Poetry News:

1. — What The “Subprime Poetry Crisis” Means For The Overheated Metap[h]or Market —
2. — Poster poems: The rhythm of the falling rain —
3. — Wordplay with Pat Reviere-Seel and Jessica Newton [MP3] —
4. — A report on the new poet laureate of the U.S. A question from Yemen about Emily Dickinson. And poetry set to music, on a new album from France’s first lady, Carla Bruni. —
5. — This story of a wife’s betrayal and her husband’s fidelity unto death stings me with the awareness that small, unnoticed nobility endures in our midst —
6. — Poets, we think, can’t help but be poets and do poet-ish things. —

McCain’s Economic Plan For Nation: ‘Everyone Marry A Beer Heiress’ (ONN)

Poetry News:

1. — America’s Poet Laureate –who writes about the Niagara River –is a woman who is searching for balance between her very public role and her notoriously private life —
2. — How to write poetry: Poet Wendy Cope explains what makes a really superb poem —
3. — Elizabeth Bishop’s Great Village —
4. — “Click on the link below, left, to hear an extract of Bin Laden’s poetry recital” —
5. — Those Who Write, Teach —
6. — Joe Milford Hosts Evan Willner — The Jane Crown Show [MP3] —

Poetry News:

1. — Reginald Shepherd (1963-2008) —
2. — Searching for an Epic’s Origins —
3. — A pair of poems about September 11th, written before the planes were even in the air. [mp3] —
4. — Kanaka Maoli has become associated with poets who attempt to honor the use of native Hawaiian language in their work. —
5. — Thursday’s Poem: “poetry readings,” by Charles Bukowski from Bone Palace Ballet [mp3] —
6. — BBC Four is to broadcast a six-week series dedicated to poems important to British culture —

taking a break again. take care.

Poetry News:

1. — Higginson has been ridiculed as a second-rater who allowed too much editorial tampering when he first published Dickinson’s poems, —
2. — Sylvia Plath—original hip-hop poet —
3. — This stunning Northern Irish poet is easily on a par with famous Seamus —
4. — Sex and the semicolon —
5. — A book of poems featured prominently in AMC’s widely lauded “Mad Men” sent viewers scrambling to find copies —
6. — I have a plea for any internet animation specialists out there: more poetry, please —
7. — UGA grad Trethewey named Georgia Woman of the Year —
8. — The verse novel (like the rock opera or the sound sculpture) is the awkward child of successful parents, destined to disappoint both of them —
9. — LOL —

Poetry News:

1. — Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish dead at 67 —
2. — Assessing Kay Ryan, our new poet laureate —
3. — McSweeney’s Rejects Mike Mussina’s Seventh Consecutive Submission —
4. — Like Ginsberg - like Pablo Neruda, like Walt Whitman - Herrera found such forms in long lists, long lines, long poems made out of short parts —
5. — The Voices and Visions videos are available online via learner.org! Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, Wallace Stevens, etc —
6. — It’s that same sense of dignity that Hayden brought to this next poem, which praises a different kind of sacrifice for another ancestor of his: the freed slave Frederick Douglass —
7. — Portrait of Calliope (detail), muse of poetry, found at Pompeii guest house —

Poetry News:

1. — The actress has been lambasted as old and out of touch for her controversial views on modern verse —
2. — A slap to poetry in Indiana? ow —
3. — Hoftsra researchers dig into times of slave poet —
4. — Poet Kay Ryan On Words, Writing —
5. — This week’s poem is by the greatest poet of all time —
6. — The poet turned war criminal enjoyed the protection of loyal Bosnian Serbs during his years on the run —
7. — Poetry about absence reflects mature growth —

“What happened Tuesday night was definitely a rare occurrence and one we should not expect to see again in our lifetimes”

Poetry News:

1. — Actress backs medieval Norwich mystic appeal —
2. — out their business as usual, rarely consulting their Shakespeare, William Wordsworth or Robert Frost. One has to wonder if poetry has any place in the 21st century —
3. — What, exactly, is an artist book? —
4. — Music and poetry have been kissing cousins since each began —
5. — Medvedev, Putin congratulate poet Yevtushenko on jubilee —
6. — In “Hardheaded Weather,” poet Cornelius Eady vividly explores issues of racial division in American life —
7. — More Kay Ryan: What I love even more than the simple cliché is maybe the malapropism—the happy confusion of TWO cliches and Fairfax poet’s original voice draws notice and highest honors and Spike in sales for next poet laureate —
8. — LOL —

