New frost place director wants to put poetry in motion

New frost place director wants to put poetry in motion


He is on just about everybody's short list of best known poets. New director of The Frost Place, a museum and arts center, talks about his plans.

Chicago Tribune | Just the thought of poetry

Chicago Tribune Just the thought of poetry


All this fuss about poetry this month... Diane Cameron asks what's it all about?

Poet's Quote - Sharon Olds

"This creature of the poem may assemble itself into a being with its own centrifugal force." ~ Sharon Olds

Tags: Writing and poetry Poetry

WAG THE CAMEL

A phrase that has raised from the ink and is making quite a splash throughout the blogisphere is MAUREEN DOWD's catch phrase from her Op-ed piece yesterday titled: WAG THE CAMEL. Dowd writes in a New York Times Op-ed piece: "Iran was whipping up real uranium while America was whipped up by fake uranium." [source]

I think this pretty much says it all.

Tags: Wag the Camel Bush War Iraq Iran Nuclear

Thursday Mix

The moon was luminous last night and hung in the sky like one of those globes at a dance that reflect lights. The drive into to work was pleasant, with remarkably little traffic and I noticed the greening that is occurring all about us. It felt safe and comforting.

On the west cost, the San Francisco Giants, my absolute favorite baseball team suffered consecutive days of rainouts for only the second time since the team moved to San Fran in 1958. Tell me there isn't something screwy going on with the weather. Tuesday's series opener was already rescheduled as a split doubleheader for Thursday.

Tuesday night, the KC Metro Verse met at the Writer House. I filled in for our President who was ill. The meeting was mostly read-arounds. We were short several other members.

I see Christine over at This is All Your Fault has been experimenting with e.e. cummings - I kind of like it, but it seems so different from what we usually see from her. I guess that is where the experimental part comes in. Anyway I liked it! Note: her book The Salt Daughter is now available on Amazon.com.

The past few days - I seem to have lost track how many now, I have been following Eileen Tabios' posts on her blog - she have captured the last days with her father. Her words have been painfully beautiful.

I finished reading Bitter Fame - A Life of Sylvia Plath this week. I've read numerous biographical books on Plath. This on is worth the read. I'll tell you more about why I feel this way in a later post.

Tags: Sylvia Plath Books San Francisco Giants Eileen Tabios Christine Hamm

Poet's Quote - Robert Bly

"The beginning of love is a horror of emptiness." ~ Robert Bly

Channel 4 KRNV.com: Local News and Weather for Reno-Tahoe Region: Reno student threatening lawsuit over poetry censorship

Channel 4 KRNV.com: Local News and Weather for Reno-Tahoe Region: Reno student threatening lawsuit over poetry censorship


This is a case of some seriously lame School Administrators at the Coral Academy of Science in Reno, NV. More power to the student - Jacob Beyhmer-Smith.

Tags: Coral Academy of Science censorship Free Speech Poetry

Poet's Quote - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes - The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries."~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning

My Point

I have something to say
and I want your attention-
Your focus to the point these lines
ride the whiteness of this page.

I want you to read me and taste
the acidic black words,
question what this all means.

Bore yourself, in search
of some higher purpose,
that these have
some vaulted meaning
that springs forth.

Look between these lines
or beneath the page in hope
of more clarity. Some special
clue to my agenda
in all these words.

Take me apart,
line by line
with a paring knife.
There has to be an agenda.
Right?

Add these to your vocab

My wife sent me the following yesterday in an e-mail and I must admit it cracked me up. I believe my favorites are numbers 3, 7 and 18.


The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. .....Here are this year's winners:

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

4 . Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.

5. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

6. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

7. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

8. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

9. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

10. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

11. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.

12. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

13. Glibido: All talk and no action.

14. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

15. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

16. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

17. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.
And the pick of the literature:

18. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an arsehole.

Poet's Quote - Richard Wilbur

"It is true that the poet does not directly address his neighbors; but he does address a great congress of persons who dwell at the back of his mind, a congress of all those who have taught him and whom he has admired; they constitute his ideal audience and his better self." ~ Richard Wilbur

Yes, who is the poet's audience? Sometimes, I write with absolutely no audience in mind. I have been known to think more about audience in rewrites, but I'll admit, sometimes I believe it is my own soul that is the audience. I think perhaps this is the very audience Wilbur is addressing.

