Fend for yourselves, family!
I'm off to the wilds of New Jersey for the Dodge Poetry festival!
See ya Sunday!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
from a poet who won't be at the Dodge Festival
Wendy Cope- her thoughts on poetry and process
She's one of the few poets who will not be in attendance at the Dodge Poetry Festival, where I will be from September 25th- 28th. Twenty-thousand people, that's what they expect!
I wonder how many are poets? Half? More than half??
That's way too many poets in one place.
Even if I'm one of them.
Oh constant reader, did I tell you I'll be one of the poets featured at Art After Hours at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts this coming January? It looks like Jan. 15, 2009 will be my spot.
Be there. I promise a good show!
Be there. I promise a good show!
Friday, September 19, 2008
A review of a reading- He's bona fide-
Matthew Donovan, that is- recent winner of the Levis Prize for a first or second book at VCU.
The reading was held in a truncated ballroom in the student commons last night- the worst room ever. It was claustrophobic and packed (young things required to be there- at least they were quiet and stayed for the entire event). I can't blame the English department, VCU has its ways, but this was pretty awful. There were not enough seats, some folks stood throughout. It was stuffy and claustrophobic.
It's difficult to say how it affected the reading, I heard several people complain of neck strain. I sat in the front row on the end, completely sideways in my chair.
Greg Donovan did his usual anecdotal "Larry Levis Lore" talk, always interesting - he seemed a bit uncomfortable, I can't help thinking the venue contributed.
Matthew Donovan (no relation to Greg) is a charming fellow, kind on the eyes, and has a great poet voice. His explanations for poems and process were appropriate (particularly since the crowd was not limited to POETS but filled with have-to-be-theres). I still wait for the writer who can balance explanations and poetry without saying too much-
The reception was 'around the corner' (but enough kvetching about location) and he affably signed books at the nice reception afterward.
Tumbling through his book at home was much better than the event, not because of him- he reads very, very well- but because his poetry is smart, funny (not ha-ha funny but witty) and mixes poetic language with current culture (I love the musical references, but I would). If I had to find fault, I'd have to say there is too much myth-tossing, too many locations- though in general the work holds together well and I will be rereading the whole in the coming week.
I'd love to know what the other, say, top ten contenders were- and specific reasons why THIS book (other than Mark Doty loving it). Only one poem sticks to me personally, the rest leave my head almost immediately as I turn the page.
That's not all his doing- I have a very specific range of work I cherish- there's so much poetry out there I don't feel obligated to love it all equally. I recognize competence, appreciate craft and all that, but the words that wrench me long after I read the page have to contain certain elements.
I have to be personally engaged, to understand what's happening, almost compelled to read a particular poem again RIGHT THEN. I don't mind doing a little research, or a word, or being befuddled occasionally- but don't bore me with your trip to Italy or Spain, don't hold yourself above me with your education and please don't try to talk in a voice you think is beneath you- or above you.
Does Donovan fit my narrow view? Ummm- yes and no. A few poems captured me, one in particular, but so many are just on the edge of academic over-write- the edge, mind you- that I'm not sure this book will come down from my shelf much, or ever after this week. What I do expect is more from him in the future, that Vellum will be a first book that demonstrates he deserves some poetic notice.
On the net, I read a some of the other reviews for this book. In general, the community sure does rally behind its children- most of the writers were full of overblown crap IMO. Those of us outside the clique have nothing to lose by saying our piece- this is an okay book, just okay. I like supporting poets, get books signed when I get a chance to see the poet in person, but I probably wouldn't have bought it without him being here in person. Just my take.
The reading was held in a truncated ballroom in the student commons last night- the worst room ever. It was claustrophobic and packed (young things required to be there- at least they were quiet and stayed for the entire event). I can't blame the English department, VCU has its ways, but this was pretty awful. There were not enough seats, some folks stood throughout. It was stuffy and claustrophobic.
It's difficult to say how it affected the reading, I heard several people complain of neck strain. I sat in the front row on the end, completely sideways in my chair.
Greg Donovan did his usual anecdotal "Larry Levis Lore" talk, always interesting - he seemed a bit uncomfortable, I can't help thinking the venue contributed.
Matthew Donovan (no relation to Greg) is a charming fellow, kind on the eyes, and has a great poet voice. His explanations for poems and process were appropriate (particularly since the crowd was not limited to POETS but filled with have-to-be-theres). I still wait for the writer who can balance explanations and poetry without saying too much-
The reception was 'around the corner' (but enough kvetching about location) and he affably signed books at the nice reception afterward.
Tumbling through his book at home was much better than the event, not because of him- he reads very, very well- but because his poetry is smart, funny (not ha-ha funny but witty) and mixes poetic language with current culture (I love the musical references, but I would). If I had to find fault, I'd have to say there is too much myth-tossing, too many locations- though in general the work holds together well and I will be rereading the whole in the coming week.
I'd love to know what the other, say, top ten contenders were- and specific reasons why THIS book (other than Mark Doty loving it). Only one poem sticks to me personally, the rest leave my head almost immediately as I turn the page.
That's not all his doing- I have a very specific range of work I cherish- there's so much poetry out there I don't feel obligated to love it all equally. I recognize competence, appreciate craft and all that, but the words that wrench me long after I read the page have to contain certain elements.
I have to be personally engaged, to understand what's happening, almost compelled to read a particular poem again RIGHT THEN. I don't mind doing a little research, or a word, or being befuddled occasionally- but don't bore me with your trip to Italy or Spain, don't hold yourself above me with your education and please don't try to talk in a voice you think is beneath you- or above you.
Does Donovan fit my narrow view? Ummm- yes and no. A few poems captured me, one in particular, but so many are just on the edge of academic over-write- the edge, mind you- that I'm not sure this book will come down from my shelf much, or ever after this week. What I do expect is more from him in the future, that Vellum will be a first book that demonstrates he deserves some poetic notice.
On the net, I read a some of the other reviews for this book. In general, the community sure does rally behind its children- most of the writers were full of overblown crap IMO. Those of us outside the clique have nothing to lose by saying our piece- this is an okay book, just okay. I like supporting poets, get books signed when I get a chance to see the poet in person, but I probably wouldn't have bought it without him being here in person. Just my take.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Thursday, Levis Prize Reading
2008 Winner- Matthew Donovan for Vellum
Thursday
VCU
8pm
Student Commons, Commonwealth A
If you care about poetry, you won't miss this!
Thursday
VCU
8pm
Student Commons, Commonwealth A
If you care about poetry, you won't miss this!
Friday, September 12, 2008
First Poetic Principles reading cancelled
Poet Betty Adcock will not be reading at the Virginia Museum next Wednesday, September 17th for the Poetic Principle series. I don't have any information on why, only that she had to cancel. The web page has not been updated but Ron Epps, at VMFA informed me.
The series will begin with Virginia Poet Laureate Pulitzer and Weinstein Prize winning poet Claudia Emerson on November 5th at 6pm.
In the meantime, go hear Matt Donovan read at VCU on Thursday 8pm.
Here's a Betty Adcock poem for your perusal:
Why White Southern Poets Write the Way We Do
Because we were the last ones deserted
by the God of visions and serpents—
because an August field can levitate
on the ratcheting din of cicadas,
and the magnolia, offering its melted candles,
burns invisible prayers onto sunlight—
because every one of us has at least one
relative who plowed poor with a mule—
because the dead still enter our sleep as columns
of figures on the debit side of the ledger,
and there are darker voices in which we cannot speak,
black ghosts, smoke hanging in the twilit liveoaks—
because we found the broken words everywhere,
rolling like loose beads under the chiffonier,
and we weren't suspicious when our breath
restrung them in patterns heavy as scripture—
because a mist can sit in a pasture
like a cloud in a basket—
we never stopped believing the hoop snake
really does roll to assert the compass of time,
framing the vanished, the exiled dreamers, even
ourselves rising to occasion, almost reprieved
as the weed-strangled fields rise in autumn fire
to dance, to sing anyhow, to grieve.
The series will begin with Virginia Poet Laureate Pulitzer and Weinstein Prize winning poet Claudia Emerson on November 5th at 6pm.
In the meantime, go hear Matt Donovan read at VCU on Thursday 8pm.
Here's a Betty Adcock poem for your perusal:
Why White Southern Poets Write the Way We Do
Because we were the last ones deserted
by the God of visions and serpents—
because an August field can levitate
on the ratcheting din of cicadas,
and the magnolia, offering its melted candles,
burns invisible prayers onto sunlight—
because every one of us has at least one
relative who plowed poor with a mule—
because the dead still enter our sleep as columns
of figures on the debit side of the ledger,
and there are darker voices in which we cannot speak,
black ghosts, smoke hanging in the twilit liveoaks—
because we found the broken words everywhere,
rolling like loose beads under the chiffonier,
and we weren't suspicious when our breath
restrung them in patterns heavy as scripture—
because a mist can sit in a pasture
like a cloud in a basket—
we never stopped believing the hoop snake
really does roll to assert the compass of time,
framing the vanished, the exiled dreamers, even
ourselves rising to occasion, almost reprieved
as the weed-strangled fields rise in autumn fire
to dance, to sing anyhow, to grieve.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Good reasons to be a poet
from poet Reginald Shepherd, who died September 10th.
I write because I would like to live forever...
I write not to be bored...
And never to forget beauty, however strange or difficult.
I write because I would like to live forever...
I write not to be bored...
And never to forget beauty, however strange or difficult.
more info and a poemfrom Harriet
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Support the Arts!! be a Borgia!!
By supporting the artist- yeah, that's the ticket!
This July, I attended West Virginia Writer's Workshop at West Virginia University to study with Denise Duhamel (who is wonderful). I am going to attend the Dodge Poetry Festival September 25-29. This has all kind of tapped me out, though I have four part-time jobs (I also volunteer at the gallery and the Virginia Museum).
If anyone would like to contribute to the cause of poet- you can send a check to art 6 Gallery care of my name and I guarantee I will use it wisely. This is your chance to be like one of the great patrons of days long past!! You could be a modern day Borgia!! No poison involved!
Shann Palmer is certainly a non-profit entity, though not by the legal definition, but think of it as a mitzvah as the holidays approach- no, I'm not Jewish but I try to do a good thing every day myself.
Or you could stop by the gallery Thursday-Sunday and buy my chapbooks, poetry bags, and CD.
Or commission a poem!
yeah- all that- of course, I know personally most of the folks who read my blog and I know you could use the same favor. I should be grateful I have a healthy family, all the food I need, and a roof over my head. Every poet I know could use a patron. Bless us every one!!
Send it to the gallery instead as a donation- or any gallery of your choice! Or any poet of your choice!
Then go here or here or here or here or here and read a poem- it will make your world a better place!
This July, I attended West Virginia Writer's Workshop at West Virginia University to study with Denise Duhamel (who is wonderful). I am going to attend the Dodge Poetry Festival September 25-29. This has all kind of tapped me out, though I have four part-time jobs (I also volunteer at the gallery and the Virginia Museum).
If anyone would like to contribute to the cause of poet- you can send a check to art 6 Gallery care of my name and I guarantee I will use it wisely. This is your chance to be like one of the great patrons of days long past!! You could be a modern day Borgia!! No poison involved!
Shann Palmer is certainly a non-profit entity, though not by the legal definition, but think of it as a mitzvah as the holidays approach- no, I'm not Jewish but I try to do a good thing every day myself.
Or you could stop by the gallery Thursday-Sunday and buy my chapbooks, poetry bags, and CD.
Or commission a poem!
yeah- all that- of course, I know personally most of the folks who read my blog and I know you could use the same favor. I should be grateful I have a healthy family, all the food I need, and a roof over my head. Every poet I know could use a patron. Bless us every one!!
Send it to the gallery instead as a donation- or any gallery of your choice! Or any poet of your choice!
Then go here or here or here or here or here and read a poem- it will make your world a better place!
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
It's hard out here for a poet
There's a restaurant in DC called Busboys and Poets.
and here in Richmond Shockoe Poets, the longest running open mike in Richmond, can't find a new home.
We're meeting at art6, 6 east broad, from 2-4 on the 2nd & 4th Sundays until something pops up.
We're looking-
and here in Richmond Shockoe Poets, the longest running open mike in Richmond, can't find a new home.
We're meeting at art6, 6 east broad, from 2-4 on the 2nd & 4th Sundays until something pops up.
We're looking-
Someone was searching Mutyalamaduvu
so google sent them to my poem (written last year for an AmarantH Dance Company performance at art6
Body in motion
from the top of her heads to the calloused soles of her feet,
the dancer’s heart pumps blood to all the places it needs to be
in constant movement beneath the skin: sartorius, ilium,
ischium, transverse abdominis, latissimus dorsi, trapezius,
her blood like water seeping up only to seek its own level
before a spectacular fall: Niagra, Tagbaladougou, Gocta,
Mutyalamaduvu, Papalaua, Hagoromo-no-taki, names
that tumble off the tongue like spun sugar confections
slung carelessly down jagged cliffs, over verdant valleys,
under burned bridges, water that goes deep to rise, rise,
rise again in unexpected places as springs, springs,
springs that bubble and pop to mystical healing shrines:
Calimanesti, Lourdes, Daius Church, and Bethsaida, where
just one toe, one fingertip dipped in the troubled waters
will bring blessed relief from an eternity of pain- but
you must be the first, first, first or be left to crawl back
to your cot to wrap up in sorrow to wait, wait, wait-
another year, another holy day, until a stranger says
you can do it if you want to, you can do it on your own,
find a healing, it’s already within you to take the gift,
float joyfully away on a sea of salty tears, buoyant,
expansive as furled sails in tropical harbors, blinding white
against the nacreous panoply of colors: vermillion,
pomegranate, viridian, malachite, gamboge, amaranth,
an impressive array somewhere between red and rose
love stands simple capturing the breath, heart beat, memory
of a fragrant flower: ansinthium, verbena, moonflower, lilac,
gardenia, or jasmine, strong and fragrant as musk, to stand
against the world and its gravitas, one body of many parts,
single-minded, from foot to hand to mouth to heart, the beat,
beat, beat pumping blood to all the places it needs to go,
like water rises then falls and seeks its own level,
again, again, again, again, again, again.
