Poet's Quote - Wallace Stevens

"A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman." ~ Wallace Stevens

Poet's Quote ~ Bryant H. McGill

"Creativity is the greatest expression of liberty. " ~Bryant H. McGill

From a work in progress

One more morning sunrise
strained through a gauze wrapped sky-
One more day forcing itself into my squinting eyes.

Student can recite poem with profanity

Student can recite poem with profanity


U.S. District Court Judge Brian Sandoval gave the ok for a 14 year old student to recite a poem in competition with the words "hell" and "damn" in it. Stickpoet recently reported on this in an earlier blog.

A school official, Steven West, at Coral Academy of Science in Reno, NV told 14 year old Jacob Behymer-Smith, that he could not recite the poem in competition again after using W.H. Auden's "The More Loving One" and then reprimanded the student's English teacher. West said the Auden then work contained profanity.

It is sad that this matter had to rise to the level of taking up time on a federal court docket and the school's decision blows my mind. Of course you may go here and judge for yourself just how profane this poem about love is.

I have to say, based on the poor the judgment used by the school in this instance, I don't know that I would trust these people with greater issues of education for a child of mine.

This kid is a freshman in high school for Christ's sake. The academy's attorney said this was not about free speech (the court bagged to differ) but about the schools' ability to set educational standards. That is scary given the prominence of W. H. Auden in modern poetry and how benign the usage of the words in question.

Jacob intends to recite the poem on April 22 during Poetry Out Loud, a contest sponsored by the National Endowment of the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.

Tags: Poetry Free Speech Jacob Behymer-Smith National Endowment of the Arts Steven West

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