Brittan Elementary School / Principal Earnie Graham get Dubious Honor

Stick Poet reported on Mr. Graham's lapse of better judgment earlier this year - I see that he and the school have been selected the winner from 5 nominees (you have to wonder what he beat out) for the "most invasive proposal or project," from a London-based human-rights group.

Earnie Graham ~ your fame just keeps growing!

Poetry Month Quote - April 17

I would as soon write free verse as play tennis with the net down. ~Robert Frost, 1935

Poetry Month Quote - April 16

Poetry is ordinary language raised to the nth power. Poetry is boned with ideas, nerved and blooded with emotions, all held together by the delicate, tough skin of words. ~Paul Engle, New York Times, 17 February 1957

Kansas City Area Poetry Events

Friday April 15 - Riverfront Series - Reading at The Writers Place 3607 Pennsylvania - K.C., MO starts at 8:00pm - participants in TWP Winter Poetry Workshop will read poems work shopped in seminar as well as other works.

Readers - Phillis Becker, Susan Carman, Joe Cecil, Ben Chapman, Meg Huber, David Hughes, Judith Bader Jones, Joan Langmack, and Kathleen Laverick.

Saturday - April 162:00pm - Westport Library - 118 Westport Rd. K.C. MO

Branching Out - The K C Public Library - Writers Place and KC Metro Verse team for a multi- event afternoon.

Poet Martin Espada speaks on the late poet Pablo Neruda starting at 2:00pm

Following this event Writers Places hosts a reception.

Then at 4:00pm - to 5:30pm KC Metro Verse hosts a Favorite Poem Project

Monday - April 25th regular monthly Open Mic at The Writers Place starts at 8:00pm

Thursday April 28th - Midwest Poets Series hosts poet Cornelius Eady at the Rockhurst University - Mabee Theater - 5225 Troost - K.C., MO. Enevt starts at 7:30pm.

Poetry Month Quote - April 15

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath

Poetry Month Quote - April 14

Poetry is not a civilizer, rather the reverse, for great poetry appeals to the most primitive instincts. ~Robinson Jeffers

Name Droppings

Here is a link to a really cool idea for "Poetry in the street" which had it's roots in Toronto, Canada. I like this idea. Actually I am hoping to do some in pastels on a sidewalk this month. Not exactly permanent, but the same general principal.


Have to do a plug. Christine Hamm has a new book- Safe Word which I have not seen yet, but I adore her work. I got a peek of one of the poems in it. Check it out - and/or buy it here. Check read her blog, this is all your fault here.

I read an interesting critical eye on poetry from Camille Paglia - link.

My new Poets & Writers came this week. Haven't had a chance to read but a just a bit of it last night.

Tom Beckett interviews Eileen R. Tabios - link.

Ok, I'm through dropping names for now...

Poetry Month Quote April 13

"Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood." ~T.S. Eliot, Dante, 1920

Poetry Month Quote - April 12

"The crown of literature is poetry. It is its end and aim. It is the sublimest activity of the human mind. It is the achievement of beauty and delicacy. The writer of prose can only step aside when the poet passes." ~W. Somerset Maugham

Poetry Month Quote - April 11

"Everything in creation has its appointed painter or poet and remains in bondage like the princess in the fairy tale 'til its appropriate liberator comes to set it free." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Beacon Journal | 04/10/2005 | Poet laureate lacks rhyme and reason

Interesting piece from the Akron Beacon Journal.

Two Time Ted

Ok, Kooser gets a second term. Congratulations Ted.

I have been reading his book, The Poetry Home Repair Manual [it's worth reading, by-the-way] and I wanted to comment on his effort as Poet Laureate.

Kooser's support of poetry is laudable, of course that should be a minimal requirement of a Poet Laureate. I believe he is succeeding in bringing new people to poetry, and that is part of what I see as the responsibility that comes with the position.

Kooser has carved out a niche for accessible poetry. Though not the first by any means, [former Laureate Billy Collins promoted accessibility in poetry as well] Kooser I fear, is often times cheering on the sidelines for others to write the kind of poetry he likes (and writes) while leaving an impression that the vast sea of alternative poetry is the dirty stepchild that he'd rather not talk about in public.

I reality, I don't believe Ted Kooser is judgmentally putting down the rest of poetry. If I did, I would not be as kind in my choice of words. Sincerely, I believe he is trying to do what he believe is best for the art of poetry by opening a whole new frontier of readers. People who will embrace and love poetry. To that I raise my wine glass.

Perception however can be dangerous. It is here that I offer these concerns for brother Ted. As fellow poets, I believe it is important that in the broadest possible way, we should be lifting up and supporting the art of poetry as a whole.

There are poets out there who thumb their noses at accessible poetry. They are just wrong.

Do I think everyone has to like everyone's poetry? Of course not. But as practitioners of the art, I think we need to be open the encouragement of a rich diversity within the art form.

I tell you in all honesty, I am far less fearful of poetry dying anytime soon then I am people stressing that poetry has to take on this shape or that form. Optimistically, I have a great deal of faith in people that are brought into the poetry fold to grow in their interest, and like water follow the paths of least resistance to suck up what they read and like. With this in mind, growing our ranks with accessible poetry is not a bad thing. Some will sip the nectar of that which they were exposed to and that will be enough to sustain them. This will be a good thing. Others will thrust for much more... and their taste will grow and change. This too will be a good thing if allowed to happen. That is why I applaud Kooser's efforts... I just want to make sure no one is building damns around the many other lakes, rivers and oceans that people may choose to drink from.

Poetry Month Quote - April 10

"Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things." ~T.S. Eliot, Tradition and Individual Talent, 1919

Poetry Month Quote - April 9

"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for." ~ Dead Poet's Society

Rejection

Nick Carbo proves rejection comes in many forms.

Now a month or so ago, I received a rejection letter from a west cost literary journal that I imagine you'd all recognize - it contained a scrap of paper no doubt torn (emphasis on torn) from an 8-1/2 by 11 size sheet of paper. The 8-1/2 was still there, but I got about one inch of the 11 portion.

For a brief moment I looked at the paper which spoke to me in words that said ...we get a fucking trunk load of submissions, we are way too busy for this... and, "sorry, it is not what we are presently looking for."

Now don't get me wrong, I am sure that the fact of the matter is they do receive a ton of material each month. But when you send a self-addressed-stamped envelope, you would think the least they could - no, make that want to do is to appear somewhat professional in their correspondence. I don't so much mind the "strip of paper" but hell, at least cut it so it looks like a strip of paper and not a scrap.

Yes, for a brief moment, I wanted to reply with a rejection letter myself saying, "I'm sorry, but your rejection letter what not what I was looking for and seems to contract with my present collection, therefore I will not be using it but I wish you well in your rejection endeavors and do try us again. Hee-he. Of course even the rejected can dream!

