Writing, Self-Publishing, Book Marketing

It’s official: Brenda Mirsky’s winning poetry collection, Spare Parts is now available. If you’re a reader of poetry, or maybe you’ve been meaning to start, here’s your chance to enjoy this superb collection.

Most of the poems are based on real incidents in Mirsky’s life. “Writing poetry helps me get things in perspective,” Mirsky says. “And it’s way less expensive than therapy!”

Here’s a description of Spare Parts from Wordclay’s Bookstore:

Brenda Mirsky’s Spare Parts opens logically with the poem, ‘On the Day I Was Born’ and follows in the earthy footsteps of Mary Oliver with the sharp narrative focus of Robert Wrigley or Billy Collins. In the title poem ‘Spare Parts,’ the story of losing a father is interwoven with the coming and going of the television repairman, reminding us how quickly life can change and how we can be reminded of this passing at the oddest times. Mirsky has written a personal, thought-provoking collection of poems.

After we posted an interview with Mirsky back in April, Mirsky’s husband, Stuart, provided a comment and excellent description of her writing talent: “Ginsberg and some of the others with whom she studied brought out the best in her as she honed her own craft to the point where she could chisel away at nearly any sentence or stream of words to find the poem within it.” He continues, “I guess that’s kind of an art, to be able to see, as a sculptor sees, the hidden sweep of words and thoughts that lie buried in our ordinary words. … The best of her poems rarely fail to move me to tears because of that way she has of crystallizing the moment.”

Wordclay held two poetry contests which ended in February, and Spare Parts is the first winning book in the Collection of Poetry Contest. Mirsky’s Spare Parts won Grand Prize, while the Runner-Up collection by Katie Haaheim is still in the works; we’re anxiously awaiting its launch it soon.  The first published book of Wordclay’s winning poets, Best Modern Voices, Volume 1: A Poetry Anthology, features poets from our Single Poem Contest.

“It’s tough to get published,” Mirsky says. “Publishers today seem to have an unwillingness to give new writers a chance. But just keep plugging away. I’ve never published any other work and I’m thrilled that Wordclay wants to publish my first collection.”

And we’re thrilled, too! We’re proud to play even a small roll in helping writers launch themselves into the world of published books. And, it sounds cheesy, but the truth is with Wordclay’s free online self-publishing program, there’s nothing stopping any writer from getting their voice out there.

Let us know your thoughts on Mirsky’s collection, or any of the other winning poems. You can read sample of the winning works on Wordclay’s Web site.

-Angie