Great Regulars: [Kristin Scott Thomas] waves her hand

to signal "next topic". But she does come back to one detail about working in the French film industry. "A director I worked with managed to tell me that Daniel Day-Lewis overacts and that Meryl Streep is rubbish, because she ­overacts as well. I mean, come on. Really, we mustn't talk about this, it makes me quite ill."

She gets shakily upset and sits back in her chair with her hand on her chest. Later, she seems to worry that trashing the movies will make her sound spoilt and ungrateful.

from Bryan Appleyard: from The Sunday Times: Kristin Scott Thomas--Not Dignified and Depressed

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: It's midwinter, and in the midst of all

the usual seasonal pother, [Kathleen] Jamie skips out and takes the ferry north from Aberdeen to Orkney. She's in search of two things: "real, natural, starry dark" and, in the neolithic burial mound of Maes Howe, a beam of solstice sunlight that, if conditions are right, will creep through the darkness and illuminate the tomb, as it has done every midwinter for 5,000 years.

from Sarah Crown: The Guardian: Darkness in literature: Kathleen Jamie's Darkness and Light

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: In celebration of Hanukkah, this week's

Poetry Pairing matches "Honorary Jew" by John Repp with "How to Be a Jew at Christmas," a blog post about raising Jewish children in the United States, where many people tend to assume everyone celebrates Christmas.

from Shannon Doyne: The New York Times: Poetry Pairing: 'Honorary Jew'

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: An exclusive new Christmas poem

from the Poet Laureate, along with her choice of winter verse

The Mistletoe Bride
by Carol Ann Duffy

from Carol Ann Duffy: The Times: Carol Ann Duffy's 12 poems of Christmas

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Book lovers keen to enjoy an Amazon-free

Christmas but unable to tear themselves away from the online retailer's cut-throat pricing can breathe a sigh of relief: a new study has found that Amazon is only the cheapest option on its top 20 bestsellers, with books further down the chart costing 14% more than competitors.

The survey, by global marketing consultancy Simon-Kucher and Partners, analysed the prices of the top 100 print books in the UK between 30 October and 9 November, at Amazon and seven other online booksellers: WH Smith, Blackwell's, Alibris, Kennys, BookFellas, the Amazon-owned AbeBooks and the Book Depository.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Amazon beaten on price for books outside top 20 bestsellers

~~~~~~~~~~~

Readers should prepare for plunging ebook prices after the European Commission yesterday accepted commitments from Apple and four major publishers to stop restricting the sale of cheap ebooks.

The commission has been investigating the publishers Hachette Livre, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan, together with Apple, over "a suspected concerted practice aimed at raising retail prices for ebooks in the European Economic Area", in breach of EU antitrust rules.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: European commission and Apple reach settlement over ebook price fixing

~~~~~~~~~~~

Not content with conquering the acting world, the musical world, the directing world and the art world, James Franco is continuing his bid for world domination with the news that he is set to publish his first poetry book.

Ideally suited to the world of poetry--he has an Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry from Warren Wilson College in North Carolina, and played Allen Ginsberg in the film Howl--Franco has been signed by small Minnesota publisher Graywolf Press for his debut collection, Directing Herbert White.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: James Franco to publish book of poetry

~~~~~~~~~~~

Mo Yan, who days earlier had been slammed by Salman Rushdie for being "a patsy of the regime" because he declined to sign a petition asking for the release of Liu Xiaobo, said on accepting his prize last night: "I want to take this opportunity to express my admiration for the members of the Swedish Academy, who stick firmly to their own convictions. I am confident that you will not let yourselves be affected by anything other than literature."

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Mo Yan accepts Nobel prize, defends 'necessary' censorship

~~~~~~~~~~~

A message to subscribers on Puffin Post's website said: "Firstly, thank you for all your support and apologies for any disappointment the closure of Puffin Post may cause . . . At the end of December, The Book People will cease to have use of the Puffin Brand and so will no longer run Puffin Post. As a result, subscriptions to Puffin Post will no longer be available and unfortunately Penguin are unable to offer the service into 2013."

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Puffin Post to become extinct

~~~~~~~~~~~

Salman Rushdie and Pankaj Mishra have clashed over the controversial Chinese Nobel literature laureate Mo Yan, with Rushdie defending himself over what he called Mishra's "latest garbage".

An article by Mishra in the Guardian this weekend responded to Rushdie's condemnation of Mo Yan as a "patsy" for declining to sign a petition calling for the release of the imprisoned Chinese Nobel peace prize laureate Liu Xiaobo.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Salman Rushdie defends his right to call Mo Yan a 'patsy'

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: After enjoying a big dinner,

all the guests gather around and "pass out the presents."  Each person gets at least three presents a piece.  They hug and shake hands in gratitude for each gift.

Now it is time for music and dancing; Ty plays the guitar and Fred play the fiddle, while Dunder and Fair "roll bag the rugs" so the dancing can begin.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Buck Ramsey's "Christmas Waltz"

