Poetry

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    Poetry.com Poems of the Day

  • She walks in beauty

    She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellowed to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies.One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impaired the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress, Or soby George Gordon, Lord Byron (Read More)

  • Love's Philosophy

    The fountains mingle with the river And the rivers with the ocean, The winds of heaven mix for ever With a sweet emotion; Nothing in the world is single, All things by a law divine In one another's being mingle— Why not I with thine? See the mountains kiss high heaven, And the waves clasp one another; Nby Percy Bysshe Shelley (Read More)

  • Of Alice in Wonderland

    A boat, beneath a sunny sky, Lingering onward dreamily In an evening of July;Children three that nestle near, Eager eye and willing ear, Pleased a simple tale to hear;—Long has paled that sunny sky: Echoes fade and memories die, Autumn frosts have slain July.by Lewis Carroll (Read More)
 
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    Poetry News

  • Book Review / Poetry lovers tricked by a drowned manuscript:...

    20 Nov 2009 | 4:51 pm
    BOOK REVIEW / Poetry lovers tricked by a drowned manuscript: Samarkand - Amin Maalouf, Tr.

  • Woman, 92, pens poetry

    20 Nov 2009 | 12:47 pm
    Topekan Peg Penry has just published her fifth book of poetry, this one a collection of religious verse she has written through the years.

  • Dyslexic girl wins poetry prize

    20 Nov 2009 | 6:31 am
    A DYSLEXIC youngster has won first prize in a national poetry competition. Brigid Davidson, from Chipping Norton, won first place in the Charley Boorman Poetry Competition, organised by Dyslexia Action as part of Dyslexia Awareness Week.

  • Alicia Keys To Launch Jewelry Line

    19 Nov 2009 | 4:26 pm
    Next week, the 12-time Grammy Award-winning songstress will introduce a jewelry collection called The Barber's Daughters.

  • Berkoff's poetry emotion at Book Now

    19 Nov 2009 | 11:54 am
    Steven Berkoff is best known for his work in the theatre as a writer, director and performer.
 
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    fait accompli

  • 18 Nov 2009 | 8:37 pm

    18 Nov 2009 | 8:37 pm
    The Final Beginning (Poets and Artists 12/09)

  • 17 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pm

    17 Nov 2009 | 9:10 pm
    Poets and Artists (O & S) December 2009I am pleased and proud to announce that some of my work has been included in the latest issue of Poets and Artists December 2009 edited and produced by Didi Menendez* * * * *ContradictaInformation plus passion=knowledge; information minus passion= document* * * Success consists of 1% holding forth and 99% holding back.* * * * *ContradictaFeelings are the language of experience; words tell us what the world wants-and needs- from us and are maps to what we want and need from the world.* * * Silence in response to biting words helps make thought into a kind…

  • 24 Oct 2009 | 12:00 pm

    24 Oct 2009 | 12:00 pm
    David Bromige Memorial At Poet's House, Friday October 16, 2009Ron Silliman has posted a terrific essay on David Bromige, in celebration of what would have been David's 76th birthday, here:Silliman's Blog.I understand there is more to come about David from both Ron and Bob Perelman in the Grand Piano series. This is something I am eagerly looking forward to.Here is a version of the talk I gave about David B at Poet's House:David Bromige is difficult to describe because he was a fascinating person of contrasts and complex contradictions. Solitary thinker and and social charmer, mild man and…

  • 15 Oct 2009 | 9:07 pm

    15 Oct 2009 | 9:07 pm
    Toni Simon work and interview in November issue of Poets and ArtistsPoets and Artists Nov 2009ContradictaWhat happens, I think, is that you start thinking more about credit than substance and then you are not a writer anymore, you're a promoter.* * * * *Try to remember your dreams.

  • 3 Oct 2009 | 10:03 am

    3 Oct 2009 | 10:03 am
    EOAGH 5* * * * *M.C Blakeman (San Francisco Chronicle) opines on the public (library) option (via The Casual Tee)* * * * *Wood s Lot: Raymond Federman (1928-2009)* * * * *Friday, October 9John Lennon's birthdayvia wood s lot* * * * *This is What A (Pro) Feminist [Man Poet] Looks LikeDelirious Lapel* * * * *The Only Known Video of Anne Frank
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    Nina Alvarez

  • Poem of the Day: The Wanderings of Oisin: Book I

    phantomcity
    14 Nov 2009 | 4:03 pm
    The Wanderings of Oisin: Book I S. Patrick. You who are bent, and bald, and blind, With a heavy heart and a wandering mind, Have known three centuries, poets sing, Of dalliance with a demon thing.Oisin. Sad to remember, sick with years, The swift innumerable spears, The horsemen with their floating hair, And bowls of barley, honey, and wine, Those merry couples [...]

  • Shout out to Poetry Foundation

    phantomcity
    5 Nov 2009 | 1:20 pm
    My dear friend, Philadelphia artist Anders Hansen has generously paid for my subscription to Poetry magazine for the past two years. I often forget this, but the magazine, founded in 1912 by Harriet Monroe, has a fabulous website, complete with audio of some wonderful poems: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/journal/audiolanding.html Enjoy! Posted in words

  • My Most Recent Poem: “October”

    phantomcity
    30 Oct 2009 | 12:36 pm
    Is published in the Hugo-award-winning literary magazine Electric Velocipede. Cheers! Nina   Posted in words

  • Poem of the Day: As I Walked Out One Evening

    phantomcity
    27 Oct 2009 | 10:34 pm
    As I Walked Out One Evening As I walked out one evening, Walking down Bristol Street, The crowds upon the pavement Were fields of harvest wheat. And down by the brimming river I heard a lover sing Under an arch of the railway: ‘Love has no ending. (…continue reading at Poets.org) -W.H. Auden Posted in words

  • Poem of the Day: For R, For Whatever Reason

    phantomcity
    21 Oct 2009 | 12:42 pm
    For R, For Whatever Reason Across a pond A swan came into view And dipped its head Her head, maybe your head Too low to the chest, the beak Went under the mirror I watched with you, this loop of white pierce black water, like floating in tar, but her head came up. And the world was restored. I wonder how I could have missed it. [...]
 
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    Cosmopoetica

  • Umbert Eco on Lists and List-Making

    chris
    17 Nov 2009 | 2:28 pm
    I’m an inveterate list-maker and reader of lists. My notebooks are full of lists of various kinds; my otherwise haphazard “productivity” system is based on lists; I love anaphoric poems; found lists are one of my favorite finds inside used-books… so it’s natural that this interview with Umberto Eco charmed me with his discussion of lists of all kinds. Eco makes some interesting observations about lists in literature, considers why we make lists in light of the (practically) infinite bounds of the subjects of many lists, and even ventures into thinking about lists…

  • A Blurb by David Kirby

    chris
    16 Nov 2009 | 9:58 am
    via a friend on a mailing list comes this blub by David Kirby for The Ecstacy of Capitulation, a book of poems (unknown to me) by Daniel Borzutzky: “After I first read Daniel Borzutzky’s poems in magazines, I became a hellhound on his trail, pursuing him over the oceans (he was in Turkey at the time) until I ran him to earth and shook more poems out of him. I wanted my students to read those poems and to write like Borzutzky, yeah, but, more importantly, to think like him. There’s a divine foolishness to these poems, a knuckleheaded clarity that allows the poet to ask “Are…

  • More on the PW 10 Best Novels Controversy

    chris
    7 Nov 2009 | 12:40 pm
    Following up on my earlier post about the Publishers Weekly controversy, I thought I’d highlight two of the more interesting related items I’ve come across: Salon’s Laura Miller has a reasonable and—more importantly—realistic, non-abstract article about the whole kerfluffle. WILLA, which posted the press release I linked to before, has a wiki page where readers can contribute titles of books they think could have been on the list. The WILLA List provides many titles that go beyond the usual suspects… which is good, because the immediate reaction to the list seemed to be to list a…

  • On the Wealth of Poetry (David Kirby)

    chris
    7 Nov 2009 | 12:15 pm
    As seen on Ed Byrne’s Assemblage: "Look, a poem either sends you a bill or writes you a check. You can use up too much of your intellectual and emotional capital, not to mention your good will, and come away feeling had. Or you can pat your billfold and say, ‘Hey, this baby just got a little fatter.’ "When I’m asked by fellow air passengers what I do for a living and reply, ‘I write poems,’ the reaction is often a startled smile, as though they’re thinking Homer! Dante! Milton! (At least that’s what I’m thinking they’re…

  • Blatant Sexism or Something Else?

    chris
    3 Nov 2009 | 8:56 pm
    Amy King shares this press release condemning the Publisher’s Weekly 2009 Best Books list(s). You can read it and judge for yourself, but it is thought-provoking. I have a couple of thoughts: (and Amy King took great offense to this) There’s a mathematical argument being made that is much less interesting than an argument that could be made involving actual books. Saying “there should be X out of 10” (which is wholly problematic for any method of determing “X”) is much less effective than saying “here are books that should have made the list” or “here’s an alternative…
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    Poetmeister ...on the road to Parnassus

  • From the crypt.. mwaaaaaaaaahaha!!!!!!!

    janetleigh
    31 Oct 2009 | 2:21 am
    Halloweaned There’s nothing hallowed about this day, unless druidism is your Way? more’s the wayward mind, wide-eyed drunk, shriveled and shrunken talking heads, spiked like an olive on a tooth pick, on wrought iron will. Cats gutted & strung up charred- for the fun of it, mores lost to treatful days long past- a loaded bag thrown up on granma’s porch- a trick too common to make a stink about. By today’s standards it’s no teen with a match sans malice- it’s your 7 year old stealing daddy’s torch with a bead on your head! What used to be good old-fashioned mischief has turned…

  • Wazzup wit dat? (but no one waz kilt ;)

    janetleigh
    30 Oct 2009 | 12:30 am
    Hey! something came in kicked the tar out my sidebar. Bullets everywhere!! Tagged: blog sidebar rearranged, Jestku, long time for page to download, no one was kilt, Poetmeister

  • Poetinalia of 10.20.09

    janetleigh
    20 Oct 2009 | 11:16 pm
    My Dear Friends, Thank you for stopping by and leaving me your words of support, comfort and concern.  I’m sure you’re all getting tired of my posts, poems & poetinalia having to do with Rascal and his health problems. To tell you the truth, as an empty-nester it’s really easy to transfer all the love and concern for our own kids onto our furkids.  Of this, I am guilty.   Truth be told, the bond between me and Rascal is very strong, starting when he was barely a year old when he was bite by a poisonous snake several times on the face, neck and possibly in the mouth. …

  • Rascal, Will of Steel… \o/

    janetleigh
    28 Sep 2009 | 10:42 am
    Rascal gets his willpower ON! Dearly Beloved came through surgery just fine- tomorrow he’s home! “Thank you everyone for your prayers. They get me through iffy times. I feel your love! Your friend ’til the end.” Signed, Rascal Tagged: comes through surgery just fine, home tomorrow, Rascal-Will of Steel, sarcoma below dew claw

  • Rascal, the Irrepressible

    janetleigh
    28 Sep 2009 | 12:05 am
    Rascal tomorrow: removal of sarcoma. We pray he survives. Tagged: Poetmeister, pray his heart holds up, Rascal needs surgery; sarcoma just below dewclaw, Rascal the Irrepressible
 
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    Lorna Dee Cervantes

  • Where In The World Is Lorna? Revised Fall/Winter Schedule: Sonoma State University, TODAY, 1-3:30pm

    20 Nov 2009 | 12:10 am
    Nov. 20Sonoma State University, Friday, 11/20, 1:00 - 3:40 pm, Stevenson Hall, room 2001; Rohnert Park, CA.Nov. 28 Rosas en el Mar: Lorna Dee Cervantes, MamaCoatl, Avotcja, and others. 6-10 pm, Dance Mission Theater, 24th Street & Mission, San Francisco, in honor of INTERNATIONAL MONTH FOR THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE TOWARD WOMEN AND GIRLS.Dec. 2Lorna Dee Cervantes w/ Francisco Alarcón & José Montoya at Stanford University. Dr. Yvonne Yarbro-Bejerano's class.Dec. 5Lorna Dee Cervantes w/ Francisco Alarcón, DJ, bar & more: book party for STREET ART SAN FRANCISCO: MISSION MURALISMO; artists…

  • Where In the World is Lorna? Lorna Dee Cervantes Fall Poetry Readings Calendar

    6 Nov 2009 | 2:41 pm
    Lorna Dee Cervantes Readings:Nov. 6• Kickoff Extravaganza: “Mission Muralismo: The HEART of the Mission, A Celebration of Art and Community” celebrates Street Art San Francisco: Mission Muralismo, edited by Annice Jacoby with a foreword by Carlos Santana, in partnership with Precita Eyes Muralists; this will be one of the most ambitious book signing events ever hosted by the de Young, featuring many of the artists, photographers, and writers showcased in the book, with live music by Dr. Loco’s Rockin’ Jalepeño Band; poetry and performances by Lorna Dee Cervantes, Stephen Cervantes,…

  • 15 Years Ago Today...

    29 Sep 2009 | 3:31 pm
    ...my one and only baby was born. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! May all your passages be smooth.I'm back in Boulder, feeling odd and strange to be back for a few days after 2 years and a few months away. Looking at my office again, I'm trying not to feel overwhelmed at the task of moving. Just gathering my papers together will take a LONG LONG TIME. (hmm, my capital letters agree.) I might consider looking for a house swap or sublet or house-sitting situation here in Boulder while I pack.I was just going to sell things. But I still like them. Ha, well. Time to get steak and lobster. No internet at the old…

  • Susan Cervantes, Master Muralist, Gets Her Own Day In SF. Precita Eyes Muralists Desperately Need A Van!

    23 Sep 2009 | 3:54 pm
    September 19, 2009, Susan Kelk Cervantes Day in San Francisco!My step-mother, Susan Kelk Cervantes, was awarded a proclamation from Mayor Newson Gavin at the Precita Eyes Muralists Gala, "Community Art From the Heart" for her many contributions to the culture and quality of life in San Francisco. You can sign up now for the rare opportunity to take a Master Class from her in mural painting, Oct. 1 - Nov. 1: http://www.precitaeyes.org/cmpw.html. Now, Precita Eyes Muralists and SUSAN CERVANTES DEPERATELY NEEDS A VAN to replace their old one which broke down, never to run again, Saturday…

  • 100-Word Love Poems to Strangers: Poems for Francisco X. Alarcon On His 20th Anniversary

    23 Sep 2009 | 10:48 am
    100-Word Love Poem to Javier for Francísco X. AlarcónI was alone in shadows,a thief in the shadows,a regiment of one inthe shadow of you onthe night you appeared. Yougrasped me from the shadowslike the migra grabs livesout of the transatlantic water.I am no longer drowningin the shadow of you.I am alive to yourshadow, to your flank andfile. I am no longergroveling in anyone's shadow whileyours lies luxuriously in mysun. I am enormous withshadows until the sum ofyour tongue. You lick upthe galaxies in my me,my confidant, compañero de sí.8-15-09Lorna Dee…
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    Surroundings

  • Dryden: 'Sylvia the fair...'

