Is American Poetry All About Me?

This week the quotes come from the poet Diane Wakiski.


"American poetry is always about defining oneself individually,claiming one's right to be different and often to break taboos." ~ Diane Wakoski

Always is such a specifically defining word and am not really sure that Wakoski is correct here, but I would say that I agree that for the most part, this statement is accurate to American poetry. I think it is often true of poetry other than American, though perhaps not to the same degree.

Certainly I have written of things that I don't believe have particularly spoken to my own individuality. At least not intentionally, though I perhaps do a good deal of the time.

Et Cetera:

• A city with it's own poet laureate - Poet laureate working to connect local writers [here]
• An Essay - A Toast to the Happy Couplet [here]
• Editorial - Shameless election politics [here]
• Greenfield: Going back to the well -Will gay marriage and flag burning rally the GOP base one more time? [here]
• Advise to the person who came to this site via a google search for "long hair dachshund cuts," Don't! I've had two long haired Dachshunds, and aside from trimming a tangle (usually around the ears) or cutting away hair on their hind side, for obvious reasons, the dogs don't need cuts. They are not poodles for God's sake. The natural growth of their long hair is part of the beauty of this breed. Of course this person has already come and gone from this site so right now there is probably some previously long haired Dachshund out there looking half naked and feeling silly & shy.
• Poetry and Politics [here]
• Picked up a book of Love Poems over the weekend.

Tags: dachshunds Bush Diane Wakoski

GOP Poet Laureates Writing and poetry

Down in flames

Boggle came and went last night. The Megster prevailed, beating us all. Her vocabulary is phenomenal for her age. I bow and pay homage to her this morning. But we will challenge her again and again and again. We'll beat her or die of old age trying. ;)

Reading some translations today from the April Poetry Magazine. I have KC Metro Verse chapter meeting Tuesday in which we are discussing the April edition.

I feel a Boggle game coming on

Busy day… Fixed Kitchen sink sprayer, went to grocery store, Target, and some other store I won’t bother to give the publicity. Cooked lunch for wife and self. Worked on a poetry manuscript, selections of poems and arranging proper order, in addition to a new first draft of a poem that I mentally wore myself out on.

Blogger was acting strange earlier so I am doing this off line to upload. Hopefully it will work.

My daughter just walked through and asked if any of us were up to getting beat at Boggle. She knows we are glutton for punishment so easily. However, It has suddenly occurred to me that she was beaten by her mother last match we played, so technically she is challenging for her title back.

Saw this news item: Gays, flag-burning and indecency! Good Grief! The GOP CULTURE WAR is alive again. [here]

By the way...

I just love how the red dots are overtaking my cluster map on the sidebar. Hum... Wonder if I can get those in blue? :::snicker:::

Poets without boarders?

"I never thought of myself as a New York poet or as an American poet."~ Kenneth Koch

This sort of remind me of Doctors Without Boarders. I'm not sure that Koch is suggesting anything other than the fact that he never saw himself in any more specific role then that of just "a" poet. Still, I think there is something exhilarating about poets being able to transcend artificial boundaries of geo-political & cultural nature.

• Canadian Sylvia Legris and Barbadian-born Kamau Brathwaite were the toast of Toronto on Thursday night after being named winners of the Griffin Poetry Prize. [here]
• Queensland has been home to some of Australia's finest poets [here]
• One of the most unusual galleries in New Harmony, Ind., will celebrate five years of exhibitions with art, music and poetry. [here]
• ‘New’ national writers workshop raises the bar [here]
• North-Voorhees High School (New Jersey) student editor resign over censorship, nearly all of staff walks too. School. David Steffan, principal said that many of the magazine's poems and photographs failed to meet "community standards." [here] Oh boy, we have another gifted person who is capable of defining community standards for those of us not in the know. Thank you Mr. Steffan for your "gift" of censorship. (did I sound sarcastic enough?)

Tags: Poetry Censorship David Steffan Charles Shaddow Voorhees High School Laramie Silber Boyer Griffin Poetry Prize Kenneth Koch

That Clicking Sound

"When you finish a poem, it clicks shut like the top of a jewel box, but prose is endless. I haven't experienced an awful lot of clicking shut." ~ Kenneth Koch

White House pledges full release of Iraq massacre probe - World - Times Online

White House pledges full release of Iraq massacre probe - World - Times Online

[From story]:

The White House has promised full public disclosure of the results of a military probe into an alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians after renewed accusations that the Marine Corps tried to cover up what could be the worst atrocity committed by US forces in Iraq.

Twenty-four civilians died in the alleged killing spree by a Marine unit in the town of al-Haditha on November 19 last year. The killings were, it is claimed, provoked by the death of a Marine driver blown up when his Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb.

[My thoughts]: Two separate inquiries are underway - they our being conducted within the Marine Corp itself and the Pentagon. Neither of these are independent enough to be expected to adequately investigate this type of accusation. How can we be certain that the military will not break this off at a lower chain of command to protect higher-ups that may have been involved in the operation or a subsequent cover up? Full disclosure of an unbiased investigation means nothing.

In Haditha, Memories of a Massacre -
Iraqi Townspeople Describe Slaying of 24 Civilians by Marines in Nov. 19 Incident

Tag: Haditha Massacre