Tuesday, November 28, 2006

November 28th Poetic Ticker Clicking

News Article Tape:
Blog Entry Tape:

November 28th forum announcement

Dear Poetry Fans,

Poetry & Poets in Rags

We begin this week with poems. And we travel fearlessly around the world though translations, and through our countries in News at Eleven. In this sense, we participate in a celebration of poetry like the world has never witnessed before, in our times, and through the web. Yet, the first poem of our first article begins, "Why is this age worse than all the others?"--reminding us that the entire world is not yet open to poets and poetry. Indeed, via Norway, we get word from Burma, that two poets must remain in jail for what they wrote, for 26 years.

Wiith no segue again this week (only better spelling) we welcome John Timpane to our Great Regulars.

Yours,

Rus

Our links:

IBPC: Poetry & Poets in Rags

Poetry & Poets in Rags Blog

IBPC Home

IBPC Newswire

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: But here a dark figure is marking the houses

and calling the ravens, and the ravens come.

--Anna Akhmatova, 1919

from The New York Review of Books: Translations of Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva by Paul Schmidt

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News at Eleven: Together, the two books speak volumes

about 20th-century American poetry, showing, in multiple ways, how one can savor and live fully within a single moment — an example being the following poem from Robert Creeley's collected works, 1975-2005.

Here

from Santa Cruz Sentinel: Robert Creeley's poems from the last 30 years are published

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News at Eleven: In a sense, [John] Brandi's work is all

about traveling inner and outer landscapes. His poems and drawings may be thought of as of notes to fellow travelers. He traces the roots of his work to a tradition hailing back to the poet-painters of ancient China and Japan.

"At 16 I got my first old Chevy and drove down to Mexico," he said.

from Santa Fe New Mexican: Broadsided by déja vu

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News at Eleven: "To write is powerful, even dangerous,"

she [Laura Tohe] wrote in the introduction to "No Parole Today."

"Writing is a way for me to claim my voice, my heritage, my stories, my culture, my people, and my history."

from Casa Grande Dispatch: Writing about family helps us understand, Navajo woman says

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News at Eleven: Spiritual chickens are not the centre

of the story, only the means by which the chicken-eater is forced to call into question his idea of what to believe and what not to believe. Our eyes, as we know, can deceive us, or there would be no magicians and illusionists.

from The Times: What fowl deed is this?

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News at Eleven: The eight poems from Elizabeth Bishop,

for example, start with two of the “Songs for a Colored Singer”, which turn up the volume of what follows; and Emily Dickinson takes on a blues rhythm, the dashes of her punctuation becoming a kind of hunh:

The Rose did caper on her cheek--
Her Boddice rose and fell--
Her pretty speech--like drunken men--
Did stagger pitiful--

from The Times Literary Supplement: Fenton on love

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News at Eleven: The high court in Rangoon has dismissed appeals

lodged on behalf of two men sentenced to 26 years imprisonment for writing and distributing a politically sensitive poem.

Aung Than, a National League for Democracy member from Bago division, and Zayar Aung, a law student, were both arrested on May 29 and sentenced to 26 years in prison over the publication of a book of poems titled Daung Man (A Peacock's pride).

from Democratic Voice of Burma: Rangoon court dismisses poets' appeals

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News at Eleven: "In writing tanka, I could not express

my true feelings as tanka's rigid structure, the 5-7-5-7-7 syllable pattern, hindered it. Tanka's form creates a kind of wistful melody. Even if I want to express joy or other feelings, the end result is invariably melancholic," [Enta] Kusakabe said in his office in Tokyo.

from Daily Yomiuri: Gogyoka poetry going strong

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News at Eleven: The Nigerian poets, according to Professor [Ben] Obumselu,

require a great deal of artistry to continue to remain relevant in the nation’s new political order. As he noted, "When they have done this, they would have been working profoundly towards contributing to national development."

from Vanguard: At Unizik, poets talk politics: . . . as Yaps honour Vanguard for literary contributions . . .

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News at Eleven: "It is important that the work leaves

the house and makes its way in the world. But when you read this stuff you have to take responsibility for it in a way that you don't want. The work isn't you. It's supposed to proceed from a more generous instinct than that." [--Don Paterson]

from The Guardian: Leading light

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News at Eleven (Back Page): Here's an example of just how ripe

the dialogue gets:

Steve Allen: "Oh teletype rolls . . . Where do you get it?"

Jack Kerouac: "Uh?"

SA: "Where do you get the paper?"

JK: "Eh? . . . Teletype paper."

SA: "And where do you get it?"

JK: "A very good stationary store . . . And when I write my symbolistic, serious, impressionistic novels, I write them in pencil."

from The Guardian: Arts Blog: In search of a movement to give us some direction

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Great Regulars: Waltz with the Wind

[by C.C. Bosley]

from Bill Diskin: The York Daily Record: Poetryork: Poetry as psychotherapy

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Great Regulars: Some of his [Dennis Camire's] recent poems

have appeared in Off the Coast Magazine and in The Taj Mahal Review; a few of his poems, too, will be appearing in Poetry East Magazine and in the anthology The Best of Moon Pie Press Volume #2. This poem first appeared in Off the Coast, Jan/2006.