    Rob
    19 Nov 2009 | 3:22 pm
    Dryden likes his rhyming couplets and nearly all (or perhaps just ‘all’) his major poems seem to be written in the form. I read a section (167 lines) from Religio Laici, an interesting poem in many ways and I’ll try to say something about it soon, but it was something of a relief – after all this Religion and Reason – to find a short poem about a young woman.A New Song: ‘Sylvia the fair’ may (almost) be written in couplets, but the anapaestic rhythm fairly drives the verse along. Poor Sylvia:…had heard of a pleasure, and something she guessedBy the towsing and tumbling and…

  • Sphinx, Magma and Salt

    Rob
    18 Nov 2009 | 2:54 am
    A few quickies. First, the new issue of Sphinx is out. I always recommend this magazine and it looks particularly good this time round. It begins with a terrific interview with Tony Frazer, editor of Shearsman Press.Secondly, check out this fun, free-to-enter competition at the Magma blog, in which you choose a poem to ban from the school syllabus and say why in less than 300 words. The winner gets a poetry anthology and an annual subscription to Magma – so well worth entering.Thirdly, all UK orders of Salt books before Christmas will be sent with free postage. If you want to surprise your…

  • Dryden: Macflecknoe

    Rob
    18 Nov 2009 | 1:59 am
    Dryden’s MacFlecknoe would have been the literary romp of his day, a satire that makes today’s poetry wars look somewhat well-mannered. Wikipedia offers a very useful, short commentary on the poem’s background. The poem is essentially a satiric attack on a certain Thomas Shadwell, a poet and playwright, and a contemporary of Dryden with whom Dryden had various disagreements – mainly about poetry, although politics was also an issue. Shadwell may have seen himself as an heir to Ben Jonson, but wasn't anywhere near the same standard, and Dryden makes fun of his pretension (Dryden didn't…

  • Dryden: Absalom and Achitophel

    Rob
    17 Nov 2009 | 3:16 pm
    I started off my tour of Dryden by reading the 1031-line Absalom and Achitophel (Part 1), which I suppose might come under the category of ‘mock epic’. It tells how the nasty Achitophel influences Absalom to rebel against King David’s peaceful reign. Along the way are excursions into the nature of ambition and desire, the divine right (or otherwise) of kings, and the courage of the faithful remnant who stand by their king in times of trouble. The poem is written in rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter – impressive in itself, in a way. I guess few modern poets would fancy tackling…

  • Kevin Blechdom and Jamie Lidell

    Rob
    15 Nov 2009 | 6:56 am
    I was listening to a seven-year-old CD I'd got free from Wire magazine and enjoyed a track by Kevin Blechdom, who (to my surprise) turned out to be a woman. On YouTube, I discovered this performance below, which was apparently rehearsed from scratch in under one hour. It's something else. Jamie Lidell has quite a voice - I also really like his song Another Day, even if it's far more conventional than this one:
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    GotPoetry.com News

  • STD (Stuff to Do) November 20 - November 26

    20 Nov 2009 | 8:49 am
    Member of the U of C’s Committee on Social Thought, poet, and novelist Adam Zajagewski will be reading a selection of his poetry at the Renaissance Society. In 2004, he won the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, which is often considered a precursor to the Nobel prize in literary circles. (Renaissance Society, 2 p.m., free)...Link!

  • Franco family's 'Metamorphosis: Junior Year'

    20 Nov 2009 | 8:29 am
    The result is "Metamorphosis: Junior Year," a novel released in October that combines prose with poetry, short chapters with big themes and mythology with modern-day teenage angst. It is a collaboration between mother and sons: Betsy wrote the text; Tom, 29, did the illustrations; and James, 31, and Dave, 24, recorded the audio version of the book....Link!

  • Intelligent Design vs. Evolution: Evolution wins again. [Greg Laden's Blog]

    20 Nov 2009 | 8:21 am
    In the Traditional News: Intelligent Design vs. Evolution: Evolution wins again. Posted on: September 29, 2009 7:38 PM, by Greg Laden An international team of researchers, including Monash University biochemists, has discovered evidence at the molecular level in support of one of the key tenets of Darwin's theory of evolution.Link!

  • City, police honored by county first

    20 Nov 2009 | 8:20 am
    Walker presented a selection of her poetry and plaques to a gathered crowd of city and Jacksonville Police Department officials at the police station. ...Link!

  • Theatre for Today presents play readings of local playwright

    20 Nov 2009 | 8:17 am
    Poetry News: Howard Scott lived in Deming for nine years. His book "Then He Said," a collection of poetry, essays and plays was published in 2008.Link!
 
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    Blogsboro Poetry Club

  • Homecoming Roadtrip

    20 Nov 2009 | 7:58 am
    Deer on the road dead / a man leaps from burning Jeep / Four cops with guns drawn

  • Bob Dylan at IU Auditorium

    16 Nov 2009 | 8:45 am
    even in row 5 / Bob Dylan is a mere blur / Tom Waits a shadow

  • 13 Nov 2009 | 10:04 am

    13 Nov 2009 | 10:04 am
    I follow the coffee aroma to its sourcelooking for some mild wake up timeMy baby's made breakfast'French style'and lifeon this drowsy Sunday morningseems ... entire poem

  • Fair Exchange

    11 Nov 2009 | 9:11 am
    She pays me in coin / small change she finds on the ground / Good luck, you’ll need it

  • Obscured by Flatus

    4 Nov 2009 | 2:36 am
    Your bare legs may be fairly peppered with the gummy, reduplicative particles.
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    the amandzing way

  • can you see my light

    amandzing
    20 Nov 2009 | 2:43 pm
    how deep are my eyes when i look in the mirror reflections of reflections reflecting back at reflections reflecting… nothing but reflections lost in finity pitiful creatures scurry faster than light from light probing places where there should be no light… misted memories twist in the dark wanting more feeding and stealing light need all my might to clear the weeds from beautiful things refracted dreams lost in reflected things not dead just lost waiting for a line of light how deep are my eyes when you look in my mirror Tagged: african poet, freedom, life, poem, poems, Poetry, south…

  • sometimes

    amandzing
    16 Nov 2009 | 12:38 pm
    when i get so lonely my heart could leak i imagine if mom was still around would she be proud would she say out loud im proud of my daughter would she guide me and hold me as i battle monsters in my head of self-doubt and guilt and fear and… failure… is not allowed my blood won’t let me 600 years of tradition keep me on a mission to succeed weed out the weak and the meek and to take what i want to sup from the fountain of power except its only what im supposed to do no more war but now the corporate ladder makes those still in my life gladder except i dont want to anymore,…

  • theres a hole in my head

    amandzing
    30 Oct 2009 | 4:54 pm
    theres a hole in my head, don’t worry im not thinking of being dead instead its caused by words tumbling around and bashing up against the inside of my skull most people think our brains are solid but thats only the third dimensional physical anatomical presentation of the conglomeration of words jammed solid when they have nowhere to go… i have a hole in my head and words are leaking out, laughing at me with the ease of their escape as they break free from boundaries i know they hate to be stacked and stored in flawless order rhythm and pace are the way forward because without…

  • i know my friend is dead

    amandzing
    14 Oct 2009 | 7:28 pm
    i know my friend is dead it was a dark and starless night in my dream hope was plain out of light beyond the mountain a faint glow lined the ridge i was outside this dank and chilly night i’d heard the bark and howl of an old and faithful friend i threw back my head and yowled zak! owoooooo zak!owoooooo but it was pointless a dead end then a six horse carriage thundered by quick as lightning I jumped up high chased those horses until sparks from their hooves flew by they ran over the mountain i knew i was going to see zak again as i passed over the ridge i saw the light was a lie and zak…

  • tiddy tiddy bum

    amandzing
    29 Jul 2009 | 9:31 pm
    theres a hole in my soul im watching me leak out of me third party to my own destruction watching my life train wreck itself into submission and batter itself to death on the shoreline of couldn’t care less i want to rage and scream and say enough maybe not really ho hum and stumble on concentrating on wadding my life into a spitball as i slam into the wall of me against me i want to be in me again but its nice out here theres no pain maybe not really ho hum and stumble on… Tagged: african poet, depression, fear, insanity, poem, poems, Poetry, south african poet, stupid humans
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    international exchangefor poetic invention

  • Fair of Digital Book Edition Zero

    14 Nov 2009 | 2:52 pm
    The Fair of the Digital Book in its edition zero will develop between 18 and 19 of next November in the context of Ficod´09, in the Palace of Congresses of Madrid. The event is organizated by Bubok and e-Culture. The program of activities includes tables of debate, workshops, an area of experiences, a zone of exhibition and stands from where it will occur to know the digital book the future, his new supports, new edition forms and literary creation. In this fair stands out the participation of authors tie to digital Literature, among them, Lorenzo Silva in the opening of the event, Juan…

  • Recent Tinfish Editor blog posts

    7 Nov 2009 | 6:13 pm
    Some recent forays, include thoughts about Small Press Publishing, creative writingand composition, Chin Music Press books, documentary surrealism and sales!: * Communities of Destination 2: "Radicant Aesthetics... * Communities of destination: Independent small pres... * Creative Writing (in) Composition * Chin Music Press & Issues in Creative Writing * Tinfish Thanksgiving Sale * Documentary surrealism: Matt Jasper's _Moth Moon_ * "Whttp://tinfisheditor.blogspot.comaloha, Susan M. Schultz

  • Rome, Nov. 13th, La camera verde: A new book (and the first translated into Italian) by Jean-Marie Gleize

    7 Nov 2009 | 9:59 am
    Rome, November 13th, 2009 - at 8 pmLa camera verdepresentsJean-Marie Gleize's new book :en face latéralein vista lateralefelix chapbook & reading series edited by Marco GiovenaleItalian translation :Michele ZaffaranoJMG will read the texts in FrenchCritical speech byLuigi Magno*Jean-Marie Gleize (Paris, 1946) is a French writer, poet and essayist, professor of Contemporary French Literature at the École Normale Supérieure in Lyon. Notes (in Italian) about his works are here. In English: here.* LA CAMERA VERDEvia Giovanni Miani 2000154 Rome, Italyemail: lacameraverde [at] tiscali [dot]…

  • RUNBOOK /// octobre / téléchargeable /// october / downloadable

    7 Nov 2009 | 2:18 am
    RUNBOOKoctobre / téléchargeable /// october / downloadablehttp://despaysages.fr/runbook.htmlPARTICIPANTSValentina Traïanova / Marie Bousseau / Akiyo Miyake / Elsa Bothier / Dimitri Vazemsky / Katharina Rossboth / Anonyme / Yan Duyvendak / Véronique Pittolo / Pierre Cendors / Claire Tourmen / Raphaële Bruyère / Hirano Takaci / Colette Hyvrard & Alexandra Sà / Florian Reischauer / Katia Monaci / François Laboureix /

  • New issue of Action, Yes

    6 Nov 2009 | 8:20 am
    Hello,We have a new issue of Action, Yes up. This one features several US poets as well as a Canadian poetry special (curated by François Luong) and 3 poems by Japanese poet Takako Ara.
 
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    Poetry of Life

  • Time

    Rohini
    9 Nov 2009 | 5:32 am
    Time wins and no one else, You and me are mere puppets. For once you feel you can have fun, He makes you repent With His twists and turns. Even the slightest impudence you show, He has His ways of punitive throw. A glimpse of times that we forgot, Brings in light, the cause of all thwart. For me now there is no ambit for atheism, As in everything I find only Him.

  • Memories

    Neelam.Shah
    7 Nov 2009 | 5:28 am
    Memories are… Old photographs left alone in an ancient album conveying, love, family, friendship in Past happy occasions. Previous flashbacks recalling, dreadful, frightening moments. A loved ones treasures that brings, such pleasure to the one who inherits them. Memories are… An old burnt down house, that reveals some startling secrets, which now has Become a new home. An child hood friendship, which is broken apart. Unforgotten letters which Remind others that they are loved and their, presence is still here. An family pet first getting Its licence and now it is buried graved.

  • Solitude

    Neelam.Shah
    4 Nov 2009 | 5:27 am
    I am the only one left on this piece of earth. A lonely figure in the centre of the colourless land I am but a single cloud left to pour Devastation, sadness, over the lands Leaving no traces of hope, light and happiness Everyone was once standing here on this very land not so long ago Now they are all blown away with the demonic winds I see their poor empty spirits still glide amongst the grey skies Silence is here, there where ever I go. Not a sound, or a breath from no living creature. It’s just me rooted on one spot gazing at what was the Most beautiful land which now is the most…

  • Agony

    Gurteg.Singh.Saini
    25 Oct 2009 | 9:12 am
    The agony & the immense pain, Of separation once again, I stoop & I fall, And then I fall again. The pain throughout the mundane night, Was extremely unbearable, I tread on pieces of broken glass, With not even a splinter of glass for succour. The day is worse & I dread its light, It is worse than the horrifying night. The days have passed when light was welcome, Now it is highly unwelcome. This horrendous time has taken its toll, Gone is the day when I was on a roll. My only hope is Thy Hand, My Lord; Either save me or use Thy Sword. Either way, I shall fall at Thy Feet, Thy…

  • Pebbles of the sea

    Neelam.Shah
    24 Oct 2009 | 9:26 am
    As the brutal sea waves crashes on to the delicate sand, He leaves traces of tiny circles indented onto the tickly grounds, permanently stamped. Who could have made these circles? It could only be the Pebbles of the sea. The tiny surface of hard cold stones wept across the soft, sizzling land of golden gravel, no single life has ever touched the sea’s treasures, wonder why? If a soul innocently puts a tiny toe on just the tip of the sea’s possessions, the sea’s wrath would rage against the poor soul. He would order his mighty army of gnashing tides to capture this trespasser, and with…
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    Soul Gaze

  • More than a Pretty Face

    Amanda Sanz
    3 Nov 2009 | 5:59 pm
    More than a pretty face Look deep into my eyes rays of light shine from the depth of my being Listen to my voice When I see you cry Want to make it alright And see you smile This shell of mine A curse When all they see Doesn’t go further Than two inches down my skin In time all will fade away Deep within wrinkles Don’t want to think All be gone as I disappear Want to touch your heart And make it beat Like it never had before No because you saw me But because you felt me More than a pretty face Complex, deep and strong Full of love and joy If only you can touch my soul… ©…

  • Your Way

    Amanda Sanz
    12 Oct 2009 | 6:22 pm
    The way you touch With just your voice, Your words enlaced Within my heart. Your lips thirsty For drops of honey Gently falling From my fragile frame. In tune a melody Of chimes, Playing like a symphony To my ears. Making me dance Eternally in the notes Of your passionate love. © 2009 by Amanda Sanz

  • Asi es el Amor

    Amanda Sanz
    21 Sep 2009 | 7:00 pm
    Me encanta esta cancion, no pudo describir el amor mejor!! Disfrutalo!

  • Sin Palabras

    Amanda Sanz
    22 Jul 2009 | 6:33 pm
    Sin palabras en mi sueños en mi mente y en mi cielo Sin palabras hoy suspiro añorando tu regreso con tus brazos en mi cuerpo Sin palabras hoy camino un sendero sin estrellas esperando el lucero de tus ojos destello de alegria Sin palabras fugitiva de aquello que soñamos palabras al viento acobigadas en el alma © 2009 by Amanda Sanz

  • No Me Fio

    Amanda Sanz
    24 Jun 2009 | 7:43 am
    Es triste llegar a este lugar, pero a veces ahi estamos.
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    World Class Poetry Blog

  • Poetry Video Friday: Disillusionment Of Ten O’Clock

    the poet
    20 Nov 2009 | 1:11 pm
    It’s not the best reading in the world, but after a couple of weeks of being under the weather I thought this poem by Wallace Stevens might be apropos. Written in 1915, “Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock” is still one of the great poetic mysteries of the 20th century. At least, I think so.

