Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy uses Christmas verse to attack British society - Times Online

Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy uses Christmas verse to attack British society - Times Online


ON the first day of Christmas there is no partridge or pear tree but just a buzzard on a branch watching a British soldier far from home.

This is the ode to Christmas in Britain from our new poet laureate. Carol Ann Duffy uses her festive offering as a stinging commentary on much that is wrong in the country and the world today.


Full Story Here

Sunday slipping away

I'm ready to call it a night and settle in with a book to read for a short while. Ah, if I could just pull a nice bottle of Chardonnay of the shelf and pour a small glass. Instead, I'll just sip on the last of my warming cup of coffee.

I watched an episode of Modern Family on ABC tonight and it cracked me up. I've never seen it before and it was pretty funny.


I've thought about some new years resolutions today. I'm not big on new years resolutions but I've got a couple of things on my mind that I'll blog about later in the week.

I did crank out another set of poetry submissions today... a task that is not on my list of fun things to do, but I've resolved this fall to get better about it. Going back to a time when I was persistent, the results were truly positive.

Sadly, I feel the weekend like sand in an hour glass down to a final trickle of granules.

Heard a good metaphor lately?

I’ve been thinking a lot about metaphors.  So what, you say… that’s what poets do. But metaphors, which so often gets a bad rap from people who don’t particularly care for poetry, are pretty common within our everyday language.  In the movie As Good as it Gets, Jack Nicholson utters this line, “People who speak in metaphors should shampoo my crotch.”  Yes, the irony makes for a good laugh. So the question I have is do we tend to overuse metaphor in everyday communications? Do people really recognize metaphor in use outside of poetic device?  Let’s go a step further and just say for instance that it has become  overused in everyday language, would that diminish its value in poetry?

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Poetry book by ‘Bostonian’ Poe sets auction record - BostonHerald.com

Poetry book by ‘Bostonian’ Poe sets auction record - BostonHerald.com:

"NEW YORK — A rare copy of Edgar Allan Poe’s first book has sold for $662,500, smashing the previous record price for American literature.
The copy of 'Tamerlane and Other Poems' had been estimated to sell Friday for between $500,000 and $700,000 at Christie’s auction house in New York City.
The previous record is believed to be $250,000 for a copy of the same book sold nearly two decades ago."

Your Brain on Poetry

 

 Travis Nichols, the Editor at the Poetry Foundation has a really intriguing piece in the Huffington Post this week about poetry and the brain.  Pictured on the left is Henry Molaison who affectionately was known to many involved in his life as just H.M. 

 

Late last year Molaison passed away.  Molaison’s claim to fame relates to his memory capacity, or lack thereof.  I won’t go into the entire history, but he underwent brain surgery in the 1950’s and as a result had the inability to form new memories.  During his post surgery years, he was studied profusely in search for clues to our memory process. Even in death, medical science has turned to his brain for more answers to the mystery of how and where memories are created as well as retrieved.  Scientists hope to be able to map the memory process by observing slices of M.H.’s brain.

 

Nichols claims that what Dr. Jacopo Annese, who is doing the slicing is exploring the greatest poetic mystery of all time. Nichols talks about some poetry that is less about telling stories and more about using poetry that engages a readers brain while he/she is reading, that utilizes sound patterns or other techniques to create Cognitive Poetics.

 

Nichols uses the example of an poet not just saying, “When I made out with so-and-so, I did the happy dance!” Instead, that poet would use language that would allow a particularly attentive reader go beyond by just reading, but come to experience their mind doing the happy dance, thus creating a memory associated with it.

 

Nichols sees this kind of writing as experimental, which he notes is not unlike the path Dr. Annese is pursuing.

 

Read Nichols’ story here. 

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"an excellent piece of disappointment worthy of gathering dust on any coffee table"

That is not my blurb, but remarks from Stéfan Orzech's review of B is for Bad Poetry, Pamela August Russell's new collection of intentionally bad and humorous poetry.  read review here

Another day – another rejection.

 

Amazingly this week seems to be moving along swiftly. I thought after the 4 day holiday this week would be a tough one. 

 

Rejection letter today on four pieces I sent out little over two months ago.  Serves as a reminder that I need to get a few more submissions out this week end. 

 

I also remembered I need to take my floating holiday yet this month or lose it.  I feel a full day of writing  coming on.

 

I received another e-mail tonight from Poet Christine Klocek-Lim.  Her new chapbook, How to photograph the heart is available here. I understand there are a limited number of autographed copies available from the publisher.

 

Oh… and this is different….  Publishing the Unpublishable

 

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But did you know...

