Poetry Please

UK publisher PS Publishing has announced a new book of Bradbury poetry. Greentown Tinseltown is described as a collection of  "vignettes and poems, partials and notes", and is edited by Bradbury's bibliographer Donn Albright. The cover art is by Bradbury himself.

The slim volume is now available for pre-order and due for release in July 2012. Full details are here.



This might also be an appropriate place to put in a good word for Rosebud magazine, whose subtitle is "the magazine for people who like good writing." It's something of a digest-sized magazine, containing fiction, poetry and essays. Issue 52 - the only one I've ever read - showcases an essay/true story by Bill Goodwin, a friend and neightbour of Ray Bradbury. I've mentioned Bill here before, and posted some of his illustrations.

It turns out that Bill writes as well as he draws, and his piece "Citizen Ray" is a charming portrait of his friendship with the older Ray. In the last few days there have been plenty of retrospective accounts of Bradbury's life and works, but they have all tended to focus on the young Ray, or the Ray of the Fahrenheit 451 years. Well, in "Citizen Ray" Bill gives us a view of Ray in late life - an inspired and inspiring figure who doesn't let age, illness and disability get in his way. This is the only Ray I ever met, and I am struck by the accuracy of Bill's account.

"Citizen Ray" is accompanied by two illustrations by Bill, and the cover of issue 52 of Rosebud echoes "Citizen Ray". The cover price is $8.95 (but readers outside the US can expect to pay approximately double this when shipping is added), and Rosebud can be ordered here.



Speaking of poetry, the following video turned up on YouTube. Filmed in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, by the grave of Gerard Manley Hopkins,  it includes a reading of a Bradbury poem dedicated to Hopkins, taken from the 2001 book A Chapbook for Burnt-Out Priests, Rabbis and Ministers.