  • The Nuts And Bolts Of Zukofsky

    the poet
    10 Nov 2009 | 6:58 pm
    After reading 12-1/2 chapters of “A” by Louis Zukofsky, I’m convinced Zukofsky must have been a lunatic. Only such a person could have spent an entire life on a work such as “A”. I’m sure “A” has some literary value, but in large part it is a mad rambling. Zukofsky has the ability to make me think, in one moment, that he is a genius, and in the next, a self-consumed cogitator. These may be qualities that endear me to him. Chapter 12 drones on for 135 pages. Zukofsky’s poetics is difficult to comprehend, though on a fundamental level it is…

  • Why I Love My Wife

    the poet
    6 Nov 2009 | 7:01 pm
    My wife is a great woman. When I ask for chicken broth she brings it to me. And she does other things too. But I needed chicken broth last night and she made me the best cup of broth I’ve ever had. Thanks, wife. I’ve been fighting a cold now for three days. So no video today. We’ll be picking back up on video Friday next week.

  • Zukofsky’s Ballade

    the poet
    4 Nov 2009 | 8:07 pm
    Yesterday I announced I was reading Louis Zukofsky’s “A”. The poem is decidedly written in the mode of free verse – most parts of it anyway. But imagine my surprise when, at the end of Part 8, I’m reading along and happen upon a Ballade. Right in the middle of the poem. Zukofsky was a Modernist. So it shouldn’t surprise me that he did this. All the Modernist’s wrote this way to some extent. One of my favorites, T.S. Eliot, was very adept at it. Nevertheless, Zukofsky springs a Ballade on us, which is a specific type of form. It isn’t merely…

  • Understanding A Poet’s Purpose

    the poet
    3 Nov 2009 | 11:31 am
    To what extent do you make an attempt to understand a poet’s purposes? Or should you? I suspect that many readers do not take the time to understand a particular poet’s poetic, or weltanschauung, before delving into a reading experience. But I think in many cases, they should. I recently had a copy of Louis Zukofsky’s “A” sent to my local library from a university library within my state. This will be my first reading of the poem. Understanding a few things about Zukofsky in general and his worldview in particular helps me to better understand the purposes for…
 
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    POET IN A GRACELESS AGE

  • Brian's Song: I Just Wanna Dance With Angels

    Phil Cerasoli
    8 Nov 2009 | 10:21 am
    We were trudging down that roadwayHeadin’ towards the setting sun;Wond’ring where we’d sleep this SundayWhen the day was finally done.I was searchin’ for redemptionWith the devil by my side.But the devil took exception,Said my soul had long since died.And I heard his evil laughterAnd he told me I was lost;Couldn’t catch what I was after;The goal was higher than the cost.Then his hot hand touched my shoulder;Filled my tired soul with dread.Then his evil voice grew bolderAnd this is what he said:“You started out with good intentionAnd you vowed you’d never stray.”There was no…

  • BEYOND GRAVITY

    Phil Cerasoli
    28 Aug 2009 | 12:42 pm
    Each day you greet the rising sunThinking you're the chosen one,You wear the sunlight like a shining crown.It’s then you let your spirit soarAbove the earth’s relentless roarThat Sea of Life where people often drown.About the time you think you're freeFrom earth and it’s depravityA little thing called GravityReaches up and pulls you back down.Yeah, it's gravity that's holding you down,You visualize a world that’s free.A world of true equalityWhere one town looks like any other town.Where people live with style and grace,Unconcerned about your raceOr if your skin is white or black or…

  • DOUBT

    Phil Cerasoli
    17 Feb 2009 | 11:26 am
    We foolish all fall victims to the Truths that we hold dearAnd they become our beacon in the sea.We let our Truths become entrenched firmly in our brainsThen lock our minds and throw away the keyAnd tunnel vision blinds us to opposing points of view;Won’t let us probe the things they have to say.For all we fools have found the Truth and so we simply scoffAnd send those inane people on their way.So gods are worshiped; demons feared, and wars are often fought.When battle’s done we find it’s been in vainFor, win or lose, we carry on espousing our beliefsAnd the Truths that each held dear…

  • KILIMANJARO

    Phil Cerasoli
    7 Feb 2009 | 7:54 am
    I feel the wind caress meAs it rushes down my slopesTowards the Serengeti plain that sprawls below.I hear its whispered storiesOf centuries of hopesReflecting tales that I already know.I am Kil’manjaroRising high above it allWatching countless generations come and go.Bearing silent witnessTo each one’s clarion call,Without judgment, watching each one’s ebb and flow.I have witnessed endless herds of beasts,The hunters and their prey,Roam the vastness of the Tanzanian plain.I have watched the herds of ManLive their lives then pass away,Each one but a single drop of rain.And all my other…

  • THE THREE FACES OF PARIS

    Phil Cerasoli
    28 Sep 2008 | 8:46 am
    I was once like Paris Hilton, I was young and wild and free,My life was one long party filled with fun.I was self-absorbed with inane thoughts concerning only me;When one fling died, a new one had begun. By the time that I reached forty, I was more like Paris, France:A sophisticated man that oozed with charm.A man who was synonymous with intrigue and romance,But now I see with horror and alarm… That I’m now like Paris, Texas, just a small dot on the map,As this high-tech world has seemed to pass me by.And the highlight of my day is my early-evening napAnd, laying there, I sometimes start…
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    Poems and Poetics

  • Bruce Stater: Anthologies & Anthrologies (A Letter in Response to a Letter)

    Jerome Rothenberg
    20 Nov 2009 | 8:07 am
    Dear Jerry,I've been reading w/ great continued & expanded interest your blog postings, practically on a daily basis-- & as significant as I've found them in the past, some of the recent additions have seemed even more resonant, provocative, & inspirational to me. I was particularly impressed, specifically, by the amazing & marvelous design recordings of the Shaker Poems or "vision gifts" as they are referred to, but also more generally by the powerfully insightful connections you make between & amongst such a wide range of visionary, politico-discursive, & innovative…

  • Jerome Rothenberg: Victor Hugo - A Portrait

    Jerome Rothenberg
    17 Nov 2009 | 12:43 am
    making art out of his morning coffee grounds, ashes & matchsticks 1 A black & white world, more beautiful than any scorched by color. But the beauty here is finite – immediately an act of the imagination, not as we see (in color) but transformed, by subtraction, into a foreign world. 2 I am aware of it -- & you – but you, I dare to think, are far from it – out of the picture, cut from sight. This is another subtraction – the person who should be there but who is missing – truly. For this I bite my hand & I return to sleep. 3 Scarce & so received as to be…

  • Pierre Joris: Notes Towards a Nomadics Manifesto (Part Two)

    Jerome Rothenberg
    13 Nov 2009 | 12:15 am
    04/05/96 a nomadic poetics' method will be rhyzomatic: which is different from that core 20C technique, collage, i.e. a rhyzomatics is not an aesthetics of the fragment, which aesthetic has dominated poetics since the Jena romantics even as transmogrified by modernism, high & low, & more recently retooled in the neo- classical form of the citation -- ironic &/or decorative -- throughout what is called "post-modernism."& remember that the romantic is the anti-nomadic par excellence, i.e. Wordsworth's "emotion recollected in tranquility."A nomadic poetics will cross languages,…

  • Frances Densmore: American Indian Songs (Part One)

    Jerome Rothenberg
    9 Nov 2009 | 6:21 am
    Translations selected by Kenneth RexrothCHIPPEWAMide SongsIn form like a bird,It appears.*The ground tremblesAs I am about to enter.My heart fails meAs I am about to enterThe spirit lodge.*The sound of flowing watersComes toward my home.*Now and then there will arise,Out of the waters,My Mide brothers,The otters.*Beautiful as a star,Hanging in the sky,Is our Mide lodge.*What are you saying to me?I am arrayed like the roses,And beautiful as they.*The sound is fading away.It is of five sounds.Freedom.The sound is fading away.It is of five sounds.Dream Song of ThundersSometimesI go about…

  • David Antin: From “Words to the Wise” (2 poems, 2009)

    Jerome Rothenberg
    5 Nov 2009 | 1:02 am
    RUSSIAN PROVERBSthe wave betrays the windthirst teaches you the value of waterif you have nothing you’ve got nothing to losethe squash calls the melon a cucumbera small hole can sink a big shipthe road from the peak can only lead to the valleyits easier for a lake to become a swamp than for a swamp to become a lakeyou can soften steel but it takes a lot of heatexperience may be a good teacher but its not a governesswhen the river overflows, the last raindrop thinks it caused the floodthe sea swallows the wise as well as the foolhope has distinguished relativesif you’re looking for a…
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    Wild Horses Of Fire

  • Perform 09--Week 2 at BOMBsite

    Thom Donovan
    18 Nov 2009 | 9:32 am
    Here is the second installment of my journal for the 09 Performa biennial, at BOMBsite. It features coverage of performances by Alexandre Singh, Omer Fast, Shana Moulton, and Tan Lin."Had Singh’s performance been shorter, I think it would have been more palatable. However, I also understand that time was a crucial aspect of the piece. How long can one sustain telling a story? (Scheherazade of The Arabian Nights, the archetypal storyteller, did so for a thousand and one nights in order to save her neck.) How can one pleat the discrete elements of a story in such a way that narrative strands…

  • Tan Lin's Chalk Playground pics

    Thom Donovan
    18 Nov 2009 | 8:53 am
    Check out over 400 pics of Tan Lin's chalk playground performance this past weekend here. My write-up of the event is forthcoming hopefully later today.

  • Emergency Reading in Philly

    Thom Donovan
    17 Nov 2009 | 8:06 am
    If you are in Philly next Tuesday (Nov. 24th) come hear me read with Julian Brolaski at the Kelly Writer's House on the UPenn campus. Details here.Thanks to Julia Bloch, Sarah Dowling, and Jason Zuzga for inviting me!

  • Blue Ghosts

    Thom Donovan
    16 Nov 2009 | 10:23 pm
    -after Fred MotenI.Death will come For us it will callItself "scarcity" The wind in the Trees and meadowsRecall ruins re-verse a process aSocial process if We will be on timeAnd dust collects What dust collectsOn the things weBuilt unsustainableLike eros unifies The ego it is a lan-guage but I don’t knowWhat it says shit Builds like soundConcrete in my headNo longer dreamtNor will waking Discover me a memoryTrace a set of planesTraversing blue Ghosts of a geometryYour horns blow.II.What worlds end So we can create Sustain caesura A break of eachAnd each recall The sea a rhythmOf this place…

  • Performa09 Week 1: November 1st-7th, 2009

    Thom Donovan
    12 Nov 2009 | 9:11 am
    Performa09--Week 1: Arto Lindsay's SOMEWHERE I READ, Guy Ben-Ner's Drop the Monkey and talk with Jon Kessler, Dexter Sinister's First/Last Newspaper and film showing of David Loeb Weiss's Farewell, Etaion Shrdlu, Tacita Dean's Craneway Event On Sunday, November 1st I went to Times Square where Guy Ben-Ner's Performa commissioned video, Drop the Monkey (2009), was being shown on one of the bright lcd billboards with subtitles (the film is originally in English and Hebrew). I am a Ben-Ner fan, so was looking forward to seeing what he had come up with for the 09 biennial. My first impression of…
 
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    Poetry Blog of 32 Poems Magazine

  • 3 Tips for Submitting Your Work: The Random Musings of a Poetry Editor

    deborah
    19 Nov 2009 | 4:58 am
    I’m teaching a class at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, MD. One night, I let my students decide the direction they wanted to take by choosing between a writing exercise and a discussion about publication. They chose the publication discussion. This is a class of talented adult writers. Some are already skilled in form and know how to break the formal rules to their benefit. They are an excellent class. Their questions made me remember that I’ve been directed by poets not to take two of their poems — please take only one, they say — and the assumption I’ll…

  • Temple Cone: An Interview With Serena Agusto-Cox

    Serena
    18 Nov 2009 | 5:15 pm
    Poet Temple Cone, published in 32 Poems How would you introduce yourself to a crowded room eager to hang on your every word? Are you just a poet, what else should people know about you? I love telling people that I’m a poet. Just a poet. Not vaguing it up by saying that I’m a “writer” or qualifying it by adding that I’m a professor of English at the U.S. Naval Academy. I think that, deep down, people appreciate the uselessness of poetry, its lack of clear market value and profit potential. “For poetry makes nothing happen,” as Auden said in his elegy for Yeats, adding a little…

  • 32 Poems Action Plan

    deborah
    18 Nov 2009 | 5:14 am
    Someone emailed me to say that they are sorry things aren’t going better with 32 Poems. In my post about literary magazines, I did not mean to give the impression that things are not going well. The magazine is fabulous. It’s my own fault that subscriptions are down at present. Mea culpa. I’ve spent more time on readings, presentations and promotion of my own book than on the renewal series for 32 Poems. Where you put your attention is where you get results, and my attention has been elsewhere for most of 2009. If you know someone out there who has a passion for literature…

  • How Can a Print Publication Survive?

    deborah
    18 Nov 2009 | 4:24 am
    As publisher of an independent magazine funded by subscriptions and my checking account, I wonder if it will be time one day to hang up the print and move to web. I’ve mentioned this in passing and people look at me in horror. Often, these people are not currently subscribing to the magazine. “I can only subscribe to three magazines this year,” they apologize. I smile. I’m not going to make them feel bad. I’m in this magazine business for the long haul, and we’ll get through recession or not. One reason we can survive is that we keep our costs down. This…

  • A Post In Which I Become Temporarily Narcissistic and Share a Poetry Interview

    deborah
    16 Nov 2009 | 4:46 am
    We interview poets we publish, and now I’m sharing an interview between The Southeast Review and yours truly. Q: Though relatively new to the publishing world, 32 Poems has already become a respected source for talented poets. How do you and your editors select the poems for each issue?
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    Sad Poems

  • Blind Prophets

    19 Nov 2009 | 10:03 pm
    The pendulum in her eyes. The hours becoming more than a feast. The claws of the kitten. Finding our skin. Fragile cuts answer the ghosts. As we watch the bubble. Time caught. Between then and now. Stale and willing to surrender. To the choices that we make. It's not cold in here. It's just me. The winter shouts. The summer whispers. One small parachute. In the radiance we accuse. Of being a villain. Time is not a monster. It always lets us decide. Be it by broken switches in this foul flesh. Or the echo of empty glass as I take that last sip. Time is only the punctuation in all the things…

  • The Mechanics of Us

    18 Nov 2009 | 9:51 pm
    Empty seats on the bus stare knowingly. Downtown. Searching for faces that always disappear. The sun setting on over sized wheels. As the world passes by in blurry snapshots. She doesn't know. It might be far. It could be near. If it even exists at all. That tangled spectrum of epiphanies in which life occurs. The shadow of dying gods making a path for her. As the the red lights unravel behind. Taking only inches. Calculating in centimeter. The breadth and the weights of failing suns tethered to her shoulder. As she stumbles on through stories never spoken. Dull knives choking on the tough…