Body in motion
from the top of her heads to the calloused soles of her feet,
the dancer’s heart pumps blood to all the places it needs to be
in constant movement beneath the skin: sartorius, ilium,
ischium, transverse abdominis, latissimus dorsi, trapezius,
her blood like water seeping up only to seek its own level
before a spectacular fall: Niagra, Tagbaladougou, Gocta,
Mutyalamaduvu, Papalaua, Hagoromo-no-taki, names
that tumble off the tongue like spun sugar confections
slung carelessly down jagged cliffs, over verdant valleys,
under burned bridges, water that goes deep to rise, rise,
rise again in unexpected places as springs, springs,
springs that bubble and pop to mystical healing shrines:
Calimanesti, Lourdes, Daius Church, and Bethsaida, where
just one toe, one fingertip dipped in the troubled waters
will bring blessed relief from an eternity of pain- but
you must be the first, first, first or be left to crawl back
to your cot to wrap up in sorrow to wait, wait, wait-
another year, another holy day, until a stranger says
you can do it if you want to, you can do it on your own,
find a healing, it’s already within you to take the gift,
float joyfully away on a sea of salty tears, buoyant,
expansive as furled sails in tropical harbors, blinding white
against the nacreous panoply of colors: vermillion,
pomegranate, viridian, malachite, gamboge, amaranth,
an impressive array somewhere between red and rose
love stands simple capturing the breath, heart beat, memory
of a fragrant flower: ansinthium, verbena, moonflower, lilac,
gardenia, or jasmine, strong and fragrant as musk, to stand
against the world and its gravitas, one body of many parts,
single-minded, from foot to hand to mouth to heart, the beat,
beat, beat pumping blood to all the places it needs to go,
like water rises then falls and seeks its own level,
again, again, again, again, again, again.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Obscene- but I'm just a poet
Cindy McCain
Oscar de la Renta dress: $3,000
Chanel J12 White Ceramic Watch: $4,500
Three-carat diamond earrings: $280,000
Four-strand pearl necklace: $11,000–$25,000
Shoes, designer unknown: $600
Total: Between $299,100 and $313,100
(from Vanity Fair)
and a response
Entitlement- like the Bakker's, like the Enron executives, like.....
and you know, I'm not complaining that they want to look good (??) but I'm sure all of this could have been less ostentatious- and sure, maybe some of the stuff was gifted or bought cheaper- but still-
I'd spend more money if I had it, of course I would- and I would give more away. I do now and I don't have it.
So much of value is so little, life is enough riches: love, companionship- how many of the delegates at both conventions had to put the whole trip on a credit card, one they will have trouble paying?
Oscar de la Renta dress: $3,000
Chanel J12 White Ceramic Watch: $4,500
Three-carat diamond earrings: $280,000
Four-strand pearl necklace: $11,000–$25,000
Shoes, designer unknown: $600
Total: Between $299,100 and $313,100
(from Vanity Fair)
and a response
Entitlement- like the Bakker's, like the Enron executives, like.....
and you know, I'm not complaining that they want to look good (??) but I'm sure all of this could have been less ostentatious- and sure, maybe some of the stuff was gifted or bought cheaper- but still-
I'd spend more money if I had it, of course I would- and I would give more away. I do now and I don't have it.
So much of value is so little, life is enough riches: love, companionship- how many of the delegates at both conventions had to put the whole trip on a credit card, one they will have trouble paying?
Friday, September 05, 2008
I should be asleep
At last I have completed a poem- time and energy have been sparse, so have the words.
Sometimes dreams bring a bit of inspiration.
shakes thoughts into phrases.
added because someone asked- will disappear Monday...
__________________________________________
When you lived in Hong Kong ... poem removed for editing before submitting
Sometimes dreams bring a bit of inspiration.
shakes thoughts into phrases.
added because someone asked- will disappear Monday...
__________________________________________
When you lived in Hong Kong ... poem removed for editing before submitting
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Poetry and Politics
Concerning Lorca
Class vs Gender
In the eye of the hurricane
Billy Collins and underwear (well, lingerie)
11 new poems byLinh Dinh
Dr Andy’s Poetry & Technology Hour w. Joe Biden and Laura Cherry [MP3]
Arming the locals (okay, this isn't poetry-related)
Thanks, Ron Silliman and Jilly Dybka
Class vs Gender
In the eye of the hurricane
Billy Collins and underwear (well, lingerie)
11 new poems byLinh Dinh
Dr Andy’s Poetry & Technology Hour w. Joe Biden and Laura Cherry [MP3]
Arming the locals (okay, this isn't poetry-related)
Thanks, Ron Silliman and Jilly Dybka
Saturday, August 30, 2008
ComedySportz tonight!!! 7:30 and 10:00
Sure- it goes on every Friday and Saturday night at those times- but not with Shann Palmer playing piano for both shows!!
I Prov- the all musical improv group performs at the 10:00 show!
I'll be playing here and there at 7:30
Come on! Call 266-YESS to get a reservation!
I Prov- the all musical improv group performs at the 10:00 show!
I'll be playing here and there at 7:30
Come on! Call 266-YESS to get a reservation!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Whatever chance McCain had with me just left
with his VP pick- her views on gays and lesbians, creationism, abortion rights, and who knows what else at this point have left me fully behind Obama and company.
Geez- did he think merely picking a woman (and a mom- oowheee!!) would sway my little old vote?
Maybe if he sent chocolates and took the kids to the movies so I could have a quiet evening at home would do it.
It's really hard to think about poetry right now.
Idiots.
Geez- did he think merely picking a woman (and a mom- oowheee!!) would sway my little old vote?
Maybe if he sent chocolates and took the kids to the movies so I could have a quiet evening at home would do it.
It's really hard to think about poetry right now.
Idiots.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The Richmond Times Dispatch actually posted
this????
Claudia Emerson new poet laureate!
and quickly??? (5:29pm)
wow- I am amazed- and pleased. They must be trying to scoop Style LOLOL.
Claudia Emerson new poet laureate!
and quickly??? (5:29pm)
wow- I am amazed- and pleased. They must be trying to scoop Style LOLOL.
THE NEW POET LAUREATE IS...
are you ready for it?? Really ready??
okay-
The poet laureate for Virginia 2008-2010 is
Claudia Emerson!!!!
Well, that's the best news I've heard all day!
okay-
The poet laureate for Virginia 2008-2010 is
Claudia Emerson!!!!
Well, that's the best news I've heard all day!
Saturday, August 23, 2008
For all my weird friends- David Lynch poems
Check out this submission guideline: Blue Velvet
and why not? I think I'll order A Slice of Cherry Pie
In the meantime- art6 is seeking new members, interns, and volunteers. We need people with talent, with time, highly motivated individuals who have seeds of ideas and want to see them flourish into something bigger.
We need artists and art lovers, people who love Richmond, people who are interested in seeing the downtown art scene hit the next level.
You don't have to be a star to be in our show, but if you've got the starstuff, we're ready to support your efforts, but please, prima donnas, there are plenty of other places for you to strut while you're waiting for new york to call- we want people who aren't too high on themselves to paint a podium, to take out a bag of trash, to do the hard work some boring committee requires.
Yeah, you're too busy to sit or to come to meetings- whatever- we're busy too, but the members of art6 believe in something bigger than art on the walls- bigger than First Friday- bigger than Broad Street-
if you think you're the kind of person who cold find a home with us- go HERE
and why not? I think I'll order A Slice of Cherry Pie
In the meantime- art6 is seeking new members, interns, and volunteers. We need people with talent, with time, highly motivated individuals who have seeds of ideas and want to see them flourish into something bigger.
We need artists and art lovers, people who love Richmond, people who are interested in seeing the downtown art scene hit the next level.
You don't have to be a star to be in our show, but if you've got the starstuff, we're ready to support your efforts, but please, prima donnas, there are plenty of other places for you to strut while you're waiting for new york to call- we want people who aren't too high on themselves to paint a podium, to take out a bag of trash, to do the hard work some boring committee requires.
Yeah, you're too busy to sit or to come to meetings- whatever- we're busy too, but the members of art6 believe in something bigger than art on the walls- bigger than First Friday- bigger than Broad Street-
if you think you're the kind of person who cold find a home with us- go HERE
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Speaking of recreation...
Here's some tips from poet Bernadette Geyer, a wonderful Virginia poet on revising your poems.
I spent hours this morning switching verbs, then nouns, then starting over again.
Writing's easy- revising is hard.
I spent hours this morning switching verbs, then nouns, then starting over again.
Writing's easy- revising is hard.
We got FIOS!
and I haven't accomplished anything for days...
actually, that's not true- I'm still working on a few poems, dealing with art6 stuff, wondering why it's so hard just to get by these days.
That's a kind of untruth also- I have plenty of what I need, bills are caught up, pantry adequate, plenty of time to do what I want.
must be ennui- yeah, that's it- August Ennui.
Sounds like a good book title, doncha think?
actually, that's not true- I'm still working on a few poems, dealing with art6 stuff, wondering why it's so hard just to get by these days.
That's a kind of untruth also- I have plenty of what I need, bills are caught up, pantry adequate, plenty of time to do what I want.
must be ennui- yeah, that's it- August Ennui.
Sounds like a good book title, doncha think?
Saturday, August 16, 2008
We're getting FIOS!
bye bye Comcast!!
it's being installed right now, right here in Lakeside- a farmer's market, a great little Indian restaurant (particularly take-out), and now freedom from Comcast!!
Wow!
Now, if getting a new poet laureate were just that easy~
it's being installed right now, right here in Lakeside- a farmer's market, a great little Indian restaurant (particularly take-out), and now freedom from Comcast!!
Wow!
Now, if getting a new poet laureate were just that easy~
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Update on the Poet Laureate and Gov. Kaine
After all my letters to the Governor about not appointing a poet laureate in a timely manner- we have been without since July 1st- I had lunch with Carolyn Foronda (Virginia laureate 2006-2008) at her home near Deltaville and got the scoop.
The poet laureate must provide years of financial records, tax forms, job history, all manner of personal data to prove (I suppose) they aren't terrorists or criminals. She said it took her weeks to come up with all the needed data, and she's a very organized person!
I can't imagine that many poets have all that info at their fingertips, more likely in shoeboxes and Ukrops' bags or somewhere deep in the chaos of their dwellings. All that for an unpaid position that very few people actually care about.
Ridiculous? Yes. The nominee is probably trolling through files for minutiae they shouldn't need to share with the government. I guess we'll wait till they get it together.
There goes my chances-
In the meantime, have vision- there will most likely be a Poetry Festival in the Richmond area in 2010- something for poets at the top of their game, something James River Writers doesn't offer, the Festival of the Book doesn't provide, the University in-house shows can't open up for- it's coming, poets- be ready, start writing and revising now!
The poet laureate must provide years of financial records, tax forms, job history, all manner of personal data to prove (I suppose) they aren't terrorists or criminals. She said it took her weeks to come up with all the needed data, and she's a very organized person!
I can't imagine that many poets have all that info at their fingertips, more likely in shoeboxes and Ukrops' bags or somewhere deep in the chaos of their dwellings. All that for an unpaid position that very few people actually care about.
Ridiculous? Yes. The nominee is probably trolling through files for minutiae they shouldn't need to share with the government. I guess we'll wait till they get it together.
There goes my chances-
In the meantime, have vision- there will most likely be a Poetry Festival in the Richmond area in 2010- something for poets at the top of their game, something James River Writers doesn't offer, the Festival of the Book doesn't provide, the University in-house shows can't open up for- it's coming, poets- be ready, start writing and revising now!
What a Party! Richmond Mag's Best/Worst
What a cool party Richmond Magazine had last night! I sampled foods from all sorts of restaurants I can't afford to patronize, drank decent wine, and we folks from ComedySportz Improv performed our six-minute musical "What's There to do in Richmond?".
I didn't try to ride the Segway, but I did hobnob with other James River Writers folks and the artsy crowd (who were those other people?)
Interesting music by the DJ- very typical easy listening classic late disco-ish fare (michael jackson ferchrissakes?) though early on (before everybody got there) it was better. White boys in white suits dancing- heh!
Richmond is such a strange city- and despite what Michael three-names said in his column in the RTD today - it's about as provincial as any place I could name.
You know, a famous poet once told me no one cares as much about your work as you do, so get over yourself. Sounds like good advice for this place (my home for almost forty years).
We ain't all that- seriously. I have developed a fondness for the place, I must say.
I didn't try to ride the Segway, but I did hobnob with other James River Writers folks and the artsy crowd (who were those other people?)
Interesting music by the DJ- very typical easy listening classic late disco-ish fare (michael jackson ferchrissakes?) though early on (before everybody got there) it was better. White boys in white suits dancing- heh!
Richmond is such a strange city- and despite what Michael three-names said in his column in the RTD today - it's about as provincial as any place I could name.
You know, a famous poet once told me no one cares as much about your work as you do, so get over yourself. Sounds like good advice for this place (my home for almost forty years).
We ain't all that- seriously. I have developed a fondness for the place, I must say.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Dogwood Dell
It's the last chance to see Little Shop of Horrors at Dogwood Dell tonight at 8:30.
The weather is PERFECT! It's FREE.
I went last night, it was wonderful. Sure, you've seen it before, but you've never seen a set quite this elaborate. And the actors are excellent!
and my daughter did costumes (she's worked seven summers for Richmond Parks and Rec).
GET THERE!! Don't bring any money, but DO bring bug spray.
The weather is PERFECT! It's FREE.
I went last night, it was wonderful. Sure, you've seen it before, but you've never seen a set quite this elaborate. And the actors are excellent!
and my daughter did costumes (she's worked seven summers for Richmond Parks and Rec).
GET THERE!! Don't bring any money, but DO bring bug spray.
Friday, August 08, 2008
SlamRichmond in the semi-finals, still no poet laureate!
Go Team Richmond!
Currently ranked 18th in the country, the Slam Richmond team has made semi-finals!
For a complete story, go HERE
This is great news!
Support Your Local Poets!!!
In spite of my constant email campaign and Gov Kaine having the list of candidates at his fingertips, we still have no poet laureate (position open since July 1st!). I understand how much there is to do, but this is a no-brainer- Claudia Emerson is the best choice of the list he's been given.
Currently ranked 18th in the country, the Slam Richmond team has made semi-finals!
For a complete story, go HERE
This is great news!
Support Your Local Poets!!!
In spite of my constant email campaign and Gov Kaine having the list of candidates at his fingertips, we still have no poet laureate (position open since July 1st!). I understand how much there is to do, but this is a no-brainer- Claudia Emerson is the best choice of the list he's been given.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
ANOTHER letter to the governor
I will write weekly until something is done- this is ridiculous!
