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.