Great Regulars: The four pieces printed in that issue

marked a late return (here in his eighty-fifth year), after long experimentation with poems in standard English, to the lyrics in a composite Scots or "Lallans" with which MacDiarmid had made his name in the 1920s and early 30s.

The poems were accompanied at the time with the following glossary:
kittled, tickled; lift, sky; lourd, heavy; marrow, equal; clarsach, harp; lichtnin', lightning

Ulysses' Bow

from The Times Literary Supplement: Poem of the Week: Ulysses' Bow and The Black Rainbow Over the Minch, by Hugh MacDiarmid

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Gerald J. "Jerry" Barke, 39, Green Bay,

died Friday, Sept. 7, 2007, at his home. He was born April 26, 1968, in Green Bay, to Gerald Jerome Flaws and Rosemary Barke. Jerry was a member of the International Society of Poets and enjoyed composing and publishing his poems and short stories.

from Green Bay Press-Gazette: Barke, Gerald J. "Jerry"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Maurice E. Beckett's monthly article

"Notes from Tryon Estates" were printed for eight years in the Tryon Daily Bulletin and a book of verse, In that Small Town of Long Ago, was published in 2003. He was a student of Cherokee Indian archaeology and wrote another book, in verse, of tales from Cherokee legends.

from Times-News: Maurice E. Beckett, 94

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: "He was a warrior poet.

Spirit of a warrior, heart of a poet, mind of a scholar. They came together in Jay."

[Army Staff Sgt. Jason M.] Butkus, 34, was killed in Baghdad when his Humvee was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade.

from The Record: Fallen soldier recalled as a 'warrior poet'

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: In total the prolific academic [Phan Cu De]

published nearly 30 books on literary theory and criticism including Tieu Thuyet Viet Nam Hien Dai (The Modern Vietnamese Novel) and his first critical study of modern poetry in Vietnam, the New Poem Movement.

from VietNamNet Bridge: Literary expert dies at age 74

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: [Anne Delich] cherished a writing tablet

in which she'd written poems she'd studied during eighth-grade poetry hour at her church. She kept it in her nightstand drawer nearly all her life. She pulled it out and recited with gusto refrains from such beloved poems as "Casey at the Bat" and "Excelsior," [Marcia] Braun said.

"It was beautiful to see her reciting them," she said. "She treasured that little booklet."

from The Kansas City Star: Tribute: Anne Delich had a passion for poetry, a flair for fashion

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: The life of the Black Country's "godfather"

of entertainment could soon be honoured with a blue plaque near his childhood haunts.

Flat cap-wearing poet Harry Harrison died from a heart attack last month at the age of 85, shortly after suffering a stroke.

from Express & Star: Fans want plaque for Harry

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: But it wasn't until the 1980s

when he [Terry Hetherington] started writing poetry, following the death of his wife Rita through motor-neurone disease.

Despite starting relatively late in life, he soon carved out a place in the nation's heart as one of the country's best poets.

from Evening Post: Happy Times Recalled at Poet's Funeral

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: "Why does anybody tell a story?"

she [Madeleine L'Engle] once asked, even though she knew the answer.

"It does indeed have something to do with faith," she said, "faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically."

from The New York Times: Madeleine L'Engle, Writer of Children's Classics, Is Dead at 88

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Dasuram Majhi, the controversial Kui poet

who was arrested for Naxal activities, was reportedly one of the victims of the disease. Majhi, a top leader of Bashadhara Dalam of the CPI (Maoist), was wanted by the police for long.

from Newindpress.com: Kui poet dies of diarrhoea

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: [Howard Miller] spent his 45th

wedding anniversary on June 30 at downtown Joliet's fine arts fair.

Howard's poem, "The Junker's Prayer," graced the back of "the cards they put out at the funeral home," Rita said. "He could not pass up a junk pile or a dumpster."

from The Herald-News: Joliet man was one-of-a-kind

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: [Kyle] Quinn penned a poem

right there, on the spot, to read to everyone, [Janemarie] Cloutier said.