  • Weightless

    17 Nov 2009 | 9:37 pm
    Seasons at her back. The weather in long trenchcoats. Loosely covering her. Derisively letting in the cold. She breathes in long division. Thinks in fractions. Sleeps on her knees. Walks on her toes. There are too many places still to see and nowhere left to go. She writes the numbers down. Naming them. Silly names. Only a lonely child would use. Beautiful things turned ugly by mere perception. Porcupines making love. Heavy stones to smother the fire we've abandoned. She chases the darkness. Unable to keep pace. She writes her name down in the dirt. And waits for the calm of the wind to make…

  • Nervous Masons

    16 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    Subtle thieves. Play their magic tricks. On naked girls. And the clothes that no longer fit. She catches the bulb. Just before it breaks. Barely escaping the lamp. So much darkness to overcome. So many sidewalks still to pave. As she watches the cars pass. Her thoughts a mousetrap. Her lips the bait. It's never over. We just forget why we came here. Why we had to leave. Old ugly trees shedding their bark. Squeaky swing sets. Toiling in the darkness. As I try on different skins. Closets full of monsters never kept me awake. It's the empty spaces that frighten me. The bricks are patient with…

  • Winter

    15 Nov 2009 | 10:39 pm
    Years. Then. Over came suddenly. Broken robots. And lost molecules. On their path. Stuck in short stories. And mine much too long. I outlived them. And then there was nothing. No one to blame. Nobody to ask for directions. Just somewhere I had never been. And no reason to go home. The scales in her eyes always weighing. The cadavers. As she played with the dead. The rope skipping. Eroding the earth as she jumped. Again and again. Over the shadows that would not relent. Just uniforms she told him. As the future decided. The moment was insufficient. Fingers dug in to useless buttons. All our…
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    anachronizms

  • mlxix

    20 Nov 2009 | 8:40 am
    It’s windy in thishouse full of love.Last night happenedeerily fast, Tim’s last swap on his way to Canada by way ofDavid’s Deli withCassie, Jen & Steph,cheese blintzes, and fries.   We try to dream up snowbut it comes out milk.   Yet we fillwith loss and soonenough iPhones,miniature washing mashines filled withtiny bones set on spincycle.   The doughywalls wobble as ifdancing with the silt on the blinds, a dance for 500friends who nevercall.   We eat ourwords, eat eachothers’ ghosts, we’re dancingcannibals in love,hungers satedwith…

  • mlxviii

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:35 am
    I brought flowers for the Chinese milk bottlesand one white rose with red edges just for you.Six pages of blank is all it took.   Emotiononly comes from the television or the cinema.Family is as cold as turtles until you turn on thelights, make me know it’s you and not somebodyI can’t advise.   That proves that relation is remarkable.   And that there’s nothing weaker than nonsense.   Anyway, get a grip.   Or learn from the fruit you grip so carefully only tofold into the crisper until it spoils.   Then I bag it all up into the…

  • mlxvii

    18 Nov 2009 | 7:31 am
    an inspired ouchKeeping the day aslong as possible,totally cruising.Ocean tattoo,cartoon pelvis;cartoon on pelvislives near the ocean.Take me to the oceanas long as all pelvises are possible.   Concen-trate on Guston.   Got it, no more ocean.   Pickconch from bookshelf,conk head with it.Then ponder depth of ocean off coast,big gay Mexican cruise.

  • mlxvi

    17 Nov 2009 | 10:27 am
    orange—a real courting color                                    —Jack SpicerMore ice cream, please.   It waschildish, though, and kept mefrom having as good of a timeas I could have.   Because I was actually disappointednot to get more boot camp.You’re stealing children’s words right from their mouths.What a scepter you have!I’d take it in the mouth, too, let it remove from me every word I’m proneto utter tonight.   Maybelove is like that forever.Is a…

  • mlxv

    16 Nov 2009 | 7:52 am
    When I think about him he is perfect.I love the coffee table, so I dance onit, 7:00 to 7:45am.   Was I ever so highdancing the Charleston to Shakesepearein college?   Or spread over a mound ofclover like an X looking for one withfour leaves?   Without a doubt!   Mostabsolutely!   And my timing could not be better.   The hourglass turns green,digital cameras flash like missiles.It’s a war to undo all evil spread- ing like wildfire over the city. (He wants me likeCuster at Little Bighorn,their quivering hearts askew,dapper as all…
 
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    As/Is

  • Fourteen November

    Sheila Murphy
    14 Nov 2009 | 7:19 pm
    Miguel is driving.I'm a quiet child; I sleep through rain.The moment has soft pores,A perfect Saturday to ride.My dream, my mother's house,The deeper sleep one is allowedWithin the comfortOf implied protection,I sleep my mood, my home,Miguel controls the windscreen; Wipers stretching back and forth.Mother blessed the place She left us, miles ago.My home, her heart still there.Long rainbows form

  • 8 Nov 2009 | 9:40 pm

    Billy
    8 Nov 2009 | 9:40 pm
    Left LairWill have to pilfer empirefrom where I broodHadn't set out to be besiegedby the slow decayThe bodhisattva calledand the flood drowned saulwoke up in the belly of Brooklynhow's that for hindsight?So "drumroll"Will have to pilfer empireto maintain the covenant

  • Or some other work that fulfills you

    Ani Smith
    1 Oct 2009 | 6:07 pm
    For wholeness, I only want to see what's really not there when youturn to gel down your hair in the mirror, cow-licking to intensity those wide, brash eyes and thatquerulous stare that seems to say,look at me! look at me and relivethe pain of knowing you were oncea tree, a lush garden shady spot inthe bowels of the city, avec someinner-knowing, far-reaching familiarrootless limbs and leaves.

  • the concept of podcasts

    mark young
    13 Sep 2009 | 4:58 am
    My anime shrine&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp comes with an airtight plastic lid&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp capable of with-standing extreme &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp fluctuations in temperature. I didn't &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp have to kill any-thing to make it.

  • Calliope Nerve Media Presents Edward Wells II's hawrs

    Nobius
    3 Sep 2009 | 6:18 pm
    The great poetry experiment continues as Calliope Nerve is proud to present Edward Wells II's HAWRS. Download the e-book now, free of charge."HAWRS" is the latest collection of poetry by Edward C. Wells, produced and distributed by Calliope Nerve- an independent press whose editors have taken an interest in the use of new and changing technologies to connect readers and writers.The experimental
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    Carol Peters

  • John Berryman

    17 Nov 2009 | 2:07 pm
    [a description of John Berryman writing "Homage to Mistress Bradstreet" from Paul Mariani's Dream Song: The Life of John Berryman, William Morrow, 1990]Berryman began writing the poem at white heat. Each day he went to his studio to write a single stanza: no more, no less. By then he had hundreds of detached lines and notes, and he worked each piece over, stitching lines together into eight-line stanzas on an erasable, glassine-covered wax pad. He placed the fragments he already had beneath the glassine and then worked at connecting his lines and revising each stanza. At lunchtime he…

  • Joshua Poteat

    16 Nov 2009 | 4:43 am
    [from Joshua Poteat's Ornithologies, Anhinga, 2006]The Angels Continue Turning the Wheels of the Universe Despite Their Ugly Souls(Malvern Hill Battleground)                                 — after Alice AycockThere is truth in the phrase, the dead are at ease under the fields.Autumn is what seizes it. A field of dried cotton stalks                 have a…

  • Kate Greenstreet

    13 Nov 2009 | 3:55 am
    [from Kate Greenstreet's case sensitive, Ahsahta, 2006]Salt (excerpt)2 [was known to have been made]She was on the medicine for grief."Even if they don't die, it doesn't help much."Grit of salt around her chair.Basically, a question you have to ask yourself.Can you shut the eye with something in it and continue?"Most commonly, this transformation takesthe form of disappearancesof persons."What do we share that can help us?"In the very distantuniverse,Objectseven older than light."Manifolddestiny. A kind of song. Escapewith what you are. Walking,talking, for a thousand miles . . ."Some may not…

  • Ingeborg Bachman

    12 Nov 2009 | 2:47 pm
    [from Ingeborg Bachmann's Darkness Spoken: The Collected Poems, tr. Peter Filkins, Zephyr, 2006]March StarsStill it's too early for sowing. Fieldssurface in rain, March stars appear.Like an afterthought, the universe submitsto familiar equations, such as the lightthat falls but leaves the snow untouched.Under the snow there will also be dustand, what doesn't disintegrate, the dust'slater nourishment. O wind, picking up.Again the plows rip open the darkness.Each new day will want to be longer.It's on long days that we are sown,unasked, in those neat and crooked rows,as stars sink away above.

  • C. P. Cavafy

    9 Nov 2009 | 4:39 am
    [from C. P. Cavafy's The Unfinished Poems, translated by Daniel Mendelsohn, Alfred A. Knopf, 2009]Antiochus the CyziceneThe people of Syria put up with him:as long as someone stronger doesn't come along.And what is "Syria"? It barely comes to half;what with the little kingdoms, with John Hyrcanus,with the cities that are declaring their independence.It seems the realm once began, the historians say,at the Aegean and went right up to India.From the Aegean right up to India! Patience.Let's have a look at those puppets,the animals he's brought us.
 
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    catharcyst

  • 8 Nov 2009 | 9:38 pm

    8 Nov 2009 | 9:38 pm
    Left LairWill have to pilfer empirefrom where I broodHadn't set out to be besiegedby the slow decayThe bodhisattva calledand the flood drowned saulwoke up in the belly of Brooklynhow's that for hindsight?So "drumroll"Will have to pilfer empireto maintain the covenant

  • 8 Oct 2009 | 9:32 pm

    8 Oct 2009 | 9:32 pm
    This is from Ofira Sephiroth. Thank you very much poet friend for this kind art vibes.

  • 2 Oct 2009 | 8:30 pm

    2 Oct 2009 | 8:30 pm
    The Flowers Wither @ Half Past DawnTehran bleeds with a broken mouthnet screams second skin Tiananmentorture sets inwestern sky barbecues summerfrolic of the amnesiacsmemory loss of the seedsthe flowers wither @ half past dawnin the matrix senilityFake status updatestaunts me to follow greenThen Kanye grabs a micwith Warholian synapticsand the herd pollutes the webwith post righteous indignation.

  • 11 Aug 2009 | 11:03 pm

    11 Aug 2009 | 11:03 pm
    New RuleNew ruleI am the sum of my distortionsThe first wound never healsWe bleed when we laughin slow tragic anomaliesKill your promiseto stay guiltyabort the beastMy age never believed meso I faked itSilence dependson the noise in your timeI am overwhelmedGet born againin the rabbit holegrasping the chains of heavenFuture never happenswithout a motiveFuture is immortal shadow boxingLove pays the mortal costof human frailtyNew rulewe are the best of strangersand the worst friendsWe cry deathbut love the deadReality is one fifth existencepick your spot in the mazeZi0n can be hackedencrypt…

  • 24 May 2009 | 10:01 pm

    24 May 2009 | 10:01 pm
    Swallow and RemixI could have swornsome one called me just nowwas I there before?a paradigm shift to parallel flamesthis is how it plays outI shift sidewaysmeet my stolen otherwe hack dimensions for funI abandon him somewhere to the leftget back to the middlethe linearthe mundanethe fear of unknownsI fear I won't get back to the other side of the mirrorbut I keep diggingmy reason for existenceto feel the heart beat of existenceWe have been disconnected from the first flamesevered by the quest for acceptancethe love of the crowd is your deaththe crowd rapes your identityherds you for their…
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    Chicano Poet

  • 18 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm

    18 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    CaliberSorrow left the barrio for a momentignoring traffic signalsthe city busesfull of sins and hormonesMarilyn’s blue lipskissed by a coroner’s lackeythe Hollywood signhappily slicing throats a smile in Santa Monicawas the last surviving acheif grass had eyeswould it not see thisif Toribio could talkwould he toss his guneven joyhas its doubts

  • 17 Nov 2009 | 10:44 pm

    17 Nov 2009 | 10:44 pm
    East Of The Freeway Poetry Slamin memory of El Taponmy mentor is the barrioits gutsits dilapidated housesits dirty playgroundspunks and just plain kidshigh on somethingcolorizedby the color on my skinautomatic scumif you willI do not draw sustenancefrom the pastI dive into the flooded arroyoI rush into burning housesthe outside scarsfade with timethe inside scarsfestercontrary to popular beliefthey do not make you strongerI prosper in the barriobecause I am made of itsaid the slam poetbusted lip bloody nose and all

  • 16 Nov 2009 | 10:56 pm

    16 Nov 2009 | 10:56 pm
    VentanaI followed the mangy doginto a barrioyou could count the bonesof his ribs and shouldersthe sunken eyesof its lost raceno illustrious ancestors no hope to lick while waiting for tomorrowchildren threw stones at himdrunks kicked at himold ladies yelled at himwith his tail between his legshe saw his reflection in a storefront windowstartledI recognized myself

  • 15 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm

    15 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    Poem With MexicansI was buying my tacosat La Joyitawhen two Mexicans walked inone ordered tacos de lenguaquiero las tortillas tostaditashe told the girl behind the counterthe other one the shorter onegot a Jarito moradotelling the taller onees bueno pa la crudagood for the hangover he saidit was two in the afternoonthe sunwas taking a hammer to the skyknocking birds to the groundas if they were teethI got my tacos and leftbeing careful where I stepped

  • 13 Nov 2009 | 9:07 am

    13 Nov 2009 | 9:07 am
    Shitcase(slight Mexican memories of Las Cruces)Oh to be Navajoand allergic to horses and hayoverheadan eagle on dutythe red mesasbecome light bulbs at duskelders have a funny wayof making lawsbirdsflying like children in the skiesthe boyherding sheep of dust
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    Earth & Pragmatism

  • 15 Nov 2009 | 4:53 am

    15 Nov 2009 | 4:53 am
    A group of Taiwanese schoolchildren parody my poem "A Defense of Poetry."

  • more ubuntu, less duende

    30 Oct 2009 | 12:37 pm
    Duende.1.1: a modernist, tactically vague aesthetic descriptor whose effective purpose was to attribute a non-categorical, non-assessable, non-confirmable and ostensibly occult quality to a work or author, in order both to mark that work, author, or affiliated group for social distinction and to legitimate the fetish of author, text, technique.  Descriptors like duende are pseudo-concepts created

  • 20 Oct 2009 | 3:11 pm

    20 Oct 2009 | 3:11 pm
    "have I not taught from the very beginningthat with all that is dear and belovedthere must be change, separation, and severance?" - DN 16 PTS: D ii 72, v. 58

  • congratulations on being here

    16 Oct 2009 | 9:27 am
    Celebration "is" ."selfrestraint, is attentiveness, is questioning, is meditating is awaiting" .is. a per.son’s .body a large mob.ile collection. of molecule. we congratulate. id.ea of body.Who can.'t, "a wo.rld is wor.lding," rehearsing. that .we a.re. "here." We congrat.ulate. "th.at the.re a.re be.ings at all." th.e not.ion of hereness. of here. A, boulder,'s a large, part.icle. We

  • 7 Oct 2009 | 8:55 pm

    7 Oct 2009 | 8:55 pm
    We must delight in each other, make others’ conditions our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, our community as members of the same body. So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. - John Winthrop, first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony
 
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    the dust congress

  • 19 Nov 2009 | 9:49 pm

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:49 pm
    I don't like these drugs anymoreGreely Myatt, I gotta learn to talk (detail), 2006Opus 21 -- by William KloefkornHow satisfying to have gone to a concertfeaturing someone now famous you have brokenbread with. There was music, too, in the wayshe lifted her fork to her mouth, music in the forkthat delivered the music that was the foodto sustain her. I meanwhile hum alongwith the breeze that plays

