RAVAGED WONDERFUL EARTH

From Ravaged Wonderful Earth | David Kessel standing center (photo: Natalie Fonnesu)

Mentioning this somewhat belatedly, but one of the several meaningful endeavors I enjoyed the honor of contributing to last year was Ravaged Wonderful Earth: A Collection for David Kessel (Outsider Poets in collaboration with FEEL 2013). Celebrating the life and work of Tower Hamlets poet, socialist and mental health activist David Kessel, the festschrift includes poems and commentary from Nick Waller, Christina Viti, Stephen Watts, Sarah Barratt, Chris Gutkind, Frank Bangay, Howard Mingham, David Amery, Tim Pearson, Myra Garratt, Natalie Fonnesu, Shamim Azad, Mike Parsons, Spider Evans, Adjowa Rhonda Abraham, John Clarke, Peter Barham, Alan Morrison, and John Zammit. The collection also offers a generous selection of Kessel's poems, including a poem rendered in German by Dieter Reger. David Amery, from his comment on Kessel:

Reading poetry such as David's doesn't simply open a window onto someone else's subjectivity, it also expands our own. The danger is that we shrink back into our own isolated subjectivities ...  

Ordering information for the collection seems unavailable, though an active email address for FEEL can be found HERE.