"It was about the poetry reading itself, and it was lovely," she said. "It was about the joy of finding other people who loved writing as much as he did."

from The Intelligencer: Warminster man dies in beating

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Cookie Thomas' own words, though,

make it impossible to keep her loss at arm's length. No child can live in her neighborhood and not know the decay, the danger, but she chose to see something else. Her poem reflects the whimsy of young girls across America, the kind whose hair is still six shades of shiny and who skip through the day with hearts about to burst with the simple joy of being alive.

from The Plain Dealer: Losing Cookie was everyone's loss
also The Plain Dealer: A poem by Asteve' "Cookie" Thomas

~~~~~~~~~~~

September 4th Poetic Ticker Clicking

News Article Tape: (ragline)___The Record: Kerouac's ode to beat society___(ragline)___The Sydney Morning Herald: On the road again___(ragline)___Los Angeles Times: Reclusive writers leave their words at face value___(ragline)___The Guardian's theblogbooks: Authors should be seen and not heard___(ragline)___The Guardian: Rhyme and treason___(ragline)___Los Angeles Times: Texas governor calls off execution___(ragline)___Reporters Without Borders: Two men get life for Jacques Roche murder in sign of justice finally moving into action___(ragline)___The Sunday Times: Shakespeare's Wife___(ragline)___The Times: Divine inspiration___(ragline)___Yemen Times: John Donne & the Metaphysical Poetry___(ragline)___Yorkshire Post: Poetry in emotion . . . inspiration behind the lines of public grief___(ragline)___Bryan Appleyard: The Times: The science of music___(ragline)___James Fenton: The Guardian: Blooming marvellous___(ragline)___John Freeman: The Guardian's theblogblooks: Off the road: Kerouac's forgotten abode___(ragline)___John Freeman: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 'Road' work___(ragline)___Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Tiempo's 'Bonsai'___(ragline)___Frieda Hughes: The Times: Destiny's children___(ragline)___Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: For the week of September 03, 2007 ___(ragline)___Ted Kooser: American Life in Poetry: Column 127___(ragline)___Luisetta Mudie: Radio Free Asia: Tibetan Monks in Protest Over Opera Ban___(ragline)___Jay Parini: The Guardian: Open and shut case___(ragline)___Robert Pinsky: The Washington Post: Poet's Choice___(ragline)___Good Times Weekly: Poetry Corner: Poetry by Richard Jones___(ragline)___The Guardian: The Saturday poem: Lament by Joanna Boulter___(ragline)___Guernica: Lovelier Near the End___(ragline)___The Kansas City Star: Poetry: Between the Lines___(ragline)___MR Zine: Djamal Benmerad, 'Postcard form Palestine'___(ragline)___The Oregonian: Poetry___(ragline)___The Philadelphia Inquirer: Your Poem: [by Alison Garahan]___(ragline)___The Philadelphia Inquirer: Your Poem: [by Nikita Rao]___(ragline)___The Philadelphia Inquirer: Your Poem: [by Christine Schmidt]___(ragline)___Portsmouth Herald News: Poem: La Lune___(ragline)___Portsmouth Herald News: Poem: Open Fields___(ragline)___The Scotsman: Poem of the Week___(ragline)___Slate: "Bad Annunciation" --By Joanie Mackowski___(ragline)___The Times Literary Supplement: Poem of the Week: Lines for Translation into Any Language, by James Fenton___(ragline)___Zeek: Poems--With an Introduction by Ilan Stavans___(ragline)___The Decatur Daily: Longtime Athens priest dies from wreck injuries___(ragline)___The Eagle-Tribune: Derry man dies in crash; Police: Speeding contributed to accident___(ragline)___Guelph Mercury: Beller, Katherine Laura (nee Marshall)--Passed away___(ragline)___Santa Monica Mirror: Philomene Now In Poets Heaven___(ragline)___El Paso Times: Husband of ex-El Paso lawmaker remembered___(ragline)___Foster's: Alice Morrow___(ragline)___The Jewish Week: Amazing Grace___(ragline)___The News Journal: Smith, Dora___(ragline)___The Philadelphia Daily News: John Wallowitch, 81, composer___

Blog Entry Tape: (ragline)___The Record: Kerouac's ode to beat society___(ragline)___The Sydney Morning Herald: On the road again___(ragline)___Los Angeles Times: Reclusive writers leave their words at face value___(ragline)___The Guardian's theblogbooks: Authors should be seen and not heard___(ragline)___The Guardian: Rhyme and treason___(ragline)___Los Angeles Times: Texas governor calls off execution___(ragline)___Reporters Without Borders: Two men get life for Jacques Roche murder in sign of justice finally moving into action___(ragline)___The Sunday Times: Shakespeare's Wife___(ragline)___The Times: Divine inspiration___(ragline)___Yemen Times: John Donne & the Metaphysical Poetry___(ragline)___Yorkshire Post: Poetry in emotion . . . inspiration behind the lines of public grief___(ragline)___Bryan Appleyard: The Times: The science of music___(ragline)___James Fenton: The Guardian: Blooming marvellous___(ragline)___John Freeman: The Guardian's theblogblooks: Off the road: Kerouac's forgotten abode___(ragline)___John