{"id":862,"date":"2019-12-27T18:53:02","date_gmt":"2019-12-27T18:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lyricality.org\/?p=862"},"modified":"2021-06-24T19:11:50","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T19:11:50","slug":"7-reasons-to-read-katelynn-hibbards-3rd-collection-of-poems-simples","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lyricality.org\/2019\/12\/27\/7-reasons-to-read-katelynn-hibbards-3rd-collection-of-poems-simples\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Reasons to Read Katelynn Hibbard\u2019s 3rd Collection of Poems, \u201cSimples\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Reading Simples <\/em>by KateLynn Hibbard<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve just finished reading Simples<\/em> by KateLynn Hibbard, one of five finalist books for Lyricality\u2019s \u201cRead Poetry Central Minnesota 2020\u201d <\/a>program. Wow. History and finely crafted poems! Two of my favorite things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing for Twin Cities Pioneer Press, Mary Ann Grossmann quotes KateLynn\u2019s aim for this, her third published volume of poetry: \u201cI want people who think they don\u2019t like poetry to read this book and maybe change their minds.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

People who think they don\u2019t like poetry might be surprised to discover that poetry<\/em> is a category as large as nonfiction<\/em>. No poetry appeals to everyone, but there’s probably some poetry you would like. If you enjoy reading history with a women\u2019s studies point of view, if you like imaginative fact-based stories with a core of emotional truth, I predict you\u2019ll find something to love in this book melding history with poetry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The setting is the Great Plains, latter 19th through early 20th centuries. The people we encounter are of the prairie–women and children, immigrants and Native Americans. In “Lace,” an Episcopal missionary with complicated motives teaches lacemaking to Anishinaabe (Chippewa) women, as KateLynn explains in the book\u2019s notes, \u201cto contribute to their \u2018moral uplift\u2019 \u2026to give them a source of income\u2026and aid in their assimilation to white ways.\u201d After other remedies and the prayers of the priest have failed to relieve a child\u2019s stomach ache, a German-from-Russia traditional healer is brought in to help, in \u201cBraucher.” An Omaha tribal elder, Elsie Gilpin Morris, remarks on her experience at the Genoa U.S. Indian School in Nebraska, in \u201cIndian Boarding School Memories.\u201d\u00a0This is a book rich with insights into the varied lives of prairie women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But who am I to suggest you read this book? To quote Emily Dickinson, I\u2019m nobody. <\/em>Maybe that Simples<\/em> won the 2018 Howling Bird Press Poetry Prize over 100 other applicants will add credibility to my humble opinion. But maybe you don’t care about poetry prizes. Some people think poetry awards are weirdly specialized and too subjectively given. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, to help you make up your own mind about whether this fine book is one you want to spend time with, I give you–<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7 writers with their reasons to read Katelynn Hibbard\u2019s Simples<\/em>. <\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1–Brian Turner, author of Here, Bullet<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Brian Turner<\/a>, author of Here, Bullet<\/a> <\/em>writes, Simples <\/em>is <\/em>\u201ca book that transports us back in time to search out the remedies and inner strength necessary to survive a hardscrabble life on the frontier plains\u2026a sweeping portrait of a time and a region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2–Hilda Raz, author of All Odd and Splendid<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

 Hilda Raz<\/a>, author of All Odd and Splendid <\/a><\/em>writes, “KateLynn Hibbard tells us that at the frontier, women were workers and visionaries, makers, namers, travelers; they embodied knowledge, experienced lust, gave birth\u2026Most women buried their children, their fiends, their sisters; they suffered, and, sometimes, they thrived. I loved Hibbard\u2019s unflinching book!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3–Heid E. Erdrich, author of Curator of Ephemera at the <\/em>New Museum for Archaic Media <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Heid E. Erdrich<\/a>, author of Curator of Ephemera at the New Museum for Archaic Media<\/a><\/em> writes,  \u201cThese women code their communications to liberate one another from despair, abuse, unwanted pregnancy, and the heartbreak of lovelessness or longing for love that cannot be. This is not the pioneer woman claiming the prairie, but the prairie claiming the women it teaches to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4–T.R. Hummer, author of After the Afterlife <\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

