Tuesday, July 25, 2006

July 25th Poetic Ticker Clicking

News Article Tape:
Blog Entry Tape:

July 25th forum announcement

Dear Poetry Fans,

Today is Poetry & Poets in Rags 3rd Anniversary!

Poetry & Poets in Rags

Three years ago tonight, I posted links to 10 articles on poetry at The Atlantic Online's Writers' Workshop and The Melic Review's Roundtable. That was on a Friday. On the 29th, the following Tuesday, the one day I have off from work each week, I began the weekly posts, as I am doing tonight, but posting them on the two forums.

A couple weeks in, Gina Bryson, Managing Editor of the InterBoard Poetry Community, asked if I would like IBPC to carry it as a column in the Newswire section. I had to think about that, because that would mean commitment, and my job takes me away from home and family for 55-60+ hours a week. C.E. Chaffin, the Editor of The Melic Review, asked me the same a week or so later in the spirit that this should be out there. That pushed me into the commitment I have made to this project with the IBPC, a couple months in.

David Ayers, the IBPC President, put all the back issues from the forums up on the Newswire site, thinking they should all be archived. And today I am glad he did. Here are the first two from three years ago:

Archives: July 2003.

Some of the news links on that page still work. What's missing is the forum announcements of the past. The Atlantic posts stay online now for only 30 days, and the Melic forum, which is now off line, changed formats, starting from scratch a year or so ago. The original posts used to start with the editorial annoucement, followed directly by the ten articles, all in the same forum post. By saying "yes", I began my service to the entire IBPCommunity, and began writing the editorial as an announcement to the members at all the IBPC forums, providing a link to the column that David Ayers publishes where you find it now, here: IBPC Newswire: Poetry & Poets in Rags. Enough about me.

How about C.E. Chaffin! New to Great Regulars this week, is a poetry column with a poem at The Philadelphia Inquirer. And C.E.'s poem "Paradigms" starts us off.

Also, I must mention the new look over at Moontown Cafe. Great job!

Thanks for clicking in, some of you for the 155th time! (Yes, two weeks is all that was missed. One vacation week, and the first was when I had my heart attack in winter 2003). But that's the ensuing story, and enough about me. Thank you all, very very much.


Yours,
Rus

Our links:

IBPC: Poetry & Poets in Rags

Poetry & Poets in Rags Blogspot

IBPC Home

IBPC Newswire

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: Meanwhile, the hunger strike

of well-known Azerbaijani activist, writer and poet, Abbas Lesani continues. He is now refusing to drink any fluids. His family members who have been able to see him after a long time, say that Mr. Lesani is being held in the hospital of Ardabil Prison and his health is in grave condition. The writer has told his family members that despite their insistence he will refuse to even drink water until the justice is served.

from BakuTODAY.net: City of Ardabil in Northern Iran: Lives of Azerbaijani prisoners are in danger

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: The authorities state that Sakit Zakhidov,

known by his pen name, Mirza Sakit, a regular contributor to the pro-opposition newspaper Azadlig (Freedom), was arrested on June 23 for carrying and selling 10 grams of heroin.

Zakhidov’s colleagues and supporters, however, dismiss the charges as unfounded, noting that they came just three days after a panel discussion on media freedom organized by the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party (YAP).

from Eurasianet: Azerbaijan: Opposition Poet's Arrest Raises Media Concerns

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: The first poem from Wales'

new national poet is a message of hope in a world filled with the "butcheries of man".

Professor Gwyn Thomas was so inspired by a story of humanity on the news recently that he sat down to write his first occasion poem in his new role.

from Western Mail: Poet sees goodness in world of tragedy

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: It should, I think,

be an open commission: open, that is, to any poet with a mind to write on national issues.

Under this arrangement, the laureate would become a compiler, rather than a writer, of poetry, his principal task being to assemble each year an anthology of the nation's finest "laureate" poetry.

from The Australian: Patronage and the poem

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: Here is Wordsworth

on the grass walk at Rydal Mount: ". . . he would set his heäd a bit forrad, and put his hands behint his back. And then he would start bumming, and it was bum, bum, bum, bum, stop; then bum, bum, bum reet down till t'other end, and then he'd set down and git a bit o'paper out and write a bit; and then he git up, and bum, bum, bum, and goa on bumming for long enough right down and back agean. I suppose, ya kna, the bumming helped him out a bit."

from The Guardian: Words worthy of peasants

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: A female poet would have been

used to performing in private. She might have been willing to work at home -- since early Greek women were shut up at home anyway -- and she would have had a more obvious motive because writing would allow her work to reach an audience that it would otherwise never reach.

from San Francisco Chronicle: Who really wrote 'Odyssey,' 'Iliad'?: Evidence points not to Homer, not to any man, but to a woman

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: Later in the poem,

as the change that violence brings becomes a refrain, things start to seem a little biblical:

It does me no good; violence has changed me.
My body grown cold like the stripped fields;
now there is only my mind, cautious and wary,
with the sense it is being tested.

