This collection of poetry by award-winning poet Valerie Nieman is praised by National Book Award finalist Sarah Lindsay, who says, "Valerie Nieman writes poems with long tap roots, and poems with sharp beaks that strike swiftly. They cast off from the known, or fix the familiar with a clear gaze, and unmoor the reader either way. For a nameless hunger and restlessness, here are guide and supplies and hills to climb, all in one fine book." Fred Chappell, former Poet Laureate of North Carolina, offers the following: "Like the millwright in her poem, Valerie Nieman seems "with bare hands (to) embrace live steam." Wake Wake Wake is sinew and tendon, hard muscle and bruised bone; the volume sings with every inch of the body and every breath of the spirit. If she speaks of "hearing that we have all fallen short," she yet believes-she knows-"the way a path is best walked/not by looking down/but by looking out." Would you be stout of heart, steadfast of purpose? Read Valerie Nieman."
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Editorial Reviews
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No nostalgic view of nature is found here. Instead, Nieman's love of the world is discovered in her deep attention to its details, which she embraces with the ferocity of a new mother, even when those details include the messy business of birth and death and anything in between. - Main Street Rag
"For Nieman, the land is a living element, at times revered, at times hostile. People and animals cross paths often, eat each other or each other's parts or waste products, sometimes merge identities. In 'Expedition,' the narrator roams across the land, eventually becoming the land itself...." - New Letters
"For Nieman, the land is a living element, at times revered, at times hostile. People and animals cross paths often, eat each other or each other's parts or waste products, sometimes merge identities. In 'Expedition,' the narrator roams across the land, eventually becoming the land itself...." - New Letters
About the Author
Valerie Nieman's poetry was earlier collected in two chapbooks and several anthologies. She is also the author of three novels, with the most recent being Blood Clay, published this spring by Press 53. She is the author of a collection of short stories, Fidelities, from West Virginia University Press, and her work has appeared in many journals including New Letters, Poetry, The Kenyon Review, Green Mountains Review, Arts & Letters, and the recent anthology Degrees of Elevation. She has received an NEA creative writing fellowship, two Elizabeth Simpson Smith prizes in fiction, and the Greg Grummer Prize in poetry. A native of Western New York State, she graduated from West Virginia University and the M.F.A. program at Queens University of Charlotte. She teaches writing at N.C. A&T State University in Greensboro, NC, and leads workshops at programs including North Carolina Writers Network and John C. Campbell Folk School. She is the poetry editor for Prime Number.
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More About the Author
I've been a reporter, a farmer, a sailor, a teacher, and most of all, a walker and observer. Blood Clay, my latest novel, is both a taut crime drama and an evocative portrait of the New South. I am also the author of a collection of short stories, Fidelities, and a poetry collection, Wake Wake Wake. My work has appeared in many journals including New Letters, Poetry, The Kenyon Review, Green Mountains Review, Arts & Letters, and several anthologies. My awards have included an NEA creative writing fellowship, two Elizabeth Simpson Smith prizes in fiction, and the Greg Grummer Prize in poetry. I graduated from West Virginia University and Queens University of Charlotte. After 30 years in daily journalism, I now teach writing at North Carolina A&T State University.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Poetry about everyday life!,
By Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Wake Wake Wake (Paperback)
Valerie Nieman's poetry in Wake Wake Wake is written in intelligent, and beautiful language and tells a story of everyday life in a brilliant way.
The writing flows nicely, and keeps the reader involved, seeing the images evoked by the poems, but also seeing deeper than that into Valerie Nieman's writing. My favorite lines in the whole book were "She penciled entries on the pale/machine-drawn lines of her journal," in the fantastic poem "Expedition" (one of many great poems). Even people who aren't usually big fans of poetry will enjoy this collection, as it speaks in language that, while elegant and lovely, can still be understood and appreciated by everyone (unlike some of the poetry we've all probably had to read in school). Wake Wake Wake is a quick read as well, at ninety-six pages, that readers are sure to devour in just one sitting. Armchair Interviews says: Poetry about everyday life.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Poems About The Everday Brought Into Full Focus,
By
This review is from: Wake Wake Wake (Paperback)
The poems in this collection have a strong sense of place. Each poem sees the power, the sound of a location--a physical location or a place in the body or mind. Poems such as "The Place" show this most clearly.
These are also poems of observation. Nieman is able to take the everday minutia and focus it into our frame to make the reader notice the everday for its regular beauty but also the way Nieman is able to make the ordinary new. My favorite two poems are "Covet" and "When Its Over". I am quoting the following lines from "When Its Over" to show you the simple and effective style of the poem: I turn everything off twice, / each faucet, every switch, / my fingers lingering on the porcelain. This is a nice, short collection that could have a wide readership. If somenoe is looking to get a start reading modern poetry this is a good place to start.
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