For My Father
Gutting My First Whitetail Deer

from Elizabeth W. Garber: Village Soup: A Year of Poetry from a Wealth of Maine Poets: Stories from the heart of hunting season

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Great Regulars: One can't help thinking of Emily Dickinson's

"I taste a liquor never brewed," and seeing the "little Tippler/Leaning against--the Sun." The speaker is so identified with the hummingbird that he can make it clear to us what the hummingbird must be experiencing, like his own soul mad with divine ardor.

from Linda Sue Grimes: BellaOnline: Thomas James Martin's 'A Southern Line'

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Great Regulars: This poem demonstrates a humble charm:

it is a prayer to open the poet's heart to the Divine Beloved--"Master Poet"--without unneeded words and gestures. A vain poet produces ego-centered poetry, but this poet/devotee wants to be open to the simple humility of truth that only the Divine Beloved can offer his soul.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Rabindranath Tagore: Indian Nobel Laureate

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Great Regulars: Poem: "This Is the Hay That No Man Planted"

by Elizabeth Coatsworth.

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: For the week of November 27, 2006

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Great Regulars: Hard to see past the metallic mist

or through the canopy of supposed reality
cast over our world, bourn that no creature ever born
can pry its way back through, that no love can tear.

No book of poems worth its purchase price can be limited to a "theme" (and no reader should try to impose one), but it doesn't hurt to say that Kinnell is a student of opposed realities and the often porous borders that separate them.

from David Kirby: The New York Times: On the Borderline

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Great Regulars: The first poem we ran in

this column was by David Allan Evans of South Dakota, about a couple washing windows together. You can find that poem and all the others on our website, www.americanlifeinpoetry.org. Here Tania Rochelle of Georgia presents us with another couple, this time raking leaves. I especially like the image of the pair "bent like parentheses/ around their brittle little lawn."

from Ted Kooser: American Life in Poetry: Column 087

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Great Regulars: The poem is less about its razzle-dazzle

images, pleasurable though they are, than about the process that moves through them, and keeps moving: the restless, always-surprising process of life, and of the mind keeping up, for as long as it can.

from Robert Pinsky: The Washington Post: Poet's Choice

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Great Regulars: Sitting

[by Jared Llund]

from B.T. Shaw: The Oregonian: Poetry

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(New to) Great Regulars: Laid next to one another, poems

such as "Wichita Vortex Sutra," "Kansas City to Saint Louis," and the wonderful "Iron Horse" present a panorama seen through eyes like no others.

Ginsberg was the kind of poet who needed to get rolling, to feel the vatic, ecstatic surge of image and inspiration buoy him up.

from John Timpane: Philadelpia Inquirer: Reading, looking at Allen Ginsberg

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Great Regulars: Suncatcher

by Alice Major

from Edmonton Journal: The Poetry Project

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Great Regulars: This month, we introduce Curt Anderson,

whose work has appeared in magazines including Poetry, Barrow Street, Poetry East and Bitter Oleander. He has been featured in "The Poetry Anthology, 1912-2002: Ninety Years of America’s Most Distinguished Verse Magazine" (2003). Two small press chapbooks have also been published, "Umbra" from Standing Stones Press and "Bent Antenna" from detour press.

from Good Times Weekly: Poetry Corner

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Great Regulars: On Raglan Road

by Patrick Kavanagh

from The Guardian: Original poetry: On Raglan Road by Patrick Kavanagh

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Great Regulars: [Dan Lewis] might write about

the everyday but often presents his images and stories with a philosophical twist that not only makes his listeners stop and think but keep on thinking for quite a while. He has been published in a number of poetry journals

Quechee Gorge

from The Hopkinton Crier: Poem Prescription

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Great Regulars: 'Insomnia'

By Karin L. Frank

from The Kansas City Star: Poet's Corner: 'Insomnia'

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Great Regulars: This World

by Kobayashi Issa

from MR Zine: Kobayashi Issa, "This World"

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Great Regulars: by Adrian V. Nunez

Van Gogh prayer

from Newpaper Tree: Poetry

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Great Regulars: "At the Optometrist's Office"

By John Hodgen

from Slate: "At the Optometrist's Office" By John Hodgen

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Poetic Obituaries: We're here because, whatever else she was--

and she was many things, to many people--by the end of her life Gwyneth [Barber-Wood] was, inescapably, a poet, and a poet of a high order: someone whose poems our children's children will be reading in school long after we're dead. So I am to talk about her poetry.

from Jamaica Gleaner: Gwyneth, 'a poet of high order'

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Poetic Obituaries: But to many, [Marcus] Cassel was more

than a football player. He was a friend, brother and mentor. His brother, Jason, who is 18 months younger, has a similar smile. They also shared an interest in poetry.

from LA Daily News: Cassel's smile won't ever fade

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Poetic Obituaries: In Portugal, [Mario] Cesariny was a part

of the Surrealist Group, a gathering of Portuguese artists that included Antonio Pedro and Alexandre O'Neill, and later parted with it to create the Dissident Surrealist Group.

from International Herald-Tribune: Portuguese surrealist poet and painter Mario Cesariny dead at 83, reports

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Poetic Obituaries: In the field of education her [Undine Giuseppi's]

work includes Nelson Readers, Backfire, Anthology of Poetry for use in Caribbean Primary Schools.

