Poetry & Poets in Rags

Rus Bowden · at 7:21 PM

Dear Poetry Aficionados,

Poetry & Poets in Rags blog

More writings by Walt Whitman have been found. They're from his job. This is where we begin. Our next set of links leads us to Kay Ryan who won the Pulitzer and Hall-Kenyon poetry prizes this week.

It's a jam-packed week for poetry, in the middle of National Poetry Month. Still and significantly we have two stories with multiple links each about poets who have been detained, Zhu Fu in China, and Ericson Acosta in the Philippines. Arresting poets is a significant sign of a tyrannical government, government by bullies instead of great men and women, a government that wants to shut people up, and will arrest, torture, and kill those who do not speak to enhance the party propaganda.

The tenth and eleventh items in our News at Eleven section have terrific poems in them. You'll also find many in our Great Regulars section. And much more as always, left for your discovery.

Thanks for clicking in.

Yours,
Rus

Our links:

IBPC: Poetry & Poets in Rags

Poetry & Poets in Rags blog

IBPC Home

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Rus Bowden · at 6:00 PM

at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, came to the National Archives expecting to find a few samples of Whitman's government work. Instead, he discovered a whole string of documents entirely in Whitman's handwriting.

"It was electrifying," Price said. "It's sort of your dream to find a trove of documents by a major writer."

The Whitman documents were in the letter books of the attorney general, which contained office copies of outgoing correspondence. They date from 1865 to 1872.

from McClatchy Newspapers: Letters reveal Walt Whitman's other job: Government clerk

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Rus Bowden · at 5:59 PM

of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her supple, spare poems in "The Best of It" [Grove Press, 2010], a collection of new and selected work. Ms. Ryan, who also served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 2008-2010, took a moment from the whirlwind to chat with Speakeasy.

from The Wall Street Journal: Speakeasy: Pulitzer Winner Kay Ryan on Poetry, Rhyming, and Terminal Cancer
then Concord Monitor: Hall-Kenyon poetry prize goes to Kay Ryan

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Rus Bowden · at 5:59 PM

to the audience of one--the solitary person reading silently.

"I'm never thinking about the auditorium with a lectern or a microphone. I'm thinking acoustically, I'm thinking of making good sounds and good rhythms, but I'm thinking of those rhythms taking place inside someone's head, not in a public space," he said.

Rather, what he looks for is the opportunity to explore the mysteries of everyday experience.

from The Courier-Journal: Poet Billy Collins achieves rock-star status with humor, accessibility
then New York Daily News: Lehman professor Billy Collins to open up new chapter as poet
then The Columbus Dispatch: Former laureate explains how he grades his work, advises readers how to enjoy verse
then Wisconsin State Journal: Former laureate talks of his literary persona and poetry in a Twitter world

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Rus Bowden · at 5:58 PM

for writing a poem in support of the online calls for demonstrations that have been circulating in China in the wake of pro-democracy protests in the Middle East. His arrest follows the detention of the artist Ai Weiwei on April 3rd.

Mr Zhu's ex-wife Jiang Hangli said that police told her he has now been accused of 'inciting subversion of state power', a catch-all charge frequently used against anyone who challenges the ruling communist party.

from Telegraph: China arrests dissident as crackdown continues
then CNN: China arrests dissident in crackdown, human rights group says

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Rus Bowden · at 5:57 PM

while not committing any crime or doing anything illegal; I was not informed of the reason for my arrest at the time of my arrest. I was also denied the right to counsel; denied a phone call and prevented from contacting my family or my lawyer and subjected to prolonged interrogation for 44 hours," he [Ericson Acosta] said.

Acosta said that during tactical interrogation, he was physically and psychologically tortured; deprived of sleep, threatened, intimidated, coerced and forced to admit membership in the New People's Army (NPA).

from Bulatlat: Political Detainee, Poet Ericson Acosta Tortured, Almost Executed by Military
then Philippine Daily Inquirer: Cultural activists seek poet's release

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Rus Bowden · at 5:57 PM

two versions of the title poem, setting up conflicting ideals that run throughout the collection. In the first poem, a dog is killed; in the second, the poet bonds with the animal and spares its life.

