Carnegie Mellon University Books

James Reiss' new book is notable for its verbal energy and play of diction and sound, an exploration of ethical and personal psychological situations and universal dilemmas. His wit is a way of confronting the sadnesses of our lives and times. His poems explore the inner and outer landscapes of a contemporary, deeply feeling and thinking human being. His most remarkable quality is the development of an engaging, confiding, colloquial style that is direct, down to earth and quite convincing in his unabashed and honest explorations of his subjects. At the heart of his poems there is an emotional, emotive voice without fear of sentiment. Yet the style is most interesting: a voice supple, flexible, personal and personable. This expansive expressiveness seems the basis of his ever-more (with each book) ambitious poetic explorations of forms and content, expanding into larger and more encompassing narrative elements. James Reiss' fine sense of emotional location "places" his active lines inside his personas' and his characters' psyches--and ultimately in ours.

I'm a creative writing student at Miami University, the Ohio school where Reiss teaches composition. I think the other reviews pretty much speak for themselves, so I'm just going to point out that the publisher of this book submitted it for consideration of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. And now I'm going to go log into our course scheduling site and try to get into one of his classes.

Ten Thousand Good Mornings is a beautiful collection of poetry that resonates with the heart of our times. Every poem leans towards the next and the next, until all poems in the collection bleed into each other.

The last section of Ten Thousand Good Mornings has a heading that scrambles the words of the book title. We end Ten Thousand Good Mornings with a poem called "Prelude" ....we begin our journey at the end of the book and the last "chapter" has a title that has turned over on itself.... A rather beautiful structure! At last, the book itself--the whole book--is structured as a single great poem. I was left feeling as if I could hear the echo of my first beautiful word.

Good stuff!

James Reiss' latest collection of poems Ten Thousand Good Mornings masterfully treads that thin line between tragedy and comedy with Reiss' use of formal, nursery-like rhyme colliding with subject matter such as death, divorce, racism, infidelity, and loneliness.

Reiss' bold exploitations of the traditional sonnet, and the combination of regular and irregular rhmes and meter create a fierce syncopation, encompassed by a language that is both idiomatic and carefully forged. Read "Woodruff Court" as an example:

. . . . Baloney on spumoni! This all-American Good Humor's no exotic gelato. My little dog laughs

to see such Sunday sports on down-home TV as I have guffawed at & shall rejoice in

till the sky breaks faith & it rains cats & dogs & my new-seeded lawn runs away with the water.

There are unforgettable, more serious poems, such as "Cycle", in which a man, distraught with his losses, cries out, "I take my life and shake it by the hair/who what why when where"; and "The Times," another stark poem in which a man, who has spoken on the telephone with a woman who is obviously another significant other, quickly dismisses that relationship:

It took no time to say goodnight & find the cradle for the phone,

then step into a darker room & cradle someone else in bed.

Finally, Reiss' poems reach out to more global issues such as childhood violence. In the shocking "Popular Mathematics", "a skinny kid" contemplates murdering his teacher and classmates, thinking "how the law/of averages might save one person/ while/ others meant to die would be divided". Read for yourself to see how this poem ends.

Ten Thousand Good Mornings contains a powerful variety of hilarity, somberness, tenderness, and local color meeting with the global. Reiss' craftsmanship may leave you dazed at times, and not knowing whether to laugh or cry. I wholeheartedly and highly recommend this book for its incredible range of tone, emotion, and depth of exploration all under one cover. Bravo!

Ten Thousand Good mornings by James Reiss is a modern day classic. Reiss' is eloquent without being pretentious and by using the rules and forms of a thousand years of english he puts his own life, todays ideas and situations, into verbal symphonys even the worst of philistines would marvel at. Poetry in this new millenium takes a strong second to the larger media of television and film but, it's writing like Reiss' that shows us the power that the writen word can still have. Reiss' poems show the beauty and poinency of one mans memory, real or not, comedic or tragic, each line and each page deliver vivid pictures and deep emotion; creating images that I will never forget.