In addition she wrote biographies of Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Learie Constantine, and insurance executive Russell Tesheira.

from Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday: Undine Giuseppi is dead

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Poetic Obituaries: Demand No. 27 was that Mr. [David H.] Jarrett

be named dean of men.

Many of the demands were met, and Mr. Jarrett was named dean of men, a position he held until retiring in 1980.

from The Philadelphia Inquirer: David H. Jarrett, 92, educator

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Poetic Obituaries: [Josephine W. Johns] wrote poetry, served

as clerk of Newtown Square Friends Meeting, and was a cellist with the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra.

from The Philadelphia Inquirer: Josephine W. Johns: Probation officer, 87

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Poetic Obituaries: In the 1990s he [Juice Leskinen]

cut back on his live performances and recorded less, but started to write more: poetry, prose, columns, and song lyrics for other artists.

Juice Leskinen studied to be a translator in the early 1970s, but his musical career took over before he completed his studies. During his 33 years as a recording artist he released 26 albums.

from Helsingin Sanomat: Juice Leskinen, Finnish rock music icon, dies at 56

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Poetic Obituaries: [Keith Page] was the star

of the show in his weathercasts and magic performances. He began every weather segment with a poem, all original and none of them ever repeated, according to Mr. Page's biography on the WICD Web site.

from The News-Gazette: WICD-TV weatherman Page dies at 76

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Poetic Obituaries: But in recent months, Tsog [Shagdarsüren]

had decided to put his energy into translating Mongolian literature into English. He and I spent August preparing Ancient Splendor, an anthology of Mongolian poetry from the earliest sources until the communist era, and had only in the last few weeks finished our translation of poetry by six of Mongolia's most important young poets.

from Mongolia Web News: Mongolia Loses Cultural Enthusiast

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Poetic Obituaries: The diminutive 77-year old nun and activist [Sister Rita Steinhagen]

died Tuesday after a lengthy illness. "She was a renaissance gal, a writer, a poet, very spiritual, in a non-dogmatic way, and a great friend to many people," recalled fellow activist and friend Marv Davidov.

from KARE 11 TV: Sister Rita, a woman of conviction, dies

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Poetic Obituaries: Kumalau [Tawali] said it all

through his poetry, being one of the first of Papua New Guinea's poets to do so.
His work is studied at schools and universities everywhere, among them the famous poem "The Bush Kanaka Speaks", which often poses as one of the country's most significant commentaries ever made in its bid to gain political independence from Australia.

from The National: The passing of a great poet

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Poetic Obituaries: Mr. [Jerry Lane] Warrington was known for

his beautiful poetry and comical tales. He was the author of two books, "Thinkin' Tho'ts" and "Truths, Exaggerations and Other Lies."

He graduated from Collinwood High School in 1949 and served in the Korean Conflict from 1953-54. He retired from the Woodmen of the World as state manager of Pennsylvania and northern Ohio in 1994.

from Times Daily: Jerry L. Warrington

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Tuesday, November 21, 2006

November 21st Poetic Ticker Clicking

News Article Tape:
Blog Entry Tape:

November 21st forum announcement

Dear Poetry Fans,

Poetry & Poets in Rags

This week, we delve into poetry with respect to culture. We have discussions on the economics of it, the places of it, the adequacy, limitations and functions of it, the languages and fusions of it, and much more. This world-wide inquiry that is taking place, takes us into Yemen, South Africa, Canada, USA, England, Ireland, Wales, Turkey, and more.

We also run a gamut of different types of poetry, from 19th century poetry, to modern-day chanting in rituals, to slam poetry, to Frank Wilson, editor of a main stream paper, doing a review of speculative poetry. And this does not include our sampling of the terrific new poetry through Great Regulars, the ink still wet on the poets' copies.

Here's a cultural application. For those of you in the USA: Happy Thanksgiving. Our Great Regulars, Linda Sue Grimes and Robert Pinsky are celebrating with poetry already. Both chose Massachusetts poets, one born close by here, and another from right here in Lowell. I love that.

Thank you for clicking in.

Yours,
Rus

Our links:

IBPC: Poetry & Poets in Rags

Poetry & Poets in Rags Blog

IBPC Home

IBPC Newswire

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: a grave lit by acetylene

in which, though she preceded him
by a good ten years, my mother’s skeleton
has managed to worm
its way back on top of the old man’s,
and she once again has him under her thumb.

