Poetry Hut Blog
Ron Silliman

Poetry News:

1. — New site: Postal poetry —
2. — City Lights: 50 years on the cutting edge of publishing —
3. — Half of his sonnets and songs were written during his travels which he regarded as a form of exile, an alternative to prison in Lisbon, imposed on him by cruel fate —
4. — Revisiting Coney Island of the Mind —
5. — How Seamus Heaney defines Ireland’s 1972 troubles with a portrait of a drunken seaman blown up in a pub [mp3] —
6. — faculty readings from the last two West Chester conferences are online: 2007 and 2008 —
7. — Joe Milford’s internet radio show feat. Ron Silliman [mp3] —
8. — Seeking poems that explore the twisted world of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet for The Private Press’s next chapbook anthology. Deadline 31 December 2008 —
9. — Is music just “auditory cheesecake” or can it provide deep insights into the workings of the brain and the evolution of language —
10. — Trying to explain this to younger/newer poets and those outside of the poetry community is frustrating [True -- 7.03% of regular readers of this blog bought my book, using my feed subscriber stats & # of Lulu orders to calculate... it's probably even less than 7%, because the calculation assumes that all the orders came from RSS feed subscribers, which is probably doubtful.] —
11. — Eileen Tabios & the Poetry Economics: A Moronic Oxymoron —

A bit of confession Wednesday — lately I’ve been posting here as a way to demonstrate to myself that I am doing better, healthwise, than I am — I think. Self-psyche-out. But I need to quit it until I get this cardiovascular / autonomic nervous system weirdness figured out. I am totally exhausted! From what?! All I’m doing is sleeping and eating really, and my PT routines. I’m getting fat too. I have an exam Friday. I’ll be back when I get some energy.

Poetry News:

1. — When Lit-Crit Mattered —
2. — Marilyn Hacker, whose volume Presentation Piece won the National Book Award in 1975, is another of Joudah’s champions —
3. — “I think the blossoming time is still to come,” she says. “I’m just beginning and still need to develop as a writer. But there is something very real happening here.” —
4. — Robert Bly: The best poetry is always religious —
5. — “I was just thrilled for about a week straight,” he said. “I went into the conference room and I did a little silent dance.” —
6. — Penniless author sells shares in next novel —
7. — A poet asks: How do you love without losing yourself? —
8. — Spotlight Audio: Ron Silliman reads from “What” —
9. — Some poets write with an urgency to show us a moment from ordinary life that would otherwise disappear —
10. — To keep his brain sharp, Augie is trying to memorize 10000 lines of Minnesotan Tom McGrath’s long poem “Letter to an Imaginary Friend” —
11. — Recorded at Atlanta’s historic Fox Theater on July 5, Waits delivers a stunning and epic two-and-a-half hour performance, including songs he says he’s never attempted outside of the studio before. [mp3] —

Just popping my head up here for a bit. Hope you’re having a good summer. Found out today why I have been feeling so poorly. I’ll know more after an appt later this month. Then I’ll be back here once it is straightened out.

Poetry News:

1. — Economy in writing can put garrulous narration or evasive speechifying to shame (congrats c. dale)—
2. — The American College of Physicians, the nation’s largest medical specialty organization, has published a compilation of stories, essays, and poems by doctors and their patients —
3. — America’s newest, and foreign-born, poet laureate has traveled a long way —
4. — Married M’s: The Metropolitan Market’s Logo Questioned —
5. — Where Sheep Once Grazed, Now Poems Take Root —
6. — Taslima wants adequate security after death threat —
7. — Each week, Ed Shakespeare, the bard of Brooklyn baseball, will take a page from his ancient ancestor and add a bit of iambic pentameter to all our lives —

So for the last 11 days here in Nashville, it has been over 100 degrees F for 10 of them — including one day when it reached 106 degrees F. The hottest it has been here EVER (since they have been keeping records) is 107 degrees F. We are also in an “extreme drought.” I feel really bad for the farmers. We had a really hard freeze in April (?) and that messed things up and now this.

In more positive news, I got a new adult literacy student. That should help shake me out of my funk. My previous student graduated out of the program & got his CDL. Then I took a break because of the surgery. But I’m back & ready to share the wonderment of wordage. If you are in Nashville, the Nashville Adult Literacy Council needs YOU! They have a waiting list of folks who WANT to LEARN!!! It just takes a couple of hours every week and is fun! If you don’t live in Nashville, I’m sure your town has a similar organization with a long waiting list.

Poetry News:

1. — Through his prodigious output and a hugely influential blog that has attracted more than a million hits, Silliman has become a kind of elder statesman in the world of innovative literature —
2. — Poet, Snubbed, Still Every Inch a Laureate —
3. — Recent poetry collections highlight local, regional authors —
4. — Crain says if you know how to fix a Zon-O-Phone, call her —
5. — Chains of poets, and a poet of chains —
6. — Fisher’s poems render the world in fractals through the mind’s sight, valued more than visibility itself —

Glad to see Joseph Millar get some press, and good for the MSM to publish a review of Mr. Silliman.

To certain visitors: please stop posting your poems in the comments boxes. There are a zillion lit mags out there, but this isn’t one of them. Besides, this blog just gets    billions       millions       thousands    a couple hundred human being readers every day & doing that only appears desperate.