Harms writes poems that find magic in the mundane of everyday life. On the surface, one sees relationships with others and events that are not earth shaking; however, the power of poetry -- or any writing, for that matter -- rests solely in details. His poems are filled carefully wrought images brimming with subtlety and understatment. Many poets have problems with the universal. Many poets try to address the whole complexity of human experience, which results in abysmal failure. Harms avoids this, as his poetry is far from epic. Yet, the best way to speak to a larger issue is focus on a smaller story. Harms does this and more.

Jim grows as a poet in his new book the joy addict. While his poetry still contains the same vaporous sense of the sublime and the ethereal, he has found a unique way to portray emotions through images. Jim writes about people holding hands with the ghosts of memories. He shows us our nightmares, fears, hopes, and dreams.

Who could forget the image in "Sky" as an adult and a child dance on a tree stump? "There will be room enough to dance with one so small/ And when she asks how tall it was/ the bluegum eucalyptus that held and hid/ the stars I looked for from my/ bedroom window, and caught the few that fell,/ it will be easy enough just to point/ to a particular spot in the sky."

Jim talks about our attachment to nature, and the way that nature saves us. The tree catches the falling star like a shepherd going after the lost lamb. Jim's poetry also offers strong contrasts. Even in the midst of the desolation and ruin of a shanty town in "Reel around the Shadow," there is "an insomniac hosing his pansies on a fire escape," and the angels on the roof are never very far away.

I was fortunate to have James Harms as a professor in college. He was just beginning work on "The Joy Addict" at that time -- though "Modern Ocean" had already been released. Simply stated, "The Jpy Addict" is Jim's collective soul. It's bits and pieces of rock n' roll imagery, submersed against the pains and tribulations of lost love, family matters, innocence, guilt and joy.

No poet of his generation captures and comes to uneasy terms with contemporary ennui better than does James Harms. Beneath a deceptively simple narrative surface, these poems bubble up from within with lyric intensity and continue to reward with each re-reading. The book is impeccably paced, moving with grace and muscularity from poem to poem; the moody malaise of some lines, "I drove today as if to somewhere. / I spun the dial left to find a song./ And the space between stations / was a thousand throats clearing, / the sound a phone makes / when you've answered out of habit / or hope and no one's there, / it hasn't even rung," are tempered with lines no less resigned perhaps, but imbued with faith in human gesture and touch: "We keep our arms around each other when we can, / struck and stranded. When we can, we never let go." Suspicious of the simply uplifting, James Harms rather gives us the actual, the human, and we leave the poems nodding yes, it's like that, and I can't wait to touch someone I love: "If we open the door and a window, / perhaps a breeze will lift away the dust, / though I feel light enough still to blow loose / out of my body. Now that we're okay, there's very little / that keeps us here, which is why, perhaps, we stay. / I no longer hear the leaves as voices gathering / beneath the trees, in the gutters. / But I would recognize your heart if I saw it."

This used to be thee text for seminarians before Vatican II. It is the best assembly of information relative to the spiritual life one can imagine. Do I wish that it was returned to the seminaries and colleges of our Catholic heritage.

There are virtually no unchartered waters in this book relative to the spiritual life. Grab it, read it and apply it and you will see for yourself the treasure you have in your hands.

This book is a compilation of saintly progress that is unmatched
in variety and summation of the spiritual life. Anyone who reads
this book with an open heart will be changed for life.

A Catholic priest recommended The Spiritual Life to me. The book is both a great guide to Christian Mysticism, and to the Catholic faith. The descriptions of the spiritual journeys of various saints described in the book are fascinating.

This book is simply a must have for the spiritual life. It is long but it is definately worth the read.

One reason this book is set above others is that it goes through all the doctrinal and dogmatic foundations of the spiritual life giving us the reasons why we should serve and love God. The author says himself that he doesn't think a work on the spiritual life should omit a review of what exactly God has done for us. Also placing himself on solid dogmatic grounds the author avoids falling into subjectivism or a undue focus on ourself. This is the first (and shortest) part of the book.

