A Sheaf of Leaves: Literary Memoirs

Sheaf of Leaves: Literary Memoirs by Lewis Turco "If you want to know what it has meant --- and has felt like --- to have been an American poet during the past half century, you could not do better than to begin with Lewis Turco's memoirs. Even Whitman, from whom Turco takes his title, comes in for a severe re-evaluation, and many figures living and even dead will doubtless wince under the scrutiny of Turco's clear eye." --- R. S. Gwynn

Biographies & Memoirs

Turco, Lewis Putnam

Arts & Literature

Star Cloud Press

Rules of Hunger is a "soul-satisfying" debut collection of poems which creates a "mosaic of hard joy for the noble gestures and honorable lives" of one Italian-American family with its "legacy of sorrow as well as humor."

Rules of Hunger

Literature & Fiction

Roma-Deeley, Lois

Poetry

When he was a year out of high school Lewis Turco began publishing his poems in the national literary magazines while he was participating in the World Cruise of the USS Hornet (CVA 12) in 1953. Forty-four books and more than a half-century later, he is Emeritus Professor of English Writing Arts, S.U.N.Y Oswego where, in 1968, he founded and for twenty-eight years directed the Program in Writing Arts. In 1986 his book of criticism, Visions and Revisions of American Poetry, published by the University of Arkansas Press, won the Poetry Society of America's Melville Cane Award, and in 1989 the same publisher brought out his The Shifting Web: New and Selected Poems. His most recent books are A Book of Fears: Poems, winner, with his Italian translator Joseph Alessia, of the Bordighera Bilingual Poetry Prize; his first book of memoirs, Shaking the Family Tree: A Remembrance, both published in 1998 by Bordighera; The Book of Literary Terms, The Genres of Fiction, Drama, Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, and Scholarship, 1999, a Choice "Outstanding Academic Book" in 2000; two companion volumes, The Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics, Third Edition, 2000, known to many as "the poet's Bible"; and The Book of Dialogue, How to Write Effective Conversation in Fiction, Screenplays, Drama, and Poetry, 2004, all three published by the University Press of New England. His most recent collection of poetry, The Green Maces of Autumn, Voices in an Old Maine House, published by the Mathom Bookshop in 2002, is a sequence of poems two sections of which, published as A Family Album, won the Silverfish Review Chapbook Award in 1990, and as Murmurs in the Walls, won the Cooper House Chapbook Competition in 1992.

Turco, Lewis

Lewis Turco, Professor Emeritus of English Writing Arts, is perhaps the most widely respected poet-scholar in the United States. He took his B.A. from the University of Connecticut in 1959 and his M.A. from the University of Iowa in 1962. In 2000 he received an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, from Ashland University. Lewis Turco's classic THE BOOK OF FORMS: A HANDBOOK OF POETICS has been called "the poet's Bible" since its original publication in 1968. Turco has won many awards, including the Melville Cane Award of the Poetry Society of America in 1986 and the John Ciardi Award for lifetime achievement in poetry. This volume is a collection of essays by some this nation's leading poets, presented in honor of Dr. Turco's retirement in 1996. Tributes from students are also included in this Festschrift.

Lewis Turco and His Work: A Celebration

History & Criticism

In 2004 Star Cloud Press of Scottsdale, Arizona, published both A Sheaf of Leaves: Literary Memoirs and The Collected Lyrics of Lewis Turco / Wesli Court, the latest books by Lewis Turco who was the founding director of both the Cleveland State University Poetry Center, in 1962, and of the Program in Writing Arts at the State University of New York, from 1968 through 1995. He is the author of some 44 books, monographs and chapbooks including The Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics (1968); Awaken, Bells Falling: Poems 1959-1968 (1968); The New Book of Forms (1986); Visions and Revisions of American Poetry (winner of the Poetry Society of America's 1986 Melville Cane Award for literary criticism); The Shifting Web: New and Selected Poems (1989), The Public Poet: Five Lectures on the Art and Craft of Poetry (1991); and Emily Dickinson: Woman of Letters, Poems and Centos from Lines in Emily Dickinson's Letters (1993). He was the 1997 winner, with his Italian translator Joseph Alessia, of the first annual Bordighera Bilingual Poetry Prize for his A Book of Fears (1998); a chapbook of memoirs, Shaking the Family Tree, was published simultaneously. Mr. Turco has collaborated with various artists over the years. At S.U.N.Y. Oswego the poet collaborated first in 1966 with the printmaker Thom. Seawell in three poemprints. Their final collaboration was on a book, The Inhabitant, poems, with prints by Thom. Seawell, including the inspiration for the book a fold-out reproduction of a huge woodcut, "The House," by Seawell, both projects funded by summer Faculty Fellowships from the Research Foundation of State University of New York. The book was published by Despa Press in 1970. "While the SpiderSlept," a ballet based upon his poem "November 22, 1963," choreographed by Brian Macdonald with music by Maurice Karkoff, was performed in 1968 and subsequently by the Royal Swedish Ballet and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. With the Dutch composer Walter Hekster Lewis Turco wrote and published a chamber opera, The Fog (Donemus, 1987). Lewis Turco took the B. A. from the University of Connecticut in 1959 and the M. A. from the University of Iowa in 1962. In 1992 he received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Alumni Association of the University of Connecticut; he was inducted into the Meriden, Connecticut, Hall of Fame in 1993, and in 1999 he received the John Ciardi Award for lifetime achievement in poetry sponsored by the periodical Italian Americana and the National Italian American Foundation. In May 2000 Mr. Turco received an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, from Ashland University in Ohio. In June 2004 he was honored with a panel and gave a reading at the West Chester University Poetry Conference in Pennsylvania where the book Lewis Turco and His Work: A Celebration, edited by Steven E. Swerdfeger, was published by Star Cloud Press. He is listed in Who's Who in America and in The Encyclopedia of American Literature among other reference works.

