Poetry Hut Blog

Poetry News:

1. — Diane Ronayne: Remembering kayaker, poet, teacher Bill Studebaker —
2. — Sometimes I think critics resent poets who are understandable —
3. — Anecdote answers the origins of a Richard Hugo poem —
4. — Bookmonger: Poets Deal with Life’s Physical Limitations —
5. — Judging a letter by its cover, these were remarkable —
6. — Overshadowed poet gets overdue attention —
7. — It Will Not Wash: Does It Work, or Not? —
8. — Was Whitman Really Gay? [MP3] —

church of human bones (Nat’l Geo. video)

Poetry News:

1. — Much ado as £15m book is recovered —
2. — The Clerihew winner —
3. — Although I’d like to think that “poem” is not a four-letter word, to most people it probably is an obscenely elitist pastime. —
4. — Words such as “swatvac” and “ridgey didge” may not be normally associated with sonnets but they’re there, as are references to Ikea and Target. —
5. — For instance, why don’t you use hair conditioner? —
6. — Poet Alfred Arteaga, professor of Chicano and ethnic studies, dies at 58 —
7. — If Gloria’s generous 330-odd pages demonstrate how substantial Hill’s body of work is, The Hat shows this brilliant lyricist of human darkness writing more acutely than ever —

The pool yesterday was wonderful.

Poetry News:

1. — Poems written by Emily Brontë have returned to the Haworth parsonage where they were penned nearly 150 years ago. —
2. — North Beach old-timer lands in hospital —
3. — I didn’t force a thematic relationship on any poem, but I could encourage a poem in a particular direction if it seemed to be tending that way on its own. —
4. — Film chronicles Blackfeet poet’s collaboration with composer —
5. — After years of friendship, Robert Duncan and Denise Levertov clashed over what a poet’s role should be in a time of war. Ange Mlinko dishes on what broke them apart. —
6. — Kenya: Is the Pen Mightier Than a Machete? —
7. — (more) On the Gurlesque —

FISA: Why It Matters & How They Voted

I started new types of physical therapy this week. I am so sore I can barely move. But that means it is doing something, right? I’ll be doing PT in the pool at the therapist’s when this blog post goes live. WIsh me luck.

Poetry News:

1. — Memorial for Idaho poet, kayaker Studebaker to be Saturday in Twin Falls —
2. — Poets, Fiddlers and Leaving Seattle —
3. — Exene Cervenka: Fom X To Missouri —
4. — Tuesday’s Poem: “Old Timers’ Day” by Donald Hall from White Apples and the Taste of Stone [mp3] —
5. — What Am I Doing Wrong With This Poem? —
6. — Milarepa picked for 22nd Napa Sonoma Film Festival 2008 —
7. — August Kleinzahler’s ugly gifts —
8. — What makes Shapiro so important to American poetry right now is the success with which he’s taken over the territory of fiction writers —

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Barack Obama was among the 69 senators voting to broaden government spy powers and give immunity to phone companies that aided in secret wiretapping. way to go.

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I must have been living in an alternate reality or am utterly clueless or oblivious because this confused the heck out of me:

“If born female into the majority of US American households, one will live 20, perhaps 30 years under the moniker ‘girl.’” [comments]

20 or 30 years?? What??

Has that really been your experience? Daaang! Personally, the only time I ever have had the adult moniker “girl” is with some of my mostly-African-American-coworkers at the HCBU I work at — and I have the feeling that the Gurlesque “girl” and the HCBU “girl” are not equivalent.

What do you think?

Why do most American women have the moniker “girl” ’til maybe age 30 nowadays? (?) Is that something they are self-identifying with? Or is it a generational thing that I am oblivious to? The comment that I linked to says that society is doing it to women. Powerfully.

Do you think you are a “girl?” Do others call you “girl”? How old are you? Where do you live? Help I’m confused.

