in our annual Planetary Poetry Month this past April, she elected to provide "In Other Words" with a few glittering 'graphs clarifying the swift currents and even sweeter undercurrents of "the illegal swimmer" by gloriously gifted Montréaler Artie Gold (b. 1947), a pure poet who left us bereft far too soon on Valentine's Day 2007. (Caution: Gold's hand-written note will make hash of your heart at what Henry Miller keeningly designated "the edge of the miraculous.")
begins with a refrain, "Weep not, weep not." This command is directed to the family of a deceased woman, who is survived by a "Heart-broken husband," a "Grief-stricken son," and a "Left-lonesome daughter." The minister delivering the "funeral sermon" tasks himself with convincing the grieving family that their loved one "is not dead," because she is "resting in the bosom of Jesus," and she has "only just gone home.
of a whole book of poems, The Truro Bear by Mary Oliver. It's a wonderful book of poems with animals as subjects, everything from possums to dogs to turtles.
to express a little interest in the natural world is praiseworthy. Most of us spend our time thinking about other people, and scarcely any time thinking about other creatures. I recently co-edited an anthology of poems about birds, and we looked through lots of books and magazines, but here is a fine poem we missed, by Tara Bray, who lives in Richmond, Virginia.
I've hardly noticed the hard-work element. This is partly because my fellow judges have been very good company (Deborah Bull, Rosie Blau, Tom Sutcliffe and Frances Wilson), and partly because the books have been so . . . well, so interesting, even when not so good. Too many publishers publish too much. Not nearly enough novels get the editing they need.
Or does she suspect the "bonny bird" of possessing secret knowledge? In the world of the ballad, the coexistence of the natural with the numinous is taken for granted.
Indeed, the robin does answer. But what it says is perhaps more grim than anything uttered by Edgar Allan Poe's sinister raven. Maisie's only wedding shall be her funeral! Is this a vision of an untimely end?
"The Chimney Sweeper" offer eloquent examples of Blake's unsettling art. (One "Chimney Sweeper" poem comes from the Songs of Innocence; the other, from the Songs of Experience.) I can think to myself that the poem in Songs of Innocence is more powerful than the one in Songs of Experience, because the Innocence characters--both the "I" who speaks and "little Tom Dacre"--provide, in their heartbreaking extremes of acceptance, the more devastating indictment of social and economic arrangements that sell and buy children, sending them to do crippling, fatal labor.
I feel the same way as lovers of opera or rock music or hip-hop: If I'm having a good time, I don't need to understand every word. If it sounds good, and has emotional conviction, I don't worry about being able to write a term paper about it.
by the hammer-blows of repetition in this week's poem "Wind" by Sydney Dobell. Then I gave it another chance. I imagined hearing it recited in a flickeringly gas-lit auditorium by Sir Henry Irving, the actor who once reduced Bram Stoker to a state of collapse with his rendition of "The Dream of Eugene Aram". And I wondered if "Wind" might not qualify as an enjoyably spine-chilling, though probably inescapably comic, Victorian performance poem.
"For man, as for flower and beast and bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly, most perfectly alive." His work always strove to reconcile the needs of the body with an intellectual existence; however, in his life, his sickly body often held back the progress of his gifted mind.
was an aspiring photographer, poet and musician, according to his family.
He also was an individual who wanted to help others and make a difference. Instead of heading off to college, he traveled to the Dominican Republic to volunteer with the Foundation Mahatma Gandhi.
of the Marching Rams as a percussionist. He loved spending time with his siblings and family, playing soccer and video games, drawing and writing poetry and playing the drum pads.
which [Ella] van Heemstra sold on the black market for penicillin to treat the seriously ill [Audrey] Hepburn.
After the war, Burn reported for The Times from Eastern Europe before moving to Wales, where he put his socialist principles into practice by running a mussel-farming cooperative--it was a financial disaster--and wrote novels, nonfiction books, poetry and an autobiography, "Turned Toward the Sun."
[James] Dorrian said that Burn rejected orthodox communism but kept his left-wing views to the end. Of all his achievements, he was proudest of his poetry.
graduated from Dickinson High School in 2005, studied English literature the past two years at New Jersey City University and was to leave for basic training in the U..S Navy on Sept. 22, his mother, Gloria Torres, told The Jersey Journal today.
Cuadra, who worked at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, was a self-taught guitar and keyboard player who wrote songs and poetry, his mother said. He had a love for books and for nature.