Poetry Month Quote for April 8th

To be a poet is a condition, not a profession. ~Robert Frost

Proetry Month Quote -April 7th

A poet is an unhappy being whose heart is torn by secret sufferings, but whose lips are so strangely formed that when the sighs and the cries escape them, they sound like beautiful music... and then people crowd about the poet and say to him: "Sing for us soon again;" that is as much as to say, "May new sufferings torment your soul." ~Soren Kierkegaard

Poetry Month Quote - April 6th

A poem is never finished, only abandoned. ~Paul Valéry

UCR News: Creative Writing Professor Reads from Book of Poetry

Christopher Buckley, a professor in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside, will read from and discuss his book of poetry “Sky” from 3:15 to 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 20, in Special Collections on the fourth floor of the Tomás Rivera Library at UCR, 900 University Ave. The event will be web cast live and will be archived for later viewing. For more information call Special Collections at the UCR Libraries at (951) 827–3233

The Bards Celebrate

Last night - about 35 people attended an Open Mic presented by the Raytown Bards ( Raytown, MO - a Kansas City suburb) in celebration of National Poetry Month.

The event started with guest poets Don Queen, Kathy West, and Bob Savino then followed as one-by-one guests came to the microphone to add their own work or that of someone else they has chosen.

Hot topics of poems were "spring" & "Iraq war" - though there was a poem dedicated to Pope John Paul II, a poem about baseball dreams dying hard, first day home with a newborn, cowboy poems, domestic violence, childhood memories and so on. Very good mixture of light material and some heavier poems with very pointed statements.

Raytown Bards is just one of several chapters of the Missouri Poetry Society.

Poetry Month Quote - April 5

"Science is for those who learn; poetry, for those who know."
~ Joseph Roux, Meditations of a Parish Priest

Poetry Month Quote - April 4

"Poetry comes with anger, hunger and dismay: it does not often visit groups of citizens sitting down to be literary together, and would appall them if it did." ~ Christopher Morley, John Mistletoe

Poetry Month Quote - April 3rd

"Poetry is the revelation of a feeling that the poet believes to be interior and personal which the reader recognizes as his own." ~ Salvatore Quasimodo

Raytown Bards - Celebrate Poetry Month

Monday, April 4th - the Raytown Bards will celebrate National Poetry Month with an event at the Mid-Continent Public Library branch in Raytown, Missouri.

The event runs from 7-8:30PM and will feature local poets:

Don Queen, Kathy West, and Bob Savino. There will be an open Mic following their presentations and the public is welcome.

Address: 6131 Raytown Road - Raytown, MO
Contact: 353-2052 for more information.

Poetry Month Quote - April 2nd

"He lives the poetry that he cannot write. The others write the poetry that they dare not realize." ~ Oscar Wilde

April First - No Fooling - It's National Poetry Month - Quote of the Day

"Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful."

~ Rita Dove


Celebrate Poetry All Month Long - make it a habit - it will become a year round passion....


Subscribe to the Poetry Month - quote of the day by e-mailing me at poetrylives@prodigy.net with the word "subscribe" in the subject line of your e-mail. This is only a one month (April) project.

Meryl Streep, Liam Neeson, Diane Von Furstenberg, Dan Rather, Maya Lin, Minnie Driver to Read at Poetry Benefit on April 5

Meryl Streep, Liam Neeson, Diane Von Furstenberg, Dan Rather, Maya Lin, Minnie Driver to Read at Poetry Benefit on April 5

Follow link to Press Release....

Strange But True

Someone actually googled their way to this site with the search: national something on a stick day. Which of course causes me to ask the question.... Does such a day exist?

Fairchild's Poetic Wisdom Part Two

I have promised a post concerning last Thursday’s master poetry class - conducted with B.H. Fairchild. After a bit of reflection on the experience, I am ready to externalize those thoughts here.

Fairchild’s approach began with establishing his current definitive formation of what a poem is. Prefacing that he was not trying to be restrictive he noted that his definition has been somewhat fluid over the years. Currently he defines it this way:

A poem is a verbal construction, which through an array of prosody and rhetorical devises of embodiment achieves an order of being, an ontology, radically different from other forms of discourse (with the exception of certain forms of fictional and descriptive prose)

I was most intrigued by the "order of being" and his commentary surrounding this point. It seems he views poetry as a way of "being" in the world. It is an order unlike anything else.
He took the argument of some poetry and prose have a narrowing separation and stressed that while the two do overlap, they are alike. Otherwise they would be contiguous. He noted math and physics overlap at points but they are indeed different. The same is true of biology and chemistry.

There was discussion of the interior life of the poem – the sound textures or auditory aspect of the poem which he seems to think we don’t pay enough attention to these days.

There were a series of poetry manuscripts that we as a group went over. Expressing thoughts about meaning – syntax – line breaks. I especially appreciate the approach Fairchild took to the manuscript examinations. It was not done with judgement but certainly conducted thoroughly and with an intent to bring each of us to our own assessments if the material was working or not.


I am still processing a good deal of the material nearly a week later. The combined exposure to his reading and class was most educational.


Poetry

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet to perform at Drury

W.D. Snodgrass - 79 year old poet - to preform Thursday evening at Drury University's Olin Library.

Fairchild's Poetic Wisdom Part One

Following my attendancelast week at a B H. Fairchild poetry reading and a poetry class I thought I would take some time to offer my observations.

The reading was an enjoyable event from a strictly entertainment perspective. As a reader Fairchild is a well above average performer. His physical voice is easily soothing to the ears and quite palatable to the grasp of comprehension. Had I been a casual fan of poetry, I would have enjoyed the reading.

I did not however, attend the event with a casual interest. My engrossment in his presentation included everything from his work itself, to his delivery and possibility that his poetry hit a specific or definable theme. I came in to the reading with only a casual knowledge of his work. To the extent of his selections,

I appreciated that he offered a short intro to explain any particular nuances the he fell were not obvious to his readings.

I was able to see perhaps two points of interesting palpability emerge from his reading. Fairchild’s roots have remained evident in his work. It is perhaps not surprising in the contest that as Hemingway once said, "…write what you know best." Still, it is obvious that Fairchild grew up one of those individuals that seemed destined to travel through life searching. Something I can identify with, and I suppose many that connect with poetry do. It is this very search that seemed to lead or drive – (I’m not sure if he felt more pushed or pulled) away from his boyhood home of Liberal, Kansas or towards something other than that home. Still, it is clear that he wanted to experience much more that what the limits of such a rural milieu could offer. He wanted more then what this lifestyle offered. To his credit, twenty years of academia have not killed those roots, but perhaps given him a stronger basis for understanding them and communicating them.