There it is, the "test," the rabbinical idea that God tested Abraham in the sacrifice of Isaac.

from The Jerusalem Post: Roman craters and the soul

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: Eventually, over a decade

or so, he [Lorenzo Da Ponte] worked with just about everyone--Salieri, Martín y Soler, Paisello--but he particularly hit it off with Mozart.

Though Mozart was seven years younger, the two were a lot alike--not just talented but vain, insecure and hugely ambitious--and they grew so close that while writing "Don Giovanni," for example, they worked in adjoining lodging houses and hollered back and forth through their windows.

from The New York Times: Lorenzo Da Ponte, a Maestro of Second Acts, in Opera and in Life

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: The myth that Kerouac

simply sat down and exhaled the book in three weeks is misleading, says [John] Sampas.

Beginning in the 1940s, Kerouac kept copious notes of his travels with Cassidy, and the process of writing the book began five years before he sat down for the 21-day burst.

from The Lowell Sun: 'On the Road' again--this time unedited

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: Take a newspaper.

Take a pair of scissors.
Choose an article as long as you are planning to make your poem.
Cut out the article.
Then cut out each of the words that make up this article and put them in a bag.
Shake it gently.
Then take out the scraps one after the other in the order in which they left the bag.
Copy conscientiously.
The poem will be like you.
And here you are a writer, infinitely original and endowed with a sensibility that is charming though beyond the understanding of the vulgar.

from The New York Review of Books: Making It New

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven (Back Page): Pieces moved

out of the room will be taken in by the Busch Reisinger Museum or sold through an auction house, according to library administrators.

GSD Department of Architecture Chair Toshiko Mori learned of the renovations to the room through an anonymous letter she received on June 14.

The Woodberry Room is one of only four [Alvar] Aalto projects in the U.S., according to Mori. Because Aalto designed the room in its entirety, “from the point of view of design, it's very, very important to keep everything intact,” Mori said.

from The Harvard Crimson: For Design Purists, Renovation Sparks Ire

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: "I wrote this poem

for my teenage son who was going through some hard times," [Christine C.] Chapman says. "It deals with letting go and parental control as a child enters adulthood. Adolescence can be hard on the parents as well as the teenager!"

Chapman, who has found comfort in her own writing, encourages others--especially other parents--to give poetry a try.

from Bill Diskin: York Daily Record: Poetryork: Poetry helps parent come to grips

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Because of the abundance

of rime, Edgar Allan Poe was labeled by his contemporaries as "The Jingle Man." It was probably Ralph Waldo Emerson who first applied that term to Poe, but Walt Whitman also felt that Poe overused rime.

from Linda Sue Grimes: BellaOnline: The Jingle Man

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: But just as a news

report can be false if the journalist is not careful and honest about gathering his facts about the outer world, the art can be false if the artist is not careful and honest about reporting the inner world.

That's why artists who accused of "selling out" are disdained.

from Linda Sue Grimes: BellaOnline: Spirituality and Genuine Art

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: This marvelous poem

by the California poet Marsha Truman Cooper perfectly captures the world of ironing, complete with its intimacy. At the end, doing a job to perfection, pressing the perfect edge, establishes a reassuring order to an otherwise mundane and slightly tawdry world.

from Ted Kooser: American Life in Poetry: Column 069 (pdf)

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: In the end,

and as further proof of his exceptional ability to remould himself while keeping his integrity, it was the church that came to his rescue. Jack Donne became Dr Donne, the Dean of St Paul's. To many at the time, the transformation seemed improbable.

from Andrew Motion: The Guardian: Donne undone

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Aside from convenience

for military cadets (or air travelers), a poem's brevity can give excitement and pleasure. Prominent examples in English are William Blake and Emily Dickinson. The poems of the Korean poet Pak Chaesam (1933-97), newly published in a translation by David R. McCann and Jiwon Shin, include a sequence called "Four-Line Poems," good-humored and delicate.

