Poetry Hut Blog

My mom’s birthday was the day after Christmas so I’m hitting the fast forward button.

Happy new year! Hope you had a great holiday & that 2010 is a good one for you. It’s going to be intense, that’s for sure.

• — Does my poetry have any social value? Absolutely not. It’s not even socially relevant. Can you imagine Garrison Keillor reading it on The Writer’s Almanac with his sad Eeyore voice? & thanks for the link—
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• — Candace Sams’s decision to report bad Amazon reviewers to the FBI is further proof why it’s best not to respond publicly to your critics —
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• — “Niedecker is less a poet than a porn-star” —
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• — Charles Olson gets a conference —
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• — Non-Contest Book Publishers – The list is growing —
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• — For this installment of Games Poets Play, we’re going to have some fun with randomness and chance. —
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• — 2000-2009: The Decade in Poetry —
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• — “The Looking House” by Fred Marchant was selected by BarnesandNobleReview.com as one of the best poetry books of 2009 —
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• — Robert Herrick’s yuletide tribute to the lush pleasures of spring. —
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• — Stanley Moss is either the most religiously profane or profanely religious poet around —
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• — poet to pen verse for ‘Carbuncle’ town sculpture —
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• — For Christmas is coming, sure as rats. The spondoolix must come down, that is all I’ve got to say. —
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• — Happy Hooverized Xmas Greetings from the Poetry & Popular Culture Office —
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• — Now On-Line Galatea Resurrects #13 – 56 new reviews —
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• — Figaro’s favorite language sage, Brooks Clark, writes that the sweet little Christmas carol resulted from a bet made by a well-known preacher, Phillips Brooks —
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• — In the case of one well-known author, the cat may have helped a poet and novelist land a reprint deal —
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• — You hate it, they live it – The announcement of Sacramento’s new poetry czar inspires a waxing of the city’s poetic innards and impulse —
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• — A popular saying has it in Nicaragua that everyone is a poet until proven otherwise. What about the rest of the world? —
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• — Literary Magazine Reviews Posted December 15, 2009 —
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• — In her chapbook sequence, “Lucy,” Jean Valentine has written a deeply interior meditation that revolves around our three-million-year-old hominid ancesto —
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• — Track Santa Claus With NORAD —
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• — Schools of poetry are nonacademic outfits scattered about guesswork and lucky breaks. —
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• — “Literary Math – This is just gorgeous” —
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• — The Body Electric’s $5,000 NASA grant will cover the cost of the robot kit from FIRST —
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• — A documentary on “Godmother of Punk” Patti Smith will air on PBS on December 30. —
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• — The question is often asked: What does one do with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing? —
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• — I’m glad to hear that Bray’s is still in business LOL. (video – not very Christmasy sorry) —
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This blog will continue to be semi-hibernating for the next month.

Have a happy, healthy, safe, holiday and new year.

