Poetry Hut Blog

Poetry News:

1. — Emily Dickinson’s ‘White Heat’ from NPR Programs: Fresh Air from WHYY —
2. — How Keats’s most popular rival rescued him from the critics —
3. — Former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky wins the 11th Triennial Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Prize —
4. — Williams turns 125 years old —
5. — Lucille Clifton’s poem “brothers” shines a bright new light on Lucifer, who answers God in a whirlwind of verse. —
6. — “This is a broad request. I’m compiling a list of contemporary poets from the South or poets that have moved to the South and adopted it as a home.” —

Poetry News:

1. — It may be argued, then, that Plath’s “lasting achievement” was her ability to combine the personal and the mythical in her poetry, thereby endowing this with a timeless and “relevant” literary effect —
2. — A Russian Poet Unpeels Her Many Lives —
3. — Rare Emily Dickinson photo(?) purchased on Ebay —
4. — Intelligence And Rhythmic Accuracy Go Hand In Hand —
5. — Poetry workshop: Forward prize winner Matthew Francis invites readers to conjure sense impressions with metaphor and simile —
6. — In Paris in the 1930s he helped found the journal Black Student, which gave birth to the idea of “negritude,” a call to blacks to cultivate pride in their heritage —
7. — World-famous filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami is convinced that one of the problems Iranians encounter in understanding poetry is that they pay too much attention to rhythm —
8. — The Pulitzer jurists for this year’s poetry prize evidently felt the pain of Philip Schultz —
9. — Frequently asked questions about the business of verse By Robert Pinsky —

I have torn labrum in my hip & a cane now. I can do this. I just had to be freaked out for a while. I finally got an appt to the pain clinic & that is making me feel better — OK there are some tools and stuff out there.

I feel full of gristle.

edit: p.s. laughing is good.

Poetry News:

1. — Who can explain why the practice of poetry has become the object of so much satire and snide dismissal? [link found here thanks] —
2. — The Poem as Comic Strip #6 —
3. — For this, my farewell “Poet’s Choice” column, here are two poems related by a form: the sonnet —
4. — He is the leading New Zealand poet of his generation, but Bill Manhire prefers to “bump into meaning” rather have an agenda —
5. — How do you capture the tortured life of one of hockey’s greatest goaltenders? Why, you turn it into verse, of course —
6. — BBC to broadcast lost Philip Larkin poems —
7. — Classic Review: Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman —
8. — “Saliva Trails” - Currently the Best Selling Book of Poetry in English, Released from Korea Through Lulu.com —

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. — NZ’s ‘best-loved’ poet dies [and more at your tributes] —
2. — It’s a great time to be a poetry reader —
3. — Police make arrests in Robert Frost house damage —
4. — Poets Forum Reading: Free Audio Download —
5. — Rough and tumble aren’t the only words that drive Metro Detroit’s literati. —
6. — Under the influence of the Romantic poets, he turned away from a life based on calculation —

Poetry News:

1. — In ‘‘Elegy,’’ poet Mary Jo Bang has taken on one of the largest and most difficult subjects in all of literature —
2. — National Book Critics Circle finalists —
3. — John Milton: the poet who gave us ‘Star Trek’ and ‘The Matrix’ —
4. — Former poet laureate opening another chapter in his life —
5. — How lovely it is that there are words and sounds —
6. — John Ashbery, Octavio Paz, Stanley Kunitz and Robert Pinsky all wrote poems for him —
7. — 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…” —
8. — Ex-carpenter warms up tp poet laureate honor —
9. — Editorial: Frost home vandalism is deeply disturbing —
10. — Poets and jazz artists find rhythm and rhyme —
11. — Taslima Nasreen has been chosen for the prestigious Simon de Beauvoir feminist award in recognition of her writing on rights for women —
12. — Vendetta fear after poet murdered —
13. — Denise Clarke is entertaining as poet Anne Sexton in Sylvia Plath Must Not Die —
14. — If Fence magazine were an actual fence, it would be a portable one —
15. — 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.

Poetry News:

1. — Vandals ransacked the interior of Homer Noble Farm, the summer home of the late poet Robert Frost —
2. — Every New Year’s Eve, the normally dry Coast Guard log takes on a lyrical charm —
3. — John Ashbery’s verse can be hard to understand, but the simple act of reading his latest collection, Notes From the Air, is a pleasure in itself —
4. — The theatrics of Russia’s Silver Age poets come alive in Paul Schmidt’s theatrical translations —
5. — Revisiting Cole Porter’s ‘Top’ —
6. — Landis Everson was one of the Berkeley Renaissance, an avant-garde poets’ group from the 1950s —
7. — The Blush of the New —
8. — Ken Tolson is the real-life grandson of Melvin B. Tolson, whose work as an educator, mentor and poet is highlighted in the new film The Great Debaters —