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

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Near the end,

the poem's speaker--we assume it's [Willa] Schneberg herself--admits she's related a Holocaust scene to a Cambodian acquaintance "as if it were my story." And this is where the poem's power resides: not in its depictions of horror but in Schneberg's recognition of her compromised position as a storyteller in Cambodia.

from B.T. Shaw: The Oregonian: Poetry

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: If you would get money

as a writer or lecturer, you must be popular, which is to go down perpendicularly. Those services which the community will most readily pay for, it is most disagreeable to render. You are paid for being something less than a man.

from Daily Times: Purple Patch: Life without principle --Henry David Thoreau

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Brief reflection on the sun

by Miroslav Holub

from The Guardian: Original poetry: Brief reflection on the sun by Miroslav Holub

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: You can choose to write

about a wild animal, or a pet, or one that is legendary, imaginary, or even dead. The important thing is to forget the cliches and approach the creature, or creatures, with your perceptions, your vision, and all your senses alert.

from The Guardian: Poetry Workshop: Vicki Feaver's workshop

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Three Poems by

Peg Boyers

from Guernica: Poetry: Three Poems

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Three Poems

by Terese Svoboda

from Guernica: Poetry: Three Poems

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: This week's poem is by Sam Silverman

who writes from the perspective of a jellyfish. These floating ocean beings have been receiving a lot of attention by the press recently since the Portuguese Man of War jellyfish have been visiting the coast of southern Massachusetts and laying their stinging tentacles on a number of unsuspecting swimmers.

from The Hopkinton Crier: Poem Prescription

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: At the Beer Store

By Samantha Bell

from Lawrence Journal-World: Poet's Showcase

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Killer Heat

by Stew Albert

from MR Zine: Stew Albert, "Killer Heat"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: by Carlos Ponce-Meléndez