~~~~~~~~~~~

As all art forms do, poetry offers readers an opportunity for interpretation.  Misinterpretation often results when the neophyte surmises that all interpretations are correct or that a poem can mean anything one wants it to mean.  If such were the case, no one would have ventured to write more poems after the first one had been established.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Poetry Interpretation and Misinterpretation

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: After the Wedding

by John Daniel

After the white balloons were swept away

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: After the Wedding by John Daniel

~~~~~~~~~~~

Aldershot Crematorium
by John Betjeman

Between the swimming-pool and cricket-ground

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Aldershot Crematorium by John Betjeman

~~~~~~~~~~~

Bridge
by Jim Harrison

Most of my life was spent

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Bridge by Jim Harrison

~~~~~~~~~~~

Five Limericks Against Christmas
by Anonymous

Old Fellow of Dallas

There was an old fellow of Dallas

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Five Limericks Against Christmas by Anonymous

~~~~~~~~~~~

Lines Written in the Days of Growing Darkness
by Mary Oliver

Every year we have been

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Lines Written in the Days of Growing Darkness by Mary Oliver

~~~~~~~~~~~

Meaning Well
by Jack Gilbert

Marrying is like somebody

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Meaning Well by Jack Gilbert

~~~~~~~~~~~

Noel
by Linda Pastan

Like a single

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Noel by Linda Pastan

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: "The primary labors are 40 minus one,"

the Mishnah instructs, and it divides them into several categories. First come the 11 kinds of work necessary to bake bread. This includes everything from sowing seeds and plowing the fields to sifting flour, kneading dough, and baking. Then come the 13 labors involved in making clothing, from shearing wool to weaving threads, tying knots, and sewing stitches.

from Adam Kirsch: Tablet: Why the Sabbath Is Everything

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: The first winter my wife and I lived

in the country, I brought a wild juniper tree in from our pasture and prepared to decorate it for Christmas. As it began to warm up, it started to smell as if a coyote, in fact a number of coyotes, had stopped to mark it, and it was soon banished to the yard. Jeffrey Harrison, a poet who lives in Massachusetts, had a much better experience with nature.

Nest

from Ted Kooser: American Life in Poetry: Column 404

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Eighty-Five

By Elizabeth Tibbetts

"Shoo," she says and waves me away

from Wesley McNair: The Portland Press Herald: Take Heart: A Conversation in Poetry

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Zhan Haite, who was born in the southern city

of Zhuhai but was raised in Shanghai, complained on her Sina microblog account that she had been refused a place at a senior high school in the city because her "hukou," or household registration document, wasn't issued in the city.

Zhan's father, Zhan Quanxi, is being held under criminal detention, while the family's landlord has asked them to leave after coming under strong pressure from police.

from Luisetta Mudie: Radio Free Asia: Man Held After Daughter's Tweet

~~~~~~~~~~~

[He claims that literature and politics should be kept separate, but] many of his works are thoroughly political. In "Garlic Ballads" he exposed a lot of corruption among grass-roots officials, but in the end he concludes that the Communist Party of China is marvelous, and that it's only local officials who are corrupt. That's what the Party leadership says as well.

The cultural elite of Sweden and China attended the award ceremony, including officials from the Chinese Embassy. They should hear an alternative view; that the granting of an award to Mo Yan is the most shameful chapter in their history.

from Luisetta Mudie: Radio Free Asia: A Shameful Chapter in Nobel History

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Maria Taylor

So named because you were London's laundry,

from Jody Porter: Morning Star: Well Versed: Maria Taylor--Soapsud Island

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Though it might seem one of the by-products

of Victorian poetry, this poem actually expresses an essential quality of the age, its power of synthesis. An Arab love song sung by an Englishman, tenuously linked, if at all, to the real grandeur of Arabic literary tradition, the poem is a cunning disguise. It allows Thompson an intensity unlike anything we find in his other secular poems. If the right hand doesn't always know what the left is doing, this is a left-handed poem. I wish he'd written more.

[by Francis Thompson]

An Arab Love-Song

from Carol Rumens: The Guardian: Poem of the week: An Arab Love-Song by Francis Thompson

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Doll's House

By Jacob Polley

from The Guardian: The Saturday poem: Doll's House

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Eusthenopteron

By James Grinwis
December 17, 2012

Before the breach came,

from Guernica: Poetry: Eusthenopteron

~~~~~~~~~~~

[it feels like tattling]

By Benjamin Gantcher

December 17, 2012

it feels like tattling

from Guernica: Poetry: [it feels like tattling]

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Oregon State Penitentiary inmate

Santiago Tianquistengo, aka Marcos Rojas, won first place last month with this poem in a statewide Spanish poetry and literary contest put on by Faces of America.   Reynaldo Goicochea, one of the instructors of the Prisoner's Poetry class at the penitentiary, has provided the translation.