"Learning to Speak" displays [Ross] Gay's tendency to treat the intersections between life and death both as daily occurrences and as poignant occasions of pathos:

from The Philadelphia Inquirer: Impressive poetry, full of doubleness

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Rus Bowden · at 5:56 PM

peace and violence--each has its place in [Robert] Pinsky's capacious poetry, for its universe is the one in which we all live. Meanwhile, that shark's jaw, that "want bone," continues to haunt. It's a ring of sharp and multilayered wordplay surrounding a center that is not so much empty as unapproachable, unknowable. And in its bleached rawness, in the nakedness of its representation of desire, it reminds us that to be a poet--to aspire to feel the whole world in a touch--is painful and dangerous

from The Washington Post: Robert Pinsky's 'Selected Poems' reviewed by Troy Jollimore

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Rus Bowden · at 5:55 PM

I think, some people have awful families," she says. "And some people don't have families at all. I was single for a long time and felt very much alone in the world, and talk of family values upset me very much at that phase in my life, because I used to think: what about people like me?" In conversation, [Wendy] Cope is as clear and frank as her poems, which have made her one of our best loved and most-accessible poets.

from The Scotsman: Interview: Wendy Cope, author

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Rus Bowden · at 5:54 PM

anything as daring as [Pascale] Petit's inhabiting of Kahlo's person. On the one hand, it could be deemed presumptuous, but to me, from the first of the 52 poems, it was an act of love, of passion for a fellow artist's achievement.

Consider that first poem:

I am what the water gave me,
a smoke-ring in a jar,

the braided rope
my ladder-to-the-light,.

We are all what the water gave us, of course, but this pronouncement, which sounds not a little like the august voices of Black Elk and Chief Joseph, among other Native Americans, announces that this is going to be a ride for dear life. As was Frida Kahlo's career.

from The Student Operated Press: Artist Frida Kahlo Paints Her Life in Words With The Help of a British Poet
then Pascale Petit: US launch readings from What the Water Gave Me (Black Lawrence Press)

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Rus Bowden · at 5:54 PM

A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels, is an epic retelling in verse of the mutiny by fifty-three Africans, illegally sold in Havana, on board the slave ship Amistad in 1839. As Young reminds us in a preface, "The rebels, mostly men from the Mendi people of Sierra Leone, killed the captain and the cook but spared their masters to help steer toward the rising sun and Africa.

from Huntington News: Poetry Month: Kevin Young: 'Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels'

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Rus Bowden · at 5:47 PM

Strong in the Rain (Ame ni mo Makezu)

Translated by Roger Pulvers

Strong in the rain

from The Asahi Shimbun: Iwate poet's work inspires many following Great East Japan Earthquake.

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Rus Bowden · at 5:19 PM

than any film I've ever done because I know I am entering unknown territory.

He [Terry Gilliam] speaks happily of that time, but he also says: "I had a different gene from the rest of my family." He did strange drawings, in which vacuum cleaners became creatures from Mars, and he read lots of books. He derived, he says, his sense of the fantastical as much from the stories in the Bible as from anything else. "When you read, you have to imagine, and it strikes me that's the best thing. Watching television is deadly."

He first came to Britain while hitching around Europe in 1963. That time he went home; the next time, in 1967, he didn't. England was his imaginative homeland.

from Bryan Appleyard: from The Sunday Times: Terry Gilliam

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Rus Bowden · at 5:18 PM

this past Saturday for her debut collection of poems "Find the Girl." In addition to her poetry, you can often find her writing about dance for mnartists.org and Mpls-St.Paul magazine, or see her dancing on stage herself. She also runs the writing salon "The Works" at Bryant Lake Bowl.

[Follow the red silk thread]

from Marianne Combs: Minnesota Public Radio: State of the Arts: Minnesota Poetry: Lightsey Darst's "Follow the red silk thread"

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Rus Bowden · at 5:18 PM

the first patriot to die in the American Revolutionary War: "Remember, its first crimson stripe/Was dyed by Attucks' willing blood."

He emphasizes that Attuck died willingly for his country, not forced as a slave. He celebrates that his race of patriots has always risen to defend their country, even on foreign soil.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: James Weldon Johnson's Fifty Years

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Rus Bowden · at 5:17 PM

began on 16 March 2011, when a young Tibetan monk at the monastery tragically set himself on fire as a way of observing the third anniversary of the widespread peaceful protests that shook Tibet in 2008. Instead of putting out the flames, the police beat the young monk which was one of the causes of his tragic death. This act created huge resentment among the monks, which resulted in this massive blockade of Kirti Monastery.

I am very concerned that this situation if allowed to go on may become explosive with catastrophic consequences for the Tibetans in Ngaba.

In view of this I urge both the monks and the lay Tibetans of the area not to do anything that might be used as a pretext by the local authorities to massively crackdown on them.

I also strongly urge the international community, the governments around the world, and the international non-governmental organizations, to persuade the Chinese leadership to exercise restraint in handling this situation.

