Böcker av Jim Minick

The Intimacy of Spoons explores the many metaphors of the spoon: from love and marriage to the spoon of a grave that holds our bodies; from the darkness of loss and night, where "the Big Dipper is nothing but / the oldest spoon pointing us home"; to the darkness of lungs transformed into art. The poems cover a wide variety of topics-cultural, political, familial, and natural-and always, underlying these poems is the song of birds-with broken wings or clear voices, avian muses filling our forests now or long gone. There are nods to Basho and Thoreau, to Eliot and Frost, Dickinson and Milton, this last, a long poem that retells the story of Adam and Eve from the point of view of Mal, the apple. Likewise, The Intimacy of Spoons shares a variety of forms, from sonnet, sestina, and villanelle to syllabics, lyrics, and a ballad. At the center of the book is the long poem, "Elegy for My Body," which uses wordplay and contrasting voices to explore mortality, because "You can't really do time; / it simply does us, / or undoes us, / us beings in the time being being beings / on Times Squared / waiting for the big ball to fall." The poems of The Intimacy of Spoons return us to everyday stories and objects, common yet profound, that we touch so often and that enter us with every meal and every breath.

Without Warning captures the story of the deadliest tornado in the history of Kansas, chronicling a massive disaster as it unfolds and the many challenges of rebuilding. Jim Minick’s spellbinding narrative connects this history to our world today.

COW BRAINS We are particularly proud to present today these short stories and poems written by Anna Harris-Parker, Jim Minick and Spencer Wise, Creative Writing professors, and translated into Spanish by Augusta University's English and Foreign Languages' students: Adrianne Rivera, Payton Gerst, Corin E. Hoell, Sandra Rodriguez, Jessica Bolduc, Karan Soni, Bryson Harrison, Isabel Miller, Zachary Koschene, Maximiliano Lozano, Juan Ayala, Perry Barinowski, Laura Garza, Caitlyn Ferguson, Linda Parilla Genao and Karen García. Dear all, you did a great job! Anna Harris Parker's poems seemed to be easy at a first glance. A few words for a little job, one could say... On the contrary: every single letter keeps an entire universe inside, and you chose the right ones. Poets know how natural and yet how difficult it can be. Now you know that too. Group two, translating Spencer Wise's story, had the hardest job it seems, in terms of translation dilemmas. The numerous differences between the linguistic structures of Spanish and English, as well as the translation of humour, were in this work the real challenge. However, you have found an excellent solution for every one of them. Jim Minick's group had a chance to deal with a piece of fine literature, beautifully translated. Jim's prose is warm and works with senses and images, whereas Spencer's, for example is more cerebral and plays with words and humorism. You had a great opportunity. I hope you will keep this experience in some place inside you, where precious memories are kept jealously. The short stories and poems are powerful and full of cultural value. With Georgia as a backdrop for most of these works of art, the themes focus on nature, childhood memories, the challenges of adulthood, the peculiarities of country life, and the so-called southern charm. Enjoy! Cover art: (c) The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Licensed by ADAGP, Paris 2020 For more information about our multilingual project visit: www.articoliliberi.com

Sacred chants are Ada Franklin's power and her medicine. By saying them, she can remove warts, stanch bleeding, and draw the fire from burns. At age twenty, her reputation as a faith healer defines her in her rural Pennsylvania community. But on the day in 1953 that her family's barn is consumed by flame, her identity as a healer is upended. The heat, the roar of the blaze, and the bellows of the trapped cows change Ada. For the first time, she fears death and-for the first time-she doubts God. With her belief goes her power to heal. Then Ada meets an agnostic named Will Burk and his pet raven, Cicero.Fire Is Your Water is acclaimed memoirist Jim Minick's first novel. Built on magical realism and social observation in equal measure, it never gives way to sentimentality and provides an insider's glimpse into the culture of Appalachia. A jealous raven, a Greek chorus of one, punctuates the story with its judgments on the characters and their actions, until a tragic accident brings Ada and Will together in a deeper connection.