Greg McBride Wins Liam Rector Prize (Terence Winch)

In a confluence that was personally gratifying for me, I recently learned that one friend of mine won a prize named for another friend of mine. Greg McBride, who arrived in the poetry world a few years back at around age 60, and who proceeded to make up rapidly for lost time, has been named the winner of the Liam Rector First Book Prize for Poetry.  Greg’s career as a government attorney was preceded by his experience as an army photographer during the Vietnam War.  That wartime service has engendered many excellent poems, such as this one from his chapbook, Back of the Envelope:

IN-COUNTRY: DAY ONE

            Vietnam, 1969

Duffel bag stuffed in the back, he bounced down

Cong Ly on the suicide seat. The sergeant crowed

they’d stolen the mud-scarred jeep the night

before on a whorehouse street in Cholon.

 

His starched jungle fatigues and boots, a joke

in a city of millions, .45 hard

on his hip. Dressed in yellow, Saigon hummed

like a factory. Fuel-stench hung like a scrim.

 

The sun seared down on angels in ao dais,

silk panels in a red soft as wet blood,

in the green of his mother’s eyes.

They skimmed the simmering sidewalks,

 

at ease in their beauty under the palm-leaf

shade of conical nons, the calm rise

of dry heat, skirts wafting in spiraled mists

of nuoc mam, the smog of fried steam rolls.

 

That night, he sauntered down Tu Do Street.

The bar girls called and the cyclos spat

their two-cycled rasp. Distant iron bombs dropped

from B-52s burst out of the dark,

 

laying a blanket of moans over him

and the street and the girls too young in the night.

He glanced at the stars and felt himself

holding onto his gun with both hands.

The new book, called Porthole, will be out next year from the Briery Creek Press.  Meanwhile, McBride is also the editor of a first-rate on-line magazine called the Innisfree Poetry Journal.

It’s hard to believe that Liam Rector, whom I met in the early ‘70s, has been gone for more than four years.  I think he would have been pleased at McBride’s selection for this first-book prize.  Liam, himself a notable poet, was a persuasive advocate for poetry and a forceful defender of free speech, once even attempting to explain Amiri Baraka to Bill O’Reilly:  

 

 

Comments

[Grace Cavalieri]

There is justice in this world after all. Greg McBride was a "winner" before contests were invented. His poetry is brilliantly heart struck and alive with intelligence. I love the photos of the young Greg here also. INNISFREEPOETRYJOURNAL(Greg's literary magazine)is a contribution to American Letters. And Greg is a contribution to poetry. Thanks Terence for this notice.

[Laura Orem]

I echo Grace. This is a wonderful poem - I can't wait to read the whole book.

And I feel that confluence: Greg is a new friend, and Liam...well, Liam, god rest your difficult, ornery, tactless, bombastic, lovely and much-loved soul. We all miss you.

[Stephen Reichert]

Lawyer turned poet?! I look forward to reading his book. God damn, Liam is beautiful in that video.

[Doug Lang]

One of the great and obvious benefits of the New American Poetry and of this website is in being made aware of poets whose work one might not encounter otherwise. For me, this post is a perfect example. I shall be reading more of Greg McBride's work, that is for sure.

Also, I did enjoy Liam's encounter with Bill O'Reilly.

I thank you for all this pleasure, Terence.

[lally]

Once again Winch, you enlighten, engage, and generally elevate the conversation about contemporary poetry. Thanks.