A lonely night of a lonely life

from Newpaper Tree: Poetry

~~~~~~~~~~~

(New to) Great Regulars: Paradigms

By C.E. Chaffin

from The Philadelphia Inquirer: Paradigms By C.E. Chaffin

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: "Mother's Maiden Name"

By Martha Greenwald

from Slate: "Mother's Maiden Name" By Martha Greenwald

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: More than 200 friends

and family gathered Friday to remember the life of Amber Nicole Carlson, a 19-year-old nursing student shot to death in a double-murder-suicide in Laramie, Wyo.

from Duluth Superior: Friends, family mourn Coloradan killed in Wyoming murder-suicide

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Novelist, poet and playwright Guze Chetcuti

died on Tuesday, aged 91. Guze Chetcuti will be remembered for his significant contribution to the Maltese literature scene, as well as for the love for his country’s language and his involvement in the Akkademja tal-Malti (Maltese Language Academy).

from MaltaMedia News: Literature giant Guze Chetcuti passes away

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Those friends became concerned

when they found that [Alieghya] Clark had left behind a backpack in which she kept many personal belongings.

Clark had no money with her and no means to support herself.

She also left her poetry journal.

from The Kansas City Star: Victim ID'd as missing woman

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Patricia Goedicke, the name

she used in her work, was the author of 12 books of poetry, the most recent of which, "As Earth Begins to End," was recognized by the American Library Association as one of the top 10 poetry books of the year 2000. She taught in the creative-writing program at the University of Montana for 25 years.

from Missoulian: Patricia Goedicke Robinson

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, the man

who for ever changed the direction of the Brazilian theater in 1958 with the play Eles Não Usam Black-Tie (They Don't Wear Black-Tie), the story about a workers strike and the dilemmas of those taking part in it, died this Saturday, July 22, in a São Paulo hospital from the complications of chronic renal insufficiency, at age 71.

from Brazzil Magazine: Brazil Says Farewell to the Man Who Tricked the Generals with Allegories

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Founder of the Tennessee

Chapter of Little People of America and a strong advocate for the disabled, Beth [Elizabeth Whitaker Hudson] was also active in state and local politics as a loyal Democrat. She was a leader in the Tennessee Education Association and a delegate to the national convention of the National Education Association throughout her career.

from The Fairview Observer: Elizabeth "Beth" Whitaker Hudson

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: [Ruth Schonthal] wrote song cycle

settings of poets including Yeats, Wordsworth, Dickinson and García Lorca. Her chamber works included the 1994 piece The Wall Before and After, about the reunification of Berlin; the 1997 Bells of Sarajevo for clarinet and prepared piano; and the 1994 Fantasy-Variations on a Jewish Liturgical Theme for electric guitar. Orchestral works included the 1981 The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez for harp and strings. Her three operas were The Courtship of Camilla, Princess Maleen and Jocasta, written in 1979, 1989 and 1997, respectively.

from Playbill: Composer Ruth Schonthal Dies at 82

~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Midweek Breaking Line: Meanwhile, the hunger strike

of well-known Azerbaijani activist, writer and poet, Abbas Lesani continues. He is now refusing to drink any fluids. His family members who have been able to see him after a long time, say that Mr. Lesani is being held in the hospital of Ardabil Prison and his health is in grave condition. The writer has told his family members that despite their insistence he will refuse to even drink water until the justice is served.

from BakuTODAY.net: City of Ardabil in Northern Iran: Lives of Azerbaijani prisoners are in danger

~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

July 18th Poetic Ticker Clicking

News Article Tape:
Blog Entry Tape:

July 18th forum announcement

Dear Poetry Fans,

Poetry & Poets in Rags

We will touch on poets during wartime, poets imprisoned, and censorship, among other topics. But one theme that developed this week, has to do with poets who were either famous in their time, and that is (so far) that for them (David Jones, for instance), or not so famous then with their work now living on (Emily, for instance).

One of these former celebrities, LH Sigourney, is a poet I have come across now three times this month. She is the Pocahontas poet from the 19th Century, and so will remain ever important if not popular. She looks to be coming famous again, but this time as the poster poet for fame that will not last long past a poet's death. We begin with a tangent off this theme, a newfound Shelley poem that puts him in yet new light.

The Sigourney article is by Linda Sue Grimes from BellaOnline, and can be found among our Great Regulars this week. Dr. Grimes is the History and Spirituality Editor there at BellaOnline. They are looking for a new Poetry Editor, to replace Caron Andregg, who is a Great Regular of ours herself. See her article this week.

Thanks for clicking in.

Yours,
Rus

Our links:

IBPC: Poetry & Poets in Rags

Poetry & Poets in Rags Blogspot

IBPC Home

IBPC Newswire

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: Rather than remaining focused

on [Peter] Finnerty and Ireland, [Percy Bysshe] Shelley is concerned with England and the war:

Millions to fight compell’d, to fight or die
In mangled heaps on War’s red altar lie . . .
When legal murders swell the lists of pride;
When glory’s views the titled idiot guide.

from The Times Literary Supplement: Shelley's fantastic prank

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: [David Jones] died in 1974,

and many believe he is an unrecognised genius, claiming that the two works, along with a third, The Sleeping Lord, are among the most important poems of the 20th century.

