The Big Poetry Give Away - 2014

It's The 5th Annual April  Big Poet Give Away.

This year I've decided to participate as a "giver" in the Annual Poetry Month Big Poet Give Away.

All this month there are a whole host of blogs that are participating  in giving away poetry book from poets that are among our favorites.  Each blogger participant is selecting two books to give away, one of their own (if they've had one published and the second from another poet. I'm giving  away Saint Monica by Mary Biddinger and Unmentionables by Beth Ann Fennelly

All you have to do is leave a post  with your name in the comments below and you will be entered.  This has to be done before Midnight  (PST) April 30, 2014.  At the conclusion of the month there will be two winners drawn at random. The lucky winners will me announced the week of May 1, 2014.  Each will receive one book. Make sure you  provide an e-mail address so that you can be contacted for mailing address if you are one of the winners.  There are over 40 bloggers participating. Here you can find a complete listing of  all the participating blogs. This annual event was started by poet Kelli Russell Agodon and continues to provide a way each April (National Poetry Month) to enrich the the lives of more people through poetry.

I've selected  books from two poets that are among my  favorite. I hope that you  will find their work as awesome as I have.

My selections are:

 Saint Monica
by Mary Biddinger.  "Mary Biddinger evokes the patron saint of female abuse victims in narrating  the adolescence of a latter day  Saint Monica. Ironic humor illuminates the poems as in 'Saint Monica Stays the Course,' a hilarious catechism of teeth-gritting endurance. Biddinger crisply narrates these memorable tales that entwine horror and sensual discovery, using deft rhythms, head-snapping line  breaks, and highly original imagery."  - Rachel Dacus, author of Femme au Chapeau and Earth Lessons.

Unmentionables
by Beth Ann Fennelly   "Fennelly's poems are as noisy as a rat in a coffee can. They twich, scramble and all but turn themselves inside out on the page....You get an entire bookful of images in just a page or two." - David Kirny, PASTE

Leave your name in the comments below
if you wish to be entered in in the drawing.
It's that easy! 

If you are new to my blog let me tell you a little about myself-

My name is Michael Wells. I'm married and have 4 grown children. I'm in love with baseball and wish it were played year round. I think of the game as a form of  poetry.  My favorite team is the San Francisco Giants.

I enjoy a good wine. My favorite Chardonnay. I like my wine white and my coffee black. I readily acknowledge I drink way too much Diet Coke.

I do not  have a published book but have a manuscript nearing completion. I have been published in a number of  print and online venues.

I have a number of varied artistic interests.  While I have a full time job, I am serious about my writing and work it into my evenings and weekend writing daily.

Some Favorite Writing Related blogs I read are

• Suzanne Frischkorn  - Litwindowpane
• Kelli Russell Agodon - Book of Kells
• Nic Sebastian -  Very Like A Whale
• Martha Silano - Blue Positive 
• Susan Rich - The Alchemist's Kitchen
• Tara Mae Mulroy - Poetry & Effontery

Wishing everyone an enjoyable month of poetry - and good luck!

Leave your name & email in the comments below to be entered in the drawing. 

Confession Tuesday - April Fools Edition

Dear Reader:

It's been one week of schizophrenic weather, a new baseball season, and several late night tread mill sessions since my last confessions.

It's April first and I committed to the Poem-A-Day Challenge for poetry month. Who's the April Fool now?

I confess that it has hit me the past two days that I have a lot going on presently with  poetry and then along comes my beloved Giants and the start of the new season - all this is pulling at my evening time and causing some anxiety. Family time, poetry time, baseball, exercise, what's a guy to do?

Perhaps this is accounting for my  headaches of late... the anxiety I mean. I'm always looking  it seems for things to link together. If this is happening it's in response to that. You get the picture. I have to confess that I'm not always exactly scientific about the process. I'm sure there is a name for people like this...  crazy wasn't what I was thinking of but  I guess we can use it  temperately as one of those place holder words we writers use in drafts.

The Poem-A-Day Challenge usually  makes me anxious when I've done it on the past.  Sometimes I  say I'm not committing to it  and end up trying to write a poem each day  like I'm sneaking up on the Challenge and taking it on in some kind of sneak attack. It's crazy, I know.  An there is that word again.

I confess my bug-a-boo with  the 30 Poems in 30 Days thing is I'm not crazy about writing  from forced prompts. I don't mind using prompts to kick-start ideas, I joust don't like to feel  on day 7 I must  writ about this prompt. I suppose it's a rebellious streak I have. In addition, I know that few people write "real" poems sitting down and writing  in one day. What usually occurs is a draft. Most often a very rough draft. One you really don't care to attach you name to and post out in the open.

Anyway, suffice to say that  I feel laden with anxiety as we kick off the month. But hey, that leaves lots of room for an improved outlook!

POEM-A-DAY FOUR 30 DAYS

April is coming  and there is no stopping it!  With it will come Baseball, tax deadline and poetry.  Hopefully you dread the tax deadline more than you dread poetry. I would imagine those reading this are likely fall into that category.