If there is a thread that seems to run through his work and ( there is) tying it up nicely, it would be his understanding of the nature of working class men and women to want. To even seek. Yes, to hope and dream. And in the end to be able to be able cherish what they have, even in the face of larger disappointments. To find some level of happiness, even if for the moment, without sacrificing desires and putting them out, like some squashing the butt of a burning cigarette in an ash tray.

The other truth that shines through is work and his presentation is that he has not lost that touch with the common man. Not even after twenty years at Cal State. Not after all his prestigious awards and The Guggenheim, NEA, Rockefeller/Bellagio fellowships. He has been able to wear the hat of a professor all the time keeping the ball cap of a common man.

Tomorrow I will post on what I came away from the workshop with.

POETRY MONTH QUOTES

As my personal commitment to the promotion of poetry during the month of April (National Poetry Month) I have set up a special e-mail address simply for the purpose of offering a daily e-mail with a poetry related quote to inspire your view of poetry throughout the day.

In order to sign up, please e-mail me at poetrylives@prodigy.net with the word "subscribe" in the subject line of your e-mail. PLEASE - do not sign up for someone other than yourself. Subscribers will be asked to confirm their request by a followup e-mail. As much as I'd like to share this with as many people as possible including those who have marginal or no present interest in poetry, it is not my intent to spam people with poetry quotes. You of course may share them with your friends and family individually that you might hope to encourage to become readers of poetry, but I wish to keep this strictly above the board. Your e-mail addresses will NOT be shared with anyone else, and the Quotes will stop at the end of April.

Happy Poetry Reading & Writing!

Michael Wells
Stick Poet

Building Up To National Poetry Month

Over the next few days I will be doing several things as a build-up to National Poetry Month.

I will be posting Poetry Month Events - Some, local Kansas City, Missouri area events and a few in other parts of the country for our nation-wide readership.

This week I attended a reading of the poet B H Fairchild and yesterday a master class in poetry for which Fairchild put on in conjunction with the UMKC language arts department. I will be commenting on these experiences.

Additionally, tomorrow I will make a offer to Stick Poet readers. This will represent my personal commitment to promoting poetry month. Check back tomorrow for the details and an opportunity to be on the receiving end of this special Stick Poet offer.

Transformation

"Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought

and the thought has found words."

~Robert Frost

I could not have said it better....

B H Fairchild

I am attending a reading of B. H. Fairchild tonight here in Kansas City. Looking forward to hearing his work. He grew up in a small town in Kansas and some of his poetry reflects midwest ties, though he has I believe in more recent years lived in California.

Thursday, I'll have an opportunity to set in a class he is giving as well. He was brought in by UMKC College of Arts and Sciences.

My Poetry Quote of the day:

"A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman." ~Wallace Stevens, Opus Posthumous, 1957

By nature...

"A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses." ~Jean Cocteau

I have this overwhelming desire to paraphrase this as, "Shit happens" ~ but I won't.

Hit with The STICK

James at Love During Wartime passed me the STICK. Immediately I was overcome by a combination of trepidation and honor. Sort of a schizophrenic emotional burst.

1. You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be? Ariel by Sylvia Plath
2. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? Gee, not that I can recall. Which seems almost as lame as if I had one.
3. The last book you read: Transformations by Anne Sexton
4. What are you currently reading? The Poetry Home Repair Manuel - Ted Kooser & Wintering - Kate Moses ( I'm multi-tasking ) ;)
5. Five books you would take to a deserted island: Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball - George Will [there is no culture without baseball] , The Journals of Sylvia Plath, Sylvia Plath's Collected Poems, Why Time Begins on Opening Day - Thomas Boswell, And Poetry Speaks and a CD player....(is this cheating?)
6. Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why? Eileen at The Chatelaine's Poetics: Because she's upon there on the mountain where the air is thin and Just never know what she is going to say. Jilly at The Poetry Hut: Who is not on a mountain ( that I know of) but is among the culturally elite who love baseball & poetry at the same time ; ) and Michaela at Mikarrhea: who, hell is just likely to say anything - mountain or no mountain.

The pleasure of it....

"Even when poetry has a meaning, as it usually has, it may

be inadvisable to draw it out.... Perfect understanding

will sometimes almost extinguish pleasure."

*

~ A.E. Housman

My Skin Curls

Jilly has a new site address.... here.

I'd like to call your attention to this site: Voices In Wartime

Christine Hamm is just too damn good... and I think I've said that before, or at least something like it-- but damn, she is! Writing a Poem - check it out! When I read her stuff, I swear my skin curls.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

"The poetry of the earth is never dead." -John Keats

Happy St. Patrick's Day

~

And then there is a flash....

You can tear a poem apart to see what makes it tick.... You're back with the mystery of having been moved by words. The best craftsmanship always leaves holes and gaps... so that something that is not in the poem can creep, crawl, flash or thunder in. ~Dylan Thomas, Poetic Manifesto, 1961

Come on Eileen, when you have THAT many peeps, you are going to be recognized when you come down out of the mountain!

Some day I may understand life. I don't really think today is going to be it though. Still, I am trying to be open to that possibility.

Slate Backlogged

"He Lives the poetry that he cannot write. The others write the poetry that they dare not realize." ~ Oscar Wilde


I noticed yesterday that Slate is not accepting submissions till December of this year. There must be some prolific writing and submitting going on these days. While I've not sent anything to Slate since maybe middle of last year, as long as I have paid any attention, I don't recall them restricting submissions or even having a reading window as such. This has me curious to know if other venues are experiencing a significant increase in manuscript submissions.

I got a note the other day that Victoria Chang's new book Circle is out. Having enjoyed her insights when she was blogging, I of course would like to read the work.

B. H. Fairchild is in town next week, and I have an opportunity to hear him read and do a workshop.

Catherine Meng has a great read --- If the Laundromat Doesn't Work Out I Will Gladly Offer My Bed. You gotta love the Walt Whitman line.

Any poets in the Kansas City area - are invited to check out the local chapter of the Missouri Poetry Society. Our blog site is here. We meet twice a month.

To quarrel with yourself....

Out of the quarrel with others we make rhetoric; out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry. ~W.B. Yeats

Conceptualization

Feel the grass blades
Between the toes of your mind
And how the shade holds the darkness tight
Within a room that is running out of a concept
We call space. I have little time to explain
Concepts - because I'm not sure when my time
Is up... and when it ends- all those concepts
In my mind are going to vaporize.

Taking It Right To Their Front Door

That is what Ted Kooser has in mind. Ted who? Ted Kooser, the new U.S. Poet Laureate.

Ted is intent on broadening interest in poetry. After all, that is his function as the Poet Laureate. How one accomplishes this feat is up to the individual Laureate.

The Kooser plan is to offer a free six to eight-inch column to local newspapers each week with a poem by a living American and a brief introduction written by himself. This idea catches my fancy since I am often hearing people talk about how. "poetry is dead... or at least all the poets are." Of course neither is true and more power To Ted Kooser if he can carve that misconception into little pieces and bury it.