NPR : Caroline Kennedy: 'My Favorite Poetry for Children'

NPR : Caroline Kennedy: 'My Favorite Poetry for Children'


I featured a piece on this in one of my blog posts in the past but I thought since NPR did a segment on morning edition, it was worth mentioning it during National Poetry Month.


Tags: National Poetry Month Poetry Caroline Kennedy

Mondays Can Be Such A Bitch

So today is Monday. It is also my oldest daughters birthday. What a contrast. I recall Cathy Ann's birth like it was yesterday, though sadly, it was eons ago. Yet, today is Monday and I'd like to forget it already. The day started with the realization that all out CD's were stolen from the car. Then, my wife's very favorite winter hat was damaged. To add insult to injury, she locked herself out of work this morning, on my account. Monday is not normally a kind day anyway, but today especially.

So back to my oldest daughter. She lives out of the area, so we rarely see her. I am quite proud of her, as I am all our kids, but she is the only one who has moved out of the city and her mother and I miss her very much!

I did not write much this weekend but, for what time I attempted, I was back to trying to force a round peg into a square hole. Of course the results were not worthy of salvage. So much in contrast to last week when stuff just rolled out of the pen to the page.

I suppose it is time to shake this Monday thing and try to get things moving. My body seems to be moving at the speed of a slug and that is just not going to help me get through this day. I guess I need to get a little more positive passion about the day.

Here is the poet's quote for the day:

"The voice of passion is better than the voice of reason. The passionless cannot change history." ~ Czeslaw Milosz

Poet's Quote for Sunday April 9

"A book must be an ice-axe to break the seas frozen inside our soul." ~ Franz Kafka

Poet's Quote - Sautuday April 8th

"Yet there are times when a deeper need enters, when we want the poem to be not only pleasurably right but compellingly wise, not only a surprising variation played upon the world, but a re-tuning of the world itself." ~ Seamus Heaney

Hearing again the life-altering, haunting words of poet Sexton

Hearing again the life-altering, haunting words of poet Sexton - baltimoresun.com


On October 1st, 1974, Anne Sexton appeared at Goucher College and gave her last lecture. With her usual props - a glass of water, a sheaf of papers, a pack of cigarettes, she delivered a bracing, spirited 90 minute performance that ended with a prolonged standing ovation. Looking back at this address, were there signs of what was to come?

Tags: Poetry Anne Sexton

Friday Smiles!

My selected Poet Quote of the day is great advice. It comes from Christina Rossetti

"Better by far you should forget and smile that you should remember and be sad."

~*~

Art in Words

I was reading an article about Laura McCullough and her book The Dancing Bear. For her, writing poetry is about discovery and she says that her poetry helps her explore her obsessions. [source] I have thought about this in the context of the confessional school but even as I write more and more stream of conscinence material to begin first drafts, I believe there is a lot of discover to be had even in more abstract work. Sometimes this produces the most surprising imagry in this art. We are not intentionally driving a piece in a certain direction trying to hammer some specific idea, meaning or image into the poem. To me, this, perhaps more than anything else, is justification for the free verse form.

~

Select lines from Robert Lowell's Epilogue:

I hear the noise of my own voice: / The painter's vision is not
a lens, / it trembles to caress the light. / But sometimes everything I write
with the threadbare art of my eyes / seems a snapshot, /

~

Poet's Quote of the Day:

"The more articulate one is, the more dangerous words become." ~ May Sarton

Ted Hughes project given boost

Local News - Yorkshire Post Today: News, Sport, Jobs, Property, Cars, Entertainments & More: LB6

Story generated from local news source in Yorkshire on state of the Ted Hughes Project by locals.

Upcoming Events

The new Busch Stadium in St. Louis - View of the home plate side.

Poet Quote for today....


"Baseball will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us." ~ Walt Whitman

Poetry Events:

John Ashbery Festival

• From April 6 - April 8 the New School in New York City will sponsor a festival honoring John Ashbery, the author of more than twenty books of poetry and the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and fellowships from the MacArthur and Guggenheim foundations.

Readers at the festival will include: Mark Bibbins, Billy Collins, Daniel Halpern, Bob Holman, Ann Lauterbach, Ron Padgett, James Tate, Susan Wheeler, and, Ashbery himself. Click here for more information.

Kansas City, Missouri at The Writers Place:

Friday, April 7, 7:30pm- Michelle Boisseau and Michael Waters will read from their poetry. (click here)

Writers Place - 3607 Pennsylvania - Kansas City, MO 64111

tags: Poetry John Ashbery Baseball

Poetry is about discovering, not dissecting

The Herald-Mail ONLINE: "Poetry is about discovering, not dissecting"


Nice piece written by Lydia Hadfield - great for poetry month. I could not have said it better.

