February 26th forum announcement

Dear Poetry Aficionados,

Poetry & Poets in Rags blog



Breaking news: the arrogant powers that be, in the little country of Qatar, are flipping the bird to justice by not freeing poet Mohammed al-Ajami. His life sentence was reduced to 15 years in prison for thinking freely and writing a poem, doing what all poets do. The first link, in our group of four, is from Amnesty International which calls its readers to immediate action. The other three links have different aspects of interest to the story.

Bookending our News at Eleven section is another story that has taken the poetry world, the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the death Sylvia Plath. It seems each week for the past month, remarkable articles have been written about different aspects of her life and works. This week is no different. These links constitute our Back Page story, the eleventh in our News at Eleven section.

More breaking news is that 50 unpublished Rudyard Kipling poems have been discovered. In Great Regulars, Alison Flood brings us this story, and includes one of the poems.

Time has been passing by too quickly. I meant to note when the 500th issuance of Poetry & Poets in Rags came out. It was two weeks ago. What started on Saturday, July 26, 2003, has spanned nearly ten years. As I have mentioned before, I will stop doing this column this coming July.

More IBPC congratulations are in order. The results for January are up. And our new judge, which is a previous judge, Deborah Bogen, has selected a first, second, third, and an honorable mention. Thanks to Deb, and congratulations! to the poets and boards:

First place: Down the Street by Fred Longworth, of The Waters
Second place: for what is given by Dale McLain, of Wild Poetry Forum
Third place: An A-Z of fruit: A for Apricots by Marilyn Francis, of The Write Idea
Honorable mention: Christmas, Connecticut, 1960 by Christopher T. George, of Desert Moon Review

Thanks for clicking in. And be sure to click on that Amnesty International link.

Yours,
Rus

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