Mary Jo Bang | Poetry Hut Blog

*****
“A researcher argues in Science that a basic tenet of economics — that people always behave selfishly — can be wrong, sometimes badly so. He points to new experimental evidence that people do often act against their own personal self-interest in favor of the common good, and they do so in predictable, understandable ways. Poorly-designed economic institutions fail to take advantage of intrinsic moral behavior and often undermine it.”

*****

Steel Toe Books has an open reading period in October for formal-type full-length poetry book manuscripts.

*****

I don’t have any poetry rules. So I was reading Mary Biddinger’s blog post with everyone’s comments & I was going “I ummmmmmmm … errrrrrr … well … gee.” I ~~tend to need to have~~ require some sort of constraint to write up against, though. That’s not a rule though, it’s more like a pathology. I do like to see what I can get away with — in fact, I’ll probably use everyone’s rules about “what not to do” as writing prompts hardee har har har har.

*****

Poetry News For March 30, 2008

Poetry News:

— Scantily Clad e-chaps —

— When James Woolley, Smith Professor of English, discovered a lost manuscript of the 18th century Irish satirist Jonathan Swift, he was met with a jaw-dropping surprise: the poet’s first unpublished poem in centuries —

— “I do not think that more information always makes a richer poem. I am attracted to ellipsis, to the unsaid, to suggestion. . . .” —

— The Boston Public Library is seeking to fill the Curator of Manuscripts position in its Rare Books and Manuscripts Department —

— Job: Curator of Poetry in the George Edward Woodberry Poetry Room Harvard —

— Robert Fagles, Translator of the Classics, Dies at 74 —

— It’s time her genius was more widely recognised —

— The poet doubts the redemptive power of her own gift while simultaneously using it to find a tone that — in the final line — wavers perfectly between her contempt for consolation and her desire for it —

Poetry News For March 7, 2008

Poetry News:

— National Book Critics Circle winners unveiled in New York —

— Where are the women writers in translation? —

— Find of the Day —

— Poetry of Li-Young Lee Is ‘Descended from Dreamers’ [MP3] —

— Note to Jack London, poet: Don’t give up your day job —

— McSweeney’s (online) wants pantoums and senryu [this link found here thank you] —

— Is Free Speech and Commerce Endangered Internationally? —

— The first story, a mysterious, dreamlike piece by Eudora Welty, draws back a “Curtain of Green,” to reveal a widow at a moment of crisis [MP3] —

— Dominant on page and stage: but is the greatest writer in the English language primarily a poet or a dramatist? —

— A full life, shaped by water and words —

I hope you enjoy today’s links. It was the best that I could do with my feeble & disadvantageous womanly intellect.

Poetry News For March 4, 2008

Poetry News:

— Initially championed by TS Eliot, the poetry of Lynette Roberts has long since fallen out of fashion, but her voice remains fresh and challenging —

— MLB Poetry Previews —

— Inventory By Frances Richey —

— Frances Wilson’s The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth reveals a passionate, talented woman whose love for her brother defined her and finally destroyed her —

— Allen Grossman writes the poems that inspire poets —

— At home with Mary Jo Bang —

— How the complete works of four 20th-century poets with complicated publishing histories found their homes —

— 50 arts secrets revealed —

— Though it remains to be seen what will become of the new position, it augers well that the city has recognized a need to help foster the burgeoning literary scene. —

Poetry News For January 17, 2008

Poetry News:

— NZ’s ‘best-loved’ poet dies [and more at your tributes] —

— It’s a great time to be a poetry reader —

— Police make arrests in Robert Frost house damage —

— Poets Forum Reading: Free Audio Download —

— Rough and tumble aren’t the only words that drive Metro Detroit’s literati. —

— Under the influence of the Romantic poets, he turned away from a life based on calculation —

Poetry News For January 14, 2008

Poetry News:

— In ‘‘Elegy,’’ poet Mary Jo Bang has taken on one of the largest and most difficult subjects in all of literature —

— National Book Critics Circle finalists —

— John Milton: the poet who gave us ‘Star Trek’ and ‘The Matrix’ —

— Former poet laureate opening another chapter in his life —

— How lovely it is that there are words and sounds —

— John Ashbery, Octavio Paz, Stanley Kunitz and Robert Pinsky all wrote poems for him —

— he calls for the impeachment of George W. Bush, whom he calls “a booted, sombrero’d/cowboy Caligula/who couldn’t manage a straw/horse on a parade float…” —

— Ex-carpenter warms up tp poet laureate honor —

— Editorial: Frost home vandalism is deeply disturbing —

— Poets and jazz artists find rhythm and rhyme —

— Taslima Nasreen has been chosen for the prestigious Simon de Beauvoir feminist award in recognition of her writing on rights for women —

— Vendetta fear after poet murdered —

— Denise Clarke is entertaining as poet Anne Sexton in Sylvia Plath Must Not Die —

— If Fence magazine were an actual fence, it would be a portable one —

— A different kind of poetry concentrates more strikingly on expressiveness —

I’m going to Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness in March. I bought a plane ticket but I don’t know where I’m staying yet. I’ve only been to D.C. once, for some computer security training. But I took a train to the Mall area and wandered around for half a day. Saw about an hour’s worth of the Smithsonian. I wish I had more time to see stuff but I won’t. I’d like to meet with my members of Congress, too, but I won’t be there on those specified constituent days. After all the letters I’ve written them I’m not sure their staff would schedule me anyway hahaha.

If you've clicked on a tag, you will see posts from my blog that have featured that tag. At the bottom of the page is a list of all the tags I've ever used on this blog. -- Jilly