Paul Chowder is a lonely writer who would have an anthology of poetry to his credit, if he could just get the introduction written and submitted to his editor.

It seems, however, that this self-proclaimed “study in failure” cannot.

His longtime girlfriend has left him and he is alone in the barn, trying to write but wandering off instead on hilarious stream-of-consciousness rambles about four-beat lines, rhyming, pentameter and free verse. In the process, he introduces readers to himself—an engaging, self-deprecating fellow—and shares compelling insights on poets and poetic form.

We invite you to join us for our next book club. We’ll be reading Nicholson Baker’s The Anthologist together over three weeks.

We’ll witness a few of Chowder’s imagined encounter’s with famous poets like Edgar Allen Poe — “Watch out for the big swinging blade.” And because Sara Teasdale figures prominently into one of the story lines, we’ll be featuring her work once a week in Every Day Poems throughout the month of July. (And for even more Sara Teasdale, sign up to test drive our beautiful new app, WordCandy.)

Come along with us for a short, light-hearted summer read. I promise, Baker will not have you cleaning your closets or moving out of the country like some other book clubs we may have done. But he might have you laughing and holding your sides.

For July 18, let’s plan to read chapters 1-6. To make it even more fun? Come ready to share some poetry with us in response to the reading.

Photo by Mugley. Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Lyla Lindquist.
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Buy a year of Every Day Poems, just $2.99— Read a poem a day, become a better poet. In July we’re exploring the theme The Cento.