More is More

I've been fairly free wheeling with my poetry drafts these past few days. I'm not sure that I've
produced much that I am happy with, but I have been spilling the ink quite well. In the long run, this is a good thing. It means for instance, that I am gravitating away from trying to force something to happen. I am not suffering delusions that I have kicked that habit, only that for the time being, I've moved beyond that.

I'm looking forward to being able to cull some material from what has been flowing on the page. It just hasn't hit me yet, but with greater volume comes greater opportunity. This is kind of a weird thought in some respects because most of us are accustomed to challenging the assumption that somehow, more is better. In this case, I think it has the greater potential, but in terms of raw material, it is not in itself necessarily better. The reality is that more is simply more to cull from. If I go fishing in a lake with 200 fish in it, I am not going to always catch more than down the road where there are only 100 fish in the lake, but the possibilities are better. I view this the same as creating material for poems. It is good to initially spill out your treasure troff of musings. Then see where that leads.

Poet Quote for Today

"If we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die." ~ Maya Angelou

The ordinary

Morning view of Arch from our hotel room

I was in St Louis this weekend - weather was nice. Saw the new Busch Stadium which is nearing completion for the Cardinals home opener. It certainly felt like spring time was itching to get underway.

I had a bit of an epiphany about what we see in life. An too, perhaps what we miss and I found a wonderful link between that and my view of poetry. It seems that sometimes when you look with a great deal of focus you can find the most unique and beautiful things among the ordinary.

I saw for example, in downtown St. Louis, an area richly green with ivy spread across the ground and amid it was planted the bright red on/off valve on a stem. Here was a man made flower so to speak in the midst of natures lush foliage. Some would perhaps discount this as an intrusion into nature and it could be viewed that way. I chose to look beyond that.

While waiting for my wife who was in the city on business, I happened upon a bead shop. I can't tell you how excited I was about this. I don't bead, but I have been in enough shops with my wife to know that she would have found this one exciting. Unfortunately they were closing before she was to be finished with her meetings, but I picked up a very small item for her there and she seemed delighted by it.

It has occurred to me that sometimes the ordinary is only ordinary if we allow it it be. Yes, there are many extraordinary things in this world that we can marvel at, but it is important to not overlook the beauty around us in the ordinary course of life.

I found a poet's quote for today that sort of fit into what I am saying...

"For sure I once thought of myself as the poet who would save the ordinary from oblivion." ~ Philip Levine

When I saw this quote, I thought that perhaps Levine was on to something. I have always found poetry about the simplest things to be so enjoyable. If we can find ourselves within the ordinary, certainly the objective of saving the ordinary from oblivion is a noble cause for any poet to take on.

tags: Poetry St. Louis Busch Stadium St Louis Arch Creativity

Poet's Quote for April 2nd

"I write with experiences in mind, but I don't write about them, I write out of them." ~ John Ashbery

Don't Forget to move your clocks forward an hour. It may be later than you think. ;)

April 1st - Out of the poet's mouth

"I've read some of your modern free verse and wonder who set it free." ~ John Barrymore

Poetry Month

Last year Stickpoet offered a poetry-quote-day via e-mail during Poetry Month. This year, I am not doing the e-mail quote, however I will be posting a quote from a poet each day. If fact, due to my weekend schedule I will be posting April 1st Quote early.


Wishing you all a great poetry month.

PoetryFoundation.org Celebrates National Poetry Month With Daily Poetry Podcasts

PoetryFoundation.org Celebrates National Poetry Month With Daily Poetry Podcasts


THERE IS SO MUCH GOING ON FOR NATIONAL POETRY MONTH....

CHECK OUT THIS ARTICLE ABOUT THE POETRY FOUNDATIONS ACTIVITIES & VISIT THEIR WEB SITE.


tag: Poetry

Child poetry plagiarist a bad Oomen

Child poetry plagiarist a bad Oomen



Tag: Poetry

Tread softly...

"But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams." ~ William Butler Yeats

Yeats was truly masterful at transforming words to mood. His writing so lyrical. He is one of those few people who I believe can make you fall in love with the words themselves.

Night Wishes

So quiet this house,
the night.

The two entwined,
inseparable.

I, on the other hand,
sit, like an extra.

An uninvited witness
to their cozy bond,
wishing she were home,
and I the night.

