Recommendation

I have been reading some of Diane Ackerman's work from her book Origami Bridges. Diane has captured a lot of very strong images and introspective feelings in this book. Her poems were written during a period in which she underwent intense psychotherapy. Of course one cannot be certain but the presumption is that the therapy added a dimension to her personal reflections that are exposed in her poetry.

A couple of the individual poems that I belief were really vivid and enjoyable to me, were Weathering Depression, Omens of Winter and Holding Radium.

I would recommend this book to others who have perhaps not had an opportunity to see her work for themselves.

Diane Ackerman's web site

Poetry

Chapbook Manuscript

I have successfully pulled together my first chapbook manuscript. I worked extensively on pulling together material yesterday from my archive of work. Making some modifications. Adding some items I previously had intended to leave out after meeting and discussing some of the material with a fellow poet. It encompasses forty pages of writing.

I am not quite ready to submit it for publication yet. Some of the work has been published already individually. Since I am attending a workshop in Iowa this weekend, I e-mailed a manuscript file to the two presenters. I will have an opportunity for a one-on-one secession with one of them during the workshop. This will give me yet another opportunity to perhaps refine it and make necessary adjustments.

The manuscript is titled (working title) Now In Color & Hysteria. So much of my poetry moves between strong social comment and humor. It is that combination that I preface this way: "Now In Color & Hysteria crosses the line between the grave issues of our day and the ridiculous. Changes in life and life altering experiences. Relationships and the relationship between man and his world."

This has been a slow process in coming together. I don't mean so much the writing of the poems, but the decision to create a multi-poem manuscript. Then deciding what goes in and what stays out. Sometimes we get so close to something it is hard to be objective. In all aspects of art, I think the creator is often his or her harshest critic. Writing is no exception to this, at least from my own experience. Even when you feel good about a piece, I find a week, six months down the road I often second guess. I suppose the non-static nature of poetry lends itself well to this sort of internal questioning.

At any rate, it was a happy occasion when I hit the send button to transfer the manuscript file via e-mail. Still, I don't get as I though I might that feeling of conclusion. Quite the contrary, I feel like this is a beginning.


Poems

List of Readings & Book Signings for Under The Tellingtree - Anthology of Verse and Voice

Under The Tellingtree - Anthology of Verse and Voice

Calandar of Remaining Book Readings & Signings scheduled locally ( Kansas City Area)

February 28 - Writers Place 8-9:30pm


March 4 - Barnes & Noble at Zona Rosa Shopping Center in northland 7-9:00pm


March 6 - Boarders at Boardwalk in northland 2:30-4:30pm


March 29 - Prosperos Books - 39th and Bell in Kansas City 7-9:00pm


I have two poems and a piece of prose in this anthology.

books

Poetry

Rejection

Rejection strikes again! Friday I got a rejection paper wad from a Journal that shall remain nameless. When I say paper wad, this was a strip of uneven cut paper barely 3/4 inch wide and containing only one line. With that, three more poems bite the dust.

Last night I did a reading and book signing at the Perfect Cup in northland. This was just one of several book signings that are set up over the next few weeks for Under The Tellingtree Anthology which I have two poems and a short prose piece in.

I'll post a schedule of the remaining readings tomorrow.




Poetry

Friday Gibberish

Some serious ad money paid for a blog - $25,000 a month... that would trump a lot of writing grants.

Yes, for what it is worth, it is true. If you google "slut"- Christine Hamm's name will come up. But so will a lot of others. You need to work harder to get you name further up the list Christine. Write!!! You do it so well.

I hope you all have been reading about Ivy's triple-loop rollercoaster ride. It has been worth the read!


Poetry

Earnie Graham's Surveillance Project Cut Short

InCom Corp, the Sutter, California based technology company that co-oped with Earnie Graham and the Brittan Elementary School in Sutter has pulled out of it's experimental "student tracking" project with the school.

The project widely reported in the media and here at Stick Poet has come under heavy criticism from parents and civil libertarians who felt the use of electronic equipment to monitor students movements was a bad precedence to start in a public school.

InCom cited the intense media attention its experiment generated attracted as a reason for the termination of the program in Brittan. According to an AP wire story, Paul Nicholas Boylan, lawyer for the school district said, "They can go someplace where they wouldn't have any risk of vandalism. Here, they have to worry about a community where at least a few are dead-set against anybody being able to benefit from this." I'm not sure what school district that would be, I think he as much are Earnie Graham has greatly misjudged public sentiment on this issue.
As for InCom, I think they have the wrong approach to their market for surveillance.

I'm Thinking I Need A Want List

I see Denise Duhamel has a new book out. I am anxious to read it. Problem is I have an ever growing list of poetry books to read and presumably acquire since the libraries limit greatly the poetry books they acquire. I mean there is Eileen's brick I still have to get. Sharon Olds has a book out I want. You get the picture.