  • 18 Nov 2009 | 9:08 pm

    18 Nov 2009 | 9:08 pm
    it's nice to be liked but it's better by far to be paidCao Fei, A Mirage, 2004* Aaron Leitko takes a look at the Twitter account of Matador Records' Chris Lombardi.* "I never think of the future - it comes soon enough." -- Albert Einstein

  • 17 Nov 2009 | 9:46 pm

    17 Nov 2009 | 9:46 pm
    the infrastructure rotsand the owners hate the jocksCarol Diehl, All These Things That I've Done, 2008Three poems by Frannie Lindsay:To NovemberHere you come before we have had any time to take our solemn coats our hats that itch back out of the naphthalene dark you glide as though you believed our gusty scarves and the flags of our breath were welcoming you here you come with nothing to love

  • 16 Nov 2009 | 10:16 pm

    16 Nov 2009 | 10:16 pm
    whatcha doing for supperwhatcha doing to mewhatcha doing for moneywhatcha doing for freeAvish Khebrehzadeh, Theater, 2005/2006oil and gesso on canvas with video-animation projection * From Harpers' December 2009: -- Rank of politicians among classes of people most trusted by Chinese in a poll this summer: 25 -- Rank of peasants, clergy, and sex workers, respectively: 1, 2, 3 -- Percentage

  • 16 Nov 2009 | 6:10 am

    16 Nov 2009 | 6:10 am
    Puttin' up the groceries nowJust got back from MorristownBrad Moore, Ahern Rentals Westminster California, 2006* From "Praise to the Highways" by Roberto Bolano, translated by Natasha Wimmer. Praise to the Highways will be published in English next year by New Directions."All praise to the highways and to these moments. Umbrellas abandoned by bums in shopping plazas with white supermarkets
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    Elsewhere

  • 26 Oct 2009 | 6:29 am

    26 Oct 2009 | 6:29 am
    THREE TITLE PAGES FROM ELSEWHERE 4Part 1Part 2Part 3

  • 20 Oct 2009 | 7:06 am

    20 Oct 2009 | 7:06 am
    NOAH AND PAUL ZUKOFSKY’S ARKafter this.Voice of GodNoahPaul Zukofsky[Clouds break as light streams down.]GOD: Noah I know you man your good in my book man keep your head up these people are whack!NOAH: Wat up Bucket????GOD: [Thunder, lightning, rain.] Thats whats up!!!!!!!NOAH: Come to me with that shit![Paul Zukofsky walks in.]PAUL ZUKOFSKY: Well God it’s me, Paul Zukofsky? What do you want me to do today?GOD: People have messed up God’s world, people who obtain copies of LZ manuscripts, marginalia, etc. etc. such as at UTexas or elsewhere, and who have not first requested and received…

  • 15 Oct 2009 | 7:18 am

    15 Oct 2009 | 7:18 am
    LIVING IN ADVANCE: A TRIBUTE TO DAVID BROMIGEFriday, October 16, 7:00pmPoets House10 River TerraceNew York, NY 10282(212) 431-7920info@poetshouse.orgwith Charles Bernstein, Corina Copp, Rachel Levitsky, Daniel Nohejl, Bob Perelman, Nick Piombino, Ron Silliman, Gary Sullivan, Geoffrey Young & OthersThis evening celebrates the life and work of poet David Bromige (1933–2009), who was born in London, grew up in Canada, and arrived in 1962 in Northern California, where he spent the rest of his life, teaching and writing more than forty books of poetry. Cosponsored by the Poetry…

  • 13 Oct 2009 | 7:32 am

    13 Oct 2009 | 7:32 am
    NEO-BENSHI: DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE Do ya'll like ethnic stereotypes? Dumb jokes about the NYC poetry world? Then you'll be wantin' to bar the door and watch this wee neo-benshi I done at Dixon Place earlier this year. Brandon Downing, who curated the event, has posted videos of the the whole two night event here.Part onePart two

  • 10 Oct 2009 | 7:16 am

    10 Oct 2009 | 7:16 am
    I USED TO BELIEVE(Written for the ISSUE Project Room reading last night, thinking of Suzanne Fiol.)I used to believe that towels were sleeping ghosts.I used to think gravel was the same as gravity. Like the rocks in our driveway held us to the earth.I thought that Germany must be a place of many germs (“germ” + “many”).For a long time I thought a virgin was someone from Virginia. I found out what it was when a friend of mine came up to me and said “Guess what? So-and-so isn’t a virgin,” and I responded, “Duh, I know. She’s from Texas.”I used to believe that nobody could…
 
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    gravity and light

  • September by Chella Courington

    11 Nov 2009 | 9:35 am
    1Fog on the horizon hides hard island edges. Close to the patio sprinklers swish: streams rise in sun before falling in the garden. Six plastic-pink flamingoes parade by the sago palm.A pair of dolphins, togetherstill after twenty years, watchfrom the granite fountain.2Stripping an apple, peel swingingin air, I think of Mother who sliced what grew around her.From wood the size of playing cards she whittled small animals: our cat on haunches, neck turned. She carved a woman on her knees, mostly stomach, hands buried her bowed face. 3Santa Ana winds blow dry and scatter dust in their wake.

  • Forty by Chella Courington

    7 Nov 2009 | 11:56 am
    Dust devils swirl to Beethoven’s Fifth and sun burns my eyes between Albuquerque and Grants. Living in this forsaken land is unimaginableuntil I see shadows on desert hillsand think of Georgia O’Keeffe traveling across New Mexico—water colors dislodging dark New York her lover old enough to be her father posing her day after day in his studio infatuations in black and white. Stieglitz dies. She escapes to open plains cloud vistas where nothing presses no camera traps no skyscraper blocksher stretching into whiteness— bone on red hills.First Published as "Pilgrimage": Poemeleon 1.2…

  • DEFINING THE ORGASM by Nin Andrews

    5 Nov 2009 | 1:52 pm
    Perhaps you don't want to admit you've never had an orgasm. Maybe you don't even know what orgasms are, much less what style they come in, and how they might become available to you. That is why you are reading this guide to orgasms. You want to enter the realm of intimate revelations, heightened awareness, evocative sounds and silence. Indeed the history of orgasms is nothing other than the history of the world.The fact is, orgasms are everywhere, though when we ask what an orgasm is, we find ourselves at a loss for words. Some call orgasms faith, others consider them music, still others say…

  • Lynette’s War by Chella Courington

    30 Oct 2009 | 1:03 pm
    My cousin Lynette says she’s tired from cleaning East Main houses of rich bitches. They don’t even shit like us, got toilet seats that float to the bowl, never make a sound, & she hands me the baby over the front seat. Days off Merry Maids we like to drive her ’97 Trans Am to Atlanta— kd lang over eight speakers. I’m tired too, tired of being the babysitter. Leah grabbing my earrings, covers me in crumbs. She bites off the heads of animal crackers. Only eats heads. Don’t know why I hang with her. She’s like the girl who cut my hair at Cinderella’s saying I had the ugliest…

  • Spiderweb by Kay Ryan

    16 Oct 2009 | 8:42 am
    From otherangles thefibers lookfragile, butnot from thespider’s, alwayshauling coarseropes, hitchinglines to thebest postspossible. It’sheavy workeveryplace,fighting sag,winching upgive. Itisn’t everdelicateto live.
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    Letras de Cactus ©2009 Poetry with a Mexican accent

  • 20 Nov 2009 | 1:46 pm

    20 Nov 2009 | 1:46 pm
    BLOCKEDThe large TahoeWas blocking my drivewaySuch a gas guzzlerImpeding the exitOf usI walked outsideAnd considered that machineThat automobileI even askedThe young coupleA pair studentsIf they knew whoThe owner isThe guy saidI don’t knowThe girl saidYou should usedSome pipesAnd get it out thereWe both smiledI walk back insideAnd open the faucetWaiting for hot waterTo come outLooking at liquid soapAnd used spongesWhen the hot water steamBegan to fill the kitchenThe SUV drove away

  • 19 Nov 2009 | 9:56 am

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:56 am
    descansoes una senda abruptauna explosión en la veredaun camino accidentadocuando la anciana cayóel piso se hizo rompecabezasestalló en mil pedazoshasta allípuso dios el límitedonde se parte la arenadonde brinca el aguadonde el tiempotiene brazos y piesy los espejos respiranaman y sienten

  • 18 Nov 2009 | 12:41 pm

    18 Nov 2009 | 12:41 pm
    GIANTSeafood is good for the soulI heard the voice sayThen another voice:La vida es una apuesta pendienteShe put her hand on her neckAs if she was strangling herselfOr maybe justCovering a woundLooking up & downTowards the skyAnds towards the groundAnd I did the sameBut did not noticedAnything out of the ordinaryThe British mothersPush their babies strollersA giant walks byWith her two daughtersShe’s pleasant to the eyeBut she’s giant

  • 18 Nov 2009 | 12:45 am

    18 Nov 2009 | 12:45 am
    STOREFRONTI grabbed the movie and walk out the doorI thought it was lateAnd I drove in the nightAnd it was dangerous because the windowsWhere wet with water that refused to disappearedAnd I drove slowLike when you want to make a good impressionI drove slowLike when you feel tender & romanticAnd it’s something more than sexI drove slowBecause it was simply better to remain aliveI drove slowBecause sometimes you can’t trust your eyesI drove slowLike when you want love the worldAnd save up some gasolineI drove slowThinking it was not that slow as I took the cornerI drove slowRemembering…

  • 16 Nov 2009 | 11:07 pm

    16 Nov 2009 | 11:07 pm
    THE RESPECT OF BEAUTYI see your photographAnd think of the poemsThose poems that laySleeping in your notebookIn your mindOn in the inventionOf your secretsI think of the challengeThose words could igniteIn our fast-forward livesI lay downI lay lowEnough of steeping on stonesI go down and lookAt your pictureOne more timeBefore startingThe dream machine
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    Me~Tronome

  • Arizona Fuzz

    29 Oct 2009 | 11:48 am
    The poemdoes not lie to us. We lie underits law, alive in the glamour of this hour—John WienersDo roses skipping in theGlass make great gifts, I micTheir contours, wipe innocenceFrom the window, these milkMansions. Arizona fuzz catchesGreen fish coming upFromBeing hunted, herDevouring dawns, withinGnawing hiatus shed. ThisGlamorous tongue noticed,Will arrest all secrets.We stash strangeButterflies arePuzzles of our former lives.But he is elephant. ThatException and theSurrounding meadowIts tender symmetry.On repeat, the choralStillness, yet the siren’s panacheMakes stew of our…

  • Series A, mini-conference, "Poetry and Place"

    28 Oct 2009 | 1:03 pm
    I had an opportunity to discuss new Chicago poetry at a recent conference with Garin Cycholl and Ray Bianchi as part of Bill Allegrezza's Series A poetry reading series at the Hyde Park Art Center.Click here to access the sound file. Frank O'Hara's work loomed large in my mind as I considered how to respond to the idea of Poetry and Place.

  • Myopic Books Poetry Schedule

    13 Oct 2009 | 7:36 am
    We've updated the Myopic Books Poetry Series calendar ... please note that the Kent Johnson/Linh Dinh reading occurs on a Saturday~! Myopic Books has the widest selection of used books in the city.All readings begin at 7 pm. Thanks, LarryUPCOMINGSaturday, October 24 - Kent Johnson & Linh DinhSunday, November 1 - Roberto Harrison, Tom Hibbard & Chuck StebeltonSunday, November 8 - Matthew Klane & Jennifer ScappettoneSunday, November 15 - Eileen Myles & Guest**************************THE MYOPIC POETRY SERIES — a weekly series of readings and occasional poets' talksMyopic Books in Chicago —…

  • On the New Chicago Poetry

    6 Oct 2009 | 9:09 am
    The quote by Reginald Shepherd included by Robert Archambeau on Adam Fieled’s blog in an old blog post gave my morning a jumpstart, along with my morning cup of sacred bean squeezings“T. S. Eliot said that the poet must be as intelligent as possible; Wallace Stevens said that the poem must resist the intelligence almost successfully. It is in the play between the intelligence of language and the resistance to intelligence of language as an object that poetry occurs. What matters is not what a poem can say, a preoccupation Harold Bloom shares with the multiculturalists he so despises, but…

  • Thanks, Daily Reviewer

    23 Sep 2009 | 8:20 am
    Thanks Daily Reviewer for picking Me Tronome as one of the top 100 poetry blogs on the Internet.
 
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    negative wingspan

  • mikku #12: tinman

    17 Nov 2009 | 5:59 pm
    the rain problem--to suffer by avoiding tearswith an umbrella

  • mikku #11: tinman

    17 Nov 2009 | 5:55 pm
    was it heart he missedor god not in the clanking space? bending was hard.

  • mikku #10: tinman

    17 Nov 2009 | 5:49 pm
    swallowed no coin, ofa non-comic medium--no steel, un-alloyed

  • mikku #9: tinman

    17 Nov 2009 | 5:47 pm
    the first cyborg Iever loved was trying to"limit exposure"

  • mikku #8: tinman

    17 Nov 2009 | 5:43 pm
    what is answered? notaxed. what has the axe done? what have you with an axe?
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    rooted

  • perfectly plastered

    18 Nov 2009 | 8:07 am
    plethora of prickly,pompous peopleprevaricateprocastinationpsyches me outporous plasterpedantically pours overparallel linesI push the plate of peasplacing it primly on paperpurple nail paintprominantly displayedon pampered fingers

  • ship-wrecked

    18 Nov 2009 | 7:02 am
    I put on the absurd flip-flipI am having to do thisthere is a ladder.hanging obscenelyI go down-.the oxygen immerses memy flip-flops cripple me,I crawl like an insect I am blacking out and yetI have to learn aloneto turn my body without forcein the deep element.the thing I came for:the ribs of the accidentcurving their assertionamong the loyal hunters.this is the place.and I am here,amongst the half-destroyed instrumentsthat once held to a coursethe water-eaten logthe fouled compassspeak of a lovewhich is now gone forever

  • time and time again

    13 Nov 2009 | 10:33 pm
    on that endless highwayI stop at one of the food joints,sit on that plastic chairbiting at that giant burgerpeople look at my weird beardexamine my highland kiltyou in your elegant attiresqueeze my hand reassuringlyI look around the placescattered with wilted flowersnewspapers too flapin that mild windsI know I will have to die againand you will have to follow me soonto be reborn in which centuryor which place in the vast universe"we know not where/why yet we both do knowsome kind of oracle works for us-death does us apart, it brings us back together"

  • skin dreams

    12 Nov 2009 | 3:35 am
    so you sleep so peacefullyuncaring that I watch youthose eye lids moving alongwith your tremulous dreamsyour nose flaring a bitthe rise and fall of your chestI subtly put my ears to itpicking up your heart beatI sway to the rhythm of itI steady myself and my palms slide over youyour skin seeps ecstasyinto mine. closing my eyesI join you in your dreamsadding some of my own..

