Category: poetry
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FYI: Soap in mouth=yucky.
Vincent is much calmer this evening, sitting at the table eating his blueberry “ee-gurt” (i.e. yogurt), but last night was an entirely different story. Among another unspeakable acts, he decided to eat a chunk of soap — I guess it looked creamy & delicious to him — but oh, the reaction once it was in…
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University Press Round-up 3.
I expect this will my last post on university presses, unless I discover I’ve missed something particularly glaring, because I really want to start focusing on small presses. But there are still a few exciting books to mention from the university presses: University of Iowa Press Women Poets on Mentorship: Efforts and Affections, edited by…
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Kimberley Rogers.
As promised, I have a poem by Kimberley Rogers, she who so recently graced us with a powerful reading at the Collected Poets Series, to share. I love this poem, and not just because I am done done done with winter. Its verve is infectious and just plain fun! Enjoy: Neon Daisies #8 Neon daisies—dozens…
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Cave Wall.
The Winter/Spring 2008 issue of Cave Wall (http://www.cavewallpress.com) arrived in my mailbox today. This issue’s contributors include Charles Harper Webb, Tracy K. Smith, James Harms, and Jennifer Grotz, and art by Hector Ruiz. I really like this new poetry journal (this is their 3rd issue), it’s one of the many I subscribe to. The poems…
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Poetry in Review.
It’s a common trope that more people are writing poetry than reading poetry, and even less are writing poetry criticism. Some of the welcome developments have been the expanded prose section in Poetry, and the reinstatement of poetry reviews in Publishers Weekly, which can be vital for library and bookstore sales. And the angel who…
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Monday, Monday…
A day without drama or excitement or good/bad news, just Vincent & I hanging out. Vincent (aka My Little Petri Dish) has a cold, so he’s subdued and amenable to quiet reading & coloring time, which suits me perfectly any day (I have latent reclusive tendencies), but especially today — a poem’s been bubbling around…
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Eleanor Wilner.
From the first essay, Eleanor Wilner’s, in Poet’s Work, Poet’s Play: “I should add that metrical, stanzaic form may be a contributing factor but is not sufficient by itself to produce aesthetic distance. I was once at a reading where an accomplished poet read an extremely well-made, metrically impeccable, elegantly and subtly rhymed sonnet whose…
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Friday Miscellany.
The Marine Honor Guard attended Uncle Joe’s funeral — “Taps” is the most devastating music — you respond viscerally, instantly. Even as we mourned, though, I was glad that they came, that they honored him, that he was remembered. Funerals, memorial services — they’re important. That kind of communal grief is comforting, the communal recognition…
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Ellen Doré Watson
I’m pressed for time, so here’s just a taste of Ellen’s newest book of poems, This Sharpening: House, the Verb The body houses what the heart won’t let loose Loosening gives way to love Oh birds happy in their feathers Something sometimes happens The heart’s lurch, stop-and-go traffic A crash course in tighten That the…
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Collected Poets Series
For those of you in the area, it’s that time again: the next reading in the Collected Poets Series is this Thursday, 7:30pm at the usual spot, Mocha Maya’s in Shelburne Falls. This month, our featured readers are Ellen Doré Watson and Kimberley Rogers. Ellen Doré Watson serves as Director of the Poetry Center at…