"Nada te vas a llevar"

from The Oregonian: Poetry: Prize-winning poem by Oregon State Penitentiary inmate

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: With Christmas next week, we thought it

would be a good time to re-post this segment from last year. Poet Mark Doty reflects on one of the great traditions of the holiday season: Handel's "Messiah":

from PBS: Newshour: Weekly Poem: 'Messiah: Christmas Portions'

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: [by Ron Tomanio]

The Word

Letters, like footsteps

from Portsmouth Herald News: Random Acts of Poetry: The Word

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: Poem by Soraya Boyd

A bereft generational repository mournfully binds together blood, tears and broken bones . . .

from Salem-News.com: In Memory Of A People With A Land

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: "Gun Control"

By Carol Muske-Dukes

from Slate: "Gun Control"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: The Scroll is adding to our poetry output

with Scroll Verse, a recurring feature that presents the works of Jewish poets--or in some cases, poets who write on Tablet themes or have Jewish souls. Our last poem was Creed: A Still Life by Susan Comninos.

Our latest installment is a work by Jake Marmer.

Adding It Up

from Tablet: The Scroll: Scroll Verse: Adding It Up by Jake Marmer

~~~~~~~~~~~

Great Regulars: In his [Anthony Burgess'] novel Abba Abba (1977),

in which these translations appeared, he imagines [Giuseppe Gioachino] Belli meeting the dying John Keats in Rome and telling him that mere nature-worship leads to "nothing but Truth and Beauty and Goodness till you fall sick", and that the English Romantics could do with calling a spade a shovel now and again. But he also reveres the sonnet which, he thinks, "must have existed in potentia from the beginning", to be made flesh by Petrarch: "In my eight lines X, in my six lines Y, but my total fourteen ever the unity, the ultimate statement whose meaning is itself".

from The Times Literary Supplement: Poem of the Week: From "On Christ's Nativity"--Five sonnets

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: I'm having a hard time expressing the

admiration I had for this man and poet, so I'll let his words stand in stead.

Just as the Inuit have many words for snow,
in some forgotten language
there is a word for the sound of the south wind
as it pushes across the tops of the ashes
and catches in the pine trees just beyond.

from Issa's Untidy Hut: Russell Libby: Rest in Peace

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: "Fionna was always a writer and she wrote

constantly--poetry, essays, unpublished novels," [Barbara] Baer said, adding that [Fionna] Perkins loved doing readings of her work and often inspired others with her charisma and passion.

"She declaimed things," Baer said. "She brought people to her feet when she read. It was in the troubadour style."

Baer said Fionna's work was published in such collections as The Haight Ashbury Literary Anthology and The Mendocino Anthology of Women Poets. She was a great supporter of homegrown talent, hosting countless poetry readings and literary workshops.

from Press Democrat: Fionna Perkins, poet and activist

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: While working as an assistant teacher,

in 1960 he [Nguyen Chi Thien] was imprisoned again after telling Vietnamese school pupils that the end of the Second World War in the East had not come about because of the heroism of Soviet forces in Manchuria, as claimed in their textbooks, but because of American nuclear attacks on Japan. In 1966 he was arrested again and imprisoned until 1977 because of poems he wrote that decried communist oppression. He used his time in jail, much of it spent in solitary confinement, to compose poetry and commit it to memory by reciting it to himself.

After being released in 1977, Thien lived with a friend and wrote down almost 400 poems from memory.

from The Telegraph: Nguyen Chi Thien

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: "He was the most charming person

I've ever met," he [Trevor Ellis] said [of Colm Thomas].

"Where he lived, he was known as the writer.

"He was a wonderful brother-in-law to me, it's a shame we didn't see each other more often.

"He always cared about my wife (Aeronwy) and respected his older brother, Llewellyn.

"They were a very close threesome, when it came down to it, they were together."

Colm was born on July 25, 1949, the third child of Dylan and Caitlin Thomas.

from South Wales Evening Post: Tributes paid to Colm--'charming' youngest child of poet Dylan Thomas
then BBC News: Colm Thomas, Dylan Thomas's last surviving child, dies

~~~~~~~~~~~

Poetic Obituaries: [Jake Adam] York, an associate professor at the

University of Colorado, Denver, was the author of three collections of poetry and a book of literary history. He had recently been named a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship in poetry for 2013.

York's most recent collection of poetry was 2010's "Persons Unknown." "A Murmuration of Starlings" was the winner of the 2008 Colorado Book Award in Poetry; "Murder Ballads" was published in 2005.