• — Legend has it that in the same room, Robert Lowell taught aspiring poets Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, and George Starbuck, all of whom went on to become pivotal figures in modern American poetry. —
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• — Mexican writer Jose Emilio Pacheco wins Cervantes prize —
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• — An example of a book trailer done wrong? Nashville Post’s book writer Betsy Phillips points her finger at the trailer for Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book Eating Animals. —
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• — When hallowed beat goddess Lenore Kandel died six weeks ago, the Chronicle published a nice memorial, with quotes from fellow travelers Peter Coyote, Gerard Nicosia, and others. —
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• — Entertainment Weekly: Poetry You Need To Read: H.L. Hix’s ‘Incident Light’ and David Lehman’s ‘Yeshiva Boys’ —
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• — The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) has presented the 2009 National Translation Award to Norman Shapiro, professor of romance languages and literatures, for French Women Poets of Nine Centuries: The Distaff and the Pen —
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• — Poem of the week: Gascoigne’s Lullaby by George Gascoigne —
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• — Cause of Jane Austen’s death not universally acknowledged —
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• — In “Honor Thy Sow Bug,” Walnut Creek resident Seaborg shares his opinions on what makes a good poem and the state of contemporary poetry today —
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• — How to deal with poets —
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• — Dylan. Polka. Christmas song. Nothing more needs to be said —
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• — “I love rhyming for rhyming sake. I think that’s an incredible art form.” —
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• — “I want to leave a poem thinking that I’ve contributed to the larger conversation in a meaningful way.” —
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• — David Citino, Poets, and Baseball —
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• — Patrick Janson-Smith introduces Luis d’Antin van Rooten’s extraordinary transformations of classic nursery rhymes into 18th-century French poetry, Mots d’Heures: Gousses, Rames —
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• — The actor and polyglot Luis d’Antin van Rooten turned classic nursery rhymes into 18th-century French poetry in Mots d’Heures: Gousses, Rames (hint: try saying it out aloud). Here we publish his version of Jack and Jill, with scholarly notes, as well as a reading of the text by the publisher Patrick Janson-Smith —
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• — End of a chapter for Borders —
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• — The Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh is staging a celebration of sound poetry. It is part of a series of exhibitions and events that have looked at what is called concrete poetry. —
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• — A Love Letter to the Letterpress —
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• — Britain’s equivalent of the haiku is your challenge this time, with a number of fiendish variations available —
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• — In the age of the PC, a surprising number of authors remain wedded to rather older technology —
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• — After a recent call from Rose Metal Press urging more women to submit to their annual chapbook competition, I started to wonder how equal the gender line … —
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• — In her presentation, she analyzed an early prose experiment by Dickinson published in Amherst College’s student-run literary journal in 1850. … —
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• — Clarinda Harris – Clarinda Harriss teaches poetry, poetics, and editing at Towson University, where she chaired the English Department for a decade. Her most recently published collection is Air Travel, Half Moon Editions, 2005. Forthcoming from HME in the spring of 2007 is a new collection, Dirty Blue Voice. She is the winner of numerous awards for her poetry and short fiction. One of her primary research interests is writing by prison inmates; she has worked with incarcerated writers for many years. You may contact the author at charriss@towson.edu. —
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• — The Blood-Jet Writing Hour” Radio Show with Rachelle Cruz – Join Rachelle as she talks to Lee Herrick Lee Herrick is the author of This Many Miles from Desire (WordTech Editions, 2007). His poems have been published in ZYZZYVA, Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Berkeley Poetry Review, Hawaii Pacific Review, Many Mountains Moving, The Bloomsbury Review, MiPOesias, and others, including anthologies such as Seeds from a Silent Tree: Writings by Korean Adoptees, Hurricane Blues: Poems About Katrina and Rita, and the 2nd edition of Highway 99: A Literary Journey Through California’s Great Central Valley. He is the founding editor of the literary magazine In the Grove and teaches at Fresno City College in Fresno, California. —
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• — The MoE Green Poetry Dissicusion with Rafael F.J Alvarado & Chelsea Bayouth – join Rafael & Chelsea as they talk to Cecilia Woloch – Cecilia Woloch was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and grew up there and in rural Kentucky, one of seven children of a homemaker and an airplane mechanic. She attended Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, earning degrees in English and Theater Arts, before moving to Los Angeles in 1979. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University L.A. in 1999. A celebrated teacher, Ms. Woloch has conducted poetry workshops for thousands of children and young people throughout the United States and around the world, as well as workshops for professional writers, educators, participants in Elderhostel programs for senior citizens, inmates at a prison, and residents at a shelter for homeless women and their children. She is the founding director of Summer Poetry in Idyllwild and of The Paris Poetry Workshop, and is currently a lecturer in the creative writing program at the University of Southern California as well as a member of the core faculty of the low-residency MFA Program in Professional Writing at Western Connecticut State University. Her previous books of poems are Sacrifice, a BookSense 76 selection in 2001; Tsigan: The Gypsy Poem; Late, for which she was named Georgia Author of the Year in Poetry in 2004; and a chapbook, Narcissus, winner of the Tupelo Press Snowbound Competition in 2006. Her poems have been anthologized in When She Named Fire: Contemporary American Women Poets; Best American Erotic Poetry: 1800 to the Present; Billy Collins’ 180 More (Extraordinary Poems for Every Day), Garrison Keillor’s Good Poems for Hard Times, among many others, and have been featured on Keillor’s The Writers’ Almanac as well as in Ted Kooser’s nationally syndicated column American Life in Poetry. She spends a part of each year traveling, and in recent years has divided her time between Los Angeles and Idyllwild, California; —
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• — Joe Milford Hosts Anne-Marie Cusac – Anne-Marie Cusac is the author of the poetry books, Silkie (Many Mountains Moving Press, 2007), winner of the Many Mountains Moving Press poetry book prize, and the Wisconsin Library Association award; and The Mean Days (Tia Chucha, 2001), which won recognition from both the Wisconsin Library Association and the Council for Wisconsin Writers. An As- sistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Roosevelt University, where she heads the Journalism Program, Cusac is also a George Polk Award-winning journalist and worked as an editor and investigative reporter for The Progressive magazine for ten years. She is currently a member of the blog team forThe Huffington Post. Her nonfiction book, Cruel and Unusual: The Culture of Punishment in America, was published by Yale University Press in 2009. [mp3] —
