Monday Mentions

A few things in no particular order of importance...

• It's banned Book Week and in recognition thereof, the following quote by Justice Potter Stewart - Censorship reflects society's lack of confidence in itself.  It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime. 
• I was delighted to get my copy of Letters From The Emily Dickinson Room in the mail Saturday. It was in the quiet of the afternoon that I read it through completely the first time. I will have more to say about it later this week, but I was so impressed by it I could not out it down.
• The Top Ten Ludicrous Reasons To Ban A Book
• The Ten Muses of Poetry
• I find the following both a disheartening and frightening aspect of the President's position on privacy.
• TAKE A POEM - LEAVE A POEM

Stop Blogging?

I suppose I owe a credit here to Robert Peake, so Let me get it out of the way before I go further into this. I will do so for three reasons.

1. It was after reading his post Blogging, Reincarnated that I was lead to Paul Boutin's Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004
2. By my citation of Peake's blog I am actually acknowledging that I read someone else's blog, thus affirming the relevance of such a practice to me.
3. While I have no way of knowing if this is the case, Robert may actually achieve some boost to his ego by my mentioning his blog. In any event, doing so is harmless.

It is true what Boutin writes about how blogging has evolved into something that become an industry. It is also true that most bloggers will never have the draw of a Daily Kos, The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan or Wired Blogs.

When I started blogging this blog, (though there was one earlier) in September of 2003 I had no delusion, no expectation that my blog would be read daily by tens of thousands of people. I am not now looking down the long barrel of disappointment and feeling threatened by any of the big name bloggers. Suggesting that if I quit now I would be in good company because Jason Calacanis who made millions blogging gave it up is insignificant to me. Perhaps if I made millions at anything I might give it up to tend to dealing with my financial portfolio in these turbulent times but I'll cross that bridge when it becomes a problem.

Blogging going mainstream is in fact a tribute to its success. Oh I know, success can be too much of a good thing. Boutin suggests that Twitter, Flicker and Facebook make blogs look so, 2004ish.  Many people have taken social networking to these levels and maintained blogs at the same time. And yes many of the big name blogs have become impersonal.  That is not necessarily true of the countless other bloggers who are not commercialized.

The niche of writer and or poet bloggers fills a large void that has become a part of the changing social fabric in our culture.  In recent years we've seen dozens of publication of the correspondence between peers - the likes of Robert Lowell, James Wright, Helen Bishop, Ted Hughes, Anne Sexton, etc. In the days when U.S. Mail was full of folksy letters and banter between people, writers had a chance to openly express themselves on a more intimate level with other writers. The present day writers has lost that touch. It is not necessary for me to feel I am being read by thousands upon thousands of other writer/poets. There is however a benefit in that smaller networking, from sharing trials and tribulations, rejections, successes, writers blocks and new ideas with a few others and at the same time listening to them as well. 

Twitter has caused a good deal of interest among some people. I could argue however that it is just taking mass instant messaging to another level and instant messaging is so 1990ish.  I have a facebook. I broke down and did one, but largely because of the messages from the countless literary journals that have a presence there and a few people who (coughing here) actually have blogs. It is a connecting source but hardly the same as blogging.

Boutin may actually be able to persuade some people to stop blogging. But if he is successful in making his point that blogging is really so passé he could wake up one morning and find that no one is reading Wired's Blog. But that would give his argument a whole lot of credit.

 

Technorati Tags: Blogging,Poetry,Writing,Wired,Robert Peake,Paul Boutin

Poetry News in the Blogosphere

Shirley Dent expounds upon the place of poetry in China and contemplates a time down the road, when we're not just sitting up and "taking notice of China's economic dynamism but of its poetic and political vibrancy as well."

Janyne Pupek has two poems up at The Dirty Napkin. Yeah Jayne!

Two Seattlelites doing the unthinkable - Making a living from poetry.

Cindy has Thirteen Marriage Tips for Bibliophiles.

Joannie - Pull over and write a poem or What driving while talking on a cell phone has to do with poetry?