from Western Mail: The poets' battle

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: Bhanubhakta [Acharya] wrote two

masterpieces in his life. One, obviously, is the "Bhanubhaktey Ramayan" and the other is a letter he wrote in verse form to the prime minister while in prison. Due to some misunderstanding in signing the papers, he was made a scapegoat and put into prison.

from Ohmy News: Bhanubhakta: The First Poet Of Nepal

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: We decided to shut up

entirely and not pretend to be free, because that would give an alibi to the military regime to say, "See, there is freedom of expression here." Many members of our staff were killed or disappeared or jailed or went into exile, and so it was a good decision to go away and abandon it. [--Eduardo Galeano]

from In These Times: Writer Without Borders

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: The judicial police detained

Father Gérard Jean-Juste, [Jean-Bertrand] Aristide’s “spiritual adviser,” on 22 July 2005, a day after he attended [Jacques] Roche’s funeral, triggering an uproar among all the mourners, who suspected him of being linked to Roche's death. He was later freed on health grounds and allowed to travel to the United States for treatment. He is still there.

from Reporters Without Borders: No sign of justice a year after journalist Jacques Roche was murdered

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: In 1977, the brutal attack

in Oregon on Terri Jentz and her college roommate made newspaper headlines across the country and became a part of An Explanation of America, a book-length poem by Robert Pinsky, a former U.S. poet laureate.

from National Public Radio: Vicious Attack Informs 'An Explanation of America'

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: Add to that company the Irish

poet Seamus Heaney, Nobel laureate of 1995, whose rhymes are rough-hewn, hand-honed. Dungarees and rosaries? Whops and footsteps? Joys and tallboy? We're in Heaney country. His dissonances aren't for every poet; you might even say they're not for the younger Heaney, whose harmonies have grown harsher over time.

from The New York Times: Wild Irish

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: [Raymond Carver] must have been

a dreadfully difficult person to live with, not just because of the booze and the infidelities and the abuse, but because he was wholly self-absorbed. He'd been spoiled as a boy by a doting mother and ever after believed that the world owed him a living; he was scarcely the first writer to see himself in that light, but that didn't make it any easier to be his wife or his child.

from The Washington Post: Raymond Carver's first wife remembers the influential American writer

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: At the entrance to the structure,

[Denis] Van Dam told us how [Robinson] Jeffers adopted ancient Egyptian methods of pyramid-building to raise 300- and 400-pound boulders off the ground. When the poet could no longer push the rocks up an inclined plane, he fashioned a block-and-tackle system to hoist them into the air. Pieces of this system still exist; Van Dam pointed out an old pulley casing on the corner of the house.

from San Francisco Chronicle: A poet's home in Carmel

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: In a recent poem,

"After the War," he [Jim Harrison] devoted a verse to his dog, to the rattlesnake that killed it. "Rose was struck twice by a rattler/in the yard, a fang broken off in her eyeball./Now old dog and old master each/have an eye full of bloody milk . . ." It occurred to me that maybe I should be writing some of this down.

from New West: Six Short Essays About Jim Harrison

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven (Back Page): Twelve poems of Tang

dynasty were sculptured on a tiny match stick, which was the latest masterpiece of the reknowned Taiwan's miniature sculptor, Chen Fengxian.

from Xinhua: 12 poems carved on a tiny match stick

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: In the following poem, Emily

reminds us that faith can be stronger than experience when it truly matters.

I Never Saw a Moor

from Caron Andregg: BellaOnline: Emily Dickinson, American Poet

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: It is a full immersion, a surrender

into meeting the endless needs of these miracles of our lives, who awaken so much love, fun and overwhelming feelings and weariness. Rarely do poems get written, let alone typed and sent out as a witness to our days, but these poems by Elizabeth Potter capture all the senses of this time of our lives.

from Elizabeth W. Garber: Village Soup: A Year of Poetry from a Wealth of Maine Poets: Immersed in a mother’s world in summer

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: One might wonder why such

an accomplished writer and skillful business negotiator who was enormously famous in her own day is no longer recognized. Part of the answer lies in the types of works she published; her moralizing is viewed today as old-fashioned, irrelevant, and in some circles just plain wrong. Her only biographer calls her a "hack writer."

from Linda Sue Grimes: BellaOnline: Early American Poet Lydia Sigourney

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: The best art is made

by those who yearn to discover that vast mysterious territory known as the self. The little ego needs to be fed, though, but if it becomes a glutton, the would-be artist can kiss genuine art good-bye.

from Linda Sue Grimes: BellaOnline: Spirituality and Genuine Art

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Island musician, song writer/poet,

chef and more, Mal Hamilton, is the first of our poets to contribute to magnetictimes.com Poetry. His three poems, which were written in 2001, follow.

I Have No Song for You

from George Hirst: Magnetic Island News: Poems by Mal Hamilton

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Valberg Larusson is an Icelandic

software expert who lived on Magnetic Island a few years ago. Valberg has some very special personal history with Magnetic and shares a little of that with his following letter and poem.