Dear Sir:
Once again I write to implore you to proceed with the appointment of a poet laureate for our state.
The information has been in your hands for more than a month (the suggested names provided by law from the Poetry Society of Virginia).
There is no money involved, but schedules and speaking engagements in schools and community groups need to be made.
Our previous laureate, Carolyn Foronda, has been retired from the position since July 1st and I,
a poet and your supporter hope that you will both recognize her for an exemplary job since 2006 and announce your new appointment.
Please, I implore you to act on this now!
Shann Palmer
Support Your Local Poets!
http://groups.msn.com/FlashPaperPoetry
Dear Sir:
Once again I write to implore you to proceed with the appointment of a poet laureate for our state.
The information has been in your hands for more than a month (the suggested names provided by law from the Poetry Society of Virginia).
There is no money involved, but schedules and speaking engagements in schools and community groups need to be made.
Our previous laureate, Carolyn Foronda, has been retired from the position since July 1st and I,
a poet and your supporter hope that you will both recognize her for an exemplary job since 2006 and announce your new appointment.
Please, I implore you to act on this now!
Shann Palmer
Support Your Local Poets!
http://groups.msn.com/FlashPaperPoetry
Monday, August 04, 2008
Shockoe Poets found a new home!!!
Globehopper Coffee has offered to let the Shockoe Poets try the scene on 2nd and 4th Sundays from 2-4pm.
Come on over- we'll start out at Shockoe to pick up the people-not-on-the-internet, then move over to Globehoppers for our grand opening.
Bring poetry! Your own or someone else's, to read and share!
and thank you Cafe Gutenburg, for offering even though you have Sunday brinch- maybe we can bring a once a month event back to your wonderful place!
Come on over- we'll start out at Shockoe to pick up the people-not-on-the-internet, then move over to Globehoppers for our grand opening.
Bring poetry! Your own or someone else's, to read and share!
and thank you Cafe Gutenburg, for offering even though you have Sunday brinch- maybe we can bring a once a month event back to your wonderful place!
Friday, August 01, 2008
Poetry reading needs a home!!!
The Shockoe Poets have been evicted from the Shockoe Espresso Coffee Shop in the slip!!!! We're homeless!
It's true. After ten years, the longest running open mike needs a new home ASAP!! Started back in the 90's at Ashland Coffee and Tea, Cheryl Ball and I moved it to Richmond where Kelley Lane took over as cohost at the Shockoe Espresso location.
We'll be there (unofficially) on the second Sunday in August from 2-4 to discuss and regroup if you have any ideas.
Apparently, the parent company Mill Mountain ( anything to do with the theater?) had some sort of problem somewhere and somebody screwed it up for the rest of us and the order is out for NO MORE ENTERTAINMENT at their establishments.
The truth is, we were almost always the only people there on Sundays- I tip at least 100%, and we talked up the place constantly. Oh well.
And we just had a piece on Mash Up July 29th- figures.
Cafe Gutenberg offered, but they have a brunch on Sundays and needed us to change times (later in the day). We'd really like to try to stay in the 2nd and 4th Sundays, 2-4pm if we can.
If anybody has any ideas, please let me know shannp at gmail dot com.
It's true. After ten years, the longest running open mike needs a new home ASAP!! Started back in the 90's at Ashland Coffee and Tea, Cheryl Ball and I moved it to Richmond where Kelley Lane took over as cohost at the Shockoe Espresso location.
We'll be there (unofficially) on the second Sunday in August from 2-4 to discuss and regroup if you have any ideas.
Apparently, the parent company Mill Mountain ( anything to do with the theater?) had some sort of problem somewhere and somebody screwed it up for the rest of us and the order is out for NO MORE ENTERTAINMENT at their establishments.
The truth is, we were almost always the only people there on Sundays- I tip at least 100%, and we talked up the place constantly. Oh well.
And we just had a piece on Mash Up July 29th- figures.
Cafe Gutenberg offered, but they have a brunch on Sundays and needed us to change times (later in the day). We'd really like to try to stay in the 2nd and 4th Sundays, 2-4pm if we can.
If anybody has any ideas, please let me know shannp at gmail dot com.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Another letter to the governor...
I hope you will have the opportunity to appoint and announce a new poet laureate for Virginia in the near future. If you need a new copy of the list I'm sure the Poetry Society of Virginia (of which I am a member) would be happy to supply you again with the information you need.
While this may not be an appointment that would appear to have a great impact, in fact, if the new laureate is going to visit schools and community groups, scheduling decision will need to be made as soon as possible.
I also hope you will recognize in some way the outstanding job done by our outgoing laureate Carolyn Foronda. She has done more for poetry in this state than any other appointee since the position was established. She will be a difficult person to replace, though you have been given at least one excellent choice for the new laureate (Claudia Emerson).
Thank you,
Shann Palmer
While this may not be an appointment that would appear to have a great impact, in fact, if the new laureate is going to visit schools and community groups, scheduling decision will need to be made as soon as possible.
I also hope you will recognize in some way the outstanding job done by our outgoing laureate Carolyn Foronda. She has done more for poetry in this state than any other appointee since the position was established. She will be a difficult person to replace, though you have been given at least one excellent choice for the new laureate (Claudia Emerson).
Thank you,
Shann Palmer
Frank O'Hara on TV?
The title grabbed me- a film of one of my favorite poets, something discovered in Grandpa's vault?
No, but still an interesting article
but if you have a copy of Meditations in an Emergency, you might want to dust it off so you can converse with the other twelve people in Richmond who watch MadMen.
Frank O'Hara. Yeah, on TV.
No, but still an interesting article
but if you have a copy of Meditations in an Emergency, you might want to dust it off so you can converse with the other twelve people in Richmond who watch MadMen.
Frank O'Hara. Yeah, on TV.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Levis Prize announced! Matthew Donovan/Vellum
Here's the official skittle
The reading will be September 18th at VCU at 8pm in the Commonwealth ballroom.
here's the book
here's a poem
and another
long, wordy stuff, huh.
here's a poem I really like from Sandra Beasley and another and another
and I noticed Kelly Link will be at VCU in April. On Maundy Thursday (April 9th). I'll be working, playing a service. As usual. They always have the best people on Maundy Thursday.
She writes really great short stories BTW.
Still no news from the governor on the Virginia poet laureate appointment. C'mon, dude. Just pick Claudia and announce it.
The reading will be September 18th at VCU at 8pm in the Commonwealth ballroom.
here's the book
here's a poem
and another
long, wordy stuff, huh.
here's a poem I really like from Sandra Beasley and another and another
and I noticed Kelly Link will be at VCU in April. On Maundy Thursday (April 9th). I'll be working, playing a service. As usual. They always have the best people on Maundy Thursday.
She writes really great short stories BTW.
Still no news from the governor on the Virginia poet laureate appointment. C'mon, dude. Just pick Claudia and announce it.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Poet Interview & I'm Back!!!
from West Virginia Writer's Workshop and I have to say Denise Duhamel ROCKS!! (as does her hubby Nick Carbo, Richmond's own Brian Henry and my FAVORITE novelist Sheri Reynolds!!!)
More later-
here's an interview with Mary Jo Salter reading at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 2009!!
(I got to read a proof copy of Sheri's new novel out this November- it is her best yet!- more about that later)
More later-
here's an interview with Mary Jo Salter reading at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 2009!!
(I got to read a proof copy of Sheri's new novel out this November- it is her best yet!- more about that later)
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Off to a Writer's Workshop at WVU
Starts tomorrow- workshopping with Denise Duhamel!
She's well known for book Kinky from Orchises Press in Alexandria.
I am VERY excited! As usual I have barely enough money, but I have peanut butter, a loaf of bread, and granola bars. I'll be fine- and they have a 'breakfast' thing each morning and snacks during the afternoon sessions.
Oh yeah, I have my poem packets and some notebooks.
See ya next week.
(I love being off and leaving the guys behind to fend for themselves!)
She's well known for book Kinky from Orchises Press in Alexandria.
I am VERY excited! As usual I have barely enough money, but I have peanut butter, a loaf of bread, and granola bars. I'll be fine- and they have a 'breakfast' thing each morning and snacks during the afternoon sessions.
Oh yeah, I have my poem packets and some notebooks.
See ya next week.
(I love being off and leaving the guys behind to fend for themselves!)
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Four Famous Women Poets on the way to Richmond
Are you ready for AMAZING poetry???
Put the Poetic Principle Series at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on your agenda for the 2008-2009 season!
Betty Adcock
Claudia Emerson
Beth Ann Fennelly
Peter Orner (fiction writer rescheduled from last year)
Mary Jo Salter
The four women poets who will be reading are at the top of their poetic game and we are more than fortunate to have them coming to Richmond this year! These events are co-sponsored by the New Virginia Review.
Bookmark the page or join the VMFA email list so you will get notice when the exact dates are posted. The series runs on Wednesdays at 6 PM, the cost is nominal (usually $3- $7)
It's ridiculous more people don't take advantage of these readings! The setting is intimate, the price is right, and in spite of construction parking is plentiful and close.
Do it now!- Bookmark the VMFA page, check FlashPaperPoetry (my calendar page), or my blog for updates and details as they become available.
You'll be glad you did!
Put the Poetic Principle Series at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on your agenda for the 2008-2009 season!
Betty Adcock
Claudia Emerson
Beth Ann Fennelly
Peter Orner (fiction writer rescheduled from last year)
Mary Jo Salter
The four women poets who will be reading are at the top of their poetic game and we are more than fortunate to have them coming to Richmond this year! These events are co-sponsored by the New Virginia Review.
Bookmark the page or join the VMFA email list so you will get notice when the exact dates are posted. The series runs on Wednesdays at 6 PM, the cost is nominal (usually $3- $7)
It's ridiculous more people don't take advantage of these readings! The setting is intimate, the price is right, and in spite of construction parking is plentiful and close.
Do it now!- Bookmark the VMFA page, check FlashPaperPoetry (my calendar page), or my blog for updates and details as they become available.
You'll be glad you did!
Friday, July 11, 2008
The new issue of Terrain.org and the earth
here it is.....
read the whole zine, but if you read only a few things, read the columns and guest editorials.
then go back and read the poetry and the essays and the fiction- this is one of the best webzines around, literary and environmental.
You won't be disappointed.
read the whole zine, but if you read only a few things, read the columns and guest editorials.
then go back and read the poetry and the essays and the fiction- this is one of the best webzines around, literary and environmental.
You won't be disappointed.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Art and music and poetry and art
Look who's making art!
Who do you think of as sexy when you think of poets??
From the guy who asked "Does Poetry Matter? some not terribly interesting poetry...
It's all subjective
I suppose.
Who do you think of as sexy when you think of poets??
From the guy who asked "Does Poetry Matter? some not terribly interesting poetry...
It's all subjective
I suppose.
Poet Laureate Position Open
Gov. Kaine was given a slate last month of candidates for poet laureate for Virginia 2008-2010.
We're ten days in and no fearless leader to get us through!
Poets, rise up and lift your voices! Write the governor!
(news from the news: war is over, all the celebrities are dead, nobody hurts children or animals, and george bush resigned, in case you feel guilty about writing about a trivial thing like a poet laureate)
Carolyn Foronda has done such a wonderful job for the state- she's traveled all over the state bringing poetry to adults and children from the mountains to the sea- I can't say enough kind words about her!
From the choices he has, I hope Claudia Emerson is appointed. Though Nikki Giovanni would be delightful, her health and age would likely make it an honorary appointment, she probably wouldn't be able to do nearly what needs to be done. It is, you know, an unpaid post- at least in England they can get a butt of sack. Seriously. Look it up.
We're ten days in and no fearless leader to get us through!
Poets, rise up and lift your voices! Write the governor!
(news from the news: war is over, all the celebrities are dead, nobody hurts children or animals, and george bush resigned, in case you feel guilty about writing about a trivial thing like a poet laureate)
Carolyn Foronda has done such a wonderful job for the state- she's traveled all over the state bringing poetry to adults and children from the mountains to the sea- I can't say enough kind words about her!
From the choices he has, I hope Claudia Emerson is appointed. Though Nikki Giovanni would be delightful, her health and age would likely make it an honorary appointment, she probably wouldn't be able to do nearly what needs to be done. It is, you know, an unpaid post- at least in England they can get a butt of sack. Seriously. Look it up.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Dim the lights for Liz Marks
from the RTD
I'm so glad I attended her Cabaret at ComedySportz in May- she was fun and all full of herself, walking through the audience with her customary charm.
It was a great show, at the end she whipped off her wig to reveal her bald head (from the chemo, I presume).
Goodbye Liz-
She'll be missed.
I'm so glad I attended her Cabaret at ComedySportz in May- she was fun and all full of herself, walking through the audience with her customary charm.
It was a great show, at the end she whipped off her wig to reveal her bald head (from the chemo, I presume).
Goodbye Liz-
She'll be missed.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
I will not make any more boring art.
I will not make any more boring art.
Compiled by Frances Sjoberg on the occasion of the Conceptual Poetry and Its Others Conference, University of Arizona
CHARLES BERNSTEIN
1. In poetry, they talk about finding your voice, which is too often a way of evading the voices to be found in the writing.
2. Not only do I consider works of official verse culture to be poetry (which is not, for me, an honorific category), but also one of the key features of official verse culture [is] that it could necessarily include some poetry that I like quite a lot.
3. I prefer minerals to insects but I have been working on this with my ontologist.
4. As an alternative to National Poetry Month, I propose that we have an International Anti-Poetry Month. As part of the activities, all verse in public places will be covered over--from the Statue of Liberty to the friezes on many of our government buildings...Parents will be asked not to read Mother Goose...Religious institutions will have to forego reading verse passages from the liturgy...with hymns strictly banned...No vocal music will be played on the radio or sung in concert halls. Children will have to stop playing all slapping and counting and singing games and stick to board games and football.
5. Oddly, it is a form of dissent these days to hold out that art that doesn't get the market share can actually be as valuable as the art that does....I'm for the ketchup that loses the race.
6. Attention: Write down everything you hear for one hour.
7. There is still a great deal of conceptualizing that leads up to any intuition.
from The Poetry Foundation's blog Harriet
Compiled by Frances Sjoberg on the occasion of the Conceptual Poetry and Its Others Conference, University of Arizona
CHARLES BERNSTEIN
1. In poetry, they talk about finding your voice, which is too often a way of evading the voices to be found in the writing.