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• — Joe MIlford Hosts Clayton Eshleman – Clayton Eshleman’s most recent collection of poems, Anticline, is a manuscript to be published by Black Widow Press in April,2010. Recent book publications by Clayton Eshleman include he Grindstone of Rapport / A Clayton Eshleman Reader (Black Widow Press, 2008), his translation of The Complete Poetry of Cesar Vallejo (University of California Press, 2007), Archaic Design (Black Widow Press, 2007) and Reciprocal Distillations (Hot Whiskey Press, 2007). From time to time, in June, Clayton and his wife Caryl lead a tour to the Upper Paleolithic painted caves in southwestern France, sponsored by the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, FL. Next trip will be in June 2010, with the ethnographer Wade Davis coming along as guest lecturer. [mp3]—
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• — Weekly Poem: ‘Storm’ from Poetry | NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Podcast | PBS Kwame Dawes is director of the South Carolina Poetry Initiative and the University of South Carolina Arts Institute, where he also teaches as distinguished poet in residence. [mp3] —
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• — Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney has called for Ted Hughes to be honoured in the Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey. —
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• — Inauguration of the Pushkin Monument in Asmara —
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• — First anthology of nature poetry from black voices debuts —
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• — Jack Elliot Myers worked throughout his adult life to write poems to get closer to people. —
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• — The Louisville-based literary magazine The Lumberyard, the most physically beautiful new journal I’ve seen this year, is a brother-and-sister operation. —
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• — December 1st Updates to the Online Best of 2009 Book Lists —
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• — Tune into “The Reading Is Poetry Review” with your host Hip-Hop/Jazz Poet A. K. Toney tonight. We will have the honor and privilege of listening to and reviewing selections from percussionist, spoken word producer extraordinaire Leon Mobley. [mp3] —
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• — One of our most tender poets (tough but tender), James Galvin, investigates his growing tendency toward poems that express his bitterness? toward politics, environmental despoilment, big business. Still he affirms, in poems that breathe with sweet relief, the ongoing possibility of love. [mp3] —
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• — Linda Benninghoff – from Jane Crown’s Poetry Radio | The author of the new chapbook “The Spaces Between Things”from Erbacce press.She is well published in numerous magazines including Ocho,Mipoesias and Agenda.She has four other chaps and won an award for her last “Elegies for Mary” published by Kritya press.India. She possesses a BA in English w/honors from John’s Hopkins University and an MA in English with an emphasis on Creative Writing from Stony Brook. —
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• — In Exercises in Style, Raymond Queneau revisits a single event nearly 100 times. His noble goal was to help literature unburden itself ‘of some of its scabs’ —
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• — Walt Whitman’s home earns literary honor —
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• — Art in Paradise: How Not to Become Yeats —
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• — I’ve seen Philip Levine’s face on the back cover of his books, and once in a while, on podiums at readings. When I saw him two feet away, in an NYU bathroom of all places, I was totally baffled. —
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• — ‘I began writing in mystery’ A few words with Philip Levine —
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• — Even if Jara’s murder is solved, she says Chile can’t achieve justice without addressing all 3,197 people, according to an official count, who were slain for political reasons before Pinochet finally ceded the presidency in 1990. —
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• — According to the Burma Media Association and Reporters Sans Frontieres, at least 12 journalists and dozens of media workers including poets and writers are still in custody —
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• — Two exhibitions now up feature works that strive to embody poems in art objects. —
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• — In her first book of poetry, “Water the Moon” (Marick Press, November 2009), Sze-Lorrain presents her entire life—from first memories to seemingly recent dinner parties—with elegance, boldness, and, perhaps most importantly, complete believability. —
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• — “Domestic Fugues” showcases Newman’s complete assurance as he takes his poems through a number of formal paces —
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• — SOU prof publishes book of flarf —
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• — Baudelaire poems fetch record price —
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• — Personal letters, first edition copies and even a suicide note penned by 19th-century French poet Charles Baudelaire are part of an exceptional set of items that go up for auction on Tuesday in Paris. —
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• — Nine days after becoming the first female professor of poetry at Oxford, Ruth Padel resigned when it was revealed she had sent emails bad-mouthing a rival. Now the poet gives her first interview since the controversy —
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• — ‘Bright Wings’ elevates birdwatching through verse —
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• — Anger as pub calls time on old poets —
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• — “I wanted to write poems of religious devotion in a less obvious and, I hope, more humble way – one people might more easily identify with,” says poet Franz Wright —
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• — Poet Marie Ponsot Celebrating Life at 88 —
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• — Meet Ben Jonson and Robert Herrick, poetry’s most artful kvetches —
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• — Joe Milford Hosts Al Maginnes – Al Maginnes is the author of six collections of poetry, most recently a chapbook, Dry Glass Blues (Pudding House Publications, 2007) and Ghost Alphabet which won the 2007 White Pine Poetry Prize and will be available in October of 2008. New poems appear or are forthcoming in American Literary Review, Asheville Poetry Review, Green Moutains Review, Terminus, Mid American Review and Southern Poetry Review. He lives in Raleigh, NC and teaches at Wake Technical Community College. [mp3] —
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• — The Poetry Show: Host Dennis Morton read David Baker and more. [mp3] —
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• — The poetic legacy of James Schuyler. [mp3] —
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• — Vintage Fringed —
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• — This poem began after a writers conference in Asheville, NC to which I took a small group of women students. Eudora Welty had just died, and we spent a portion of the morning session talking about her work, so her influence was much on my mind as the rest of the day unfolded. —
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• — Stephen Dunn, the Poetry of the Personal —
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• — Pennsylvania poet Sarah Dowling stands guard with language in her brave new collection, winner of the 2009 Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry. —