Secondly the author goes in depth to the three ways. That is, the purgative, the illuminative, and the unitive. He thoroughly treats all of them so you can get plenty of help in the one that you may happen to be in, but you will also learn to look forward to what may come. It is, of course, important to know what you are working towards in addition to knowing what to do in your present state.

The author treats just about everything imaginable in the spiritual life. He treats the gifts of the Holy Ghost, meditation, contemplation, perfection, interior graces, mystical phenomena, trials, the "dark nights", beginning the SL, advancing in virtue, Communion/confession, combatting the passions, growing in charity, and many other things.

The author bases his teaching mainly on Scripture, Saint Thomas, the so-called "french school" (Olier,Berulle,Eudes, etc,), Saint Theresa and Saint John of the Cross, and Saint Francis de Sales. Although he does quote many others and has a very wide knowledge of spiritual authors.

The author also maintains the traditional teaching on the spiritual life: that love of God is perfection. The modern era has made achieving various "mental states" as perfection. This is of course very wrong. This book will help you to grow in love for God. Whether you acieve any extraordinary gifts is God's decision. God's free gifts cannot be attained by any "technique".

Finally I would recommend this book because it not only only inflames your will with a desire to love God and serve Him as some books do, it also give real concrete steps to achieve this. God Bless.

In The Blue Salvages, a reader will see and hear the world's fullness. Dodd's poems, however, are never merely "about" the natural world, about art, about a place, or about anything; rather, they feel to be IN their subjects, In their worlds as one is IN one's life. Dodd's gift is his desire and ability to have his life happen meaningfully on and off the page. Thus, this book will remind those familiar with Dodd' work that he is one of our very few poets whose work never shies from the most complex and intimidating questions facing us all. Those who are new to his work will wonder why he has not become an even more recognized figure in American poetry. The Blue Salvages is yet another testimony to his poetry's mindful and body-full integrity.

This is poetic language brought to the point where only the fresh, mysterious, accurate and profound will do. In this book, Dodd proves that learned poetry can also be passionate and honest. But The Blue Salvages is also the work of an artist at the height of his powers. Every facet of these poems--punctuation, word choice, syntax, subject, form--combines toward a unique whole. The passages of these poems seem so complete you can hear the spirt whistling through them on its way to the next incarnation. If ouy buy one book of poems by Wayne Dodd, let it be this one.

I simply loved this book. Beyond saying that, all I can do is quote the blurbs from the back: Michael Waters says that "Wayne Dodd is making poems of consequence--eloquent, deeply felt, vital--that testify to the survival of an intelligent and personal poetics in a time of frivolity and imitation." And Peter Stitt says that "its best poems are so well done as to be almost luminescent in quality." One shouldn't miss the depth of "Entries and Divagations" as well as the seriously funny "City Fragments." Highly recommended for anyone interested in contemporary poetry.

The poems in this book are moving and lovely. After reading many of them, one has the sense of having awoken from the kind of dream that one will always remember. The poems capture the way one is present in many moments of one's life, both past and present, simultaneously. This collection is a very strong debut, and I look forward to reading more of this writer's work.

This stunning debut collection features delicately written, tensile poems about contemporary life. Feeding the baby in time of war, braiding the hair of someone from another culture, reacting to the love of spouse and children are just some of the topics in this collection. Not an extraneous word, not a false note or misstep. I highly recommend this book; discover a major new talent.

Eleanor Stanford's poems are lyrical, deeply affecting, and thought-provoking. With each poem, I was entranced, her words painting images in my mind and heart. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves poetry and even to someone who thought they didn't.

Robert Frost said "All the fun's in how you say a thing." While most poets may not describe the extremely difficult process of crafting powerful, often painful images and ideas out of our rather plain vanilla language 'fun', one feels Ms. Beeder has made the sacrifice and we are the better for her efforts. She reminds us that there can be power in words during an age when all it seems society reacts to is 'some war set fire on a massacre hill' as the poet so beautifully puts it. I believe the highest compliment I can pay to a poet is that their words travel with me. Several passages from Ms. Beeder's have already bored into my overcrowded consciousness and now I look forward to 'traveling the damp side of high roads at dusk."