Freeman: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 'Road' work___(ragline)___Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Tiempo's 'Bonsai'___(ragline)___Frieda Hughes: The Times: Destiny's children___(ragline)___Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: For the week of September 03, 2007 ___(ragline)___Ted Kooser: American Life in Poetry: Column 127___(ragline)___Luisetta Mudie: Radio Free Asia: Tibetan Monks in Protest Over Opera Ban___(ragline)___Jay Parini: The Guardian: Open and shut case___(ragline)___Robert Pinsky: The Washington Post: Poet's Choice___(ragline)___Good Times Weekly: Poetry Corner: Poetry by Richard Jones___(ragline)___The Guardian: The Saturday poem: Lament by Joanna Boulter___(ragline)___Guernica: Lovelier Near the End___(ragline)___The Kansas City Star: Poetry: Between the Lines___(ragline)___MR Zine: Djamal Benmerad, 'Postcard form Palestine'___(ragline)___The Oregonian: Poetry___(ragline)___The Philadelphia Inquirer: Your Poem: [by Alison Garahan]___(ragline)___The Philadelphia Inquirer: Your Poem: [by Nikita Rao]___(ragline)___The Philadelphia Inquirer: Your Poem: [by Christine Schmidt]___(ragline)___Portsmouth Herald News: Poem: La Lune___(ragline)___Portsmouth Herald News: Poem: Open Fields___(ragline)___The Scotsman: Poem of the Week___(ragline)___Slate: "Bad Annunciation" --By Joanie Mackowski___(ragline)___The Times Literary Supplement: Poem of the Week: Lines for Translation into Any Language, by James Fenton___(ragline)___Zeek: Poems--With an Introduction by Ilan Stavans___(ragline)___The Decatur Daily: Longtime Athens priest dies from wreck injuries___(ragline)___The Eagle-Tribune: Derry man dies in crash; Police: Speeding contributed to accident___(ragline)___Guelph Mercury: Beller, Katherine Laura (nee Marshall)--Passed away___(ragline)___Santa Monica Mirror: Philomene Now In Poets Heaven___(ragline)___El Paso Times: Husband of ex-El Paso lawmaker remembered___(ragline)___Foster's: Alice Morrow___(ragline)___The Jewish Week: Amazing Grace___(ragline)___The News Journal: Smith, Dora___(ragline)___The Philadelphia Daily News: John Wallowitch, 81, composer___

September 4th forum announcement

Dear Poetry Aficionados,

Poetry & Poets in Rags

We add another writer to Great Regulars this week, John Freeman, and wa-a-a-ay overdue. He has two of the four articles you'll find on Kerouac. There are many excellent and varied looks at Kerouac these past few weeks. This amazing phenomenon makes me feel like the weather guy telling you to watch the sky for a once-in-a-lifetime, spectacular occurrence. More will appear next week too--for instance, from The Guardian.

Here we are, then, in the middle of a global look at Jack Kerouac. Last week, we started with two on him in News at Eleven, and we do the same this week. However, the two articles take a more negative view to his behavior and personality. One of them nearly asserts that the Beats were a bunch of drunks who changed the world by spontaneous alcoholic combustion. Anyone else in history, who has changed culture to the astounding degree that Kerouac has, did it with vision, focus and determination. That's how that works.

Much more in News at Eleven, excellent stuff, and then in Great Regulars that I leave to your discovery. But, speaking of the Beats, check out the Poetic Obituaries. Philomene Long is there.

In August, the InterBoard Poetry Community was honored to have Pittsburgh poet Deborah Bogen judge the monthly contest. I thank her publicly here. As I write, the poems she selected are at this link: IBPC: Winning Poems. And her commentary is here: IBPC: Latest Commentary. Both web pages are well worth exploring. She's fabulous.


Yours,
Rus

Our links:

IBPC: Poetry & Poets in Rags

Poetry & Poets in Rags blog

IBPC Home

IBPC Newswire

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: Nearly 40 years after his death,

and a half century after the release of his most famous novel, On the Road, Kerouac remains an author who inspires motion. Students still re-enact his rambling, improvised trips across the country. Baby boomers retrace their own youthful journeys. Tourists seek out Kerouac landmarks, like this mill town the author left as a teenager but to which he always returned.

from The Record: Kerouac's ode to beat society

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: Kerouac's first book became something

of a bible for pampered, middle-class white kids who felt they were missing out. As such it had something to say to millions of potential readers and helped rewire an entire culture. Kerouac didn't do this alone, of course.

from The Sydney Morning Herald: On the road again

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: "When a writer doesn't show his face,"

Don DeLillo wrote portentously in his 1991 novel, "Mao II," "he becomes a local symptom of God's famous reluctance to appear."

