Quiet Poetry by Karen Kelsay
Poetry News 2011
Launched White Violet Press Chapbook Company
Pushcart Nomination from Trinacria
Pushcart Nomination from Fortunate Childe Publications
Fire in the Pasture available here
Interview at Thick With Conviction Poetry Journal
by Arielle Lancaster-LaBrea
Interview at A Motley Vision
by Tyler Chadwick
Received an honorable mention
in The Lyric for my poem "Captain Lucian"
Lavender Song ( Fortunate Childe 2011)
A book of formal poetry
Fire in the Pasture (Peculiar Pages 2011)
LDS Anthology including 82 poets
Tipping the Sacred Cow (Fortunate Childe 2011)
Anthology
February Featured Poet
Now listed in
My new book Dove on a Church Bench,
to be released April 2011
(Punkin House Press)
Hear Zoe Guilherme read my poem:
In a Hat Box on You Tube
Publishing has invited me to contribute to their forthcoming anthology which includes 82 published LDS poets from the past ten years~~ due out this summer.
Lavender Song~
A book of Formal Poetry
by Fortunate Childe Press
Read what other editors say:
Karen Kelsay's Lavender Song is a delectable collection of perfect quatrains,
tercets, and the occasional sonnet—a poetic gathering that the Elizabethans
would have called “a garland of Delights.” Kelsay's subject matter runs the
gamut from nature and music and the season to English homes and Irish fairies,
as well as from Suzanne and the Elders to Anne Bradstreet. In a literary scene
where oversubstituted feet make too many allegedly formal poems unrecognizable,
Karen Kelsay's limpid iambic pentameters are a welcome respite and a joy to peruse.
- Joseph S. Salemi Editor of TRINACRIA
Reading these poems is like handling some lovely hand-made, carefully-wrought artefact from an age when craftsmanship and elegance still remained sovereign virtues. Karen Kelsay eschews cheap gimcrack-trendy modernisms and postmodernisms, and instead evokes a more organically traditional aesthetic and praxis. It is refreshing to read poetry that, far from urgently straining for effect and ersatz novelty, quietly and touchingly speaks to more durable human virtues. Yet within this exquisitely traditional poetic vision, Ms. Kelsay addresses concerns that are as relevant today as they ever were, and she does this from her own unique perspective, and in her own authentic voice. This is poetry that enriches the reader: and thank goodness such poetry is still being written!
Paul Christian Stevens, Editor of The Chimaera Literary Miscellany and The Flea Broadsheets
Karen Kelsay is a courageous poet: courageous to imbue her poetry with love, compassion, empathy and spirituality at a time when such things are out of favor in literary circles. For those of us who still believe that art should be moving, her poetry is like a breath of fresh, lavender-scented air.
- Michael R Burch, Editor of The HyperTexts
These poems rehearse their subject matter with charming magic of language, sorcery of phrase, the spell of measured, proper words. It is music, chant, and liturgy, the commonplace ensorcelled.
- David W. Landrum, Editor of Lucid Rhythms
Hear a poem from the book. Reading by Nick Sebastain~ republished at Whale Sound.
New book released order at AMAZON
Dove on a Church Bench
(Punkin House Press)
Karen Kelsay has a light poetic touch, in each sense of the word light: Though she consistently takes up the human experience with longing and loss, her poems are never weighed down with despair. She lightens the heaviness of melancholy and regret with her faith in an ordered universe. In Dove on a Church Bench, she reiterates this order by bearing witness that Nature’s creative cycle is cleansing, for the earth, for the body, for the soul; and through her commitment to remember her familial and community histories by recording and sharing them. Like the “sacramental hour” that frames the collection’s title poem, this communion of words acknowledges and renews the shared light and hope that can accompany the ritualized retelling of memories, a collective act skillfully embodied here in the rhythms and meter of poetic form. And like the dove that descends upon the same poem, as upon Kelsay’s collection, the poet’s language lights upon the soul and flutters around, “reflecting [the] light” of God’s presence across our continued experience with the world.
~~~
“Pretend you've just been invited to a garden party at the most fabulous house you've ever seen, and all the guests are charming, funny, and fascinating: the grasshopper who vows revenge, the bad-tempered dove, the American wife who microwaves tea for her British husband, the little boy who discovers he has the power to scandalize all the girls simply by taking off his clothes, and the armchair race car driver – you'll meet them all in Dove on a Church Bench, the latest collection by Karen Kelsay. The gorgeous scenery and elegant writing with its occasional accent of stylish irony establishes Kelsay as a poet who can do it all.”
~ Boston Literary Magazine
~~~
When Lily plays the cello, it is holy. So begins my favorite poem in Karen Kelsay’s latest book, and it is typical of the lush imagery and exquisite, lyrical voice for which this fine poet is becoming well-known. Treat yourself to Dove on a Church Bench; I recommend it highly.
– Carla Martin-Wood, Four time Pushcart Prize nominee and author of One Flew East (Fortunate Childe Publications)
~~~
Karen Kelsay braids her own delicate blend of style and beauty through this inspiring collection of poems. Her work is impeccable as she weaves her words together with effortless ease. The reader can’t help but become enchanted by her spell with her signature lyric style that not only pleases the ear, but grabs hold of the heart, resulting in a truly stunning book. And as in her poem, “Thoughts after Reading Ann Bradstreet”, Today I read your verses, and I wept. Sometimes only tears can express such beauty.
– Carol Lynn Grellas, Five-time Pushcart nominee and author of Epistemology of an Odd Girl
