Brittan Elementary School / Principal Earnie Graham get Dubious Honor

Stick Poet reported on Mr. Graham's lapse of better judgment earlier this year - I see that he and the school have been selected the winner from 5 nominees (you have to wonder what he beat out) for the "most invasive proposal or project," from a London-based human-rights group.

Earnie Graham ~ your fame just keeps growing!

Poetry Month Quote - April 17

I would as soon write free verse as play tennis with the net down. ~Robert Frost, 1935

Poetry Month Quote - April 16

Poetry is ordinary language raised to the nth power. Poetry is boned with ideas, nerved and blooded with emotions, all held together by the delicate, tough skin of words. ~Paul Engle, New York Times, 17 February 1957

Kansas City Area Poetry Events

Friday April 15 - Riverfront Series - Reading at The Writers Place 3607 Pennsylvania - K.C., MO starts at 8:00pm - participants in TWP Winter Poetry Workshop will read poems work shopped in seminar as well as other works.

Readers - Phillis Becker, Susan Carman, Joe Cecil, Ben Chapman, Meg Huber, David Hughes, Judith Bader Jones, Joan Langmack, and Kathleen Laverick.

Saturday - April 162:00pm - Westport Library - 118 Westport Rd. K.C. MO

Branching Out - The K C Public Library - Writers Place and KC Metro Verse team for a multi- event afternoon.

Poet Martin Espada speaks on the late poet Pablo Neruda starting at 2:00pm

Following this event Writers Places hosts a reception.

Then at 4:00pm - to 5:30pm KC Metro Verse hosts a Favorite Poem Project

Monday - April 25th regular monthly Open Mic at The Writers Place starts at 8:00pm

Thursday April 28th - Midwest Poets Series hosts poet Cornelius Eady at the Rockhurst University - Mabee Theater - 5225 Troost - K.C., MO. Enevt starts at 7:30pm.

Poetry Month Quote - April 15

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath

Poetry Month Quote - April 14

Poetry is not a civilizer, rather the reverse, for great poetry appeals to the most primitive instincts. ~Robinson Jeffers

Name Droppings

Here is a link to a really cool idea for "Poetry in the street" which had it's roots in Toronto, Canada. I like this idea. Actually I am hoping to do some in pastels on a sidewalk this month. Not exactly permanent, but the same general principal.


Have to do a plug. Christine Hamm has a new book- Safe Word which I have not seen yet, but I adore her work. I got a peek of one of the poems in it. Check it out - and/or buy it here. Check read her blog, this is all your fault here.

I read an interesting critical eye on poetry from Camille Paglia - link.

My new Poets & Writers came this week. Haven't had a chance to read but a just a bit of it last night.

Tom Beckett interviews Eileen R. Tabios - link.

Ok, I'm through dropping names for now...

Poetry Month Quote April 13

"Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood." ~T.S. Eliot, Dante, 1920

Poetry Month Quote - April 12

"The crown of literature is poetry. It is its end and aim. It is the sublimest activity of the human mind. It is the achievement of beauty and delicacy. The writer of prose can only step aside when the poet passes." ~W. Somerset Maugham

Poetry Month Quote - April 11

"Everything in creation has its appointed painter or poet and remains in bondage like the princess in the fairy tale 'til its appropriate liberator comes to set it free." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Beacon Journal | 04/10/2005 | Poet laureate lacks rhyme and reason

Interesting piece from the Akron Beacon Journal.

Two Time Ted

Ok, Kooser gets a second term. Congratulations Ted.

I have been reading his book, The Poetry Home Repair Manual [it's worth reading, by-the-way] and I wanted to comment on his effort as Poet Laureate.

Kooser's support of poetry is laudable, of course that should be a minimal requirement of a Poet Laureate. I believe he is succeeding in bringing new people to poetry, and that is part of what I see as the responsibility that comes with the position.

Kooser has carved out a niche for accessible poetry. Though not the first by any means, [former Laureate Billy Collins promoted accessibility in poetry as well] Kooser I fear, is often times cheering on the sidelines for others to write the kind of poetry he likes (and writes) while leaving an impression that the vast sea of alternative poetry is the dirty stepchild that he'd rather not talk about in public.