God's--or at least [Thomas] Pynchon's--heir apparent may be Denis Johnson, an esteemed if not widely known poet and novelist who spends much of his time in northern Idaho and whose new novel, "Tree of Smoke," is one of the season's most eagerly awaited.

from Los Angeles Times: Reclusive writers leave their words at face value

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: A lot of writers, live,

simply don't do their work justice, which is hardly surprising. In one sense at least, writing and performing are polar opposites: one is about as anti-social as a career can get, while the other is definitely, to some degree, about attention seeking. And just because you can write a voice well doesn't mean you can speak in it.

from The Guardian's theblogbooks: Authors should be seen and not heard

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: It's the best way of remembering something;

an oral technique I learned from my mother when she was telling me stories about hyenas and rabbits. She would string them together, and then link them up and then loop them again, and again . . ." His [Jack Mapanje's] hands trace curves in the air.

from The Guardian: Rhyme and treason

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: "After carefully considering the facts

of this case, along with the recommendations from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, I believe the right and just decision is to commute [Kenneth] Foster's sentence from the death penalty to life imprisonment," [Texas Gov. Rick] Perry said in a statement.

from Los Angeles Times: Texas governor calls off execution

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: Reporters Without Borders welcomes the life sentences

which a Port-au-Prince court yesterday passed on two men, Alby Joseph and Chéry Beaubrun, for the abduction and murder of Jacques Roche, the head of the Le Matin newspaper's arts and culture pages. Roche was kidnapped on 10 July 2005 and was found dead four days later.

from Reporters Without Borders: Two men get life for Jacques Roche murder in sign of justice finally moving into action

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: [Germaine Greer] likes to think

that William [Shakespeare] spent long hours teaching Ann to read as she watched her cows grazing on the common. She pictures him writing Venus and Adonis at the kitchen table, and reading out passages to make her blush or laugh, and she imagines Ann “enjoying the poem's lightness of touch, even as she shrank from its rampant sexuality”.

from The Sunday Times: Shakespeare's Wife

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy

was considered by T. S. Eliot to be "the highest point that poetry has ever reached or ever can reach". While in his A Defence of Poetry Shelley declared: "Dante was the first awakener of entranced Europe; he created a language in itself music and persuasion out of chaos of inharmonious barbarisms . . . he presided over the resurrection of learning."

But such plaudits were not always forthcoming.

from The Times: Divine inspiration

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: These poets adopted to use the colloquial

diction and the paradox in order to get the reader of the poem involved, sharing with the poet what he is feeling and trying to react against. This is seen in Donne's poem The Sun Rising when he says:

Busy old fool, unruly Sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains, call on us ?
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run ?
Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
Late school-boys and sour prentices,
Go tell court-huntsmen that the king will ride,
Call country ants to harvest offices;
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.

from Yemen Times: John Donne & the Metaphysical Poetry

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven (Back Page): . . . So Rhys plays now so happily

To the angels in the crowd
And every time he hits the net
They roar his name so loud.
Have fun my little blue boy
You're safe and in God's care
Til it's time for me to get my boots
And join with you up there

Similarly, when the Princess of Wales died, there was an immense outpouring of grief. Instead of sending flowers, many mourners wrote poems to express their sense of despair.

from Yorkshire Post: Poetry in emotion . . . inspiration behind the lines of public grief

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Music--the most intimate resting place

of our souls--continues to hint at something more, something, as Bergman and Wittgenstein saw, not quite of this world; something better. The truth, whatever the explanation, is that we all aspire to the condition of music.

from Bryan Appleyard: The Times: The science of music

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: They are a far cry

from the Aztec world. Still, watching people's reactions this summer, it seems to me that these enormous flowers, these intense colours, retain a power to make people happy. Surely gardens were once like this, before good taste took some of the fun away.

from James Fenton: The Guardian: Blooming marvellous