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• — Here you can listen to Anna Akhmatova, Alexander Blok, Nikolai Gumilyov, Sergei Yesenin, Osip Mandelshtam, Maximilian Voloshin, Vladimir Mayakovsky and Arseny Tarkovsky reading their own work. —
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• — Homicide Rates Linked to Trust in Government, Sense of Belonging, Study Suggests —
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• — Brenda Starr makes way for Rumi, Neruda, and Merwin —
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• — SPD Poetry Best-Sellers November 2009 —
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• — Poem of the week: The Waste Land by TS Eliot —
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• — The trick was trusting that impulse again when I went to finish the poem, picking it up from where I’d left it and catching that same vibe, like a wave, and riding it out. —
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• — something is fishy here — possibly the same phenomenon MJ Rose points to in her continuing tally of male vs. female representation in Oprah’s Book Club (current tally: of the 19 book club titles Oprah has chosen since 2003, 17 are by men) —
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• — Dylan Down the Ups will be a series of street parties to celebrate the 95th anniversary of the birth of the poet in the front bedroom of his parents’ home —
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• — Though now regarded as a forefather of modern American poetry, Whitman was once reviled by the New England literati. —
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• — Reviews of New Fiction, Poetry, Mystery, Science Fiction and Comics — Publishers Weekly, 10/19/2009 —
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• — Poets gathered for a discussion on the nature of abstract poetry last week. —
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• — As the number of newly-minted MFAs in creative writing continues to climb, it’s not unreasonable to ponder why the degree exerts a pull on writers. —
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• — Clarissa Pinkola Estés: Diamonds in the Dark [mp3] —
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• — Adult content warning: beware fairy stories —
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• — The fairytale of Snow White by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Joyce Crick —
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• — Wicked parents in fairytales Hilary Mantel looks at fairytale step-parenting and sees its echoes today —
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• — The fairytale of Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm —
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• — The fairytale of Cinderella by Charles Perrault, translated by Angela Carter —
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• — The fairytale of the Tinderbox by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Naomi Lewis —
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• — The fairytale of Mossycoat, an English folk tale, retold by Philip Pullman —
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• — Rags to Riches in fairytales Philip Pullman looks at the power of symbolism in fairytales —
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• — The fairytale of the Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Naomi Lewis —
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• — The fairytale of the Steadfast Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Naomi Lewis —
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• — The fairytale of Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Joyce Crick —
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• — Love in fairytales AS Byatt looks at the abstract world in Fairytales
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• — The fairytale of the boy who set out to learn fear by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Joyce Crick —
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• — The fairytale of Rumpelstiltskin by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Joyce Crick —
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• — The fairytale of the Sleeping Prince retold by Alison Lurie —
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• — The fairytale of the Lion and the Hare retold from Sanskrit by Ramsay Wood —
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• — Adam Phillips looks at the concept of quests in fairytales —
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• — The fairytale of Jack and the Beanstalk by Joseph Jacobs —
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• — The fairytale of the Black Geese retold by Alison Lurie —
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• — The fairytale of clever Gretchen retold by Alison Lurie —
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• — The fairytale of the Mixed-Up Feet and the Silly Bridgegroom, by Isaac Bashevis Singer, retold by Elizabeth Shub —
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• — Alison Lurie looks at wisdom and folly in fairytales —
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• — The fairytale of the Red Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by Naomi Lewis —
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• — The fairytale of the Fisherman and Ifrit from the Arabian Nights, translated by Malcom C Lyons —
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• — The fairytale of Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault, translated by AE Johnson —
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• — The fairytale of the one-handed murderer by Italo Calvino, translated by George Martin —
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• — Justice and punishment in fairytales. Sarah Churchwell looks at the consequences of fairytale sins —
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• — John Harris: I can’t lament the demise of nursery rhymes when my three-year-old sings rock’n'roll classics instead —
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• — The fairytale of Hans My Hedgehog by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Jack Zipes —
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• — The fairytale of the Heart of a Monkey retold by Andrew Lang —
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• — The fairytale of Beauty and the Beast by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont —
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• — Marina Warner looks at the role animals play in fairytales —
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• — “Now everything comes from China,” said Brian Campbell, whose book of prose poems, Passenger Flight, invokes global warming, globalization, 9/11 and state-sanctioned torture. —
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• — “Ninety-eight percent of the time I agree with them,” said Graham, referring to the current processes that her book is undergoing. “It really shows how important revision is.” —
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• — McSweeney’s Next Incarnation: An Old-Fashioned Broadsheet —
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• — Transcript: James Wright on the Poetic Prose of H. L. Mencken, Mark Twain, E. M. Forster, and Leo Tolstoy —
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• — Astrology chart Walt Whitman —
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• — Rosmarie Waldrop on Metaphor & Metonymy —
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• — Bonnie Jo Campbell Rocks the Twittersphere —
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• — Lunch Poems: Tracy K. Smith – UCTV – University of California Television —
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• — St. Teresa of Avila (October 15, 2009) from Saint of the Day —
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• — Monitor reviews of National Book Award nominees -The 2009 National Book Award nominees are out. You can see the full list below, but for now I’m simply going to quote blogger Laura Nathan who notes, “I recognize the names of far more National Book Award judges than I do book titles and authors.” —
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I’m back I think. In another clinical study – I think it is helping.