from George Hirst: Magnetic Island News: Poem by Valberg Larusson

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Frank Putland grew up

on Magnetic (see our Reconnect with Magnetic section). His poems range from Magnetic memories to social satire.

Magnetic Childhood

from George Hirst: Magnetic Island News: Poems by Frank Putland

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Here is a marvelous little poem

about a long marriage by the Kentucky poet, Wendell Berry. It's about a couple resigned to and comfortable with their routines. It is written in language as clear and simple as its subject. As close together as these two people have grown, as much alike as they have become, there is always the chance of the one, unpredictable, small moment of independence. Who will be the first to say goodnight?

from Ted Kooser: American Life in Poetry: Column 068

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: [Robin] Becker's comic timing,

her ultimate sincerity and, above all, her respectful, close attention make her poem, like Cowper's, a winning demonstration of how to express feeling through elements of a life that isn't literally or exactly one's own.

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

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: River God

by Stevie Smith

from The Guardian: Original poetry: River God by Stevie Smith

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: The Gift

By Carol Cahill

from The Hopkinton Crier: Poem Prescription

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Navel Gazer

By Lee Carlson

from Lawrence Journal-World: Poet's Showcase

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Three Poems by

Constantine P. Cavafy

from The New Republic: Poem: Three Poems by Constantine P. Cavafy

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Death in Liguria

[by Joseph Soldati]

from The Oregonian: Poetry

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: "Vinyl-Sided Epiphany"

By Erika Meitner

from Slate: "Vinyl-Sided Epiphany" By Erika Meitner

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: "Reading the poem,

it just seems like Joe knew something was about to happen," he [Billy Evans] said. "It was almost like he wanted us to be OK with letting him go. I know he wouldn't want us to be sad."

from The Mississippi Press: Family awaits autopsy report

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: [Shyam Jwalamukhi] always tried

to sit there to get inspiration for his verses, according to reports.

Jwalamukhi was killed outright during the blast, said police who found his identity card.

from Gulf Daily News: A trainee who gave up his seat and life!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Joffrey Orr, 18, loved to sail,

write poetry and perform and often shared his faith with friends.

"He always liked to be with his friends," said his father, Martin Orr.

from Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Christianity was 'only important thing' student said about himself

~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

July 11th Poetic Ticker Clicking

News Article Tape:
Blog Entry Tape:

July 11th forum announcement

Dear Poetry Fans,

Poetry & Poets in Rags

Wales has made its annual choice for a national poet. That's where we begin. And we'll travel all over the world this week in News at Eleven, finishing at the back page with the earliest extant suicide poem, which follows a nifty business look at Ovid.

Some real fine poetry, and looks at poems, can be found in our Great Regulars section. Be sure to check those articles out. The obituaries are numerous, and again, from all over the world. Be sure to check them out as well.

Thanks for clicking in.

Yours,
Rus

Our links:

IBPC: Poetry & Poets in Rags

Poetry & Poets in Rags Blogspot

IBPC Home

IBPC Newswire


~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: A professor of Welsh

from Bangor University has been named as the man to follow in the footsteps of Wales's first national poet.

Gwyn Thomas will take over from Gwyneth Lewis, who wrote the inscription on the front of the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff.

from BBC News: Wales' new national poet is named

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: "I sell the copyright for six

carefully wrapped bottles of the best Romanian dry red wine, delicate and fragrant like a velvet twilight," wrote [Evgheni] Evtushenko in the contract.

from Bucharest Daily News: Notable Russian poet decorated by the president

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: Conflicting Calls

is another poem where the poet [Bhuchung D. Sonam] again talks about the issue and here, he sounds ominous as he sees the freedom struggle going nowhere in the differing din of autonomy and independence calls.

They come from within
These regular chants
Independence! Autonomy!
Association! Dissociation!
We are in the middle of nowhere
Trying to reach everywhere.

from Phayul: Conflicts of Duality : Call of an Exile Poet

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: Pessoa, who wanted to

be alone, opened it, looked at his friend and said: Fernando is not home. I am Alvaro de Campos. Then he added: When Fernando gets back, I will tell him you were here.

Lunatic? Genius? Mental case?

from Haaretz: Will the real Pessoa please stand up

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: It included the skull

of a hare, a cheese box containing a puffin's beak, an envelope containing snow bunting feathers, a list of mills of Meirionnydd, a book of telephone numbers containing no numbers and a postcard of the Nanteos Cup.

from icWales: Welsh poet invented an 'S' in his initials

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: One photo entitled "Waves

Hitting the Shore" captures Lo's feelings about the sea. It shows waves pounding the coastline near a lighthouse, while Lo's accompanying poem states that the violent waves are like rituals that take the world and one's soul to a pure and holy paradise.

from Taiwan Headlines: Confucian photographer discovered paradise among Hualian's people

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: There is a touch of Frost