from Los Angeles Times: Poet Jake Adam York, 40, has died
then Victoria Advocate: ABR reading series author Jake Adam York dies

~~~~~~~~~~~

December 11th Poetic Ticker Clicking

News Article Tape: (ragline)___Democracy Now: Qatari Human Rights Official Defends Life Sentence for Poet Who Praised Arab Spring Uprisings___(ragline)___The Telegraph: Mexico's drug war: a poet and the people fight back___(ragline)___The Washington Post: A poem for Damascus___(ragline)___Frontline: Of resistance and loss___(ragline)___The Electronic Intifada: Emerging from an "age of defeat": interview with poet Ghassan Zaqtan___(ragline)___Portuguese American Journal: Resurrecting the Brother: The Death of Florbela Espanca--Essay___(ragline)___Los Angeles Times: L.A. literary stalwart selected as city's first poet laureate___(ragline)___The Bilerico Project: Lesbian Eloise Klein Healy Named LA's First Poet Laureate___(ragline)___Advocate: Lesbian Writer Eloise Klein Healy Named First Poet Laureate of Los Angeles___(ragline)___LAist: Los Angeles Names Its First Poet Laureate___(ragline)___LA Weekly: Eloise Klein Healy Is the First-Ever L.A. Poet Laureate--And She Wants to Bring Poetry to Dodger Stadium___(ragline)___Bookslut: Forever Arriving: The Poems of Octavio Paz___(ragline)___The Plain Dealer: C.K. Williams poems in 'Writers Writing Dying' are lighter and more despairing than earlier works___(ragline)___News Scientist: E. O. Wilson and poet laureate on altruism and mystery___(ragline)___The Associated Press: There arose such a clatter over pipe-free Santa___(ragline)___Bryan Appleyard: from The Sunday Times: Oppie: The Face Behind the Mushroom Cloud___(ragline)___Shannon Doyne: The New York Times: Poetry Pairing: 'sorrows'___(ragline)___Alison Flood: The Guardian: America's first book set to be sold amid holy row___(ragline)___Alison Flood: The Guardian: UK lost more than 200 libraries in 2012___(ragline)___Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Edgar Lee Masters' "Griffy the Cooper"___(ragline)___Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: As Birds Are Fitted to the Boughs by Louis Simpson___(ragline)___Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: L'Envoi by Willa Cather___(ragline)___Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Excerpt from Paradise Lost by John Milton___(ragline)___Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: In Praise of Hands by Stuart Kestenbaum___(ragline)___Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Rain by Raymond Carver___(ragline)___Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: This World Is Not Conclusion by Emily Dickinson___(ragline)___Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Winter Happiness by Jack Gilbert___(ragline)___Adam Kirsch: Tablet: Does God Care About Shoes?___(ragline)___Ted Kooser: American Life in Poetry: Column 403___(ragline)___Luisetta Mudie: Radio Free Asia: Calls Grow For Lius' Release___(ragline)___Christopher Nield: The Epoch Times: The Antidote--Classic Poetry for Modern Life: A Reading of "The Drum" by John Scott___(ragline)___Jody Porter: Morning Star: Well Versed: Catherine Graham--Industrial Panorama___(ragline)___Carol Rumens: The Guardian: Poem of the week: Starfish by John Wedgwood Clarke___(ragline)___Fiona Sampson: The Independent: Books of the Year 2012: Poetry___(ragline)___B.T. Shaw: The Oregonian: Poetry: 'Pear Tree' by Karen Holmberg___(ragline)___David L. Ulin: Los Angeles Times: Remembering John Lennon through his letters (and postcards)___(ragline)___The Brooklyn Rail: The Answers to the Questions___(ragline)___The Brooklyn Rail: Four___(ragline)___The Brooklyn Rail: Three___(ragline)___The Brooklyn Rail: Two___(ragline)___CounterPunch: Poets' Basement: Three by Paul Lojeski___(ragline)___Good Times Weekly: Poetry Corner: The Poems of Kim Dower___(ragline)___The Guardian: The Saturday poem: December 1991___(ragline)___PBS: Newshour: Weekly Poem: 'Providence'___(ragline)___Post-Bulletin: Poem: "Clouds"___(ragline)___Tablet: The Scroll: Scroll Verse: Creed: A Still Life by Susan Comninos___(ragline)___The Times Literary Supplement: Poem of the Week: Poem of the Week: "The Review"___(ragline)___Greek Reporter: Lyricist-Poet Alkis Alkaios Passes Away___(ragline)___Boise State Public Radio: Former Idaho Supreme Court Justice And Poet, Byron Johnson Dies At 75___(ragline)___Tehran Times: Poet Khalil Omrani dies at 48___

Blog Entry Tape: (ragline)___Democracy Now: Qatari Human Rights Official Defends Life Sentence for Poet Who Praised Arab Spring Uprisings___(ragline)___The Telegraph: Mexico's drug war: a poet and the people fight back___(ragline)___The Washington Post: A poem for Damascus___(ragline)___Frontline: Of resistance and loss___(ragline)___The Electronic Intifada: Emerging from an "age of defeat": interview with poet Ghassan Zaqtan___(ragline)___Portuguese American Journal: Resurrecting the Brother: The Death of Florbela Espanca--Essay___(ragline)___Los Angeles Times: L.A. literary stalwart selected as city's first poet laureate___(ragline)___The Bilerico Project: Lesbian Eloise Klein Healy Named LA's First Poet Laureate___(ragline)___Advocate: Lesbian Writer Eloise Klein Healy Named First Poet Laureate of Los Angeles___(ragline)___LAist: Los Angeles Names Its First Poet Laureate___(ragline)___LA Weekly: Eloise Klein Healy Is the First-Ever L.A. Poet Laureate--And She Wants to Bring Poetry to Dodger Stadium___(ragline)___Bookslut: Forever Arriving: The Poems of Octavio Paz___(ragline)___The Plain Dealer: C.K. Williams poems in 'Writers Writing Dying' are lighter and more despairing than earlier works___(ragline)___News Scientist: E. O. Wilson and poet laureate on altruism and mystery___(ragline)___The Associated Press: There arose such a clatter over pipe-free Santa___(ragline)___Bryan Appleyard: from The Sunday Times: Oppie: The Face Behind the Mushroom Cloud___(ragline)___Shannon Doyne: The New York Times: Poetry Pairing: 'sorrows'___(ragline)___Alison Flood: The Guardian: America's first book set to be sold amid holy row___(ragline)___Alison Flood: The Guardian: UK lost more than 200 libraries in 2012___(ragline)___Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Edgar Lee Masters' "Griffy the Cooper"___(ragline)___Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: As Birds Are Fitted to the Boughs by Louis Simpson___(ragline)___Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: L'Envoi by Willa Cather___(ragline)___Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Excerpt from Paradise Lost by John Milton___(ragline)___Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: In Praise of Hands by Stuart Kestenbaum___(ragline)___Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Rain by Raymond Carver___(ragline)___Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: This World Is Not Conclusion by Emily Dickinson___(ragline)___Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Winter Happiness by Jack Gilbert___(ragline)___Adam Kirsch: Tablet: Does God Care About Shoes?