The young [Paul] Muldoon watched TV and went to the movies once a week; and if as a young boy he read many books, they failed to make much of an impression.

from The New York Times: Word Freak

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News at Eleven: But I prefer to see this

as a poem of gentle persuasion. For me the word “wait” does not apply to a person leaving a party or dinner or gathering too early, but someone who would like to leave life before it is properly over; "Wait./Don't go too early" asks the writer. If his tone be kindly, then the words caress.

from The Times: Time is on your side

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News at Eleven: infinitesimally small: mass

without space, where each light,
each life, put out, lies down within us.

This mulching of life into life, and then into dust, has never been a "transition" to Kinnell; he will not flinch at what it means, how it cannot be reversed. And yet he will not lose hope, nor joy, nor desire in the face of its awful, unbendable reality.

from The Philadelphia Inquirer: A poet of nature, death, family--and love triumphant

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News at Eleven: The title alone

of "Television Was a Baby Crawling Toward That Deathchamber," written in the early ’60s, demonstrates all of these quailities, as does this snippet from its expansive tirade against media mind control:

mature capitalists running the State Department and the Daily News Editorial hypnotizing millions of legional-eyed detectives to commit mass murder on the Invisible/which is only a bunch of women weeping hidden behind newspapers in the Andes, conspired against by Standard Oil.

from The New York Times: Howler

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News at Eleven: Therefore, anyone can find the Sana’ani chant

in the wedding parties in Taiz, Raima, Ibb, and other governorates, said Jamil al-Qadhi, the general secretary of the Yemeni Chanters Association. But these chants have very little written history. They were traditionally memorized and passed orally from one generation to the next. For this reason, many of the poems have vanished over the years.

from Yemen Observer: Sana’ani chant spreading beyond the city

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News at Eleven: There's actually an odd correlation

between these ideas: poetry is either inadequate, even immoral, in the face of human suffering, or it's unprofitable, hence useless. Either way, poets are advised to hang our heads or fold our tents. Yet in fact, throughout the world, transfusions of poetic language can and do quite literally keep bodies and souls together--and more.

from The Guardian: Legislators of the world

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News at Eleven: "Poets appear in numbers

according to exactly how confusing the world is. It's sourced in crisis. After the serenity of the post-Second World War world, with Vietnam everyone was writing poetry." A similar trauma has happened as a result of Sept. 11. "Suddenly, the poets are out again."

from The Globe and Mail: Poets aplenty, but who's reading the verse?

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News at Eleven: For the past 30 years, [Nathaniel] Mackey

has also single-handedly served as editor of the literary journal "Hambone," which brings together diverse strands of innovative work from both established and emerging writers.

Known as an authority on the relations between African and African American music and writing, Mackey has edited an influential anthology, "Moment's Notice: Jazz in Poetry and Prose" (1993), and produced a poetry CD in collaboration with contemporary jazz musicians.

from UC Santa Cruz: UC Santa Cruz literature professor Nathaniel Mackey wins National Book Award

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News at Eleven: Muthobi Motloatse's theatre piece,

'Nkosi -the Healing song' is a typical example of the fusion of the language of story telling, music, dance and drama. Here the barriers between the audience and the performer were broken, and in the words of a character in 'Nkosi- the Healing Song', "myths, legends and facts are interwoven and the story can "begin in the ending and end in the middle."

from allAfrica.com: Africa: Beyond the Fad to Poetry for Social Change

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News at Eleven: Many of his [Louis Riel's] writings

were later translated imperfectly into English by French-speaking people who did not know Michif.

"This is the first poem that I know of that he wrote in English, because all of his work has been translated from French to English. So for me, that's what's exciting about reading it," [Maria] Campbell said.

from Saskatoon StarPhoenix: Louis Riel poem arrives at U of S

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News at Eleven (Back Page): I heard puns that made sense,

perhaps, only to me. In a game, we'd say we were "injured" which, in my mind, made us like "Injuns" who, it seemed to me, had been grievously wronged.

from The Guardian: Caught between two cultures

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Great Regulars: [Carolyn Locke's] poems

have been published in various publications and have received several awards.

After you have your house warmed with fresh hot bread, you need a poem for the rest of your meal. M. Kelly Lombardi is a practicing and teaching poet who lives in coastal Washington County in a book-filled, music-laden house with her faithful dog, Lucca.

from Elizabeth W. Garber: Village Soup: A Year of Poetry from a Wealth of Maine Poets: Baking bread on a raw November day

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Great Regulars: Dylan Thomas' father

had been a robust, militant man most of his life, and when in his eighties, he became blind and weak, his son was disturbed seeing his father become "soft" or "gentle."

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Dylan Thomas' 'Do Not Go Gentle'

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Great Regulars: "A Boy's Thanksgiving Day" is a poem

written by Lydia Maria Child. It was published in 1844 in the collection, Flowers for Children, Vol. 2 and later set to a melody and retitled, "Over the River and Through the Wood."

Here is the original poem with all twelve stanzas, which I'm sure you will recognize, and I’ll bet you know the melody:

from Linda Sue Grimes: BellaOnline: A Thanksgiving Poem

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Great Regulars: Poem: "Where are Men When they're Not at Home?"

by Reid Bush, from What You Know. © Larkspur Press.

