From Spam

mood:calm
listening to: Now And Forever / Air Supply

Ah... it's always good to check your spam mail now and then... realized tonight I had a rejection on the 12th.

"Thank you very much for your poetic submission to XXXXXX. I enjoyed reading your poetry, but will not be accepting any of these for publication." Then the usual pitch to submit again.

Just think, I was nearly unknowingly rejected... now I feel so much better.

Thought for Day

mood: amused
listening to: NPR


"We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality." ~ Albert Einstein

Occupying the space in between

Mood: nonchalant
Listening to: Piano Man / Billy Joel

Found myself in the waiting room at the doctors office this afternoon writing about the floor covering and the ceiling. How drab is that?

Since arriving home, I've come upon another idea that feels promising but will take some time to flush out. I'll make some notes tonight that can keep the concept fresh while I let is sort of settle in my mind and see what kind of cream might rise to the top to skim off.

It's late, I'm going to get ready for bed, listen to a podcast and turn in for the night. Snow is falling ( again ) here and I am anticipating the worst in terms of road conditions in the morning. Perhaps I'll be jiggered..

Absence of major publishing houses in The National Book Critics Circle

According to The New York Observer, The National Book Critics Circle, an organization made up of about 700 active book critics, announced on Saturday the finalist pool for their end-of-year awards and the Poetry category did not include a single book published by one of the major houses this year.

The nominees in the poetry category included:

Mary Jo Bang, Elegy, Graywolf; Matthea Harvey, Modern Life, Graywolf; Michael O'Brien, Sleeping and Waking, Flood; Tom Pickard, The Ballad of Jamie Allan, Flood; Tadeusz Rozewicz, New Poems, Archipelago.

Is this a trend, or a fluke?

The matter of poetry and academia

I was interested in the results poll that just concluded on this blog concerning the influence of academia on poetry. Since the poll will be coming off the sidebar soon and likely be replaced with another issue, I will recap the results here.

Academia Influence on Poetry

• Too much ................ 36%
• Just right .............. 16%
• not enough ............ 32 %
• haven't thought about it 16%

I've not had a strong predisposition how this might have turned out. If anything, I might have thought there would be a larger number critical of the amount of influence by academia on poetry but I would not have been willing to bet on the outcome one way or the other. Perhaps the most surprising to me was the fact the the number who had not thought about it was in double digits. I probably hear more people who express dislike the influence of academia, but I'm never sure if that is because more feel that way or they are just more vocal.

The amount of interest sparked by performance or slam poetry by young people today I think contributes to an augmentative counter academia presence in the poetry culture. This seems to place a lesser emphasis on the literary aspect of poetry and make it more about story telling or rhetorical skills.

There seems to be a feeling by some that the influence of academia is tantamount to the creation of cookie-cutter educational programs that simply reproduce more and more writers that write like the poet next to them.

I myself do not come from an literary academia background, however I am perhaps more drawn to the poetry that would most often be associated with academia. I find that my own personal tastes are generally more satisfied by the literary side of poetry then the theatrical or performance.

There are people, many talented ones that can stand an talk extemporaneously at an open mic and can be both impressive and entertaining in their oratory skills. But it still bothers me that what they have just done cannot be recalled by them the next day. And further, while it may sound forceful as a message, I liken it to someone who comes to an open mic and says, what I am about to read, I wrote earlier today. It is a rare person who can write something that well without revisions. And not only is it a rare person, they usually can't do it with consistency. I guess I would fall into the 48% that are satisfied or would even like more academic influence on the art of poetry.

Barry Knows Treadmill

Barry says, " Screw the cold weather,

I'll walk inside today!"

Vacation day... yeah!

Mood: uneasy
Listening to: nothing

As of today, this is my past 12 month results report:

Pending responses: 14
Submissions sent last 12 months: 45
Submissions sent this month: 2
Acceptance ratio: 13.33 %

A few recent rejections has cut into my acceptance ratio, but not to worry. Just keep plugging away.

I looked at my biorhythms chart for the month and it looks like the 29th of January everything comes to an optimum point. Physical, emotional and intellectual. We'll see how my writing progresses between now and the end of the month.

Our local poetry society chapter meeting last night was really good. Most everyone had material of their own to share and we had a new visiting guest who blew us away with his work.

We picked up my oldest daughter at the airport this morning. She's here to visit through Saturday. She and youngest daughter will then fly back to Phoenix together, for which I am already feeling sad. It is nice to have all the kids in town over my birthday (Thursday) and I've taken vacation days today and tomorrow.