Gospel Baptist Church where he sang solos and also in the choir. He enjoyed trivia, reading, writing poetry, cooking, gardening, and collecting stamps and coins. Cecil sang gospel music until his health no longer allowed and even had his own music ministry where he sang at seven different nursing homes.
received teaching awards at all three universities where she taught, including the University of Iowa's Excellence in Teaching Award in 1989. In 1984, she directed an NEH summer seminar for high school teachers on Milton's Paradise Lost, a poem that she especially loved to teach. While at The University of Iowa, she supervised sixteen doctoral dissertations and eleven undergraduate honors theses. She took great pride in her students' accomplishments and professional careers.
wrote a weekly column in the Stamford Advocate featuring commentary on life in his hometown and the world at large. He also edited and published "Scarecrow," a vehicle for his poems and paintings.
Each Christmas, he wrote a poem which he would print and mail to friends. Mr. Eskesen's last published piece was a nostalgic essay in the Harvard Crimson.
the 1960 Winter Olympic Games in Squaw Valley. He was past president of the Yosemite Lions Club, past president and director/secretary of the California Hospital Personnel Management Association, and served as a member of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce State and National Government Advisory Council and Heal Committee.
Gene put his creative talents to use in his retirement years, compiling a book of poetry.
a now famous band of literary expatriates, included his Yale roommate, Peter Matthiessen, George Plimpton, William Styron and Donald Hall.
In 1953 he teamed up with Mr. Plimpton, Mr. Matthiessen and others as founders of The Paris Review, a journal that propelled the early careers of writers as diverse as Adrienne Rich, Philip Roth, V. S. Naipaul, Jack Kerouac, Mona Simpson and T. Coraghessan Boyle.
children, raised in communist Romania. Her father was a tailor, her mother a homemaker but a strong woman who lived to 93. Florica met Dumitru at a poetry reading, the two drawn together by a love of Romanian poetry. Both were published poets.
Dumitru completed his PhD in theology and was granted permission to study in the U.S. while Florica completed an economics degree and took a job conducting bank audits.
for Vietnam vets with Thich Nhat Hanh, and based the international program she founded, Compassionate Listening, on his teaching that " we must listen to both sides of any conflict before we take actions."
The Compassionate Listening Project's motto is, "An enemy is one whose story we have not heard." Leah Green, executive director of the Compassionate Listening Project, and others continue Gene's work in the world.
for a class the next day, including the lines: "I love to play the violin because it's challenging," "I like to study ancient things because I think it's interesting" and "Lover of candy."
He described himself as happy, curious, stubborn and excited. Sam ate a snack--half of a container of yogurt--then headed to his bedroom in the basement for that adventure, wanting the dreamlike, floating-in-space feeling as the blood rushed into the brain after he temporarily shut it off. He found his belt and attached it to the rod in his closet.
"Mark was an excellent poet, but he wasn't flashy," said poet and colleague Kathleen Fraser. "He was a quietly developing poet."
He joined the faculty at S.F. State in 1954, the year the Poetry Center and American Poetry Archives at the college was founded. He served as its director from 1966 to 1972.
"Mark was the director during a period when there was a lot of turmoil at San Francisco State," said Steve Dickison, director of the Poetry Center. "He supported student rights and had a big influence on the younger people."
Mr. Linenthal testified on behalf of Allen Ginsberg during his obscenity trial after publication of "Howl."
of poetry. She was revered worldwide, won various awards from organizations and publications, and edited a journal devoted to the art. Her poems drew off the senses and dealt with seasons.
"She was considered by many to be the best female writer of her time of English-language haiku," said Ferris Gilli of Marietta. "There are many wonderful ones, but her reach was broad. Peggy's poems are filled with truth. She drew from her experiences and things around her."
Greenford High School as the class Valedictorian. She was an active member of Midway Mennonite Church serving as a Sunday School Teacher and a member of the sewing circle. She enjoyed reading, quilting, gardening, Bible studies, and writing and reading poetry.
to the University were huge," [Mike] Schaeffer said [of William S. Mason Jr]. "He worked closely with President English Jones when they convinced the state legislature to build the modern university."
Schaeffer remembered a man with a love of life and a wide-ranging intellect, who loved to tell stories, travel, write poetry and collect memorabilia.
two terms at Commerce, working mostly in trade development as deputy assistant secretary for technology and aerospace.
Ellis Robert Mottur was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduated with honors in 1952 from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. He received a master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School in 1954, then served two years in the Army in Geneva as a German interpreter.
