4/20/21

NH Poetry: Interval

Eric Pinder recommends Interval: Poems Based on Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” by Alice B. Fogel (Schaffner Press, 2015)

Poetry often has a musical quality, and this lyrical book by recent New Hampshire poet laureate Alice B. Fogel delivers a symphony of sound and structure. Inspired by the patterns and melodies of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations, these 32 poems will delight the reader’s ear with consonance, anapests, asyndeton, and other auditory flourishes, while exploring thought-provoking themes about life and nature, with its mix of beauty and sorrow. Poem titles include “Snapping turtle” (a personal favorite), “Artist,” “Like waking,” ”Dying man,” “Teatime,” “Transplanted heart” and more. The author’s introduction also provides a fascinating look at the creative process and how this book came to be.

Eric Pinder is the author of If All the Animals Came Inside, Cat in the Clouds, and The Perfect Pillow, which received the 2019 New Hampshire Literary Award for Outstanding Work of Children’s Literature. His poetry has appeared in COVID Spring: Granite State Pandemic Poems and other journals and anthologies. He taught creative writing for many years at NHIA and the late Chester College of New England, and currently lives In Berlin, New Hampshire.

This post is part of our celebration of National Poetry Month 2021 for which I asked New Hampshire poets to recommend books of poetry by Granite State poets. These titles are generally available from local booksellers and may be held in public libraries as well.

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