2. Not only do I consider works of official verse culture to be poetry (which is not, for me, an honorific category), but also one of the key features of official verse culture [is] that it could necessarily include some poetry that I like quite a lot.
3. I prefer minerals to insects but I have been working on this with my ontologist.
4. As an alternative to National Poetry Month, I propose that we have an International Anti-Poetry Month. As part of the activities, all verse in public places will be covered over--from the Statue of Liberty to the friezes on many of our government buildings...Parents will be asked not to read Mother Goose...Religious institutions will have to forego reading verse passages from the liturgy...with hymns strictly banned...No vocal music will be played on the radio or sung in concert halls. Children will have to stop playing all slapping and counting and singing games and stick to board games and football.
5. Oddly, it is a form of dissent these days to hold out that art that doesn't get the market share can actually be as valuable as the art that does....I'm for the ketchup that loses the race.
6. Attention: Write down everything you hear for one hour.
7. There is still a great deal of conceptualizing that leads up to any intuition.
from The Poetry Foundation's blog Harriet
June Poetry Calendar up at FlashPaperPoetry
I have posted a new calendar from Tom Prunier (actually a revival of the old calendar) for Richmond Poetry Events over at FlashPaperPoetry. This supplements the Day by Day page on the site and highlights spoken word events. These events are all current and happening!
(doesn't mention my reading 11 am Saturday at the Norge library in Williamsburg)
On my regular calendar, I usually highlight academic/bookstore/gallery poetry events and readings, with a few open mikes thrown in rather than much of the 'spoken word' and 'slam' events.
Some of these events tend to run or start late at night, often in bars, and being neither a smoker nor drinker I don't get to many of them (I actually saw a blog that said 'come get drunk at so-and-so poetry slam- I'm guessing the poetry isn't the major attraction). Also, the events seem to come and go at random and I don't like to send people to events that may not happen.
While there is some crossover (not as much as I'd like to see) the truth is there is a divided community of poets in Richmond, the university set, the slam/spoken word set, and the rest of us [shmocks]. I don't know how to bring the groups together, though I'd like to think I've been trying for about fifteen years.
(doesn't mention my reading 11 am Saturday at the Norge library in Williamsburg)
On my regular calendar, I usually highlight academic/bookstore/gallery poetry events and readings, with a few open mikes thrown in rather than much of the 'spoken word' and 'slam' events.
Some of these events tend to run or start late at night, often in bars, and being neither a smoker nor drinker I don't get to many of them (I actually saw a blog that said 'come get drunk at so-and-so poetry slam- I'm guessing the poetry isn't the major attraction). Also, the events seem to come and go at random and I don't like to send people to events that may not happen.
While there is some crossover (not as much as I'd like to see) the truth is there is a divided community of poets in Richmond, the university set, the slam/spoken word set, and the rest of us [shmocks]. I don't know how to bring the groups together, though I'd like to think I've been trying for about fifteen years.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
George Garrett has died
I had no idea until I read it just now over at Ron Silliman's blog- guess that's what I get fot not reading the RTD anymore (also being incredibly busy last week).
He was poet laureate of Virginia from 2002-2006 (actually I thought it was only two years but I could be wrong.
George Garrett was a wonderful, kind man. I am grateful to have met him.
from the Washington Post
from the NY TImes
from the RTD
his funeral is Saturday at 11am in Charlottesville.
I'll be in Williamsburg reading poetry then.
He was poet laureate of Virginia from 2002-2006 (actually I thought it was only two years but I could be wrong.
George Garrett was a wonderful, kind man. I am grateful to have met him.
from the Washington Post
from the NY TImes
from the RTD
his funeral is Saturday at 11am in Charlottesville.
I'll be in Williamsburg reading poetry then.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Some ideas about poetry
After the great program by James River Writers last Thursday- here are some additional thoughts:
ways to read a book of poems
a book to read (Girly Man by Charles Bernstein)
and another (Rain Through High Windows by Edward Haworth Hoeppner)
Shakespeare was a WHA-WHA-WHAAAAATTT??
Have a great weekend! Go to the RIF (I'm playing at 10pm Friday and Midnight Saturday), go to art 6 and see some great dancing at 7pm ($10)
Read a poem, write a poem!
ways to read a book of poems
a book to read (Girly Man by Charles Bernstein)
and another (Rain Through High Windows by Edward Haworth Hoeppner)
Shakespeare was a WHA-WHA-WHAAAAATTT??
Have a great weekend! Go to the RIF (I'm playing at 10pm Friday and Midnight Saturday), go to art 6 and see some great dancing at 7pm ($10)
Read a poem, write a poem!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
James Center- noonish- be there!
I can't tell you why, but if you're downtown anyway, or have always wanted to eat lunch downtown outside- the James Center on Cary Street will be a great place to be tomorrow around 12:15.
Seriously- BE THERE!
AND check out STYLE and Mash-up on May 23rd and WTVR 6 Morning News last Friday!!
The Richmond Improv Festival is a great way to spend the weekend!!
Seriously- BE THERE!
AND check out STYLE and Mash-up on May 23rd and WTVR 6 Morning News last Friday!!
The Richmond Improv Festival is a great way to spend the weekend!!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Going to the 'burg for some poetry
Going to Williamsburg for the annual poetry festival
presented by the Poetry Society of Virginia.
be back late Saturday night after the Slam-
should be fun!!
presented by the Poetry Society of Virginia.
be back late Saturday night after the Slam-
should be fun!!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Poetry Month Poems/drafts
They're gone.
You missed them.
Gone to be reworked, reformatted, retooled for submission to hoity-toity lit mags and webzines all over the place (except for the two already accepted by Skipping Stones 2008)
Some will no doubt appear in a very limited-run chapbook at art6, others will be featured in a book of art and words from myself and artists at the gallery (David Bromley, others yet to be chosen).
You snooze, you looze.....LOL
You missed them.
Gone to be reworked, reformatted, retooled for submission to hoity-toity lit mags and webzines all over the place (except for the two already accepted by Skipping Stones 2008)
Some will no doubt appear in a very limited-run chapbook at art6, others will be featured in a book of art and words from myself and artists at the gallery (David Bromley, others yet to be chosen).
You snooze, you looze.....LOL
Friday, May 09, 2008
Poetry events for the rest of May (you won't see these in the RTD)
Go to my calendar at FlashPaperPoetry to check on events-
DaybyDay Some new events were just added from James River Writers and Chop Suey.
I have to grouse a little, though- a billion poets in Richmond and the rest of Virginia and the same old boring poets (with a few exceptions) are going to be trotted out again.
Sigh.
If you're in Williamsburg next weekend, the Poetry Society of Virginia is putting on it's annual festival- it may be too late to get the meals, but the events should be fun- I'll be there- presenters include: Joseph Awad, Henry Hart, Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, Edward Lull, Jay Paul, Thomas Sanchez Prunier, Dan and Suzanne Stryk, and Vivian Teter.
I can't wait to get to the West Virginia Writers Workshop in July to hear some new voices- oh wait! Brian Henry from UR and Sheri Reynolds will be on the faculty (but I absolutely adore Sheri). Reading, writing, and the road to Richmond, indeed.
I'm grumpy because I ate something bad and got a little sick- now I have to go to the mountains for 3 days for a church retreat- the food is incredibly good, but I was there Mon-Wed and ate waaaaaay too much- then came home and got sick and I'm still a little shaky.
Live long and publish, uh, prosper!
DaybyDay Some new events were just added from James River Writers and Chop Suey.
I have to grouse a little, though- a billion poets in Richmond and the rest of Virginia and the same old boring poets (with a few exceptions) are going to be trotted out again.
Sigh.
If you're in Williamsburg next weekend, the Poetry Society of Virginia is putting on it's annual festival- it may be too late to get the meals, but the events should be fun- I'll be there- presenters include: Joseph Awad, Henry Hart, Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, Edward Lull, Jay Paul, Thomas Sanchez Prunier, Dan and Suzanne Stryk, and Vivian Teter.
I can't wait to get to the West Virginia Writers Workshop in July to hear some new voices- oh wait! Brian Henry from UR and Sheri Reynolds will be on the faculty (but I absolutely adore Sheri). Reading, writing, and the road to Richmond, indeed.
I'm grumpy because I ate something bad and got a little sick- now I have to go to the mountains for 3 days for a church retreat- the food is incredibly good, but I was there Mon-Wed and ate waaaaaay too much- then came home and got sick and I'm still a little shaky.
Live long and publish, uh, prosper!
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Fine reading etc
Cate Marvin
Jeffrey McDaniel
ah, so much poetry, so little time!
and news ...
and books to give to young poets
It's May- and always a good month for poetry!
Jeffrey McDaniel
ah, so much poetry, so little time!
and news ...
and books to give to young poets
It's May- and always a good month for poetry!
Friday, May 02, 2008
Oh the fun we'll have!!
Go write some bad verse- (no comments about poem-a-day participants for April!)
You might just end up famous
Some thoughts to continue writing prompts, (workshops) and a newsletter
poetry stuff...
You might just end up famous
Some thoughts to continue writing prompts, (workshops) and a newsletter
poetry stuff...
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Poetry disappoints me once again...
Once again, I am disappointed by what I love the most- poetry.
This time it took the form of slam poetry, specifically the semi-finals. Five poets bled all over four rounds of dismal and frequently abysmal poetry, with a few drops of perfume tossed in, mere petunias in a much larger onion patch.
The person who should have won did, and the person who should have come in last did. The three in the middle should have been reversed as far as I’m concerned.
To me, a great slam poet is one who weds a good poem with a good performance. What is good, you ask? 1) A common theme made universal, 2) use of language, 3) correct facts and historical perspective, 4) practiced delivery appropriate to the subject, 5) varied tempo, temper, and timbre.
Tired subjects: you (your friends, family, strangers, bums on the street) and your (heroin, sex, food) addiction, you (your sister, daughter, mother, brother, stranger, skank on the streets) and your (rape, incest molestation), you (etc) and how the (government, white man, pimp, parent, etc) mistreated you and how that fucked you up, and last but not least, how God saved you.
Of course, there is always the possibility of the perfect poem emerging from any of these subjects.
Did I mention poems about poems and how your poems mean everything to you and you bleed for them?? I am serious, stop that now. Please.
The top poet started strong but never got better or varied the approach. One poet talked so fast and breathed with great gasps, all the poetry was reduced to sounds, even though the poet enunciated clearly, I can remember NONE of them. One poet tore at heartstrings with wrenching guilt and sad stories meant to rip your heart right out- without ever once involving anyone except by proxy- it was a lifetime movie, not a poem. One poet had studied, mannered delivery but the stories were not always cohesive or interesting. One poet wrote excellent poems, too smart for the audience, too hip, the poet didn’t blame anyone else for bad things, and made sense- and the delivery was pretty damn good-
And you know who you are- and are probably the only participant who will read this.
So, like the slick academic lizard poems heard recently (they can sound like the surface on which they are printed) I was disappointed again by the very thing I love the most.
A list of poets I have heard read recently and would like to hear again: Claudia Emerson, Sandra Beasley, Tom Prunier, Derek Kannemeyer, Wes Childress, and Jean Valentine.
This time it took the form of slam poetry, specifically the semi-finals. Five poets bled all over four rounds of dismal and frequently abysmal poetry, with a few drops of perfume tossed in, mere petunias in a much larger onion patch.
The person who should have won did, and the person who should have come in last did. The three in the middle should have been reversed as far as I’m concerned.
To me, a great slam poet is one who weds a good poem with a good performance. What is good, you ask? 1) A common theme made universal, 2) use of language, 3) correct facts and historical perspective, 4) practiced delivery appropriate to the subject, 5) varied tempo, temper, and timbre.
Tired subjects: you (your friends, family, strangers, bums on the street) and your (heroin, sex, food) addiction, you (your sister, daughter, mother, brother, stranger, skank on the streets) and your (rape, incest molestation), you (etc) and how the (government, white man, pimp, parent, etc) mistreated you and how that fucked you up, and last but not least, how God saved you.
Of course, there is always the possibility of the perfect poem emerging from any of these subjects.
Did I mention poems about poems and how your poems mean everything to you and you bleed for them?? I am serious, stop that now. Please.
The top poet started strong but never got better or varied the approach. One poet talked so fast and breathed with great gasps, all the poetry was reduced to sounds, even though the poet enunciated clearly, I can remember NONE of them. One poet tore at heartstrings with wrenching guilt and sad stories meant to rip your heart right out- without ever once involving anyone except by proxy- it was a lifetime movie, not a poem. One poet had studied, mannered delivery but the stories were not always cohesive or interesting. One poet wrote excellent poems, too smart for the audience, too hip, the poet didn’t blame anyone else for bad things, and made sense- and the delivery was pretty damn good-
And you know who you are- and are probably the only participant who will read this.
So, like the slick academic lizard poems heard recently (they can sound like the surface on which they are printed) I was disappointed again by the very thing I love the most.
A list of poets I have heard read recently and would like to hear again: Claudia Emerson, Sandra Beasley, Tom Prunier, Derek Kannemeyer, Wes Childress, and Jean Valentine.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
RTD farts an article about poetry, Style panders again
better poetry news from the internet... (Ron Silliman's wonderful blog)
Why poets sound that way
and from Ellen Steinbaum, who came to Richmond a few years ago at Artspace and then returned to do a presentation for the Poetry Society of Virginia.
Words and music
and from Reb Livingston men explain things to me
and oh yeah, STYLE WEEKLY managed to finally give us some ink something in the middle of the month about poetry (I haven't been out yet to get a copy but my comments were apparently edited out to make room for the MFA certified crowd- sigh, some poet just can't get no respect!)
The Richmond Times Dispatch got poetry in on Sunday (if Nikki Giovanni hadn't written a poem about the VT tragedy, would this have appeared?) with a nice bit from Virginia poet laureate Carolyn Foronda, but the sidebar had errors that could have been caught if the writer had googled poetry events in Richmond and checked the LOCAL news (I emailed the reporter- no reply)
1 2 3 4 (this is where she got the wrong time)
I hate to complain again, but geez people- there's so much out there.
Why poets sound that way
and from Ellen Steinbaum, who came to Richmond a few years ago at Artspace and then returned to do a presentation for the Poetry Society of Virginia.