• — WCBN Living Writers with T Hetzel – interview with Henry Grimes [mp3] —
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• — Oh, Walt Whitman, And Jeans, and Walt Whitman —
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• — Poetry is rubbish. —
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• — Here some famous writers, looking sensitive: Exhibit A, B, C, D, E. —
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• — Poetic Form: Sevenlings —
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• — Brian Turner, a poet and former infantry team leader in Iraq, has been awarded the 2009-10 Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship —
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• — The poet as the letter ‘I’ —
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• — Poem of the week: Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar —
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• — Chappell Invents Fresh Form with ‘Shadow Box’ —
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• — The Last Days of The Writer Jim Carroll —
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• — Dharma Poetry: Jane Hirshfield —
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• — C. Dale Young —
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• — ‘Smell of space’ strong, metallic and unique —
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• — The World According to Philip Levine —
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• — 40 poets, including McHugh, have received MacArthur Fellowships since the MacArthur Foundation began offering them in 1981. Here they are, from least recent to most recent recipient —
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• — Then she started singing and stopped making sense —
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• — Weekly Poem: ‘Erasers’ from Poetry | NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Podcast | PBS Mary Jo Salter [mp3] —
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• — TS Eliot rejected Bloomsbury group’s ‘cursed fund’ to work in bank —
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• — Hockey poetry? Check. [ok that made me laugh] —
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• — Former poet laureate Robert Hass discusses the power of poetry, particularly during times of great loss and confusion. [mp3] —
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• — Kafka — and Eraserhead — can make you smarter: Study says surrealism can improve learning by compelling the brain to seek out structure —
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• — Poetry and Information Are NOT free —
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• — Poet’s Wordplay Leads To MacArthur ‘Genius’ Award —
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• — Tracy K. Smith: “Alternate Take: Levon Helm” —
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• — An award-winning University of Maryland professor who founded the school’s Master of Fine Arts program in creative writing has been named the state’s poet laureate. —
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• — WALT WHITMAN. March 28, 1892, Wednesday (obit.) —
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• — You betcha! by William Logan —
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• — Alice Fogel joins us from her home in Acworth, New Hampshire. —
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• — Israeli scientists have modified a potent antibiotic that may allow it to treat cystic fibrosis and other genetic diseases caused by “stop mutations”. —
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• — Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney by Dennis O’Driscoll and an MP3 —
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• — Diane Lockward on Barbara Crooker’s RADIANCE —
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• — 12 or 20 questions: with John Kinsella —
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• — Thrive as a Starving Writer–Lessons from the Experts —
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• — So goes the legend of Tsangyang Gyamtso, one of the most popular historical figures among Tibetans and the most colorful of the long line of Dalai Lamas. His poetry is among the most iconic in Tibetan literature. —
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• — How Dudley Randall used poetry to express the truth elegantly —
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• — Can Computers Decipher a 5,000-Year-Old Language? —
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• — Nonprofit group rallies rural artists —
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• — It was Millay and her Dutch husband, Eugen Jan Boissevain, who had the home renovated from the Italiante to the Dutch Colonial style in the 1920s. During their short stint in the home, they added the casement windows, skylight and Dutch stepped gable that passersby see today. —
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• — The Poetry Show: Eva Salzman and Amy Wack’s anthology Women’s Work [mp3] —
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• — Joe Milford Hosts William S. Burroughs [mp3] —
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• — Where American Poetry Wins – May 1, 1921, Sunday —
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• — Count Basie and Yusef Komunyakaa —
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• — Valentino wins NEA grant to translate poetry —
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• — Gutter Magazine And Anonymous Reviews —
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• — Born in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra, in 1935, Taufiq is one of Indonesia’s most prolific poets. —
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• — Poetry: Simon Armitage in bid for Olympics 2012 arts commission —
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• — On the list of worst lists ever… —
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• — Promoting writing is goal of Kansas poet laureate —
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• — Dixon’s Civil War Exhibit Punctuated by Whitman’s Poetry —
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• — Collection of poetry follows Sexton’s evolution as a master wordsmith —
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• — The first edition of Wallace Stevens’s work in 20 years —
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• — Puncher pulls none in poetry —
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• — Leonard Peltier Denied Parole —
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• — When Whitman Was Editor; When Whitman Was Editor A Review by MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN January 2, 1921, Sunday —
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• — Emily Dickinson and the Buddha vs. the WWF —
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• — Don’t Hate the Poet, Hate the Po-Biz —
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• — Draw this Turtle, Go to Art School —
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• — Host Hip-Hop/Jazz Poet A. K. Toney reviews the Anthology “From Totems to Hip-Hop” A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas, 1900-2002 edited by Ishmael Reed from Da Capo Press (2003) [mp3] —
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• — Patti Smith just reread ‘Pinocchio’ —
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• — New York U. Computers Learn Creative Writing —
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• — “Instead of publishing my first full-length poetry book in the traditional way, I decided I would go all-digital, no paper unless a reader decides to print a hard copy” —
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• — Wall Street Bank For Poets Proposed. Never Too Big To Fail? —
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• — Bidders sought for Bard’s Bible —
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• — Blogging for Hughes —
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• — Media Personality Named National Spokesperson —
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• — 498. The Grass so little has to do by Emily Dickinson from Classic Poetry Aloud by Classic Poetry Aloud [mp3] —
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• — Philip Levine: Essential American Poets: Recordings of Philip Levine, with an introduction to his life and work. Recorded September 13, 2007, New York, NY. [mp3] —
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• — LITERARY.; Samuel Taylor Coleridge. June 4, 1853, Wednesday —
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• — Wherever There’s a Fight: How Runaway Slaves, Suffragists, Immigrants, Strikers, and Poets Shaped Civil Liberties in California —
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• — more free classroom sets of VERSE —
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• — An appearance of clubbiness is death to a journal, in my opinion. Though Umbrella get submissions from lots of new people each quarter, the proportion of publishable work from that batch is lower than I would hope. It remains an important goal for me to keep the roster fresh. —
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• — Tilt Press publishes three to five chapbooks a year and their reading period is now open. —
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• — The Dictionary of Don Martin —
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• — A man has found a way to save the city of Kingston Springs some money by transforming dead trees into works of art. —
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• — Os Mutantes Premiere New Song On Pitchfork —
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• — Harry Potter author declares one of his poems her all-time favourite, and Leaves of Grass is featured on DJ’s book club —
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• — Independence Day orations and poems : July 4, 1876 (1876) By Beecher, Henry Ward (Author), Taylor, Bayard (Author), Evarts, William M. (Author) —
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• — The Spirit Of The American Revolution, As Revealed In The Poetry Of The Period By Samuel White Patterson —
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• — Songs of Liberty and Other Poems – Robert Underwood Johnson, Jovan Jovanović Zmaj, Nikola Tesla, Translated by Nikola Tesla (yeah that Tesla). —
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• — The Rights of Man: For the Benefit of All Mankind by Thomas Paine —
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• — Poems dedicated to national independence and liberty By William Wordsworth, Stopford Augustus Brooke —
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• — Poems of American Patriotism By Brander Matthews, NC Wyeth —
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• — Independence Day Oration: The Social Significance of Our Institutions By Henry James —
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• — The Patriotic Poems of Walt Whitman by Walt Whitman —
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• — The True Uses of American Revolutionary History By George Ticknor Curtis —
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link