Kooser's idea was the result of reading a prestigious literary journal in which he was unable to find a single poem he could use to show an average reader to demonstrate what he was missing. His assessment was that all the poems in the journal were geared for a "really sophisticated audience."

In spite of Koosers assention to the lofty position of Poet Laureate, he is not a household word. In fact he is not like most poets who have aspired to this position. Not a part of the northeast academia crowd, and his own poetry strives for the simplicity that mirrors his humble mid-west life. He rises every day at 4:30 and writes though he says that he probably produces only 10 to 12 poems a year that he considers worthy of publication.

If Ted Kooser is successful in his endeavor to broaden the interest in poetry in this country, it will likely be because he himself is more like the average American than perhaps most Poet Laureates in the past. Good Luck Ted Kooser!

source
Poetry

The Surprising Journey

A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep. - Salman Rushdie


I think one of the most fascinating acts of writing is to discover that you have arrived someplace that you didn't think that you could possibly get to from where you were. To do the impossible or at minimum the improbable. I'm not talking about achieving some status. Yes, I'd fall over clutching my heart if I got a call that I was the next poet laureate. That is not at all what I am talking about. What I am speaking of is to be writing and all of a sudden to realize that you have learned something. The very creation of your piece of work opened up your eyes. By your own creation, you arrived at a point or place that you were not trying to reach. That is such a incredible event to a poet. Such is what keeps me writing... even on bad days.

Finding Themeo

James over at Love During Wartime has me wondering if my life has a theme. From my initial blank stare, I'm thinking no. Surely there has to be at least a thread that runs through this fragile accumulation of years that I call a life, that exhibits some evidence of a theme. Still, I'm clueless.

I suppose I could look backwards (a talent that must be good for something) and see points in my life where I might have had something of a theme going on. Doing this little exercise could be important to something I have been toying with lately. The thought of trying to write an autobiographical poem. Not a four or five stanza poem that summarizes my life. Something a little more lengthily. I don't think I am talking as extravagant as Eileen Tabios's brick. Still, something that could allow me to compartmentalize my life into segments with metaphorical adaptation. Why, I'm not sure. Maybe it would make a more interesting read from that standpoint.

Anyway, James has put a thought in my head (scary as that may seem) and now it is going to bug me until I can work through this and come up with some answers. I'm wondering if this is one of those things you can think too much about. Like maybe the first thing that pops into your head is more significant than trying to think it through in deep thought. Forcing it, so to speak. Yes, I'm obsessing now. Thanks James, for the ensuing headache I feel coming on.

Break

Bright gold raged most of the weekend
Brassy in the crisp blue sky
Till nightfall when clouds pushed the envelope
Rain, hail and winds did calisthenics
Morning brought an overcast chill
And talk of snow tomorrow

Under theTellingtree Anthology Reading & Signing

Some thirty- five people attended the reading & signing last night at B & N - Zona Rosa Shopping Center. Was nice to have some people that were just shopping stop by to listen. They had to set up a few extra chairs. We have another at the northland area Boarders tomorrow afternoon 2:30 to 4:30. Six of the authors featured in the book were present and read.

Weather is so nice today - Going to take Barry for a walk after while. Have a yard project I want to get done while the weather is nice. I'll read and do some writing later today.

Last day of the work week is half over!

Friday

This is a good thing!

Tiananmen Mother by Michael Wells

Thursday - I pinched myself. I'm still among the living!

Ivy talks about the application process for a residency at the The MacDowell Colony - worth reading for those interested in such an experience.

Eileen is posting on her blog now in such a way that makes clicking on the links more challenging if you are drunk or not.

V-lo's charm is again available for your viewing over at ~gila-monster~

Cassie Lewis has been silent close to two months now... Perhaps a snow shoveling expedition is in order.

James admits to getting lost in Kansas City, Kansas.

Why did I just do an around-the-poetry-world blog post? I'm speechless!

Last Night at Writers Place

Open Mic at Writers Place last night.... Scot Isom was the featured reader. Scot was great. I've never seen Scot as into it as he was last night. I thought I was listening to Mr. Silk.

I did three pieces... One was a Diane Ackerman poem - Omens of Winter. The other two were my own... Whirlygirl and Tiananmen Mother.

Ackerman crawls below the surface of the skin to get at those prickly feelings and this is the kind of stuff I eat up in poetry.

Woodbine Writing

Interesting experiences this weekend at the writing workshop. Some good. Some not.

I did experience converting and existing work to a play format. It was actually a poem that I used, and worked very well. I picked up some really good material on shifting points of view.

In addition to that, I found myself trying to force poetry, which is never a good thing and it only resulted in creating frustration. Since frustration is not my idea of creative success, I announced to all at one point, "I'm going home." Of course I didn't.

More on the workshop as I have time. Too much to do to report more now.

Headed for the land of golden corn...

Stick Poet will likely be silent the rest of today, tomorrow and Sunday as I am off to a writing workshop in Iowa. I suppose there is an outside chance I may do an audible post from my cell phone, but otherwise I don't anticipate having PC access to post. Nor likely the time.

With this, I'll close withsome words about words by David Lehman:

"Words can have no single fixed meaning. Like wayward electrons, they
can spin away from their initial orbit and enter a wider magnetic field. No one
owns them or has a proprietary right to dictate how they will be used."

Everyone have a great weekend!

I have the "Brick"

Yes, all 504 pages of it! Wait... actually it is a never ending book.

I'm referring to I Take Thee, English, for My Beloved by Eileen R. Tabios and published by March Hawk Press.

I am hardly qualified to tell you much about it yet as I have only skimmed through it. But I can tell you that Tabios in this book appears to remain the every consummate poet. Resourcefully creating pliant work intending the reader to participate in the experience. She is so straight forward about that. That I find refreshing.

I will pack this for night time reading this weekend while at an Iowa writing retreat. I think it will make an excellent bedside companion.

When I feel I am able to discuss the book in more detail, you may expect much more in depth commentary on it.

Lois Ames, Friend and Confidant of Anne Sexton to Host a Wilderness House Literary Lunch

Lois Ames, Friend and Confidant of Anne Sexton to Host a Wilderness House Literary Lunch

Ames is a poet, biographer and psychotherapist who graduated from Smith College. She has published biographical essays on Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath. She has received numerous awards and citations, including a gold medal from The University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration Alumni Association, "For Outstanding Achievements in Education & Human Welfare" and has been a Lecturer on Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

Recommendation

I have been reading some of Diane Ackerman's work from her book Origami Bridges. Diane has captured a lot of very strong images and introspective feelings in this book. Her poems were written during a period in which she underwent intense psychotherapy. Of course one cannot be certain but the presumption is that the therapy added a dimension to her personal reflections that are exposed in her poetry.

