{"id":614,"date":"2010-04-04T09:17:49","date_gmt":"2010-04-04T09:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ink.verticalplus.co.uk\/archive\/?p=614"},"modified":"2020-12-09T14:41:22","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T14:41:22","slug":"reviews-beverly-ellis-on-two-american-writers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/reviews-beverly-ellis-on-two-american-writers\/","title":{"rendered":"Reviews: Beverly Ellis on two American writers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><meta name=\"Title\" content=\"\"><br \/>\n<meta name=\"Keywords\" content=\"\"><br \/>\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><br \/>\n<meta name=\"ProgId\" content=\"Word.Document\"><br \/>\n<meta name=\"Generator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 2008\"><br \/>\n<meta name=\"Originator\" content=\"Microsoft Word 2008\">\n<link style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" rel=\"File-List\" 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style=\"text-decoration: none;\"><br \/><\/span><\/o:p><\/span><\/u><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><i style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">I\u2019ll Tell<br \/>\nYou So: A Flash Story\/Haibun Collection <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">by Jeffrey Winke<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Cross+Roads Press, $12.00, ISBN 978-1-889460-23-9<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><i style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Drought<br \/>\nResistant Strain<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"> by Mather Schneider<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Interior Noise Press, $15.00, ISBN 978-0-9816606-1-5<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">Jeffrey Winke\u2019s book <i style=\"\">I\u2019ll Tell You<br \/>\nSo <\/i>begins with an author\u2019s statement about the relationship of his \u2018flash<br \/>\nprose or brief personal recollection\u2019 to the \u2018concluding haiku\u2019 which partners<br \/>\neach one.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>He points out that it is<br \/>\nintended to be \u2018consistent in tone \u2013 not an extension or explanation \u2013 to the<br \/>\nstory.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>When successful,\u2019 he says \u2018the<br \/>\nhaibun chimes true in the reader\u2019s mind like a Tibetan tingsha bell\u2019.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>This is followed by an introduction (\u2018Bright<br \/>\nLights, Big City, Basho\u2019) by his editor, informing the reader how Winke\u2019s work rises<br \/>\nabove labels&#8230;<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>Don\u2019t get me<br \/>\nwrong: I totally agree with their aims, exploring alternatives to the usual \u2018Western<br \/>\ndevices such as simile and metaphor\u2019; it\u2019s just that their readers will most<br \/>\nlikely be conversant with haibun \u2013 and curious now to see whether the collection<br \/>\nfulfils these ideals.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">As promised, the author\u2019s observations range far and wide, from people<br \/>\noverheard in coffee shops to science fiction, the world of work \u2013 and encounters<br \/>\nwith women: in terms of volume, one of the dominant themes in the book.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>The reader is soon struck by the<br \/>\nfrequency with which Jeffrey Winke\u2019s women are referred to by hair colour or<br \/>\nsome other physical attribute, rather like the disposable broads of hard-boiled<br \/>\ndetective fiction: mostly blondes, but with the occasional \u2018smoky brunette\u2019 in<br \/>\na jazz club, also one \u2018dirty-blonde\u2019 echoing <i style=\"\">American Psycho<\/i>.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>There<br \/>\nare a handful of positive \u2013 or at least neutral \u2013 images of females to be found,<br \/>\nbut most present as man-hunters looking for their \u2018next Match.com victim\u2019 or needy,<br \/>\nemotional basket-cases hungering for a \u2018strong, take-charge kind of guy\u2019 to fix<br \/>\nthem.&nbsp; Women are on-the-make, prick teasers, or they destroy men\u2019s art and<br \/>\ndreams as when Grandma callously tosses deceased Grandpa\u2019s unfinished novel<br \/>\ninto the garbage. <span style=\"\">&nbsp;<\/span><i style=\"\">The Science of De-evolution<\/i> states that<br \/>\nmost of the seductive lizard-people are women; in <i style=\"\">Too Perfect to be 100%<\/i>,<i style=\"\"> <\/i>someone<br \/>\nis drugged and about to be sliced by a circular saw whilst a feminine voice<br \/>\ncoos reassurance.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>And so on.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>Taken singly, these stories outline the<br \/>\nsins of one anti-social female \u2013 but, as a recurring theme, images begin to stack<br \/>\nup and resonate: \u2018I accidentally elbow her while making my way to the<br \/>\ncounter.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>She lets out a pained<br \/>\nyawl, like I had prison-yard shanked her\u2019.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">OK, so some of the men are not exactly covered in glory (eg <i style=\"\">Smelly Behemoth Stops<\/i>), but an<br \/>\nunrepresentative number of the women are flawed.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>Defining men via negative interactions with women is a<br \/>\nlong-established strand running through American literature, since before Huck<br \/>\nFinn escaped from the aunts and Gatsby\u2019s Daisy tarnished, but moderation or an effective<br \/>\ncounterpoint is needed to prevent a possible slide towards misogyny.