Magpie's Bough Cheer

1 of 1000 - (I think I saw that Glenn Ingersoll was doing this. Looks like a good idea.)

2011-06-17T11:42:00.000-07:00

But I don't think I can.

Wow. Time flies.

2010-06-17T13:17:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of updating/deleting old links.

Where Have I Been?

2009-05-10T16:54:00.001-07:00

Read Readicide

2009-05-10T16:26:00.000-07:00

If you want to keep your students reading, read Readicide.

Browse the book online: Readicide.

Bud the Teacher

2009-05-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

30 poetry prompts, one for each day of April 2009, at Bud's blog. You may have to scroll back, look at previous entries.

Time Flies

2009-04-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

Look at it.

Torque in Poetry

2008-07-31T22:37:00.000-07:00

mathematical poetry blogspot? Check it out.

Creeley's poem "I know a man" is used to discuss torque.

Prompt

2008-07-14T20:39:00.000-07:00

I remember in creative writing class at CSU during the Spring of 1977, Chris Howell took a translation Kenneth Rexroth had done of a Chinese poem. He took all of the nouns and verbs from the poem, put them in an alphabetical list, told us to use them to create a poem of our own. He told us we could leave a few of the words on the list out if we had to.

Do that. Find a highly imagistic poem. Take all the nouns or verbs out of the poem, place them into a new poem. Leave a few of the words out if you have to.

Pushcart Prize

2008-07-13T12:07:00.000-07:00

If you win one, it belongs in your bio. If you're nominated, no matter how many times, be silent and happy.

Prompt

2008-07-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

Write a poem about your own birth. Do not use the words (or any forms of the words) "birth," "I," "baby," "hospital," "doctor," "nurse," "mother," or "father."

Prompt

2008-07-07T01:28:00.000-07:00

Write a piece (poem? prose?) that moves the way someone you know walks through, across, or into a room.

The Poetry Resource Page

2008-07-01T20:25:00.000-07:00

Don Illich just turned me on to this site. It looks like it has most of the links a poet might want. Whose site is it?

The Poetry Resource Page

Birds

2008-06-29T23:16:00.000-07:00

What are they for?

Do you read Poetry Magazine?

2008-06-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to read it cover to cover, something I rarely do with journals, and it's not wow-ing me. What am I missing?

Dear Stan,

2008-06-04T18:19:00.000-07:00

No, thanks.

Some of the many ways to say it

2008-03-12T21:51:00.001-07:00

Magpie's Bough Cheer = Ephemeris Cough Bag = Cheribum Sheep Agog = Impeach Bugger Hose = Arpeggio Scheme Hub = Mesh Bicep Roughage = George Bush Mice Hap = Beamish Eggcup Hero = High Gab Rescue Poem = Prague Becomes High = Georgia Beech Humps = Maggie's Heerb Pouch = Huger Biceps Homage = Magic Phoebe Gusher = Phobic Hermes Gauge = Hecuba Gehrig Poems = Escape Higher Gumbo = Ash Iceberg Hug Poem = Impeach George Bush = His Bugger Ache Poem =

Don, This is the exercise I was talking about.

2008-02-01T17:33:00.000-08:00

This exercise comes from page 119 of The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises From Poets Who Teach, edited by Robin Behn and Chase Twichell. This exercise was devised by Jim Simmerman. Basically, the exercise is to create a poem that includes most or all of these twenty projects. Do each project in any order. Usually, I get through about 17 of the projects before I feel like I'm close to a poem. Logical narrative is not really the point. Oh, and as I recall Simmerman says that order doesn't matter except to do project #1 first and #20 last. Gives the poem/exercise piece a kind of frame I guess. Signals the exit:

1. Begin the poem with a metaphor.
2. Say something specific but utterly preposterous.
3. Use at least one image for each of the five senses, either in succession or scattered randomly throughout the poem.
4. Use one example of synesthesia.
5. Use the proper name of a person and the proper name of a place.
6. Contradict something you said earlier in the poem.
7. Change direction or digress from the last thing you said.
8. Use a word (slang?) you've never seen in a poem.
9. Use an example of false cause-effect logic.
10. Use a piece of "talk" you've actually heard (preferably in dialect and/or which you don't understand).
11. Create a metaphor using the following construction: "The (adjective) (concrete noun) of (abstract noun) . . . ."
12. Use an image in such a way as to reverse its usual associative qualities.
13. Make the persona in the poem do something he/she would not do in "real life."
14. Refer to yourself by nickname and in the third person.
15. Write in the future tense, such that part of the poem seems to be a prediction.
16. Modify a noun with an unlikely adjective.
17. Make a declarative assertion that sounds convincing but that finally makes no sense.
18. Use a phrase from a language other than English.
19. Make a nonhuman object say or do something human (personification).
20. Close the poem with a vivid image that makes no statement, but that "echoes" an image from earlier in the poem.

