Poetry Hut Blog
Poetry Foundation

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!

The Newberry Library, an independent research library located in Chicago, IL, offers long-term and short-term fellowships to scholars who work primarily in the humanities. This year we have joined with the Poetry Foundation to offer a new short-term fellowship to poets and scholars of American Poetry. Please see below for a more thorough description of the award.

*Poetry Foundation/Newberry Library Fellowship in American Poetry*

This short-term fellowship is for working poets and scholars of American poetry. Preference will be given to poets who want to draw upon the Newberry’s collections as part of the creative process. The tenure of the fellowship may be one or two months. The amount of the award is generally $1600 per month. The fellowship is open to United States citizens only. Any American */poet/* with a record of publication is eligible to apply; we welcome applications both from poets residing in the Chicago area and from those who live elsewhere in the United States. */Historians/* or */critics/*/ /should hold a Ph.D. or other terminal degree or be Ph.D. candidates, and must reside outside the Chicago area.

Application due date is June 1st. For more information or to download application materials, visit our Web site at http://www.newberry.org/research/felshp/fellowshome.html. If you would like materials sent to you by mail, write to Committee on Awards, 60 West Walton Street, Chicago, IL 60610-3380. If you have questions about the fellowships program, contact research@newberry.org or (312) 255-3666.

[still getting splogged/scraped, sorry. Turned off the full RSS feed again.]

Poetry News:

1. — Pinned in a subway car with arms at your sides, you can call up a poem and enter a cathedral of words that anoints you again in your singular passions —
2. — Mary Jo Salter came of age as a poet in the 1970s when two tribes, the Language poets and the New Formalists, were sparring —
3. — Red Morning Press is now reading manuscripts for publication —
4. — Lost for words: The misery of a deleted manuscript —
5. — Writers like Flaubert have been accused of over-using metaphor, but is it possible to have too much of such a good thing? —
6. — PEN America is trying to get China to free nearly 40 writers —
7. — Why poetry still matters —
8. — With “In Praise of the Unfinished: Selected Poems,” Hartwig, author and editor of more than a dozen books, at last has a collection in English —
9. — Horton hears Dr. Seuss – rotating in the grave [download here I think] —
10. — Objectivist poet Louis Zukofsky once confided, “the poet’s form is never an imposition of history, but the desirability of making order out of history as it is felt and conceived —
11. — OOpen-faced wunderkind from the Southern States —

“It puts the owl in the basket ….”

The Pentagon’s Information Operations Roadmap is blunt about the fact that an internet, with the potential for free speech, is in direct opposition to their goals.

I got this from the informative CRWOPPS list. Good luck, youngsters:

Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowships

http://poetryfoundation.org/programs/2008_Lilly_Fellowship_app.pdf

(go to this address to download entry form)

Five Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowships in the amount of  $15,000 will be awarded to young poets through a national competition sponsored by the Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry. Established in 1989 by the Indianapolis philanthropist Ruth Lilly, the fellowships are intended to encourage the further study and writing of poetry. Applicants must be US citizens between the age of twenty-one and thirty-one as of  March 31, 2008.

Applicants should submit:

Completed application form

Ten pages of poems, double spaced

One paragraph explaining how the fellowship would aid the applicant’s work

A publication list (optional)

Do not include any additional material at this time (cv, cover letter, references, etc.). If you wish to be notified of receipt of your application, include a self-addressed, stamped postcard. Application materials will not be returned. Applications must be postmarked during the month of March 2008. Electronic submissions will not be considered. Finalists will be announced on August 1, 2008 at poetryfoundation.org. Winners will be announced by September 1, 2008.

Poetry News:

1. — The second part of this post is about my impression of the role that some phantasmatic nightmare image of AWP plays in the imaginations of many participants in the various online poetry worlds —
2. — The poet laureate talks about how he’s not enamored of nature, his vote in the New Hampshire primary and the American preoccupation with happiness —
3. — Robert Pinsky’s work speaks to us in our common language and relates that language to our hopes as citizens —
4. — LOC Guide to Poetry & Literature Webcasts: Individual Poets, Novelists, and Writers —
5. — McGrath’s audacity has a genial, sociable quality, often with a flippancy that he directs back at himself, in the American tradition of kidding —
6. — Bukowski’s typewriter and night lair in daylight. Does this seem at all familiar to you? —
7. — Drunk poet climbs over cliff, seeking inspiration —

This song is being beamed to the “North Star” tomorrow. Hint: John Lennon wrote it. link. Happy 40th birthday, cool song.

