Baculine Poet

Relegated to the corner stool
I contemplate my crime
Maybe it was meter, No
I bet it was my rhyme.

Felt ashamed and isolated till I realized
There are four corners and others too
Who are plagues against humanity
War mongers, ax murders and a slum lord I once knew.

Still, deviating from form at times
On others I did inflict
Malfeasance, but not without passion
Bad poems are my crimes.

2004 Poetry Market - - It's Here!!!!

2003 War Poetry Contest - Winners

Winning Writers, founded in 2001 has announced this years winners of their War Poetry Contest. A total of 734 entries were received from around the world and the winning entry received a $1,000 cash award.

A Texan, Robert Randolph won first prize and $1,000 for his poem, "Floating Girl." Mr. Randolph entry was praised by Janet retire, contest judge for being, "delicately beautiful and strange imagery, its musical cadence that never falters."

Second place winner, Joel Long of Utah, received $500 for his poem, "Broken Windows at reins." The third place winner was Patricia Monaghan of Illinois, received $250 for her poem, "Soldier's Heart." In addition there were five other honorable mention poets receiving $50 each.

The poems are published online and can be seen at this site.

Sylvia

I've not yet seen the recent release movie Sylvia, but I have it on my growing list of things to do. In the meantime I note a negative assessment of the movie in a recent Slate piece by Meghan O'Rourke - Poetry's Lioness: Defending Sylvia Plath from her detractors.

There seems a resurgence of material being done on Plath on the 40th anniversary of her death. I have in fact milled through quite an array of material recently and still have more reading to do. I'd like to devote some more time on the subject of her life and her work - though I am not prepared to do so just yet. If anyone else has seen the movie and has comments, I'd like to hear from them.

Friday Brief

This is classic - "The the impotence of proofreading" - I actually thought it a hoot! Evidently Poetry is not setting well with others as reported here - Islamic Clerics Ban Poetry for Women

Humpdays Are Our Friends....

Alli's caught my attention again.


"A cynic is not merely one who reads bitter lessons from the past; he is one who is prematurely disappointed in the future." - Sydney Harris

I fear we have become too disappointed in that which has not yet arrived.
Do we all posses such clairvoyance or are we just too damned cynical in our belief that the future holds any hope?

Perspective On The World...

"I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead; I lift my eyes and all is born again." - Sylvia Plath

Plath expresses a view of subjectivity that causes me to wonder within the context of today's happenings just how many Americans are going about daily with closed eyes. And I always thought the problem was closed minds.

Toche!