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: For the week of November 20, 2006

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Great Regulars: Except for all those patriotic servicemen,

a century ago tattoos were the tribal marks that you paid somebody to cut into your skin so that everyone would know you belonged to a world populated by crooks and creeps, along with a few bored aristocrats who would probably have been attracted to living a life of crime had their trust funds not rendered it redundant.

from David Kirby: Dallas News: Rockwell, meet inkwell

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Great Regulars: Linda Pastan, who lives

in Maryland, is a master of the kind of water-clear writing that enables us to see into the depths. This is a poem about migrating birds, but also about how it feels to witness the passing of another year.

The Birds

from Ted Kooser: American Life in Poetry: Column 086

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Great Regulars: In a more conventional relationship,

this "bravado and posturing" ([Zachary] Leader's phrase) would almost certainly have proved disastrous. Here it encouraged an existence that was rackety, promiscuous, sometimes painful (and, yes, "aggressive"), but also supportive in so far as it allowed [Kingsley] Amis to feel that he could write out of feelings that he felt were honest.

from Andrew Motion: The Guardian: The naughty boy from Norbury

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Great Regulars: But [Lucy] Larcom manages to communicate

the conviction of her young soldier, and her own. That conviction, and the simple terms of the poem's closing lines, generate real emotion, in part because the phrase "we'll all be glad and gay" is shadowed by doubt--and by the unprecedented violence of the Civil War. The boy's interest in "Mary Ann," reveals his vulnerability.

from Robert Pinsky: The Washington Post: Poet's Choice

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Great Regulars: Like Emily Dickinson, who wrote in

the common meter of Christian hymns, Strand's poems echo the conventions of faith in order to question faith's foundation, to "open the dictionary of the Beyond and discover/what one suspected, that the only word in it/is nothing."

from B.T. Shaw: The Oregonian: Mark Strand's latest book explores language's limitations

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Great Regulars: [Mike] Allen's poems work best

when his bizarre lyricism is put in the service of a scary and taut narrative, as in "The Dream Eaters."

According to this little ditty, "when a dream attains substance and shape . . . it also becomes edible." Our speaker "learned of these things and more/the day I tasted my own dreams for the first time."

from Frank Wilson: Philadelphia Inquirer: Strange poetry from the dark regions

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Great Regulars: From Book 1 of Paradise lost

by John Milton

from The Guardian: Original poetry: From Book 1 of Paradise lost by John Milton

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Great Regulars: -Dan Lewis

Great Blue

from The Hopkinton Crier: Poem Prescription: Dan Lewis: A man of many words and works

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Great Regulars: 'Annals of the Once and Future Earth'

By Robert C. Jones

from The Kansas City Star: Poet's Corner: 'Annals of the Once and Future Earth'

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Great Regulars: "Marking the Lambs"

By Kimberly Johnson

from Slate: "Marking the Lambs" By Kimberly Johnson

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Poetic Obituaries: Luke [Carter-Schelp]'s version

of the poem described a small leprechaun figurine that he had. His mother [Val Carter] changed the words to describe her son.

"I once had a boy not an ordinary boy. A boy that was very special to me," she read. ". . . .The little guy was as bright as night skies."

from Business Gazette: Community remembers energy, enthusiasm of middle school student

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Poetic Obituaries: [Molly Anne Densmore] had taken piano

lessons since she was in grade school and had taught herself how to play the guitar, but recently spent most of her time writing poetry because it was easier on her muscles, Michael Densmore said.

"She wrote about everything - people, events going on," he said. "She wrote about the military, the highs of life, the lows of life and everything in between. There was nothing she wouldn't write about. She could write about any subject there was, and was very good at it."

from The Flint Journal: Woman had flair for writing poetry

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Poetic Obituaries: [Prime Minister Bülent] Ecevit used to think that

the literary genre in which Turkey had advanced the most was poetry, saying: " . . . because Turkish people have a very strong tradition of poetry. Our villagers' conversations are like verse. In addition, most of the letters I receive from citizens are written in the form of verse. Our people reveal not only their emotions but also their thoughts via poetry. In my opinion we have a very strong tradition of folk poetry, which is a tradition that mingles with Turkish folk Sufism. I believe, with the effect of these, the genre at which Turkish literature has advanced the most is poetry."

from Turkish Daily News: Poet Ecevit: Not an 'ivory tower poet,' but a 'poet of the people'

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Poetic Obituaries: Profile: Melvin Fridh

Age: Died at 87
Residence: Loves Park
Accomplishments: Partner in Fridh Corp. and John Fridh & Sons construction; member of Local 792 Carpenters Union for 60 years; also accomplished poet, serving as poet laureate of Loves Park.

from Rockford Register Star: Service today for businessman, poet

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Poetic Obituaries: "So it is that though a poem

has a fixed form, standing as the poet left it when he gave it to a scribe or to the press, ballads alter with every singer," [Albert B.] Friedman wrote.

from Los Angeles Times: Albert B. Friedman, 86; authority on folk ballads

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Poetic Obituaries: [Steven Kublin] especially enjoyed writing

poems which he would then read to his friends and relatives on their wedding days.