Not So Different

2008-01-13T20:30:00.000-08:00

[Nothing Old Can Splay]

Milky Green

2008-01-13T18:39:00.000-08:00

Water poured over sugar cube on a spoon
sweetens night's heart.
We drink.

Absinthe

2008-01-12T22:12:00.000-08:00

Water poured over a sugar cube in a spoon
turns the liquid the color of this night's heart.
We drink it.

What I Want

2008-01-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

I don't know what
the eggshell knows.
I guess mostly nest
and bird butt.
What I want lingers
beyond the shell, the windows
are all open and air
pushes air through.
Listen to the breath
of my wife washed ashore, asleep,
the soundless television
bathing her in flourescent tide.
The clock on the wall
turns a click at a time.
The chicken in the slow cooker
will be hot enough tomorrow morning.
On which end of the event
is the prophecy? Have things happened
because of what I will do?

Threat Finally Named

2007-10-11T20:53:00.001-07:00

Day Late, Dollar Short 1/18/07--Stephen Colbert on The O'Reilly Factor

2007-10-10T21:32:00.001-07:00

Recent Rejections

2007-10-06T08:26:00.000-07:00

August 2007
Poetry sent 7/3/07, rej 8/15/07
A Public Space (Online submission) sent 6/9/07, rej 8/20/07

September 2007
Ploughshares (Online submission) sent 9/12/07, rej 9/18/07
jubilat (Online submission) sent 9/13/07, rej 9/20/07
Poetry sent 8/23/07, rej 9/24/07

October 2007
Black Warrior Review sent 7/31/07, rej 10/5/07

59th Emmys

2007-09-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

"If mothers ruled the world, there wouldn't be any more god damned wars."
--Sally Fields

Email from Four Ways Books

2007-09-08T12:06:00.001-07:00

Fall 2007

Dear Writer:

Thank you very much for submitting your manuscript to the Levis Poetry
Prize.

On Saturday, I received word from Tony Hoagland that his selection is
/Rising/ by Farrah Field of Brooklyn, New York. I know that this is
disappointing news to you but I hope that you will continue to send your
work out to publishers you admire.

Ms. Field�s book is scheduled to be released in the first quarter of
2009. She will receive $1000.00 and a reading in the Four Way Books
sponsored reading series, Readings on the Bowery, at the Bowery Poetry
Club in New York City.

In 2008, submissions will be accepted from January 1- March 31 for the
Intro Poetry Prize for first books. Brigit Pegeen Kelly will judge. In
2009, we will run the Levis Prize again, open to all poets, to be judged
by Mary Jo Bang. Four Way Books editors will consider manuscripts
outside of the contest each June. For information, please check our
guidelines.

With gratitude for your support of Four Way Books,

Ryan Murphy

Editor

Tupelo Honey

2007-09-08T12:00:00.001-07:00

Dorset Prize

I wish Jeff Levine would write me another form letter about my orphic utterances. One reason I haven't written Tupelo off is because I've noticed that Margot Schlipp is an associate editor. I remember when she was editing Quarterly West. I had a couple of brief, but nice letters from her. Also, I like her poems. The other reasons are, well, I like some of the books they've published a lot.

AWP Winners and Finalists

2007-09-05T18:39:00.000-07:00

2007

CutBank Holds the New Record

2007-08-11T18:13:00.000-07:00

I sent them poems on 9/16/05, received my rejection today 8/9/07--23 months.

If they could have held out another thirty days, well, then the record would be two years.

HOW TO GET FAT WITHOUT REALLY TRYING

2007-08-02T22:36:00.001-07:00

Blast from the Past

2007-07-29T23:23:00.000-07:00

July 27, 1974: Impeachment Debate

The first step in preparing for rejection each year:

2007-07-27T21:44:00.000-07:00

I've begun again to send out mss to presses and groups of poems to magazines.