~~~~~~~~~~~

(New to) Great Regulars: As we approach that great book's 50th anniversary

on Wednesday, with tributes going off like fireworks and an exhibition about to open at the New York Public Library, one has to wonder: what does all this expensive ephemera tell us?

The question was on my mind as I passed by 454 West 20th Street this week, the red brick townhouse where Kerouac composed the scroll while high on coffee.

from John Freeman: The Guardian's theblogblooks: Off the road: Kerouac's forgotten abode

~~~~~~~~~~~

"There are sunflowers and prairie-snowballs and long green fields, and snow mountains: as I said to somebody, 'I am Rubens and this is my Netherlands.'"

Something happened between 1951 and 1957 that made Kerouac a writer rather than a painter of words and "On the Road" the book it is today.

from John Freeman: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 'Road' work

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: In the third verse paragraph,

the reader learns that the speaker likes to fold things up because she wants "To scale all love down/To a cupped hand's size." She called her "folding" up of things she loves an act of "sublimation." She has the need to purify and control her own emotions.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Tiempo's 'Bonsai'

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: The X-ray plate of the ten-year-old girl,

who has swallowed a toy car complete with driver, is one of the slides on display. Armitage likens it to a photograph of a human soul because there is no substance; the image is ethereal and other-worldly (inner-worldly). It is not hard to imagine that this could be what our soul might look like if only we could see it: a transparency of our corporeal form.

from Frieda Hughes: The Times: Destiny's children

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Poem: "Three Songs at the End of Summer"

by Jane Kenyon, from Collected Poems.

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: For the week of September 03, 2007

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Poet Marianne Boruch of Indiana finds

a bird's nest near her door. It is the simplest of discoveries, yet she uses it to remind us that what at first seems ordinary, even "made a mess of," can be miraculously transformed upon careful reflection.

Nest

from Ted Kooser: American Life in Poetry: Column 127

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: The caller said the dispute stemmed

from a plan to revive the traditional Tashi Sholpa opera performance, which was once the main highlight of the annual Yogurt Festival, lasting several days in pre-1959 Tibet.

But Chinese officials quashed the idea, and the monks refused to participate at the thangka ceremony in protest, the caller said.

from Luisetta Mudie: Radio Free Asia: Tibetan Monks in Protest Over Opera Ban

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: "Still," she writes

in the beautiful last stanza, "why do I feel so responsible/for the wailing from shattered houses,/for birth defects and unjust wars,/and the soft, unbearable sadness/filtering down from distant stars?"

Some of the poems meditate on the responsibilities of the poet.

from Jay Parini: The Guardian: Open and shut case

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: The poem has a cheering quality

that might at first be invisible, or mystifying: How can this account of a death from cancer have a kind of smiling, humane element? The answer to that question is in the gift of imagination: in this case, literally a gift, the final scene being given by the poet to the dying man's children, or to us readers.

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

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: [Richard Jones] is editor of "Poetry East,"

for which he received a CCLM Editors Award. He has also edited two critical anthologies, "Poetry and Politics" and "Of Solitude and Silence: Writings on Robert Bly." He is a professor of English at DePaul University and lives in Chicago.

Cherries in the Snow

from Good Times Weekly: Poetry Corner: Poetry by Richard Jones

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Lament

by Joanna Boulter

from The Guardian: The Saturday poem: Lament by Joanna Boulter

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Lovelier Near the End

by Mark Bibbins

from Guernica: Lovelier Near the End

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Between the Lines

By Maril Crabtree

from The Kansas City Star: Poetry: Between the Lines

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Postcard form Palestine

Djamal Benmerad

from MR Zine: Djamal Benmerad, 'Postcard form Palestine'

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: The one great loss is forgotten, [. . .]

[by Robert Hoeft]

from The Oregonian: Poetry

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: By Alison Garahan

I Love You

from The Philadelphia Inquirer: Your Poem: [by Alison Garahan]




~~~~~~~~~~~

By Nikita Rao
War

from The Philadelphia Inquirer: Your Poem: [by Nikita Rao]




~~~~~~~~~~~

By Christine Schmidt
West Deptford High School
From East to West

from The Philadelphia Inquirer: Your Poem: [by Christine Schmidt]




~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: La Lune

[by Lucie Therrien]

from Portsmouth Herald News: Poem: La Lune

~~~~~~~~~~~

Open Fields
[by Ed MacDonna]

from Portsmouth Herald News: Poem: Open Fields

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: The Dynamics of Balsa

(Association for Scottish Literary Studies, £6.95) is the intriguing title of this anthology of new Scottish writing, celebrating its 25th year. Editors Liz Niven and Brian Whittingham chose from around 1,000 anonymous submissions and included this cinematic little poem by Leslie Dargie--her very first publication.