___(ragline)___Ted Kooser: American Life in Poetry: Column 403___(ragline)___Luisetta Mudie: Radio Free Asia: Calls Grow For Lius' Release___(ragline)___Christopher Nield: The Epoch Times: The Antidote--Classic Poetry for Modern Life: A Reading of "The Drum" by John Scott___(ragline)___Jody Porter: Morning Star: Well Versed: Catherine Graham--Industrial Panorama___(ragline)___Carol Rumens: The Guardian: Poem of the week: Starfish by John Wedgwood Clarke___(ragline)___Fiona Sampson: The Independent: Books of the Year 2012: Poetry___(ragline)___B.T. Shaw: The Oregonian: Poetry: 'Pear Tree' by Karen Holmberg___(ragline)___David L. Ulin: Los Angeles Times: Remembering John Lennon through his letters (and postcards)___(ragline)___The Brooklyn Rail: The Answers to the Questions___(ragline)___The Brooklyn Rail: Four___(ragline)___The Brooklyn Rail: Three___(ragline)___The Brooklyn Rail: Two___(ragline)___CounterPunch: Poets' Basement: Three by Paul Lojeski___(ragline)___Good Times Weekly: Poetry Corner: The Poems of Kim Dower___(ragline)___The Guardian: The Saturday poem: December 1991___(ragline)___PBS: Newshour: Weekly Poem: 'Providence'___(ragline)___Post-Bulletin: Poem: "Clouds"___(ragline)___Tablet: The Scroll: Scroll Verse: Creed: A Still Life by Susan Comninos___(ragline)___The Times Literary Supplement: Poem of the Week: Poem of the Week: "The Review"___(ragline)___Greek Reporter: Lyricist-Poet Alkis Alkaios Passes Away___(ragline)___Boise State Public Radio: Former Idaho Supreme Court Justice And Poet, Byron Johnson Dies At 75___(ragline)___Tehran Times: Poet Khalil Omrani dies at 48___

December 11th forum announcement

Dear Poetry Aficionados,

Poetry & Poets in Rags blog



We travel all over the world this week through Poetry & Poets in Rags, to some of the worst places, visiting some of the worst people.

Kicking our trip off, we begin where we began last week, in a jail in Qatar where the poet Mohammad ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami is being held for a life sentence, often in solitary confinement, for a poem he wrote. What's new to this story is that the emir chose Mohamed bin Saif al-Kuwar, a member of Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee, to speak to Amy Goodman about the matter, and he babbled and made a fool of both himself and the emir, in what is obviously an indefensible position. Here is the first exchange between them at Democracy Now, which is transcripted from the video:

AMY GOODMAN: Do you think that he should be in prison for the rest of his life?

MOHAMED BIN SAIF AL-KUWARI: I mean, in human rights, I can’t--I cannot see should have not, because this is in the court. I mean, this is his case in the court, his case and the judge. I can’t answer this and quickly without to see the file, without to see the cases in details—well, I mean, in deep details. I cannot answer this is OK this is in prison or not. But for human rights in Qatar, always to see this is—this people or this persons will get his rights fully—total rights for him, even in the prisons or in the courts, about the procedure. This is very important with us, is the procedure is according to the international conventions, international laws, also something in human rights.

Even if the Qatari legal system comes full circle to a point of justice, and frees Mohammad al-Ajami, he's already been imprisoned for over a year now and, as we found out last week, his trial was a sham. The emir at this point owes him at least half his fortune, if true justice is to prevail.

From there, we visit the neighborhoods of the drug lords in Mexico, then it's off to Syria, and then to Sri Lanka of last century. This is followed by an interview with Palestinian poet Ghassan Zaqtan. What could follow these articles, but the life and death of the remarkable Portuguese poet Florbela Espanca, in an essay called "Resurrecting the Brother: The Death of Florbela Espanca".

This is an intense week obviously, and one for some excellent poetry too. It is rare that a city gets its first poet laureate, and what follows the announcement is an outpouring of poetry and articles such as what has occurred with Eloise Klein Healy taking the position for Los Angeles. It is quite the poetic celebration. We have a clutch of five articles on the subject, one with an impressive sestina for you form fans.

This touches our first seven of the eleven stories in News at Eleven. There are yet dozens more in Great Regulars, and a few in Poetic Obituaries as well. Thanks for clicking in.

Yours,
Rus

Our links:

IBPC: Poetry & Poets in Rags

Poetry & Poets in Rags blog

IBPC Home

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: Najeeb al-Nuaimi: So, in November,

they put a call for him: "Mohammad, you have to come to the police, to report to the police. You have, Mohammad, to come to the police and report." And he kept saying, "Why should I report? For what?" Then he called the son of the emir--he is a friend of his son, by the way--and told him, "Why they are calling me in the police?" He said, "No, no, no. Just go there, and don't worry. It's just a routine register--I mean, some against you."

He went there, but he felt there was something, you know, planned for him. And he was questioned by the police. "You said that poem?" He said, "Yeah, I said that poem." "Where?" "I said it in my--and I'm replying to the other poem. So what is wrong with it?" He said, "You meant to say that, to encourage in the attempting of the coup?" He said, "No, I didn't." He denied it. And he said, "Ah, but you spoke a little bit that you were saying that the emir is not doing his job properly, according to the constitution." He said, "No, who made this interpretation?" They said, "Well, we think it's been interpreted that way." So he said, "No, no, no, no, no. If I have insulted the emir on this, just continue, please, reading the poem. You will see in the end of it, I was really thanking the emir, not only disappointing him." Then they said, "OK. Unfortunately, we have to arrest you." That moment, with his cousins, friends, and he said, "I will need--please, call Dr. Najeeb al-Nuaimi. I need him to be my lawyer."

from Democracy Now: Qatari Human Rights Official Defends Life Sentence for Poet Who Praised Arab Spring Uprisings