Last year I sort of let the mag submissions fall off.

Oops.

Potter, You Rotter

2007-07-23T22:11:00.002-07:00

Like, I suspect, a bunch of other people in the world, I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows tonight. Was it satisfying? Yeah. It was ok.

Wonder if George Bush has read it yet. Wonder which character he fancies himself to be most like.

Wheee!

2007-07-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

Al Maginnes wins the 13th Annual White Pine Press Poetry Prize.

Rejection is a ship that never sinks

2007-07-19T23:21:00.000-07:00

Prairie Schooner Book Prize goes to Mari L'Esperance. Second place to Craig Arnold.

In the rejection letter, Hilda Raz says:
"...we hope you will submit again in 2008. We were pleased by the high number of quality submissions received...."

I think what she really meant was:
"...we hope you will submit again in 2008. We were pleased by the high number of ... submissions received...."

Tough Talk on Impeachment

2007-07-18T15:07:00.000-07:00

I've been trying not to think about it, but these guys--Bruce Fein and John Nichols--on Bill Moyer are convincing.

Bruce Fein's recent Slate article, "Impeach Cheney," is here.

One of John Nichols' articles is here.

Screw the polls. I've written letters to my Senators and to my Congresswoman. I've also written to Nancy Pelosi.

Poetry Home Repair Manual

2007-07-18T00:22:00.000-07:00

Kooser says a poet should have an intended audience in mind for every poem.

Who's yours?

***

Last year at the Loveland Public Library, James Galvin said, “Have somebody in mind that you’re talking to. To have a focused and vulnerable or tender voice, you have to have someone in mind that you’re talking to…. The point of making art is empathy.”

Two Have Not Been Never a Number

2007-07-10T22:59:00.000-07:00

I feel like I owe Lorca an apology.

Pequeño Poema Infinito

Equivocar el camino
es llegar a la nieve
y llegar a la nieve
es pacer durante veinte siglos las hierbas de los cementerios.

Equivocar el camino
es llegar a la mujer,
la mujer que no teme la luz,
la mujer que no teme a los gallos
y los gallos que no saben cantar sobre la nieve.

Pero si la nieve se equivoca de corazón
puede llegar el viento Austro
y como el aire no hace caso de los gemidos
tendremos que pacer otra vez las hierbas de los cementerios.

Yo vi dos dolorosas espigas de cera
que enterraban un paisaje de volcanes
y vi dos niños locos que empujaban llorando las pupilas de un asesino.

Pero el dos no ha sido nunca un número
porque es una angustia y su sombra,
porque es la guitarra donde el amor se desespera,
porque es la demostración de otro infinito que no es suyo
y es las murallas del muerto
y el castigo de la nueva resurrección sin finales.
Los muertos odian el número dos,
pero el número dos adormece a las mujeres
y como la mujer teme la luz la luz
tiembla delante de los gallos y los gallos
sólo saben volar sobre la nieve
tendremos que pacer sin descanso las hierbas de los cementerios.

I ran Lorca's "Pequeño Poema Infinito" through a simple computer translator a line at a time to see what would happen.

Small Infinite Poem

To mistake the way
it is to arrive at the snow,
and to arrive at the snow,
it is to graze during twenty centuries the grass of the cemeteries.

To mistake the way
it is to arrive at the woman,
the woman who does not fear the light,
the woman who does not fear the roosters
and the roosters that do not know to sing on the snow.

But if the snow is mistaken of heart
the wind can arrive South wind
and as the air does not pay attention to the moaned ones
we will have to again graze the grass of the cemeteries.

I saw two painful wax ears
that buried a volcano landscape
and I saw two crazy children that they pushed crying the pupils of an assassin.

But the two have not been never a number
because it is an anguish and its shade,
because it is the guitar where the love is hopeless,
because it is the demonstration of another infinite that is not his
and it is the walls of the dead and the punishment of the new
resurrection without end. The deads hate number two, but number two
induces sleep to the women and as the woman fears the light the light
it shakes in front of the roosters and the roosters
only know to fly on the snow
we will have to graze without rest the grass of the cemeteries.

I apologize, Federico Garcia Lorca. A much better translation, a real translation, is here at Spanish Poems.