The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda is known for many things: he was a career diplomat, an avid Communist, and of course, the Nobel Prize-winning author of erotically charged love poems, memoirs and surrealist verse.




But a seashell collector?  Full story: Neruda: poet, Communist... and seashell collector   by Anita Brooks

The rise of poetry in advertising | Television & radio | The Guardian

 

The rise of poetry in advertising

More companies, including McDonald's, are being moved to verse to advertise their products. Is this a welcome development?  

full story: The rise of poetry in advertising | Television & radio | The Guardian

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Scanning the Net

 

I made a swing through the blog neighborhoods that I hang out in and these things caught my eye.

If you are a poet, you no doubt have friends that simply don’t understand the “poet” in you. I saw something that cracks me up -thanks to Jilly that came from the blog of Don Share is Senior Editor of Poetry magazine. HOW TO DEAL WITH POETS

Rachel Dacus has an interesting rant at ROCKET KIDS about paper & the digital times.

Christine Hamm has new material published in The Loch Raven Review and The Holly Rose Review,

 

Technorati Tags: Jilly,Don Share,How to deal with poets,Rachel Dacus,Christine Hamm

It's Not What You Think...

If I appear distracted, disengaged, unfocused today, it is only because I am hyper-vigilant in search for poetic moments.

The Hughes Legacy

 

Ted Hughes has been dead about eleven years now and legacy as a poet is again in public view as some have taken up the cause of him being honored by inclusion in Westminster Abbey's Poets' Corner - poetry's holiest of holies.  Those enshrined there include Chaucer, William Shakespeare, TS Eliot, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, William Blake and Sir John Betjeman the last admitted in 1984.

 

Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney is one of several who have called called for Ted Hughes to be honored in the Poets’ Corner. Others include Andrew Motion, who took over from Hughes as poet laureate, Lord Melvyn Bragg. 

 

“In proclaiming and embodying in his work a holistic sense of life on earth, he became one of the vital presences in 20th Century poetry.” ~ Seamus Heaney

 

The final decision on admitting Hughes to this honor belongs to the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall.

 

Outside of his homeland, Hughes is perhaps best known as the husband of Silvia Plath. The whole Plath / Hughes relationship would likely overshadow such talk in this country where the nearly myth like lore perhaps surpasses real critical view of his own poetry.

 

Technorati Tags: Ted Hughes Letters,Sylvia Plath,Poet's Corner,Seamus Heaney

 

Bit by the Gratitude Bug

Yes, I know thanksgiving is over, but it was in the quiet of my office today during my lunch hour that the gratitude bug hit me.

As far as stress goes, this year has been on overload at times. Still, I cannot deny there are many things I have to be grateful for.  A few of them that came to my mind today are the following.

I’m grateful for:

• My family. I’m blessed to have a wonderful wife and four grown children who are each in their own right precious to me.
• Jobs. In theses times even work is a blessing. I need to continue to keep this in focus. Especially when I’m feeling worn down on some of the crisis filled days.
• Our home- a place that provides comfort from the elements, a base for us to return to each evening.
• Our pets… yes, they drive me crazy at times, but they are God’s creatures too and they are unconditional in their love.
• My ability to write. I get such good support from my family, even if they feel challenged at time in what I write.
• I was grateful for being able to spend 6 weeks this fall being mentored by another poet.
• The opportunity for both Cathy and I being able to visit our two daughters in Phoenix this year.  
• Turkey wings
• Diet Coke – which I’ve been missing.
• White wine.
• A car that runs right again.

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Sorry for straying from poetry and art topics.

An Associated Press wire story indicates that the couple who crashed President Barack Obama's first state dinner are trying to peddle their story for hard cash. Call me mean if you wish, but the only thing I’m wanting to see this couple get is some hard time.

I’m tired of people scamming in order to get paid to do reality shows. As far as I’m concerned Michaele and Tareq Salahi have had their 15 minutes of fame. I think fifteen months of jail should be about right.

Representatives for the couple are looking for a mid-six figure price tag for an interview. Any network or show that rewards them by shelling out money has lost my respect. If they reward this couple for what they did they only encourage this kind of behavior. I’m more than willing to wait to hear what story they tell a judge.

 

I return you now to regularly scheduled blogging.

 

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Curtains

adapted from the work by Nicholas Prior- Title: Untitled - #26

[The following poem was a draft I wrote based upon this picture I say at the Kemper Museum of Art here in Kansas City.]

Quiet are the surroundings
lost in the enigmatic confines.
The boy is not there
in its protective arms
his back to the door
his knees crossed yoga style.




