Annie Finch's workshop on love poetry

Annie Finch has authored four books of poetry, Eve, Calendars, The Encyclopedia of Scotland, and the forthcoming Among the Goddesses. She is a Professor of English at the University of Southern Maine and Director of the Stonecoast MFA Program in Creative Writing.

Click here for her workshop on love poetry

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Likes and Dislikes

I've been spending a lot of time writing this weekend and as words have flown in and out of my my head I've been naming them good words and bad words. Of course the good and bad designations are nothing more then reflections of my personal likes and dislikes.So tonight I thought I'd list a few words that tickle my fancy and some that I simply do not care for.  In some instances it's that sound of the words that I like or dislike. In other, I'm fascinated by some aspect of the word, its meaning, etymology, etc. So without further ado, I give you some of my likes and dislikes from our language.

Likes	Dislikes
elliptical	stutter
exude	heir
puce	vomit
ubiquitous	mayonnaise
pathogen	infomercial
explicit	Raspberry
irascible	irksome
prevaricate	bile
coetaneous	foil
awe	sideburn
toasty	lash
vulnerable	dwarf
arbitrary	mumble
immune	pungent
crumpet	snub
oscillate	squeal
Formica	liquefy
capsulate	winch

 

Technorati Tags: words I like,words I dislike

Happy Valentines Day to All

I got an early start on Valentines day by taking my wife to the Melting Pot on Thursday evening. She hates to fight the crowds so we beat them.

It was a lovely dinner and I especially enjoyed the Traditional Fondue.  Swiss is among my favorite cheese.

Of course the dessert we had the Yen and Yang Fondue which was a blend of dark chocolate and white chocolate for dipping the various dessert and fruit items. While this was very good, it was quite rich and really a bit much. I enjoyed the dinner fondue the most.

The atmosphere was low lighting and we were seated nicely with a minimum of distraction. I'd do it again anytime!

Oh, as if we were chocolate deprived, last night on the way home from work  Cathy stopped at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for gourmet Chocolate Apples. Mine was Tigers Butter... yum!

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This is entirely too good not to comment on. The BBC reports a competition is underway to find poetry which will feature in the stalls of public toilets of Shetland. Six poems of 12 lines or less will be featured for three months and the replaced by a next set of six.

Poetry in the loo; what a way to brighten ones day. Leave it to the Scots to bring a little culture to the toilet. Thumbs up!

In a Stroke of Fortune...

My new monitor for work has arrived. This is good because I was starting to feel a little gothic working in the dark so I could faintly see the screen.

Monday night is one of my TV nights. House & The Closer. Sill, I'll try and siphon off a little time this evening to write. Ah... just remembered Obama has a press conference tonight so the networks will likely be off time wise.

Last night I came across a D.H. Lawrence quote that struck me curiously. It goes like this... "Never trust the artist. Trust the Tale. The proper function of a critic is to save the tale from the artist who created it."

So I thought about this for a while and I pictured some of my poems having to be rescued from me. So I'm thinking about some critic smugly determining the story line - assuming there is one, from a particular poem and then fending off the poet's ownership stake in the poem. The critic arguing, this isn't all about what you saw, it's about what I see. Then the two go round and round. Well I say phooey! It's about whatever the fuck you find in it. There. I'm through rolling in the gravel over it. Don't get me wrong, critics a a place in this world and I'm willing to listen to them just as much as the next guy.

Technorati Tags: A poets life,critics. D.H. Lawrence

NOTE TO SELF

C.D. Wright Reading March 10 7:00 PM UMKC Person Auditorium - be there!

C.D. Wright Symposium March 11 7:00PM KC Public Library / Central Branch - Helzberg Auditorium. Don't Miss!

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Journal Bits

Listening to: Bruce Springsteen - Last to Die

Mood: dragging

Feb 2 - My computer monitor at work came on completely today at your. Yeah! [it takes so little to amuse me]

"a mixture of fashions brighten/the party crown that lingered/to graze on finger food and spontaneity"

Feb 3- I heard the most interesting story today on NPR about the Mendelssohn Project...

Feb 4 - It was after midnight when I turned in last night but thankfully the taxes have been done [a tax hangover followed]

"I went to that place in my head/with my pen, that place you occupy"

Feb 6 - Right this moment I feel especially small...

Feb 7- "...you always think there is time/to do the prime numbers/but hope is faded denim/and its value of questionable character"

Quote by Henry Miller - "I believe everything you tell me, but I know it will all turn out differently."

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