a subject he knows well--writing poetry. "I always know whether what I've done is good enough to print," he said. "If it's not, I set it aside or throw it away."
of the fourth session of the classical Arabic poetry program", said [Mohammed Khalaf Al] Mazrouei, adding that the "program has enjoyed the participation of more than 7000 poets from thirty Arab and foreign countries, all competing to be candidates."
major roles in Heart Turned Back. The poet as naturalist turns her observations into meditations. Her surroundings have not washed over her. She wears them like beads of water, pollen. In some ways she does what bees do, she pollinates things and so becomes part of a propagating cycle. It could be said this is what poets do. Having said it, I would want it understood it "s Bertha Rogers's poems that prompt me.
may be going the way of the dodo. As The Times reported Tuesday morning, the Train of Thought series, which placed literary quotations from the likes of Kafka and Schopenhauer in the unlikely locale of a packed New York City subway car, is being removed to make way for a promotional campaign by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
like Naropa University, where poetry is written and read and listened to and discussed, is a delight. And then to get a tour of Naropa's Harry Smith Print Shop, where verse is lovingly printed--with old metal type and antique presses, yet--well, it's both Disneyland and Dollywood for dactyl addicts, an enchanted kingdom of fonts and figures.
as a poet, but the power of rock 'n' roll, rock 'n' roll was really the canopy of our cultural voice, and especially in the '60s, late '60s and early '70s, and our rock stars, the people who were building that voice, whether it was John Lennon or Neil Young or Bob Dylan, whoever it was, they were infusing politics and political ideology, social justice, sexual energy, poets all within the canopy of rock 'n' roll and striving to make this a universal language. [--Patti Smith]
[in Jane Munro's Active Pass], pensive reflections on loss and having to let go of places and people. They contemplate short-lived happiness and lingering sorrow. Yet they are threaded through with a calm energy and resolve, not regret and resignation. The reader feels buoyed up rather than weighed down.
of a new collection titled Low Down and Coming On: A Feast of Delicious and Dangerous Poems About Pigs. Edited by James Lenfestey, the concept for the collection came from the late poet Bill Holm. 
from the 15th century and 'give voice to the common emotions of healthy people in language that can be understood'. I hope that by this time next year some of these sparkling new poems for carols will have been set to music. On behalf of all the poets here to you, their readers, I wish you a very happy Christmas. Carol Ann Duffy
New Year's Eve events: last time, in the general excitement, [Patti] Smith actually forgot to announce the New Year--a minor detail, soon rectified.
it gives me great pleasure to offset the unfathomable sorrows endured by each and every friend and family member whose precious children elected to selflessly serve our country by dedicating this humble bloggadociotica to our fallen (but never forgotten) heroes, with a versifying boost from a talented group of youngsters displaying their smartuitive sensitivity and inspiriting insights in the following sampling of prize-winning entries: 
"To Althea, from Prison" dramatizes the nature of inner freedom. As the title suggests, the setting from which the speaker muses and composes his drama is a prison cell, where he is being held as a political prisoner.
have definitely run against the grain of modernism or postmodernism. Short, tightly compressed and rhymed, they recall the intensity of William Blake's lyrics, and draw on a common source, the Bible. Some are midrashic, in the direct sense that they comment on biblical texts, including a recent verse published in The Hollins Critic that's short enough to quote here:
by Michelle Boisseau
of Silver Roses, which is the most painful part to read precisely because it is the most hopeful. This group of poems chronicles the happy, complicated growth of a new romance, and their real subject is [Rachel] Wetzsteon's ambivalence about happiness. Loneliness and the longing for companionship are one of the constant themes of her work; in art and life, Wetzsteon makes clear, she has grown accustomed to melancholy, and knows how to make use of it.
and we thank you for continuing to support us. I realized a while back that there have been over 850 moons that have gone through their phases since I arrived on the earth, and I haven't taken the time to look at nearly enough of them. Here Molly Fisk, a California poet, gives us one of those many moons that you and I may have failed to observe.
I Remember Loretta Young
young poets has not returned after being forcibly detained ahead of Human Rights Day.
would make an ideal gift for a son or daughter, or niece or nephew, who may have discovered Middle Earth, Narnia, or Hogwarts but none of their literary antecedents. Or maybe curl up with a copy yourself. Within a few moments, you will be plunged into a world of magic and rugged adventure--and reminded of such virtues as generosity, friendliness, chastity, chivalry, and faith.
somewhat lawyerly opening argument, with its energetic triple ifs, Donne puts aside his sense of awe, allowing it to reappear only in his ninth line ("But who am I, that dare dispute with thee/O God?"), a little bit as though he has only just recalled it, interrupting his own eloquent, logic-chopping arguments and rhetorical questions:
is by one of the lesser-known metaphysicals, Thomas Traherne. Belonging to the distinguished company of poets who publish none of their verse, Traherne's might have been forgotten altogether but for the accidental discovery, in the late 19th century, of a collection on sale for a few pence at a London bookstall. Luckily, the poems' buyer was the clergyman and literary scholar Alexander Grosart: less luckily, he attributed their authorship to Henry Vaughan.
