Turnstone Books of Oregon

11/05/2025

Turnstone Books of Oregon, LLC, announces release of Newport City
Councilwoman and visual artist Cynthia Jacobi’s new volume of poems, “I Know
About These Things.”
The meaning of our lives may occur to us through memory, sensory snapshots of
significant moments: a mattress upended by the curb, hair lost through
chemotherapy caught in a brush, the light fragrance of lavender powder on a
handkerchief. In “I Know About These Things” Jacobi chronicles scenes from her
own life, from childhood to an imagined old age, in subtle and moving poems that
capture these memorial moments. Every woman will recognize many of these
episodes—a girl becoming a woman, the onset of passionate love, disruptive and
disrupted relationships, failings of the body’s health, loss of loved ones, profound
observations about the nature of things through connections discovered in
gardening, art and writing, and received cultural “wisdom” now re-examined. As
award winning poet Penelope Scambly Schott has said, “When Cynthia Jacobi
claims ‘I Know about These Things,’ I believe her.”

The poet will have a conversation about her book, including readings of various
poems, with editor Sandra Mason at Café’ Chill, 540 NE Commercial St.,
Waldport, phone (541) 819-5041 on Saturday, May 17, at 2 p.m.
Books will be available for purchase (cash only), and an Open Mic will follow.

23/04/2025

While we’re still basking in the joyful success of “The Grace of Oregon Rain,” Shakespeare’s birthday seems the right time to begin to gather poems by Oregon authors for a new anthology, “Just Imagine: Oregon Horizons” (Turnstone Books of Oregon, LLC).

Our state landscape is gloriously diverse, and who we are as Oregonians who “landed here” grounded in a long-vision, of the vast Pacific, of the Eden at the end of the Oregon Trail, of volcanic peaks, of high desert open spaces, of rollicking streams and misty waterfalls. How does this landscape shape us? What visions do you have of our geography and its significance to our past, present, future? How do we live with such horizons?

How do our horizons call to us, speak to us, as “land of the golden west” and “land of the setting sun”? How do they help us make meaning?

Poems in all forms are welcome, but no longer than two facing pages in a 7 x 10 volume (about 72 lines), unless knock-your-socks-off-spectacular. We could decide that together. The volume is open to original illustrations that can be effectively reproduced in black and white. These should be more than 300 dpi.

I am also soliciting submissions for an appropriate cover design.

Please submit up to 3 poems and 2 illustrations in an email attachment to [email protected], subject line HORIZONS. At this same time, go ahead and include a short biographical statement for the back pages of the volume.

Let’s make a deadline of June 18, 2025, my birthday (easy to remember), and we can aim for a fall publication and some public readings, which are the best part.

Feel free to distribute this call to other poets.

Looking forward to seeing everyone again,

Alexandra (Sandy) Mason

06/04/2025

Turnstone Books is thrilled to announce release of prize-winning poet Cynthia Jacobi's new volume, "I Know About These Things." About this work, Penelope Scambly Schott says "I believe her," high praise indeed. Please congratulate Cynthia when you see her--and buy the book! Write a review! You'll enjoy her mastery of form.

The meaning of our lives may occur to us through memory, sensory snapshots of significant moments: a mattress upended by the curb, hair lost through chemotherapy caught in a brush, the light fragrance of lavender powder on a handkerchief. In “I Know These Things” award-winning poet Cynthia Jacob...

13/08/2024

C. Steven Blue has videotaped the release party and readings from our new anthology "The Grace of Oregon Rain." Do enjoy.

Part 1: https://youtu.be/M4tCIURwJFA

Part 2: https://youtu.be/DPDUNHijIDU

https://www.amazon.com/Grace-Oregon-Rain-Anthology-Poems/dp/1737395843/ref=sr_1_1?crid=8BNEBN52OY6C&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.NAfxX-4OFXg9SNN194mqKsLOuFBsh9ghmX_qfSVN6V0IgDooaa3Y_u1Y7gMS2CjN5Vb-fzwZvhm_-yQX7qWd6Se3qoyFAfvD17IjXgQhRD_amCECKW5fu2SvgFjvwLaTud0WGPNzJ78zdVvheIiMWFTlUqAtEZeWNkX0ffANA0gmcV-QJym0LJECrGZXOZMb.JcK5ET6uYhhEZUqIuOlorMgpRgwvmZtW8MxmOTF-rME&dib_tag=se&keywords=grace+of+oregon+rain&qid=1723589631&sprefix=grace+of+oregon%2Caps%2C142&sr=8-1

This stunning anthology showcases poems by pre-eminent Oregon authors illustrating the metaphorical significance of rain in our lives. Neither unremittingly cheerful nor gloomy, the collection places us in homes, on city streets, in forests, and on the coastline, acknowledging our interaction wit...

27/07/2024

https://www.oregoncoasttoday.com/.../cdc55z3kruwsrlectiuc...
“The Grace of Oregon Rain” — Oregon Coast TODAY
OREGONCOASTTODAY.COM
“The Grace of Oregon Rain” — Oregon Coast TODAY
60+ Activity Center • Newport What Oregonian hasn't grumbled about too many days of rain and then, in another season, prayed for a good, soaking downpour? In a rare gathering, 30 of Oregon's premier poets will read their poems from a stunning new collection, "The Grace of Oregon Rain"&

12/07/2024

As Dorothy's editor and publisher, I am sad to report that Dorothy Blackcrow Mack passed away on June 15 of this year.