For the past six decades, using force as the principle means in dealing with the problems in Tibet has only deepened the grievances and resentment of the Tibetan people. I, therefore, appeal to the Chinese leadership to adopt a realistic approach and to address the genuine grievances of the Tibetans with courage and wisdom and to restrain from using force in handling this situation.

The Dalai Lama

April 15, 2011

from Tenzin Gyatso: The Office of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama: Appeal by H.H. the Dalai Lama
then Luisetta Mudie: Radio Free Asia: Fears Over Monastery Siege

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Rus Bowden · at 5:16 PM

by May Swenson

Yellow telephones

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Daffodils by May Swenson

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God Says Yes To Me
by Kaylin Haught

I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: God Says Yes To Me by Kaylin Haught

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I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth

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Success Story
by Terence Winch

My clothes are perfectly contoured

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Success Story by Terence Winch

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Truth in Advertising
by Andrea Cohen

If we'd moved her,

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Truth in Advertising by Andrea Cohen

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What I Know
by Lee Robinson

What I know for sure is less and less:

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: What I Know by Lee Robinson

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Where Dreams Come From
by Marge Piercy

A girl slams the door of her little room

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Where Dreams Come From by Marge Piercy

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Rus Bowden · at 5:15 PM

I like poems that take the time to carefully observe people at work. Here David St. John, who lives in California, gives us a snapshot of workers protecting an orchard.

Peach Fires

from Ted Kooser: American Life in Poetry: Column 317

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Rus Bowden · at 5:15 PM

The Second Child

(for Nyere-Gibran)

from E. Ethelbert Miller: E-Notes: The Second Child

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[by E. Ethelbert Miller]

The World According to Columbus

Yes, let me discover you

from E. Ethelbert Miller: E-Notes: The World According to Columbus

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Rus Bowden · at 5:14 PM

"a couple" of articles online, mostly about the political thought of former supreme leader Mao Zedong.

"I think the charges against him are inexplicable," she said. "From the time they detained him they haven't been able to come up with a single piece of solid evidence against him."

U.S.-based democracy activist Liu Nianchun said it was still theoretically possible to be accused of subversion when writing about Mao Zedong's political thought, however.

"There are several articles in Mao's writings that call on the poor to rise up [against oppression]," Liu said. "You can find this sort of thing wherever you look."

"The government certainly won't stand for anyone who uses Mao Zedong Thought to attack corruption in its ranks, or the gap between rich and poor," he added.

from Luisetta Mudie: Radio Free Asia: Activist on Trial For Subversion
then Luisetta Mudie: Radio Free Asia: Artist's Wife Questioned
then Luisetta Mudie: Radio Free Asia: How China Gags its Media

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Rus Bowden · at 5:13 PM

the classic writers of the past? Is it appreciation, baffled boredom, or even contempt? Do we turn our nose up at them as bigoted, oppressive, dead white males and believe they are no longer relevant to our lives?

If so, Leigh Hunt's sonnet offers a powerful correction. He describes his awe at seeing a lock of hair that once belonged to Milton, the author of the epic poem "Paradise Lost." Hunt's breath "stirs" the "thin outer threads," as if granting them new life. He falls into a reverie in which he stands alongside his hero, talking of "lovely things that conquer death." This captures the way, whenever we turn to great literature, we enter a timeless moment.

from Christopher Nield: The Epoch Times: The Antidote--Classic Poetry for Modern Life: A reading of 'On a Lock of Milton's Hair'

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Rus Bowden · at 5:13 PM

but as I got deeper into it, I felt my obligation was to render the experience in as three-dimensional a manner as possible. I had to bring the same scrutiny to myself, to examine myself almost as a character in a novel. The act of writing became part of the act of mourning.

from Meghan O'Rourke: The Wall Street Journal: Author Meghan O'Rourke On Losing Her Mother

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Rus Bowden · at 5:12 PM

keep poetry for yourself. You grow to love it for various reasons, and you feel that you know certain things about it, so you want to keep poetry in kind of the space that's been created for it by other people like yourself. On the other hand, everybody wants to see how the rest of the culture would really respond to the art form. I think there is a lot of fear about that. I know I have some fear about that sometimes. I think part of the mystification that goes on with poetry comes out of that fear. It's sort of like if we mystified it enough and nobody's really sure what it actually is, then we don't really have to worry about it being judged.

from David Orr: A.V. Club

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Rus Bowden · at 5:11 PM

in the heavily industrialised north of England. But, particularly in the description of the narrow little houses, it could portray the effects of rapid expansion on any rural area, even London's suburbs. Nature, evoked as a contrastingly slow-moving force at first, is allowed to be part of the process ("whetted fangs of change") and, interestingly, the close-packed houses are seen as organic growths, with their bright brickwork and "rooting pipes."

from Carol Rumens: The Guardian: Books blog: Poem of the week: A Northern Suburb by John Davidson

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Rus Bowden · at 5:11 PM

with a March article from the Home and Garden section, "He Keeps Ancient Apples Fresh and Crisp."

from Katherine Schulten: The New York Times: Poetry Pairing: April 14, 2011

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Rus Bowden · at 5:10 PM

and give that to it.

