poetry and fiction has appeared or been anthologized in publications such as Copper Nickel, Bayou, Constant Stranger: After Frank Stanford, and the Rough Trade 40th Anniversary Journal. A musician too, Weise performed and recorded with groups The Quadrajets and Immortal Lee County Killers. He was banned from Canada for 2008. Weise currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is the editor for Third Man Books.
Tessa Fontaine: 5101-5610—Tessa Fontaine is the author of The Electric Woman: A Memoir in Death-Defying Acts, a New York Times editor’s pick, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers choice, and more. Other work can be found in Glamour, The Believer, LitHub, FSG’s Works in Progress, and Creative Nonfiction.
Jenny Gropp: 5611-6122—Jenny Gropp’s first collection of poetry and prose, The Hominine Egg, was released in 2017 from Kore Press. Her writing appears in Fence, Denver Quarterly, Best New Poets, Seattle Review, Colorado Review, Seneca Review, Typo, and DIAGRAM, among others. Formerly, she has served as managing editor of the Georgia Review and as editor of Black Warrior Review, and she now directs Woodland Pattern Book Center in Milwaukee, with the poet Laura Solomon.
Danilo Thomas: 6123-6630—Danilo John Thomas, raised in Butte, Montana, earned a PhD in creative writing from Florida State University and an MFA from the University of Alabama. He is the author of the chapbook The Hand Implements, from The Cupboard Pamphlet, and is the managing editor for Baobab Press. He resides in Sparks, Nevada, with his wife, two daughters, two dogs and an aged, toothsome cat.
Farrah Field: 6631-7140—Farrah is the author of two books of poems, Rising and Wolf and Pilot, both published by Four Way Books. She also wrote a chapbook, Parents, published by Immaculate Disciples. Her writing was included in the Best American Poetry 2011.
Jesse DeLong: 7141-7650—Jesse DeLong teaches literature and composition at Southern University. His work has appeared in Colorado Review, Mid-American Review, American Letters and Commentary, Indiana Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, and Typo, as well as the anthologies Best New Poets 2011 and Feast: Poetry and Recipes for a Full Seating at Dinner. His chapbooks, Tearings, and Other Poems and Earthwards, were released by Curly Head Press in collaboration with book artist Sonja G. Rossow. Find him on Instagram @nomessspellings
Peter Streckfus: 7651-8160—Peter Streckfus is the author of two poetry books: Errings, winner of Fordham University Press’s 2013 POL Editor’s Prize, and The Cuckoo, which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition in 2003. He is on the faculty of the Creative Writing Program at George Mason University.
Jessica Richardson: 8161-8670— Jessica Lee Richardson’s short story collection, It Had Been Planned and There Were Guides (FC2, 2015), won the Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize and was longlisted for a PEN/Robert W. Bingham award in 2016. New work has appeared or is forthcoming in the Collagist, Posit, Slice and other places. Some goodies can be found at www.jessicaleerichardson.com.
Shelly Taylor: 8671-9180— Shelly Taylor is the author of two full-length poetry collections, Lions, Remonstrance (Coconut Books Braddock Book Prize, 2014) and Black-Eyed Heifer (Tarpaulin Sky, 2010), and co-editor, with Abraham Smith, of the anthology of rural American poetry and essays, Hick Poetics (Lost Roads Press, 2015).
Farren Stanley: 9181-9690 Farren Stanley is a published poet and essayist living, working and writing in Seattle, WA.
Charles Gabel: 9691-10,200—Charles Gabel is a writer from Cincinnati, Ohio. He earned an MFA from Boise State University, and some of his recent poetry can be found online in New Delta Review, Dreginald, and The Journal Petra. He co-edits Coast/NoCoast, a journal of poetry, poetics, and art.
Ben Ehrenreich: 10,201-10,710— Ben Ehrenreich’s most recent book, The Way to the Spring: Life and Death in Palestine, based on his reporting from the West Bank, was published in 2016 by Penguin Press. He is also the author of two novels, Ether and The Suitors, and many articles, essays, and stories. Photo by Peter van Agtmael/Magnum Photos.
Joshua Marie Wilkinson: 10,711-11,220— Joshua Marie Wilkinson’s most recent book is Meadow Slasher (Black Ocean 2017).
Jared White: 11,221-11,730—As well as writing poetry, Jared White is the co-owner of the small press poetry bookstore, Berl’s Brooklyn Poetry Shop. He published two chapbooks in 2013, This is What it is Like to be Loved by Me from Bloof Books and My Former Politics from H-NGM-N Books. He lives in Dumbo, Brooklyn with Farrah Field and their fifteen-month-old son named Roman.