Something to Think About

2007-07-09T11:16:00.000-07:00

Williams, Joseph. "The Phenomenology of Error." College Composition and Communication 32 (1981): 152-68.

EAP

2007-07-07T20:15:00.000-07:00

Tales, Sketches, and Selected Criticism

Tupelo Time

2007-07-03T20:06:00.000-07:00

Sounds like a title for a Lowell George, posthumous, come-back tour. Or maybe Elvis. Or hell, let's bring them all back. Anybody who's ever picked a lute or hummed a bar, and then passed into the great beyond, get on up. Arise. It's Tupelo time!

The question is, without the promise of a "curtail your orphic utterances" form letter signed by Jeffrey Levine, should I submit to Tupelo during their open (but not free) reading period this year? Is the promise of rejection a big enough incentive?

My manuscript is now better, tighter, a little more ambitious. I don't know. Getting something better rejected is always a good feeling. A rejection from Tupelo or thirty cups of coffee? It's truly a hard call. I don't mind supporting Tupelo, but I do like my coffee.

Anybody have any real advice for me?

What will we do now that foetry has laid down the reins?

Rejection Pending

2007-07-01T12:58:00.000-07:00

The AWP web site shows that Sharon Dolin has won the Donald Hall Prize for 2007.

Pangaea 2 is Saturday at New Belgian

2007-06-28T21:43:00.000-07:00

How'd I miss that one?

Pangaea

You Heard It Here First

2007-06-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

Ted Kooser will be in Loveland at the Rialto in September. But I forget the date. Maybe 9/22?

Some Links

2007-06-28T12:12:00.001-07:00

Billy Collins' web site includes a link to free audio downloads.

Videos, I think they're flash videos, of something like 12 of Billy Collins' poems are at the Billy Collins--Action Poet web site.

Quickmuse is an interesting site. Poets are asked to compose a poem in 15 minutes or under in response to a prompt. As the poet composes, key strokes are collected. On this site you can watch those keystrokes appear. It's almost like sitting beside Robert Pinsky as he writes. Click on their archive button, and you will see that plenty of notable poets have played the quickmuse "game." I kind of like Matthew Rohrer's rambling poem. Quickmuse asked Rohrer to write in response to Bill Zavatsky's poem "Imaginary Brother."

Born Magazine is also worth exploring. Click on Enter Born Magazine once you're in.

This is a link to the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses. Their Directory holds links to the websites of all of their members. These websites contain submission info. After you click on the word "Directory" right here, or in the previous sentence, the index page will appear. Click on the words "All Members," and the links will appear.

Noodling or Grabbeling?

2007-06-26T16:37:00.000-07:00

Check out Catfish Man!

Or maybe you should watch this first.

Also, there's some real and odd suspense in this noodling video.

Personally, I'd avoid "Gerhardt Goes Noodling."

Time Magazine (on 6/7) asks

2007-06-16T21:46:00.000-07:00

Have we failed poetry by not bothering to read it? Or has poetry failed us, by not seducing us into reading it?

Or maybe Time meant to ask this:

Have we failed ourselves by not bothering to read poetry? Or have we failed by being seduced into not reading poetry?

Or maybe--
Has poetry failed to seduce us into bothering to fail? Or has bothering with seduction failed us?

What I want to know is this:

Have we bothered failure by not reading poetry to it? Or has failure seduced us into reading poetry by not bothering us?

Billy Collins Action Poet

2007-06-10T22:11:00.001-07:00

It looks like all of Billy Collins video poems are here:

BCactionpoet

If you're ok with Billy Collins, you'll like this.

If you're not a Collins fan, but you still want some video poetry, check out BornMagazine instead.

I'm tired of Dan's exercises.

2007-06-09T22:19:00.000-07:00

Here's something interesting:

Quickmuse

It's almost like being able to watch Pinsky or Moss or Rohrer or Muske-Dukes or whoever write a poem.

Almost.

Dan's exercises are inspired

2007-06-09T20:43:00.000-07:00

THIRTEEN
WRITING PROMPTS.
BY DAN WIENCEK

4.

Write a story that ends with the following sentence: Debra brushed the sand from her blouse, took a last, wistful look at the now putrefying horse, and stepped into the hot-air balloon.