  • elbowing in, elbowing out

    11 Nov 2009 | 4:11 am
    I pick out in the middleerrant threads from that sweater sleeveyou look back into that storywithout any endyou get lost in it, pulling at the seamselbow peeps out, dry and roughI hanker for the warmthand arbitarily look out for signalsthe sun warms your face"my face gets murkier
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    something katy

  • Day 5

    20 Nov 2009 | 5:38 am
    the stains are on his egoher heart pumping obligatory venomstrung together through actsof ill gained fate and tropesintended to reinforce the errorsapparent in their daily lives

  • bibliophilia meets paintbrush

    19 Nov 2009 | 2:57 pm
    in other words, this guy is awesome!

  • Day 4

    19 Nov 2009 | 5:19 am
    does rowdy know we watch him sleep,and does he know we think he's sweetwhen he uses his little feetlike human hands to eat a treat?

  • Day 3

    18 Nov 2009 | 5:14 am
    we hid the night away under thick blanketsand rose to the scent of a bright morning sun

  • Day 2

    17 Nov 2009 | 5:05 am
    there are two sidesto every storyso there should be two sinksto every kitchen
 
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    this is all your fault

  • 15 Nov 2009 | 4:26 pm

    15 Nov 2009 | 4:26 pm
    A Large Stable of HorsesI can't stop writing without my arm on fire and then milk. I must be a reincarnation of St. Sophia, or was that blood and milk.Her teeth sharp, black, each morning she hands me my peppermint latte at Dunkin Donuts. In another life, she was Kali and I, the daughter she killed for singing or weeping. You send me a postcard of Paris, although you've never been there and

  • 12 Nov 2009 | 5:31 am

    12 Nov 2009 | 5:31 am
    But I am Working on my Recoveryyou tell me you're raising your feeyou tell me to stop glaring at the other patients in your waiting roomyou tell me you're just concerned about everyone's emotional safetyyou tell me this is good for meas you leave bruises along my jaw,your grip just a little too tightyou tell me I must separate from my motheryou tell me none of those memories are realyou tell me

  • 2 Nov 2009 | 9:25 pm

    2 Nov 2009 | 9:25 pm
    The UnbornTentative, mucky,very wet, very red,their fingersgrab our danglingearrings in ourdreams of drowning.Wailinglike distant wars,like distant animalambulances, they pawthrough our sock drawers,our stacks of photographs.Sticky, miniature-thumbed,reeking of rose talcand rancid butter,they stain our bed posts,our sheets, our rearviewmirrors. They murmur,murmur in the corner,mouthing button

  • 25 Oct 2009 | 12:43 pm

    25 Oct 2009 | 12:43 pm
    Birds Clearly Don't Understand Glasswe wouldn't admit it, but in your pocket slept three baby grackles and a large blacksnake as you stood near the winter swimming pool, like a little mother, but with fur,a lightweight skeleton, hollow bones, the age-old bell on the collar, your large palms spread with shelled peanuts, sunflower seeds, red millet, white millet

  • 14 Oct 2009 | 8:52 pm

    14 Oct 2009 | 8:52 pm
    My therapist tells me we have to work on "my problem with biting."1) I wish I could tell you the truth about this; my jaw has been wired shut more than once.My boyfriend is bruised and a little embarrassed.My front tooth is loose and it hurts when I drinkmy tea.The sheets are in the dryer already. No one heardanything.I give them names. They recede in the light.I wish I could say I went away,
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    Uncle David

  • I do not differentiates between

    20 Nov 2009 | 2:01 pm
    I do not differentiates betweenThe surrealism and the objectiveStrategies of the imagismAnd I will not say that other creaturesAre just objects to be played withI define what my soul clarifiedWith the instruction of what I knowGertrude Stein, Gertrude Stein, Gertrude SteinThe tender buttons has found their rhymes.In the rain a petal stains the windIn the wind the rain sings the associationsOf trains where the headlight pushed forward isDumbfounded by the rain.The linguistic transformation is a gameWhen writing break down into nonsenseWhich I love, to it I am directly employed.My poetry has no…

  • Did I tell you that to recognize God

    20 Nov 2009 | 12:07 pm
    Did I tell you that to recognize GodYou must recognize Its works firstIts ambitions toward life and deathAnd know that in God there isA dead-end of mules caught in the instances.Did I tell you that the revelationIs the embodiment of the paradoxes of orderAnd the unselfconscious of obedience.Did I tell you to attain Its blessingYou must live the aspects of Its worksWhich is a variation on the theme of life and deathFrom man to tree to bee to the clarify death of everything.Did I tell you that the meaning of lifeIs no more profound then the meaning of death in the round.That even mad Pound and…

  • I am surprised that the composition

    19 Nov 2009 | 4:11 pm
    I am surprised that the compositionOf my radiance visit to dream landHas reached its height of mechanismFrigging the gospel of compositionThat invokes brightness by the structurelessOf the energy of my clarity.The yakety-yak of my mind’s resistanceTo mother the intermingled problem distinguishedBy the diversity of undifferentiated squeezedBy shocking the abstract of my circumstanceIs always enjoying the old dirty truth of brightness.I am untainted by the chocked resistance to be normalNormality is too much of a mechanism used toMuddle the separation of my identity that I placeOn a pedestal…

  • On a plenitude of privilege

    19 Nov 2009 | 10:14 am
    On a plenitude of privilegeEncompassing the restless mosquitoesOf nothingness sucking the blue blooded freefellOf silent that voltage the wake of morningWith its distinction calling forth the crusty dawnFolded with clouds leftover from a night ofPleasant November. On such a privilegeI wake after a night of unreal dreamsClassier then the vestments of my bed.Nothingness runs my head with a flux sinking andRising and melted mindlessly by the heavyEmblems of colors running away through thePassenger door pouring rain of dandelionsSelf-full of attention and understandingThe exfoliated dumfounded…

  • The dead are done down

    18 Nov 2009 | 5:04 pm
    The dead are done downThey will not come againThey know the truth of heaven and hellThe friends that breatheTheir last lifeMoist with human made windsThat carried words of forgivenessAnd prayers to a God thatCan not tell time or knowsHow it feel to be human in the skinThe dead, ay the deadAre stacked in the sky of our headsWhat they see are human being humanBy the same breath that shall leave usWhen death requires us to pay the billStored up in a life of living yearsTake a time to sing a song onThe day of the dead goneTo a secret place thatOnly the dead knows the scopeOf what it is likeTo…
 
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    Watermark

  • My Mother

    blogdiva@gmail.com (Sharon Brogan)
    26 Oct 2009 | 9:47 am
    BETTY LOU JULIAN [BROGAN] SERR Betty Lou Julian Serr  died October 12, 2009  in Chandler, AZ.    She was born in Long Beach, California July 5, 1924, the daughter of Bob & Georgia (Kenney) Julian.  She went to Montana as a baby  with her parents and resided on a ranch near Clyde Park until the age of ten, when the family moved to a ranch near Wilsall,MT.   She attended schools in Clyde Park and Wilsall, graduating from Wilsall High School in 1942.  She attended computer school in Spokane, Washington, then worked for the Northern Pacific Railroad.  In 1945 Betty married Richard…

  • Confession

    blogdiva@gmail.com (Sharon Brogan)
    30 Aug 2009 | 2:18 pm
    What do you bring to the confessional? Wasted hours; a kind thing undone, and another, and another; or some singular crime, a thought or deed that left a wound, some innocent bereft of confidence and cheer? Have you taken what was not yours to keep; kissed one not yours to claim? Or is it deeper, darker than these? Did you see your path was cold and steep, so turn an easier way? Have you scoured your heart of love, set it to harden in a kiln of rage? Drop it on the tiles, then. Let it break.   

  • Been to an Emergency Room lately?

    blogdiva@gmail.com (Sharon Brogan)
    19 Aug 2009 | 8:02 pm
    Perhaps, like me, you live in a town, rather than a city or poor rural area, and assume that things are like they used to be at your local emergency hospital. That's what I assumed, if I thought about it at all. Five hours in the emergency room with a friend (she's fine now) has cleared up that misconception. I shot that sign, above, during our wait. The sign says -- for those who can't see the image -- Thank you for your patience. The Emergency Department is experiencing unusually high patient volumes. This is causing delays.It certainly is. For the entire time, I kept hoping, not only that…

  • unearth -- RWP minichallenge III

    blogdiva@gmail.com (Sharon Brogan)
    9 Aug 2009 | 8:25 pm
    I'm posting all three parts here, because I think it is one poem.  Also, just to say -- this exercise has resulted in something much different than my usual. Whether this is a good or a bad thing, I can't yet tell: I. the walls are filled with the lives of children what appears to be an exit changes to a trap you have everything to lose oil rainbows the water, a thin & dangerous sheen that pain you call love pulls you away there is no point in stopping in the middle of the mountain road an old woman walks in the wrong direction she is thin & frail, she wears a red coat years have…

  • unearth -- RWP minichallenge II

    blogdiva@gmail.com (Sharon Brogan)
    7 Aug 2009 | 4:24 pm
    this is how it happens static in a closed room an electrical hum I open my hand sparks escape from my palm, crackling like petting a cat in the dark you reach out & touch my face a cradle, a caress it's warm there, where our skins meet unearth -- RWP minichallenge I    poetry mini-challenge
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    mygorgeoussomewhere.org

  • (not that you) ask(ed) dana: good, bad or ugly poetry advice?

    Does wanting to reach out to people, beyond poets, make a poet less than an idealist? If so, how? Here is an excerpt from the question a poet recently sent to The Smart Set's "Ask a Poet" column about whether he or she should continue studying poetry at the MFA ...

  • down for the count (and it’s getting old)

    I haven't talked here about how I came down with what my doctor thinks was H1N1 virus about three weeks ago, which was complicated when it turned into pneumonia and has now been complicated by what seems to be a sinus infection along with possible continued lung involvement. I was ...

  • the spare room

    [caption id="attachment_4096" align="alignnone" width="425" caption="The Spare Room, forthcoming from Blood Pudding Press"][/caption] This is an unofficial image of my chapbook cover that I am posting without Juliet Cook's permission and I think it's OK to post it but she might tell me to cut it out and take it down until ...

  • help poet sam hamill

    Sam Hamill is experiencing some serious financial hardship at present -- medical treatments not covered by insurance, an inability to teach, a very modest pension. The poets Marilyn Hacker and Alfred Corn have been raising funds to help. Donations of all sizes will be appreciated. They can be sent care ...

  • lolcat poetry postcard #2: ‘yowl,’ for hello kitties

    This series is inspired by LOLcat Wasteland. I used kaibara87's image, "Cat or Alien?" in accordance with its Creative Commons Attribution license. The poem is based on the opening lines of Ginsberg's "Howl." Here are those lines, if anyone wants to see them. In case you can't read the text within the ...
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    Read Write Poem

  • read write prompt #102: memory recipes

    Deb Scott
    19 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    by Deb Scott I was discussing food associations with a writer not long ago, about how she will always pair a certain food tasted for the very first time (she was very young) with her father’s funeral. This week, let’s not just explore the taste and texture of food, but the associations we have about a particular food or dish. Any family gathering is ripe with opportunity: funerals, birthday parties, weddings, anniversaries. Any meeting where people you intimately know are munching, nibbling or feasting will do. Perhaps it’s the yearly occasion with a prescribed menu, and the sour-cream…

  • get your poem on #101

    Read Write Poem
    18 Nov 2009 | 9:00 pm
    by Jessica Fox-Wilson How did your poems progress? Did they pop with power and persuasion? Did they perk up with all the peppy P-words? Well, pony up and participate! Pull out the links to your p-p-p-poems and post them in the comments below. Personally, I am pleased as punch to see your pretty verses. Please read this page to find out how the Get Your Poem On and Read Write Prompt posts work. Remember that work linked from this post is shared in precisely that spirit: sharing, as opposed to critiquing. To learn more about how to respond to work that is being shared versus critiqued, read…

  • considering the other: i hereby confer upon you the title of poet

    ren powell
    17 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    by Ren Powell One of the awkward quirks of social media is the occasional crossover of cliques. A few weeks ago, I stumbled on the blog profile of one of my theater students. He wrote that he considers himself an actor,“although” he knows he “really isn’t one yet.” The fact is I saw very little of the student the first months of school this year because he was acting in a supporting role in a television mini-series. He has been acting in professional children’s theater productions for a large fraction of the modest number of years he has spent on this earth. He has performed for…

  • o video!: david moolten’s ‘astronaut goes from migrant fields to outer space’

    Dana Guthrie Martin
    16 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    Click here to view the embedded video. For this installment of O Video!, we are sharing a piece by Read Write Poem member David Moolten titled “Astronaut Goes from Migrant Fields to Outer Space.” Moolten wrote the piece for José Hernández, who recently traveled into space as an astronaut on the Discovery space shuttle. Moolten feels the story of Hernández — once a child laborer who walked from Mexico to California to pick strawberries — “honors both the desperate struggle of immigrants and the greatness of which they are capable.” Dana Guthrie Martin is…

  • off the shelf: what member mark stratton is reading

    Read Write Poem
    15 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    by the Read Write Poem Staff For this installment of Off the Shelf — the column in which we share the latest five books Read Write Poem members have read or are currently reading — Mark Stratton shares his latest reads, along with a brief comment on each collection. Recovered Body, by Scott Cairns I read a poem or two every few days, then think on them.         Poetry Magazine It’s pretty cheap, and of good quality.             Creating Poetry, by John Drury I believe myself to be a neophyte in the truest sense of the word.
 