Solving The Mystery Of The Metallic Sheen Of Fish

Poetry News:

1. — A Genius Whom the War Made and Killed; Rupert Brooke’s Death at the Front Illustrates the Paradox of the Effect on Literature of War, Which Ended His Career and Made Him Immortal By Joyce Kilmer. —
2. — What do you think are the most important elements of writing poetry? —
3. — Four of the most prestigious poetry prizes went to African-American women this year —
4. — Movies based on poems —
5. — Self-confidence is a definite advantage in most areas, but wingless flight is not one of them —
6. — Penguin should be ashamed of itself —
7. — If a more cringe-making book exists than Boris Johnson’s debut volume of poetry, Stuart Jeffries has yet to read it —
8. — Mark Strand’s New Selected Poems includes an evocation of food’s deep meanings, appropriate to the holiday, though the dish is not turkey: —
9. — Reed Whittemore: Telling it slant —
10. — Website of the Week — Poetry Foundation —
11. — One manuscript that escaped the blaze — just barely — contained an untitled poem of more than 3,000 lines —

Rare Spanish Coin Found in Nashville Cemetery. I once found an Imperial German Army uniform button. It was on top of a mole hill in our yard in Nashville on the Cheatham County line. Weird.

Collin kindly nominated Poetry Hut Blog for The Shameless Lions Writing Circle Award. Thanks, that is kind.

These are 5 blogs, poetry and not, that I also nominate:

1. WhimsyLand: Jeffrey Bahr deserves some kind of award for The Futility Review.


2. Geoffrey Chaucer Hath a Blog: just because it always cracks me up & I like Chaucer.


3. rotten peaches: makes me want to do memoir-comics. But mine would look a lot more like a John Callahan cartoon.


4. pitcherlady: for pretty pictures and not-so-pretty pictures that aren’t afraid to shine a light on community problems. If I ever publish a book I’ll ask Susan for a pic. (Yes I realize this award is for writing but…)


5. The Moderate Voice: for its news and political discussion made possible in the blog comments — without a bunch of crappy, angry, name-calling.

Poetry News:

1. — Five years after Ruth Lilly’s $100 million gift to the Poetry Foundation, a mixed verdict —
2. — Singer gives Dickinson’s verse a new voice —
3. — Big brother is reading your poetry —
4. — University of Arkansas Press Poetry Book Wins Virginia Literary Award —
5. — Long-lost Blake watercolours shown for 1st time —
6. — William Matthews Birthday podcast with Sebastian Matthews too [links to MP3 at WPVM] —
7. — Jessica Smith podcast [links to MP3 at WPVM] —

Kate Light is reading tonight at Vanderbilt, Nashvillians.

Hedy Lamarr has joined the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists, as an historical honorary member.

Yay! A bass poem! I’m still trying for the definitive Bootsy Collins poem. Someday.

Poetry Blog-O-Rama (but not this one hahahaha. hmmm. I guess I’m not doing something right - it’s been 4 years of posting poetry news mostly every day & not even a blip on anyone’s radar LOL. I have to think about that.)

Nice to see WOMPO - Women’s Poetry Listserv mentioned. I volunteer webmaster for that group. You can poke around the archives here & if you like what you read, sign up & introduce yourself. (and it is OK if you have a penis.)

Poetry News:

1. — A report card is a report card ” unless it belongs to Robert Penn Warren —
2. — Literary magazines come and go; none lasts forever —
3. — The ad also has a popular poem, when the initial letters are added up … [and more here] —
4. — The Psychology of Rejection —
5. — Poet Fleur Adcock is to receive an honorary doctorate of literature from Victoria University —
6. — Versatile Frame wins award for collection of verse —

The Poetry Foundation has 2 job openings right now. Both jobs are full-time and both require relocation to Chicago if you don’t live there already:

1. An Archive Editor. This person, ideally, would be “a serious poet who can also write and edit prose.”

2. An Associate Editor. This person, ideally, would have more of a journalism background.

Weekly World News, the newspaper of record for the deranged, announced this week that it was folding on Aug. 3. Well that saddens me. My sister and I both subscribed for a very long time and we had a lot of fun discussing the articles. But for the past year it has been not so good. We’ve been wondering about that. Oh well, I guess we can still go to their website.