T.R. Hummer<\/a>, author of After the Afterlife <\/em><\/a>writes that Simples <\/em>is, \u201cPart Willa Cather, part Laura Ingalls Wilder, part Edgar Lee Masters, part Amy Clampitt . . . Comprehensive in perspective, masterful in method\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5–Mary Ann Grossman, writer at Twin Cities Pioneer Press<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Mary Ann Grossman<\/a>, writer at Twin Cities Pioneer Press<\/a> writes, This “prize-winning poetry collection \u2018Simples\u2019 mines women\u2019s pasts on the Plains,” and explains that “Hibbard\u2019s wide-ranging research took her from the Minnesota Historical Society library to a seminar on Plains Indians in Nebraska.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6–Connor Poff, Poet and MFA Candidate<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Connor Poff,<\/a> in her review for The Corresponder<\/em><\/a> writes, \u201cSimples<\/em> is a tale about perseverance and the end of perseverance, and it gives volume to the experiences of women and natives who built the West while their histories were silenced.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7–Susan Rich author of Cloud Pharmacy<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Susan Rich<\/a>, author of Cloud Pharmacy<\/a> reviewed Simples <\/em>on her blog, The Alchemist’s Kitchen<\/em>, writing, “This is a book you do not want to miss. Hibbard time travels through the Great Plains employing a variety of personas: healer, teacher, locust swarm and Jewish bride-to-be…a haunting collection of\u00a0historical poetry inspired by women\u2019s experiences living on the Great Plains frontier.\u00a0\u2026Simples<\/em>\u00a0opens up and complicates the lives of these women with new narratives focused on the female body and delivered in voices that are strong, varied, and nuanced.\u201d (The review is a lovely piece of short writing. Treat yourself and open this link<\/a>.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Order Simples <\/em>by KateLynn Hibbard…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Simples <\/em>by KateLynn Hibbard is published by The Howling Bird Press<\/a>. The editorial team is led by Jim Cihlar, who, KateLynn acknowledges, “is a poet’s dream editor and a paragon of patience, precision, and good humor.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabe Benson deserves an award for designing a cover evoking ephemeral prairie beauty, as well as, remarkably, the herbaceous-twine-floral-musty fragrance<\/em> of prairie-history. Wow!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/a>, or on the cover image below, to order your copy of Simples.<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

About KateLynn Hibbard<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Visit Kate Lynn Hibbard’s website<\/a>, where her bio reads: “KateLynn Hibbard’s first book of poems, Sleeping Upside Down<\/em> (Silverfish Press 2006), won the Gerald Cable Book Award. Her second collection, Sweet Weight<\/em>, was released by Tiger Bark Press in 2012. She is editor of When We Become Weavers: Queer Female Poets on the Midwest Experience <\/em>(Squares & Rebels Press, 2012). Other honors include the Aestrea Foundation\u2019s Lesbian Writing Finalist Award, a McKnight Artist Fellowship in Poetry, two Minnesota State Arts Board Initiative Grants, a Jerome Foundation Travel Grant, and residencies at Hedgebrook and the Cornucopia Arts Council. A long-time singer with One Voice<\/a>, Minnesota\u2019s LGBTQA mixed chorus, and a professor of writing and women\u2019s history at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, she lives with many pets and her spouse Jan in Saint Paul.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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KateLynn Hibbard, Poet<\/strong>
Photo by Laurie Schneider. \u00a92018 Laurie Schneider. All Rights Reserved.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Central MN Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Simples by KateLynn Hibbard, one of five finalist books for Lyricality\u2019s \u201cRead Poetry Central Minnesota 2020\u201d program. If you like to read history with a women\u2019s studies point of view, if you like imaginative fact-based stories with a core of emotional truth, you\u2019ll likely find something in this book to love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":863,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[203],"tags":[103,99,97,98],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lyricality.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lyricality.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lyricality.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lyricality.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lyricality.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lyricality.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lyricality.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lyricality.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lyricality.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lyricality.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}