Dorothy taught at IIT, U. Michigan, Oglala Lakota College, and Linn-Benton CC; and at Oregon Coast CC & OSU-HMSC summer session. She was a contributing editor at Calyx, past director of Writers on the Edge, past president of Willamette Writers Coast Branch, and a long time member of Tuesday Writers. She led creative nonfiction workshops for Willamette Writers and Writers in the Schools programs. She is author of four books, shown below.

Dorothy Blackcrow Mack’s works have been published in Fiction International, Folio, Fireweed, The Literary Review, Shaman’s Drum, Side Show, Spa, Sun, ZYZZYVA, and 13 anthologies. Her poem “Wind Cave II: Time of Emergence” was nominated in 1996 for the Pushcart Prize. She is winner of 26 writing awards, a Walden Fellowship, a 2002 Oregon Literary Arts Council Grant in creative nonfiction, and 2006-09 Writer in Residence at Oregon Writers Colony in creative nonfiction and memoir. Mack won 32 writing awards, published in 20 anthologies; and wrote 35 creative nonfiction works, 9 short stories, 50 poems. and a children’s Christmas story, The Fourth Wise One: Wichoni’s Journey.

Dorothy was a prominent figure in the Oregon Coast literary scene, beloved, and sorely missed.

Here is the lead poem from her collection Anuk-Ite'.

Double-Face Woman

in memory of Ethel American Horse Blackcrow,
Lakota quillworker

They warned me not to dream of her,
Anuk-Ite' the Double-Face Woman,
filled us with terror as young girls,
but after my fifth miscarriage
I didn't care.
Let the other women bead
tiny lizards for their babies,
cut cottonwood twigs for childbirth.
I began to dream for Anuk-Ite'.

I called and called, drank dark
teas, but when she drifted in,
I did not know her
on the right side,
moist lip, bright eye,
for she would not
turn her head.

At last I dreamed fierce
her bone side, reached
right through the black eyesocket
plunged my elbow deep
to pull out all those designs
pricked in the night sky--
quilled whorls and stars--
into my mind.

My arm did not wither
because I did not touch the bone
but I had known darkness
so I was gifted to work
with quills my hand
steady not pierced
by the black barb.

Now in a house
no man may enter
we boil dyes
steaming roots
bitter berry red
wormwood black
ochre yellow

we weave black barbs
& white shafts
our lips moist
swollen
from sucking quills flat
sucking medicine
pahin woskapi

we are fierce
we are childless
men do not bother us

we are sharp
we pierce
we prick

we know the designs

https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2024/jun/21/obituary-dorothy-lee-mack-1934-2024/

30/06/2024

The shipment has arrived from the printer! So exciting! Mark your calendars and save the date.

JOIN OREGON POETS TO CELEBRATE “THE GRACE OF OREGON RAIN”
RARE OPPORTUNITY TO MEET THIRTY OF OREGON’S BEST POETS

What Oregonian hasn't grumbled about too many days of rain and then, in another season, prayed for a good, soaking downpour? In a rare gathering, thirty of Oregon's premier poets will read at Newport's 60+ Activity Center (Address: 20 SE 2nd St, Newport, OR 97365 Phone: (541) 265-9617) on Saturday, July 27, between 1 and 4 p.m. to celebrate our rain with their poems from a stunning new collection, "The Grace of Oregon Rain," edited by Alexandra
Mason. This spectacular anthology illustrates the metaphorical significance of rain in our daily lives and in Oregon’s history. The rain nourishes our poetic imagination. These poems strive, through metaphor, to clarify the human experience of life in the rain. Our feelings move beyond mere love/hate. At times we grudgingly acknowledge rain’s inconvenience and discomfort, but over all
else we glory in its power of renewal. The collection as a whole comprises a remarkable unity that testifies to the Oregon experience. Neither unremittingly cheerful nor gloomy, the poems place us in homes, on city streets, in forests, and on the coastline, acknowledging our interaction with rain in the present and in our
common imagined past. The rain is perennial; it vexes us, it sustains us, it outlasts us. These poems teach us about life in the northwest and ground us in the reality of that experience and its emotional impact. The collection is a love song to our place and its heritage. With the turning of each page, readers will proclaim a new favorite in the collection. The poems are insightful, humorous, imaginative, visual and sensory, sincere, self-aware, moving, and often profound.
In the end we are left with a sense of negotiated acceptance between ourselves and our rain. Our rain ties us to our place and inclusively forms our character, defines who we are. Please join us to meet these poets and celebrate release of this beautiful collection. Poets will be thrilled to share insights on their writing
process and autograph this volume. Other books by the poets will also be for sale (cash sales preferred). Public welcome!

The Foreword has received acclaim as well:

“What you have written about the anthology is simply stunning, worthy of many readings.” Jeanette Capella

“What a gorgeous anthology! You must be incredibly proud; it clearly represents a huge amount of hard (and heart!) work.” Jennifer Richter

“Your "Foreward" is excellent.” Henry Hughes

14/06/2024

This stunning anthology showcases poems by pre-eminent Oregon authors illustrating the metaphorical significance of rain in our lives. Neither unremittingly cheerful nor gloomy, the collection places us in homes, on city streets, in forests, and on the coastline, acknowledging our interaction wit...