So far, looks like it's just me and Dan

2007-06-07T13:08:00.000-07:00

THIRTEEN
WRITING PROMPTS.
BY DAN WIENCEK

3.

Choose your favorite historical figure and imagine if he/she had been led to greatness by the promptings of an invisible imp living behind his or her right ear. Write a story from the point of view of this creature. Where did it come from? What are its goals? Use research to make your story as accurate as possible.

***
Favorite Historical Figure:
Herman Melville

Imp is from:
Nantucket

Imp's goals:
To understand whaling
To see the world

Story:
"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago--never mind how long
precisely--having little or no money in my purse, and nothing
particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a
little and see the watery part of the world....

"...The unharming sharks, they glided by as if
with padlocks on their mouths; the savage sea-hawks sailed with
sheathed beaks. On the second day, a sail drew near, nearer, and
picked me up at last. It was the devious-cruising Rachel, that in
her retracing search after her missing children, only found another
orphan."

Source:
Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Let's Do Dan's Prompts

2007-06-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

THIRTEEN
WRITING PROMPTS.
BY DAN WIENCEK

2.

Write a short scene set at a lake, with trees and shit. Throw some birds in there, too.

***

Forty-two years too late to make Mildred Minnig laugh again, a bus drove out of a lake and ran into a grove of trees. First, however, the bus hit an outhouse. One of the birds nesting in the grove got it right in the eye. Were she alive, this would have pleased Mildred Minnig. Poetic justice delivered by a bus. Once while standing in her backyard talking over the fence to my mother, Mildred looked up at a squirrel chattering in the crabapple tree. A robin was also in the tree directly above Mildred. Because of the robin, Mildred cut short the conversation directly, to wash her glasses, her face, her hair, and her shirt. Later, she and my mother laughed and laughed.

Let's Do Dan's Writing Prompts

2007-06-05T20:39:00.000-07:00

THIRTEEN
WRITING PROMPTS.
BY DAN WIENCEK

1.

Write a scene showing a man and a woman arguing over the man's friendship with a former girlfriend. Do not mention the girlfriend, the man, the woman, or the argument.

***

Inside a bus, running red lights, a big bus, a city bus, there is a whoosh. It is the noise of a familiar bra and a dictionary open to the page containing the word "suspicion" beneath bus tires. As the bus rolls away, the dictionary flips to the page containing the word "accusation." It is the noise of specially-made, call them "surprise-gift," chocolate chip cookies left out on the pavement after something overheard before ringing the doorbell. Also, beneath bus tires, the cookies and the plate. It is the noise of going home, slamming the door, beneath the bus tires. It is the sound of the president's wife trying to convince him to read poetry. It is the last sounds of Joan of Arc. The only reason the sun, even at 93 million miles doesn't deafen us is because space is quiet. There is no atmosphere. The bus has atmosphere. It is, it's like opening a door into the street beneath traffic. The bus on its route has rolled over that door daily for two good years. It is two good years gone beneath the bus tires. It is the noise of late night text messages, telephone tones, pointing fingers. The bus runs all night. It is the noise of bus tires on pavement.

A red roadster passes the bus.

The bus halts.

The door opens. It is another kind of whoosh. Closes.

The bus pulls away into its noise.

***

Your turn.

More Truth

2007-06-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

2 Futilists
by Bill Knott

Even if the mountain I climbed
Proved to be merely a duncecap It
was only on gaining its peak
That that knowledge reached me.

*

Is there a single inch--
one square millimeter
on the face of our planet
which some animal
human or otherwise
has not shit on?

Is there anywhere even a
pore's-worth of ground--
earth that has never
(not once in its eons)
been covered by what
golgotha of dung?

If such a place exists,
I want to go there
and stand there
at that site
in that spot, truly
and purely for an instant.

The Truth

2007-06-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

HAIR POEM
by Bill Knott

Hair is heaven's water flowing eerily over us
Often a woman drifts off down her long hair and is lost

Durst

2007-06-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

People like the President because he seems like a guy you could have a beer with. But now it's time to take away the car keys.
--Will Durst

Back in ATL

2007-06-04T09:42:00.001-07:00

Quick and yet he moves like silt

2007-05-26T20:08:00.000-07:00

A cd of Richard Hugo's poems that is only available in MT libraries and through interlibrary loan.

