When the Body Calls: A collection of poetry and fairy tales
published by Writers & Readers, Harlem River Press in 1999. Trade ISBN#0-86316-279-7
This book is out-of-print but a limited number of copies are still available directly from the author. You can also buy it at places like Amazon. You can also borrow it from the following list at worldcat.org of 31 libraries!
This book is a vessel/holding liquid for thirsty desirers/in the empty spiral of the universe/where detail is opinion/one moment is all it takes to answer/when the body calls. This book is just one answer in a life of calling. The storyteller lives inside the breath of home. Whatever home is chosen, whatever breath is owned. The desirer takes the moment we’re in and stretches out its every wrinkle. In the folds are new horizons, exploding the every day, line by line-inwards, so the shards are sort of slo-mo in their entry into gravity…We’re brought into the world of the writer. Storytelling becomes a cycle within the writing, returning us to the beginning, where the ending is: “there is so much to do / and so much I am leaving undone.” This is just one aspect of Martha Cinader’s life. A complex desire for simplicity, which takes time and explodes it, line by line. -from the foreword by Edwin Torres
“When you cook chicken you have to stick a fork in it to tell if it’s done, but you don’t have to do that to Cinader’s poems. They’re raw and cooking at the same time. She’s like a female Sun Ra who can coax words out of her saxophone. She never omits any detail even when she’s taking us to another stratosphere. When the Body Calls is daring and unflinching. An important body of work.” -Hal Sirowitz, author of Mother Saidand My Therapist Said ”
When the Body Calls is an urban livre compose that leaves no pavement stone unturned in telling its tale of a young poet-mother ejected from her father’s suburban mansion onto the stark concrete plains of Manhattan. Her daughter, her mother, her lovers, her ambition, her desires — all are embraced with a revolutionist’s ardor as she assembles her story around her like a rambling house. Its rooms are built from poetry, letters, fairy tales, dreamscapes, journal entries and stories. And through its windows Cinader can be seen to whirl in an enticing dervish beneath her veil of words, seducing all visitors with her “body of need…of dreams…of people.” -Fiona Giles, editor ofDick for a Day
“Martha Cinader’s boldly unique When the Body Calls is a collection of poems and prose to be savored by those thirsty for art and intelligence. There is magic here. The reader will dive into a cool ocean of Cinader’s sensuality and sharply honest creativity. There are dangerous currents of truth in these depths that ultimately are refreshing and stimulating. And there are also the tender and universal longings of mother, lover, artist and activist. Each piece is a treasure of a different shape and color.” -Kate Horsely, author of Crazy Woman and A Killing in New Town (which won the Western States Arts Award for Fiction)
“Hold everything! is what you’re doing right now, for this book contains multitudes. MC Martha Cinader herewith enters the realms of bookography with a slingshot satellite launch of new groove. Hear the jazz, there the battlefield of love, and everything in between your hands, your hands. Genre-busting from perfpo to prosepo, I tell you this — Martha C meshes body organs and imagination in an arena of politics from the inside out. Hail, Poet of the Future!” -Bob Holman-Mouth Almighty Records, Author of Collect Call of the Wild ”
In style and substance both provocative and original, When the Body Calls is a both a challenge and a pleasure to read. Martha is a poet whose sensual prose takes us into a world full of complex questions.” -Lan Cao, author of Monkey Bridge
“The challenge of being a woman, being a lover, a mother, a user of words, of metaphors, signs and symbols in this postmodern age in terms of one’s self identity can easily lead to rage. These stories, poems, and memoirs are not simply told, but as you read and listen to them, they easily unfold and innervate one’s soul, the spirit.” -Steve Cannon, Publisher A Gathering of the Tribes Magazine and the novel Groove, Bang and Jive Around.
