The VPR Poem of the Week is Bernardine Evaristo’s “The Price You Pay, My Beautiful Wife,” which appeared in the Spring/Summer 2003 issue (Volume IV, Number 2) of Valparaiso Poetry Review. This poem is an excerpt from The Emperor’s Babe, a novella in verse. It also has been published in Poetry from Paradise Valley, an anthology of poems from the first decade of VPR, recently released by Pecan Grove Press.
Bernardine Evaristo is the author of a poetry collection, The Island of Abraham, two novels in verse, Lara and The Emperor’s Babe, a novel and a novella. Lara won the EMMA Award for Best Novel, and The Emperor’s Babe received a Writers’ Award. Evaristo’s writings have been widely published in anthologies, magazines, and newspapers. In addition, she has written for theater and radio. She has been the Poetry Society’s Poet-in-Residence at the Museum of London, as well as a Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia and at Barnard College. Her various honors include being elected a fellow to both the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Society of Arts.
Tuesday of each week One Poet’s Notes highlights an excellent work by a poet selected from the issues of Valparaiso Poetry Review, except when other posts with news or updates preempt the usual appearance of this item, with the recommendation that readers visit it.