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    Silliman's Blog

  • 19 Nov 2009 | 9:01 pm

    19 Nov 2009 | 9:01 pm
      Recently Received Books (Poetry) Tahar Ben Jelloun, The Rising of the Ashes ,translated by Cullen Goldblatt, City Lights, San Francisco 2009 Rolf Dieter Brinkmann, Some Very Popular Songs, translated by Mark Terrill, Toad Press, Claremont, CA 2009 Cathy Eisenhower, would with and, Roof Books, New York, 2009 Ben Estes, Cymbals, The Song Cave, no location given (but Northampton, MA) 2009 Garth Graeper, Into the Forest Engine, Projective Industries, Chicago & Houston 2009 Mike Hauser, Psychic Headset, Mitzvah Chaps, Lawrence, KS 2008 Margo Lockwood, More Than I Want To, Pressed Wafer,…

  • 18 Nov 2009 | 9:05 pm

    18 Nov 2009 | 9:05 pm
    Keith Waldrop has won the 2009 National Book Award for poetry for Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy

  • 17 Nov 2009 | 9:01 pm

    17 Nov 2009 | 9:01 pm
    For the past couple of days, I’ve been toying in my head with which goofball baseball analogy to employ to start off a review of Alan Bernheimer’s The Spoonlight Institute, just out from Adventures in Poetry & deserving of every award they give to books in next year’s round of awards. My options are: (a) Alan Bernheimer is the Sandy Koufax of poets, recognized & cherished for the brilliance of his writing although the absolute quantity of that work is rather slender; (b) Alan Bernheimer is the Bert Blyleven of poets, his mastery of the startling phrase – like Blyleven’s of…

  • 16 Nov 2009 | 9:01 pm

    16 Nov 2009 | 9:01 pm
    Photo by Keith Tuma Mark Weiss’ introduction to The Whole Island: Six Decades of Cuban Poetry § The drama of Jimmy Schuyler 9 unpublished poems by Schuyler § Talking with Beverly Dahlen (part one) (part two) § Is Tim Gunn the perfect literary critic? (Stephen Burt tries to make it work) § A profile of Keith Waldrop § Rachel Blau DuPlessis at Bard § William Carlos Williams’ Poems (1910) & other burnt books § Rae Armantrout on NPR Close-reading “New” from Versed § Bob Perelman, Al Filreis & Ron Silliman all talking with Robert Grenier § Graham Foust: Jack Spicer…

  • 15 Nov 2009 | 9:01 pm

    15 Nov 2009 | 9:01 pm
    Of the 633 books, chapbooks, songs, films, magazines, websites, exhibits, “and other cultural phenomena” cited in this year’s Attention Span survey, just 78 were mentioned by more than one of the 60 contributors. Barbara Guest, Anne Boyer, Yedda Morrisson & I had more than one book mentioned more than once.* Works most often mentioned included Jennifer Moxley’s Clampdown, Rachel Loden’s Dick of the Dead, Lisa Robertson’s Magenta Soul Whip, Mel Nichols’ Catalytic Exteriorization Phenomenon & the magazine Try! Steve Evans has now conducted this survey for seven straight…
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    Poetry Hut Blog

  • Poety News For November 19, 2009

    Jilly Dybka
    18 Nov 2009 | 10:27 pm
    — Love poetry, hate the insular nature of the poetry community. Should I jump ship? — — Native American poetry gets a voice in locally produced documentary — — He was able to talk to me about form in such a way that I began to understand the physical implications of it, where iambic pentameter resided in your body — — Guerrilla Girls On Tour breaks from our policy to not comment on living artists in light of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of 2009 Top Ten List that contained ZERO books by women and an almost total absence of books by people of…

  • Nashville Poetry Alert – Open Mic Poetry At Springwater

    Jilly Dybka
    17 Nov 2009 | 7:54 am
    Title: Open Mic Poetry At SpringwaterLocation: Springwater, 115 27th Ave NLink out: Click hereDescription: Free open mic poetry – free admission, live music accompaniment if desired (upright bass & drums). Springwater is a “21 and Over” establishment.Start Time: 20:00Date: 2009-11-25End Time: 22:00 Autoposted from the Nashville Poetry Calendar If you've enjoyed this blog, how about buying me a cup of coffee?Copyright © 2009 This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your…

  • Nashville Poetry Alert – Bread & Words annual benefit reading and dinner

    Jilly Dybka
    15 Nov 2009 | 2:45 pm
    Title: Bread & Words annual benefit reading and dinnerLocation: APSU, ClarksvilleLink out: Click hereDescription: Dinner at 6:00 pm Reading by APSU faculty, graduate students, and special guests 7 pm, November 24, 2009 Morgan University Center BallroomStart Time: 19:00Date: 2009-11-24 Autoposted from the Nashville Poetry Calendar If you've enjoyed this blog, how about buying me a cup of coffee?Copyright © 2009 This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page…

  • Nashville Poetry Alert – Poetry Meetup

    Jilly Dybka
    14 Nov 2009 | 8:17 am
    Title: Poetry MeetupLocation: City Limits Bakery & Cafe, BellevueLink out: Click hereDescription: City Limits Bakery & Cafe 361 Clofton Dr Nashville TN 37221 (615) 646-0062 Start Time: 2pmDate: 2009-11-21 Autoposted from the Nashville Poetry Calendar If you've enjoyed this blog, how about buying me a cup of coffee?Copyright © 2009 This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is not in your news reader, it makes the page you are viewing an infringement of the copyright. (Digital Fingerprint:…

  • Poetry News For November 14, 2009

    Jilly Dybka
    13 Nov 2009 | 10:00 pm
    — “I don’t normally just post random stuff here, but this is more than worth it. It’s a rendering of the famed Dock Ellis LSD-no hitter, with narration by Dock himself. The killer animation is by James Blagden.” — — Weekly Poems: a Double From the ‘Mets Poet’ from NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Podcast | PBS | Frank Messina — — The Blood-Jet Writing Hour” Radio Show with Rachelle Cruz – Join Rachelle as she talks to cece peri Cece’s poetry has appeared in literary journals and anthologies including Speechless the Magazine, San…
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    Poet Hound

  • Poetry Tips: The Dead Poets Society

    20 Nov 2009 | 3:59 am
    I cannot believe it has taken me this many years to finally see the movie, Dead Poets Society, but it has and it was excellent! So this week I urge you to check it out either at your local library or video store because it is a wonderful movie with passion for life and poetry. May you be inspired those of you who watch the movie and please drop in next week for another poetry site…

  • Bitter Oleander Open Submissions

    19 Nov 2009 | 3:58 am
    Send your imaginative and brilliant poems via snail mail to Bitter Oleander Press along with self-addressed stamped envelope enclosed to:The Bitter Oleander Press 4983 Tall Oaks Drive Fayetteville, New York 13066-9776 http://www.bitteroleander.com Email: info@bitteroleander.comBe sure to check out their web-site and guidelines in further detail at:http://www.bitteroleander.com/Good luck to all who submit and please drop in tomorrow for more Poetry Tips…

  • Poems Found by Poet Hound

    18 Nov 2009 | 3:58 am
    http://www.versedaily.org/2009/weddingpinata.shtmlWedding Pinata by James Hoch http://www.sundress.net/wickedalice/davis29.htmlAfter a Fight, Necelle Davis Thanks for clicking in, please drop in tomorrow for more Open Submissions…

  • Julian Gallo's Divertimiento

    17 Nov 2009 | 3:57 am
    Julian Gallo’s chapbook, Divertimiento, is book ten in Alternating Current’s Propaganda Press’ Pocket Protector Book series. Julian Gallo hails from New York and is a writer/painter/musician with quite a few publications under his belt including A Symphony of Olives that was also featured previously on this blog. His current collection of poems published by Alternating Current is a biting and despondent view of the world. Below I will feature several poems that caught my eye:GulagI may be eaten by butterflies when the revolution begins. How cold is the touch of the female handwhen…

  • Dagosan's Haiku Diary

    16 Nov 2009 | 3:58 am
    Wonderful haiku poems by David A Giacalone, I urge you to check them out at:http://dagosanshaikudiary.blogspot.com/Thanks for clicking in, please drop in tomorrow for another featured poet…
 
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    The Best American Poetry

  • What to Do with Poems About Old Boyfriends? By Tina Kelley

    Tina Kelley
    20 Nov 2009 | 4:53 pm
    Actually, old boyfriend poems could serve the purpose of getting you used to those chintzy polite slips, barely an eighth of a page, that say thanks but your poems aren’t worth so much as a quarter sheet of rejection.

  • Sonnet: "He called himself Blatchford Sarnemington..." (by Mitch Sisskind)

    Mitch Sisskind
    20 Nov 2009 | 12:04 pm
    He called himself Blatchford Sarnemington That night they all ate pork rinds. Name from ‘The Scandal Detectives,’ Fitzgerald story From Minnesota days. Yearning, yearning, None better than Scott put yearning on a page So he called himself Blatchford Sarnemington That...

  • Much Depends on Dinner: Cooking with Sloane Miller

    Best American Poetry
    20 Nov 2009 | 3:00 am
    all photos©Christopher Labzda Sloane Miller and I were in grad school together though she studied poetry and I prose. Since then, she's used her love of language and writing, food and cooking to transform herself into an effective spokesperson and...

  • Four Contagious Poems by Tina Kelley

    Tina Kelley
    19 Nov 2009 | 7:47 pm
    When I sit down to write poems, which isn't often enough, I like to prime the pump by reading poems that inspire me, that have playful rhythms that stick in my head like a songworm.

  • The Decoy Sentence

    Best American Poetry
    19 Nov 2009 | 2:56 pm
    It is getting more difficult to tell the serious stories from the humor stories in The New Yorker. For example, which of the following sentences from the November 29 issue is (a) deliberately funny, (b) unconsciously bad, therefore funny, (c)...
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    Harriet

  • Señor Smith to you. -- Edwin Torres

    Edwin Torres
    19 Nov 2009 | 6:55 pm
    Write what you know. But I don’t know! The floor creaks when I walk up the steps, even when I’m not there. I am facing a national personality triage. The nation is not america but poesie, the personality is not body but name. A doppleganged fissure prancing out of my comfort hook has been going around town, claiming swoon and swag, as my name. After years of hiding behind my last name, actually disregarding nationality to expunge on process, I’ve just been outed as a spic poet. A what, you say? Exactly! Spic: a derogatory term from the fifties that no one uses now — the…

  • Nocturne at High Noon. And the National Book Award Goes to . . . -- Travis Nichols

    Travis Nichols
    19 Nov 2009 | 7:54 am
    From a list of the most interesting list of of finalists ever (so says Ron Silliman), the National Book Award judges picked Keith Waldrop’s Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy (UC Press) as this year’s winner. Waldrop, a fixture of the poetry world of Providence, Rhode Island, has been celebrated as a translator (most recently of Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal) and as a publisher, with his wife Rosmarie, of Burning Deck Press. Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy is made up of three long poem sequences that mix philosophy and poetry in a style familiar to readers of…

  • dubious poetry: the palin comparison -- Abigail Deutsch

    Abigail Deutsch
    17 Nov 2009 | 2:29 pm
    Many have noted the poetry latent in Sarah Palin’s speech. Now that she’s published a memoir, Going Rogue, many are noting the non-poetry of her non-prose. But who would have imagined that Palin had a poetic forerunner, a partner in rhyme, a fellow Bard of Bad? Julia A. Moore (1847-1920), popularly called the “Sweet Singer of Michigan,” produced reams of writing that soon became known as the worst of the verse. If Palin wrote a poem, I posit, it would be this definitive work of Moore’s. To My Friends and Critics (an excerpt) Perhaps you’ve read the papers Containing my…

  • Vladimir, Ron, and Gregori -- Melissa Friedling

    Melissa Friedling
    17 Nov 2009 | 6:34 am

  • So long and thanks for all the fish + a question about translation -- Barbara Jane Reyes

    Barbara Jane Reyes
    16 Nov 2009 | 1:21 pm
    Dear readers of this here Harriet blog, Well, looks like my time here has come to a close. It’s been interesting watching you all anonymously thumbs up and thumbs down one another. In all seriousness, thank you for reading my posts, and allowing me to introduce you all to some poets, poetry, and indie presses which may not have otherwise blipped on your radar. I will be posting here every now and then; there have been books sitting in my growing “to review” stack, and I do mean to say a few things about a couple of them, namely these two: INCANTATIONS: Songs, Spells and…
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    One Poet's Notes

  • VPR Pushcart Prize Nominations: 2009

    18 Nov 2009 | 10:15 pm
    Since 1976, editor Bill Henderson has brought added recognition to the many fine small presses and literary journals publishing quality material with his annual anthology, The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses. In recent years, the nomination process for the Pushcart Prize has been opened to online journals and their editors. I have been pleased to see this acknowledgment of the quality of writing found in many electronic publications. Therefore, I am honored to offer the half-dozen works listed below as the 2009 nominees from Valparaiso Poetry Review for the Pushcart Prize. I hope…

  • Alison Stine: "Marriage"

    17 Nov 2009 | 6:49 am
    The VPR Poem of the Week is “Marriage” by Alison Stine, which appears in the special tenth anniversary issue (Volume XI, Number 1) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.Alison Stine’s first full-length book of poetry, Ohio Violence, a winner of the Vassar Miller Prize, was published in 2009 by the University of North Texas Press. Kent State University published her chapbook, Lot of My Sister, winner of the Wick Prize, in 2001. Her poems have also appeared in such journals as Kenyon Review, New England Review, Paris Review, and Poetry, and her awards include a 2008 Ruth Lilly Fellowship from the…

  • Complementary Characteristics of Critical Classrooms and Creative Workshops

    15 Nov 2009 | 10:29 pm
    Last week, I was invited to attend a creative-writing class taught by one of my colleagues, Susanna Childress, the talented poet and an inspiring instructor. As preparation for the visit, most of the students had read a handful of poems copied from a couple of my earlier books. In addition, a pair of graduate students had carefully examined the contents of the books and designed a series of perceptive questions, which would be asked of me as an interview within the class period.I enjoyed discussing the topics raised during this process, particularly those issues concerning the choices I’d…

  • Georgia O'Keeffe: RUST RED HILLS

    14 Nov 2009 | 10:19 pm
    Rust Red HillsGeorgia O’KeeffeGeorgia O’Keeffe was born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin on this date (November 15) in 1887; therefore, I believe today is an appropriate occasion for inviting visitors to read Gregg Hertzlieb’s splendid commentary on O’Keeffe’s Rust Red Hills (pictured above), cover art for the current issue of Valparaiso Poetry Review. Since the Fall/Winter 2009-2010 issue (Volume XI, Number 1) celebrates ten years of VPR’s existence, I felt the anniversary publication deserved a dramatic and vibrant cover. Consequently, when making my selection, I could think of no…

  • Recalling James Dickey's Poetry on Veterans Day

    10 Nov 2009 | 10:10 pm
    As Americans remember the service and sacrifice of military personnel throughout the nation’s history at celebrations or memorial events across the country on this Veterans Day, I’d also like to recall the war poetry of James Dickey, whose engaging work unfortunately may have faded from the memories of many in recent decades. In past articles I have spoken of my admiration for various poems by Dickey: I specifically commented upon “Sleeping Out at Easter” and “The Firebombing.” I also chronicled my own observations of James Dickey when he and I once shared a publication party at…
 
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    Poetic Asides

  • 2009 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 20

    20 Nov 2009 | 7:01 am
    Drove up from Georgia to Ohio last night, so I'm writing on 3 hours sleep this morning. Hopefully, I'll write something that makes at least a little sense. Then again, since yesterday's poem was titled "Dream," maybe it's better if I don't. For today's prompt, I want you to take the phrase "And then (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make that the title of your poem, and then, write your poem. Some example titles could be: "And then Godzilla attacked Tokyo," "And then McDonald's opened a store on the moon," "And then nothing," "And then everything," "And then you probably have…

  • 2009 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 19

    19 Nov 2009 | 6:48 am
    For today's prompt, I want you to write an attachment poem. There are all kinds of attachments you could write about: physical, emotional, digital, etc. You could even write about your fear of attachment OR fear of no attachments OR fear of seeming to be afraid of attachment when really you're afraid of not being attached but you don't want other people to know that you know that...where was I?...oh yeah, write an attachment poem. Write it now. Here's my attempt for the day: "Dream" She walks into his room and starts talking about how he's begun to float. "It's getting a…

  • 2009 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 18

    18 Nov 2009 | 6:04 am
    After today's poem, we'll be 60% of the way through November. I can't believe how fast this month is moving. I've been dropping in and reading poems in the comments, and I'm looking forward to reading your chapbook manuscripts after this challenge is over. (Also, thanks for the kind words about my prompts and poems this month. Much appreciated.) For today's prompt, I want you to write a slow poem. (If you want you can re-read that sentence in your best "slow motion" voice.) I'll let you decide what a slow poem should be. Here's my attempt for today: "Let us not go then, you and I" Maybe…

  • 2009 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 17

    17 Nov 2009 | 6:15 am
    Sigh. Tuesday morning, and we've already had connectivity issues and a Turkish hacker (going by the handle Cyb3rking). But poetry is a powerful force that keeps on keeping on despite wind, rain, sleet, junk mail, global warming, asteroids, infomercials, etc. As mentioned above, today is Tuesday, which means we've got a "Two for Tuesday" offering. Remember: With "Two for Tuesday" prompts, you can write to either one or both (or none, if that's how you roll). Here are the two prompts: 1. Write an explosion poem. 2. Write an implosion poem. Here's my attempt for the day: "Black holes" How they…

  • 2009 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Day 16

    16 Nov 2009 | 5:58 am
    Oh yeah! We're more than half-way to the finish line; kind of hard to believe, eh? For today's prompt, I want you to take the phrase "Clouds (blank)," replace the blank with a word or phrase, make that the title of your poem, and write the poem. Some examples: "Clouds float," "Clouds rain," "Clouds don't exist," "Clouds block my sunshine," "Clouds are cool," etc. Here's my attempt for the day: "Clouds that don't bother to rain" They hover over us and save themselves for somewhere else. We watch them pass like ghosts searching for a better place to haunt. We want nothing better…
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    Poetry Freedom

  • Deafening Silence

    In search of myself
    18 Nov 2009 | 4:28 am
    Chains of silence Wings of speech, Fluttering impatience Deafening silence doth reach, Diffusing diffidence Doth conscience breach, In a state of imbalance Bound by each, Fraying countenance Doth freedom beseech, Yet, haggard annoyance Doth stiffling silence preach!