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>Bottom line: the attitude is Papa<br \/>\nHemingway \u2013 and then some \u2013 but half a century later; Rita Hayworth might<br \/>\nappear at any moment singing \u2018Put the Blame on Mame, Boys\u2019 whilst stripping.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">If only an editor had put the brake on some of the \u2018film noir\u2019 spider<br \/>\nwomen (yes, one has a web tattoo) and steered the author instead towards areas<br \/>\nin which he can be touchingly effective. <span style=\"\">&nbsp;<\/span>His cityscapes are evocative, eg <i style=\"\">The Sign As They Likely Dashed <\/i>where a neon \u2018open\u2019 sign is left on<br \/>\nall night at a locked restaurant.<span style=\"\">&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span>Instead of bracing yourself whilst the feminine mystique is soundly debunked<br \/>\none more time, you are free to linger and speculate about the scene, like in a<br \/>\npainting by Edward Hopper.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>Whilst<br \/>\nJeffrey Winke\u2019s depictions of business men don\u2019t ring true (too savage), like<br \/>\nPhilip Levine he has a real insight and affinity with the lives of hard-working<br \/>\nmen and unsung heroes: eg Jarvin, \u2018the keeper of the keys\u2019; Gordon Johnson,<br \/>\nthe actuary who is secretly an expert on mythological creatures; the<br \/>\nclosely-observed contents of a male\u2019s dressing table in <i style=\"\">Small Fingers Left Will Deftly<\/i>.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>He also handles the great outdoors skilfully and in very few<br \/>\nwords, like Louis Jenkins (<i style=\"\">Miles Alone Through<br \/>\nCedar and Birch<\/i>).<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>This was<br \/>\nreal quality and all the more so for being low-key.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>Let\u2019s hope his next collection will focus on this undoubted strength<br \/>\n\u2013 the untold tales of all the good guys who turn in to work every day, the<br \/>\ndedication of men to crafts and hobbies \u2013 as the small glimpse we got of this<br \/>\nsecret world was absolutely fascinating.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">And does the format fulfil the stated intentions?<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>Well, when the author resists the<br \/>\ntemptation to work from a sub-text and selects a unique event, bells do<br \/>\nring.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>And he generally avoids<br \/>\nsimile, although metaphor is more pervasive.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>The phrase taken from each poem to be used as the title works<br \/>\nsometimes and, with few exceptions, the concluding haiku are not all that<br \/>\nilluminating; cover them with your thumb, as they are not in the same league as<br \/>\nthe flash prose which is impressive in places.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>However, this body of work definitely provokes the debate: should<br \/>\nevery piece of writing in a collection take the same form?<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span><i style=\"\">Drought<br \/>\nResistant Strain<\/i> by Mather Schneider poses a similar question.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">This exciting collection is pure urban-frontiersman stuff, rife with<br \/>\ngenuinely quirky characters (hookers, drunks, jailbirds, snakes, cacti), but<br \/>\nall impeccably written in the \u2018page-poetry\u2019 style, much revered by the British<br \/>\nPoetry Police: restrained free verse, mainly short lines, metaphor rich,<br \/>\ncompound words, debatable line-breaks, epiphanies: stylistic corsets tightly<br \/>\nlaced.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>Apart from a few very-short-line<br \/>\npoems, only the stanza length varies.&nbsp; If it wasn\u2019t for the setting<br \/>\n(Arizona\/Mexico) and the importance of narrative poems alongside the lyric, I\u2019d<br \/>\nhave assumed this was the work of a British academic.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>Mather Schneider\u2019s biography states that he has no degree or<br \/>\nawards, but he would win prizes on this side of the Atlantic \u2013 except the<br \/>\nestablishment might disapprove of his usual subjects, which are largely taken<br \/>\nfrom what the British term \u2018the underclass\u2019.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">These poems inhabit a similar world to that of Raymond Carver where<br \/>\nemployment and accommodation cannot be guaranteed, but crime and substance use<br \/>\ncan.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>The poetic voice is consistent,<br \/>\nso the reader assumes that much of the vision may be that of the poet \u2013 but, as<br \/>\nwith all poetry, it might not be \u2013 and part of the collection\u2019s unity is<br \/>\nundoubtedly due to a strongly evoked sense of place.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>Having been raised in exactly this sort of environment<br \/>\nmyself, the life depicted in his poems was instantly recognisable to me: same<br \/>\nrules apply, whether a marginalised community is located in USA, Britain or<br \/>\nelsewhere \u2013 living on the edge is always a frontier.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>I won\u2019t spoil it for you by giving away too much, but<br \/>\nsuffice to say that this is a roller-coaster ride through lives (and bars) that<br \/>\nmost people who write have never visited.