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Edge
(2003)
Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, Inc.
With complete
candor, celebrated poet and teacher Jeff Mann illustrates the
struggles and joys of his life. In elegant prose that is as much
a pleasure to read as the story he tells, Mann's fascinating memoir
introduces the people and places that inspire him. Available from
your favorite online or brick-and-mortar bookstore across the
nation.
A
review from Felice Picano, author of Like People in History,
The Lure, and Eyes, among many others.
Jeff
Mann's collection of essays reads as though he were already
one of the most established and successful of authors, instead
of someone first publishing a book of prose. He takes us on
a series of personal journeys with style, panache, an academician's
cohesion, and a poet's imagery and love of the written word.
The result is a unique and valuable life-and-times autobiography
cum travelogue that I simply gobbled up.
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"Devoured"
(2003)
In Masters of Midnight: Erotic Tales of the Vampire. New
York, NY: Kensington.
Jeff introduces
a new twist on the vampire novel, with his gay, Appalachian hero,
Derek. Originally from the Isle of Mull in Scotland, this modern
vampire with a penchant for the past tackles homophobia in the
cradle of the mountains, West Virginia. This book was a top seller
in gay bookstores across the nation this summer. Get your copy
now from your favorite online or brick-and-mortar bookstore.
A
review from a reader:
A
thrilling, erotically charged page-turner with literary merit.
Kudos especially to poet/essayist Jeff Mann. Mann delivers a
tasty meal on every page, mixing erotic content with a rich,
descriptive, poetic voice. His surroundings, ranging from the
moors of Scotland to the city streets of NYC to the mountains
of West Virginia, are nearly as "human" as his living
(and dead) characters. Not simply slam-bam-bite-me-man erotica,
and not for the faint of heart. Let's hear more from Mann's
devilish Derek.
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"Goldenrod
Seeds"
(2002)
In Now and Then, 19(2), 5-6.
Jeff's
prize-winning poem and an interview are featured in this issue
of the literary journal from East Tennesse State University. Jeff's
poem "Bereft" received Honorable Mention in this competition.
To receive a copy of the journal, contact the Center
for Appalachian Studies and Services.
A
review from the judge, Michael McFee:
I
love how this poem layers its elements in unrhymed couplets:
the goldenrods and their seeds, the "you" being addressed
being addressed and memorialized, the general observations about
love and grief, men and women. It's intense and yet discursive
at the same time, which is a difficult thing to pull off, and
its quick shifts from topic to topic effectively mirror the
unsettled emotional state of the speaker. And the poet has a
fine ear: there are wonderfully rich sounds throughout.
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Wild
Sweet Notes: Fifty Years of West Virginia Poetry 1950-1999 (2000)
Barbara Smith and Kirk Judd, Editors
Huntington, WV: Publishers Place
Jeff has
three poems in this definitive collection of poetry by West Virginians
- Dilly
Beans
- Digging
Potatoes
-
Tomato Stakes
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Flint
Shards from Sussex (2000)
Winner of the 1999 Gival Press Poetry Contest
Arlington, VA: Gival Press
This book may be
ordered from Gival
Press and Barnes and Noble. com
(This book is no longer in print, but these poems will be appearing
in Jeff's upcoming compilation Bones Washed With Wine, also
from Gival
Press.)
Reviews
of Flint Shards from Sussex:
Diane
Wakoski, author of Argonaut Rose
. . .a book of lyric intensity, focusing
on love through the radiance of martyrdom and sacrifice. In the
poet's journey away from America to the land of Wuthering Heights,
he immerses himself in the dark beauty of romantic loss, grieving,
and final acceptance.
Edward
Falco , author of Acid Poetry
as specific as a "reliquary's budding rubies," as sensual
as "the scent / of smoke, the feel of phlox," as rich
as "laburnum flowers, liquid gold," . . .a poet to treasure
both for the wealth of his language and the generosity of his
spirit.
Katherine
Soniat, author of A Shared Life This
pulse of these poems rests not only in personal toll but also
in greater losses informed by history, literature and the land
itself. Mann creates a sensuous feast of the English countryside,
and of the human body. In prismatic flashes, that which is absent
returns, "as if sunlight had a weight. . .this is how you
descend / again, this congregation of gold." A poignant collection.
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Mountain
Fireflies (2000)
Winner of the Poetic Matrix Chapbook Series
Yosemite, CA: Poetic Matrix Press
Order this book
from: John Peterson, Publisher, Poetic Matrix Press, PO Box 1223,
Madera, CA 93639.
Excerpts
from a review of Mountain Fireflies by:
the
strength of Mann's emotionally open, intellectually rigorous and
erotically charged verse is its universality. . .Mann is able
to maintain a compelling tension between the competing forces
of humility and pride, ignorance and knowledge, desire and despair.
At his frequent best, he heeds the call of the body, a response
he articulates with both a surgeon's skill and a zealot's relish...
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Bliss
(1998) Winner of the Stonewall Chapbook Competition
Baltimore, MD: birches Books
(This book is no
longer in print, but these poems will be appearing in Jeff's upcoming
compilation Bones Washed With Wine.)
Reviews
of Bliss:
Jan-Mitchell
Sherrill These
fiercely lyrical poems ignite us and make us remember what it
means to "experience" a poem as we read it.
K.
Edgington, Towson University A
sophisticated collection of provocative verse, Jeff Mann's poems
themselves "torch our throats," but more than twice
or thrice.
Michael
Shannon Friedman, The Charleston Gazette The
strength of Mann's emotionally open, intellectually rigorous and
erotically charged verse is its universality. . .Mann is able
to maintain a compelling tension between the competing forces
of humility and pride, ignorance and knowledge, desire and despair.
At his frequent best, he heeds the call of the body, a response
he articulates with both a surgeon's skill and a zealot's relish...
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