He wrote a book of poetry, "A Poetic Journey: From Fear--Through Love--to Faith and Felicity," published this year.
and will always be remembered by her family for her big heart and love for everyone. She enjoyed reading, fishing and making jewelry in her spare time. Shelly was a published poet.
Percy [T. Reed] proudly worked for Redmond and Jean Finney, who was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Brown. Redmond C.S. Finney published a book named "Summers with Percy" in the year 2002. Percy enjoyed reading and writing. He created many poems and writings, many of which were incorporated in the book.
and her ability to create the world on a tabletop set was unique among designers of children's books," says Thomas Lindley, the photographer for two of her Look Alikes books, adding that "translating her vision into a photograph is one of the most memorable experiences of my career."
Steiner served for many years as vice-president of New York's Claverack Free Library and as co-chair of its building committee. She also chaired the library's poetry series, attracting internationally known poets to read their work each year.
the U.S. for his unique combination of long-distance hiking, original songwriting, and photography He was an adventurer, artist, poet, photographer, author, and environmental activist.
In his lifetime, he accomplished numerous long-distance treks including the complete lengths of the Pacific Crest Trail, the Appalachian Trail, an east to west cross-continent hike, the entire U.S. Continental Divide, trips from Yellowstone to the Yukon, and many others. In total, he hiked over 28,000 miles of long-distance trips.
the teaching programme, giving massive support to Stewart's successors, Professors Grimsley and Howarth, before retiring in 1982. Concentrated particularly on poetry, his teaching was characterised by vast knowledge and intellectual experience, but also a great humanity and warmth, which made him the model personal tutor who regularly entertained students at home and took them on trips around the Bristol area. His work on the Symbolists, shared latterly with Mr Richard Hobbs, helped to feed the long series of conferences on Literature and the Visual Arts which still continue.
Depending on what you think of as poetry news, we probably have it. We begin this week with oppressed poets placed in jail, our first link to a story about a high school student who is one of them. We also have poems, poems unearthed, poetry reviews, and a poetry manifesto on the Back Page of News at Eleven. Also in this section, we have poetry being used for political purposes, and another asks whether Sylvia Plath is getting the memorial treatment she deserves--in the UK. Any of these articles, in their own right, for the love of poetry and poets, could be our headliner.
But there is something about a country arresting a high school student, separating her from her family who have no idea how she is and who say she knows nothing about politics, that becomes the epitome of a news week--and a sign of a failing regime. What are we doing to our poets, that a country has to fear what its adolescent poets might do to national security? If a regime needs to arrest a high school poet, then they have already lost their case with the people. If a regime needs to dig in for innuendo to see if someone needs re-education, then they have become stupid and self-righteous--if they ever weren't, that is--and there is no God that will side with them. Arresting poets for what they write is one of the best ways of knowing that a country is socially sick. Syria and Jordan are touching bottom. Not always, but too often, as in the case of our second article, the poet has no idea that what he or she has written flies in the face of someone who commands the police force or the army. Too much may be unconscious anyway, and over the head of even the poet, if that's where musings arise from--which means we are arresting people for being who they are.
Many Poetic Obituaries this week, and some excellent articles and poems in Great Regulars as always.
a high school student, in December, and confiscated her computer. Her mother said she has not heard from her since then.
Molouhi's blogs included poems and articles supporting the Palestinian cause and criticizing the Partnership for the Mediterranean, a French diplomatic initiative bringing together Arab and European countries, as well as Israel.
that he had nothing to do with the poem he is accused of writing, which the lawyer said he has not yet been shown. Human Rights Watch obtained two earlier poems by al-Shuli in which he appears to praise the king. In addition, Human Rights Watch has seen no indication that distribution of the poem in question led to any disturbances threatening Jordanian public order, other than a confrontation between al-Shuli and three other students.
"The main issue here is not even whether Hatim al-Shuli wrote this poem," Wilcke said. "The main issue is that Jordanian officials see nothing wrong with treating someone who writes a poem as a national security threat."
bound in faded paperboard and cloth, bears its owner's name handwritten on the inside cover. The well-worn book of hymns belonged to one of American history's most legendary heroines: Harriet Tubman.
Historian Charles Blockson recently donated the hymnal--along with other Tubman memorabilia--to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
and five months in prison, Saw Wai was released in late May.
"This is my first show since I was released from prison. The inspectors came to the exhibition. They interrogated us, as is their custom. Then, my painting April, which I completed in 2003, was not allowed to be exhibited. In fact, the picture just featured a traditional water-festival scene," Saw Wai said.
