Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Rich Boucher on August 29, 2012 at 2:52pm

I'm interested. For sure.

Permalink Reply by L. C. Sterling on August 29, 2012 at 3:11pm

I'd be pleased to participate ... I think ...

Permalink Reply by Michael R. Donohoe on August 29, 2012 at 5:22pm

I;m game.

Permalink Reply by L. C. Sterling on August 29, 2012 at 5:24pm

So what exactly do you have in mind?

Permalink Reply by Sari Krosinsky on August 30, 2012 at 10:30am

I'll send questions and get responses by message so that I can post the interview verbatim (or if anyone strongly prefers to be interviewed in person, I could meet up and record the interview). I'll also need a photo of the writer. I'll be in touch soon; just finalizing the questions.

Permalink Reply by Michael R. Donohoe on August 30, 2012 at 11:17am

That's cool. If you want I could give you a copy of my autobiography to check out. I expect to have some things going on in September with it.~Mike.

Permalink Reply by Michael R. Donohoe on August 30, 2012 at 11:18am

http://www.amazon.com/Waking-From-American-Dream-ebook/dp/B0081V2S8M

Permalink Reply by Anna Redsand on August 30, 2012 at 7:13pm

I'm interested. One published book, a YA bio of Viktor Frankl, Viktor Frankl: A Life Worth Living (Clarion, 2006). Working on a YA novel and a memoir. Have a blog at http://ayearofstandingstill.blogspot.com

Permalink Reply by Sari Krosinsky on August 31, 2012 at 1:38pm

Anna, send me a message with the best way for me to send you the questions. Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Anna Redsand on August 31, 2012 at 1:48pm

Sari, you can access my e-mail address through my website http://annaredsand.com. If you have any trouble with that, please contact me again here at Duke City.

Permalink Reply by Michael R. Donohoe on January 5, 2013 at 8:09am

Watercolor by Sari Krosinsky, one of the poems in her new book, g-d Chaser.

it rains softly
in Albuquerque
i can hear the quiet
under the motors
a woman speaks
into her cell phone
but her voice
disappears
through the blue hole
in the clouds

Sari Krosinsky hails from a small coastal town in New York State. “My family actually moved to New York before WWII--I think during the 1910s. The antisemitism in Poland was already pretty bad--luckily bad enough to drive my grandparents across the pond before it got even worse.” She departed New York State for Albuquerque in July of 2000. “I was originally only planning to be here for a few months, but I loved both Albuquerque and UNM too much to leave.”
Sari earned degrees from UNM in religious studies and creative writing. She writes promotional material for the university and edits an online journal of mythic poetry called Fickle Muses. Her work has appeared in Collective Fallout, Verse Daily, and The Rag, among other places. Now her first book to see publication is the poetry collection, g-d Chaser, due out from CW Books in November.
A number of the poems are brief and mysterious, leaving the reader with a wistful echo in their closing lines, such as Tourist Erosion. “I open my hands to catch the twitter of finches on a rooftop, carry it away like a stone in my pocket.”
Much of her work draws on her study of religion. Purusha’s Body Torn addresses the story of the Vedic God, Purusha, different pieces of this deity believed to make up the physical universe. To me, Sari’s contemplation of Purusha makes the deity something we human readers can relate to in terms of mortality. “Do you wonder what you’ll be/when the blinded sun wakes you/from night’s flannel cocoon? /You think it will be you.”
The Plumb Line concerns the Old Testament reference to Isaiah as “the plumb line” among his people, a plumb line being a weighted string that measures a perfect vertical line with earth’s gravity, used since ancient times in the construction of walls among other things. “Isaiah is a real person under a pseudonym. I met him at Winning,” (Coffeehouse.), “and for a while we chatted whenever we were both there.” Her poem employing the Biblical metaphor concerns this acquaintance joining the military. “Isaiah’s gone tomorrow. I kiss his shiny new head goodbye.”
There is variety in this collection, not all of the poems being about deities or religious themes. Subway nicely captures a sense of time and place. Lady has political undertones regarding The Statue of Liberty, which was a gift to this country from France, and the fact that, perhaps to understate it, there was enmity toward the French during the Bush era.
The poem, Captain Hook has some visceral phrasing, such as: “I will pull Gods from the sky,” and “I feed ships to the sea, buttered with blood.”
In addition to her credentials as writer and editor, Sari is a veteran of the spoken word scene in New Mexico and elsewhere, which will be a factor in promoting g-d Chaser. “I'm still working on scheduling more readings in and out of New Mexico.”
The phrase “g-d Chaser” appears in a poem called K'uei/Opposition. I asked Sari if being a g-d-Chaser was in regard to her study of various faiths or maybe a yearning for faith, or for “g-d.”
“Being a "g-d-chaser" I think refers both to my polytheism and my forbidden pursuit of relationships with other gods. I'm Jewish and believe I can only have a covenant with the one g-d, but I still believe the other gods exist. The Torah speaks of being forbidden to worship other gods as if it would be a betrayal of our jealous g-d to have formal relationships with any other god--as if those gods are real competitors. So to come back around to your question, I'm a "g-d-chaser" because I study and write to and about gods, but I can only ever chase them--if I were to catch them, I'd be betraying my g-d. For the record, Bob (the "you" in that poem) always says he's the g-d-chaser.”
Sari is planning to promote the book with readings in New Mexico and elsewhere. If you get a chance to hear her read her work and to purchase a copy of g-d chaser, I think it is well worth it. (less)