Words and music
and from Reb Livingston men explain things to me
and oh yeah, STYLE WEEKLY managed to finally give us some ink something in the middle of the month about poetry (I haven't been out yet to get a copy but my comments were apparently edited out to make room for the MFA certified crowd- sigh, some poet just can't get no respect!)
The Richmond Times Dispatch got poetry in on Sunday (if Nikki Giovanni hadn't written a poem about the VT tragedy, would this have appeared?) with a nice bit from Virginia poet laureate Carolyn Foronda, but the sidebar had errors that could have been caught if the writer had googled poetry events in Richmond and checked the LOCAL news (I emailed the reporter- no reply)
1 2 3 4 (this is where she got the wrong time)
I hate to complain again, but geez people- there's so much out there.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
poetry readings and such...why go?
here's some thoughts on poetry readings from poet Mark Wallace and from the James Branch Cabell annual lecture.
Which I attended last night at VCU- A Party of Poets - Keynote speaker: Ellen Bryant Voigt with panelists: Buffy Morgan, Deborah Nystrom, Lucinda Roy, Ron Smith and David Wojahn and moderator: Mary Flinn, senior editor for the online literary journal Blackbird.
Voight delivered an long lecture on Dave Smith and Charles Wright (both of whom I find just tedious and stuck firmly in place- as in, no heart, just observations of their lives- yawn) after which she read one of her poems, a poem so much better than any of theirs it was almost painful. Though her scholarship is indisputable, I wish she'd read poems- HER poems.
The discussion afterwards was a mutual masturbatory celebration of how wonderfully Virginia nurtures poets, apparently because it is swamped with MFA programs that turn out scads of poets to flood the country with their same-same poetry (even when it's not the same, it's the same). I have significant disagreement about how poets are nurtured here- if you aren't in the MFA clan, you don't count (sometimes even after you graduate, as I heard someone behind me whisper).
None of the panel were born in Virginia, and Voight has lived in Vermont forever.
Buffy Morgan and Lucinda Roy stood out as panelists- I do get a little peeved at Morgan's Southern graciousness sometimes- though her remarks are always dead on- she brought up women poets and how the deep south embarrasses her. Roy, now at Virginia Tech from London, reminded us of race, class, and economic disconnects from poetry- a good point, true, but she came off a little one-issue IMO, though she is obviously brilliant- everything she said was well-considered and you could see her listening carefully to the other panelists.
Smith and Wojahn were affable as always but I don't think added much content to the event- I do like them both, they just seemed out of place. Nystrom, in the grand tradition of UVA participants, said little. I don't think they travel well (or play with others).
I believe the whole thing was recorded for Blackbird if you want to hear for yourself. It may be a few days/weeks before they put it up and we'll all have forgotten by then.
The room was full of poets and IMPORTANT people. I wouldn't call it fun, exactly. The buffet was very nice, seemed like mostly townies took advantage and I didn't see an undergrad in site so there was plenty.
No one seemed really happy (except Buffy). Maybe they should all read Wallace's blog.
Which I attended last night at VCU- A Party of Poets - Keynote speaker: Ellen Bryant Voigt with panelists: Buffy Morgan, Deborah Nystrom, Lucinda Roy, Ron Smith and David Wojahn and moderator: Mary Flinn, senior editor for the online literary journal Blackbird.
Voight delivered an long lecture on Dave Smith and Charles Wright (both of whom I find just tedious and stuck firmly in place- as in, no heart, just observations of their lives- yawn) after which she read one of her poems, a poem so much better than any of theirs it was almost painful. Though her scholarship is indisputable, I wish she'd read poems- HER poems.
The discussion afterwards was a mutual masturbatory celebration of how wonderfully Virginia nurtures poets, apparently because it is swamped with MFA programs that turn out scads of poets to flood the country with their same-same poetry (even when it's not the same, it's the same). I have significant disagreement about how poets are nurtured here- if you aren't in the MFA clan, you don't count (sometimes even after you graduate, as I heard someone behind me whisper).
None of the panel were born in Virginia, and Voight has lived in Vermont forever.
Buffy Morgan and Lucinda Roy stood out as panelists- I do get a little peeved at Morgan's Southern graciousness sometimes- though her remarks are always dead on- she brought up women poets and how the deep south embarrasses her. Roy, now at Virginia Tech from London, reminded us of race, class, and economic disconnects from poetry- a good point, true, but she came off a little one-issue IMO, though she is obviously brilliant- everything she said was well-considered and you could see her listening carefully to the other panelists.
Smith and Wojahn were affable as always but I don't think added much content to the event- I do like them both, they just seemed out of place. Nystrom, in the grand tradition of UVA participants, said little. I don't think they travel well (or play with others).
I believe the whole thing was recorded for Blackbird if you want to hear for yourself. It may be a few days/weeks before they put it up and we'll all have forgotten by then.
The room was full of poets and IMPORTANT people. I wouldn't call it fun, exactly. The buffet was very nice, seemed like mostly townies took advantage and I didn't see an undergrad in site so there was plenty.
No one seemed really happy (except Buffy). Maybe they should all read Wallace's blog.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Job needed: poet, teacher, musician
Anyone have any ideas?
I need a part-time (say 3 days, half days- whatever) job doing something- I've taught all levels if music, piano teaching, piano playing, directed recreation programs, been an administrative assistant, store manager, house cleaner, work with large and small groups, I could be a church secretary, something like that (I do work as an organist/choir director on Sundays, though).
shannp at gmail dot com
just a thought
I need a part-time (say 3 days, half days- whatever) job doing something- I've taught all levels if music, piano teaching, piano playing, directed recreation programs, been an administrative assistant, store manager, house cleaner, work with large and small groups, I could be a church secretary, something like that (I do work as an organist/choir director on Sundays, though).
shannp at gmail dot com
just a thought
Saturday, April 05, 2008
why do we choose what we choose?
C. Dale Young asks "What makes us choose what we choose when we write?"
I have little photographs, videos of incidents that flash through my head all the time- as if there is a constant random generator pulling file titles from the past 58 years. They pop up and I usually let them fly by with a nod, but other times they take me into a fugue of anger or regret, nostalgia or grief, then replay replay replay- the same way I listen to one favorite song on a CD thirty or forty times in a row driving to work.
Then a poem comes- or goes, depending on where I am and how soon I can get the gist written down.
I have little photographs, videos of incidents that flash through my head all the time- as if there is a constant random generator pulling file titles from the past 58 years. They pop up and I usually let them fly by with a nod, but other times they take me into a fugue of anger or regret, nostalgia or grief, then replay replay replay- the same way I listen to one favorite song on a CD thirty or forty times in a row driving to work.
Then a poem comes- or goes, depending on where I am and how soon I can get the gist written down.
Friday, April 04, 2008
At last! Talent is rewarded!
My favorite poet (and I hope someday poet laureate) Tony Hoagland has received a major prize. It is well deserved, I am thrilled for him.
Check out his poems online and buy his books- the Fountain Book Store is your best local choice, please buy from small booksellers, do not patronize Amazon, they are trying to shut out small DIY publishers such as Lulu.com (go here for discussions concerning this).
My favorite lines are from Tony Hoagland's poem
Self-Improvement
So the avenues we walk down,
full of bodies wearing faces,
are full of hidden talent:
enough to make pianos moan,
sidewalks split,
streetlights deliriously flicker.
There is so much to be afraid of in this world, so much tragedy is at every turn. These lines by Hoagland remind me of the possibilities new faces can hold, how they might open up something entirely new within me. It's the kind of magic that might make a piano moan, a sidewalk split, or something even more incredible that waits, not in fear or anger, but with beauty and hope
Check out his poems online and buy his books- the Fountain Book Store is your best local choice, please buy from small booksellers, do not patronize Amazon, they are trying to shut out small DIY publishers such as Lulu.com (go here for discussions concerning this).
My favorite lines are from Tony Hoagland's poem
Self-Improvement
So the avenues we walk down,
full of bodies wearing faces,
are full of hidden talent:
enough to make pianos moan,
sidewalks split,
streetlights deliriously flicker.
There is so much to be afraid of in this world, so much tragedy is at every turn. These lines by Hoagland remind me of the possibilities new faces can hold, how they might open up something entirely new within me. It's the kind of magic that might make a piano moan, a sidewalk split, or something even more incredible that waits, not in fear or anger, but with beauty and hope
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Video Poetry Everywhere
Happy First Day of National Poetry Month!
Here are 15 short poems as animated films-
skip the ad, click on the poems.
Happy First Day of National Poetry Month!
other poetry news
and more
and yet more
Support Your Local Poets!
Here are 15 short poems as animated films-
skip the ad, click on the poems.
Happy First Day of National Poetry Month!
other poetry news
and more
and yet more
Support Your Local Poets!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Richmond Poetry events for April- National Poetry Month!
Poet and Poetry events.... 17 events! *as of 3-31-08
4/3/2008 7 PM: VCU Visiting Writers Series. Award-winning poet Terrance Hayes (Wind in a Box) reads selected works. Sponsored by VCU’s English Department and the MFA Program in Creative Writing. At VCU, Student Commons, Richmond Salons I & II, 907 Floyd Ave. For more details contact 828-1329 or visit www.has.vcu.edu/eng,
4/4/2008 7 PM "Richmond Writers Series" kicks off with the 30th Annual Brodie Herndon Memorial Poetry Reading featuring Ron Smith. Sponsored by Friends of the Richmond Public Library. Held in conjunction with First Friday Cultural events. Free and open to the public. Reception follows reading and book signing. At Richmond Public Library, Main Branch, 101 E. Franklin St, 646-4514.
4/5/2008 8 PM: SlamRichmond’s "Open Minds Open Mic". All readers welcome. $5 admission. At ArtSpace Gallery, Zero E 4th St, 232-6464, www.artspacegallery.org/aboutus.htm. For more details visit www.myspace.com/slamrichmond or email slamrichmond@gmail.com.
4/6/2008 3-5 pm National Poetry Month Reading featuring Derek Kannemeyer and others, open mike, art6, 6 East Broad Street
4/9/2008 7:30 PM: 22nd Annual James Branch Cabell Lecture. "A Party of Poets" Keynote speaker: Ellen Bryant Voigt. With Buffy Morgan, Deborah Nystrom, Lucinda Roy, Ron Smith and David Wojahn. Moderated by Mary Flinn, Blackbird's senior editor. Sponsored by VCU Libraries, Friends of the Library and the James Branch Cabell Library Associates. Free and open to the public. Book signing and reception follows. Parking (fee applies) in the W Main St and W Cary St parking decks. For special accommodations, please call 827-1165 or 827-1163 before April 4, 2008. At VCU Student Commons, Richmond Salons, 2nd Floor, 907 Floyd Ave, www.library.vcu.edu.
4/10/2008 6:30 PM: Award winning poets Susan Settlemeyer Williams and Sandra Beasley read. At Fountain Bookstore, 1312 E. Cary, 788-1594.
4/12/2008 8 PM: SlamRichmond’s Qualifier 7: "We are Family!" $5 admission. At ArtSpace Gallery, Zero E 4th St, 232-6464, www.artspacegallery.org/aboutus.htm. For more details visit www.myspace.com/slamrichmond or email slamrichmond@gmail.com.
4/13/2008 2 – 4 PM: Shockoe Poets Open Mike Readings (2nd and 4th Sundays) at Shockoe Espresso & Roastery, 104 Shockoe Slip. Contact Shann Palmer for information (335-9403 or shannp@gmail.com).
4/17/2008 6-8pm National Poem in Your Pocket Day, come by art6 for a poem to take home. 6 East Broad St.
4/17/08 6:30 p.m. Cheryl Pallant Reads for Poetry Month Location: Fountain Bookstore, Inc.Description: Join us as we welcome back one of Virginia's most passionate poets.Cheryl Pallant is a writer, poet,... More info on this event
4/17/2008 8 PM: VCU Visiting Writers Series. Pulitzer Prize recipient Claudia Emerson (Late Wife) and distinguished writer Clint McCown (Dead Languages) read selected poems. Sponsored by VCU’s English Department and the MFA Program in Creative Writing. At VCU, Student Commons, Richmond Salons I & II, 907 Floyd Ave. For more details contact 828-1329 or visit www.has.vcu.edu/eng, events link.
4/19/2008 8 PM: SlamRichmond’s "Open Minds Open Mic". All readers welcome.$5 admission. At ArtSpace Gallery, Zero E 4th St, 232-6464, www.artspacegallery.org/aboutus.htm. For more details visit www.myspace.com/slamrichmond or email slamrichmond@gmail.com.
4/20/2008 3 – 5 PM: "Bend Your Ear". Open mike poetry, every 3rd Sunday. At art6, 6 E. Broad Street, 343-1406, www.art6.org.
4/21/2008 7 PM: "Prompted!" A reading of short fiction, non fiction and poetry inspired by prompts. Featuring Ann Archer, Lisa Jones Crowley, Kathryn DiPasqua, Foust, Gayla Mills and Liz Sheehan. At the Ashland Starbucks, 704 England St. For more information call 550-1481.
4/25/08 6pm, movable feast VCU graduate student readings 1708 Gallery
4/26/2008 8 PM: SlamRichmond’s Championship Invitational 2008: "We are Family!" $5 admission. At ArtSpace Gallery, Zero E 4th St, 232-6464, www.artspacegallery.org/aboutus.htm. For more details visit www.myspace.com/slamrichmond or email slamrichmond@gmail.com.
4/27/2008 2 – 4 PM: Shockoe Poets Open Mike Readings (2nd and 4th Sundays) at Shockoe Espresso & Roastery, 104 Shockoe Slip. Contact Shann Palmer for information (335-9403 or shannp@gmail.com).
other readings- call before going, may have moved
Open Mic @ Precious Memories, 8pm, 3229 Idlewood Ave 23221 check the webpage for special events
Tuesday Verses THE OPEN MIC at Tropical Soul Restaurant, 314 North 2nd Street, Richmond, VA 23219 - Damage: $5 all night. Doors open at 8pm. For info call (804) 304-6857
THURSDAY One Mic Thursdays 8pm @Skyy Lounge, 4 W. Broad 23220
THURSDAY Bring Your Own Beats 8pm @ Ramakins, 818 W. Broad, 23220
MONDAY Open Mic @ Nomega Studios, 7pm 913 W. Grace St. 23224 $2
WEDNESDAY Open Mic @ Black Moon Cafe, 9pm 1303 Hull St., 23224 free
Other calendars:
check the James River Writers calendar for other literary events
and the Richmond.com arts calendar
the Fountain Bookstore events calendar
4/3/2008 7 PM: VCU Visiting Writers Series. Award-winning poet Terrance Hayes (Wind in a Box) reads selected works. Sponsored by VCU’s English Department and the MFA Program in Creative Writing. At VCU, Student Commons, Richmond Salons I & II, 907 Floyd Ave. For more details contact 828-1329 or visit www.has.vcu.edu/eng,
4/4/2008 7 PM "Richmond Writers Series" kicks off with the 30th Annual Brodie Herndon Memorial Poetry Reading featuring Ron Smith. Sponsored by Friends of the Richmond Public Library. Held in conjunction with First Friday Cultural events. Free and open to the public. Reception follows reading and book signing. At Richmond Public Library, Main Branch, 101 E. Franklin St, 646-4514.