The title of this review, from the poem "Fever" serves as an example of some of the precise and beautiful lyric moments in Beeder's book, Burn the Field. without a doubt, this is one of the better books of poetry I've encountered in the past several years. The poems are intricate works of rich image and delicate language and they cover an amazing range of subject matter and tonal qualities. Most striking is Amy Beeder's ability to create complicated symbiotic forms for her work. The variety of structural elements that frame the poem's lush language are invariably useful and appropriate. Enjoy!

I have been following Amy Beeder's marvelous work in magazines for years, so what a joy it is to finally have a collection of her poems in hand. She is a poet's poet, one of a very few contemporary writers who is truly a master at her craft, with a skilled ear for meter, an eye for vibrant (and sometimes, disturbing) images and an unusually rich word palate. Her poems are a resonant tapestry of sound. It's a delicious experience to read them aloud. What's more, Beeder's subjects are always striking -- from the arrogant Pasteur to a runaway train "flashing/ like a long black casket" to a dead Haitian girl in a yellow dress "on a heap of street sweepings high/as a pyre, laid on snarled wire and dented rim." This book is wonderful.

Annie Dawid's thought provoking new book, Lily in the Desert, draws the reader in until the very last page.
Often with a book of short stories there are some stories that a reader prefers over others. Every story in this book has its own unique personality just as the characters do. Each story almost demands that the reader care about the characters and makes it difficult to choose a favorite.
This book is a compelling read.

Annie Dawid's characters are like people you meet on a plane, get to know well in an hour, and never forget. She writes across the gender and the gay-straight barriers that hamper lesser imaginations. She writes about Jewish and American cultural history and identity with an ease that masks decades of thoughtful study. "Lily In The Desert" is a generous and delightful gift to the world.

Lily in the Desert takes you to places you want to go. Annie Dawid's touching and poignant book of short stories allows you to travel in the shoes of many sorts...people who are struggling and striving, connecting and disconnected. I loved this book.

"Snow Blossoms" was particularly moving and the last story, "The Settlement" is a masterpiece. I am recommending Lily in the Desert to anyone and everyone.

I've been a strong, but frustrated, proponent of the P-CMM since its inception. This book goes well beyond the original SEI documentation by thoroughly describing the rationale behind the CMM and making a strong business case with respect to the tangible and intangible benefits that accrue from implementing it.

This book contains something for managers, particularly upper management who needs to not only endorse the P-CMM, but also need to commit to it and sponsor it in order to make it happen. The chapters of the book that apply to them are:
1 -The Process Maturity Framework, portions of 5 - Interpreting the People CMM (Organizational Factors, and commitment and Ability to Perform), and 7 - Experience with the People CMM).

For technical line managers the entire book will be relevant because it covers the reasons, structure and key process areas in great detail. In addition, once a P-CMM initiative is given the go ahead, the implementation team and all primary stakeholders will also benefit from large portions of the book because it also covers implementation issues and an approach in detail.

Overall, this book presents a maturity framework that contains goals for any organization that understands the relationship between the morale and management of a technical workforce and the resulting impact on the business bottom line. I'll go so far as to state that if this book is followed and a successful implementation of the P-CMM results, attaining the corresponding level of the SW-CMM will be relatively effortless.

