Writer Paula Whyman sent along a link to a New York Times article about the “Gatsby” tour of Long Island, NY. (I’m officially like one of those women who collects ceramic elephants, and so everyone gives her one…only, whew, I collect Gatsby/Fitzgerald links, instead of elephants.)
Anyway, go here:
“Board the Long Island Rail Road. Watch the gap. Be borne back into the past over tracks that will lead you to Fitzgerald’s Eggs, East and West, which he placed in “the great wet barnyard of Long Island Sound,” a half-hour from Manhattan by train, not much longer by Rolls-Royce.
“That is if you can find this place. Long Island was the setting for the novel, but discovering what’s left of its 1920s Gold Coast splendor — either the real thing or Fitzgerald’s vivid gilt invention — is as much a job for a receptive imagination as it is for a Google map with a homing device directed to locate a certain green beacon. It’s a diverting exercise, though, and the railroad is an excellent starting point. After all, it ferried party guests to Gatsby, whose “station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains.”
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Poet Philip Belcher wrote this great review of Sandra Beasley’s new book, I Was the Jukebox, one of my favorite books of the year. From Gently Read Literature:
“If Sandra Beasley’s first collection, Theories of Falling, showed something of this poet’s promise, her second collection and winner of the Barnard Women Poets Prize, I Was the Jukebox, makes clear that we are in the hands of a talented writer with a strong voice, a vivid imagination, and a bright future. This new collection is all about voice, and Beasley’s is unmistakable and clear.”
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Beltway Poetry Quarterly continues the year-long celebration of our tenth anniversary with one more special issue, "Mapping the City: DC Places II," with an interactive map
Contains 40 poems about specific places in the greater Washington, DC region. Poems mention streets, neighborhoods, parks, monuments, or businesses by name. A beautiful interactive map by Emery Pajer allows readers to scan the city and press digital pushpins to select poems.
Go to http://www.beltwaypoetry.com