Some years I have taken the 30 day 30 poem challenge and some not. I plan on jumping into the month with both feet firmly on the ground and running with the poem-a-day challenge.

Robert Lee Brewer with Writers Digest has a slew of outstanding poets to serve as guest judges of work  for their annual 30 Day Challenge that they promote each year.

You can fine the specifics for the Writers Digest 30 Day Challenge by clicking  [HERE]

Even it you are not inclined to participate directly in the challenge, there is no reason you cannot  take the challenge. Or  try to write at least  something towards a completed poem each day of the month of April.

There are a lot of other exciting things lined up around the country related to National Poetry Month.

There are a whole series of blogs that are participating in the Poetry Month Free Book Giveaway  that  Kelli Agodon organized several years ago and continues to grow.   [CLICK HERE]

I'll have more Poetry Month Information in a couple of days.

Sarah Kay - Ted Talk - One Impressive Presentation

This is so worth listening to. I've heard videos of Sarah Kay before - maybe two or three years ago but I ran across this TED Talk appearance she mad and by the time is was over I was so fired up.  This is one inspiring woman.

Confession Tuesday - Bullwinkle Edition

Dear Reader:  Another week has come and gone and I head off the the confessional for the Tuesday Confession. Come join me....

I confess that I'm a big fan of Rocky and Bullwinkle. When I recently  discovered Bullwinkle in the role of a Poet I thought how cool is that?!!  It seems that poets get so little respect that I'll even take Bullwinkle's portrayal as a poet as a frick'n big deal!

Are all of poets so pathetic?  This is a rhetorical question and one you need not reply to in the comments.
It seem really odd but many countries treat their poets with  much more respect then the American public  affords them. Actually  I confess that  I'm really not  so much bothered by this anymore. I guess I see it as, "It is what it is."  What I do feel is sad for those who miss the enrichment that poetry, literature and art in general can bring to one's life.  It seems odd to me that many people can so easily get into music.  I'm happy for those who find music speaking to their soul. I still look for opportunities the open the eyes of others to the wonders of words through poetry.

I realize April is nearly upon us. I am feeling anxious about April for a number of reasons. I feel like my April plate is going to look like it has multiple helpings of mashed potatoes and gravy.   Poem-A-Day. Maybe a book club. KC Metro Verse's Anthology coming out (which I will have several poems in) - I'm working to tweak a manuscript and I will be doing  a Poetry Month  Broadside again this year.  I've done this is the past but  did not do one last year.  They have been designed and ordered and should arrive soon.

Anyway, I don't want the month to become overwhelming. I've been working hard lately and the writing has fallen into a grove and I don't want that delicate rhythm interrupted if you know what I mean. I need to be able to  keep working hard and lighten up at the same time. I need to be able the Bullwinkle in poets.

Mag 212: My Life Between Four Corners

My Bed by Tracey Emin

It's is my world
my boxing ring
my respite
my motel-hotel
away from things-

My grunge stage
my drinking buddy...
hello vodka and Three Musketeers!

My sleep hole
my vanity
my calamity
staging ground for all things creative-

I've got my floor art
my candy wrappers
origami sheets
fluff dog

And here's my razor-not what you are thinking.
and somewhere is a phone

This is my sex den
my playpen
my aggravating
boredom whim.

I own it
I made it
no one can take it.


The mag 212


Michael Allyn Wells

Confession Tuesday - Dead Poet Edition

Dear Reader:

It has been three weeks since my last confession. I have nothing to say for myself.  Three weeks!

Off to the confession box...

I confess that  last week I was communing with Robert Frost.   Being  honest I would not have gone looking for Frost among the dead poets. He came to me.  I would have chosen a Sexton, Berryman, Plath, Lowell or perhaps O'Hara. But no, I was visited by Frost and one never puts off a gift dead poet.

Maybe Frost is what I needed. By the end of the week I was feeling I had been in the presence of maturity; as well as balance and patience.

This past weekend I made realistic plans for the week ahead and I realistic is the optimum word. I can make a great to do list and it will often be so overwhelming that it can doom me from the start. This I believe is a habit  from my 8 to  5 job because there I have so many tasks that are almost all in crisis mode. This is not the kind of  habit that translates well to the art world. At least no for me.

I'm trying to focus on more exercise these days as well. I hit the tread mill before I came to do my confession. When I parked the car in the garage tonight I looked at my bike and thought maybe before the week is out if the weather doesn't turn bad again maybe.

I confess I'm sporting a bit of a head ache tonight and have been visited by one several times lately.

It was nice to see two of my newer poems published already. That happened this week in  the Spring issue of the Boston Literary Magazine. I always get a rush each time this happens. Is it wrong to feel good about seeing your work out in the world?

If it's any consolation I get more quickly brought back down to earth wrestling with a manuscript that  needs to come together sooner then later. I confess that  I'm relatively certain that a manuscript is not to be rushed, but I need to bring this one to some conclusion.

I confess I can smell the green grass of the ball diamond. I'm so ready for baseball.

Have a great Week!