<span style=\"\">&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span>That\u2019s why I think work of this nature is so important \u2013 and still so<br \/>\nunder-represented in Britain, even in this millennium, where it is often labelled<br \/>\nas \u2018gritty\u2019.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>And maybe that\u2019s the<br \/>\nreason for Mather Schneider\u2019s careful styling and rather erudite feel: a traditional<br \/>\napproach to craft, acting as a counterweight to the content, so that his<br \/>\nsubjects cannot easily be dismissed.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">At all times, the poet avoids descent into grotesquery or exploitation,<br \/>\ndue to the compassion he displays for his subjects, whatever their age or<br \/>\nlife-experience.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>The hooker who<br \/>\ndecides not to give a regular customer a freebie, even on his birthday, is not<br \/>\ncondemned; everyone in this world knows the value of a dollar and wouldn\u2019t be<br \/>\ntoo proud to accept money when it\u2019s offered.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>In Schneider\u2019s world, as in the tough port where I grew up, sex<br \/>\nworkers and other folk unwelcome in the mainstream are an accepted part of the<br \/>\ncommunity.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>If there\u2019s any justice,<br \/>\n<i style=\"\">Vaselina and Company<\/i> should become a<br \/>\nclassic poem.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>Life is celebrated<br \/>\nin all its forms and beauty is to be found in the most unexpected of places,<br \/>\ne.g. <i style=\"\">An Angel In An Ankle Bracelet<\/i><br \/>\nwhich turns out to be uplifting urban-pastoral, making the point that we all<br \/>\nlive in a prison of some sort but it can be transcended:<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/span><span style=\"\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/span>I<br \/>\nhave bars on my window.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/span><span style=\"\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/span>It\u2019s<br \/>\nthat kind of neighborhood.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/span><span style=\"\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/span>The<br \/>\nwoman who lives across the alley <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/span><span style=\"\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/span>is<br \/>\nunder house arrest.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/span><span style=\"\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/span>Having<br \/>\nfew outward liberties <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/span><span style=\"\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/span>she<br \/>\nhas turned her back yard <o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><span style=\"\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/span><span style=\"\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/span>into<br \/>\na paradise\u2026<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">There are also strands of poems concerning an ongoing relationship with<br \/>\na steady girlfriend\/fianc\u00e9e, employment and childhood recollections of growing<br \/>\nup in the country, most memorably <i style=\"\">Spring<br \/>\nIs In The Air<\/i> where \u2018Dad de-balls the Billy goat\u2019, seemingly without the<br \/>\nbenefit of anaesthetic.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>The beauty<br \/>\nof the landscape, especially the Sonoran Desert, is also captured and Mather<br \/>\nSchneider gets the duende\/heart balance just right, time after time.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>The language the poet uses is not<br \/>\ncomplicated, but is deployed in a masterly fashion; the imagery soars off the<br \/>\npage \u2013 so many poems I instantly wished I\u2019d written.<span style=\"\">&nbsp; <\/span>The only criticism I have is that the poems are so similar<br \/>\nin style that the cadence gets a bit samey if you read the whole collection of<br \/>\nover one hundred poems in one sitting \u2013 but that\u2019s a minor quibble and the vitality<br \/>\nof the writing more than compensates.<span style=\"\">&nbsp;<br \/>\n<\/span>Delicious &#8211; enjoy.<o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p>&nbsp;<\/o:p><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><i style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\">&#8230; our reviewer <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Beverly<br \/>\nEllis<\/span> is a poet working in the east of England.<span style=\"\"> <\/span>She studied American Literature at Warwick University and<br \/>\nhas a PGC in Creative Writing from UEA.<\/span><\/i><\/font><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right; font-family: Courier New,Courier,mono;\" class=\"MsoNormal\"><font size=\"2\"><br \/><i style=\"\"><span style=\"font-size: 11pt;\"><o:p><\/o:p><\/span><\/i><\/font><\/p>\n<p><!--EndFragment--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Worm In The Apple In The Garden: Two American Poets &nbsp; I\u2019ll Tell You So: A Flash Story\/Haibun Collection by Jeffrey Winke Cross+Roads Press, $12.00, ISBN 978-1-889460-23-9 &nbsp; Drought Resistant Strain by Mather Schneider Interior Noise Press, $15.00, ISBN 978-0-9816606-1-5 &nbsp; Jeffrey Winke\u2019s book I\u2019ll Tell You So begins with an author\u2019s statement about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23779,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614\/revisions\/23779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}