The Collected Lyrics of Lewis Turco / Wesli Court

In 2004 Star Cloud Press of Scottsdale, Arizona, published both A Sheaf of Leaves: Literary Memoirs and The Collected Lyrics of Lewis Turco / Wesli Court, the latest books by Lewis Turco who was the founding director of both the Cleveland State University Poetry Center, in 1962, and of the Program in Writing Arts at the State University of New York, from 1968 through 1995. He is the author of some 44 books, monographs and chapbooks including The Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics (1968); Awaken, Bells Falling: Poems 1959-1968 (1968); The New Book of Forms (1986); Visions and Revisions of American Poetry (winner of the Poetry Society of America's 1986 Melville Cane Award for literary criticism); The Shifting Web: New and Selected Poems (1989), The Public Poet: Five Lectures on the Art and Craft of Poetry (1991); and Emily Dickinson: Woman of Letters, Poems and Centos from Lines in Emily Dickinson's Letters (1993). He was the 1997 winner, with his Italian translator Joseph Alessia, of the first annual Bordighera Bilingual Poetry Prize for his A Book of Fears (1998); a chapbook of memoirs, Shaking the Family Tree, was published simultaneously. Mr. Turco has collaborated with various artists over the years. At S.U.N.Y. Oswego the poet collaborated first in 1966 with the printmaker Thom. Seawell in three poemprints. Their final collaboration was on a book, The Inhabitant, poems, with prints by Thom. Seawell, including the inspiration for the book a fold-out reproduction of a huge woodcut, "The House," by Seawell, both projects funded by summer Faculty Fellowships from the Research Foundation of State University of New York. The book was published by Despa Press in 1970. "While the Spider Slept," a ballet based upon his poem "November 22, 1963," choreographed by Brian Macdonald with music by Maurice Karkoff, was performed in 1968 and subsequently by the Royal Swedish Ballet and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. With the Dutch composer Walter Hekster Lewis Turco wrote and published a chamber opera, The Fog (Donemus, 1987). Lewis Turco took the B. A. from the University of Connecticut in 1959 and the M. A. from the University of Iowa in 1962. In 1992 he received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Alumni Association of the University of Connecticut; he was inducted into the Meriden, Connecticut, Hall of Fame in 1993, and in 1999 he received the John Ciardi Award for lifetime achievement in poetry sponsored by the periodical Italian Americana and the National Italian American Foundation. In May 2000 Mr. Turco received an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, from Ashland University in Ohio. In June 2004 he was honored with a panel and gave a reading at the West Chester University Poetry Conference in Pennsylvania where the book Lewis Turco and His Work: A Celebration, edited by Steven E. Swerdfeger, was published by Star Cloud Press. He is listed in Who's Who in America and in The Encyclopedia of American Literature among other reference works.

