Book Launch – “REAP, a flora” by Mara Adamitz Scrupe

Saturday | July 22 | 3-5 pm
Minnesota Marine Art Museum | 800 Riverview Dr.
shipwrecktbooks.press | mmam.org

A book launch of “REAP, a flora” by Mara Adamitz Scrupe, published by Shipwreckt Books Publishing Company of Winona, will be held at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum on Saturday, July 22, 2023, from 3-5 p.m.

Mara Adamitz Scrupe, the author of six poetry collections, has won or been shortlisted for prestigious international awards including the National Poetry Society Competition (UK) and Aesthetica Poetry Prize (UK). She serves concurrently as Lance Williams Resident Artist in the Arts & Sciences, University of Kansas, Lawrence, and Dean and Professor Emerita, School of Art, University of the Arts, Philadelphia.

“REAP,” by Mara Adamitz Scrupe, draws readers into the intense thickets of a playful and lingual dance. Fierce, staccato lines and startling juxtapositions create a kaleidoscope of the lush interior world: “we dreamt our self-made asylum.” The poet takes us on an insightful, botanical tour of memory and the human psyche. —Doug Ramspeck, author of “Blur.”

In “REAP,” Mara Adamitz Scrupe’s craftmanship is consummate. She has a perfect ear for the musical potential of the English language. There is not a discordant syllable or a word out of place to be found here. She generously shares a knowledge of flowers as detailed as any botanist’s combined with the sensibilities of a philosopher and a true seer of beauty. —Patrick Cotter, author of “Making Music” and “Sonic White Poise,” is Artistic Director, Munster Literature Centre, Cork, Ireland.

“REAP” is meditative, clear sighted and wise. From the very first poems we are plunged headfirst into nature and all its pure, ambivalent sexual clarity. Whether sister, mother, father, wilderness or farm the deep and permanent connection to our environment in all her violent glory is laid bare in these exquisite poems. —Dave Lewis, Author of “Africa Poems and Mixed Messages.” Founder of Welsh Poetry Competition.

I would suggest that no modern poet has written as experimentally, as sensually, and as scientifically on nature as Mara Adamitz Scrupe does in this wonderful collection. The language throughout “REAP” is full of rhythm and alliteration, but it also connects the poet’s environment with a rich personal history in ways that are so subtle as almost to be missed. Scrupe writes confidently in a voice that draws the reader into a world I didn’t want to leave. —Luigi Marchini, author of “The Anatomist.”

Shipwreckt Books Publishing Company and the Minnesota Marine Art Museum are members of the River Arts Alliance. To learn more about the benefits of membership, please visit: riverartsalliance.org/membership/.