4/5/2008 8 PM: SlamRichmond’s "Open Minds Open Mic". All readers welcome. $5 admission. At ArtSpace Gallery, Zero E 4th St, 232-6464, www.artspacegallery.org/aboutus.htm. For more details visit www.myspace.com/slamrichmond or email slamrichmond@gmail.com.
4/6/2008 3-5 pm National Poetry Month Reading featuring Derek Kannemeyer and others, open mike, art6, 6 East Broad Street
4/9/2008 7:30 PM: 22nd Annual James Branch Cabell Lecture. "A Party of Poets" Keynote speaker: Ellen Bryant Voigt. With Buffy Morgan, Deborah Nystrom, Lucinda Roy, Ron Smith and David Wojahn. Moderated by Mary Flinn, Blackbird's senior editor. Sponsored by VCU Libraries, Friends of the Library and the James Branch Cabell Library Associates. Free and open to the public. Book signing and reception follows. Parking (fee applies) in the W Main St and W Cary St parking decks. For special accommodations, please call 827-1165 or 827-1163 before April 4, 2008. At VCU Student Commons, Richmond Salons, 2nd Floor, 907 Floyd Ave, www.library.vcu.edu.
4/10/2008 6:30 PM: Award winning poets Susan Settlemeyer Williams and Sandra Beasley read. At Fountain Bookstore, 1312 E. Cary, 788-1594.
4/12/2008 8 PM: SlamRichmond’s Qualifier 7: "We are Family!" $5 admission. At ArtSpace Gallery, Zero E 4th St, 232-6464, www.artspacegallery.org/aboutus.htm. For more details visit www.myspace.com/slamrichmond or email slamrichmond@gmail.com.
4/13/2008 2 – 4 PM: Shockoe Poets Open Mike Readings (2nd and 4th Sundays) at Shockoe Espresso & Roastery, 104 Shockoe Slip. Contact Shann Palmer for information (335-9403 or shannp@gmail.com).
4/17/2008 6-8pm National Poem in Your Pocket Day, come by art6 for a poem to take home. 6 East Broad St.
4/17/08 6:30 p.m. Cheryl Pallant Reads for Poetry Month Location: Fountain Bookstore, Inc.Description: Join us as we welcome back one of Virginia's most passionate poets.Cheryl Pallant is a writer, poet,... More info on this event
4/17/2008 8 PM: VCU Visiting Writers Series. Pulitzer Prize recipient Claudia Emerson (Late Wife) and distinguished writer Clint McCown (Dead Languages) read selected poems. Sponsored by VCU’s English Department and the MFA Program in Creative Writing. At VCU, Student Commons, Richmond Salons I & II, 907 Floyd Ave. For more details contact 828-1329 or visit www.has.vcu.edu/eng, events link.
4/19/2008 8 PM: SlamRichmond’s "Open Minds Open Mic". All readers welcome.$5 admission. At ArtSpace Gallery, Zero E 4th St, 232-6464, www.artspacegallery.org/aboutus.htm. For more details visit www.myspace.com/slamrichmond or email slamrichmond@gmail.com.
4/20/2008 3 – 5 PM: "Bend Your Ear". Open mike poetry, every 3rd Sunday. At art6, 6 E. Broad Street, 343-1406, www.art6.org.
4/21/2008 7 PM: "Prompted!" A reading of short fiction, non fiction and poetry inspired by prompts. Featuring Ann Archer, Lisa Jones Crowley, Kathryn DiPasqua, Foust, Gayla Mills and Liz Sheehan. At the Ashland Starbucks, 704 England St. For more information call 550-1481.
4/25/08 6pm, movable feast VCU graduate student readings 1708 Gallery
4/26/2008 8 PM: SlamRichmond’s Championship Invitational 2008: "We are Family!" $5 admission. At ArtSpace Gallery, Zero E 4th St, 232-6464, www.artspacegallery.org/aboutus.htm. For more details visit www.myspace.com/slamrichmond or email slamrichmond@gmail.com.
4/27/2008 2 – 4 PM: Shockoe Poets Open Mike Readings (2nd and 4th Sundays) at Shockoe Espresso & Roastery, 104 Shockoe Slip. Contact Shann Palmer for information (335-9403 or shannp@gmail.com).
other readings- call before going, may have moved
Open Mic @ Precious Memories, 8pm, 3229 Idlewood Ave 23221 check the webpage for special events
Tuesday Verses THE OPEN MIC at Tropical Soul Restaurant, 314 North 2nd Street, Richmond, VA 23219 - Damage: $5 all night. Doors open at 8pm. For info call (804) 304-6857
THURSDAY One Mic Thursdays 8pm @Skyy Lounge, 4 W. Broad 23220
THURSDAY Bring Your Own Beats 8pm @ Ramakins, 818 W. Broad, 23220
MONDAY Open Mic @ Nomega Studios, 7pm 913 W. Grace St. 23224 $2
WEDNESDAY Open Mic @ Black Moon Cafe, 9pm 1303 Hull St., 23224 free
Other calendars:
check the James River Writers calendar for other literary events
and the Richmond.com arts calendar
the Fountain Bookstore events calendar
Friday, March 28, 2008
ComedySportz and the ART CHEERLEADERS
Tonight at the 10pm show-
see I Prov work their musical magic, aided and abetted by the lovely and delicious Art Cheerleaders.
A good time will be had by ALL!
seriously funny business...
see I Prov work their musical magic, aided and abetted by the lovely and delicious Art Cheerleaders.
A good time will be had by ALL!
seriously funny business...
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Are you common?? Gotta love stats
From the Virginia Quarterly Review:
The ten most common titles of submissions that we’ve received in the past year:
Remember
Smoke
Revelation
Work
Grace
Waiting
Insomnia
Voyeur
Butterfly
Reunion
and (from their blog)
Those Vital Clichés
By Waldo Jaquith
March 14th, 2008
This was supposed to be a blog entry about how authors submit poetry to us covering clichéd topics that there’s just no way we’re going to print. But then I did the math, calculating the percentage of our submissions and published work that contain any of a dozen mainstays of poetic terminology, and found that precisely the opposite is true.
submitted/published
water 19.9%/24.8%
death 14.1%/15.2%
blood 11.7%/13.8%
stone 11.1%/16.0%
bone 9.1%/ 7.8%
poetry 7.6%/10.3%
heart 7.5%/6.7%
fish 7.0%/5.3%
birth 5.5%/7.4%
darkness 3.9%/17.0%
rust 3.3%/2.5%
cat 2.3%/2.8%
The ten most common titles of submissions that we’ve received in the past year:
Remember
Smoke
Revelation
Work
Grace
Waiting
Insomnia
Voyeur
Butterfly
Reunion
and (from their blog)
Those Vital Clichés
By Waldo Jaquith
March 14th, 2008
This was supposed to be a blog entry about how authors submit poetry to us covering clichéd topics that there’s just no way we’re going to print. But then I did the math, calculating the percentage of our submissions and published work that contain any of a dozen mainstays of poetic terminology, and found that precisely the opposite is true.
submitted/published
water 19.9%/24.8%
death 14.1%/15.2%
blood 11.7%/13.8%
stone 11.1%/16.0%
bone 9.1%/ 7.8%
poetry 7.6%/10.3%
heart 7.5%/6.7%
fish 7.0%/5.3%
birth 5.5%/7.4%
darkness 3.9%/17.0%
rust 3.3%/2.5%
cat 2.3%/2.8%
Sunday, March 23, 2008
An Easter Poem
Easter
Rises with the sun
in a cacophony of Alleluias
wearing white before Memorial Day,
mouth full of daffodils and lilies,
saying "Shake off the darkness,
put out your candles, and see."
Rises with the sun
in a cacophony of Alleluias
wearing white before Memorial Day,
mouth full of daffodils and lilies,
saying "Shake off the darkness,
put out your candles, and see."
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Happy Birthday, Billy Collins!
From The Writers Almanac 3-22-08
Today is the birthday of poet Billy Collins, (books by this author) born in New York in 1941. Collins is both a critically acclaimed and popular poet, a unique combination in the world of modern poetry. Collins began writing poems at age 12. He devoured all the poetry he read, especially the contemporary poems in Poetry magazine. In an interview, Collins explained, "I remember reading a poem by Thom Gunn about Elvis Presley, and that was a real mindblower because I didn't know you could write poems about Elvis Presley. I thought there was poetry (what you read in class) and then when you left class there was Elvis. I didn't see them together until I read that poem."
Collins began selling his poems to Rolling Stone for $35 a pop in the 1970s. He married Diane Olbright in 1977 and published his first book of poems, Pokerface, that year, but it wasn't until the publication of Questions About Angels in 1991 that he began drawing critical attention. His other major poetry collections are The Apple that Astonished Paris (1988), The Art of Drowning (1995), Picnic, Lightning (1998), Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems (2001), Nine Horses: Poems (2002), and The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems (2005). Collins' style is light, humorous, and fond of extended metaphor. He uses mundane situations as diving boards into the larger philosophical questions of life.
His poem "Forgetfulness" starts this way:
The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,
as if, one by one,
the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.
Collins said, "Usually I try to create a hospitable tone at the beginning of a poem. Stepping from the title to the first lines is like stepping into a canoe. A lot of things can go wrong."
It's also the 40th anniversary of the death of A1C Kenneth E. Baker, Jr of Detachment 13, 30th Weather Squadron, Binh Thuy AB, meteorologist. he was the older brother of a high school friend and we had been corresponding. I never met him in person. He was scheduled to come home March 25th. My poem "Warrior" was published in the Memorial Day 1998 issue of Echoes Magazine. It was my first published poem, it appeared first in the magazine, right after the table of contents.
Today is the birthday of poet Billy Collins, (books by this author) born in New York in 1941. Collins is both a critically acclaimed and popular poet, a unique combination in the world of modern poetry. Collins began writing poems at age 12. He devoured all the poetry he read, especially the contemporary poems in Poetry magazine. In an interview, Collins explained, "I remember reading a poem by Thom Gunn about Elvis Presley, and that was a real mindblower because I didn't know you could write poems about Elvis Presley. I thought there was poetry (what you read in class) and then when you left class there was Elvis. I didn't see them together until I read that poem."
Collins began selling his poems to Rolling Stone for $35 a pop in the 1970s. He married Diane Olbright in 1977 and published his first book of poems, Pokerface, that year, but it wasn't until the publication of Questions About Angels in 1991 that he began drawing critical attention. His other major poetry collections are The Apple that Astonished Paris (1988), The Art of Drowning (1995), Picnic, Lightning (1998), Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems (2001), Nine Horses: Poems (2002), and The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems (2005). Collins' style is light, humorous, and fond of extended metaphor. He uses mundane situations as diving boards into the larger philosophical questions of life.
His poem "Forgetfulness" starts this way:
The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,
as if, one by one,
the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.
Collins said, "Usually I try to create a hospitable tone at the beginning of a poem. Stepping from the title to the first lines is like stepping into a canoe. A lot of things can go wrong."
It's also the 40th anniversary of the death of A1C Kenneth E. Baker, Jr of Detachment 13, 30th Weather Squadron, Binh Thuy AB, meteorologist. he was the older brother of a high school friend and we had been corresponding. I never met him in person. He was scheduled to come home March 25th. My poem "Warrior" was published in the Memorial Day 1998 issue of Echoes Magazine. It was my first published poem, it appeared first in the magazine, right after the table of contents.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
martial arts the right way
Here
After pouring out money to 'belt factories' when my son was young- he has finally found a local school where the real thing is taught.
My highest recommendations
Sometimes it's more than ceremonies and demonstrations, it's real.
I wish poets had such a place for working on their poetry.
After pouring out money to 'belt factories' when my son was young- he has finally found a local school where the real thing is taught.
My highest recommendations
Sometimes it's more than ceremonies and demonstrations, it's real.
I wish poets had such a place for working on their poetry.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Wearing of the Green
"I'd like to kiss you, but I just washed my hair."
Playwright Paul Green, written for Bette Davis
Playwright Paul Green, written for Bette Davis
Saturday, March 15, 2008
A poem for the ides of march
Ply
A holy man once told me
there were many steps
to the kingdom of heaven.
A different prophet claimed
to be holy was to be cheesy,
and there were no steps at all.
Though intrigued by covenants,
celestial pie leaves me impossibly
hungry now, pale and earthbound.
Like the golden starred certificates
given at the end of the school year
to the pretty girls, athletic boys,
I have no delusions to dispel,
this ant carries only its own weight,
hardly enough, yet still a burden.
It is the only set of stairs I know.
In the end, between floors,
I will leave nothing, take nothing
In the beginning, there was hope
leaking from all I gathered about me,
gone before I was fully awake.
Know this then: your voice
binds me to this place. Hold me
hostage, accept no ransom.
A holy man once told me
there were many steps
to the kingdom of heaven.
A different prophet claimed
to be holy was to be cheesy,
and there were no steps at all.
Though intrigued by covenants,
celestial pie leaves me impossibly
hungry now, pale and earthbound.
Like the golden starred certificates
given at the end of the school year
to the pretty girls, athletic boys,
I have no delusions to dispel,
this ant carries only its own weight,
hardly enough, yet still a burden.
It is the only set of stairs I know.
In the end, between floors,
I will leave nothing, take nothing
In the beginning, there was hope
leaking from all I gathered about me,
gone before I was fully awake.
Know this then: your voice
binds me to this place. Hold me
hostage, accept no ransom.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Tonight! Girls in cheerleader outfits! Comedy! Music!