The Canasta Capers

Children's Books

Swerdfeger, Steven

Haunted by a recurrent dream that echoes the moments before the tragic deaths of his parents from an accident caused by a drunken driver, David Andrews must relocate to Midville to live with his Great-Aunt Lillian Biggs. As David grieves his loss, he struggles to find a place in his new community, mid with the unwelcome intrusion of a bully and the harshness of two faculty members at the Midville Middle School. Several new friends, however, come to David's rescue and assist him in his determination to find a non-violent way in which to relate to the school bully, and through their common struggles and adventures become an intrepid Gang of Four. What others have said: "Steven Swerdfeger has an eye for the details of everyday school rules and rituals that allows him to place his precocious hero and his "Gang of Four" in a convincing setting. Because he also has a feel for the fun that comes from the camaraderie of young people bucking the system, his central theme of a search for fairness and justice in life is rendered lightly. Swerdfeger remembers what it is like to be young and discovering adult hypocrisy for the first time, so he can increase the appeal of his young bunch when he creates richly comic grown-up nemeses for them to challenge. What is more, he knows how to ground the comedy in more muted and serious emotions: the smartest boy in town must confront problems for which there are no easy intellectual solutions, and in the end even the school bully has his own story to tell." - Paul Howe, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania "This is a gentle story, told with engaging warmth. Swerdfeger weaves a tale of four middle school children who deal with real life issues, from cutting in on lunch lines to tragic car accidents. Through these experiences, David Andrews learns to turn enemies into friends through compassion." -Joseph Downing, Syracuse, New York Originally published in 1996 under the title Thursday's Child, and later accorded Finalist Honors in the 1997 SMALL PRESS BOOK AWARDS.

The adventures continue as Aunt Lillian and David welcome Bobby Perkins into their home and decide to invite neighbors and friends to an Advent Party. Even a raging snow storm cannot prevent the planned celebration, at which Thatcher Pennythorpe recites part of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, indicating that he at one time gave holiday readings of that story every year. David becomes determined to have Mr. Pennythorpe renew his custom of public readings, with all ticket proceeds going to the community food back. The Potters invite Aunt Lillian, David, and Bobby to Christmas Eve services at Midville's Methodist Church, and later in the holiday the young people attend a Watch Night Service on New Year's Eve, curing the vacation, Sean Potter also takes David and Bobby to the enigmatic Mr. Astor's shop of curiosities where the boys receive unexpected gifts. On New Year's Day, Gertrude Coachman discovers that she no longer needs to continue teaching English, and embarks upon a journey that is beleaguered with unexpected frustrations and surprises. Mr. Ferlinghausen, Midville Middle School's principal, invites David and his cohorts to host an assembly program for Dr. William Gregory, an educator who is comes to speak to the school. David becomes consumed with his science report on the megafauna, and hopes to upstage Mallory Evans, who is obsessed with the T-Rex as well as the need to be an Alpha male. David does his best to win sympathy for the megafauna during his presentation, and experiences a moment of cosmic consciousness regarding the interconnectedness of all life, which evokes in him a profound vision and transformation. Finally, after some intentional slights, misunderstandings and mishaps throughout the story, David, Bobby and Sean discover and acknowledge a new sense of friendship and brotherhood.

An Opening of Heart

Because They THINK They Can

This is a story about a group of adolescents who encounter a new teacher who refuses to allow them to ignore their school work. At the prospect of failing ninth grade, the class implores classmate David Andrews, a respected advocate, to help them. Mr. Gregory sets as their task the requirement to demonstrate that they 'love learning for learning's sake.' Befuddled by this requirement, the students follow David's advice and form a Learning Club. The Learning Club invites Mr. Gregory to be its first speaker. He talks about how students learn differently. Owing to Bobby Perkins' disquiet with fallacies, student leaders agree that it would seem most appropriate to invite a psychologist to speak next. Mr. Pennythorpe, the school's affable history teacher, recommends Dr. Clarence Baker, who proves enormously popular. Invited to return, he speaks first on the subject of hypnosis and later leads the club in an experience of guided imagery. The class is assigned to present its rendering of Macbeth to the community, and more bonding results int their frantic efforts to rid themselves of stage jitters. The play is a huge success. An awards dinner follows which recognizes two faculty and the mayor and which distributes ticket proceeds between school and town libraries. Mr. Pennythorpe speaks, but suffers a heart attack before concluding his remarks. As Pennythorpe lies gravely ill, David works through his worry by organizing a welcome home party for his mentor. Cast members join in, and the elderly history teacher returns safely home to conclude his remarks. Pennythorpe, in his final comments about learning, likens it to love, for "the more we can understand, the more we can appreciate, and the more we can appreciate, the more we can love." 1The title is taken from a quotation ascribed to Pliny the Elder, who said of young athletes of his day, "They can because they think they can."

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Star Cloud Press publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Star Cloud Press

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Star Cloud Press publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

A Sheaf of Leaves: Literary Memoirs

Rules of Hunger

A Sheaf of Leaves: Literary Memoirs

Lewis Turco and His Work: A Celebration

The Collected Lyrics of Lewis Turco / Wesli Court

The Collected Lyrics of Lewis Turco / Wesli Court

The Canasta Capers

The Canasta Capers

An Opening of Heart

Because They THINK They Can