Announcing the Winners . . . and Some Fifty-Word Poems
From Most Like-ly to Most Florid, the Enchanted by the Book contest has come to a close. Two short poems, related links, and next week's preview follow the awards.
Contest Winners, with Links to Author Pages
📣 🐓 The votes are in.
We have winners in the Enchanted-by-the-Book competition! 🏆 🎭
For a quick recap: In June I sent out an open call in my little corner of Substack: When were you enchanted by a book, poem, or story? As proof of concept, I tried an answer or two myself while the contest was open. Five other intrepid authors added their stories. If you missed any, you can read them here:
“Making Stone Soup” by Julie Hester of
“The most enchanting piece of writing” by Donna McArthur of
“The Enchantment of Raggedy Ann” by Ramona Grigg of
“Enchantment by Novel” by Michael Maiello of
“Three Lights” by Julie Gabrielli of
In the announcement, I promised that two winners — the person with the most Likes on the contest entry page and the person with the Most Florid style — would get to assign me a book to write about OR request a poem, like a friendly little stanza from a nineteenth-century visiting album. So we’ll get to those awards last. Meanwhile, we have other awards to confer:
The Award for Most Scintillating Synthesis goes to Michael Maiello for “Enchantment by Novel”. His essay about The Princess Bride (book and film) calls up Don Quixote, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, Pale Fire, and Being There, not to mention postmodernism, to help convey the complex narrative technique of William Goldman. By masterminding all these references and illuminating subtle features of a sneaky novel, Michael Maiello sent me to my bookshelves to read or reread a whole stack of volumes!🏅 👏
The Most Charismatic Character Award goes to Julie Hester for “Making Stone Soup”. From the enticing opening line (“I heard the story first from Mrs. Risley in the library at school”) to the librarian’s footwear, her body movements, and her expert management of a crop of young people, Mrs. Risley is one of the standout characters of this contest. Julie’s crisp, dramatic, and playful language bring Mrs. Risley, the children, the carrots, and the rest of the story charmingly to life. 🏅 👏
Now, I’m really in for it. We have a tie for the Most Florid Prize, which means I’m on the hook to read an assigned book or write a poem for both of these dazzlers. The Most Florid prize is awarded for lush, vivid, and poetic language. Tied for this award are:
Ramona Grigg’s “The Enchantment of Raggedy Ann”. For starters, Ramona rolls language around for the sheer fun of it: “I love the word ‘enchant’ in all its forms: enchanted, enchanting, enchantment.” And then come the living dolls: “Every night, in the middle of the night, they waited until things were quiet and then they began to move.” But enchantment is not just a leisure sport; Ramona reminds us of the conditions in the world that make books like Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy indispensable companions. 🏅 👏
Julie Gabrielli’s “Three Lights”. What do you get when you mix a glowing water bottle and the original solar light tube (the oculus of the Pantheon) with a poem by Marie Howe called “Annunciation” and a sailboat in a storm? Julie Gabrielli makes poetic leaps between unexpected subjects, bringing everything to an epiphanic boil: “I am the Bay, the sky, the world, the golden light.” This lushly poetic prose essay offers an homage to Howe’s poem by absorbing its spirit of light and radiating it out again. 🏅 👏
Now, if you’ve got any head for mathematics at all, you know that only one entry of five remains. Drum the nearest piece of furniture if that helps to heighten the mood. The recipient of the most reader “Likes” as of midnight eastern time last night, and therefore the winner of the July 2023 Enchanted by the Book Most Like-ly Prize, is:
Donna McArthur’s “The most enchanting piece of writing”. With artful sleight of hand, Donna threatens to bore us silly by trotting out a college textbook called The Evolution of Canadian Literature in English: 1945-1970. But deep in the retained volume is the poem that reoriented her prairie-set compass to the high mountains. Vertiginous family photos prove it. With a fine sense of placement, she works up our anticipation for the poem “David” by Dr. Earl Birney, and then satisfies us at last with a link to the poem. It is easy to see how Birney’s precise rendering of mountain scenery drew a prairie girl to the high country. Those of us in the U.S. who did not know this classic Canadian poem got a double treat: Donna’s loving tribute, and Birney’s gorgeous stanzas. 🏅 👏
Thank you, writers, for sharing your beautiful memories and your best prose. Thanks to all who shared the contest announcement. Thanks to others for memories of books that were shared in comments and Notes, encouraging everyone on and making this such fun. Most important, if you find a writer you like from this gathering, please hit their Subscribe button. We are in this together.