Bush shuns Patriot Act requirement - The Boston Globe

Bush shuns Patriot Act requirement - The Boston Globe

Bush shows the utmost arrogance - placing himself above the law and accountability to the American People. While not the first time he has done so, this is perhaps the boldest example yet.

She's the "Real Deal"

My wife was out shopping yesterday with my daughter while I was at home changing out the insides of a toilet tank. When she came home, she had bought me a magazine with some terrific stuff on poetry in. What a sweetie!!!

The New Criterion - What Auden believed

The New Criterion - What Auden believed

I'll give credit to Jilly for finding this interesting piece on W. H. Auden.



Tog: poets

Back to the Hughes Quote

I've thought about this. I've even posed the question to my wife and one of my daughters. The question being that of my personalities- assuming I have more than one, what are they? The consensus from the family was that yes I have more than one. It was pointed out to me that I would likely act one way around say "x" but another if I was not in there presence. I certainly see their point, and I suspect we all have similar situations we could point to, but is that a different personality altogether or simply make up a part of our overall personality? I don't have the answer to that question as of yet.

This morning, it occurred to me that personality testing could give me some outside quantitative basis for examining my specific personality. So I went back to the last time I took such a test That would be July of last year. I blogged briefly on it here.

So accordingly, I find myself based upon this too be a EIFP. That designation would make me am extroverted Intuition person with Introverted Feelings. So perhaps this is a clue to what I am exploring. I present extroverted, but deep down inside I am really an emotionally introverted kind of guy? This, I suppose could account for two different personality types.

Hughes talks about writers of verse ideally finding a style that is inclusive of all our personalities.
I'm thinking that unless we are trying to force into words what we are writing, this would seem a natural occurrence of the act of writing itself. Am I mistaken? I would really be interested in the thoughts of others on this topic.

My Several Personalities

"Most writers of verse have several different personalities. The ideal is to find a style or a method that includes them all." ~Ted Hughes

I'm going to have to think about this "several personalizes" thing a bit. Yes, I've written from a variety of personas, but that is not what Hughes is saying here. This may require outside counsel in order to arrive at objectivity. Hence, I need a day or two or three on this one. But I will be back!

the substratum of our beings...

Todays quote from the mouth of a poet comes from T. S. Eliot ~

"Poetry may make us from time to time a little more aware of the deeper, unnamed feelings which form the substratum of our being, to which we rarely penetrate; for our lives are mostly a constant evasion of ourselves. "

Yesterday's mailbag ~ My 2006 National Poetry Month Poster arrived. You can see it pictured here to the right - really cool this year!

Contest - Eileen Tabios plugs Marsh Hawk Press contest [here]

Tag: Poetry

"This is what a poet does..."

It strikes me humorously how radical Allen Ginsberg was thought, by many people back when he was alive and writing poetry. The times themselves, or the churning and turning that was taking place in the American culture at that time I suppose seemed radical to most. Ginsberg I suppose only embodied a part of what was happening behind the everyday America that was sort of like in this giant vat being slowly mixed and turned into something that would one day resemble a quite different America. But Ginsberg verbalized what was happening slowly.

For a long time, we had been moving away from a stricter model of poetry subject matter. The romanticism that so often we equate with poetry was not the only relevant voice and in fact, to many, its relevance even seemed questionable. Perhaps it is the awakening of America that was truly more radical then the singular notion. There are things that quietly occupied the minds of people that turned into reality were quite radical, but they stayed there, quietly, kept to themselves.

Ginsberg was not alone. He was not a sole practitioner in radical thought. Indeed, it was a transformation that preceded him altogether. I think he simply realized what a powerful vehicle we each had at our disposal if we simply unleashed it. And the timing was right. There were others- people who were transforming the world with words. Ginsberg became a very powerful public personification of the thought process of a whole generation of Americans.
He said,

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in
bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's
what the poet does."

This is what Allen Ginsberg showed us, and I believe it has dramatically changed us as people.

Out of a poets mouth ~ Today's quote

Bitterness is like cancer.

It eats upon the host.

But anger is like fire.

It burns it all clean.

~Maya Angelou

WebWatch : World Poetry Day

pembrokeshiretv.com - News, Sport, Information and Entertainment

Believed to have its origins in the 1930s, World Poetry Day honours poets and their craft. It was specifically declared as such by UNESCO in 1999, in order to "give fresh recognition and impetus to national, regional and international poetry movements". The aim is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world.

