Poetry Hut Blog
Les Murray

Poetry News:

1. — Sina Queryas has a life that’s been much cooler than yours —
2. — Pity the poetry collection. That thin volume of poems, so easily lost on a crowded shelf —
3. — Sarah Churchwell is frustrated by the limp portrayal of a hotheaded, randy Latin poet in Helen Dunmore’s Counting the Stars
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4. — Anyway, he said: “Blurbs are nonsense — they’re all hyperbole and hype.” —
5. — Poet-Soldiers Lend Voices on Iraq War —
6. — He’s adept with form, from sonnets, heroic couplets, ballad stanzas and terza rima, to those basic nursery-rhyme ditties he likes —
7. — Brigit Pegeen Kelly seems to typify the distinguished American poet —
8. — Robert Creeley (1926-2005) was one of the darker poets of his generation, and also one of the best —

ha Jessie brought this quiz to my attention. Thanks.

You Are a Colon

You are very orderly and fact driven. You aren’t concerned much with theories or dreams… only what’s true or untrue. You are brilliant and incredibly learned. Anything you know is well researched. You like to make lists and sort through things step by step. You aren’t subject to whim or emotions. Your friends see you as a constant source of knowledge and advice. (But they are a little sick of you being right all of the time!) You excel in: Leadership positions You get along best with: The Semi-Colon

Poetry News:

1. — Poets’ Opportunities Greater than Ever Before; Arthur Guiterman Tells How to Make a Living Out of Verse and Gives a List of Don’ts for Aspiring Poets ;- Advises Writing on Topical Themes By Joyce Kilmer. —
2. — Defending the M.F.A. [link good for a few days] —
3. — Mr. Wilson’s work was less effective in two vocal pieces, “Four Short Poems of Louis Zukofsky” and “Lotus Dam,” based on a poem by Les Murray —
4. — Just in time for Thanksgiving, hear delectable poems from Stanley Kunitz, W.S. Merwin, Yusef Komunyakaa, Galway Kinnell, and Philip Levine —
5. — He won the 2005 Lannan Literary Poetry Fellowship and has made presentations at more than 300 national conferences, universities and prisons —
6. — NEA May Funnel Addtional Funding to Artist Colonies —

I hope these weren’t some of the toys I sent. But a high probability that, yeah. My condolences. How can somebody suicide-vest-bomb a bunch of little kids? I won’t be sending any more stuff to hand out to the kids over in Iraq (after these school supplies are sent) I don’t think. (My family member is OK.)

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I have some poetry up at the Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. These poems are formal poems, including a dactylic poem that made electricity come out of my forehead when I was trying to write it, haha. I don’t think I’ll be writing any more dactylic poems anytime soon. So go read my poems and the other poet’s poems & be sure to not miss Dale Wisely’s poems because his poems just kill me.

Thank you for the invitation.

Poetry News:

1. — For this trio, vive la différence! —
2. — Yeats’s inspirations ranged from folklore to fascism —
3. — Minnesota to get state poet laureate —
4. — The fringe presses with a small margin for success —
5. — One pleasure of art comes from how accurately it can convey ambivalence —
6. — Baseball’s troubadour poet laureate —
7. — Les Murray’s world subtly radiates holiness in whimsical poems —
8. — Fiona Sampson’s exactitude and command of inner space in Common Prayer impress Adam Thorpe —

Deep down, I can’t help but think if we gave the kids in the Middle East 1,000s of electric guitars and amps and drumkits and rock and roll records, everything would turn out O.K.

Emily Dickinson:

Bees are Black, with Gilt Surcingles —
Buccaneers of Buzz.
Ride abroad in ostentation
and subsist on Fuzz.

Fuzz ordained — not Fuzz contingent —
Marrows of the Hill.
Jugs — a Universe’s fracture
Could not jar or spill.

Poetry News:

1. It really seemed to be rather arbitrary that you would distinguish a concrete poem by Ian Hamilton Finley from a text-based work by Lawrence Weiner, to use two artist examples —
2. Frank Bidart’s services to Robert Lowell have been many —
3. Sieving her lines into ever-firmer leanness from collection to collection, she offsets any austerity by the sensuousness of her music —
4. Kurt Vonnegut: In his own words —
5. Australian poet says book of letters is like theft —
6. Prolific poet says translation is a ‘labor of love’ —
7. Wordsworth Poem Honored with a Rap Makeover —

ouch.