A couple of the individual poems that I belief were really vivid and enjoyable to me, were Weathering Depression, Omens of Winter and Holding Radium.

I would recommend this book to others who have perhaps not had an opportunity to see her work for themselves.

Diane Ackerman's web site

Poetry

Chapbook Manuscript

I have successfully pulled together my first chapbook manuscript. I worked extensively on pulling together material yesterday from my archive of work. Making some modifications. Adding some items I previously had intended to leave out after meeting and discussing some of the material with a fellow poet. It encompasses forty pages of writing.

I am not quite ready to submit it for publication yet. Some of the work has been published already individually. Since I am attending a workshop in Iowa this weekend, I e-mailed a manuscript file to the two presenters. I will have an opportunity for a one-on-one secession with one of them during the workshop. This will give me yet another opportunity to perhaps refine it and make necessary adjustments.

The manuscript is titled (working title) Now In Color & Hysteria. So much of my poetry moves between strong social comment and humor. It is that combination that I preface this way: "Now In Color & Hysteria crosses the line between the grave issues of our day and the ridiculous. Changes in life and life altering experiences. Relationships and the relationship between man and his world."

This has been a slow process in coming together. I don't mean so much the writing of the poems, but the decision to create a multi-poem manuscript. Then deciding what goes in and what stays out. Sometimes we get so close to something it is hard to be objective. In all aspects of art, I think the creator is often his or her harshest critic. Writing is no exception to this, at least from my own experience. Even when you feel good about a piece, I find a week, six months down the road I often second guess. I suppose the non-static nature of poetry lends itself well to this sort of internal questioning.

At any rate, it was a happy occasion when I hit the send button to transfer the manuscript file via e-mail. Still, I don't get as I though I might that feeling of conclusion. Quite the contrary, I feel like this is a beginning.


Poems

List of Readings & Book Signings for Under The Tellingtree - Anthology of Verse and Voice

Under The Tellingtree - Anthology of Verse and Voice

Calandar of Remaining Book Readings & Signings scheduled locally ( Kansas City Area)

February 28 - Writers Place 8-9:30pm


March 4 - Barnes & Noble at Zona Rosa Shopping Center in northland 7-9:00pm


March 6 - Boarders at Boardwalk in northland 2:30-4:30pm


March 29 - Prosperos Books - 39th and Bell in Kansas City 7-9:00pm


I have two poems and a piece of prose in this anthology.

books

Poetry

Rejection

Rejection strikes again! Friday I got a rejection paper wad from a Journal that shall remain nameless. When I say paper wad, this was a strip of uneven cut paper barely 3/4 inch wide and containing only one line. With that, three more poems bite the dust.

Last night I did a reading and book signing at the Perfect Cup in northland. This was just one of several book signings that are set up over the next few weeks for Under The Tellingtree Anthology which I have two poems and a short prose piece in.

I'll post a schedule of the remaining readings tomorrow.




Poetry

Friday Gibberish

Some serious ad money paid for a blog - $25,000 a month... that would trump a lot of writing grants.

Yes, for what it is worth, it is true. If you google "slut"- Christine Hamm's name will come up. But so will a lot of others. You need to work harder to get you name further up the list Christine. Write!!! You do it so well.

I hope you all have been reading about Ivy's triple-loop rollercoaster ride. It has been worth the read!


Poetry

Earnie Graham's Surveillance Project Cut Short

InCom Corp, the Sutter, California based technology company that co-oped with Earnie Graham and the Brittan Elementary School in Sutter has pulled out of it's experimental "student tracking" project with the school.

The project widely reported in the media and here at Stick Poet has come under heavy criticism from parents and civil libertarians who felt the use of electronic equipment to monitor students movements was a bad precedence to start in a public school.

InCom cited the intense media attention its experiment generated attracted as a reason for the termination of the program in Brittan. According to an AP wire story, Paul Nicholas Boylan, lawyer for the school district said, "They can go someplace where they wouldn't have any risk of vandalism. Here, they have to worry about a community where at least a few are dead-set against anybody being able to benefit from this." I'm not sure what school district that would be, I think he as much are Earnie Graham has greatly misjudged public sentiment on this issue.
As for InCom, I think they have the wrong approach to their market for surveillance.

I'm Thinking I Need A Want List

I see Denise Duhamel has a new book out. I am anxious to read it. Problem is I have an ever growing list of poetry books to read and presumably acquire since the libraries limit greatly the poetry books they acquire. I mean there is Eileen's brick I still have to get. Sharon Olds has a book out I want. You get the picture.

Backing Up To Sunday

Sunday was a mixed bag of goods.

A number of us gathered at a private launch party for Under the TellingTree: An Anthology of Voice and Verse. Well attended party and book signing. I'll post some pictures in a day or so.

The downside of the day was an e-mail rejection letter of three poems I had sent off. Not like that has never happened before.

Herald.com | 02/13/2005 | 'How do I love thee?' With lovely poems, of course

Herald.com 02/13/2005 'How do I love thee?' With lovely poems, of course

I was trying to think what I could blog about that fit the Valentines theme when as luck would have it, I came upon this piece in the Miami Herald.

There are a few notable examples of poetic couples and since poetry so often goes to the core of emotional feeling, it seems Valentines Day is an appropriate time to mentions some of these noteworthy couples.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning & Robert Browning.

Jane Kenyon & Donald Hall

Tess Gallagher & Raymond Carver

Brenda Hillman & Robert Hass

Sylvia Plath & Ted Hughes


MARGARIA FICHTNER in this Miami Herald piece takes a look at a contemporary couple, Denise Duhamel and Nick Carbo. I've been a fan of Duhamel's and only more recently discovered Carbo and realized their husband wife connection. Fichtner is able to do the subject of a poetic married love far more justice then I could in today's blog, so I will simply recommend you fallow the link and enjoy the read.

And on that I close wishing all you poets and non-poets a happy Valentines Day.

Including The love of my life - who is not a poet of words but one of beaded artistry.
Happy Valentines Day Sweetie!

Bingo

Yesterday I was able to pick up a number of poetry books at a discount store going out of business. They were dirt cheap! I think I got like 12 books. The were $1 each.

Robert Pinsky's The Want Bone

Nikki Giovanni's The Women and the Men

Ted Hughes' Wolf Watching

Diane Ackerman's Origami Bridges

Louise Gluck's The Seven Ages

A really interesting hard back book Anne Sexton - The Last Summer
(This is a photo shoot book by photographer Arthur Furst with some copies of letters and manuscripts. It also has an introduction by Linda Gray Sexton - a daughter)

There were some other items... non poetry and an interesting book A Company of Readers - uncollected writings of W.H. Auden, Jacques Barzun and Lionel Trilling.

It feels a wee bit like Christmas. :)

Poetry

Submissions

Sent out a packet of six submissions last night. It always feels good when I have just sent work out. Suppose it is like completing a circle or something. It's like letting them go and moving on. To be honest, they are not all new poems. Of the six only half have never been submitted anyplace before.

