March 11th forum announcement

Dear Poetry Aficionados,

Poetry & Poets in Rags


Rodney Armstrong, rodarms, owner of the poetry board Gandy Creek. Here's your link, and there's an online one up in Poetic Obituaries. I'm reading the blogs, and one is reporting your death, linking to a 2005 item announcing your not making it home, and I cannot remember knowing about this. I love sharing forums with you. Rodarms, you, one of the best passed in 2005. But this is what we do, isn't it, we migrate forums, and reconnect years later somewhere else. Rod, geez, if you have Gandy Creek going wherever you are, reserve me my screen name. I'll bring some poetry.

Three UK newspapers are looking at poetry through the canon. And this is where we begin in News at Eleven. T.S Eliot gets many looks this week, and I really like the series from the Salem News here in Massachusetts. So check that out too. Also in this section, several remarkable looks at the poets we love. But be sure to look at the Back Page. Reporters Without Borders has called for tomorrow to be Online Free Expression Day.

In Great Regulars, lots going on, so let me focus on a couple John Mark Eberhart links to his Parachute. He called for submissions, and he added a new feature called Poetry Lab, where after you read the poem, you give the poet feedback. Try it. If you haven't before, that's what we online poets do. It makes for some good conversation among us aficionados.

Good old congratulations are in order for three IBPC poets. Results for November 2007, the month that was to be canceled, are in. The turnaround came because of feedback from the poetry boards. Ellen Kombiyil from Blueline, first place for "First Born". Second went to Guy Kettelhack from About Poetry for his "The Bird Painter". And third place, for the poem "The Gravity of it Beautiful" went to Wild Poetry Forum and Melanie G. Firth.

Special thanks to E. Ethelbert Miller, our judge for October, November and December 2007, for his responsiveness, his patience, his invaluable expertise, and for his excellent commentary on all the poems. He will be at the Split This Rock Poetry Festival. A story on this is in News at Eleven. He is also mentioned in another article in that section, the Foreign Policy in Focus one.

Yours,
Rus

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