As he got older, Kublin became something of a wanderer who picked up odd jobs along the way. Over the years he had traveled throughout the entire country, never staying in one place for long.

from The Eagle-Tribune: Andover man lived peaceful life, died violent death

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_____

Poetic Obituaries: Byron R. Pilbeam, Sr., 78, a retired

overhead crane operator and a longtime director of Dundee Little League who wrote poetry, owned and raced stock cars, and wrote a newspaper column for 12 years, died of pulmonary fibrosis Tuesday in his home here.

from The Toledo Blade: Poet, farmer wrote for newspaper in Dundee

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Poetic Obituaries: Authorities say the Halloween arson

is the deadliest fire in Reno and its largest suspected mass murder.

According to [Jeremy] Wren's obituary, he was a free spirit who loved fishing, poetry, cooking and skiing.

from Reno Gazette-Journal: Two more Mizpah victims identified

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Tuesday, November 14, 2006

November 14th Poetic Ticker Clicking

News Article Tape:
Blog Entry Tape:

November 14th forum announcement

Dear Poetry Fans,

Poetry & Poets in Rags

In poetry news this week, are many very good articles both commemorating and timely for Veterans Day or Remembrance Day. I want to applaud the world of poetry and poetry journalism for how this has been brought through the news to the readers, into cultures all over the world. The Veterans are highly honored. Wars are brought to bear. The poets and poetry are exquisitely chosen. Various opinions are expressed or assumed. But yet the need for someone to get up on a soap box drawing attention to themselves as having the great solution some evil other side does not, has not occurred. The world seems to have grown up this year. Thank you all, all who have participated such that a world-wide conversation can have come to this point. Related articles and poems are in all three of our sections.

Changing subjects, with no segue, I want to give a teaser to all IBPC forum members. One of the articles in News at Eleven was written by a wonderful new friend of ours in the online poetry community. It was written by our annual judge who will read this year's first and second place poems next spring, to determine the IBPC Poem of the Year for 2006. I may not tell you who it is, because the official announcement has not been made yet.

Yours,
Rus

Our links:

IBPC: Poetry & Poets in Rags

Poetry & Poets in Rags Blog

IBPC Home

IBPC Newswire

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: This find is of particular interest

for several reasons. It is almost certainly [Siegfried] Sassoon's last childhood effort at composition before a new tutor, the hearty athletic Cambridge graduate Clarence Hamilton, made him feel that writing poetry was rather "priggish".

from The Times: Memoirs of a poetry-writing boy

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News at Eleven: About the politicization of [John] McCrae,

particularly with Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan, [David] Kilgour says, "The poem is written from a standpoint of a pacifist. But I don't know how someone can read the last [verse] and think McCrae was opposed to fighting tyrants. I think if he was alive now he would have supported our troops in Afghanistan."

from Hour.ca: Proud poppy legacy

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News at Eleven: 'He went through very earthy

and very gritty experiences. As our young men are finding now in Iraq and particularly in Afghanistan over this [last] summer period, gun battles when people are shooting at you, the adrenaline pumps, and this of course is what Owen knew in spades: explosives, explosions, things that just happen and can blow people apart. I've seen that: someone that you're talking to one moment who is a human, live, living person, actually the next moment is all over the place, and you realise that life is quite a tenuous thread.' [--General Sir Richard Dannatt]

from The Observer: No one better captured the pity of war, says British army chief

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: "I've heard that there's a monument somewhere

in Norway to the ship and crew we trained to take on the Nazis," Ferlinghetti says. "Someday, I'd like to get over there to see it."

'Dragon's Teeth'
By Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 2003

from San Francisco Chronicle: Poet Ferlinghetti chased subs in WWII

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: "I mean, the virtual world is

a bit paradisal, isn't it?" explains [Seamus] Heaney. "You waft at angelic speed through the airways. So I bring the Tollund Man into this insubstantial world, and he's smelling of peat and grass and turf and water and he's calling us back to the first place."

from Radio Netherlands: Seamus Heaney: "Bogging In Again"

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: [Don] Paterson gives the sonnets, perhaps

for the first time in English, a true sense of an inhabited skin, a pulsing body responding to the life of the senses.

"Ultimately there is only one poet," Rilke wrote in a letter of 1920, "that infinite one who makes himself felt, here and there through the ages, in a mind that can surrender to him."

from The Guardian: The singer sung

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News at Eleven: It's his use of poets as a lens

that makes this opening section more than a story of Chile's struggles; moreover, [Martin] Espada suggests in the opening eponymic poem that poetry has an unusual importance for Chileans.

from Bookslut: The Republic of Poetry by Martin Espada

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News at Eleven: Instrumental in the Harlem Renaissance

of the 1920s as well as the Black Arts Movement in the late 1960s, [Frank Marshall] Davis would describe his boyhood in Kansas as a "hellhole of inferiority."

