Category: Writing
-
On Titling a Poem.
There was a discussion recently on the Wom-Po listserv about titling a poem, the different rationales and uses for a title. In the course of the discussion, someone recommended the book, The Title to the Poem, by Anne Ferry. Having a bit of book money again thanks to the Dorothy Prize (not that the check…
-
Short newsy post ending with a Spontaneous Vision of Cuteness.
The CPS reading last night with Nikky Finney, Tara Betts, and the ladies of the Holyoke Care Center was phenomenal! The energy & passion in that room was just amazing, and, as Tara & Nikky both noted, it was like a continuum, the poetry torch passed down from Nikky to Tara to the talented teen…
-
Collected Poets Series, March Ed.
This Thursday, March 5, 2009, at 7:30 p.m, the Collected Poets Series is sponsoring a benefit for the Holyoke Care Center’s Teen Mother Education and Support Program. The teenagers will be reading their poetry with the poet activist Nikky Finney and the talented performance poet advocate from NYC, Tara Betts. Nikky Finney was born in…
-
The bells are ringing…
I love Gene Kelly. I have absolutely everything he’s ever done on VHS, even the really obscure stuff, some where he doesn’t dance, is only the host/narrator, like the video of a production of “Swan Lake”. Did you know he was in an animated musical version of “Jack and the Beanstalk”? Not great, but if…
-
Ode to Rejection.
Thanks everyone for all your good wishes. Any prize in any year is a tremendous event to me, but this prize, this year, well, let’s just say the timing is impeccable. *** I admire this poem to no end. Haven’t we all lived this, in some fashion? And doesn’t it just capture how absurd the…
-
Good days are very, very good.
And a sweet week it is! Not only are my mum and sister visiting, and not only did I bake a splendiferous second cake today, but great poetry news abounds: I’m one of the lucky recipients of a 2008 Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize! This is a wonderfully generous fund, and I’m in great company…
-
Good Times.
Emma commented below something to the effect that she doesn’t know how I do it all. And my reply is, I don’t. The lion’s share of my time right now is spent taking care of Aidan and Vincent. I’ve taken notes for poems, actually read some books of poems, but I haven’t even picked up…
-
Momentary Calm.
Last Sunday I got further than I’ve ever managed on the NYT Sunday crossword puzzle, primarily because I spent the day working on it as I huffed through contractions, unable to concentrate on anything beyond the Sunday paper. This Sunday, I’ve haven’t had the time to read more than a section or two of the…
-
“The trouble with writing poetry…”
The trouble with writing poetry is that you have readers, and the trouble with readers is that you have to listen to them after they have spent their time reading you. Mine, unless they are young poets or teachers of English, usually say one of three things. If they are relatives, they ask me why…
-
“Good job, Mommy!”
My life day to day was lived through ordinary actions and powerful emotions. But the more ordinary, actual, the more intense the day I lived. The more I lifted a child, conscious of nothing but the sweetness of a child’s skin, or the light behind an apple tree, or rain on slates, the more language…
Marie Gauthier 