Saturday, March 11, 2006

BLURBS ON _SOUTHERN GIRL GONE WRONG_

The following are the blurbs on my first chapbook entitled, _Southern Girl Gone Wrong_, published by Foothills Publishing of New York in fall 2004. When I returned to writing poetry in 2003 after almost a 20-year hiatus in the world of academic writing, Perie Longo was my mentor and guide, giving me the needed advice and encouragement to keep writing. My dear friend and colleague, David Starkey, is my model for seeking creative challenges and pushing myself to grow as a poet. His productivity inspires.

"No one writes of sexuality more sweetly or bitterly, when taken by even the most holy, than Chella Courington. Her poems sizzle under southern sun and make you want to go take a cold shower. Her talk is tough, sensual, sparse yet laced with lyricism and love for the family, in the end, and all things southern that come from staring truth in the face. Startling images are there not for effect, but rise out of suffering, and like her, we are 'saved' by memory's exquisite touch."

--Perie Longo
Author of The Privacy of Wind

"In Chella Courington's 'Jesus Loves Me' the speaker fantasizes about making love to Jesus. The experience she describes is both sinful yet oddly innocent, and that atmosphere of naiveté and abandon pervades the poems in_ Southern Girl Gone Wrong_. Courington's world is lush, humid, sensual and inviting: once you enter it, you'll want to stay."

--David Starkey
Author of Open Mike Night at the Cabaret Voltaire
and Fear of Everything

BTW, my chapbook can be purchased online at Foothills Publishing, linked to the right. Thanks for supporting poetry!

3 comments:

r said...

Are these new?

You are a fabulous poet.

Brandon said...

Hey Chella,
I was wondering, do you remember the name of the short story we read in your 18th century class I cant think of it for the life of me, but it was about a girl who kept wearing masks to check up on her suitor. I think she posed as a prostitute or something. I would love to find out what that is. I hope everything is going well. Brandon

Pris said...

Chella,
As you know, I got your book through the Superpoetry Exchange and it came late yesterday. I couldn't put it down!! This book is fantastic. Not only could I relate because I was raised in the South, too, but I could just plain relate because those poems are so darn good.
Everybody! Order this book!