AB Gorham: 11,731-12,240—AB Gorham is a book artist and writer, originally hailing from Montana. She holds MFAs in Book Arts and Poetry from The University of Alabama. She is the Manager of Black Rock Press and lives in Reno, Nevada with her husband, their two daughters, and their three beasts. Her artist’s books are represented by Vamp and Tramp Booksellers, LLC and Abecedarian Gallery.
Ulrike Christine Franz: 11,731-12,240 (German portions)—Ulrike Christine Franz, born 1961 in Reutlingen, Germany, is a Papermaker and Printmaker. She currently lives and works in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In fall 2019, she will move back to her hometown in South West Germany.
Shannon Tate Jonas: 12,241-12,750—Shannon Tate Jonas won the Brick Road Poetry Press Prize with his first book Battle Sleep, published January 2016. He has poems published and forthcoming in various journals, including Barrow Street, Cider Press Review, Cutbank, Diagram, Hotel Amerika, The Iowa Review, Tammy, Third Coast, Typo, and others. His second book, The Rake, has been named a finalist for the 2017 Blue Lynx Press Prize for Poetry and a semi-finalist for the 2017 Berkshire Prize from Tupelo Press. He currently lives in a 19th century farmhouse near the town of Homer, Illinois.
Adam Clay: 12,751-13,260—Adam Clay is the author of Stranger (Milkweed Editions, 2016), A Hotel Lobby at the Edge of the World (Milkweed Editions, 2012), and The Wash (Parlor Press, 2006). He is editor-in-chief of Mississippi Review, a co-editor of Typo Magazine, and a Book Review Editor for Kenyon Review. He teaches creative writing and literature at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Samuel Grey: 13,260-13,770 Samuel Gray is a carpenter, poet, and translator. He lives in Portland, OR with his wife, son, and dog.
Cynthia Arrieu-King: 13,771-14,280—Cynthia Arrieu-King is an associate professor of creative writing at Stockton University and a former Kundiman Fellow. Her books include People are Tiny in Paintings of China (Octopus Books 2010), Manifest (Switchback Books 2013), Futureless Languages (Radiator Press 2018) and Continuity (Octopus Books 2019). She edited the Asian Anglophone issue of dusie and helped assemble the posthumous book of poems by Hillary Gravendyk The Soluble Hour (Omnidawn Books 2017). She lives in the East Coast Megalopolis and in Louisville, Kentucky.
Forrest Gander: 14,281-14,790—Forrest Gander & CD Wright lived together for almost 35 years, ran Lost Roads Publishers, and raised a son, Brecht. Gander’s book Core Samples from the World was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. His novel, As a Friend, based on the life of Frank Stanford, has been optioned for film with a screenplay by Graham Hamilton. Gander’s translations include Alice Iris Red Horse, Poems by Gozo Yoshimasu and Then Come Back: Lost Neruda Poems. Be With, his first book of poems since 2011, is just out.
Dara Wier: 14,791-15,283— Dara Wier, born in New Orleans, Louisiana and raised south of New Orleans in Naomi, Louisiana, her thirteen books include the in the still of the night (2018), YOU GOOD THING (2015) REMNANTS OF HANNAH 2006); REVERSE RAPTURE ( 2005); HAT ON A POND ( 2002) and VOYAGES IN ENGLISH ( 2001), awards include the American Poetry Review’s Jerome Shestack Prize, a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artists Award. Her poems are included the Pushcart Prize and Best American Poetry anthologies. Limited editions include (X IN FIX) and THE USUAL RATIO BETWEEN BANALITY AND WONDER in Rain Taxi’s brainstorm series; with James Tate, she rescued THE LOST EPIC OF ARTHUR DAVIDSON FICKE, THE AUTHOR’S ANNOTATIONS, COMMENTARY, AND NOTES OF REFERENCE FOR A MILLENNIUM’S TEARDROP (1999). Recent poems and stories can be found in American Poetry Review, Conduit, Epiphany, Big Big Wednesday, Verse, Fence and Divine Magnet. She’s held the Richard Hugo Chair at the University of Montana, and The Louis Rubin Chair at Hollins University and been a poet-in-residence at University of Texas Austin, Emory University and the University of Utah; a member of the University of Massachusetts Amherst poetry faculty, director and co-founder of the Juniper Initiative for literary arts and action and the Juniper Summer Institute and Workshops, editor and publisher of factory hollow press and publisher of jubilat, she lives and works in North Amherst, Massachusetts.
