Poetry Hut Blog

Poetry News:

1. — 2008 National Book Award Nominees —
2. — The League’s press release states that “only a handful of large publishers are receiving significant benefits,” and that “writers and the small presses that publish most Canadian culture receive virtually nothing from the system.” —
3. — From carnival rides to Beatles tunes, Pacific University Professor Doyle Walls distills life into poetry —
4. — Tate’s way of following his deeply held agrarian beliefs was, ironically, to have a family of tenant farmers tend the land around his Clarksville home, Benfolly —
5. — IU’s new Creative Writing, African American and African Diaspora dual degree first in the nation —
6. — Mary Ann Hoberman Named Children’s Poet Laureate —
7. — Blount’s speech is entitled, “Through Is Thoroughly Throughsome, Go Is Wide Open, and Wince Makes You Wince: On the Non-Arbitrariness of Words.” It is related to his forthcoming book, Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists and Spirits of Letters, Words and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips and Secret Parts; With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory, published this fall by Farrar, Straus and Giroux —

James W. Pennebaker looks at every single word people use — even the tiny ones — and is leading a resurgent interest in text analysis. Wow his analysis of the US Presidential candidates is fascinating.

East TN Man Names His Kid Sarah McCain Palin, Doesn’t Tell Wife

New currency for Jan 2009 [you tube]

Poetry News:

1. — Blas Falconer’s collection of poems, A Question of Gravity and Light, is about nameless people, perennial outsiders who find themselves in situations they hadn’t planned upon —
2. — Professor denied tenure. Reason? Flarf. —
3. — Bangor publisher suing Amazon in anti-trust case —
4. — For the first time, anyone with access to the Internet can hear tapes of Robert Penn Warren’s 1964 interviews with prominent Civil Rights activists like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X and the Rev. James Lawson —
5. — Surrealism’s founding texts sold —
6. — A collection of 35 of William McGonagall’s poems fetched more than $13,000 at auction. —
7. — Isn’t it a little bit late to be claiming you wrote “Footprints in the Sand” —
8. — Queen is asked to appoint first female Poet Laureate after 22 men in 340 years —
9. — It pains me to say it, but I used to hate Emily Dickinson —
10. — Frieda Hughes reflects on the aviary she built in her garden —

I had a nice visit with my sister. It was weird to visit Knoxville again after almost (exactly!) a decade. (My M.S. degree is from UT.) Some things looked different, some things looked the same. Looks like they fixed up World’s Fair Park and that area by the Tennessee Theater downtown. I’m really looking forward to having my sister only a few hours away, though I know she’ll be busy with grad school. We had a lot of fun together — always do — and she cut my bangs for me, whoo! I cried when I dropped her off at the airport yesterday, though I’ll see her again in July LOL.

Thanks for your support of my book. I haven’t got any complaints but I guess the people who think that I’m a blowhard or that I’m talentless aren’t apt to email me about it. I am also behind on my email right now — I’m not ignoring anybody.

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. — Poets Speak Out —
2. — We want to believe the omission was related to space and not because city leaders thought it was too gay —
3. — In 1923, Alfred A. Knopf published the first book of poems by Wallace Stevens —
4. — Take 20-minute trip to poet’s birthplace —
5. — The great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova once said her country silences poets by sending them to a gulag, while America silences poets by ignoring them —

Pals with work up now at storysouth:

J Lynn Laughlin’s story at StorySouth

3 poems by Susan Meyers at storysouth

Also do you guys know about the dead mule? (It was [really] dead for a while but has been back for a long time I guess and I didn’t know that.)

 Cliff nominated me as a thinking blogger. That is kind, thanks. Passing it on:

Radish King

Emperor of Ice-Cream Cakes: Poems Are Jokes

Erik’s Choice