  • Tranquility

    In search of myself
    16 Nov 2009 | 10:30 am
    O Tranquility!-He is a friend of mine, Crooked thoughts in perfect line! To me, he is but a sea of brine Deep in thoughts-To none confine! But for once when these thoughts combine Down my eyes does he decline Leaving behind my cheeks saline O! how I wish He were still a friend of mine, On whom I can now recline!!

  • The Suten General

    Amen RA
    12 Nov 2009 | 2:48 am
    Don’t be libellous The Suten general will send you into the matrix traps Have you in the twilight zone being penetrated by rats with ultraviolet rays glowing out their fangs Devouring your brains Like lettuce You haven’t even evolved to human status Got a army of angels at my disposal Ready to conquer the physical and unnatural Laws of physics dont apply to [...]

  • Mystery

    Amen RA
    12 Nov 2009 | 2:33 am
    Creating diatonic harmony Used by angels to seduce lesser beings and give them potpourri String theory extended once I showed them the instruments that I was using for recorden I got my driver license suspended To bad they don’t know I have my space ship ensconced in my basement My armor is made of the residue from the core of [...]

  • “Creator”

    Amen RA
    12 Nov 2009 | 2:30 am
    Feel so heavy like ferromagnetic potential Lets transiently fluctuate capacious materials Into mass less gauge bosons Of inverted quarks in conjunction with man made electrons I  concoct/created the big bang And we would see my reign How my nappy fro imbibes and drains Energy in distinction to atramentous matter Created my own queen from my rib cage/bladder A aphotic pulchritudinous female smell like attar Whats [...]
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    Dunstan Carter - Poetry

  • The Puppet Drunk

    dunstancarter
    14 Nov 2009 | 9:29 am
    They said he was misunderstood, Neglected and bruised, A warrior falling through cracks in the pavement. I saw nothing but a puffed up man Filled with self love and anger, An egoist dancing on hearts in the suburbs, And the film was much better for that. Poetry.net

  • Someone Else’s Graffiti

    dunstancarter
    4 Nov 2009 | 3:47 pm
    She had a face like a photo-fit Or the kind you’d find on beer mats, A grimace from a court sketch, A frown all ridged and unwell. She was someone else’s graffiti, A stuttered chapel prayer, A feeling something’s never right, A dizzy, spinning moon. Poetry.net

  • Weekend Cottage

    dunstancarter
    30 Oct 2009 | 6:07 pm
    He’s electrified By dust cells, Stirring porridge By your side. Poetry.net

  • They Chattered Hatred

    dunstancarter
    30 Oct 2009 | 6:33 am
    They chattered hatred, It wasn’t paranoia, You could smell it in their hair, Burnt toffee and smoke, I stood on the periphery, Another unexplored argument, Awkward with shame And dizzy with doubt, I was one of them once. Poetry.net

  • A Sadness Resigned

    dunstancarter
    20 Oct 2009 | 3:46 pm
    I saw your eyes whispering Sad-hearted lullabies, Their heavy lids fluttering A makeshift release, You lay in bed Like a soft, settled sand dune, Pretending to sleep, A sadness resigned, There was nothing I could do, The summer had fallen Into bleak winter dreams, I took A long, cold Look at myself, I was begging. Poetry.net
 
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    left 2 write

  • P(rude)nt

    mosaeus
    19 Nov 2009 | 6:04 am
    I used to be prudent Second guess, dislike. But now I’m being Judas Betraying my right mind. Usually I don’t do this Still I just might Since I express myself best When I’m left to write. Not ambidextrous but yes Even my left is right. Southpaw, jab left On a NorthWest flight Entendres doubled-over No In-N-Outs, read it twice. Now you double-doubled over Can’t shake the fries. Cause I’m sick with this pen Call me carcinogen. Chemotherapy preparing me To lose it again My hair that is You know how unfair that is? My alliterations a-literally Nair these kids. Oh, it…

  • Glass 1/2 empty

    admin
    2 Nov 2009 | 9:56 pm
    “We spend so much time complaining about the glass being half empty that we forget to drink the half glass of water we do have.” - Mosaeus

  • 3s Company

    mosaeus
    7 Oct 2009 | 10:56 pm
    You doggone right She’s full of herself. He took one look His neck crook Gestured a yep. Then she told him She needed some help “I’m tired of tooting my own horn”. So he blew it himself. He flirted with her flute And blew it to death She came in humming herself. Who you fooling? She pursued it herself. She’s the cougar So he’s playing gazelle And he’s doing it well She’s his Lady Love He’s LL. Licking Lips Chapstick don’t fail. She so nasty Janet Jack, he So So Def. Mad-dame, she’s a female Hef. She’s his center-fold She…

  • Animal Farm

    admin
    14 Aug 2009 | 3:42 pm
    My mama said there’d be days like this She aint say it was a rat race like this Slow trap for cheese, but hoodrats holler quick I kick it w/ my dogs who prefer the dark-meat chicks. Police escorts, pigs in four doors Napoleon complex, blue Ford Taurus This is Manor Farm, the man is slumlord Plantation 2.0, what you think the borders for?! But I’m ‘Boxer’, I will not forget The way they boxed us up like dumb pets I could spend my whole life rewinding regrets Or I could fast forward and become the vet. Veterinarian, as in metaphor for doctor In case that’s over…

  • Jack(ed) & Jill(ted)

    admin
    17 Jul 2009 | 7:28 am
    Tell me how to break-up, quit Someone you’ve never been “with” No relationship, just myth The relations continued forthwith. They never committed How did she acquit it? Not a mistake But she’ll admit it. The empty space was erased He filled it Floating in space, no inhibition. She was taken, so he hid it He felt forsaken Jacked and Jilted. His feelings jaded She felt guilty, but A stand-up guy His love never wilted. Goodbye, before hi It’s contrite, just not right How’d they end before they begin? Were they lovers or just friends? No chagrin.
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    the amplified bard

  • @WiredPoetry Event Rehearsal This Past Saturday

    9 Nov 2009 | 5:31 pm
    This past Saturday, the @wiredpoetry crew did their performance rehearsal for this week's @Wired: A Multimedia Explosion of Poetry, Song, Music and Image event on Friday, November 13th at 8pm at the Rudolph Projects ArtScan Gallery. It was wonderful to see the behind-the-scenes of each performance. Below are some pictures I took of @byronjonesthepoet and @purposedband, bassist Anthony Walker, working on their set. Trills was able to capture some of the magic on video and it will be part of a video we will be working on thanks to the talented film maker Stephanie Saint Sanchez.

  • Spend Some Time with Artist Kabuki Katze

    5 Nov 2009 | 10:37 pm
    Speaking of watching other artists at work, graphic design artist, Kabuki Katze, maps out the process of working on the @Wired event flyer. @kabukikatze is the genius behind The Amplified Bard profile pics on Myspace and Facebook including the wonderful header to this blog. @KabukiKatze has always been wonderful in making her design process transparent i.e. allowing fans to see the stages of her work. She recently wrote a blog documenting her process working with the @wiredpoetry folks. Check it out at her blog.

  • Practice Night with Trills for @Wired

    5 Nov 2009 | 8:59 pm
    Tonight Trills and I worked on our performance for the @Wired event next week. I headed over to his apartment/studio to work on the timing and video images for our performance. I love collaborating with other artists because I am able to see them work in their element. Here is Trills and his son Caleb playing on the keyboard during a break:It blew me away to watch Trills turn various computer programs, keyboard riffs, and audio set-ups into an auditory explosion of nerves and uneasiness. Imagine what the tweeps involved with @wired i.e. @thepoetmendez, @byronjonesthepoet, @kabukikatze,…

  • Story of a Nerd and his destiny. Winner of Dreamhack 1998 Wild Compo

    4 Nov 2009 | 10:15 pm
    I found this great video about a nerd's life in the late 90's. What do you guys think? How would the video be made today? Would it probably still feature an addiction to porn? What about social media?

  • A Book About Nothing

    4 Nov 2009 | 1:06 pm
    “I love talking about nothing…. It is the only thing I know anything about.” —OSCAR WILDE“Nothingness lies coiled in the heart of being–like a worm.” —JEAN-PAUL SARTREThe concept of Nothingness has always interested me ever since I read Sartre's magnum opus "Being and Nothingness," which inevitably led me into a brooding, existential phase in my life. I can remember after reading Camus or Beckett, I would naturally contemplate the nature of non-being, of essence and negation until my head throbbed from the banging of an ontological hammer. For something non-existent, this…
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    Frozen well

  • shot- a 55 fiction

    Narendra
    14 Nov 2009 | 2:32 pm
    The pregnant lady was troubled by the fires and noise they made. . . Just then a soldier says  “sister,it is safe there”  showing her an abandoned trench . . . Her  husband, also a soldier sees from distance and roars “Bloody enemy! away from my wife” and shoots him. . . “Are you fine dear?”asks the husband soldier. 55 Fiction is a form of [...]

  • If I were a baby again….

    Narendra
    6 Nov 2009 | 10:35 am
    This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 4; the fourth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. All my life I worked finding the values of constants that haunted the science fraternity [...]

  • @mr.human–a sip of tea

    Narendra
    30 Oct 2009 | 7:33 am
    Times you think you look handsome, And you stand long mirroring the greats Mark my tweet I tell you that, These are the times you look funny Surpassing stupidity’s limits …. ~ It happened so that morning I walked into traffic boisterous, Dirty children running semi-nude, and With such poor a fashion sense In true sense of words a nuisance… ~ I am ready for #thechildcareproject Via [...]

  • Follow me-A 55 fiction

    Narendra
    28 Oct 2009 | 6:30 am
    55 Fiction is a form of micro fiction that refers to the works of fiction limited to a maximum of fifty-five words. Most 55 Fiction works are dramatized so as to get the effect in limited time.This is my first attempt at it. Her cab that night dropped her 55m away from where she resided. She [...]

  • @mr.human-Jab they met

    Narendra
    24 Oct 2009 | 9:41 am
    The usual way of me bumping into her, Our books falling, and note exchanges With smiles that fade quickly as we see, Each other and pretending not to see any Never happened when we met, ~ My mom tweeted me that day She was worried if I had my soup or otherwise I was worried as I hadn’t had any My furious mom blocked [...]
 
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    Robert Peake

  • Poetry Book Titles: a Quick, Fun Poll for Everyone

    Robert Peake
    18 Nov 2009 | 7:19 pm
    I have been reflecting on postmodernism and poetry, and came up with the idea of a quick, easy poll to help develop some of these thoughts. Care to help me out? You don’t have to know a thing about poetry to participate. For each title in bold, simply click “poetry” if you think it sounds like the title of a poetry book, or “prose” if you think it sounds like a prose book’s title. Ready? Here we go. Are the following book titles prose or poetry? Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. Note:…

  • Cloudbank Precipitates Great Poetry

    Robert Peake
    16 Nov 2009 | 5:29 pm
    “How open to suggestion / they have always been, carrying nothing // with them of the past, content to leave almost / everything behind…” -Christopher Buckley, “New Clouds” I received a complimentary copy of the premiere issue of Cloudbank today. The journal is co-edited by Peter Sears, core faculty in the Pacific Unviersity MFA program, and the index reads like a roll-call of some of that program’s most talented writers: Arthur Ginsberg helps us see behind sight, Ron Bloodworth takes us into meditative country, Marianne Klekacz makes a Christmas-morning…

  • Waltzing Like a Beast

    Robert Peake
    8 Nov 2009 | 7:33 pm
    “It is a great privilege … to celebrate through poetry what is sacred between species…” -Sandra Alcosser Here is the voice of my friend and mentor, Sandra Alcosser, reading her own wonderful poem about a bear: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70eC9o-hkeI&feature=player_embedded" mce_href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70eC9o-hkeI&feature=player_embedded">Watch Video</a> You can read more about the good work she is…

  • Success, Longevity, Consistency, Discipline, and Love

    Robert Peake
    4 Nov 2009 | 9:07 pm
    Here is what I discovered myself thinking over breakfast–about success in the arts, and how it relates to loving the creative process: The secret to success is longevity The secret to longevity is consistency The secret to consistency is discipline The secret to discipline is love

  • Now Podcasting

    Robert Peake
    26 Oct 2009 | 7:01 am
    Last night, I recorded audio versions of the sample poems on my website. You can easily download these tracks (currently six) into iTunes or another podcast reader using one of these options: Click here to subscribe using iTunes or, copy and paste this URL into your favorite podcast reader: http://feeds.robertpeake.com/PeakePodcast By subscribing now, you will be sure to receive any new audio files automatically. These poems are meant to be heard aloud, as well as read on the page. If you haven’t been to one of my readings, this is the next best thing. Enjoy!
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    E D I B L E    D E T R I T U S

  • Celebrity

    Marilyn Monroe rules the world, at least The part visible in a photograph, standing Above the troops she’s about to bless With a song in her porous sequin dress, her arms Durably outstretched. She hasn’t aged a day In fifty years. The men too appear impossibly Young, mooning boys clotted around a woman Who just might show them something they’ve never seen. Picture [...]

  • The Dream

                                          After Chagall A man grips a woman by the shoulders On a bed in the open air, a courtyard With a wall no taller than their knees stopping No one from getting in or seeing them there In the middle of a town blue as the sky, An anxious overcast blue, both of them clothed, Both of them solemn and seated, halfway Between [...]

  • Blogging Bookstores

    I live in Philadelphia, a wonderful city, vibrant and diverse, with a downtown that thrives after dark and on weekends, with residential neighborhoods that are cosmopolitan here and provincial there. Arts and culture? We have museums to rival those in D.C. or New York. We have restaurants offering every imaginable cuisine. [...]

  • Florence

    My favorite city in the world is Florence And not just any Florence but the tiny one On a shelf in a photograph from which I laugh At myself seated in a chair at a desk In an office that lacks Florence For an address, so that people when they come In to say hi or with a work-related question Sometimes wonder [...]

  • All Hallows

    Softly cursing in the graveyard on 4th Behind the church, an old man picks up detritus, The Halloween revelers vanished Like the years, overnight. He harvests more Than sticks, cupped leaves that creep along the brick walk Like hands, but wrappers, cans. Let screaming teens Have their carefree terror. With luck, ignorance Will last longer than they want, the truth Not haunt them [...]
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