James River Writers Tonight at 6pm

Check the site HERE for more info

It's all about the mystery!!

See ya there!

An interview with Shann Palmer

Check this out over at Poetic Asides.

Are you ready to commit to writing a Poem a Day in November???

work in progress

I'm busy working on the new tiny book material for the Richmond Zine Fest at Gallery 5, THINKsmall at art6 and ARTSPACE, and whatever else comes along.

I love the rainy days, but I could use a little more heat!

When I moved to Richmond in 1971 from Tucson, Arizona I didn't own a winter coat. I don't remember if it was this dreary and cold or not (probably not since we set a record low high yesterday) but I was so cold I went to Thalhimer's and bought a winter coat at full price! It was a brown houndstooth wool maxi-coat with a hood. I loved that coat- it was warm and very fashionable at the time.

Sassoon haircut and new coat, black short boots- I was adorable!!

yeah.

Submissions close next Sunday October 18th!!

Submit to Tiny Books new zine

Tiny Books is a new publishing venture from FlashPaperPublications in Richmond, Virginia.
We are starting a new quarterly zine for small poems.

Submit 1-6 poems (no bizarro formatting)
- 16 lines or less plus title
- 50 characters or less per line counting spaces

Issue #1 will appear around October 30, 2009.

Submission Guidelines
Say what you need in 16 lines or less. Submit one to six poems with a brief cover letter in the body of an email- NO ATTACHMENTS. No previously published work or simultaneous submissions. All rights revert to the author upon publication. Pays three copies.
Electronic submissions only to: flashpaperpoetry@gmail.com

Small books, not much room- don't take it personal!

Wright and Taylor win the Weinstein Poetry Prize for 2009

Charles Wright and Eleanor Ross Taylor have won the Carole Weinstein Poetry Prize ($10,000 each) for 2009.

School of Quietude, another victory! Poetry will stroll its way into the woods, check for owls and deer, dead mules, and back porch meditations. To be somewhat fair (ha!) I like her stuff far better than his, but not being from Virginia originally or caring much for 'nature', I can't say this makes much difference to me.

Poets at the Library of Virginia Tuesday at 6pm

Virginia in Verse: The Poetry of Michelle Boisseau and John Casteen.
Michelle Boisseau, author of A Sunday in God-Years, and John Casteen, author of Free Union: Poems, will discuss and sign their books of poetry. A Sunday in God-Years is centered on the long poem "A Reckoning," made up of 15 shorter poems/sections (some sections are documents like wills and runaway slave notices). The poems in Free Union revolve around physical work, the Appalachian landscape, and family relationships. Casteen, for ten years a designer and builder of custom furniture, covers subjects ranging from the farm to the shop floor, from the rivers of the Piedmont to the wooded shoulders of the Blue Ridge, and from the hyper-attentiveness of childhood through the anxieties and joys of fatherhood.

James River Writers Conference sold out!!

JRWC

is completely full!! If you didn't reserve a spot, you can't come! There is a waiting list sign-up though- every year I've noticed badges that weren't picked up so if you really want to go there might be a chance (things happern).

Thomas Lux will be there representing the poets.

I'll be there, volunteering (representing the poets).

Five Pet Peeves about Poetry

Check this blog out for fun.

from Gary Sullivan

In the meantime, Poetry at VCU in the form of the Levis Prize Winner Katie Ford was quite enjoyable.

Poet Betty Adcock at the Virginia Museum at 6pm

Pauley Center Parlor, 6 pm
Tickets: $8 (VMFA members $5) Ticket Desk: 804.340.1405 or online.

BETTY ADCOCK
Wed, Sept 16
Betty Adcock, the author of six collections of poetry, has been called “the steward of supreme innocence.” She has said that in writing poetry she hopes “to tell the truth and find that it is music.” Adcock has been recognized with two Pushcart Prizes, as well as the Poets’ Prize, the North Carolina Medal for Literature, the Texas Institute of Letters Prize for Poetry, the Hanes Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She teaches in the Warren Wilson College MFA Program for Writers. Her most recent book is Slantwise.

"Submit, Harlequin" to paraphrase the Ticktockman

Submit to Tiny Books new zine

Tiny Books is a new publishing venture from FlashPaperPublications in Richmond, Virginia.
We are starting a new quarterly zine for small poems.

Submit 1-6 poems,
- 16 lines or less plus title
- 50 characters or less per line counting spaces

Issue #1 will appear in October 2009.

Submission Guidelines
Say what you need in 16 lines or less. Submit one to six poems with a brief cover letter in the body of an email- NO ATTACHMENTS. No previously published work or simultaneous submissions. All rights revert to the author upon publication. Pays three copies.
Electronic submissions only to: flashpaperpoetry@gmail.com

Small books, not much room- don't take it personal!

First Friday Artwalk may be doomed

I am so discouraged by the city trying to kill First Friday and the downtown art galleries- could it be the Center(who can afford to go?)stage effect??

