Todd Mercer reviews ‘Greenhouse’

Todd Mercer reviews Greenhouse: The First 5 Years of the Rustbelt Roethke Writers’ Workshop at 360 Main Street. . . . . Local writers specifically mentioned include Amee Schmidt, Vince Samarco . . . . Jeff Vande Zande has a reading coming up in Mount Pleasant (Jan. 24, Art Reach) and a book signing Feb. 17 (Horizon Books, Traverse City) . . . .Denise Hill excerpts a Nathan Perry essay on “The Usefulness of Poetry” in the New Pages Blog . . . . . “Why should we care about a poem about an owl, or the drift of pollen, or chickens in the street, or aging drywall, or tinnitus?” Perry asks. “Well, for the same reasons we care about a poem about the recent oil spill, or a poem about perfidy in Washington DC, or a poem about war and the television’s witness.” . . . . New Pages also has updated its “Call for Submissions” list . . . . Three-eyed Fish is back from a break. Happy New Year, everyone. . . . . My poem, “Raking Leaves in Michigan,” will be published in the May-June issues of Off the Coast. . . . At the movies: Thoroughly enjoyed the new True Grit from the Coen Brothers.