January 29th forum announcement

Dear Poetry Aficionados,

Poetry & Poets in Rags blog



If Robert Burns were alive today, he would be 254-years-old. The Ploughman Poet's birthday is celebrated all over the world, wherever there are people who would enjoy Scottish culture and wouldn't mind making a toast over a meal of haggis or some variation thereof. As such, January 25 is an international poetry holiday. We begin our News at Eleven section this week with an article about Burns' contemporaries, looking at how he influenced and was influenced. In our Great Regulars section, the Guardian newspaper's Saturday poem is one by Burns, Bruce's Address to his troops, at the Battle of Bannockburn.

The theme of anniversaries continues. Today is the 50th anniversary of Robert Frost's death. If Russian bard Vladimir Vysotsky were still alive, he would be 75. Articles on these poets are then followed in News at Eleven by critiques of last week's inaugural poem by Richard Blanco. In Great Regulars, both Linda Sue Grimes and David Ulin also look at the poetic merits of Blanco's work.

We have many more articles this week for you. Before signing off, I should mention that these include articles on imprisoned poets Ericson Acosta and Muhammad ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami, each who are up against governments that are tyrannical and oppressive when it comes to poetry and poets. Like too many around the globe, these poets are in legal battles for their freedom. Thanks for clicking in.

Yours,
Rus

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