If not, why aren't they hitting the Main Street galleries and Manchester with the same rules and regs??? You tell me.

Where's a good rag like Style (when it started) or Holmberg(Richmond times disgust) when you need them??

I hope someone gives a rats ass besides the small non-profits- maybe the downtown restaurants could be enticed to care- don't even talk to me about opportunistic landlords-

oh no, I've said too much (I haven't said enough)

Updating with not much to say

I am impatiently waiting for submission results, though I know it will take forever, at least for some of them.

That's why I like to publish my chapbooks myself. Sure, chapbooks carry no weight in any important venues but I am not trying to get (or keep) a job based on my writing, nor am I seeking the fame (and fortune) that could be expected from being a famous writer.

I just want to have something when people ask for copies of poems. They can spend $5 or $10, and get words to carry home. I just redid "Dashboard Fire" and am now starting to work on "Gallery" and maybe some others.

Buy them at art6- in the shop. Take a little bit of Shann home with you.

The Dodge Festival WILL go on in 2010!

I am so excited about this- I've been twice and it was a lot of fun.

Story HERE.

In the meantime, I am submitting like a crazy person- 30 poems out right now- maybe I'll get enough out there to be asked to come read as an 'emerging poet.'

Whatever! Anything to get carted around and stay in the host hotel!

Reading tomorrow in Poquoson!!

3-5pm, new stuff, old stuff, borrowed stuff. blue stuff!

It's not that far a drive!

Iris's Art Studio
454-D Wythe Creek lRd
Poquloson
757- 868-4205

Winner of the Levis prize reading September 24th

12th Annual Levis Reading Prize
Katie Ford for Colosseum

Listen to her HERE

Excerpts HERE

This is a good choice, maybe the best since, well... let's not go there tonight.

When happy movies make you sad....

you must be a poet.

Just saw Julie & Julia, which was fabulous (maybe a tad longish)and all I am is hungry, discouraged that I have done nothing with my life, full of regret that I sold my "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" at a yard sale 25 years ago, and even more depressed that I really don't cook much of anything fancy anymore (my husband really doesn't care about food),

In the late 60's and 70's, say from 1969-1977, I would have wonderful dinners- I hosted 30 people for Mexican once, before you could get a lot of southwestern ingredients, cooked Julia recipes for friends (with meat I had specially cut at the old Lafayette Market). I remember driving somewhere south to get 'the best local' homemade sausage and going to D.C. for Les Ami du Vin meetings. My, how things have changed!!!

I just had a microwave Kashi curry with turkey from a Ukrops rotisserie breast. Good, but not home-made and not all that amazing.

I need to get my poetry together and submit to more magazines, chapbook contests, whatever- need to work on and finish my memoir, if only for the kids, need to buckle down and get this house renovation finished, need to get to the gym, need to make some sort of contribution to the world before I die.

It's ridiculous what I haven't accomplished.

Thanks, Julie. Thanks, Julia. Thanks, Nora Ephron, for making me feel like a failure.

Poetry by Shann in Poquoson, Chapbook reviewed

I will be reading my poetry in Poquoson August 29th from 3-5pm. Please cone!

Iris's Art Studio
454-D Wythe Creek lRd
Poquloson
757- 868-4205

My chapbook "Always" has been reviewed.

Support Your Local Poets! Buy Books!

weather, poets, and sloughing off years of extra skin

No, I'm not talking about weight loss, though of course that's always a goal- I'm referring to the bags and boxes of accumulation I have collected.

I am getting rid of more 'stuff'.

Tin boxes, gee-gaws, kitsch, the trivia that buries me, even though I have taking car loads to the salvation army and thrown out bag after bag, I am still barely holding my head up above the surface.

The Smart Box we have in the driveway (for the kitchen repairs) has to go by the weekend so we don't have to pay for another month (It doesn't have much in it, but what is there must be found a place for or gotten rid of). The daughter has moved all her stuff in (and has a 10x10 storage unit for household things and extras) and she has stuff to put into place.

It's hot. So outside work is slow going, but at least I have time and an air-conditioned house.

One of the local poets is homeless. He has a car and a job, but medical issues have put him in personal jeopardy and he is sleeping at the Salvation Army (for another month). he came to Shockoe poets on Sunday and read three of his new works and they are profound and touching, some of the best work he's ever done.

When poetry rises from truth it carries itself differently, walks with a firm step and speaks with quiet insistence- I hope he can continue to write in the midst of adversity and is able to prevail.

the last poem

July 31

Nexus

In some old calculus notebook,
the theory of everything may be

a doodle on the blue-lined paper
of swirls and fat connecting hearts,

the most important thing in the world,
still on your mind after all these years.

Take it personal!!

My favorite poet, Tony Hoagland, once more captures everything in a poem that says so much.

HERE

wow