If you are an iProv fan, mark your calendar for March 28th at 10 P.M. The Art Cheerleaders, based in Richmond, Virginia, are a group of artists that use cheerleading as a medium for satirical, political and social commentary on the arts and their place in our society. The Art Cheerleaders join iProv's eclectic mix of improvised song and dance. Don't miss this show! Tickets are just $10!
Girls in cheerleader outfits! Comedy! Music!
I mean, seriously- come on over!
Girls in cheerleader outfits! Comedy! Music!
I mean, seriously- come on over!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Style bumped the story- for what??
Who knows? There must have been something much more important to fawn over or make fun of so the wonderful all musical show I-Prov at ComedySportz every 2nd and 4th Friday at 10pm could be bypassed.
Maybe Doug Wilder farted or something, that could've been it. Or some suck-up, oops, I mean stuck-up Fan fluke who'd rather have a Hummer and a Glen Allen McMansion but pretends to give a rat's ass about 'performance art' barfed out another painting.
Would've been nice to get a little ink- it's the only all-music-improv troupe in the country- together for over a year, with amazing results. These folks do a full half-hour musical parody of BROADWAY musicals. They've birthed babies- there on stage!- they've saved the Muffin Tops and even make up choreography RIGHT ON THE SPOT!
Audiences needed- word of mouth- it costs so much to put ads all over, a kind word from a newspaper, even a weekly, would help so much- BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- it was more important to diss the costumes for "Little Women" out at Swift Creek Mill (which are actually just fine, apparently the reviewer thinks local theaters have movie-style budgets, and besides, maybe she didn't get the underlying story of the genteel poor, but hey!)
Oh great- now they'll probably send HER to review it- and I'll just bet she "doesn't get" improv.
It's really fun and funny- call 266-YESS for reservations for the 10pm show Friday night. If you reserve, it's cheaper.
Oh yeah- in the interest of disclosure I know the piano player. And one of the waitresses.
Yeah
Maybe Doug Wilder farted or something, that could've been it. Or some suck-up, oops, I mean stuck-up Fan fluke who'd rather have a Hummer and a Glen Allen McMansion but pretends to give a rat's ass about 'performance art' barfed out another painting.
Would've been nice to get a little ink- it's the only all-music-improv troupe in the country- together for over a year, with amazing results. These folks do a full half-hour musical parody of BROADWAY musicals. They've birthed babies- there on stage!- they've saved the Muffin Tops and even make up choreography RIGHT ON THE SPOT!
Audiences needed- word of mouth- it costs so much to put ads all over, a kind word from a newspaper, even a weekly, would help so much- BUT NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- it was more important to diss the costumes for "Little Women" out at Swift Creek Mill (which are actually just fine, apparently the reviewer thinks local theaters have movie-style budgets, and besides, maybe she didn't get the underlying story of the genteel poor, but hey!)
Oh great- now they'll probably send HER to review it- and I'll just bet she "doesn't get" improv.
It's really fun and funny- call 266-YESS for reservations for the 10pm show Friday night. If you reserve, it's cheaper.
Oh yeah- in the interest of disclosure I know the piano player. And one of the waitresses.
Yeah
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
poems at your fingertips
This is definitely cool- almost as cool as if I had a mobile device to read these on
Check THIS out
National Poetry Month will be here soon! I already have my decorations up!
and just for the record- what IS a mobile device?
Check THIS out
National Poetry Month will be here soon! I already have my decorations up!
and just for the record- what IS a mobile device?
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
A new poem
a new poem-
and I won the caption contest over at Avoiding the Muse scroll down to Wed March 5
Accountable
She takes her groceries from the car
to the kitchen, where space can be made
for all her burdens, there is a place for each
can of dark red kidney beans,
stewed tomatoes, she has a plan:
maybe chili or soup, ingredients
got cheap because the weather warms,
to be put by until the price of gas drives
her to the pantry for stashed supplies.
With every trip in and out, she ponders
who it is that doesn't have to plan by price,
scout for bargains, anticipate trouble before
it comes, as sure as she measures each day
a paycheck meted out before it's earned.
Tomorrow she'll tally minutes into dollars,
how long to mop, to dust, ashamed to covet
the snap of sweet-smelling sheets, fresh
clean towels, the work she does for strangers.
She knows all about them, what food they eat;
takes small comfort in thinking them sad-
and for that slice of time, all they have
is hers, no matter what she left at home.
and I won the caption contest over at Avoiding the Muse scroll down to Wed March 5
Accountable
She takes her groceries from the car
to the kitchen, where space can be made
for all her burdens, there is a place for each
can of dark red kidney beans,
stewed tomatoes, she has a plan:
maybe chili or soup, ingredients
got cheap because the weather warms,
to be put by until the price of gas drives
her to the pantry for stashed supplies.
With every trip in and out, she ponders
who it is that doesn't have to plan by price,
scout for bargains, anticipate trouble before
it comes, as sure as she measures each day
a paycheck meted out before it's earned.
Tomorrow she'll tally minutes into dollars,
how long to mop, to dust, ashamed to covet
the snap of sweet-smelling sheets, fresh
clean towels, the work she does for strangers.
She knows all about them, what food they eat;
takes small comfort in thinking them sad-
and for that slice of time, all they have
is hers, no matter what she left at home.
Monday, March 03, 2008
Upcoming poetry events 3-3 through 3-16
3/4/2008 – 3/6/2008 13th Annual Literary Festival. Readings by poet Ron Smith, Student Writing Workshops and Readings. Free and open to the public. At John Tyler Community College, both the Midlothian and Chester Campuses. For more information, please contact Sandra Via at svia@jtcc.edu.
3/8/2008 8 PM: SlamRichmond’s “Open Minds Open Mic”. All readers welcome.$5 admission. At ArtSpace Gallery, Zero E 4th St, 232-6464, http://www.artspacegallery.org/aboutus.htm. For more details visit http://www.myspace.com/slamrichmond or email slamrichmond@gmail.com.
3/9/2008 2 – 4 PM: Shockoe Poets Open Mike Readings (2nd and 4th Sundays) at Shockoe Espresso & Roastery, 104 Shockoe Slip. Contact Shann Palmer for information (335-9403 or shannp@gmail.com).
3/15/2008 8 PM: SlamRichmond’s Qualifier 5: “We are Family!” $5 admission. At ArtSpace Gallery, Zero E 4th St, 232-6464, http://www.artspacegallery.org/aboutus.htm. For more details visit http://www.myspace.com/slamrichmond or email slamrichmond@gmail.com.
3/16/2008 3 – 5 PM: “Bend Your Ear”. Open mike poetry, every 3rd Sunday. At art6, 6 E. Broad Street, 343-1406, http://www.art6.org/.
more later...
3/8/2008 8 PM: SlamRichmond’s “Open Minds Open Mic”. All readers welcome.$5 admission. At ArtSpace Gallery, Zero E 4th St, 232-6464, http://www.artspacegallery.org/aboutus.htm. For more details visit http://www.myspace.com/slamrichmond or email slamrichmond@gmail.com.
3/9/2008 2 – 4 PM: Shockoe Poets Open Mike Readings (2nd and 4th Sundays) at Shockoe Espresso & Roastery, 104 Shockoe Slip. Contact Shann Palmer for information (335-9403 or shannp@gmail.com).
3/15/2008 8 PM: SlamRichmond’s Qualifier 5: “We are Family!” $5 admission. At ArtSpace Gallery, Zero E 4th St, 232-6464, http://www.artspacegallery.org/aboutus.htm. For more details visit http://www.myspace.com/slamrichmond or email slamrichmond@gmail.com.
3/16/2008 3 – 5 PM: “Bend Your Ear”. Open mike poetry, every 3rd Sunday. At art6, 6 E. Broad Street, 343-1406, http://www.art6.org/.
more later...
Friday, February 29, 2008
Poetry- the real cure
Check this out- Using verse as a kind of verbal massage for your emotions cheapens it terribly. And it won't do you much good
I'm so sick of people telling me how to fix my life- I have decided to write about THEM instead- so beware, advice-givers!!
here's an old one:
I'm so sick of people telling me how to fix my life- I have decided to write about THEM instead- so beware, advice-givers!!
here's an old one:
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Poetry and Money- BIG money
Check out this story on Tom Sleigh and his book Space Walk.
Another interview and link to a previous book.
I just got my copy today, so far, it's pretty good (though not as good as Tony Hoagland's Sweet Ruin, which also arrived- but you know how much I loves mah Tony)
Another interview and link to a previous book.
I just got my copy today, so far, it's pretty good (though not as good as Tony Hoagland's Sweet Ruin, which also arrived- but you know how much I loves mah Tony)
Saturday, February 23, 2008
A Poem in Your Pocket April 17th
It's exactly two monthw to the day until National Poem in Your Pocket Day!!
We'll be celebrating at art6 that day, so keep watching this page and the art6 blog for more info!
You can check out my Poems in a Bag at the shop6 in the gallery to get started or go to the Academy of America Poets for more info and some ideas.
Tomorrow, check out the Shockoe Poets Open Mike at 2-4pm, downtown! Come read, come listen, come have some great coffee and eats (parking in the garage next door is cheap and easy).
I can't wait to hear the whiners talk about how dumb the poem in a pocket thing is- well, screw that- I think it's fun so shutdafokkup!
We'll be celebrating at art6 that day, so keep watching this page and the art6 blog for more info!
You can check out my Poems in a Bag at the shop6 in the gallery to get started or go to the Academy of America Poets for more info and some ideas.
Tomorrow, check out the Shockoe Poets Open Mike at 2-4pm, downtown! Come read, come listen, come have some great coffee and eats (parking in the garage next door is cheap and easy).
I can't wait to hear the whiners talk about how dumb the poem in a pocket thing is- well, screw that- I think it's fun so shutdafokkup!
Friday, February 22, 2008
An open invitation to read your poems
Come to art6 tonight at 8pm and read up to 10 minutes of poetry- your own or someone else's.
The event is called 2x2x2 (Feb 22nd) and will feature members and other writersreading poems about couples, relationships, all manner of two's (no threesomes, please).
Come read or come listen!
art6 Gallery, 6 east broad st, downtown. 8-9:30.
(before. at 6pm- The moveable feast graduate reading at 1708 Gallery, 6pm- just walk down the street to art6 and read! Everybody else can go to Gallery5 and the new national theater- but it;s FREE at art6 and you get to be part of the scene, if you want to)
The event is called 2x2x2 (Feb 22nd) and will feature members and other writersreading poems about couples, relationships, all manner of two's (no threesomes, please).
Come read or come listen!
art6 Gallery, 6 east broad st, downtown. 8-9:30.
(before. at 6pm- The moveable feast graduate reading at 1708 Gallery, 6pm- just walk down the street to art6 and read! Everybody else can go to Gallery5 and the new national theater- but it;s FREE at art6 and you get to be part of the scene, if you want to)
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
if it weren't for blogs
I would never have heard about this atrocity-
Lawrence King (more here)
A friend had to go to a 'sensitivity' workshop today because some guy in his department made the remark to another (white) worker "You don't have to do n*gg*r work."
What the hell is wrong with some people?
I don't know how to even respond anymore, other than with outrage. You can't be too fat, too thin, too black, too brown, too gay- anything is reason for ridicule, harrassment, and possibly death, and God knows, don't fail a student, fire a worker, or dump your boyfriend/girlfriend.
I don't want to become a humorless bitch, but don't talk to me about gun control, talk to me about what people do to each other, with their mouths, with their fists, and sometimes their weapons.
Where's the poetry in that?
Lawrence King (more here)
A friend had to go to a 'sensitivity' workshop today because some guy in his department made the remark to another (white) worker "You don't have to do n*gg*r work."
What the hell is wrong with some people?
I don't know how to even respond anymore, other than with outrage. You can't be too fat, too thin, too black, too brown, too gay- anything is reason for ridicule, harrassment, and possibly death, and God knows, don't fail a student, fire a worker, or dump your boyfriend/girlfriend.
I don't want to become a humorless bitch, but don't talk to me about gun control, talk to me about what people do to each other, with their mouths, with their fists, and sometimes their weapons.
Where's the poetry in that?
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Criticizing my betters
This poem is in the current Atlantic Monthly-
Executive Shoe Shine by Mary Jo Salter
It may go on snowing forever,
but meanwhile, how he’s basking
in the sun of his own multi-tasking!
He’s perched erect on his throne,
looking down on the airport food court,
as the silver snail of a cell-phone
earpiece hooked to his ear
hangs on his every word.
No way to cut him short
until the runways are cleared
and they’ve finished out there de-icing
the right wing, then the left wing
of all those planes before his.
Could he strike us a deal with the weather?
The man hunched below him polishes
one wingtip, then the other.
I am incredibly unimpressed. This poem says nothing to me I haven't heard before. Crafted, well yes, it doesn't suck, but it's BORING- a little snippet about something, someone I have seen. If the wings, wingtips, shoeshine speaks volumes, my speakers must be on mute.
Typical.
How many good poems were rejected to take this one by a familiar name?
Executive Shoe Shine by Mary Jo Salter
It may go on snowing forever,
but meanwhile, how he’s basking
in the sun of his own multi-tasking!
He’s perched erect on his throne,
looking down on the airport food court,
as the silver snail of a cell-phone
earpiece hooked to his ear
hangs on his every word.
No way to cut him short
until the runways are cleared
and they’ve finished out there de-icing
the right wing, then the left wing
of all those planes before his.
Could he strike us a deal with the weather?
The man hunched below him polishes
one wingtip, then the other.
I am incredibly unimpressed. This poem says nothing to me I haven't heard before. Crafted, well yes, it doesn't suck, but it's BORING- a little snippet about something, someone I have seen. If the wings, wingtips, shoeshine speaks volumes, my speakers must be on mute.
Typical.
How many good poems were rejected to take this one by a familiar name?
Saturday, February 16, 2008
A belated Valentine poem
To whom it may concern:
All my Valentines are lost in the mail
or returned unopened, unexamined,
like poems sent to the New Yorker,
not substantive enough to provoke.
What billet doux would you embrace,
consider? Not certain I want anyone
to know my tenuous intent, as it is
encoded in derisory, obfuscated goo.
Write this down, it will be on the test:
to yearn is to contrive, connive.
Concupiscence a natural state,
confess your heart’s desire and live
or fall in sin, untested. Grace is
prevenient. I wear the stripes
of awkward hope, yet call you
out with these imprudent lines.