Have a safe holiday weekend. Today’s agenda: pancake breakfast, parade, and fireworks. I think there is a pie-eating contest too.

If you've enjoyed this blog, how about buying me a cup of coffee?

• — A Talk with Sir Rabindranath Tagore; Bengali Poet, Nobel Prize Winner, Now in This Country, Gives His Poetic Creed and Explains Oriental Attitude Toward Literature By Joyce Kilmer. October 29, 1916, Sunday —
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• — Frieda Hughes: why I love motorcycle racing —
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• — The Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, Mr. Carroll’s hometown, has agreed to install a marker that commemorates a moment on Nov. 27, 1925, when the poet Vachel Lindsay was timidly approached at dinner by a busboy who placed three poems he had written next to Lindsay’s plate. —
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• — This month’s Across the Page features four noteworthy poetry collections, including: Mary Oliver’s new release, Evidence; Audre Lorde’s The Black Unicorn; Marilyn Hacker’s Desesperanto, and British poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy’s Rapture. —
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• — As you can see, at least two letters at the start of every word are the same as the ending letters of the previous word. Can you make such word-chain sentences that make sense? —
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• — 5 Awe-Inspiring Poetry Reads, by Katha Pollitt —
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• — Denton woman selected as 2010 Texas poet laureate —
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• — D’oh! on a Grecian Urn —
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• — Miss Conduct’s 2nd Annual Clerihew Contest! —
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• — Like the Levi’s(R) brand, Walt Whitman stands for the democratic power of real people – the self-reliant young men and women who make this country a better place. —
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• — “Over the coming weeks, we’ll also be posting a second set of poems by the contributors to the issue. These poems will be ‘made’ using the texts from other contributors’ poems.” —
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• — Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest 2009 Results —
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• — “…about the experience of putting together the Multiformalisms anthology I recently edited with Susan Schultz and how the formalism/language poetry are not at all the opposed forces people imagine they are but are practically in cahoots” —
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• — Marianne Moore’s five-decade struggle with “Poetry.” —
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• — An Era of Détente for Creative-Writing Programs <-- updated link to free access to full article thank you ---
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• — Santa Clara County unveiled its first-ever word collage – a collection of lines from county residents organized by county Poet Laureate Nils Peterson. —
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• — Poetry presses, getting published & the delightful ampersand
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• — In her collection, “Honeybee” (Greenwillow, 2008), writer Naomi Shihab Nye finds a metaphor for our constant busy–ness in the phenomenon of colony collapse disorder — the unexplained demise of thousands of honeybees. [mp3] —
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Hey, happy Canada Day!