in the effort here to make conversational speech break over traditionally metered lines. But the poem is no exercise. On the scale of personal tragedy, the death of a parent at a young age ranks high. For Hall, turning this into a poem was a labor of love as well as art.

from Times Argus: Poems are as alive for readers as for poet

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: If "White Apples and the Taste of Stone"

were half as long it would pack twice the punch. You would never say that of the poets on whom Hall has modeled his career: Moore, Eliot, Frost, Pound; nor would you say it of Hall's finest contemporaries.

from The New York Times: The View From Eagle Pond Farm

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: 1970s black consciousness

activist, Gil Scott Heron, was sentenced to two to four years in Queens Supreme Court for violating a plea deal on a drug charge.

from United Press International: Hip Hop founder gets prison time

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: Constantly seeking to innovate,

Ovid created a new literary form altogether with "Heroides," a collection of letters--actually monologues--supposedly written by mythical women to the men they love. For the first time such classical figures as Ulysses' wife, Penelope, Medea and Helen of Troy have their say.

from Investor's Business Daily: To Transform And Transcend

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven (Back Page): Dispute over Suicide

was a poem written by an unnamed Egyptian writer between 2000 and 1740 BC on papyrus in hieroglyphics.

The writer is known as ‘The Eloquent Peasant’, and was commissioned by King Meri-ka-re to write a poem in order to dissuade people from committing suicide.

from RxPG News: Oldest Description of Suicidal Thoughts found in an Egyptian Poem

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: And the layered meaning

of the phrase "living roots" delights me, at least, with its naturalness and its rightness.

You can see this sort of linguistic reverberation in Natasha Trethewey's poem "Pilgrimage" with the play on the word "hollowed," for instance (think: hallowed), as well as death and battle words such as "underground" and "hunkered," among others.

from The Oregonian: When words play, a careful reader finds many meanings

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Given all of her success

with the short story form, it's no wonder [Brenda] Witmer is hesitant to identify herself as a poet. And she points out that, like most of her prose, her poetry takes on a decidedly narrative flavor.

from Bill Diskin: York Daily Record: Poetryork: Writer's work influenced by nature

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: One in a series of elegies

by New York City poet Catherine Barnett, this poem describes the first gathering after death has shaken a family to its core. The father tries to help his grown daughter forget for a moment that, a year earlier, her own two daughters were killed, that she is now alone. He's heartsick, realizing that drinking can only momentarily ease her pain, a pain and love that takes hold of the entire family. The children who join her in the field are silent guardians.

from Ted Kooser: American Life in Poetry: Column 067 (pdf)

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: The varying line lengths let [Ben] Jonson

demonstrate how gracefully he can move the "subtle feet" of his verses through such an attractive dance.

The lady he addresses apparently was better at appraising Jonson's build and complexion than at appreciating the sweetness of his verses.

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

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Cuttings

by Nick Laird

from The Guardian: Original poetry: Cuttings by Nick Laird

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Perry

By Jason Wesco

from Lawrence Journal-World: Poet's Showcase

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: In One Sigh

by Ros Csikc-Cy

from MR Zine: Ros Csikc-Cy, "In One Sigh"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: by Mónica Gómez

The Ride

from Newpaper Tree: Poetry

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: "The One Truth"

By Philip Schultz

from Slate: "The One Truth" By Philip Schultz

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: On the last day of her life Ashleigh Deyhle Farley

tried to get help from friends and family because she was desperately afraid of her boyfriend.

Just before midnight June 26 Farley’s boyfriend, Martin George Zarefoss, allegedly shot her in the head at their Madison, Tenn. apartment and then tried to make her death look like a suicide.

from Gallatin News Examiner: Murder shakes town

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: After teaching at Wesleyan, Dartmouth

and Proctor Academy, he [Bob Fisher] settled in at Kennett High School, where for 20 years he taught, coached, inspired and entertained his students with a combination of a keen insight into English and American literature, a fascination for creative writing and poetry and a remarkable ability to mix his love of guitar playing, theatrics, drama and humor into his classroom.

from Ski Racing: Ski racing icon Bob Fisher, father of Olympian Abbi, dies at 80

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: A poet and a lay minister, Mr. [Roy] Fries

worked in sales and management positions for several years and then took a job at the Rochester Products Division of General Motors. He retired from the company, now Delphi, after more than 20 years.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Mr. Fries occasionally announced the end of his rat crusading, only to return to the effort.

from Rochester Democrat & Chronicle: Roy Fries, anti-rat crusader, dies

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: "He knew he had no one

to take care of his mother, so he had to kill her," [Al] Cernadas said.

The mother [Joyce Goldberg] and son [Martin Goldberg] were reportedly in the midst of moving to another location.

from Home News Tribune: Man kills his mother, then self

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Richard T. Halstead,