Happy Birthday Bugs Bunny.

Poetry News:

1. — Shoot the Messenger: Dana Goodyear, David Orr, and the Stewards of Poetry —
2. — Mercer Simpson felt a close affinity with Wales and the literary affairs of the country where he lived for more than 50 years —
3. — Poet, o poet, who art thou? —
4. — She was a leader in the concrete poetry movement that emerged in the 1960s —
5. — Sports poetry has always been its own distinct genre within the art form —
6. — UT faculty poet expresses virtues of creative writing —

Well we all know how this will all end, don’t we?

(hee that’s a good haiku)

Poetry News:

1. — Talking paper made by scientists —
2. — The Nassau poetry flap grew uglier yesterday —
3. — Official Bard Fixes Keen Eye on Alexandria —
4. — Lit Mag Marathon Weekend {NYC} —
5. — The fete allows any print organization”magazines, poster designers, newspapers, zines”to distribute free copies of their product —
6. — Beware the Bloggers’ Bile —
7. — A Call for Critics —
8. — To hit the best-seller list for verse, a book has to sell only around 30 copies [???] —
9. — Smartish Pace poetry contests —

ha ha this is great (clickable for a big version). I’m a major radio geek. Hey did you know that Marconi’s mother was Annie Jameson and if it wasn’t for private investors in that industry, Marconi probably wouldn’t be known as the inventor of wireless? (Though Fessenden was way ahead of him in some respects). I’ve always found it fascinating that Marconi and Faraday (and others) weren’t scientists, really. They weren’t formally educated or physicists in the traditional sense. More like experimenters.

The WWW right now reminds me a lot of what I’ve read about the early days of radio in the United States. Before the FRC and FCC, a lot of folks had their own radio stations on their farms, in their houses, etc. Kind of a free for all. Then the federal government regulated it, regulated it some more, then oops regulated/deregulated it and now here we are where a handful of big corporations own the major media. I’m a pessimist and tend to think that these are the salad days of the WWW. As far as access goes. Relatively speaking.

Poetry News:

1. — Berkeley Profs Wrote Some Good Books —
2. — Lucille Clifton’s truth in poetry has made her the first African-American woman awarded the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize —
3. — Foldable Book of Poems —
4. — Literary magazine loses its funding —
5. — Besty Wergin, R-Princeton, criticized the state government finance bill in a poem Friday —
6. — May 5, 2007 This week on A Prairie Home Companion ” a special springtime poetry show [you can listen online -- Bob Dorough is on it but no Blossom Dearie though] —

“When I saw this argument, my first reaction was embar(r)assment that the absurdity of vampire population dynamics has always been right in front of my face without my ever having noticed it.”

Poetry News:

1. Onion Radio News Announces Annual Poetry Contest-Winner [I think Foetry should be notified.] —
2. With Lilly backing, poetry group closes on prime home —
3. Seventy years ago this Sunday, people in New York City stopped what they were doing to look up at the sky —
4. UNM’s Frumkin remembered for his compassion —
5. Silence in poem murder case —
6. Lee Henrikson won an audience award as “Best Emily Dickinson Who Doesn’t Look Anything Like Emily Dickinson” —
7. Where Words Go to Work and Play —

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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. Emily Dickinson Rendered —
2. The chink in his armour —
3. Rare Books’ Auction Is A Best Seller —
4. Her father’s voice —
5. Jane Gentry Vance, longtime teacher and poet, has been named Kentucky’s new poet laureate —
6. Indeed, The New Yorker now treats poetry almost exactly as Goodyear suggests the Poetry Foundation does ” as a brand-enhancing commodity —

Mysterious theft of Rome’s ‘love padlocks’