Blogging - is it worth it? Part two

Following my earlier post on Tuesday I've had additional time to reflect on this subject. In fact I was talking with a peer at a meeting on Wednesday night about this. This person, who is not a blogger, but reads my blog in her e-mail by way of a feed she subscribes to, acknowledged she agrees about the exposure to others people's work. It dawned on me during this conversation that there are many poets who develop close peer relationships for example, with people who go through an MFA program together, and find themselves connected to one another and their work for years after completing the program. For these people, the Internet becomes an extension of the peer contact from the MFA program itself. In spite of distance, it remains relatively easy to follow the work of others through this medium. Their network may start there and expand well beyond.

I've not had the benefit of the MFA experience. Certainly none of it, but for the sake of this conversation, the peer network that can develop as a result of it. I have a limited number of individuals, with varying degrees of writing experience, with whom I have face-to-face contact with locally. Clearly these people are important. Still, if left to these contacts alone, there is much I would miss in terms of my exposure to the poetry of today.

There are far more people with whom I've had contact than listed in the previous post. But six of those seven people have published work which I have copies of. The other one has a book (nudging myself) I still need need to acquire. Now in each of these cases it is not likely I would have just walked into store and bought their book. Not without other contact. Not without coming to know something about their work, their style, their voice.

Through blogging, I've met other poets from beyond the local community. I've learned more about some through interviews. Expanded my knowledge of contemporary and experimental work. Benefited from a variety of poetic voices. Increased my knowledge of available poetry markets, received exposure and yes, feedback on some of my own work. And last but not least, shared in triumphs and rejections. Writing, especially when it comes to poetry is very solitary. It often relies upon withdrawing deep into one's own self which can seem lonely and even dark at times. It's ameliorating when you are exposed to and can learn from other poets who know well that place and the process.

Pausing the pain

A short post before I call it a night. I've taken a few pain killers so I have the option of holding my head up with relatively little pain for the moment or as I plan shortly I will be able lay with my head on a pillow with less discomfort. It's just over the counter stuff, none of the rally good stuff. I won't last long till it wears off. But then, hopefully I'll be asleep.

I've decided tonight that I need to clean up my list on the sidebar of blogs I read. Some are no longer being updates and I need to remove them from the list. Additionally, there are a few I need to add. Hopefully I can get to this before the week is out. I do really hate it when there is a very well done blog that challenges you as you read it and you get into it and then one day it stops and is not updated for months on end. I always hope that the blogger is simply taking a break and will be back, but you never know unless they post their intentions.

I had not looked at my web page stats in a while but I did this afternoon and noticed that there were quite a few hits the past two days on the site. I am guessing that since most of these were local that it may have been the result of my reading at the Literary Festival yesterday as well as my broadsides that I gave out to many visitors.

Besides meeting a lot of new people, it was nice to see many people from the local art community that I know from various places. The Festival seems to be well grounded in these first two years, and likely to become a very permanent feature in Kansas City.

Reminder - Voting on the Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere

Just a reminder that you can still vote for me or any of the other nominees through midnight on the 29th of April at: click here

Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere Election Started Today

Voting has started today for Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere. This is the fourth year the election has been held.

I [ Michael Wells ] was nominated for Stick Poet Superhero, and am on the ballot along with 22 others. Last year over 800 votes were cast for this. The candidate had to have been blogging on poetry for at least a year. You can see all the candidates and cast your vote by going to this site

2008 Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere

Almost forgot.... Nominations begin today for the 2008 Poet Laureate Of The Blogosphere. This will be the fourth year for the elections. There are some minimal qualifications - such as having been a poetry blogger for no less than one year as of March 1, 2008. Anyway, the nominations can be made at this site.

Poet Laureate of the Blogisphere and other things...

Thanks to Jilly, I caught this note on the 2008 Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere. Click on the link to see details about nominations, etc. Last year I didn't catch it until nominations were over, but I did make it in time to vote. Previous winners:

Amy King, Ron Silliman, and Jilly Dybka.




On another note..... China Resists Human Rights Link to Olympics

By Sam Beattie Beijing - 27 March 2008

China hosts its first-ever Olympic Games, in just five months. In Beijing, people are working hard to clean up the city and to get ready to host the world's most prestigious sporting event. The city has undergone enormous changes in the seven-year build-up to the event, but human rights activists say the government has failed to live up to some Olympic promises. Sam Beattie reports. Full Story