In third grade, he was about to be lynched by white children when an adult made the children remove the noose from his neck.

from Wichita Eagle: Ark City native left mark in journalism, poetry and jazz

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: by Corrine Fitzpatrick

The Transcendent Brow of a Househusband or
The Point of Origin for Her Departure Was

from The Brooklyn Rail: Poetry by Corrine Fitzpatrick

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: 'Asterisk'

By Sherwin Bitsui

from The Arizona Daily Star: Master of words

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven (Back Page): Leon Gellert writes of

a crippled comrade that: "Since nowadays of cheer there is a dearth/'Twas smiles or tears, and so he chose the mirth." A hospital orderly reflects on "the jokes that kept us sane," and wonders if: "It may be in peace, when the sufferings cease/We'll be sadder, aye sadder, than now."

from The Guardian: View from the ground

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: "When I was in the desert

I would find a secluded location, either behind some sandbags or in a concrete bunker where I could gather my thoughts to write or draw. Wherever I may be, I find a way to create my own little tranquility, and that serves as my staging table." [--Hollie Hinton]

from Bill Diskin: York Daily Record: Poetryork: Poetry offers tranquility to American soldier

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: "What brought me to the woods

was the prospect of living with nothing between me and the earth — none of the electronic gibber-jabber. I craved directness and quiet. What brought me to the woods was an impulse to get lost, to almost literally be off the map." [--Baron Wormser]

from Elizabeth W. Garber: Village Soup: A Year of Poetry from a Wealth of Maine Poets:

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Geoffrey Chaucer demonstrated

the ability to live in the world but not be of it.

from Linda Sue Grimes: BellaOnline: Geoffrey Chaucer Still Gathering Fans

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: About the poem, Frost asserted,

"You have to be careful of that one; it's a tricky poem--very tricky." And he is, of course, correct. The poem has been and continues to be used as an inspirational poem, one that to the undiscerning eye seems to be encouraging self-reliance, not following where others have led.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Robert Frost’s Tricky Poem

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Poem: "Kryptonite"

by Ron Koertge, from Fever. © Red Hen Press.

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: For the week of November 13, 2006

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: The Illinois poet, Lisel Mueller, is one

of our country's finest writers, and the following lines, with their grace and humility, are representative of her poems of quiet celebration.

In November

from Ted Kooser: American Life in Poetry: Column 085

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: "Not a poet in an age worth crowning.

All good poetry . . . flown." So say some readers about modern poetry, and so, too, says Ben Jonson (1572-1637) about his own time, in his poem "A Fit of Rime Against Rime."

from Robert Pinsky: The Washington Post: Poet's Choice

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Great Regulars: Important themes in her [Stella Díaz Varín's] poetry

include death, love and a lack thereof, and the precariousness of existence. “Of premature death” encapsulates these themes with a brevity that makes it hard to avoid a difference in length between the original and the translation.

de la Prematura Muerte

from Cate Setterfield: The Santiago Times: Chíle's Poets in Translation: Stella Díaz Varín

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Oblivious to my environs

and indifferent to everything else around me, I feel encased in the capsule of a motionless bubble. Max Ehrmann produces this sublime effect most of the time.

Max Ehrmann in his poem eheu! spoke for all of us:

from V Sundaram: News Today: Max Ehrmann on the business of life

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: [Laurence Binyon] is best known

for the poem For the Fallen, written while sitting on The Rumps, Polseath Polzeath, Cornwall, and first published in The Times in September, 1914. The seven-verse poem honoured the World War I British war dead of that time and in particular the British Expeditionary Force, which had by then already had high casualty rates on the enlarging Western Front.

from V Sundaram: News Today: Remembering a brave lost generation

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Rather, "it proposes God

as the answer to questions science was never intended to address," such as why there is something and not nothing and what life means. It is, he [Francis S. Collins] adds, "not intended as a scientific theory" and "can be tested only by the spiritual logic of the heart, the mind, and the soul."

from Frank Wilson: Philadelphia Inquirer: A scientist's willing leap for morality

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: The Children [1914-18]

by Rudyard Kipling

from The Guardian: Original poetry: The Children [1914-18] by Rudyard Kipling

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: 1. Decide on your subject.

Don't rush into it. If it makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck you have probably chosen well. It must have something to do with taboo. Anything that could prove difficult.

from The Guardian: Poetry Workshop: Tim Liardet's workshop

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Complaint/Za_alenie

by Andrzej Bursa translated by Kevin Christianson and Halina Ablamowicz

from Guernica: Poetry: Complaint/Za_alenie

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: 'Annals of the Once and Future Earth'

By Robert C. Jones

from The Kansas City Star: Poet's Corner: 'Annals of the Once and Future Earth'

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: The Elect Shun Mourning & Celebrate

by Dan Wilcox

from MR Zine: "The Elect Shun Mourning & Celebrate"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: by Jenni Burton

Elegie:

from Newpaper Tree: Poetry

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: "My Almost-Daughter, My Nearly-Was Son"

By Chris Forhan

from Slate: "My Almost-Daughter, My Nearly-Was Son" By Chris Forhan

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: [Marine Pvt. Christopher Adlesperger] was a gifted artist

and liked poetry. He thought he might enjoy college.