The Doctor Smoked a Pipe

from The Scotsman: Poem of the Week

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: "Bad Annunciation"

—ca. 1500, Jean de Flanes
By Joanie Mackowski

from Slate: "Bad Annunciation" --By Joanie Mackowski

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Through the guileless language

of the phrase-book entries, the reader can reconstruct the story of a military action against part of a city, which might (as the title warns) apply anywhere. As many of his poems suggest, [James] Fenton was once a war correspondent.

Lines for Translation into Any Language

from The Times Literary Supplement: Poem of the Week: Lines for Translation into Any Language, by James Fenton

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: From Hombre de paso/"Just Passing Through" (1981)

to La vida al contado /"Life in Installments" (1992) and beyond, there's a bizarre quality to his verses, a proneness to archaisms, an endearment of symbols, as if [Isaac] Goldemberg's contemporaries were not Raúl Zurita, Alberto Blanco, Homero Aridjis, and other poets from the Spanish-language Americas today, but Dante and Milton and perhaps Goethe.

from Zeek: Poems--With an Introduction by Ilan Stavans

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: "He had such unconditional love.

He just accepted people the way they were, and he was always so generous. You could never outgive him."

Father [Joseph Crawford] Allen was also renowned for his religious-inspired poetry, which he often recited during Mass.

from The Decatur Daily: Longtime Athens priest dies from wreck injuries

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: [Roger Amaral] also wrote poetry

and engraved glass, Roger Amaral Sr. said last night.

"He was very good at what he did," the father said. "I enjoy my sons, and as I'm saying that, the other two are here crying. I don't know what we're going to do."

from The Eagle-Tribune: Derry man dies in crash; Police: Speeding contributed to accident

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: [Katherine Laura Beller] gave unselfish support

to her husband's career and followed her own intellectual pursuits which included Canadian literature, art history, architecture, poetry and psychology. Her creative endeavours encompassed playing the piano, interior design and working in her beloved garden.

from Guelph Mercury: Beller, Katherine Laura (nee Marshall)--Passed away

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Beat legends Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac,

whose world Philomene [Long] would later join, as well as artists Jackson Pollock and William de Kooning, were but a few of those laying the groundwork for the Beat explosion (in the neighborhood where she lived) that would forever change the world, and continue to influence Philomene to this day.

from Santa Monica Mirror: Philomene Now In Poets Heaven

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Friends from El Paso remembered [Lt. Col. Will] McDonald

as a warrior poet with a rough exterior, a warm heart and a red Mazda Miata convertible.

"He was a spectacular human being who embodied core values in his soul that you generally don't encounter in the military, don't encounter in politics and don't encounter in men," said Bill Herring, a friend for nearly two decades.

from El Paso Times: Husband of ex-El Paso lawmaker remembered

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: Alice [Morrow] was a member of

the National Association of Woman Workers, The American Association of University Woman, The National Education Association, Alpha Delta Kappa, The International Clover Poetry Association, The Shore National Network of Poets Society and the Commanders Club of Disabled American Veterans.

from Foster's: Alice Morrow

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: She was named New York State's first

official state author in 1986, but Grace Paley was really poet laureate of the front stoop, a writer who turned the voices of the neighborhood into lasting art. She took seriously the concerns of home, sidewalk, city and the world, and stood up for social justice and peace, sometimes landing in jail for her protests.

from The Jewish Week: Amazing Grace

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: [Dora Smith] was a past president

of 3 Garden Clubs. Dora was also a sculptor and a published poet. She served as director and treasurer of the Englewood Area Writers Guild and founded the Poetry Pod.

from The News Journal: Smith, Dora

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: At an early age, he [John Wallowitch]

was picking out songs on his grandmother's piano. He also had poems printed in a children's column in the old Philadelphia Bulletin.

He attended the former Edgar Allen Poe Elementary School and went on to Vare Junior High School, where he would sneak into the building after hours to play the piano. A teacher caught him once and, instead of reprimanding him, offered him free piano lessons.

from The Philadelphia Daily News: John Wallowitch, 81, composer

~~~~~~~~~~~