Byron and Blake, are remembered in Westminster Abbey, or with grand monuments erected by admirers. Plath's own husband, the late poet laureate, Ted Hughes, is already commemorated by a granite monolith, placed secretly, by special permission of Prince Charles, on a remote site on the Duchy of Cornwall Dartmoor estates following his death from cancer in 1998. Early next year his name will join those honoured inside the abbey at Poets' Corner.
its title and its theme, describes seeing "bags of meal passed hand to hand/In close-up by the aid workers" and reminds Heaney of throwing sacks of grain up onto a trailer, and how "Nothing surpassed//That quick unburdening, backbreak's truest payback,/A letting go which will not come again./Or it will, once. And for all." The chain will one day be broken, and for good. The final letting go is the one-off loss of everything.
In just two opposing sentences, "The Baler" sets the old beliefs in work, decency and effort against the bleak apprehension of the end:
physical landscape of brook trout, wildfire, geese in a thawing valley, and mule deer "the color of stoneware," whose paths "lead from dream to water." "Redpolls" begins with the speaker observing these birds as they visit her thistle feeder. She [Melissa Kwasny] reflects on how a field guide characterizes the species, and then the poem makes a metaphorical jump, becoming not just about redpolls but about all of us.
"An irruptive species, the book says, which means they won't be back next year or next, like my grandmother, for instance. So, after work, I make popcorn, fill her green bowl, take it out to the creek where she might find it."
beat poet Michael Horovitz and dozens of other established writers, ranging from academic Ken Worpole to mental health campaigners Barry Tebb and Brenda Williams, are among the 100-plus contributors to Emergency Verse: an anthology of poems to be published online in protest at the coalition government's public spending cuts.
Boasting the personal endorsement of Green MP Caroline Lucas, the e-anthology will be mass-emailed to No 10 Downing Street and every Whitehall department this month, as civil servants grapple with Treasury demands for savings of up to 40%.
similar to our political activists. (I was in New York City with thousands of other people protesting the coming war in Iraq, in conjunction with millions of other people around the world. The war happened anyway and I had to wonder "If this doesn't work, what does?" Still haven't figured it out.) Maybe so much has happened in American poetry, so quickly, that today's poets are still grappling with the achievements of yesterday's poets. (We've got a good handle on Whitman, but I don't know if anybody has really explored all the possibilities implied by Dickinson's grammar.) Or maybe we're just in a lull. Not every generation can, or has, produced the next society. Maybe, for whatever reason; our education structure, the economics of publishing, the prevalence of advertising, the dominance of entertainment, even our best poetic imaginations don't have what is needed to imagine and invent what's next.
not [Sean] Wilentz--is establish [Bob] Dylan as the 20th century's Walt Whitman. Like Whitman he sings the songs of America in the conviction that they say something that can be said in no other way. And, like Whitman, he commits himself to travelling the roads of America, looking and remembering.
From the shelves full of Dylan books this and one other--Christopher Ricks's Dylan's Visions of Sin--are the ones to read.
"There is a strong feeling in the arts," [Colin] Tweedy continues, "that when the government comes to it, they will not cut the arts. One of the problems in the arts community is this entitlement view that has developed in the past 15 years. It has been a golden age of arts funding. But things have got to change, and the arts community is absolutely resistant to that change."
The big picture here is as follows. In the 15 years since the national lottery got going, money has poured into the arts on an unprecedented scale. Partly this was because of the lottery, partly it was because of Tweedy's efforts, but it was also because of the startling generosity of the Blair-Brown administrations.
founding an important literary magazine called kayak and testifying before a subcommittee of the House Un-American Activities Committee. The magazine was known for publishing Raymond Carver's early poetry and for championing experimental and outside-the-mainstream work. Hitchcock put out kayak from 1964-84 and remembered Carver as "a wonderful guy" in a 2004 interview with The Oregonian.
seems to be sick and tired of the way the poor try to get our attention. He says that they need to stay out of the way and quit showing off their misery. We're taking care of things, he says. The last line is devastating.
in our annual Planetary Poetry Month this past April, she elected to provide "In Other Words" with a few glittering 'graphs clarifying the swift currents and even sweeter undercurrents of "the illegal swimmer" by gloriously gifted Montréaler Artie Gold (b. 1947), a pure poet who left us bereft far too soon on Valentine's Day 2007. (Caution: Gold's hand-written note will make hash of your heart at what Henry Miller keeningly designated "the edge of the miraculous.")