"I had dinner with him the first week he was at UNM, and he said he loved it," Wanda Adlesperger, Chris' grandmother, said.

from The Albuquerque Tribune: Father of Marine killed in Iraq finally allows himself time to grieve

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Prominent Port Elizabeth teacher,

book reviewer and academic Dr Ida Bell has died after a long illness.

from The Herald: Death of Dr Ida Bell, teacher and scholar of English poetry

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Entertainment was his [Ed Bradley's] refuge

from the pressures of network news, he said, noting that in the early 1970s he tried to become an expatriate poet, writer and jazz lover in Paris. When he ran out of money, he took a job with CBS television, where he would spend the rest of his career.

from New York Daily News: Ed Bradley, trailblazing reporter, 65, dies

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Assunta [Femia] regarded the phalluses

as glorifications of male power in a place sacred to the divine feminine. She destroyed them all with a hammer, celebrating the feat with an triumphant poem, "i smashed the phalloi."

Assunta proved to be too radical for the Radical Faeries, and a parting of the ways followed.

from Bay Area Reporter: Poet Assunta Femia dies

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Poetic Obituaries: A lover of children, Rosella [M. Hollen]

served as foster parent and hosted fresh air children. She was an accomplished poet and enjoyed drawing.

from tyronepa: Rosella M. Hollen

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Martha [Kuopus] was very gifted

in writing, having written many stories, songs and poems. She had a love for the outdoors, and in her younger years loved to pick blueberries, fish and cross country ski. She loved to spend time with her grandchildren, often taking them for sleepovers, day trips to museums, out to eat and to various parks.

from The Mining Journal: Martha M. Kuopus

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: [Milton Levy's] sometimes cranky, sometimes

laudatory, but always entertaining poems were a mainstay of the TAB’s opinion pages for 15 years until a stroke forced him to stop in 2003.

Levy, 91, died of a heart attack on Oct. 28 at Newton-Wellesley Hospital.

from Newton Tab: A farewell tribute to Newton's 'Poet Laureate'

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: At John F. Kennedy Middle School

and Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, [Luis Andrew] Martinez exhibited the charisma and the values that later earned him a following at UC-Berkeley. He refused to wear designer clothes because many students couldn't afford them and was famous for taking dates to the library or to the woods to write poetry.

from San Mateo County Times: A charismatic life, and tragic death

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: "Most of all, he was a poet,"

Rick Moulin said [of Pete B. "Tennessee" Maxwell]. "He'd say, 'I just wrote a poem,' and then he'd say it out loud, from his head. He never wrote them down on paper. They were serious, about love, about my grandmother, about dying. That was how he expressed his emotions."

from The Kansas City Star: Wrestling fan was most of all a poet

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: The poem [by Lance Cpl. Ryan McCaughn]

is called "Soldier," and its seven verses are based on the words pride, courage, protect, war, peace and sacrifice. The second verse reads:

Many soldiers have had to experience the ultimate sacrifice
Even in death a soldier will show pride
All you can do is hope that they finally found peace
People have to replace the fallen and show courage
And fight so that their children do not know war
After all one of the goals of a soldier is to protect.

from Concord Monitor: 19-year-old Marine killed in Iraq

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Although he [Jack Palance] enjoyed raising cattle,

he was a vegetarian who had painted abstract landscapes since the 1950s, loved trees and wrote poetry. He wrote and illustrated a book with the non-villainous title of "The Forest of Love: A Love Story in Blank Verse" that was published in 1996.

from Los Angeles Times: Oscar-winning actor Jack Palance dies

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: [Stanley Pryke] was a poet

and an intellectual and yet he was also a career officer in the British army and one who clearly had great memories of the Second World War. How can I reconcile this contradiction?

from Hamilton Spectator: Remembering My Father

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: [Kate] Rawson took the junior school

into the top 1% of schools nationally for the last three years and was delighted to achieve other honours for the school, such as Investors In People, the Threshold Poetry Prize and two Arts Mark Gold awards.

from Chard and Ilminster News: Kate Rawson: "A great loss to the community"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Music wasn't the only thing he [Malachi Ritscher]

immersed himself in, either: He was an active anti-war activist, an avid photographer, a collector, a reader, and a writer. He painted watercolors, wrote poetry, dabbled with various musical instruments, and grew peppers for his own hot-sauce recipe.

from Pitchfork: Malachi Ritscher, 1954-2006

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Born in Golpaygan,

a town in western Iran, [Abbas] Sarmadi was a prolific writer whose best known books are "The Encyclopedia of Great Artists in Iran and the Islamic World" and "Rassam Arabzadeh: Innovator of Persian Rugs".

from Mehr News: Iranian author Sarmadi dies at 67

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: [Dr. Don] Veller was a member of

the Indiana University, Florida State University and National Golf Coaches Association Halls of Fame. He also wrote a regular golf column that appeared in the Tallahassee Democrat and a book of his golf poems was recently published.

from CSTV: Former FSU Football Coach, Golf Coach And Professor Emeritus Dr. Don Veller Dies

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Tuesday, November 07, 2006

November 7th Poetic Ticker Clicking

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