All my Valentines are lost in the mail
or returned unopened, unexamined,
like poems sent to the New Yorker,
not substantive enough to provoke.
What billet doux would you embrace,
consider? Not certain I want anyone
to know my tenuous intent, as it is
encoded in derisory, obfuscated goo.
Write this down, it will be on the test:
to yearn is to contrive, connive.
Concupiscence a natural state,
confess your heart’s desire and live
or fall in sin, untested. Grace is
prevenient. I wear the stripes
of awkward hope, yet call you
out with these imprudent lines.
Friday, February 15, 2008
yeah, I live where??
Not Henrico, Virginia- that's for sure-
The excuse is 'revenues are lost'- by who? Does the City of Richmond keep the money it gets from these mistakes?
I can't imagine the amount of money business owners (and I'm not one, I'm a poet with a few addrss labels) will spend getting all their records changed.
Do I have to get all the places that have my bios attached to my poetry to change my place of residence? (like they care and like I would)
ridiculous
lame, lame, lame
but typical
The excuse is 'revenues are lost'- by who? Does the City of Richmond keep the money it gets from these mistakes?
I can't imagine the amount of money business owners (and I'm not one, I'm a poet with a few addrss labels) will spend getting all their records changed.
Do I have to get all the places that have my bios attached to my poetry to change my place of residence? (like they care and like I would)
ridiculous
lame, lame, lame
but typical
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Why Tony Hoagland is my favorite poet
Here's his poem WINDCHIME, on the Writer's Almanac today-
It's the kind of poem that makes you understand why you settled instead of walked...
Tony Hoagland is my favorite poet. Scroll down on the Poets.org page- I adopted him. You could too.
It's the kind of poem that makes you understand why you settled instead of walked...
Tony Hoagland is my favorite poet. Scroll down on the Poets.org page- I adopted him. You could too.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Poets, more poets, and 2 Valentines
Wednesday - Poetic Principles Reading by Tomaz Salamun
February 13, 2008 VMFA, Pauley Center Parlor, 6 pm, $7-$9
Thursday - Art After Hours- 6:30 & 7 pm ART OF POETRY: Michael Keller (music, food, more) $8-$10
Thursday - VCU Visiting Writers Series, featuring Jean Valentine 8pm at 1708 Gallery, free
and this, from Ted Kooser, previous poet laureate- Valentines
So much love!!!
February 13, 2008 VMFA, Pauley Center Parlor, 6 pm, $7-$9
Thursday - Art After Hours- 6:30 & 7 pm ART OF POETRY: Michael Keller (music, food, more) $8-$10
Thursday - VCU Visiting Writers Series, featuring Jean Valentine 8pm at 1708 Gallery, free
and this, from Ted Kooser, previous poet laureate- Valentines
So much love!!!
Even poets sometimes vote
I have never voted in a primary in my life, but today I am going to do so.
Originally I was going to vote for Ron Paul as a show of support but then I thought I should help stop Huckabee and his Christian agenda and vote for McCain.
Now the Clinton and Obama puzzle looms-
I won't know what I will do until I'm standing there and forced to ask for the democrat or republican ballot.
It's hard out here for an independent!
Originally I was going to vote for Ron Paul as a show of support but then I thought I should help stop Huckabee and his Christian agenda and vote for McCain.
Now the Clinton and Obama puzzle looms-
I won't know what I will do until I'm standing there and forced to ask for the democrat or republican ballot.
It's hard out here for an independent!
Friday, February 08, 2008
A GREAT poem by James Hall
Someone had told me about this poem and I really wanted to hear it- and look! It showed up on C. Dale Young's blog-
(order this book NOW from the Fountain Bookstore -info below)
PORTRAIT OF MY MOTHER AS THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS
After my mother won independence in 1836,
she dysfunctioned as her own nation, passed laws,
erected monuments to men who would never again
be slaves to order and pain.
Remember the Alamo? That was my mother.
Then in 1845 that always-pleasing church-mouse voted
for annexation. My mother had too many selves and the desire
to enslave them all. Pregnant, she was forced
to become the twenty-eighth child of the American family.
Lone star no longer.
She joined a lineage of jacked-to-jesus hair, developed insatiable
cravings for honey barbecue. Her uncles sauntered up, stroked
the thin lace of her, declared she looked mighty good.
She let them say mighty good while grinning at one another.
Nothing grew then on the prairies of my mother.
Then she learned dissent, demanded men recognize her
sovereignty. She organized an embassy in a silver trailer
shaped like a virgin bullet. My mother renamed herself
The Republic of Texas, unfurled her flag all the way
into the 1980's, when the Republic kidnapped her neighbors,
Joe and Margaret Rowe, to highlight abuses she'd suffered.
My mother was an American terrorist.
Don't mess with Texas.
She died in the standoff. My new mother was elected
by a landslide and moved to Cuero, a city whose largesse
depends on retirement pensions. My peaceful mother
holds weekly rallies: 'What do we want? When do we want it?'
Her lipstick stains the bullhorn mauve.
In her spare time, my mother receives foreign dignitaries
and does dry-wall. The Global Conglomerate of my Mother
opened her first staffed consulate in Barcelona.
She insists visitors speak American.
Currently, the Republic is facing lean times.
The former treasurer neglected May's utilities,
refuses to return the funds. Pledge your support today.
My motherland is standing by
the rotary phone, waiting for your call.
Love her or leave her.
--James Allen Hall
from Now You're the Enemy (Arkansas 2008)
(order this book NOW from the Fountain Bookstore -info below)
PORTRAIT OF MY MOTHER AS THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS
After my mother won independence in 1836,
she dysfunctioned as her own nation, passed laws,
erected monuments to men who would never again
be slaves to order and pain.
Remember the Alamo? That was my mother.
Then in 1845 that always-pleasing church-mouse voted
for annexation. My mother had too many selves and the desire
to enslave them all. Pregnant, she was forced
to become the twenty-eighth child of the American family.
Lone star no longer.
She joined a lineage of jacked-to-jesus hair, developed insatiable
cravings for honey barbecue. Her uncles sauntered up, stroked
the thin lace of her, declared she looked mighty good.
She let them say mighty good while grinning at one another.
Nothing grew then on the prairies of my mother.
Then she learned dissent, demanded men recognize her
sovereignty. She organized an embassy in a silver trailer
shaped like a virgin bullet. My mother renamed herself
The Republic of Texas, unfurled her flag all the way
into the 1980's, when the Republic kidnapped her neighbors,
Joe and Margaret Rowe, to highlight abuses she'd suffered.
My mother was an American terrorist.
Don't mess with Texas.
She died in the standoff. My new mother was elected
by a landslide and moved to Cuero, a city whose largesse
depends on retirement pensions. My peaceful mother
holds weekly rallies: 'What do we want? When do we want it?'
Her lipstick stains the bullhorn mauve.
In her spare time, my mother receives foreign dignitaries
and does dry-wall. The Global Conglomerate of my Mother
opened her first staffed consulate in Barcelona.
She insists visitors speak American.
Currently, the Republic is facing lean times.
The former treasurer neglected May's utilities,
refuses to return the funds. Pledge your support today.
My motherland is standing by
the rotary phone, waiting for your call.
Love her or leave her.
--James Allen Hall
from Now You're the Enemy (Arkansas 2008)
The Politics of Erotica (poetry)
Check out this blog entry over at The Best American Poetry. Today's guest writer is Denise Duchamel on the politics of erotica. There are other entries listed- I will be watching for February 10th: Jill Alexander Essbaum.
There is a huge difference in erotic and sexual writing- one of the things I always hated about certain slam events is how there is always a poem or two about "how much you will enjoy my.... (whatever) " and how "I will ......(whatever)", and those poems get wild audience reactions and big scores, though they are barely poems (more like commercials). Better to make me hot with subtlety and veiled suggestions and show me later.
There is a huge difference in erotic and sexual writing- one of the things I always hated about certain slam events is how there is always a poem or two about "how much you will enjoy my.... (whatever) " and how "I will ......(whatever)", and those poems get wild audience reactions and big scores, though they are barely poems (more like commercials). Better to make me hot with subtlety and veiled suggestions and show me later.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Thoughts on Poems and Titles
When I hear someone say "This poem is untitled" I shudder- visibly- titles are important! As far as I'm concerned, it's as least as important as what you name your kids (Paul and Alia).
I know someone who has a small book where the poems are numbered- I gotta tell ya, thumbing through the damned thing looking for one I liked particularly is annoying- I don't think I've read it since the first two or three times, it's so frustrating.
Here's some thoughts on titles from Ross White (the numbers are mine)
1. Your poem's title is like the first jab in a boxing match-- you don't have to knock the reader out, but you had better establish yourself as a formidable presence in the ring. A poem which is sharp, precise, and economical deserves a title to match. Sloppy, awkward, and abstract titles always raise the hairs on the back of my neck. Tight, concrete titles that locate me immediately in what is happening in the poem make me happy.
2. If there's a clunky detail in your first stanza, it might be information that could be better conveyed to the reader in the title. Excess narrative information in the body of a poem, particularly early, irritates me-- because they suck the poetry out of the poem. Titles that convey that information in a plain style remove the burden of exposition. Specific dates, locations, or people show up in titles for this reason.
3. Nobody wants to be told what to feel. People want the emotional stakes of the poem to be earned. So, if the poem is titled "Happiness" and goes on to describe happiness, that's pretty lame. If the poem is titled "Happiness" and goes on to challenge the reader's perception of happiness, carry on.
4. Don't make every title the same. Pearl Jam's first album has eleven songs, right? But take a look at the track list, and it's mind-numbingly similar. When titling a poem, look at your related work, and see if you have any nasty habits when titling. If you find that every title is one word, or includes the setting of the poem, or is a borrowed line from Plath, vary it up. (It's worth noting that, if you are looking at manuscript shapes, and you find a conscious and strongly patterned repetitive urge, that's worth exploring. You may not want to ditch it too soon.)
5. A simple title can plug your poem into a much larger tradition very quickly. "Aubade" or "Alba" says a lot. (A funny aside-- Wikipedia lists Eagle Eye Cherry's crappy song "Save Tonight" as a modern example of aubade. Apparently, aside from one Philip Larkin poem, there are no other possible examples. This is what I get for being so fascinated with Wikipedia.)
6. Don't telegraph the end of the poem in the title. I hate to be the guy who gives examples from his own work, but here's one: if you're going to have the speaker disappear at the end of the poem, a title like "Disappearing Act" or "The Vanishing" might announce your intention a little too much.
I know someone who has a small book where the poems are numbered- I gotta tell ya, thumbing through the damned thing looking for one I liked particularly is annoying- I don't think I've read it since the first two or three times, it's so frustrating.
Here's some thoughts on titles from Ross White (the numbers are mine)
1. Your poem's title is like the first jab in a boxing match-- you don't have to knock the reader out, but you had better establish yourself as a formidable presence in the ring. A poem which is sharp, precise, and economical deserves a title to match. Sloppy, awkward, and abstract titles always raise the hairs on the back of my neck. Tight, concrete titles that locate me immediately in what is happening in the poem make me happy.
2. If there's a clunky detail in your first stanza, it might be information that could be better conveyed to the reader in the title. Excess narrative information in the body of a poem, particularly early, irritates me-- because they suck the poetry out of the poem. Titles that convey that information in a plain style remove the burden of exposition. Specific dates, locations, or people show up in titles for this reason.
3. Nobody wants to be told what to feel. People want the emotional stakes of the poem to be earned. So, if the poem is titled "Happiness" and goes on to describe happiness, that's pretty lame. If the poem is titled "Happiness" and goes on to challenge the reader's perception of happiness, carry on.
4. Don't make every title the same. Pearl Jam's first album has eleven songs, right? But take a look at the track list, and it's mind-numbingly similar. When titling a poem, look at your related work, and see if you have any nasty habits when titling. If you find that every title is one word, or includes the setting of the poem, or is a borrowed line from Plath, vary it up. (It's worth noting that, if you are looking at manuscript shapes, and you find a conscious and strongly patterned repetitive urge, that's worth exploring. You may not want to ditch it too soon.)
5. A simple title can plug your poem into a much larger tradition very quickly. "Aubade" or "Alba" says a lot. (A funny aside-- Wikipedia lists Eagle Eye Cherry's crappy song "Save Tonight" as a modern example of aubade. Apparently, aside from one Philip Larkin poem, there are no other possible examples. This is what I get for being so fascinated with Wikipedia.)
6. Don't telegraph the end of the poem in the title. I hate to be the guy who gives examples from his own work, but here's one: if you're going to have the speaker disappear at the end of the poem, a title like "Disappearing Act" or "The Vanishing" might announce your intention a little too much.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Poetry Books to read this year-
Here's a list from the national book critics circle board of directors-
It would have been nice to have this BEFORE AWP where I could have gotten some of these titles for half price! I'm not sure I agree with all of them (Sir Gawain? Don't care) (Charles Wright? Another nature laden word splurge, no thanks- and BTW, get some new pictures out there on the web where you look distinguished instead of silly).
Poetry Books to read (from Critical Mass): (* marks are ones I have or would like to read)
Simon Armitage, "Sir Gawain and the Green Night: A New Verse Translation,"
*John Ashbery, "Notes from the Air: Selected Later Poems,"
Geoffrey Hill, "A Treatise of Civil Power,"
Michael O'Brien, "Sleeping and Waking,"
Philip Schulz, "Failure,"
Charles Simic, "Sixty Poems,"
Philip Whalen, "The Collected Poems of Philp Whalen,"
*Rae Armantrout, "Next Life,"
Rick Barot, "Want: Poems,"
Marvin Bell, "Mars Being Red,"
*Eavan Boland, "Domestic Violence: Poems,"
Charles Bukowski, "The Pleasures of the Damned: Poems, 1953-1991,"
Stuart Dischell, "Backwards Days,"
Allen Grossman, "Descartes' Loneliness,"
Matthea Harvey, "Modern Life: Poems,"
*Julia Hartwig, "In Praise of the Unfinished: Selected Poems,"
*Ted Kooser, "Valentines,"
Kevin Prufer, "National Anthem,"
Tadeusz Rozewicz, "New Poems,"
David Shapiro, "New and Selected Poems: 1965-2006,"
*Ellen Bryant Voigt, "Messenger: New and Selected Poems, 1976-2006,"
Charles Wright, "Littlefoot: A Poem,"
*Dean Young, "Embryoyo."
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