The Frank Stanford Literary Festival
October 17 - 19, 2008
Fayetteville, Arkansas
click

Poetry News:

1. — A 54-year-old former schoolteacher has won the poetry category of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards —
2. — Using a pack of tarot cards as an early writing exercise, Kay Ryan says, forced her “to start dealing with these abstractions like love, death, the wheel of fortune.” and “I’ve always been able to count on the world to humiliate me. Now I’ve been elevated to a post where I can humiliate myself.” and A Small Taste of Kay Ryan —
3. — Thirtysomething love poetry —
4. — We should appreciate execrable poetry with an axe to grind - it teaches us a lot about the good stuff —
5. — Bob Dylan does not deserve this snobbery and pedantry —
6. — It’s not every day that a new magazine is launched in Philadelphia, and even rarer still does a literary journal make its debut —

Poetry News:

1. — Forgotten treasure from Brazil —
2. — Eyes, and whether or not to trust them, are central to Ode to Psyche by John Keats —
3. — Slain man identified as UC Riverside professor —
4. — Poetry Foundation clarifies the policy on their blog comments —
5. — The Poet’s Poet —
6. — A 21st-century warning from a 13th-century poet —
7. — Web Extra: Selected Poems by Kay Ryan —
8. — Radio 4 poet criticises BBC soaps and aggressive interviewers —

Brace yourselves

*********************

Who voted for Kay Ryan in the poll last week? Raise your hands. Who was the “suggester”? Yay Kay! I think that’s great.

“Kay Ryan, Poet Laureate” anagrams to:

Ya! A natural! Eke poetry.
A yank poetry laureate.
An okay letter aura — yep!

Kay Ryan, Outsider With Sly Style, Named Poet Laureate

My map is updated.

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!
**
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.

Poetry News:

1. — Austin poet and activist Raúl Salinas has died. —
2. — First-Ever Essence Literary Awards Celebrate African-American Writers —
3. — A provocative new edition of Faustus claims to solve a literary mystery and unite two of Romanticism’s greatest poets —
4. — “No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader,” was how he put it in the same essay —
5. — To get comfortable with this second exercise, take any good field guide you have to hand and open it at random - allow chance to have its say on your choice —
6. — Poet Kay Ryan Discusses New Collection of Poems [MP3] —
7. — Love Poems for Valentine’s Day —
8. — Peter Cole is the Editor-in-Chief for Keyhole, a new literary magazine out of Nashville, TN which recently saw its inaugural publication this past fall —

I hope you have a delicious Valentine’s Day.

The Creepy Love Song Extravaganza

Poetry News:

1. — NZ’s ‘best-loved’ poet dies [and more at your tributes] —
2. — It’s a great time to be a poetry reader —
3. — Police make arrests in Robert Frost house damage —
4. — Poets Forum Reading: Free Audio Download —
5. — Rough and tumble aren’t the only words that drive Metro Detroit’s literati. —
6. — Under the influence of the Romantic poets, he turned away from a life based on calculation —

Poetry News:

1. — Blog or self-published (logroll) “reviews” are not reliable sources [link found here] —
2. — a unique film festival was held where poetry was the focus of the cinematic medium —
3. — Exploring Gertrude Stein’s nooks and crannies —
4. — Synchronously with the growing decline of the novel we are witnessing the beginning of a new golden age of poetry and the interesting spectacle of hard- headed publishers armed with fat contracts scrambling to annex each new poet of promise who “swims within their ken,” according to George P. Brett, President of the Macmillan Company, who is in London on business —
5. — A PRIZED POET: Winner of prestigious award links art form to influences of daily life —
6. — I, too, throw it: Marianne Moore tossing out the first ball, opening day at Yankee Stadium —
7. — “The blood jet is poetry / There is no stopping it” —
8. — In The Circuit by Alice Notley —
9. — Stray Questions for: Kay Ryan —

Well this was an icky experience yesterday & only partially successful due to my freakishly malformed interior nasal septum environment. But it was a good try. (Still having ear problems & quite a lot of pain.) Getting the septum fixed in Dec I think — I’m talking to the surgeon at Vanderbilt about it soon. They are supposed to be good, but, a.) it’s my face b.) it’s my freaking ***SKULL*** and c.) it’s my face. Plus like your brain is right there too, isn’t it?