I reality, I don't believe Ted Kooser is judgmentally putting down the rest of poetry. If I did, I would not be as kind in my choice of words. Sincerely, I believe he is trying to do what he believe is best for the art of poetry by opening a whole new frontier of readers. People who will embrace and love poetry. To that I raise my wine glass.

Perception however can be dangerous. It is here that I offer these concerns for brother Ted. As fellow poets, I believe it is important that in the broadest possible way, we should be lifting up and supporting the art of poetry as a whole.

There are poets out there who thumb their noses at accessible poetry. They are just wrong.

Do I think everyone has to like everyone's poetry? Of course not. But as practitioners of the art, I think we need to be open the encouragement of a rich diversity within the art form.

I tell you in all honesty, I am far less fearful of poetry dying anytime soon then I am people stressing that poetry has to take on this shape or that form. Optimistically, I have a great deal of faith in people that are brought into the poetry fold to grow in their interest, and like water follow the paths of least resistance to suck up what they read and like. With this in mind, growing our ranks with accessible poetry is not a bad thing. Some will sip the nectar of that which they were exposed to and that will be enough to sustain them. This will be a good thing. Others will thrust for much more... and their taste will grow and change. This too will be a good thing if allowed to happen. That is why I applaud Kooser's efforts... I just want to make sure no one is building damns around the many other lakes, rivers and oceans that people may choose to drink from.

Poetry Month Quote - April 10

"Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things." ~T.S. Eliot, Tradition and Individual Talent, 1919

Poetry Month Quote - April 9

"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for." ~ Dead Poet's Society

Rejection

Nick Carbo proves rejection comes in many forms.

Now a month or so ago, I received a rejection letter from a west cost literary journal that I imagine you'd all recognize - it contained a scrap of paper no doubt torn (emphasis on torn) from an 8-1/2 by 11 size sheet of paper. The 8-1/2 was still there, but I got about one inch of the 11 portion.

For a brief moment I looked at the paper which spoke to me in words that said ...we get a fucking trunk load of submissions, we are way too busy for this... and, "sorry, it is not what we are presently looking for."

Now don't get me wrong, I am sure that the fact of the matter is they do receive a ton of material each month. But when you send a self-addressed-stamped envelope, you would think the least they could - no, make that want to do is to appear somewhat professional in their correspondence. I don't so much mind the "strip of paper" but hell, at least cut it so it looks like a strip of paper and not a scrap.

Yes, for a brief moment, I wanted to reply with a rejection letter myself saying, "I'm sorry, but your rejection letter what not what I was looking for and seems to contract with my present collection, therefore I will not be using it but I wish you well in your rejection endeavors and do try us again. Hee-he. Of course even the rejected can dream!

Poetry Month Quote for April 8th

To be a poet is a condition, not a profession. ~Robert Frost

Proetry Month Quote -April 7th

A poet is an unhappy being whose heart is torn by secret sufferings, but whose lips are so strangely formed that when the sighs and the cries escape them, they sound like beautiful music... and then people crowd about the poet and say to him: "Sing for us soon again;" that is as much as to say, "May new sufferings torment your soul." ~Soren Kierkegaard

Poetry Month Quote - April 6th

A poem is never finished, only abandoned. ~Paul Valéry

UCR News: Creative Writing Professor Reads from Book of Poetry

Christopher Buckley, a professor in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside, will read from and discuss his book of poetry “Sky” from 3:15 to 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 20, in Special Collections on the fourth floor of the Tomás Rivera Library at UCR, 900 University Ave. The event will be web cast live and will be archived for later viewing. For more information call Special Collections at the UCR Libraries at (951) 827–3233

The Bards Celebrate

Last night - about 35 people attended an Open Mic presented by the Raytown Bards ( Raytown, MO - a Kansas City suburb) in celebration of National Poetry Month.

The event started with guest poets Don Queen, Kathy West, and Bob Savino then followed as one-by-one guests came to the microphone to add their own work or that of someone else they has chosen.

Hot topics of poems were "spring" & "Iraq war" - though there was a poem dedicated to Pope John Paul II, a poem about baseball dreams dying hard, first day home with a newborn, cowboy poems, domestic violence, childhood memories and so on. Very good mixture of light material and some heavier poems with very pointed statements.

Raytown Bards is just one of several chapters of the Missouri Poetry Society.