Most clicked links of last month:

1. Poet’s Choice” columnist Robert Pinsky fields questions and comments on this year in poetry
2. Since 1945, only three poems have been published by the charming grey-haired spinster who has won every US poetry prize worth winning.
3. Prize-Winning Poet Robert Hass On American Poetry, Bob Dylan, Impact of ‘The Big Lebowski’

Most popular posts of 2007:

1. Once upon a time
2. Poetry News for October 16, 2007
3. Poetry News for October 10, 2007

Poetry News:

1. — Poetry Chronicle —
2. — Poems on the frontiers; a lobster lesson on the sea
3. — Jenny Holzer Makes Light of Poems and Beats Swords Into Paintings —
4. — Pakistani’s Poem Offers Hope in Despairing Time —
5. — In ‘Telephone Ringing,’ Adrienne Rich makes music of words —
6. — Here is Arizona poet Steve Orlen’s lovely tribute to the great opera singer, Maria Callas —
7. — Ferlinghetti argues that poetry can save the world —
8. — Creative Work Has Health Advantages, Population Research Center Study Shows —
9. — Dylan Thomas’s passport can now be viewed online thanks to the National Library of Wales [more] —
10. — An “honest guildsman” of a poet melds the political and the personal —
11. — Possibly the most moving use of a poet’s own name in English poetry is Ben Jonson’s “On My First Son —

Poetry News:

1. — In the summer of 1911, a frail, 50-year-old spinster named Harriet Monroe began knocking on the doors of wealthy Chicagoans —
2. — An Interview with Cathy Smith Bowers —
3. — “Poet’s Choice” columnist Robert Pinsky fields questions and comments on this year in poetry — transcript —
4. — From penniless obscurity to recognition 250 years after his birth as one of the greatest Britons, how did a mystical outsider like William Blake win a place in our hearts? —
5. — Basho’s Irish echoes —
6. — Why devote seven years to proving an esoteric theory — in four volumes amounting to more than 2,000 pages — about which many academics remain skeptical and most people are unaware? —

I’ve been meme tagged — so here are 7 things and you consider yourself tagged, you hear?

1. I grew up in Michigan but have never been on a boat. (I’m not counting rowboat or canoe.)
2. My favorite Christmas Carols are O Holy Night and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen but I couldn’t tell you many of the words.
3. As part of my spiritual practice I try to keep an open heart but I’m naturally kind of melancholy and leery.
4. I think I am going to adopt this slogan for the near future hahaha. (Link found here)
5. More of a cat person but I like dogs too.
6. Men from both sides of my dad’s family first came to America to avoid serving in the military.
7. I like vanilla.

check out the skeletons

Poetry News:

1. — War Has Stopped European Letters and Art; But After Peace Old Forms Will Be Inadequate to Express New and Tremendous Experiences Says Arthur Bullard - By Joyce Kilmer. —
2. — Freelance writer and Navy veteran Jeff Hess is starting a writers group specifically for those who have served in the military [cool, Jeff]—
3. — Beat Philip Whalen’s poetry collected in one sprawling volume —
4. — “Poet’s Choice” columnist Robert Pinsky fields questions and comments on this year in poetry — submit your questions —
5. — Transcendentalism, however, became, in Gura’s words, a “many-headed Hydra,” flourishing in myriad forms —
6. — Ashbery’s anthology ‘Notes From the Air’ delivers, despite himself —
7. — Tehran was enjoying a mild Prague Spring in the late ’90s when I first read García Lorca —
8. — Therefore, her writings assail the canon itself and problematises the notion of ‘literary merit’.” —
9. — I find an element of nonsense can add an interesting sense, and these phrases have an interesting rhythm —
10. — A late, underappreciated poet’s simple, spare style contrasts with elaborate exuberance —
11. — Confession is only for people who already know what’s wrong with them, and knowingness was Hughes’s bete noire —

Sometimes it is really hard to find *any* MSM news (non-blog) article about a female poet. I’m starting to feel torch-pitchforky.

Most popular outgoing links for November, as far as Feedburner is concerned:
1. How to Win a National Book Award in Five Easy Steps

2. Big brother is reading your poetry

3. (tie) it’s impossible not to ask some hard questions about his status and whether it is deserved

3. (tie) since somebody published a poem I wrote when I was 19, which has been mocked, thoroughly, I don’t think those are going to be appearing anytime soon

Poetry News:

1. — Legendary songstress Joni Mitchell returns with new music, art, ballet —
2. — For Yankees, Squirrel‘ Visit May Be Omen (a Bad One) —
3. — An innovative programme at a pioneering prison helps long-stayers to write - and perform - their own poems —
4. — Members of the artists’ collective “Voina” set the table for a funeral feast for Russian poet Dmitri Aleksandrovich Prigov in a … —
5. — Philomene Long has left this world, and with her goes the heart of a community —