Poetry Hut Blog
Derek Walcott

Poetry News:

1. — There is little that can make us as acutely conscious of the fact that we are still alive as being shown the body of someone who is dead —
2. — Start a Notebook on Poets.org - 30 Ways To Celebrate National Poetry Month —
3. — “if anything the poem and video are poking fun at a stereotype of libertarianism” —
4. — In recent years, the splendid American poet Elizabeth Bishop has undergone both a canonization and a demystification —
5. — Lighght Verse —
6. — The poem that saved a terribly English spy from death in Dublin —
7. — Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott is one of the great mongrels of American poetry, serving as a singular melting pot for a variety of traditions —
8. — Detroit Tiger Haikus —
9. — Fewer people may be reading, but everywhere you turn, Americans are sounding their barbaric yawps over the roofs of the world, as good old Walt Whitman, himself a self-published author, once put it —

My brother Jason has posted a bunch of word games / word puzzles on his blog.

Poetry News:

1. — Poetic Theaters, Romantic Fevers [one can always check NYT for poetry-related articles here] —
2. — Sonnets served with a slice of pi —
3. — Revisiting North Carolina’s finest poet —
4. — “This is a clip from the new Bob Dylan movie. It stars Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan and David Cross as Allen Ginsberg.” —
5. — Palestinian Poet Blasts Infighting —
6. — He felt that doing the work was a rehearsal for the work itself, and each rehearsal then became its own work [Thanks to Helen Frost for the link] —
7. — Poetry of the beach —

This is from Crossing the Water. (I disagree & like it better than Ariel and I like how the metaphors act like small bombs of surprise as you read the poems.) And I wish she’d've written more poems like this because whoo:

Maudlin

Mud-mattressed under the sign of the hag
In a clench of blood, the sleep-talking virgin
Gibbets with her curse the moon’s man
Faggot-bearing Jack in his crackless egg:

Hatched with a claret hogshead to swig
He kings it, navel-knit to no groan,
But at the price of a pin-stitched skin
Fish-tailed girls purchase each white leg.

Poetry News:

1. — Middle Tennessee is the site of two different conferences for aspiring writers this weekend, with events taking place in Clarksville and Franklin —
2. — The patron saint of lonely geeks —
3. — … of interest is a letter written by Ernest Hemingway to the American poet and critic Ezra Pound in 1925, explaining why bulls are better than literary critics —
4. — After all the turmoil, “I apologize to poets everywhere,” Mr. Wink said. “I’m beginning to appreciate why poets are not celebrated till after their deaths.” —
5. — Poet Accused of Harassment —
6. — Szymborska’s ‘View’: Small Truths Sharply Etched —

Reginald Shepherd has this and some thoughts about online discourse that I agree with. Timely because a local blogger just quit because of it.

Poetry News:

1. Poet, Mother, Editor, Wife —
2. A new Selected Poems from a long-established, much-honored poet provides a new generation of readers with the opportunity to scan a career —
3. poetry auction for the Frank Sherlock emergency fund —
4. For an episode in the delightfully cantankerous relationship between Gertrude Stein and her brother … —
5. Poet explores power of words in coping with disaster —
6. Haiku for Henry —
7. Fifty-three years ago in The New York Times, the poet W. H. Auden reviewed the first volume of J. R. R. Tolkien‘ epic trilogy —

Congrats, Moyette, for making the shortlist of 50 for The Daily Telegraph’s ‘Novel in a Year Competition’ (out of over 2,000 entries).

Poetry News:

1. “This Rhymeless Nation” A Pamphlet On The Poetry Foundation By Warren Banditto at the Chicago Review. (Should be one of the first links on that page.) —
2. A poet’s heavenly coffeepot my family’s drive-in had Bunn-o-Matic coffe makers haha —
3. I’m afraid that, in this instance, it is evident that Logan has written of matters of which he knows little or nothing —
4. American Academy of Arts and Sciences Announces 227 New Members —
5. Councilman Cited For Misusing City Resources —
6. Please send us a Life Line: tell us what poet‘ words remain with you —

Thanks to JL for that first link.

FDA says thousands of pets dead, Chinese import alert expands.

Poetry News:

1. Elaine Equi’s newest collection, Ripple Effect: New and Selected Poems, includes this new work, “Bent Orbit.” —
2. As will be obvious by now, one of the rules of the triolet is that its first two lines return as the last two —
3. Poets behave like conquistadors wherever they roam, picking up a new verse form, a lover, some inventive cursing, a disease —
4. State to hire poet laureate, but won’t pay for wine —
5. 10 famous literary bars —
6. A lesser known form of poetry —

Everyone receives abuse online but the sheer hatred thrown at women bloggers has left some in fear for their lives

I’m going to be on Radio Free Nashville (Easter) Sunday morning at 11am CST — on the Difficult Listening program with David Harris. Baseball/poetry will be served.

Taking a break for a while - going to Detroit to see my mom.

Poetry News:

1. Derek Walcott: A Life in Poetry —
2. Suit over Ruth Lilly trusts ends —
3. Lost voices of Victorian working class uncovered in political protest poems —
4. The bookseller’s story, ended too soon —
5. I would like to encourage readers to try writing and submitting a dramatic poem —
6. Sylvia’s poetry shines on —

Poetry News:

1. Mary Oliver‘ first book of poems, “No Voyage” (1965), was reviewed in this publication by James Dickey, who dumped all over it [scroll down] —
2. Let’s start with the concept of non-separation —
3. Derek Walcott’s Selected Poems confirm him as a master of form —
4. Wordsmiths share tools —
5. Annette Allen and the poetry of wonder —
6. Google sues Polish poets over gmail.pl —

No paczki in Nashville.