A four legged table
nearby, stoic its top veiled;
a byzantine respect to the lad,
knowing his child's mind
is in communion
with something bigger
beyond the sheer curtains
of a world stage.




No adult is near.
No adult could know.
Someday he too will
enter such a room
and be oblivious.

Art Date

Taking advantage of the day off and the nice weather I took myself on a trip to see two art exhibits today The first was The Poetics of Space which remains at the Kemper Museum until March 14th, 2010. The exhibit is based upon the French philosopher Gaston Blanchlard's 1958 book, La poetiique de' l'espace. The collection of work focuses upon the spatial dynamics of our architectural and natural surroundings.  There were three pieces from this collection I especially liked.


• Isabella's two chairs
• Untitled #26 from The Age of Men
• Wave Rock

I'm working on poems that are based on the first two above.  More on these in a later post.
The second exhibit was at Kemper at the Crossroads.  It's Keltie Farris's Man Eaters.
She uses formalist strategies and materials to create enigmatic and visually seductive abstractions.

Both of these exhibits had my mind stretching like taffy.  Curiosity and bubbling over like a pot of water. A little steam just to throw in a little mystic smoke.

Police Photos & Poetry Calendar

 HOW COOL IS THIS.........   

Maine's largest police department is releasing a second calendar that features poetry and photographs taken by members of the city's police force. The 2010 Portland Police Department Poetry & Photo Calendar features works by the assistant chief, detectives, sergeants and patrol officers that primarily focus on what's it's like to be an officer. The calendat is part of an project called Art At Work, and aims to improve municipal government through the arts and give city employees outlets for their creative sides. The calendars cost $15 and are available at local book sellers and here.

"Stop,don't do it!"

One woman examines our future in Afghanistan through an unlikely window.  She recalls a Sharon Olds poem titled, I Go Back to May 1937.  As America awaits the next move on the Afganistan front from the President, Carla Carlisle is asking some very good questions.  Read Story Here

Poetry Series Spurs Debate on the Use of an Old Slur Against Latinos

Poetry Series Spurs Debate on the Use of an Old Slur Against Latinos


By DAVID GONZALEZ

The word sounds retro, but its corrosive power lingers. Once a cruelly common taunt that mocked the way Spanish speakers pronounced “speak,” it set off fights, shattered friendships and trampled feelings.

Now that word forms the title of a poetry series — “Spic Up/Speak Out” — at, of all places, El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem, on Saturday.

Organizers say that the provocative title is intended as a postmodern take, inviting dialogue and debate over issues of identity. Some of the participating poets have embraced the title as a symbolic inversion of the word, that neutralizes its sting. But others are not so sure.  Read story here.

Talk On Wallace Stevens' Poetry At Tunxis Campus Farmington, CT

 

This looks really interesting, if anyone is close to Farmington, CT on December 3rd it might be worth taking in.

If any readers make it to this, I’d love to hear from them about it.

Submitted by Melissa Lamar, Tunxis Community College, on 2009-11-23.

The public is invited to attend "Philosophy of the Supreme Fiction: In and Beyond the Metaphysics of Wallace Stevens," a free talk by James Finnegan at Tunxis Community College on Dec. 3, from 1-2:30 p.m., in Founders Hall. Lunch will be provided.
Finnegan will explore the common ground of poetry and philosophy, with Wallace Stevens as a guide and muse. Hartford's most noted poet and once one of its more prominent insurance executives, Wallace Stevens has often been studied for the philosophical character of his work. Considered a true American heir to the English Romantic poets, he was also influenced by philosophers as diverse as Nietzsche and such pillars of American pragmatism as Ralph Waldo Emerson and George Santayana. With verse so invested in the problems of epistemology and metaphysics, Stevens' poetry has been freshly examined in the light of current philosophical trends with each new decade. However, the unique way he explores the interaction between imagination and reality resists dissection by logicians and diehard rationalists.
Finnegan is a poet, thinker, and founder of The Friends and Enemies of Wallace Stevens, a Hartford area arts organization that supports the cultural legacy of Wallace Stevens and promotes poetry in the community. With Dennis Barone, he edited "Visiting Wallace: Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of Wallace Stevens" (University of Iowa Press, 2009). Finnegan's poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Poetry East, The Southern Review, and The Virginia Quarterly Review among others. He is a senior vice president at Lee & Mason Financial Services, Inc.
The lecture is one of a two-part "Proof & Possibility" series of talks on philosophy and the history of ideas. For more information, call 860-255-3623 or 860-255-3500, or e-mail jabbot@txcc.commnet.edu. Visit Tunxis at tunxis.commnet.edu. Tunxis is located at the junction of Rtes. 6 and 177 in Farmington.

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