~~~~~~~~~~~

News at Eleven: The man must have been kidnapped the day before,

brought here and executed in cold blood, a policeman told me in a matter-of-fact tone. As he spoke, a well-dressed young woman sitting in the back of a passing taxi looked at the body, her face distorted with horror; it was as if she were the only one reacting to the crime. That day there had been only two other murders, which, Tonantzin said, meant that it was a slow day.

A few days later, Pedro Tonantzin was badly beaten up by a soldier who was trying to prevent him and other journalists from covering the latest crime: the discovery of seven bodies in the city outskirts.

The next morning I visited Daniela Brito Mujica, 22, the girlfriend of 20-year-old Julio Cesar, murdered alongside Juanelo--she was the last person to speak to them by phone. 'He told me that they were going to have a drink and wouldn't be late, and not to worry,' Mujica said. She could hear his friends singing happily in the background.

from The Telegraph: Mexico's drug war: a poet and the people fight back

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News at Eleven: A New York Times story on the growing violence

in Damascus, Syria's capital and long a center of culture and history in the Middle East, ends with a nod to a poem about life in that city. "Damascus, What Are You Doing to Me?" is by the Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani, who died in 1998, long before the rebels began advancing on his hometown, a place that would probably feel very different to him today. Here are three of my favorite of the poem's 14 numbered sections.

from The Washington Post: A poem for Damascus

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News at Eleven: The disturbances had begun far back,

with the ethnic conflict in 1958; the brutally suppressed insurgency of the People's Liberation Front (JVP) in 1971; and the burning of the Jaffna Public Library by the police in 1981: all these helped shape the aesthetics of [Rudramoorthy] Cheran's poetry. Having matured in the 70s and the 80s of the last century in Sri Lankan history, his consciousness, imagination and idiom came to be moulded to a great extent by politics and violence, though his style did undergo changes, especially after the genocide when he found he could no more employ his old forms for the new poetry of the vanquished, the poetry of erasure rather than of witnessing.

from Frontline: Of resistance and loss

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News at Eleven: Inside Palestine, there is no real communication

 between the different cities. It was hard for books issued in Ramallah to reach Nablus, for example, and it was impossible for them to get out of Palestine, so they had to be published in Egypt or Jordan. The Poets magazine had to be printed in Palestine and Jordan. Imagine the cost.