Directions for a poem

2007-05-25T21:54:00.000-07:00

1. Look around.
2. Pick something that catches your eye.
3. Watch it.
4. Describe it.
5. Describe it again,
6. and this time use some words that don't seem quite right for the subject to create some tension through diction.
7. Question the scene you've described.
8. Question it again.
9. Perhaps you are interrogating the thing you're observing, or perhaps you are interrogating the reader about what you've seen.
10. Question it.
11. Propose answers for the questions you have asked.
12. The form of the poem should somehow connect to the questions.
13. Find a place for some rhyme of some kind.
14. Use a one word title.

Paul Muldoon Rocking

2007-05-19T22:02:00.000-07:00

Paul Muldoon's band is Rackett.

Download his song "Most of the Time" at the Poetry Northwest site. Also, Muldoon's essay sort of explains how he started writing songs. Muldoon and Warren Zevon.

Direct link to "Most of the Time" mp3 from PNW site

Other songs can be downloaded here.

You can hear whacked out lyrics like "her coffee grinder smells of marzipan."

Here's an idea

2007-05-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

Read a poem. Then write directions for someone else to create a contemporary version of that poem. Focus on technical and thematic issues in your directions.

For example, take this Dickinson poem:

I dreaded that first robin so,
But he is mastered now,
And I ’m accustomed to him grown,—
He hurts a little, though.

I thought if I could only live
Till that first shout got by,
Not all pianos in the woods
Had power to mangle me.

I dared not meet the daffodils,
For fear their yellow gown
Would pierce me with a fashion
So foreign to my own.

I wished the grass would hurry,
So when ’t was time to see,
He ’d be too tall, the tallest one
Could stretch to look at me.

I could not bear the bees should come,
I wished they ’d stay away
In those dim countries where they go:
What word had they for me?

They ’re here, though; not a creature failed,
No blossom stayed away
In gentle deference to me,
The Queen of Calvary.

Each one salutes me as he goes,
And I my childish plumes
Lift, in bereaved acknowledgment
Of their unthinking drums.

***

Some directions might be:

1. Write a poem about an unexpected feeling caused by a shift in the seasons.

2. Use four line stanzas

3. Use half-rhyme.

4. Use highly imagistic language.

5. Use medium length lines.

6. Connect the change in season to an animal.

7. Connect the change in season to something sacred.

8. The poem should trace the process through which the speaker of the poem comes to term with his/her feelings and therefore comes to terms with the season.

9. Write a poem that understands how the changes in season are connected to life, but that doesn't understand why and wonders.

10. Use the words "foreign," "stretch," and "salute."

***

Try to get at least ten or twelve, up to twenty directions.

Bakeless says yes to Aaron Baker

2007-05-13T10:51:00.000-07:00

Another no.

2007-05-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

Alice James says yes to Lia Purpura.

Meta-Free-Phor-All

2007-05-05T21:57:00.000-07:00

If the video doesn't work, go to one of these links. It's funny.

Stephen Colbert, Sean Penn, Robert Pinsky

Or

The same thing at a Poetryfoundation blog.

Bishop

2007-05-05T20:18:00.001-07:00

Alice Quinn talks about editing a volume of Elizabeth Bishop's uncollected poems.

Rejection

2007-05-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

August Kleinzahler has selected Sally Van Doren's manuscript, Sex at Noon Taxes

rejection

2007-04-28T14:07:00.000-07:00

Bear Star

Still waiting for the others.

rejection

2007-04-28T14:03:00.000-07:00

Nightboat

Nice Toe, Jr

2007-04-18T21:27:00.000-07:00

Can't get the rejection letters to upload right now.

Nightboat Books

Bear Star Press

Kerouac on Steve Allen

2007-04-06T21:15:00.000-07:00

Soon I'll have a rejection from everyone!

2007-04-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release

2007-03-31T22:14:00.000-07:00

Is it healthy that I remain undaunted?

I do.

Or as G. Corso says, "Pie Glue"!

Cutbank Rejection

2007-03-25T22:50:00.004-07:00

Received a rejection from Cutbank last week, I think Thursday, which was a response to a submission I sent on September 5, 2005. (I seem to remember not hearing from them at all about a submission sent aprox five years ago.) Should I do the math here? I guess 18 months isn't such a long time. Almost every poet I know has a story about a submission or two that didn't get responded to at all--even after a query. And of course, I bear Cutbank no malice. I suspect they're doing their best with what they have. Most of them are grad students as I recall. However, I do think an 18 month turnover time does lend some irony to both the phrase "current needs" and the phrase "in the future."