Now, it’s pay-up time.
Donna, Julie G., and Ramona: You three get to assign me a book, story, or poem that you’d like to see me write about in a future Enchanted in America post; OR choose a personalized poem from me to you. If it’s a book, cap it around 150 pages, please. Head down to the comments and let me know which one you prefer, and I’ll get to work!
Gracias, one and all. I have enjoyed our exchange of enchantments!
Wait. She writes poems?
If you missed the June Intermission post, you may know me only by my prose. But yes, poetry and I go way back. The award-winners might want to see some of it before deciding my next assignment. Quality is never guaranteed, though I do like the two below.
These poems were written for
’s bimonthly fireside at . In his Fifties by the Fire series, Justin provides a prompt, and his readers answer it in exactly 50 words. Here (with one altered word) are the concoctions I posted in answer to his recent themes: stars, and flags.July 7 Theme: Incorporate freedom, liberty, or a flag
“Joyriding on a Budget”
I flag down
the first Ferrari I find
leaving the car show
and ask for a ride to
my rig.
We vvrrrrr a few blocks
til
I say 'here' and
'thanks.'
Guy drives off.
I walk back
to the avenue
full of wheels
and flag down
this time
-- a Lamborghini.
🛞 🛞 🛞
June 25 Theme: Incorporate stars, a starry night, or a constellation
“The Good Helmet”
I rode behind him when he fell,
all twelve years of him,
hitting hard after flying
from his seat.
My son, the projectile,
landed with a crack
of helmet
and a shock
to his cushioned head.
For weeks I observed him
nervously
though he said he had seen
no stars.
🌠 🌠 🌠
If you enjoyed reading personal essays centered on a book or poem,
be sure you are subscribed below. At least once a month, Enchanted in America features a personal essay, usually about a book. (Here's an decidedly unacademic example about the children’s board book, Good Night, Gorilla.) These are part of a collection I am making as an academic literary critic convinced of the merit of personal approaches to literature. If this interests you, I would love to have you follow this developing series and share your thoughts along the way.
Substack author and writing coach Sarah Fay tells us this genre has a name, creative criticism. She is one of the contributors to a weekly series by other writers, The Books That Made Us, created and curated by M. E. Rothwell. I subscribe and recommend it.
And . . . action! If you are enchanted by a stirring piece of creative criticism or anything else out in the Substackiverse, please Restack it in Substack Notes and tag me (@Tara Penry), as it may be a candidate for The Enchanted Forest, my monthly digest of enchanted reads on Substack.
Next week
Reading just this week’s post, it’s easy to believe that I write about enchantment as though it’s always a good thing. Not so fast, says Octavia Butler in the historical fantasy Kindred, next Monday’s nail-biting novel at the center of our ongoing discussion of the strange social fusions made possible by states of wonder.
Protagonist Dana would like nothing better than to neutralize whatever magic has thrown her back from late 20th-century California to early 19th-century Maryland — slave territory — and to ditch the person on the other end of the enchantment. What does she have to do to free herself from the strong gravity of U.S. history? Subscribers will find out . . .
As always, thank you for your company! See you back here next Monday.
That was so much fun! I loved all of the entry pieces and I'm glad we all won. Since I have a choice of prizes, I choose a poem written by you for me. I love anything personal and I can't wait to see what you come up with. (Plus, I think that's the easiest, but I could be wrong.) Thank you for the opportunity! ❤️
How exciting!! It was such fun to participate in this and to discover a whole bunch more Substackers in the process. I'm tempted to ask for a poem, too, but instead I'll mix it up with this request - to write about Ursula K. LeGuin's marvelous, trim little book, "The Word for World is Forest." It's about 115 pages. Can't wait to see what enchantments it sparks for you. And it goes w/o saying, but no rush at all!