Writing, I think, is THE most forceful act of hope in destruction. We write to destroy and clear-cut. A good poem is the softest hurricane. We're all up in our tiny rooms, hoping the gods will blow the roof off, are we not?

from B.T. Shaw: The Oregonian: Emily Kendal Frey interview: Dreams, images pour into poems

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Rus Bowden · at 5:10 PM

shortly after the 28 November elections and would have been remembered as a good but not great president. He had, no doubt, put some money aside in Europe, and in the many negotiations which followed, it is reported that he was offered a very comfortable "pension plan". He refused to leave the presidency and armed his close followers. There followed four months of violence, refugee flows, and a disorientation of the economy. Now, there are two challenges facing the new President Ouattara: the first is national reconciliation among deeply divided peoples, and the second challenge is a restructuring of the economy.

from René Wadlow: Newropeans Magazine: The Ivory Coast: Of All Sad Words

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Rus Bowden · at 5:09 PM

reminded of a time in my life that now seems so remote, not quite real, like an old legend. That in itself is strange, since I still think of my first wife and was with her when she died (though we had long since gone our separate ways).

Perhaps that is why, when I woke up the next morning--and the morning after that as well--my very first thought was of what is encapsulated in the Latin phrase memento mori.

from Frank Wilson: When Falls the Coliseum: That's What He Said: Back at work

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Rus Bowden · at 5:05 PM

and died of tuberculosis at 22. He and Vahan Derian are the two most musical poets in Armenian literature and are, therefore, the most daunting to translate. Diana Der-Hovanessian, an American-born poet, has translated their work, she says, "with trepidation and admiration." Variations of the poems appeared in Anthology of Armenian Poetry (Columbia U. Press) and the Derian poems were in Coming To Terms, published by Ashod Press.

Twilight

from The Armenian Weekly: Three Poems by Misak Medzarents

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Rus Bowden · at 5:05 PM

Where the Cows Sleep

I scout where the cows sleep,

from The Christian Science Monitor: Where the Cows Sleep

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Rus Bowden · at 5:04 PM

By Gary Steven Corseri

These damn fantastic nudes float off the page,

from CounterPunch: Poets' Basement: Three by Gary Corseri

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Rus Bowden · at 5:02 PM

herself as an "apicorous" (heretic), the fifth son, riffing on the classic Haggadic image. One would be hard pressed to agree with poet's self-description as a heretic, however, based on the second poem, which interacts closely with Judaism's essence--the multiplicity of meanings derived through interaction with tradition, a blessing that can sometimes turn into a curse.

from Forward: The Arty Semite: National Poetry Month: The Fifth Son

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But in the title poem of David Caplan's recent collection, "In the World He Created According to His Will," Caplan manages to turn the form inside out, while still creating a deeply spiritual meditation on nature, human relationships, and God. Here, instead of perceiving God through nature, the opposite is the case--the beauty of a natural scene is imbued with a spiritual aura thanks to the prayer uttered by the speaker's partner.

from Forward: The Arty Semite: National Poetry Month: 'In the World He Created According to His Will'

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Today's poem in honor of National Poetry Month is "Jewish Spring" by Yermiyahu Taub, which appears in his recent collection, "Uncle Feygele." While the subject is a seemingly appropriate choice for Passover--also known as "Chag Ha'Aviv," or the "Holiday of Spring"--the poem questions not only the contemporary state of nature appreciation, but the fate of the nature poem itself in a society increasingly distant from the natural world.

from Forward: The Arty Semite: National Poetry Month: 'Jewish Spring'

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A regular contributor to Jewish Currents magazine (where these poems first appeared), Naamat Women, Alimentum Journal, and about a dozen other publications, Esther Cohen challenges the notion of canonized prayer and invents prayers of her own. The second poem we're featuring today is such a prayer--a free-flowing inspired and magnanimous festive rant. Enjoy!

The Unhaggadh
A Prayer for Egypt

from Forward: The Arty Semite: National Poetry Month: The Unhagaddah

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Rus Bowden · at 5:01 PM

we feature the work of Lewis Turco, author of “The Book of Forms.” He has two books coming out this year: the fourth edition of “The Book of Forms,” and a book of criticism, “The Dialects of the Tribe: Post-Modern American Poets and Poetry.”

