Lisa's Flying Electric Piano

Literature & Fiction

Rabas, Kevin

Poetry

Woodley Press

On Drums

PRAISE FOR *ELIOT’S VIOLIN*: “Kevin Rabas continues to poetically explore what it means to have wonder in the world with his collection. He explores childhood, children growing up, growing old, and the power we each have in whatever station in life we find ourselves. Kevin's poems about his son show how magic can be found in a bowstring or a cellphone: 'blue and white fire / in one cupped palm.' Also poems about Kevin's own childhood and formative years convey the magic and tragedy of what being human means, surrounded by 'the shadows of bullies right outside.' Just as his poem "Kansas City" explains, ‘That kid. He does us good.’" ~ Dennis Etzel Jr.    ** Note: Despite what is listed below, this title is published by Oil Hill Press (El Dorado, KS), John Jenkinson, editor. **

Eliot's Violin: Poems

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Kevin Raba's new collection of poems and stories, Like Buddha-Calm Bird, improves on and riffs off the variable rhythms of the stories we create, revise, and live. Writing the music inherent in changing narratives of the ordinary and extraordinary, Rabas illustrates what a fellow Kansas poet meant when he said, "Anyone who breathes is in the rhythm business, anyone who is alive is caught up in the imminences, the doubts mixed with the triumphant certainty, of poetry." Whether writing about Ugandan rain, the Bossa Nova, a middle school drummer, or the T.Rex at a museum, Rabas puts his ear to what wants to be said, then moseys into words slow and deliberate, or explodes into language fast and on the wing. In a sense, much of this collection leads up to the final section, "Eclipse," showing us how we partner with the life force to co-create this world: "the breath of God/comes in a cloud" and "an open/mouth whistles/over and past tall grasses/ from dust, remakes the world." ~Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Kansas Poet Laureate 2009-13, and author of Everyday Magic: Fieldnotes on the Mundane and Miraculous.

Like Buddha-Calm Bird

Meadowlark

A book supersedes being a simple collection of words when a poet gets a hold of them. More Than Words by Kevin Rabas is an intimate collection of poetry and micro-fiction that takes a conscientious look inward and closely around us through stages of growing up, connecting with music, navigating romance, interacting with nature, and persisting through social and personal maladies. As Kansas Poet Laureate Emeritus, Rabas's expertise and passion show. He can write a poem about anything, and this collection displays his versatility. Each page is a surprise, with some poems educating the reader on historic jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker and other poems ruminating on contemporary social and political issues, such as the death of George Floyd and the COVID-19 pandemic. Rabas is creatively invigorated by everything from questions about our places in life to working from home. Rabas often finds inspiration in conversation, such as in an exchange about beekeeping between him and his father. Conversations between lawyers and jazz drummers, bullies and the bullied, and a boy and his crushes let the reader live vicariously through some of the worst, best, and creative experiences these characters have. Each poem and sketch guarantee a clever turn of phrase, strong imagery, and clear language. Rabas uses his jazz background to channel the direct, concise percussiveness of language. The pieces in this collection span the entire scale of literal to metaphorical, always leaving something more to think about at the end. With bite-size poems and prose sketches, this is the perfect book to read in one sitting or in pieces, whenever you need a little inspiration to look at the world in a fresh way.

More Than Words: Poems & Sketches

Kevin Rabas chairs the Department of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism at Emporia State and leads the poetry and playwriting tracks. He has eight books, includ- ing Bird’s Horn, Lisa’s Flying Electric Piano, a Kansas Notable Book and Nelson Poetry Book Award winner, Sonny Kenner’s Red Guitar, also a Nelson Poetry Book Award winner, Green Bike, Eliot’s Violin, Late for Cymbal Line, Spider Face: stories, and Songs for My Father: poems &amp; stories. Rabas writes regularly for Kansas City’s Jazz Ambassador Magazine (JAM). Rabas’s plays have been produced across Kansas and in North Carolina and San Diego. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize ve times, and Rabas is the winner of the Langston Hughes Award for Poetry, the Victor Contoski Poetry Award, the Jerome Johanning Playwriting Award, and the Salina New Voice Award.

All That Jazz

Spartan Press

While Away

Garcia, Linzi

Seaton, Brett

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