Poetry Hut Blog

Poetry News:

1. — In a country where poets are revered like rock stars, Akhmatova was a celebrity, but that also made her a dark, dangerous figure in the Socialist paradise —
2. — The lone witness in poetess Madhumita Shukla murder case was attacked in his village Gohadia in Kaiserganj, police said on Tuesday —
3. — It is based on Anne Sexton’s “Transformations,” a poetic, adult reinterpretation of familiar fairy tales —
4. — France Encrusts Wall-to-Wall Poetry in Sofia [I like the idea of something being "encrusted" with poetry] —
5. — Hear Gwendolyn Brooks read “the mother” and Theodore Roethke read “My Papa’s Waltz,” with insights by ex-US Poet Laureate Donald Hall. [MP3] —
6. — Salt has launched Horizon Review, its second online literary magazine and part of its planned expansion into free-to-view Web journals —
7. — Perhaps it’s the duality between the intuitive, interiority and the strong authoritative, apocalyptic voices that guide these poems —

I changed our dental insurance to a more local dentist - Dr. Anissa Burgess. Darryl went in for a teeth cleaning & sat down in the chair & asked if the TV (People’s Court) could be turned off. She said no. He asked if it could be turned down. She said no & told him that he seemed like the problematic type who wouldn’t be satisfied with the teeth-cleaning job & he said all I want is a teeth cleaning, then he left. LOL way to make a good first impression, new dentist of ours! (And Darryl is a polite sensitive new age guy so I doubt he was a jerk about it.) He said there was no TP or paper towels in the bathroom, either. Meh. We are both stuck in bizarro world these days. He didn’t get into the dental chair until 55 minutes after the time of appointment; maybe she wanted him to leave because they were overbooked? Or perhaps she simply (obviously) really, really, enjoys daytime TV & would have preferred to watch the People’s Court in peace?

Unfortunately, I’ve been seeing a lot of the medical profession these days - 3 appointments so far this week. Most of it has been a good experience but I have to wonder what in the heck some people are thinking. My [very few] “WTF encounters” have been with Interns or with office staff. With the Interns - most of my care is at a University Medical Center - it’s like they didn’t know yet that it’s not cool to exclaim “is that permanent??!!” or whatever. And with the staff: yes I want to stand in front of the little window in the packed waiting room, giving you my medical history in front of everyone so you can decide if you want to pronounce my “referral fax form” worthy enough to give to the Dr. or not. (Was not at the University Medical Center.)

Poetry News:

1. — Power Crazy Senior General Than Shwe: A chapbook edited by A. J. Patrick Liszkiewicz —
2. — Are we all clear on what a chapbook is? —
3. — Taslima’s visa extended —
4. — Elizabeth Bishop’s Writings Collected in New Volume [with audio & video] —
5. — Upcoming exhibition: Notre Livre: À toute épreuve. A Collaboration between Joan Miró and Paul Éluard —
6. — Police say magazine secretary embezzled $30k —
7. — Robert Hass, later the US poet laureate, called ‘I Know a Man’ ‘the poem of the decade’ (he meant the 1950s) —
8. — Earliest-known recording of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” found in Reed College Archives—audio to be posted at Reed’s Multimedia Site, Friday, February 15, 9 a.m. (PST) —
9. — The day the persecuted Russian poet Joseph Brodsky went into exile, a recording of Mozart’s Divertimento in D (K. 136) was on his record player —
10. — The pull of an abstraction —
11. — Dear Mom: Someone stole my poem —
12. — Proponents say the time is right for a poet laureate to … um, do what, exactly? —