an English professor at Terra Community College in Fremont for 30 years, died yesterday in St. Luke's Hospital after a year-long battle with lymphoma. He was 59.

Mr. Halstead, of Perrysburg, had a passion for teaching and also for poetry. During the summer, he conducted poetry workshops, teaching students how to write poetry, his wife, Tricia Halstead, said.

from The Toledo Blade: Richard T. Halstead, 1946-2006: Professor brought out the best in his students

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: [JoAnn] Smith said sheriff's deputies

made inquiries around the neighborhood and pieced together what apparently happened: "The baby was asleep, and she jumped on the four-wheeler for a quick ride," her [Cassie Hornsby's] mother said. "They got two blocks from the house and hit a pothole, and it threw her off. Then he took her back to the house and left her."

from Macon Telegraph: Jones teen dies after ATV accident

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Poet Thirunalloor Karunakaran,

who died here on Wednesday night, was laid to rest with full state honours on Thursday.

from Newindpress.com: Thirunalloor laid to rest

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: When the disability community loses

a champion, the world loses a unique voice of truth. Dara McLaughlin, gifted poet, visual artist, teacher, disability activist and humanitarian, died on May 26, after a long illness.

from The Albuquerque Tribune: Barbara McKee: A voice silenced

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Rex Page was assigned

to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force from Camp Pendleton, Calif. Page, whose tour of duty was expected to finish in July, was wounded in the torso and head. He died during surgery at a military hospital in Germany.

from Belleville News Democrat: Kirksville parents return home with son's body

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: A simple poem written

by U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Raymond J. Plouhar became the centerpiece of his funeral service Friday.

from The Oakland Press: A Marine to the End

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Austin attorney Robert Provan,

who conquered polio as a child but succumbed to its devastating aftereffects decades later, will be buried today at his family's plot in the Lindale city cemetery.

He died July 6, the same day he was released from an Austin rehabilitation hospital after receiving treatment for a broken wrist.

from The Austin American-Statesman: Burial today for disability rights advocate, polio survivor

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: One of major literary figures

in the Urdu language, Ahmad Nadeem Qasimi, has died in Lahore at the age of 89.

from BBC News: Pakistan literary giant is dead

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: "Sainthood is an inconvenient thing,"

Raja Rao wrote of Mahatma Gandhi. The essay was published in The Meaning of India in 1996, but Raja Rao's meditations on sainthood were of much older vintage. The saint, to him, was a man who "would be perfect"; the politician was a man who "would make the world wholesome, whole".

from Business Standard: Philosopher, pioneer, poet: Raja Rao (1908-2006)

~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

July 4th Poetic Ticker Clicking

News Article Tape:
Blog Entry Tape:

July 4th forum announcement

Dear Poetry Fans,

Poetry & Poets in Rags

Today is Independence Day here is the USA, but our first two news items are on independence being taken away from poets on the other side of the world, the second article of which is from The Independent, the first from Reporters Without Borders--the continuing plight of poet and journalist U Win Tin with action you can take to help. There is no political excuse for him being there for 17 years. The group in charge over there, treating him like that, disqualifies them from being either competent enough, or morally mature enough to make or enforce rules for others in that country. Each politician who could get away with it in that country, all the way to the top and back down, but who has not yet spoken out against U Win Tin's imprisonment has added to the shame that government has within the entire world community.

Thirty-eight articles in all this week, eleven, of course, in news at eleven, and some very fine poems to be found. Thanks for clicking in.

My congratulations to the entire community of poets at The Writers Block, for three of their poets--Alex Stolis, Sachi Nag, and Adam Elgar--getting poems to the ten on the shortlist at the Guardian's Poetry workshop.

Yours,

Rus

Our links:

IBPC: Poetry & Poets in Rags

Poetry & Poets in Rags Blogspot

IBPC Home

IBPC Newswire

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: On the eve of the 17th

anniversary of the arrest of prominent journalist dissident U Win Tin, Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association are calling on Burmese Prime Minister, General Soe Win, to immediately release him.

In protest at his continued detention--Win Tin is serving 20 years on a charge of "anti-government propaganda"--the two press freedom organisations are mounting a fax offensive on 4 July 2006, targeting major Burmese embassies throughout the world.

from Reporters Without Borders: U Win Tin begins his 18th year in prison:

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: My name is Tenzin Tsundue.

I am a Tibetan born and brought up in India. On 4 March 1997, I walked across the India-Tibet border. I was apprehended at Cha-gang by border police.

from The Independent: Tibetan dissident to accuse Chinese of torture and genocide

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: This wasn’t blind faith, but

an indignant assertion that the poems were genuine.

An investigation into Ossian’s provenance was launched by the prestigious Highland Society of Scotland in the late 1790s. It found Gaels in all walks of life adamant that [James] Macpherson could not be responsible for poetry that had been around long before he was born.

from Sunday Herald: Ossian: the truth about Scotland’s Homer

~~~~~~~~~~~