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• — I thought I’d hop into a recent discussion begun here which proposed to consider the prose poem as a medium, a la Marshall McLuhan, rather than as a poetic form and was based on a quote to that effect made… —
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• — All that remains of Denver’s once- vital Beat scene are the memories of those who took part as well as the literary and visual artworks and scattered residue from that creatively fertile, topsy-turvy time from around 1965 through 1987 —
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• — “He touched my life. His influence was profound. He will always be part of me, down where the deep-feeders lie.” —
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• — Dharma Poetry: Gary Synder’s “Riprap” —
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• — “I’m at the point where I don’t really know what’s going on–I really haven’t been in touch for 10 years.” —
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• — Cambridge University launched a campaign on Thursday to buy an important collection of personal papers belonging to Siegfried Sassoon, the British anti-war poet noted for his bravery in battle. —
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• — But there is one element in the story of the fall of Palmyra and of Queen Zenobia that is not usually mentioned in the history books: namely, the fact that there was also a “poet” in this story, who played a central role in the unfolding drama by proffering “advice.” —
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• — Hassett vs. Hasselbeck: What A Plagiarism Lawsuit Reveals About Writers’ Fear of Theft —
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• — Women in science —
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• — However, she is keeping the 600 bottles of complimentary sherry written into the ancient terms and conditions. —
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• — Two words on love —
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• — The Library of Congress posted a photo: —
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• — The Poetry Media Service offers free content about poetry to newspapers and online publications. Its book reviews, profiles, interviews, and poetry columnists will engage a general readership in poetry. —
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• — Emily Dickinson & Walt Whitman enter the blogosphere, with a whole age in train. ( —
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• — “I’ve gotten a healthy amount of queries asking for clarification on a couple points surrounding our first reading period, so I figured it’s better late than never to clarify” —
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• — William Carlos Williams reads his poems in New York City in 1942 and at the Library of Congress in 1945. [mp3] —
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• — On Poetry: Contemporary American poetry needs a literary revival —
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• — A former poet laureate on haiku and the responsibilities of writers. —
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• — Gods and Soldiers: The Penguin Anthology of Contemporary African Writing —
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link

If you've enjoyed this blog, how about buying me a cup of coffee?