I'm very glad that it's Friday. I really need for the weekend to be here. Like yesterday.

It is starting to sink in that baseball is nearing. Most pitchers and catchers will report to camps the first of the week. Opening days is always such an exhilarating experience. I love the resurgent rush of adrenalin that comes with the beginning of each season. It's a high that is perfectly legal and won't harm you. Unless of course you are a Cubs fan, and then the quick downward spiral could be lethal. ;)

Update On Brittan School Story

This information from Boston Harold. com

The InCom Corp. is a company co-founded by the parent of a former Brittan School student and some parents are suspicious about the financial relationship between the school and the company. InCom plans to promote it at a national convention of school administrators next month.

InCom has apparently paid the school several thousand dollars for agreeing to the experimental use of it's product and has promised a royalty from each sale if the system takes off, said the company's co-founder, Michael Dobson, who works as a technology specialist in the town's high school. Brittan's technology aide also works part-time for InCom.

ABC News: Parents Protest Student Computer ID Tags

ABC News: Parents Protest Student Computer ID Tags

Gee, this is wrong on so many levels I don't know where to start.

Jan. 18th, Brittan Elementary School (Sutter, California) superintendent Earnie Graham introduced a student identification tag complete with a radio frequency and scanner. The devise uses the same technology that companies use to track livestock and product inventory.

The associated press reports that the system was imposed, without parental input, by the school as a way to simplify attendance-taking and potentially reduce vandalism and improve student safety.

Each student is issued an identification card that they are required to wear around their necks. The cards have their name, picture and grade on them. A wireless transmitter on the badges beams their ID number to a teacher's handheld computer when they pass under an antenna posted above a door.

Not surprisingly, this little devise is not setting well with everyone. A Seattle Post-Intellegencer story dated today's date indicated that Grahan has acknowledged getting angry calls and notes from parents. His reply, "Sometimes when you are on the cutting edge, you get caught."

Cutting edge? The technology may be cutting edge, the concept of using the devise to monitor students is intrusive and reminiscent of McCarthyism.

Mr. Grahan was quoted as saying that it is within his power to set rules that promote a positive school environment and he thinks these badges will improve things.

It is hard to see how using a personal monitoring devise is supposed to promote a positive environment. It certainly is not going to send a message of trust and respect for the individual student.

This is such an outrageous attack on personal rights that I think an Earnie Graham award should be in order. An Award named for him for such creative efforts at Infringement of Personal Liberties.

Stick Poet will keep it's readers posted on any further developments in this story.

Hump Day Notes

Wednesday is here.... Just finished working on Tiananmen Mother during my lunch hour. I have a new draft that I will try out tonight at a reading at Boarders Books. This is a fine tuning and I think I am happy with it now. Perhaps not totally finished. I'll see how I feel after the reading tonight.

This will be a whole new venue for me so I can bring out some older stuff too. Yeah!

I have decided that for longhand writing it is hard to beat a uni-ball Vision Elite. The words just seem to slide out of it like they are greased. *



*evidently the brain must also be engaged.

A breakthrough

I was back at it yesterday. Hammering away at this poem that has been in the making now for over a week. Almost to my amazement, I seemed to have a breakthrough. I worked on it in the morning and stopped just after noon. I had a 3 pm writers group ~ and shortly after lunch I decided to try to retool it a bit more and take it with me. I was glad I did.

Really good feedback from the group has given me both the feeling that I am near where I want to be on this and at the same time exactly where I need to work on it. I decided to do nothing more on it last night, rather to let it rest. I'll likely take it up again tonight with my notes from yesterday. I'd like to get this to a final draft by Wednesday night's reading at Boarders Books.

An excerpt of the poem Tiananmen Mother follows:

The Beijing breeze whispers/ mournful strophes./ Tears like the mountain rains/

follow slopes// to tributaries until they become one /with the rippling waters of the Yangtze.//

Frustration Abounds

I have spent hours today on a poem that I started a week ago and it is just past 9pm and I'm calling it quits on this one for tonight. I'm shutting down the computer- going upstairs and I will read some poetry for a while. I have to get away from this piece.... It simply is not happening tonight.

Frustration sucks!

Are you aware the official "Stick Poet Writing Journal" is available at the Stick Poet Shop?

This and many other Stick Poet items available here

Poets Crash - News at 10:00

There is a collision that has occurred and I am attempting to identify the casualties.
I don’t see a lot of blood… yet.

Early indications are that it was a head on crash. One vehicle was a hyped up model driven by a poet obviously in a hurry to get submissions out. The other was a family sedan, driven by a poet and companion that was setting on his shoulder distracting him with all kinds of criticism and urging him to take it easy. It appears all survived the wreck, even the critic.

The police were having a difficult enough time sorting out who was at fault. The party with the critic was overheard expressing that he didn’t know if he’d ever get behind the wheel again.

I wonder how this will all be resolved. Who will be cited? Anyone? Will they get lawyers and fight it out in court? Did the first poet miss a submission deadline? Will the second poet every get behind the wheel again?

Alas, my head is spinning.

A Writing Retreat?

Looking for a place to get away to and write? Someplace with a touch of writing history? A site that inspired works of a poet laureate? Got 145,000 pounds burning your pockets? At current conversion rate, that would be only $272,904.28 in American dollars - (minimum bid)

Check out:

1 Aspinall Street, Mytholmroyd, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire

The property contains:

• a large 3 bedroom stone-built home.
• newly decorated throughout
• central heating
• excellent storage space
• a master bedroom & suite bathroom
• large bright loft with exposed beams
• a courtyard to the rear and a village green to the front
• shops, schools and a mainline railway station are about 0.2 miles away
• birth home of Ted Hughes
• seven of his poems were set in the house itself and at least 28 others in the immediate area
• it is about three miles from Heptonstall - the village where Heghes' wife Sylvia Plath was buried

More information on the property - pictures, etc. here

Weekend Writing

Yesterday I stumbled along working on two poems. By evening I had my fill of both. Put them away, my mind away.... Today is another day. One poem has taken shape nicely. The other remains on the back burner- warm in my thoughts but no real action on it yet.

Perhaps I will take it out and play with it a while later. Perhaps not.

Marilyn Kallet

Robert Stewart, editor of New Letters introduced Marilyn Kallet Thursday night as a writer who's poems "wake you up" a quality that he stresses all poems should do.

Kallet, who has been the director of the creative writing program at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, is also the author of a dozen or so poetry books. She was in Kansas City as one of the featured readers at this years Midwest Poet series.

Marilyn Kallet was a lot of things I did not expect, but she was not disappointing. I expected what I suppose was a southern lady. She was born in Montgomery, Alabama. While there was evidence of southern roots, Ms. Kallet is indeed a well traveled woman who's poetic work is not limited by her southern experience.