The software development is an activity that involves both social and engineering aspects, addressing the problem with this in mind, in an holistic way will deliver much better results that doing it partially. The People CMM address the human side of software development and completes the engineering side that at the three levels, Organization, Team, and Individual are covered by SW-CMM, TSP and PSP.
The book is divided in three parts, the first one gives the reader a clear understanding not just of the model but the principles that define it. Also very valuable are the briefs of the case studies and specially the first chapter "The Process Maturity Framework" is very helpful to understand the basics of all the CMM's.
The second Part describes the practices that are part the People CMM in a very detailed way, these practices are not any thing new , the real value of the model is defining a framework in which these practices really will deliver sustainable results, thus we may say the whole is larger than the simple sum of the parts, finally the third part, the Appendices, provides a lot of information to support the practioneer.
Definitively this book is for any body involved in a software process improvement programs that wishes to obtain better and lasting results.

In the seven years since the 1995 release of the P-CMM, version 1 I've not encountered any sincere effort by any US client to implement the process. My personal theory is that the P-CMM was little known outside of the software engineering community, especially the DoD-related community, when it should have received wider dissemination to human resources and higher-level management. This book from a mainstream publisher should change that. With respect to the model itself, the previous reviewer has done a remarkable job of describing the model and how this book supports it. I have a few additional notes to add:
(1) This book is about version 2, which corrects some flaws in the first version which had team building at level 4. In the version, 2, described in this book team building has been placed at level 3.
(2) Another change from version 1 to version 2 is the alignment of the P-CMM to the CMMI, especially with respect to integrated product and process development.
(3) Version 2 adds institutionalization goals to each process area.

If you have previous experience with the older versions of P-CMM, or CMM-SW, or the newer approaches as set forth in later versions and CMMI, you'll note that there are two implementation models: staged and continuous. The staged approach is the only supported implementation for P-CMM version 2.

The book goes into extraordinary detail about the P-CMM and how to implement it. You can easily use this book as a roadmap to achieving levels 2 through 5 of the P-CMM, or as a resource for improving the people part of the people-process-technology triad that defines IT. As such you need not have certification as a goal to gain value from this book. If you do decide to pursue certification at level 2 or higher, however, I strongly recommend that you also get a copy of Kim Caputo's 'CMM Implementation Guide'. That book, while focused on implementing the CMM-SW, contains sage advice and a sound approach to dealing with the real problems that you'll encounter: organizational inertia and resistance, training and implementation issues and obtaining they key ingredient - commitment to perform.

This collection of poems is brilliant, lending the divine to everyday matters. A must read!

This book of poetry is composed of four sections, almost all of them having to do with raising kids, or family life, or the relationship between mothers and fathers to sons and daughters. It's very interesting; not being a father yet I don't know what he's talking about most of the time, but I do appreciate some of his poems, such as "Texas Skyline," and "An Epiphany." Several times I had to look up new words though, which kind of distracted me from the message, but I ended up learning a lot of new words in the process.

Of course one of the highlights of this poem is just to be touched by the sounds of a man who truly a father, who is engaged with his kids, and see what insights he has to reveal to us who are either with him in his quest to understand happy family life or still learning.

This is a wonderful collection of stories! What struck me, over and over, was the feeling that someone had finally written how life really happens and feels. All of the stories I've read and even liked in recent years--including the brutally blank or bleak ones--suddenly seemed exposed as still full of exaggeration and driven by stock formulas. So, devastating as many of Ivy Goodman's stories are-and there are some heavyweight knockouts here--they're also remarkably refreshing; graceful, generous, and tough; embedded everywhere with sharp insights. They're loyal to the human story even in its irresolutions--not in the form of snooty alienation or post-structuralist pretensions, just a respect for craving and spite and shyness, and for all the things in life that for some reason don't happen.

I loved this book! Ivy Goodman, author of the prizewinning short story collection "Heart Failure," writes with a dark and cutting comic edge that in the end proves to be regenerative and uplifting, as great prose writing always proves to be. There's an eerie psychological perspicuity in her inimitable stories about loss, death, and violation. I especially loved "Eating Him Alive," an updated riff on Kafka's "The Hunger Artist"; and "In Consequence," a chilling story that alternates point of view between grandmother and grandson in a family that's gone awry. The scene with the father's teeth took my breath away! If you don't know Goodman's fiction, you've got a treat in store for you. Can't wait for her next book!