On Wednesday, May 14 at 7pm, poet James Lenfesty will read at ArtOrg. Jim will be telling tales from his new collection of poems: A CARTLOAD OF SCROLLS: 100 POEMS IN THE MANNER OF T’ANG DYNASTY POET HAN-SHAN (Holy Cow! Press). The poems have received high praise from the StarTribune: “clear as a crystal bell,” City Pages: “A-list recommendation”, the Santa Barbara (CA) Independent: “whimsical and wise”, and Toronto’s POIESIS “a jewel of a book!” Please join us to welcome Jim again to Northfield. Here is a sample of Jim reading his poem “Finding My Older Brother” a couple of years ago at ArtOrg. An official press release follows:

For immediate Release
Contact: Jim Perlman, Holy Cow! Press, holycow@cpinternet.com, 218-724-1653.

A CARTLOAD OF SCROLLS: 100 POEMS IN THE MANNER OF T’ANG DYNASTY POET HAN-SHAN, by James P. Lenfestey
Published by Holy Cow! Press
120 pages, perfect bound, 9”x6” format, $15.95
ISBN 978-0-9779458-5-6
Distributed by CONSORTIUM BOOK SALES & DISTRIBUTION

In 1974, author James P. Lenfestey came upon the book, “COLD MOUNTAIN: 100 poems of the T’ang Dynasty Poet Han-shan,“ translated by Burton Watson, and it cured his warts. It also turned out to be a voice he had “missed” all his life. For the first and only time in his writing life, he began to “write back” to another author. The result thirty-three years later is this collection of poems inspired by the form and sensibility of that 1200 year old Chinese hermit, yet brimming with Lenfestey’s own humor, wisdom, insight and delight in language. Titles such as “Han-shan is the Cure for Warts,” “Thinking of Sex Like the Chinese” and “Oracle Bones” provide a glimpse into Lenfestey’s poetic landscape. This book is dedicated to poetic translator Burton Watson, 81, whom Lenfestey visited in Tokyo on a pilgrimage to China in 2006. In the Tien’tai mountains, Lenfestey paid homage to Han-shan at his hermit cave and met the current hermit of the same cave, then stayed overnight in the Kuoching Monastery, the same monastery where Han-shan and his pals Shih-te and Feng-kang probably hung out.

Praise for A CARTLOAD OF SCROLLS:

“These aren’t translations of Han-shan’s poems; they’re transmissions of his spirit!” –ERIC UTNE, founder, UTNE READER.

“How delightful to see Han-shan, my thousand-year-old master from the Cold Mountains, come alive in the streets of the Twin Cities, the water of the North Shore and the winding Mississippi in Lenfestey’s 100 gems! Each poem is a river, a mountain with secret paths for the faithful. James Lenfestey knows the true sound of Han-shan: without poetry, what is life?” –WANG PING, author of THE MAGIC WHIP, OF FLESH AND THE SPIRIT, editor and co-translator of NEW GENERATION: POETRY FROM CHINA TODAY.

“These poems live in a cave. They come out at night and howl at the moon and go back inside when the work whistle sounds.” –BILL PORTER, AKA Red Pine, translator of THE COLLECTED SONGS OF COLD MOUNTAIN, author of ROAD TO HEAVEN: ENCOUNTERS WITH CHINESE HERMITS.

“I love this book! ‘A Cartload of Scrolls’ embodies the very essence of poetry, its quickness and lyric intensity. In these 100 poems, most of them eight lines, Jim Lenfestey does far more than simply channel Han-shan. He builds on and transforms the spirit of Han-shan’s work into something absolutely American. These poems are such a pleasure to read: intimate, immediate, full of joy, sorrow, graced by surprise and humor. I can’t imagine coming away from this book and not feeling grateful that it is there to be returned to again and again.” –JIM MOORE, author of six collections of poetry, including LIGHTNING AT DINNER.

STARTRIBUNE Review, Nov. 1, 2007, by Carol Connolly
These short, elegant poems, written in the manner of Han-Shan, are clear as a crystal bell. They ring with gratitude and take care of things — unload the dishwasher at dawn, love wife, children and grandchildren. They also cherish the syllables that “buzz around my ears like flies/ I reach out with my pen and snatch them” — even as dad phones in to remind him of his “potential with The Company.” Lenfestey loses his calendar and feels his “… insides rearranged./ When my mourning ends for what I might have been/ I will be someone else. My wings will shine.” And in this book, they do indeed shine.

CITY PAGES “A-List” review,
Humorous and concise in its observations, Lenfestey’s poetry is accessible even to the biggest poetry haters, without losing any intensity of language. He describes grandparents anticipating the arrival of visiting grandchildren as “steadying the web of the world, feeling again its tremble.” The content is fresh and contemporary, in spite of being modeled after a long dead scribe.

SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT review, Jan. 31, 2008
Lenfestey has a wonderful time, following “in the manner of” is hero, yet being completely his whimsical, wise, American self.

POESIS (Toronto, 2008 Review forthcoming, by Elizabeth McKim
The poems breathe with tiny experienced particulars and long soul-views of a life lived with domestic bravery, wild humor and warm tenderness…. This book is a jewel!

BIO – JAMES P. LENFESTEY. After a career in academia, advertising and journalism as an editorial writer at the Minneapolis StarTribune, where he won several Page One awards for excellence, Lenfestey has published poetry, reviews and articles, plus a book of essays, THE URBAN COYOTE: HOWLINGS ON FAMILY, COMMUNITY AND THE SEARCH FOR PEACE AND QUIET (Nodin Press, Minneapolis, 2000). He has published four poetry collections: SAYING GRACE (Marsh River Editions) AFFECTION FOR SPIDERS (Red Dragonfly Press), THE TOOTHED AND CLEVER WORLD (Tree House Press, Ojai, CA), and HAN-SHAN IS THE CURE FOR WARTS (Red Dragonfly Press). A CARTLOAD OF SCROLLS: 100 POEMS IN THE MANNER OF T’ANG DYNASTY POET HAN-SHAN, will be released by Holy Cow! Press in mid-October, 2007. Lenfestey is cofounder of the Ojai Poetry Festival in Ojai, CA, chairs the Literary Witnesses poetry program in Minneapolis, and is founder of the Mackinac Island Poetry Festival. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife, the political writer Susan Lenfestey. They have four children and four grandchildren. His website is www.coyotepoet.com.