Missouri & the Arts

Snowed overnight, but the results were not that bad. For the most part roads were good this morning about town. At least the ones I drove on.

~

I saw an article from the K.C. Star on Sunday in the arts section that painted a really dismal picture of Missouri and support for the arts. It seems that the Missouri Arts Council is the second oldest state arts council in the nation. In the 1990's the state legislature routinely budgeted between $4.5 million and $5.6 million annually. Now, the state gives it less than $500,000 a year.

I was appalled to see that the state now ranks 49th for spending in the nation for arts. A paltry 8 cents per person. Even the territory of Guam spends more on art. This is a big turnaround from being a state that at the outset was an innovative driving force in support of the arts.

I am well aware that the state has faced major cuts in critical programs but it seems to me less than a half a million a year is appalling. If the legislature cannot budget more from state funds, they could lend their efforts to working for funds from the private sector. There is a lot Missouri has to offer the arts. Our history is rich with poets and writers. Paint artists, musicians, and so on.

Four Seasons in Verse

Yes, it is the first day of spring. Tell that to the weather man. Meghan can be seen here pre-race Saturday getting her gear on. The cold came to visit again and it seems to be handing around. Fortunately last night it stayed just above freezing as rain and sleet moved into the area. We are told a motherload of snow is in store for us next. So much for spring fever.

So there are four seasons to a year - admittedly some geography seems to ignite this fact, but that is another whole blog topic and I am not going there.

What I am pondering is which season has been the subject of more poems?
Of course I don't have the answer, but it is an interesting thought to ponder on a day that could turn ugly chasing us inside to begin the process of "winter cabin-fever" even if it is spring.

Redlands Daily Facts - Living

Redlands Daily Facts - Living

Poet Sholeh Wolpe has work included in the forthcoming anthology "The Other Side of Sorrow," to be published by the Poetry Society of New Hampshire. Patricia Frisella, editor, says the idea for the book began when Sam Hamill called on like-minded poets to host community readings to address the impending war against Iraq.

Tags: Iraq Poetry War Sam Hamill

The Clearest Voice

She holds on to something
In defiance of form

It isn't easy to keep a firm grip
On something you can't distinguish:

Still, she must.
The clearest words
From deep within
Her nuclear core
Tell her

She must.

Can I pause the weekend?

"The faster I write the better my output. If I'm going slow I'm in trouble. It means I'm pushing the words instead of being pulled by them. " --Raymond Chandler

Interesting statement. I find room of agreement and disagreement with it. With poetry, I think it is most applicable to first drafts.

~

Yesterday was another cycling event for my daughter in Lawrence, Kansas. Cold, and the wind was outrageous. Weather forecasts are talking about all kinds of scary amounts of snow for us in the Kansas City area yet this weekend and tomorrow. While the sky looks bad out, I am having trouble being a believer. Perhaps it is simply I am in denial.

~

I need to be sending some stuff today or tomorrow. <---- note to self.

~

I really don't want the weekend to end. Of course I never do anymore but I really don't want Monday to arrive this week. I need more time. ::sigh::

Feeling Green....

A VERY HAPPY AND SAFE ST PATRICK'S DAY TO ALL

Social & Political Commentary Moving To New Blog

I have decided to post social / political commentary for the most part away from this blog. My reasons are really pretty simple, it is more a housekeeping matter than anything else. You can read more on this in the first post at Social Commentary by Stickpoet

Editorial: Fighting terrorism by cheating justice

Editorial: Fighting terrorism by cheating justice

I recommend reading this editorial.

Stickpoet

A Sorry Example of Sociology

A blister, given rise
Plump with anticipation
And between events.
A beginning and an end
That really is not,
But explanation reeks.

We copy to paper
With no thought given
But a man’s DNA,

That's another splinter
Inflamed in redness,
Taut, and mimicking
An ear on a cold day.

Go ahead, Cry foul.
Cry wolf.
Cry at the drop
Of a Stetson.
Cry in vain.
Cry out
With no remorse.

Tears beat a path to your door
And you let them in. Why?
A sorry example of sociology

At best. Another way
To pound the dent out
Of love wrecked
On the corner of indifference.

A time when I called
And the voice of reply was mine,
The explanation reeks too
And we won't talk about it.
Just like the DNA
We fear the complexity
Reaches beyond linear travel
Or comfort.

Thursday Briefs

• Kudos to Eileen Tabios, Editor and the other contributors to the first issue of Galatea Resurrects! [click here]
• Happy Birthday to Ivy !