Her readings were much more akin to performance. Working without text, but not overtly dramatic. There was a comfortable level to her recitations. She is soft spoken, pleasurably so and fortunately the sound system and acoustics were good.

I was not particularly aware of Kallet's Jewish heritage prior to the event and somewhat surprised by the influence it has on her work. She presented a number of holocaust related works which were quite appropriate with the date (anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz)
but what I found most enjoyable about her was the ability she possesses to mix extremely serious poetic commentary with wit and humor. I too often write to those extremes and I like that quality in other poets.

Her reading was really quite unlike others I have experienced. She was so good with her delivery I did indeed feel a disconnect from the poetry itself. Not really from her or her presentation but certainly from the written word.

I intend to review here her book, How To Get Heat Without Fire after I have finished reading it three times. Perhaps then I will feel the total connection with her word.

Poetic License

Tonight, I will be the poet consumer....

I'm going to hear Marilyn Kallet tonight at Rockhurst College. I'm pretty excited about it. There was a really nice piece in the Kansas City Star - art/literary section this past Sunday about her. Plus, I have it on good authority from a friend of Jilly's that she is worth hearing.

Information on Marilyn Kallet

A Poem As A Private Event

Today, I read an essay by David Groff on The Peril of the Poetry Reading. He tackles the issue of the value of such readings to poetry itself and raises some interesting points.

Ironically it was just last night that I explained to another poet how reading her work in print adds a dimension that hearing it read in a group setting cannot provide. As I said that, I had to think about my views on poetry readings. I am in fact a fan of readings. I have found them positive experiences both as a poet and as a consumer of poetic works. There is a very important place in the literary world for public readings. At least that is the view I have held and I am not swaying from that position.

Groff suggests that "even if a poem takes on a fresh life when it's delivered in the voice of its maker, it loses more than it gains." He quotes the poet Richard Howard from a keynote address at the 1996 PEN Literary Awards where he said, "We have failed...to make poetry known; we have merely made it public. If we are to save poetry, which means if we are to savor it, we must restore poetry to that status of seclusion and even secrecy that characterizes our authentic pleasures and identifies only our intimately valued actions." Groff adds, (Howard sees) "... a poem as an intimate act of communication and not an occasion for a group grope."

I'm not sure that I agree with Groff that it loses more than it gains, but there is a difference and I think it is valid to question if the trade off is beneficial in the end. I do like Richard Howard's view that a poem is an very intimate communication. I believe the fact that each of us bring our own life prospectives to a printed page of poetry and therein some transformation occurs. That transformation is very personal. It has the readers soul imprinted upon it. Two readers are not necessarily going to see or get the same value from the same poem.

There is the physical aspect of poetry on a page. The line breaks. The way the poem fills out the white void that is a page before the poem is created. Much of poetry, though not all is about form. And I will remind you that though literary in construction, poetry is very much about images. Expressing place. It is also in some respects a visual art. David Groff's essay has indeed called into question the loss of a poem's form when read in public. It is an undeniable fact that in some poems this is of significant value. The eyes and mind are able to do something that the ears and mind cannot replicate.

I personally enjoy hearing poets read their own work. I enjoy poets reading other people's work. But I have heard poems and later read them to find I saw them in a quite different view. I will still do public readings. I will continue to attend public readings. What this essay has caused me to consider however, is just how important it is for each of us to stress reading poems personally. David Groff considers this the "ultimate act of poetic integrity... to take the poem home."

Yeah!!!

Jilly is at No Tell Motel this week! Well, not here personally - but her poems. Go check!

Welcome to America Ivy!

I'm sure there must be a poem lurking in that immigration guy... hee he.

A Few inquisitive Contemplations

How and what others do to elicit the optimum success with writing always interests me. I suppose we all probably have a bit of that child quality that makes us wonder about others and if we are like most people of if we are some sort of oddity in the writing kingdom.

One that I often think about is the time of day that most people find conducive to best results. How may can simply set aside any time morning of afternoon or night and find little difference in results? I suspect few. I think most seem to have an internal clock that tells us the best time from our own personal experiences. I'm interested in hearing from others that have identified a best time, or persons that have found relatively little difference altogether.

The other thing I'm curious about is what approach people take to writing. How do you kick start yourself when writing a new poem? Start with a concrete idea? Let something drift into being? What external stimuli best helps facilitate this process? Music? Quiet? The woods? A coffee shop? Busy city street? Come one folks... talk to me here! Help feed my curiosity.

MSNBC - Jan. 24 called worst day of the year

MSNBC - Jan. 24 called worst day of the year: "- Is the midwinter weather wearing you down? Are you sinking in debt after the holidays? Angry with yourself for already breaking your New Year's resolutions? Wish you could crawl back under the covers and not have to face another day of rain, sleet, snow and paperwork? Probably. After all, it's Jan. 24, the �most depressing day of the year,� according to a U.K. psychologist."


Very interesting piece in which Dr. Cliff Arnall, who specializes in seasonal disorders at the University of Cardiff, Wales, created a formula that takes into account numerous feelings to devise peoples' lowest point.

The model is: [W + (D-d)] x TQ
M x NA

The equation is broken down into seven variables: (W) weather, (D) debt, (d) monthly salary, (T) time since Christmas, (Q) time since failed quit attempt, (M) low motivational levels and (NA) the need to take action.

According to his calculations that misery peaks today.

Frigid

Chill would have frozen the air
were it still and not the haughty
bitch that blasts with repeated
thrashing against all things vertical.

The sun sits there deceptive
giving daylight, no warmth-
No consolation, not even a ray of hope
this frore day will offer any infinitesimal
relief from the bitterness.

Cooking Oil - January and the Sounds of Silence

January is moving along slick as canola. It's the 21st already and I'm thinking what's happening?

I have written several new pieces. Since the first of the month, perhaps eight maybe ten. I've done two readings. One on the first at the Writers Place and one Wednesday night at Barnes & Noble @ Zona Rosa. I was one of three that read that night.

I've got some stuff floating out there (you know that place where submissions go to languish) I'll call poets purgatory, but I've sent noting new out yet this month. That's the rub. It's twenty-one freek'n days into the year and no new submissions.

I was listening to some old Simon and Garfunkel songs this week. So much of their lyrics are majorly poetic. I do find that even some of their sad stuff as an uplifting artistic effect. If nothing else, it generates a mental state that is conducive to writing.

Turn Your Back On Bush

James at Love During Wartime quotes the philosopher Emile Chartier, "Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it's the only one you have." This saying, strikes me as most appropriate and befitting the day of Inauguration of George W. Bush for his second term. You may read from that what you will.

Eileen Tabios is offering her new book, I Take Thee, English, For My Beloved
as part of a special fund raising event for Tsunami victims relief. Details here.

