Elliot Lipchik

Elliot O. Lipchik was born, raised, and educated in New York City (N.Y.U.). He has traveled extensively; lived and studied in Switzerland, London, and Rochester, New York where he was appointed Professor of Radiology at the Medical School. His last move was to Milwaukee to be Professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin. After many years there, he took early retirement and began to study and write poetry at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (UWM). He has numerous publications in magazines such as PORCUPINE, CHIRON REVIEW (3rd place contest winner), BORDERLANDS TEXAS POETRY REVIEW, and the MIZMOR L’DAVID ANOTHOLOGY. TETHERED TO THESE STONES is his chapbook about family and the years in New York. His latest chapbook inclusion is in PORTALS AND PIERS. 

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A Toast to 12 Poets

Poetry and Prose

Poems about wine are abundant since the time of ancient Greece when Dionysus (Bacchus) reigned as the god of winemaking and wine.

This book follows a different path by pairing 12 more contemporary poets and their non-wine poems with a particular grape or wine or alcoholic drink of some sort. The author’s hope is that this will add to a deeper understanding of the poets’ characters and their work.

This limited anthology is not a deep critical analysis of the poets, nor of their work. It offer toasts to each, with different drinks, to provide a unique insight into their personality and character. Some poets, such as Poe, Auden, Bukowski, Baudelaire and Bishop were heavy drinkers. Others, like Szymborska and Marianne Moore, did not imbibe at all. Wallace Stevens and Neruda had particular and select tastes. But all 12 have unique styles that have been matched with a drink (cocktails or wines) to carry us along in the enjoyment and understanding of their poetry. 

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