"Eating Them as He Came" and The Times's article "Records Fall as Snow Blankets East Coast," from last December.
by John Timpane
by title, are the 10 books that, over the last 12 months, most moved, inspired or beguiled me: my favorite books of 2010.
does not merely record. It shapes, and in doing so arrives at a more accurate representation of ourselves than mere facts could ever provide.
we feature the work of Nicole Cooley, who grew up in New Orleans. "Milk Dress," published by Alice James Books (alicejamesbooks.org), which these poems were selected from, is her fourth book of poems. Cooley directs the MFA program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College--City University Of New York. She lives outside New York City with her husband and two young daughters.
by Albert Abonado, December 2010
)))) Listen
Didn't I just take down the tree only a few days ago?
last book of poems in several senses: it is both her most recent, and, sadly, her final collection, as she died by her own hand in 2009.
By Diane Gonzales Bertrand
"too stern an intellectual emphasis on this quality or that detracts from one's enjoyment". The tourist must not think too much, as Parisians do, if she is to appreciate the variety of Italy, although the mind and the heart's active participation is required to make something of the sometimes unpromising material. Being spoilt for choice allows Moore to show off both her breadth of vision and her accuracy of gaze.
and writing poetry and several of her poems were published by Welcome Home Publishing, LLC.
you smile with her wit and the wonderful poems she wrote.
and could quote reams not just of poetry but prose. He was a complete stickler for grammar and spelling--and precision in journalism--he couldn't bear sloppy writing. When he covered books awards he read all the shortlisted books from cover to cover--and the results often confirmed his dark suspicions that this was more than the judges managed," [Maev Kennedy said of John Ezard.]
and author and actively supported civil rights organizations throughout her life.
and The Black Book of Carmarthen were well received and remain in print.
in the community and was a huge supporter of the arts. Over the years she was involved with Muscatine League of Women Voters, Foster Care Review Board, Muscatine Arts Council, Writers on the Avenue Poetry Association, Muscatine Community Y, Muscatine Symphony Orchestra, the Early Childhood Education Commission, and also served on many committees and helped with many events at Grace Lutheran Church since 1964.
for a woman to continue her education beyond finishing school, Beth [Allen Straus] was not only permitted to attend college--she was expected to. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford in 1938 with a degree in English literature and poetry.
Dear Poetry Aficionados,
"Dean has been placed on the transplant list at Seton Medical Center Austin, and has just been upgraded to a very critical category. He's got to get a heart soon, or go to intermediate drastic measures like a mechanical external pump. Whatever the scenario, the financial expenses, both direct and collateral, will be massive. Yes, he has sound health insurance, but even so, he will have enormous bills not covered by insurance--which is where you can help, with your financial support."
without feeling that the ghost of Whitman is sitting next to us, particularly when you are dealing with so-called minority or ethnic literature. In the 19th century, Whitman was receptive to the idea of multitudes--a country that is made of many countries. He looks at New York City as a metaphor for the rest of the country, and that New York City is a symphony of voices, of backgrounds. In particular, when it comes to poetry, there are a lot of Latino writers that view him as a godfather, or even as a compadre. William Carlos Williams, Martín Espada, and Jimmy Santíago Baca, for instance.
which often characterizes poetry of the middle ages, this imagery can be surprisingly modern.
that [Andrew] Marvell even worked as a low-level spy, at times in disguise--an apt employment for a man whom Mr. [Nigel] Smith characterizes in his subtitle as "the chameleon."
searched for meaning in elements of his life that had consistently haunted and driven him; through an expert use of language, he tried to illuminate purpose and intimate perspectives on life-depicting both what is known and unknown to display the confusion of human experience.
apply for writing grants often and are grateful and relieved to receive the award money.
are accused of threatening to kill the school principal, an assistant principal and a police officer with a 12-gauge shotgun in a poem they wrote while serving in-school suspensions.
"cruelty," makes no mention of the earthquake, but describes killing roaches without pause: "i took a broom to their country/and smashed and sliced without warning/without stopping and i smiled all the time i was doing it." The consequence of this sudden and final disruption, writ small, is a sort of impersonation of an earthquake's caprice: "now i watch myself whenever i enter a room./i never know what i might do." Elsewhere, poets invoke a landscape changed and uprooted--dusty, waterbound, and awash in strange new geometries.
in English has been a source of debate since the beginning of his career, with writers such as the Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong'o criticising his use of the colonial language. In 1965 Achebe wrote: "I feel that the English language will be able to carry the weight of my African experience. But it will have to be a new English, still in full communion with its ancestral home but altered to suit its new African surroundings." It is a position that he has, broadly, stuck to, although he also points out that some of his best poetry has been first written in Igbo.
