Delirious: A Poetic Celebration of Prince

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NightBallet Press remembers, honors, and celebrates Prince Rogers Nelson on what would have been his 58th birthday , with the publication of Delirious: A Poetic Celebration of Prince.

Edited by Dianne Borsenik, Delirious contains 98 pages of poems written by 70 different poets from across the United States, England, and the Philippines. The poems range from a 5-word haiku to a 3-page crown of sonnets; also included are shape-poems, abecedarians, a poem written in java script, a conversation with a 97-year-old mom, poems with lines meant to be sung, a touching tribute to a "best friend," a smile in turquoise, and reminiscences about the soundtracks of younger selves.

Each poem is a distinct facet of the glittering world of Prince, his music, his words, his art, his sexuality, his fashion, his convictions, and his impact on an entire generation.

Prince influenced lives on multiple levels, giving face and voice to nonconformity and self-expression, encouraging and validating creativity and sensitivity. This book pays homage to the remarkable life of a very special man.

It became obvious early on in the call for submissions that we were receiving far more poems than we could accept if we kept the saddle-stapled format NBP has always used. We made the decision to utilize a flat-spine approach for the anthology in order to include as many poems as possible. So, for the first time ever, we sent the book to a printer to have it perfect-bound!

Many thanks to all the poets who contributed their work and made Delirious possible. Each contributor who had poems chosen for inclusion receives a free contributor's copy, which will be mailed during the month of June. NBP is truly impressed and delighted by the scope of the work submitted.

The contributing poets are :

George Wallace
Paul Koniecki
Robert Walicki
Skaidrite Stelzer
Steve Abbott
Lorraine Cipriano
Joey Nicoletti
Victor Clevenger
Thasia Lunger
A. S. Coomer
Reuben Jackson
Heather Ann Schmidt
Jill L. Cooper
Marie C. Lecrivain
Karen Scott
Anna Cates
Steven B. Smith
Jason Preu
Juliet Cook
Joel Dias-Porter
Derek Kannemeyer
Tony Brown
Katie Mullins
Amy Baskin
V. C. McCabe
Heather Davis
Catfish McDaris
Jason Webber
Kerry Trautman
Dana Aritonovich
Adrian Manning
Michael Skau
Candrice Jones
Crystal Rudds
Julie Ursem Marchand
Theresa Brightman
Cody Walker
Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Kiley Creekmore
Shayla Hawkins
Suzi Q. Smith
LeConté Dill
Julian Randall
Rosemarie Wilson
Maura Alia Badji
Marj Hahne
Wynne Huddleston
Jonie McIntire
RA Washington
Meg G. Freyermuth
Cathy Porter
Amy Debrecht
Kari Gunter-Seymour
Jonel Abellanosa
Sherese Francis
Emma Lee
Lowell Mick White
Vince Gotera
John Burroughs
Tony Moffeit
Maria Lisella
Jennifer Hambrick
C. M. Brooks
Jameson Bayles
Raymond Maxwell
Craig Firsdon
Punch
Lori Ann Kusterbeck
Kathleen Lawrence
Tsaurah Litzky

The gorgeous cover photo is by Cleveland poet John Burroughs, and was taken at the event Pandemonium in Cleveland a couple of years ago. NBP feels it perfectly captures the excitement and sparkle of Prince and the poems that were written for him.