Funny, too, that I keep sending to them, no?

What Should Richard Cory Have Been Thinking?

2007-03-25T00:05:00.000-07:00

He should have been thinking, "Well, at least I'm not Miniver Cheevy."

Miniver Cheevy

by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn,
Grew lean while he assailed the seasons;
He wept that he was ever born,
And he had reasons.

Miniver loved the days of old
When swords were bright and steeds were prancing;
The vision of a warrior bold
Would set him dancing.

Miniver sighed for what was not,
And dreamed, and rested from his labors;
He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot,
And Priam’s neighbors.

Miniver mourned the ripe renown
That made so many a name so fragrant;
He mourned Romance, now on the town,
And Art, a vagrant.

Miniver loved the Medici,
Albeit he had never seen one;
He would have sinned incessantly
Could he have been one.

Miniver cursed the commonplace
And eyed a khaki suit with loathing;
He missed the mediaeval grace
Of iron clothing.

Miniver scorned the gold he sought,
But sore annoyed was he without it;
Miniver thought, and thought, and thought,
And thought about it.

Miniver Cheevy, born too late,
Scratched his head and kept on thinking;
Miniver coughed, and called it fate,
And kept on drinking.

***

If only Robinson wd have thought to introduce these characters to one another.

Homework

2007-03-20T18:35:00.001-07:00

Between now and the meeting, could you please jot down at least three big questions you are currently facing as a writer OR as a teacher of writing? Your responses need not be lengthy, but come prepared to discuss your ideas with one another.

I'd still like you to save the Poudre

2007-03-19T19:52:00.000-07:00

Please

More fun

2007-03-16T23:10:00.000-07:00

Found another poem that I don't remember writing. Something about Chapman's Homer. I didn't write it.

Another Kind of Fun

2007-03-14T18:09:00.000-07:00

Found a poem today that I don't remember writing. It was a loosely connected collection of images titled "Work." Work is full of piccolos, anvils, freckles, spruce, cactus, tile, paper clips, and more. Clang.

Another rejection

2007-03-14T18:07:00.000-07:00

What fun it is to be responded to.

A Nice Rejection

2007-03-09T23:49:00.000-08:00

The Inclined Plane

2007-03-07T18:10:00.000-08:00

I've decided that I prefer the inclined plane of transcendence to the other simple machines of transcendence.

Reason 1: I think it sounds most simple.
Reason 2: I could start at the top and roll to the bottom of each poem.
Reason 3: It reminds me of driving on the Great Plains.
Reason 4: If I wait at the bottom, poems may roll down to me.
Reason 5: Cartwheel banjo tub
Reason 6: My son watched Bambi and now he won't quit crying.
Reason 7: Fish trumpet
Reason 8: I have a little mountain inside me.
Reason 9: Open the trunk of the fast car where the wings are folded.
Reason 10: Butter on. Butter off.

Rejection

2007-02-27T21:03:00.000-08:00

Redundant Rejection From Calif State Univ, Fresno

2007-02-20T19:14:00.000-08:00

So what's the big deal

2007-02-17T22:33:00.000-08:00

All this new google blog stuff seems about the same. Just more buttons to push, more terms to agree to.

First Nice Rejection

2007-02-08T16:54:00.000-08:00

Rejection

2007-02-05T20:29:00.000-08:00

Didn't win this one:

Rejection

2007-02-05T20:25:00.000-08:00

Didn't win this one:

The MFA Program at California State University, Fresno is pleased to announce that Lynn Chandhok's manuscript THE VIEW FROM ZERO BRIDGE is the winner of the 2006 Philip Levine for Poetry. THE VIEW FROM ZERO BRIDGE will be published by Anhinga Press this year.

The final judge, Corrinne Clegg Hales, writes, “It’s the rich physicality of these poems that draws me to them, and it’s their large emotional reach that keeps me coming back. This is a poetry that embraces the problem of distance--geographical, chronological, religious, cultural--and the book gathers quiet force as it weaves between worlds as seemingly distant as Kashmir and Brooklyn, childhood and parenthood, sensuality and intellect, science and tradition. It’s a delight to read a new book of poems that not only sings with a beautiful voice, but sings with remarkable wisdom, and sings to the heart.”