• — Dharma Poetry: Stephen Dunn —
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• — Robert Polito on Kenneth Fearing’s media-saturated poetry as vernacular collage [mp3] —
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• — The Annual Return of Sunny the Turtle —
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• — Barn Owl Review 3 Call for Submissions —
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• — Artists Find Inspiration In Genetic Research —
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• — People with a family history of genetic disease are often discriminated against by insurance companies and their relatives and friends, according to new research. —
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• — Who Buys Poetry Books? —
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• — playlist 11 june from Wordsalad by paul —
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• — R.I.P. Shaman Drum —
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• — What Really Prompts The Dog’s ‘Guilty Look’
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• — “A lot of people have already pointed out Louis Menand’s (that’s him at right) article on MFA programs in The New Yorker, but I just finally read it, so I’m joing in with a passage I liked” —
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• — Poetry of Rumi Spans Across Centuries, Cultures from Poetry | NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Podcast | PBS [mp3] —
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• — “Tim Green has some interesting thoughts on print vs online publication and on poetry publishing in general.” —
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• — Hucksters, mavericks and visionaries: Ian Sansom savours the detail in a mammoth celebration of early 20th century avant-garde poets —
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• — NP Books Podcast: Summer Books preview, The Griffin Prize and introducing The Gentlemen’s Reading Society [mp3] —
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• — An Invitation into the Wilderness with Kim Stafford [mp3] —
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• — ‘Frog And Toad’ Leap Off The Page Again —
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• — Ten Questions for Poetry Editors – Justin Evans —
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• — The Poetry Show: Michael and Mathew Dickman [mp3] —
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• — Werd is a book review show this Week Veronica reviews King By Rebecca Wolff , B.H. Fairchilds, Usher, & Brendan Constantine’s Letters to guns [mp3] —
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• — Poet’s Choice by Carl Phillips: ‘Now in Our Most Ordinary Voices’ by Carl Phillips —
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• — The general assumption seems to be that poetry is a good thing and we should all have more of it in our lives. But what if poetry is not a thing at all? —
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• — Maxine Kumin: “Seven Caveats in May” —
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• — “Hat tip to Max Boot. Here’s Harlan Ellison in a very memorable rant about why you should pay writers if you want them to write something for you.” —
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• — WS Merwin’s “The Shadow of Sirius” deserved to win the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in poetry, and not just because the book is one of his strongest in years. —
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• — An Oulipo Mini-Anthology: When members of the Oulipo convened in New York, Bookworm was there to record this mini-anthology of the transcendentally witty, sometimes hilarious goings-on. [mp3] —
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• — “But a new release would reconcile the division “between the experimental and the conventional,” we were promised, and this year Norton released its hybrid (as if all serious poems didn’t arise from a mixture of styles and influences) anthology.” —
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• — Behind the recent scandal at Oxford lies a more intractable conflict between the myths of poetry and the realities of the modern university. —
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• — George Oppen: New Poems, Audio, and Biography —
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• — “I’m wondering why we hate poetry. I don’t mean people who don’t write it. I mean people who do.” —
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• — Poet’s Choice by Jeanne Larsen: ‘Wrong All These Years — It Isn’t’ by Jeanne Larsen —
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• — Canadian university welcomes Derek Walcott to teaching post —
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• — Possible sound recording of Walt Whitman reading from “America” —
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• — Dan Albergotti from Jane Crown’s Poetry Radio [mp3] —
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• — “We are all delighted to announce the release of the 12th issue of Galatea Resurrects, with a record number of 87 new reviews! “ —
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• — Modernist minotaurs —
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• — A.F. Moritz and C.D. Wright are the winners of the 2009 Griffin Poetry Prize —
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• — The Surprising Advantages of Being a Poet —
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• — Elvis inhabits the psyche of poet CaConrad, author of Advanced Elvis Course, an odd compendium of poems, dialogues, quotations, dreams and anecdotes. The first half describes the poet’s pilgrimage to Graceland, Mecca for Elvis fans, consisting of a gauche plantation-style mansion and museum complex. —
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• — Lost Ted Hughes children’s poem discovered —
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• — “10 or 15 years ago a large state press like Shanghai Literature Press would not have gone near these poets. Things are opening up. But…the in-house censor chopped out a few of my favorites.” —
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• — Weekly Poem: ‘Luminous Great Mass’
  from Poetry | NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Podcast | PBS —
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• — Judge Orders Former Bristol-Myers Executive to Write Book —
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• — Poster poems: Fame —
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• — Linklog: How the web changes readers, lit-Twitters and more —
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• — How to Sleep, by Dorianne Laux from Poetry Daily —
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• — Israel’s oldest newspaper surprised 50,000 readers this week, giving the paper’s journalists a vacation–turning over the newspaper to writers and poets. —
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• — Tim Martin explores the mad humour of nursery rhymes in foreign tongues —
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• — Beat poet Harold Norse dies at 92 —
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• — Articles in May/Jun 2009 issue of American Poetry Review, The —
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• — Locating Narrative In Medicine’s Moral Domain: Notes (Musical And Otherwise) From A Recent Presentation —
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• — Bloomsday around the world —
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• — Poet’s Choice By Edward Hirsch: Claribel Alegría trans. by Carolyn Forché —
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• — photo —
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• — Poetic Form: Found Poem —
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I’m just posting poetry news every Bloomsday from now on.

Since I last posted I lost my job (I need ADA Accommodations), I had to have Betty “put to sleep” (our 18-year old cat who slept on my feet each night), I’m dealing with being broke (being sick and out of work for months will do that), I’m dealing with my husband being on the road all year (I don’t mind saying that online because I believe in all the Amendments of the Constitution and I can still lift things haha) and I got my job back (I think).

More tomorrow.

If you've enjoyed this blog, how about buying me a cup of coffee?