On Monday evening, April 23, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., Springfield’s Barnes & Noble Bookstore will host an event, “Remembering Michael Burns: A Reading from ‘Night of the Grizzly.’” Free and open to the public, the evening will begin with music by renowned local folk musician, Julie Henigan. Clark Closser, Missouri State University emeritus professor of English, will give a brief remembrance of Burns’ life and work. The book’s editor, Marcus Cafagña, will then be joined by colleagues Jane Hoogestraat and Sara Burge, who will read from Burns’ posthumous collection.
The event coincides with a Barnes & Noble Bookfair to benefit the Springfield-Greene County Library Foundation. A portion of sales of the Burns book and all other items purchased in the store on April 23 or online April 23-28 will go to the Library Foundation for Library needs. The Library will get credit from the sales only if store shoppers present the paper Bookfair voucher (available at all library branches or downloadable through thelibrary.org, or if online shoppers provide the Bookfair ID, 10718690).
The Library is spearheading its own April “Big Read,” a month-long celebration of literacy and the book arts. “It is a pleasure to partner with Barnes & Noble and the Missouri State English Department,” says Kathleen O’Dell, Library spokeswoman. “We share a common cause,” O’Dell adds, “which is to promote literacy and create a love of literature in our community.”
Michael Burns (1953-2011) helped found the creative writing program at MSU. And while his living voice has passed, his poetry remains: forthcoming from Moon City Press, “Night of the Grizzly” is Burns’ seventh, his last, and arguably his best book. It will be available by mid-April, in celebration of National Poetry Month.
Poets of national stature have praised Burns’ last work. As Mark Jarman writes, “Night of the Grizzly” is “that saddest of literary genres, a posthumous collection of verse. . . . Fortunately for those of us who admire [Burns’] work, he has left us a clear-eyed and truthful record of his final years.” “These poems,” writes William Trowbridge, “come from an intense life lived on the edge, one redeemed by a loving nature, a sharp eye, and a rich poetic gift.” Jo McDugall stresses Burns’ honesty: “by turns tormented, earthy, humorous, celebratory, his poems pin us with uncanny accuracy to the truth of our flawed selves.”
“For 25 years, Michael Burns was the face of the Missouri State creative writing program,” says W. D. Blackmon, head of the English Department and director of Moon City Press. “In publishing Burns’ last book, we can show our gratitude to the man, his art, and his contributions to teaching,” Blackmon adds. Moon City is a nationally-distributed press imprint of the Missouri State Department of English.
Book and event information follows.
“Night of the Grizzly”
Poems by Michael Burns
Edited with an afterword by Marcus Cafagña
Introduction by Dave Smith
ISBN 978-0-913785-38-6
6 x 9, 84 pages
$10.95 paper
“Remembering Michael Burns: A Reading from ‘Night of the Grizzly’”
When and where: 7 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, April 23, in Springfield’s Barnes & Noble Bookstore, 3055 South Glenstone Ave. The event is free and open to the public.
What: Reminiscences and readings by Missouri State English faculty Clark Closser, Marcus Cafagña, Jane Hoogestraat, and Sara Burge; music by Julie Henigan
Why: remembering Michael Burns’ life and art; celebrating National Poetry Month; with Bookfair benefitting the Springfield-Greene County Library District
Courtesy of Dr. James Baumlin