This wasn't just because of the occupation, but the occupation destroyed the system of publishing and distribution. We managed to overcome this by issuing something called The Book of Poetry where we would choose an important writer, and publish them in the local newspapers, as only they had a distribution network. This was actually an idea from UNESCO. We managed this for two years and reached thousands of readers across Palestine.

from The Electronic Intifada: Emerging from an "age of defeat": interview with poet Ghassan Zaqtan

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News at Eleven: The fact of [Florbela] Espanca's emaciated condition

at the time of her death suggests the erasure of a corporeality characteristic of her early work. Frequently, through verbs associated with orality, such as the wailing and weeping in "A Minha Dor" (p. 67), she expresses an inarticulate but distinctly physical appeal to be heard and a profound loneliness in the answering silence:

And in this sad convent where I live,
night and day I pray and wail and weep!
And no one hears . . . no one sees . . . no one . . .
---Livro de Mágoas (1919)

In contrast, "A Um Moribundo" (p. 171), from Charneca em Flor (1931), suggests complete reconciliation and even a welcoming of the loneliness of the grave:

To One Dying

from Portuguese American Journal: Resurrecting the Brother: The Death of Florbela Espanca--Essay

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News at Eleven: Along with making the required school

visits and giving official public readings, [Eloise Klein] Healy hopes to bring national attention to L.A's literary scene, which she says is often over-shadowed by Hollywood.

"Poetry isn't spectacular," she said. "It's not like the movies, it's not like NASCAR."

She also hopes to "introduce the city to its own writers." She says she may select "poetry deputies" to give readings in retirement homes and at local businesses during lunch. Most of her stipend will go to pay for poetry books for students, she says.

"I feel like there are a lot of people who could really like poetry, who just don't know it," she said.

from Los Angeles Times: L.A. literary stalwart selected as city's first poet laureate
then The Bilerico Project: Lesbian Eloise Klein Healy Named LA's First Poet Laureate
then Advocate: Lesbian Writer Eloise Klein Healy Named First Poet Laureate of Los Angeles
then LAist: Los Angeles Names Its First Poet Laureate
then LA Weekly: Eloise Klein Healy Is the First-Ever L.A. Poet Laureate--And She Wants to Bring Poetry to Dodger Stadium

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News at Eleven: Ever since he began to be published in English,

[Octavio] Paz was blessed with excellent translators: William Carlos Williams, Muriel Rukeyser, Elizabeth Bishop, Paul Blackburn, Denise Levertov, and Charles Tomlinson all tried their hands at rendering him in English, and they all make appearances in this book. The Spanish-to-English translation on offer here--by these poets and by Weinberger--does a fine job of recreating many of Paz's effects. Paz is a highly quotable poet; his poems glow with dramatic (sometimes startling) images, as well as essayistic aphorisms. These English versions are full of resonant phrases of their own: "Primavera sin premura" and "las estrellas escriben" lose their liquid alliteration in English, but "an unhurried spring" and "the stars write" are lovely and memorable in their own right.

from Bookslut: Forever Arriving: The Poems of Octavio Paz

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News at Eleven: Much of the rage and grief

in this collection is directed at the current state of American politics and culture. Long a political poet--only in the United States does this diminishing label exist--[C.K.] Williams often bears fierce and damning witness to the pointless horrors in American and European history. Sometimes, however, anger gets the better of craft, as in the flat, cliche reportage in this stanza from "Vile Jelly":

from The Plain Dealer: C.K. Williams poems in 'Writers Writing Dying' are lighter and more despairing than earlier works

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News at Eleven: One stanza [of Robert Hass' poem] ends

with the line "here filthy life begins" (read the full poem below). When I inquired why he had imparted such darkness to a poem about a boy gone fishing, he said the poem arose from the tension between vitality and death. The tide was the shade of decomposition, and by calling life filthy, he meant that the boy was grappling with the twisted notion that life arises from killing.

Paraphrasing American writer and mythologist Joseph Campbell, he added, "The origin of art is in the shock of the food chain."

On the Coast near Sausalito

from News Scientist: E. O. Wilson and poet laureate on altruism and mystery

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News at Eleven (Back Page): "To them, Santa's not"

some historical guy, [Pamela] McColl said from Portland, Ore., where she recently finished nearly a full year on the road. "He's a real character. He's a real person coming down the chimney, and he's smoking. That's what a 3-year-old thinks like."

McColl said she ran into supporters during her travels, including children who fret about Santa's health. Smoking, she said, is something Clement C. Moore, a churchgoing academic, also wasn't fond of. He once called tobacco "opium's treacherous, villainous friend."

from The Associated Press: There arose such a clatter over pipe-free Santa

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Great Regulars: For all his awkwardness and his apparent

disconnection from the world, [Robert] Oppenheimer's true destiny was leadership. Like many leaders--Churchill is the most obvious example--he was destined to do just one thing. The Manhattan Project was a staggering achievement involving the deployment of tens of thousands of workers, almost all of whom had no idea of the purpose of the mysterious work they were doing, and the balancing of the egos of the physicists and the demands of the military, not to mention the poison being poured into the whole system by the FBI agents who, without any hard evidence, had convinced themselves Oppenheimer was a traitor.

from Bryan Appleyard: from The Sunday Times: Oppie: The Face Behind the Mushroom Cloud

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Great Regulars: This week's Poetry Pairing matches "sorrows"

by Lucille Clifton with "Loyal Companion Helps a Veteran Regain Her Life After War Trauma," an article about a former Navy officer whose service dog has helped her with the depression, sleeplessness and anxiety caused by post-traumatic stress disorder.