– signed, 40-year-old woman

Poetry News:

1. — Poet Saw Wai appeared at Insein prison court yesterday for the third time defending himself against accusations of violating section 505(b) of the penal code —
2. — Unpublished Pablo Neruda poems highlight last romance —
3. — Thomas Disch, Novelist, Dies at 68 —
4. — Bad boy lit 101 —
5. — Starting in Sept. 2008, Northwestern will offer, for the first time, a Master of Fine Arts program for students who write poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction —
6. — Calif. woman pens a rant-and-rave for the D: An epic poem about the city —
7. — White Stripes’ White pens poem about Detroit —
8. — Osama’s son ‘writes terror poem’ —

you can still vote in yesterday’s poll if you’d like

Poetry News:

1. — This is one of the weirdest lessons a writer has to learn —
2. — Eight shortcuts to writing timeless odes and getting $$$ for it! —
3. — I am a poet who works out of pleasure rather than pain —
4. — A chat with two poets in love —
5. — “Poets. They sleep where they fall.” So, little wonder you’re tripping over them. —
6. — “We decided to dedicate our life completely to poetry” —
7. — Despite a tough life, Elizabeth Bartlett kept her insouciance: her poetry is untidy, sardonic, feisty, dreamy. We must not forget her —
8. — Marilyn Chin Named Finalist for California Poet Laureate —
9. — the late A.R. Ammons and the immutable laws of nature, featuring a recording from the 92nd St. Y. —

We should do a poll to guess the new poet laureate. You can vote here:

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The software made me put in some answers, before I could publish it, but I actually have no idea. You can add the name of a poet, too — hit the vote button to add it (or to vote for a poet who already appears.)

Poetry News:

1. — on the dearth of great films about great writers —
2. — British Poets Launched Lyrical Revolution —
3. — A Welsh Government minister has apologised after announcing the wrong winner of the Wales Book of Year at an awards ceremony in an embarrassing gaffe —
4. — Kate Clanchy’s workshop: She would like you to write a letter-poem to someone you’ve lost, in celebration of the ineffable greatness of Leonard Cohen —
5. — The effects of poetry often depend on the tension between shared and unique memories to set up patterns of expectation in the mind of the reader —
6. — http://www.newsweek.com/id/59182 —
7. — Articles in May/Jun 2008 issue of American Poetry Review, The —
8. — UB Poetry Collection hits the road —
9. — Although speakers of different languages describe events using the word orders prescribed by their language, when the same speakers are asked to “speak” with their hands and not their mouths, they ignore these orders — they all use exactly the same order when they gesture —
10. — In two of her recent Poet’s Choice columns, Mary Karr makes assertions that cannot go unchallenged. —
11. — Stone Circle draws poets, storytellers and singers to spin tales from the heart [Ernie Harwell - yay!] —
12. — Hayes’s poems enact the new race struggle, more up-to-date than the pre-civil rights poems of his lit’rary ancestors (Langston Hughes, say), but equally instructive to this white reader. —
13. — A clear-eyed look at Whitman’s ‘prophets’ —
14. — One of Idaho’s foremost poets and kayakers is missing and was presumed drowned —
15. — Poetry: A ‘Ferocious Contrast to the Clamor’ —
16. — Rupert Graves accused of stealing lover’s work [and a bunch of Laura Riding Jackson MP3s here] —

It’s not me. Google Reader isn’t following my rss feed’s 302 redirects to Feedburner. Sorry. I guess I have to wait for Google to respond to my issue. hahahahaha right. I’ll wait a week and then ditch feedburner. I don’t think that will entirely solve the problem though, because Google reader has some weird caching issues as well. Meh.

If this didn’t fix it I am at a loss haha

The Seattle poetry community mourns the loss of one of its most unpretentious poets. Crysta E. Casey

We have lost an important voice today. Shannon Leigh

My condolences.

Poetry News:

1. — The accompanying CD is particularly valuable because actors can read: its 30 poems are presented beautifully and naturally. —
2. — VIDEO - Kay Ryan: Chickens and the Funnies —
3. — This week we’re looking at a sauce-free poem by the Earl of Rochester, reminding us his range stretched beyond the scurrilous —
4. — N.C. native’s song enshrined —
5. — A poet’s vision for the environment, young artists —
6. — Wordplay: Nan Watkins presents Yvan Goll —
7. — Please remember this very, very important rule, “find out what the publisher wants.” —
8. — King Arthur is propaganda, say French —
9. — But it does represent the edgy relationship of women and their mothers —

Happy Canada Day Canadians!
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Elizabeth Cotten - Freight Train on You Tube with Pete Seeger (She was the maid for the Seeger family — interesting story [if you didn't read the article above]. Her guitar style is pretty influential — “Cotten picking” hmm like Maybelle Carter’s “Carter style” or Merle Travis’ picking, which Chet Atkins glommed onto. [His daughter is named Merle.] Chet used to play “Freight Train” sometimes.

and here is a video of her playing the banjo no embedding available

My back hasn’t gone out, but I’m having some muscle issues I guess. Taking a blog break. Have a good Independence Day.