Heard a good metaphor lately?

I’ve been thinking a lot about metaphors.  So what, you say… that’s what poets do. But metaphors, which so often gets a bad rap from people who don’t particularly care for poetry, are pretty common within our everyday language.  In the movie As Good as it Gets, Jack Nicholson utters this line, “People who speak in metaphors should shampoo my crotch.”  Yes, the irony makes for a good laugh. So the question I have is do we tend to overuse metaphor in everyday communications? Do people really recognize metaphor in use outside of poetic device?  Let’s go a step further and just say for instance that it has become  overused in everyday language, would that diminish its value in poetry?

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Poetry book by ‘Bostonian’ Poe sets auction record - BostonHerald.com

Poetry book by ‘Bostonian’ Poe sets auction record - BostonHerald.com:

"NEW YORK — A rare copy of Edgar Allan Poe’s first book has sold for $662,500, smashing the previous record price for American literature.
The copy of 'Tamerlane and Other Poems' had been estimated to sell Friday for between $500,000 and $700,000 at Christie’s auction house in New York City.
The previous record is believed to be $250,000 for a copy of the same book sold nearly two decades ago."

Your Brain on Poetry

 

 Travis Nichols, the Editor at the Poetry Foundation has a really intriguing piece in the Huffington Post this week about poetry and the brain.  Pictured on the left is Henry Molaison who affectionately was known to many involved in his life as just H.M. 

 

Late last year Molaison passed away.  Molaison’s claim to fame relates to his memory capacity, or lack thereof.  I won’t go into the entire history, but he underwent brain surgery in the 1950’s and as a result had the inability to form new memories.  During his post surgery years, he was studied profusely in search for clues to our memory process. Even in death, medical science has turned to his brain for more answers to the mystery of how and where memories are created as well as retrieved.  Scientists hope to be able to map the memory process by observing slices of M.H.’s brain.

 

Nichols claims that what Dr. Jacopo Annese, who is doing the slicing is exploring the greatest poetic mystery of all time. Nichols talks about some poetry that is less about telling stories and more about using poetry that engages a readers brain while he/she is reading, that utilizes sound patterns or other techniques to create Cognitive Poetics.

 

Nichols uses the example of an poet not just saying, “When I made out with so-and-so, I did the happy dance!” Instead, that poet would use language that would allow a particularly attentive reader go beyond by just reading, but come to experience their mind doing the happy dance, thus creating a memory associated with it.

 

Nichols sees this kind of writing as experimental, which he notes is not unlike the path Dr. Annese is pursuing.

 

Read Nichols’ story here. 

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"an excellent piece of disappointment worthy of gathering dust on any coffee table"

That is not my blurb, but remarks from Stéfan Orzech's review of B is for Bad Poetry, Pamela August Russell's new collection of intentionally bad and humorous poetry.  read review here

Another day – another rejection.

 

Amazingly this week seems to be moving along swiftly. I thought after the 4 day holiday this week would be a tough one. 

 

Rejection letter today on four pieces I sent out little over two months ago.  Serves as a reminder that I need to get a few more submissions out this week end. 

 

I also remembered I need to take my floating holiday yet this month or lose it.  I feel a full day of writing  coming on.

 

I received another e-mail tonight from Poet Christine Klocek-Lim.  Her new chapbook, How to photograph the heart is available here. I understand there are a limited number of autographed copies available from the publisher.

 

Oh… and this is different….  Publishing the Unpublishable

 

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But did you know...

The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda is known for many things: he was a career diplomat, an avid Communist, and of course, the Nobel Prize-winning author of erotically charged love poems, memoirs and surrealist verse.




But a seashell collector?  Full story: Neruda: poet, Communist... and seashell collector   by Anita Brooks

The rise of poetry in advertising | Television & radio | The Guardian

 

The rise of poetry in advertising

More companies, including McDonald's, are being moved to verse to advertise their products. Is this a welcome development?  

full story: The rise of poetry in advertising | Television & radio | The Guardian

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