NYC Poetry Festival, Sat. Jul 24

 Information courtesy of James B. Nicola. 

  James B. Nicola

will be performing poetry at the NYC Poetry Festival
Sat. Jul 24, 2021
at noon
on Governor's Island
with the

Hell's Kitchen International Writers' Round Table

along with  

 

Anita Pulier, Poet

and

 

Lancelot Schaubert, novelist/poet/publisher

For information about the NYC Poetry Festival click here.

Ferries are free before noon!

 

Meanwhile, here are excerpts of what others have been saying recently about:

 

 

Fires of Heaven: Poems of Faith and Sense
James B. Nicola
Shanti Arts Publishing, 2021, 150 pp.
Softcover $14.95

James B. Nicola is one of America’s brightest poetry stars. His poetry is restless, searching, and soaring. There is, perhaps, no overarching “poetics,” except to the pragmatic, which works; in other words, Nicola is not a partisan free-verser or formalist poet exactly; he is able to switch from one form to formlessness with ease. . . . But he can be mischievous too, since he is prolific and so technically adroit. . . . How glorious that somebody as contemporary and modern as Nicola rejoices in using rhyme— and uses it so effectively. . . . .

Nicola is a highly imaginative poet and there is so much technical ability displayed in this collection that nearly any other poet could learn much by scanning his verses. . . . This is a brilliant collection from a poet continually stretching himself, exploring new areas and dimensions of life, and with something important to say as he wrestles with the mystery. I strongly recommend this collection.

—James Sale
The Society of Classical Poets

 

* * *

This is a pretty collection . . . filled with moving poems about the many stages of a religious life. . . . The poet wrestles with enormous theological questions throughout the book. He does so with a unique perspective that feels fresh on the page . . . .

After reading Fires of Heaven, I have the impression that Nicola’s own faith is inspired by his love of art of all kinds, especially religious architecture. Indeed, it is the relationship between art and faith that has given the world so many of its greatest works, and Nicola draws upon that well in this book. For Nicola, cathedrals are “humble and grand. The feeling: when they’re shut,/ they’re open, when the builders get them right./ The cosmic rainbow filtered from without/ to half man-made, half beatific light.” It is these moments of humility, awe, and vulnerability that connect writer and reader as we explore the mysteries of the divine together.

 

—Benjamin Schmitt
At the Inkwell