Humans like things. It is no secret that our elevated Sapien race is a collective fan of objects – beautiful, valuable, interesting, unusual. Most of us boast a physical collection of some sort – jewelry, buttons, pens, posters, cats and things of other, and sometimes more peculiar, natures. But this desire to collect and own does not end with the tangible and the visible. We humans use our uniquely large and feeling brains to covet the insubstantial. We long to collect – we covet – the ideas and emotions and experiences of our fellows and those we admire. The Church called it “Envy” and branded it a mortal sin; Louisville native Lynnell Edwards gave it a dust jacket and called it “Poetry”.
Transforming this complicated word and untangling its layered meaning, Edwards uses Covet to unlock the flow of desire and need. This now her third collection of published poems, Edwards is also the author of the two additional poetic volumes, The Farmer’s Daughter and The Highwayman’s Wife. Currently an associate director for Louisville Literary Arts, Edwards also divides her writing prowess between teaching creative writing at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and working as an Associate Professor of English at Spalding University. Her poems have been featured in the pages of Poems & Plays, Southern Poetry Review, Smartish Pace, The Los Angeles Review, Poetry East and Dos Passos Review.
Catch up with Edwards at the Frankfort Avenue location of Carmichael’s Bookstore tomorrow, November 12th, at 4pm to sooth your craving for poetry. Covet is on sale at Carmichael’s in paperback for $16.95; Edwards’ other collections, The Farmer’s Daughter and The Highwayman’s Wife, are also available in paperback for $11.95 and $17.95, respectively. Open a copy and fear no sinful retributions; Covet is inherent in us all.
Carmichael’s Bookstore has two area locations 1295 Bardstown Road and 2720 Frankfort Avenue
For more information, visit the Lynnell Edwards event page or call the Frankfort Avenue location at 896-6950
Photo: Courtesy of Lynnell Edwards’ website www.lynnelledwards.wordpress.com