In addition, Hales chose fourteen Finalists: The Birds Are Making Me, by Tara Bray, Room With Six Windows, by Marjorie Saiser, Geographies of Light, by Lisa Majaj, Oracle Bones, by Patty Paine, Holding Everything Down, by William Notter, Judah's Lion, by Anne Caston, The Golem of Los Angeles, by Tony Barnstone,The Opposite of Faith, by Amy Meckler, Roses on the Ceiling, by Idris Anderson, Life With Fever, by Patricia Caspers, Spell World Backwards, by Linda Pennisi, On Fire Under Water, by Valerie Bandura, In the Valley of the Tongue, by John Friederich, and What Brings You to Del Amo, by Virginia Sutton. All Finalists will receive a copy of Chandhok's book.

2007 Competition Guidelines:
• Postmark Deadline: 9/30/07, Judge TBA
• Manuscript should be original poetry, not previously published in book form, and should be 48-80 pages.
• Include two manuscript title pages: one with name and contact information and one with the name of the manuscript ONLY. Manuscripts will be screened and judged anonymously.
• All poets are eligible except current or former faculty or students of California State University, Fresno.
• The entry fee is $25. Checks should be made out to "CSU Fresno Levine Prize."
• Please bind your manuscript with a binder clip only and mail by 9/30/07 (postmark deadline), to: Philip Levine Prize in Poetry, CSUF English Department, 5425 N. Backer Ave. MS PB98, Fresno, CA 93740-8001. Email mfafresno@cvip.net for more information.

Simple Machines

2007-01-20T23:15:00.000-08:00

Back on March 11, I quoted David Jauss's Writer's Chronicle article about the "Lever of Transcendence." Now I see Jauss has a website where he has placed some of the article.

What other simple machines might offer transcendence?

The wheel and axle of transcendence?

The pulley of transcendence?

The inclined plane of transcendence?

The wedge of transcendence?

The screw of transcendence?

I guess "lever of transcendence" already implies "fulcrum of transcendence."

Writing Exercise

2007-01-20T22:57:00.000-08:00

Write a poem composed only of beautiful sentences.

Write another poem, well, put together another poem composed of beautiful sentences written by others. These sentences should come from the writings of others who are not considered poets. Use at least four sources.

Writing Exercise

2007-01-15T20:26:00.000-08:00

Write a poem titled _______ Trap. Use whatever noun you'd like to fill in the blank. Within the poem, do not use that noun or any synonym for it again. The poem should be between 12 and 20 lines long. There should be a sonnet-like turn somewhere in the argument of the poem. Also, within the poem, mention the name of one person who lived more than a century ago.

Tom

2007-01-06T13:53:00.000-08:00

Tom was house sitting for us last week when he almost died. The doctors say, in a few more hours Tom's blood would have gone septic. Lord.

Now he's fine.

Fishtrap

2007-01-03T11:18:00.000-08:00

Anybody know anything about the summer workshop at Fishtrap? Their website doesn't give much info.

Portraits of Abraham Lincoln

2007-01-03T08:32:00.000-08:00

Your assignment:
1) Write a poem titled "Portrait of ..." (whoever or whatever).
2) Put at least one inaccuracy into the portrait.
3) Go out and spend it.

Moe's Burritoes

2006-12-29T14:54:00.000-08:00

The cost of free internet access in Atlanta.

http://equawhiny.blogspot.com/

2006-12-22T22:42:00.000-08:00

Why does Behrle keep moving?

Snow Piles

2006-12-22T22:36:00.000-08:00

Snow Here

2006-12-20T21:20:00.000-08:00

Rejection Letter from University of Wisconsin Press

2006-12-13T21:06:00.000-08:00

Guess I won't be winning the Brittingham Award this year.

Thanks, Rich

2006-12-12T00:09:00.000-08:00

Here's to you.

Baby (Well Actually, Toddler) Stopped Crying

2006-12-10T19:44:00.000-08:00

So if a poem or any piece of writing moves like a river from one place to another, down hill, down page, from the beginning of one page to the end of another, can a piece of writing be dammed up? Can there be reservoirs within a piece of writing? Can they change the ecosystem of their context? To what other effect can writing dams be used? Show me.