from Shannon Doyne: The New York Times: Poetry Pairing: 'sorrows'

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Great Regulars: The congregation of the Old South Church,

founded in 1669 in Boston, has voted to sell one of their two copies of the Bay Psalm book, first printed in 1640 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and which is known as America's first book. The book, which takes as its full title The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre, has been valued at $20m (£12.5m), according to reports. Hundreds were printed when it was first published in the 17th century, but only 11 are known to remain.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: America's first book set to be sold amid holy row

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The rate of library closures has increased, reveals the annual report from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy: 146 branches closed between 2010 and 2011, with the number stepping up to 201 this year. The UK now has 4,265 libraries, compared with 4,612 two years ago, and the number of closures is likely to grow.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: UK lost more than 200 libraries in 2012

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Great Regulars: So, with the metaphor established

that all of the grave-loiterers are firmly ensconced in their own tub, Griffy explains that from that tub they cannot lift "[themselves] to its rim."

Because they cannot lift themselves, they cannot see what is actually happening outside of their tubs.  He says they have no true frame of reference, because they cannot see "the outer world of things" and "at the same time see [themselves]."

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Edgar Lee Masters' "Griffy the Cooper"

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Great Regulars: As Birds Are Fitted to the Boughs

by Louis Simpson

As birds are fitted to the boughs

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: As Birds Are Fitted to the Boughs by Louis Simpson

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L'Envoi
by Willa Cather

Where are the loves that we have loved before

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: L'Envoi by Willa Cather

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Excerpt from Paradise Lost
by John Milton

(Eve speaks to Adam)

With thee conversing I forget all time,

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Excerpt from Paradise Lost by John Milton

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In Praise of Hands
by Stuart Kestenbaum

It's not just the people

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: In Praise of Hands by Stuart Kestenbaum

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Rain
by Raymond Carver

Woke up this morning with

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Rain by Raymond Carver

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This World Is Not Conclusion
by Emily Dickinson

this world is not conclusion

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: This World Is Not Conclusion by Emily Dickinson

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Winter Happiness
by Jack Gilbert

Pride, pride, pride, pride, pride,

from Garrison Keillor: The Writer's Almanac: Winter Happiness by Jack Gilbert

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Great Regulars: But there is also a baraita

that holds the opposite: "When a person puts on his shoes, he puts on his right shoe and after this he puts on his left shoe." Given the conflict, the law is that either procedure is acceptable. But, Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak insists, "One who fears Heaven can fulfill both directives." How? By following the example of Mar son of Rabana: "He would put on his right shoe, but not tie it; and then he would put on his left shoe and tie it; and then he would tie his right shoe." Thus Mar could say that, in a way, each shoe was put on before the other.

from Adam Kirsch: Tablet: Does God Care About Shoes?

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Great Regulars: Among the most ancient uses for language

are descriptions of places, when a person has experienced something he or she wants to tell somebody else about. Some of these get condensed and transformed into poetry, and here's a good example, by Susan Kolodny, a poet from the Bay Area of California.

Koi Pond, Oakland Museum

from Ted Kooser: American Life in Poetry: Column 403

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Great Regulars: [Bao Tong] congratulated incoming president

Xi Jinping on "allowing" Liu Xia to give an interview to the Associated Press on Thursday, although her lawyer said it was likely the result of sloppiness on the part of her police guards at her Beijing home, who had apparently gone out to lunch when the reporters came.

"The fact that the Associated Press was allowed to interview Liu Xia is something that the old leadership wouldn't have permitted," Bao wrote.

"This is how we go forward, one step at a time."

The teary interview was the first Liu Xiao was able to give since she was placed under house arrest in October 2010 after her husband's Nobel win was announced and infuriated Beijing.

from Luisetta Mudie: Radio Free Asia: Calls Grow For Lius' Release

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Great Regulars: The drum recalls the entrancing pipe

of the Pied Piper, luring rats into the local river.

Behind it all is "Ambition," personified as an officer commanding his army to fight. Yet as the soldiers "march" and "fight," they "fall" down. They die in "foreign lands," far from home. Did they even understand the cause for which they supposedly fought?

from Christopher Nield: The Epoch Times: The Antidote--Classic Poetry for Modern Life: A Reading of "The Drum" by John Scott

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Great Regulars: Catherine Graham

after the painting by L.S. Lowry

A blackened church corners the red-brick terrace,

from Jody Porter: Morning Star: Well Versed: Catherine Graham--Industrial Panorama

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Great Regulars: Wedgwood Clarke, whose chapbook,

Sea Swim, was published earlier this year, is currently resident at the Centre for Environmental and Marine Science at the Scarborough campus of the University of Hull. "Starfish" is from a collection-in-progress, Aristotle's Lantern, reflecting the poet's fascination with aquatic zoology, and his interest in imaginative connections between the humanities and sciences.

This interest is evident in the combination of images in the poem.

from Carol Rumens: The Guardian: Poem of the week: Starfish by John Wedgwood Clarke

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