Saturday, June 24, 2017

Listen to Tim Staley: The Most Honest Syllable Is Shhh!

NightBallet Press is thrilled to announce the publication of
The Most Honest Syllable Is Shhh by Tim Staley!
 
 
 
 
 

The Most Honest Syllable Is Shhh is saddle-stapled, and boasts a lovely color collage, "Stag 10.21.16" by Bree (www.theartistbree.com), printed on textured ivory cardstock, with a warm, light-coffee cardstock insert.  The text is printed on ivory paper.  It contains thirty-two pages of twenty-three poems.  And, oh!  What poems they are!  This is but a sample of the rampant coolness within the book:


The Sky Is Bursting with Rainlight
—for Angela Humphreys Staley (1965–2016)

I see a woman playing tennis.
She has no voice,
only the muted thump
of the ball kissing the racket,
the sound of a snowball
rolling into a river.

She is a woman of light,
light slicing into a smile,
into a quick set of smiles,
a million laughing, easy returns.

With sunset comes rain
and the sky glows with it.
The sky is bursting with rainlight.
It sweeps the court of people.
Even the giant moths
circling the overhead lights
hang it up for the night.

And for a while we stand together
against the fence, our fingers
hanging from memories like hooks.
The moon closes
what the sun begins.

On the empty court
puddles of moon light.
Tell me Angela can’t be smiling there
in that light, in that bright,
trembling light, and we won’t
turn the lights off on her,
not tonight, not ever.



Tim Staley was born in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1975.  His debut poetry collection, Lost on My Own Street, was released by Pski's Porch Publishing in 2016.  His work has appeared in various journals, including Anti-Heroin Chic, Chiron Review, San Pedro River Review, and Sin Fronteras.  His awards include the 2004 Peter Harris-Kunz Endowed Award in Poetry, the 2012 Luminaire Award for Best in Poetry, and the 2016 Dona Ana Arts Council's Arts in Education Award.  In 1992, Staley founded Grandma Moses Press, where he continues to serve as editor.  He lives with his wife and daughter in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  For tour dates and more, visit www.poetstaley.com.  Find him on Facebook and on YouTube!
 
 
 

NightBallet Press was first contacted by New Mexico poet Tim Staley in September, 2015.  He sent a marvelous manuscript we couldn't resist...and then followed that up by a) teaching one of this editor's poems in his classroom ("Incontinence"), and by b) coming to Cleveland to do a reading with me (at Mac's Backs).  Although his book is eight months overdue to be published (due to some unavoidable personal issues), he has been nothing but polite and patient, and we here at the press are very grateful.  So, listen up:  we highly recommend you get a copy of The Most Honest Syllable Is Shhh...when you read it, you'll find yourself shouting for joy!

The Most Honest Syllable Is Shhh is only $5 plus $4 shipping, and is available beginning today.

You can order right here through PayPal, with a credit or debit card of your choice.
(U.S. customers, only; non U.S. customers, please contact the editor at nightballetpress@gmail.com for information on postage costs) Don't miss out on this exciting colletion...order today!