Protests Planned Too in Washington and throughout the United States:

Washington DC Events Protesters Turn Backs!

My hat is off to Senators Barbara Boxer and John Kerry for voting in committee against confirming Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state. While Rice is sure to be confirmed by the full Senate, like many in the Bush administration, they must be asked to account for the past four years.


Rebecca Harding Davis:

Our young people have come to look upon war as a kind of beneficent deity, which not only adds to the national honor but uplifts a nation and develops patriotism and courage. That is all true. But it is only fair, too, to let them know that the garments of the deity are filthy and that some of her influences debase and befoul a people.

Who Cares?

"It is the nature of the artist to mind excessively what is said about him. Literature is strewn with the wreckage of men who have minded beyond reason the opinions of others." - Virginia Woolf

what's wrong

Nothing! Now that I have my copy. Yesterday, I got my copy of what's wrong by ivy alvarez.

what's wrong is a small chapbook - only ten poems, but enough to wet your whistle and want to read more of Ivy's work. It's good stuff! Right down to the "dogs swallowing echos of their barks."

Thanks Ivy! Enjoyed!

Unattainable by Michael Wells

Bringing Poetry Home

Last night, eight people in love with poetry met to organize a new chapter of the Missouri Poetry Society in the greater Kansas City area. The organizer, Missi Rasmussen, a poetess colleague, provided a very well themed outline for the chapter. I already belong to a state chapter from a Kansas City suburb, but I believe it is important for a community the size of Kansas City to have a chapter identified with it specifically.

Missi is all about bringing poetry to the community as much as enriching the poetry experience of each of it's members. I find this refreshing.

When I started writing this blog and selected the name Stick Poet Superhero, I wanted to be a voice in defense of the value of poetry to us all. Yes, the name is perhaps corny, but I was and am serious about defending the role and value of poetry in society today.

As a poet, it is always my hope that when I write a new poem, the voice of that poem speaks to someone out there in such a way as to give validation to what they feel. I believe this is one very important thing that poetry can do for us.

I am less concerned about which school of poetry is best. I have my preferences, but I'll allow that debate to happen elsewhere. I may wade into the water once and a while to talk about the values of one or the other, but we all come from different perspectives in life and whatever style speaks to us is less important than the fact that something actually happens when that one particular verse connects and we touch all-the-bases!

Poetry can capture the moment and freeze it for the future. It can record the ugly so that mankind will not forget where it has come from. It can recreate the exhilarating joys and triumphs of life and can speak to us about the most mundane day-to-day experiences. Poetry is relevant. It is more real then any reality TV show. It is good stuff, and it offers something for everyone.

Thanks for the Birthday wishes....

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes.

I had BBQ Ribs last night in celebration. My Son called. That was cool.

Tonight I'm meeting with some other poets to form a new chapter of the Missouri State Poetry Society in the Kansas City area.

My Birthday

Today is my birthday... a year closer to perfection!

I got a copy of Ariel Restored, a Burkowski book, another book on Plath and a couple pairs of new slacks! Yeah!

My daughter in Phoenix just called to wish me Happy Birthday... so nice to hear her voice this morning. She said as soon as all the football stuff is gone and the spring baseball stuff is out I can look for some San Francisco Giants apparel or something. (warm smile)

Saturday night I went to a reading and book signing at the Writers Place for Drew Dorsey who just released Breaking Bones With Pencil Tips. It was very well attended. It had been billed as work that Burkowski, Plath, and Ginsberg fans would find inspiration in. I guess I'd have to say that while it was enjoyable, I think comparison with those three poets is a bit of a stretch.

Sunday afternoon - Northland writers met. My awesome wife was nice enough to provide an ice cream cake to celebrate my birthday a day early with these writing friends. I read a couple new drafts of some work. There were like thirteen of us so it was well attended.

Ivy had a quote from Ginsberg over on her blog that I have to repeat here. It really struck me because birthdays always remind me of mortality and to me writing is often about trying to beat mortality. I love this quote and today was the first time I had ever seen it....

"A poem is like a radio that can broadcast continuously for thousands of years." -Allen Ginsberg

The Poetry of Place

My only planned post today I made over on my other blog site: Against The Flow where I wrote on the poetry of "place". It is in the "poetics" catagory.

Around Poetry Blogland

Few things happening on other poetry blogs....

Check out the TSUNAMI RELIEF information on Eileen's blog.

what's wrong is the title of a new chapbook by Ivy.

Christine Hamm has a new chapbook too! Discount Heaven.

And yes... I passed 10,000 hits! Yeah!

Hitting the 10,000 mark...

Drum-roll please...

Stickpoet is about to roll over the historic 10,000 hits mark- likely sometime tonight. An insignificant bit of trivia to some... Ok, I admit, it is exciting!

Exposure

Words Unwrapped

First Annual Kansas City New Years Day Read-a-thon

Gloria Vando - joined by her mother and daughter - rounded out three generations of talent at The Writers Place on New Years day for the first annual read-a-thon. More on Gloria here.

Gloria's mother, Anita Velez charmed the crowd.



Gloria's daughter, Anika Paris was sassey, brassy and classy as she read of New York exploits. More on Anika here.

The event ran from 1 p.m. till midnight. I was there from 1:00 till about 8:45 p.m. The talent was pretty consistent throughout my presence and the event stayed remarkably on target time-wise. I can't speak to how the late night crew was, but those of us there during the segment I was present offered an enjoyable event with a full range of poetry style and taste.

Here is moi - reading an epigram that I recently had published in the Park University Scribe. I did as I recall six or seven poems total.

I was joined by two other writer colleagues who belong to the Northland Writers group.




Scot Isom - one of the Northlanders took a break from a non-fiction book he is working on to join us.

Terry Weide another Northland member read from some of his "flash-fiction" and poetry.


There were far too many readers to mention all of them by name, but my hat is off to The Writers Place for putting this together. There were a steady stream of people in to hear us most of the day.

Sharon Eiker who organizes the monthly open-mic at The Writers Place patterned this off an event that has been ongoing in New York for many years. Her two very talented daughters Deborah Sweeney and Sarah Eiker also participated in the event.



Deborah Sweeney Singing - what a voice!




Sarah Eiker - both read her poetry and contributed greatly to the overall success as she helped organize Phi Theta Kappa's participation. This was their first service project for 2005. Great Job!!!

Looking forward to next year.

Long Assed Day of Poetry

Kicking off the New Year at The Writers Place - I was there from 1:00p.m. till 7:45p.m. to participate in their New Years Day readings. Some kick-ass poetry - very enjoyable evening that was still running till midnight tonight when I left.

I have some pictures that will follow - likely tomorrow. I'm too tired to download them right now. It was a great start to the year to be able to share my own work with so many other inspiring writers as well. I'll do a recap tomorrow!

Happy New Years form Stick Poet!