Seasonal

from Good Times Weekly: Poetry Corner: The Poems of Lewis Turco

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Rus Bowden · at 5:01 PM

by Mark Ford

from The Guardian: The Saturday poem: 'They Drove' by Mark Ford

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Rus Bowden · at 4:58 PM

Rabindranath Tagore, translated from the Bengali by Fakrul Alam, April 2011

The carriage is ready; it's afternoon;

from Guernica: Poetry: I Won't Let You Go!

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Molecularity
by Laura McCullough, April 2011

Babies have more red marrow,

from Guernica: Poetry: Molecularity

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The Worst Buddhist
by Bill Neumire, April 2011

Some nights a wild dog scratches

from Guernica: Poetry: The Worst Buddhist

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Rus Bowden · at 4:57 PM

If by truth you mean hand then yes

from PBS: Newshour: Weekly Poem: 'Love Poem'

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Rus Bowden · at 4:57 PM

When my grandson asked me,

from Post-Bulletin: Poem: Never Say Die!

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Rus Bowden · at 4:56 PM

and author of a new collection of poems.

[by Maggie Paul]

Other Daughter

from Santa Cruz News: Santa Cruz Poets, Santa Cruz Inspiration: Maggie Paul

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Rus Bowden · at 4:56 PM

By Mark Strand

from Slate: "Ever So Many Hundred Years Hence"--By Mark Strand

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Rus Bowden · at 4:53 PM

Le Bonheur Des Mots

Je n'attendais plus rien quand tout est revenu--la

from The Times Literary Supplement: Poem of the Week: Le Bonheur Des Mots

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Rus Bowden · at 4:51 PM

and earned his MA in Political Science. He had also written a comprehensive paper on the deteriorating conditions of the forests in JK and had submitted an in depth research paper outlining how the Dal Lake can be saved from further degradation.

from Greater Kashmir: Sadiq Ali passes away

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Rus Bowden · at 4:51 PM

and writing caused her to decide to start a career in teaching. She also became a longtime "reader" at the Huntington Library and a member of the "Live Poets' Society".

Norma acquired a job at Los Angeles Harbor College and soon changed many lives of people around her through her inspirational poetry and fun and entertaining creative writing classes.

from Harbor Tides: Norma June Almquist dies
then Writing Time: Norma Almquist

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Rus Bowden · at 4:50 PM

to bring poetry back to the streets and spoke openly about that desire in a NOW cover story published in 1993. In that conversation, he explained why he could only sing from the heart and talked about the dynamic way in which his emotions drove his music

from Now: John Bottomley 1960-2011

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Rus Bowden · at 4:49 PM

started his career under communism in the former Yugoslavia, working as a journalist and editor, while also publishing children's books, poems and aphorisms.

Crncevic won fame and praise over the years for his literature, mostly for his gentle style in his children's books, which were widely read and won him an award in 1987.

from The Canadian Press: Serb nationalist writer, ally of Milosevic, Karadzic, dies at 78

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Rus Bowden · at 4:49 PM

the Olive Schreiner Prize, three Thomas Pringle Awards, a South African Literary Award and a Slug Award from Carapace magazine--whose editor, Gus Ferguson, was his longtime publisher. In his lifetime, Cullinan saw three overlapping "selected works" published, including Selected Poems: 1961--1994 by Ferguson's SnailPress in 1994 (which was introduced by Watson); and Escarpments: Poems 1973--2007 by Umuzi in 2008 (and launched in May of that year). In addition to his half-dozen collections of poems, Cullinan also published a novel, Matrix, in 2002.

from Book Southern Africa: Patrick Cullinan, RIP

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Rus Bowden · at 4:48 PM

a writer of poems and stories. She taught dependents of military personnel for the U.S. Department of Defense in Japan, England and Spain.

When she returned to the United States, Virginia worked in the Department of Interior Adult Education Program on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and New Mexico for 17 years.

from Columbia Daily Tribune: Virginia Jackson, 1923-2011

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Rus Bowden · at 4:48 PM

philosophy and ethics, travel and tourism and geography at Great Marlow School and was keen to go to university with the intention of having a career in social care.

Head of sixth form Owen Hollyman described Miss Kurzyniec, whose mum died two years ago, as being "caring to a fault" who helped pupils with her counselling skills and even set up a poetry club for Year Seven pupils.

from Reading Post: Friends' tributes to Alex and Tom

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Tuesday, April 19, 2011