January 24, 2005

Boise State's Ahsahta Press Releases New Book Of Poetry

Ahsahta Press at Boise State University announces the publication of Cur aliquid vidi, a collection of poems by Lance Phillips. The book follows up on the 2001 publication of Phillips’ Corpus Socius (“companion body”), also from Ahsahta, and is the second in a projected trilogy of works.   “ ‘Why did I have to see something?’ translates the title to Lance Phillips’ extraordinary second collection,” writes poet Claudia Keelan of the book, “and if the question is [Roman poet] Ovid’s, it also remains any poet’s who follows the exilic logic of language.”   Continuing where Corpus Socius leaves off, Phillips follows his poetic investigation into the life of the body human, from infancy through childbirth, aging and death.   Much as Ovid endured exile for the crime of observation, Phillips pays for his acute senses with a shattered and reconstructed syntax. This results in a minimalism that poet/critic Christine Hume notes “is rare and refreshing in a contemporary setting that insists on beating the Baroque horse unto prolix death… Here you will find a revivified lyric; as Hopkins did, Phillips leads poetry forward by taking it through the back door.”   Lance Phillips lives in Charlotte, N.C., with his wife, son and daughter. He writes and manages the Web sites Coursing Public Thought and Here Comes Everybody. His poems have been published in Aufgabe, Chimera Review, Fence, The Gig, Gutcult, Interim and Word for Word.   Cur aliquid vidi marks the 67th book from Ahsahta Press. Ahsahta, Mandan for “Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep,” has produced volumes by such poets as Charles O. Hartman, Liz Waldner, Graham Foust, Dan Beachy-Quick, Lisa Fishman, Linda Bierds and Sandra Alcosser.   Cur aliquid vidi is available from the Boise State Bookstore, 1910 University Drive, Boise, ID 83725; from Small Press Distribution (http://www.spdbooks.org); and directly from Ahsahta Press at http://ahsahtapress.boisestate.edu.   -30-   Cur aliquid vidi by Lance Phillips ISBN 0-916272-82-6, paper 6" X 8" 77 pages $14.95   Contact: Janet Holmes, Ahsahta Press director, (208) 426-2195, jholmes@boisestate.edu Media Contact: Kathleen Craven, University Relations, (208) 426-3275, kcraven@boisestate.edu Release and photo online at: http://news.boisestate.edu