Wednesday, December 21, 2011

12/21/11 This Blog's Comment Function is Not Working - This Is Not the Title of A Poem

 Perhaps I need to write one to relieve my frustration at not knowing how to fix this. People told me they can't  post comments.

What to do?
Answer.
Go to the quiet place.
http://thequietplaceproject.com/

Friday, December 9, 2011

The Wonder of It All- New Chapbook

My new poetry chapbook The Wonder of It All will be out soon. I saw the proof this week. Alternating Currents in California is the publisher.
http://alt-current.com/index.html

This is one of two quotes on the cover page.
"After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say I want to see the manager."
This quote by William S. Burroughs might give you an idea of the contents.
If not here is more info.

Poems about Nancy Pelosi, The Home Shopping Channel, TSA, tuna fish, boxelder bugs, Alfred Hitchcock, fudge, pop icons on drugs, fish, long distance computer romance and many more contemporary topics are between the covers. Some people drink, get depressed, go camping, overeat, meditate, get involved in political movements or go on vacation (short list of give me a break from the madness things to do). I write poems when everything gets to be too much and even when it isn't.


Saturday, November 26, 2011

The Million-Line Poem: Tupelo Press- Support Doctors without Borders

''The Million-Line Poem: Guidelines

From now until January 1, 2012, half of all Million-Line Poem entry fees will go to Doctors without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organization working in nearly 70 countries to assist people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe.''

Read the rest

http://tupelopress.wordpress.com/the-million-line-poem-guidelines/

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

A BROKEN THING - POETS ON THE LINE


http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Thing-Poets-Line/dp/1609380541/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321986713&sr=1-1

Why does the poet stop the line (line break) when he or she does? It is not a simple decision since the 20th century arrived and poets began to experiment with more than traditional blank verse that consisted of repeated predictable patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Where does a line end or begin in a poem? Its intent, content and form is not the same as a line in prose. Reading A BROKEN THING- POETS ON THE LINE is like falling into an alternate universe where words, sounds, pacing, silence, page margins, enjambment, compression, wide open spaces all take on a powerful vibrant life of their own. Political views can even be seen in the construction of the line! A poem is not a static thing. The variation of structure are endless.

Think about this-

When a line ends there is often silence. What does that silence do? Is the empty space in a line soundless?

In this book of essays poets tell readers how they see the line and how they use it in their work and how others use it.


I particularly enjoyed these essays:

Who is Flying this Plane? The prose poem and the life of the line by Hadara Bar-Nadua.

Croon: A Brief on the Line by Tim Seibles

Three Takes on the Line by Catherine Barnett


This is an anthology you can read again and again.



Read more about blank verse (the traditional poetic form) here

http://www.uni.edu/~gotera/CraftOfPoetry/blankverse.html

Monday, October 31, 2011

FRiGG | Fall 2011/issue 34/"The Man from TSA— Unrequited Love Did Not Stop Glenn Close" and Other Poems


My comments about my five poems published in the Winter 2011 issue of Frigg.

These poems are about present-time experiences and the memory of past experiences (childhood, family gatherings, regular trash-collection pickup—kinder, gentler times (nostalgia perhaps?) and the effect the craziness of today’s world can have on our psyches.

http://www.friggmagazine.com/issuethirtyfour/splashpages/ElizabethPGlixman.htm

The world is transforming. Changes are everywhere. All is in flux. I've been reacting to many of the changes by writing poems, some are humorous. Comedy and tragedy are siblings.

Is it tragic that change is in the air? Probably not but like all transformation letting go of the past is not easy. What to keep and what to let go?

Frigg is a gem of an online magazine. If you haven't read Frigg you are in for a treat. Enjoy the the covers and layout designed by EnoaraF.


Two previous covers out of 34.

Check out Frigg's Archives

Friday, October 21, 2011

Can Poetry Help to Create Peace in this World? Can the Arts in General Promote Understanding and Peace Between Cultures?

Midas Public Relations

News for release: 21 October 2011

POETRY TOWARDS PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE

Promoting dialogue between civilisations through poetry –

Dubai forum comes to London

"Seminars and themes presented at The Foundation of Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain's Prize for Poetic Creativity’s literary and intellectual symposium in Dubai (17-18 October) were discussed yesterday evening at an event held at The Mosaic Rooms, London.

The Dubai forum, entitled "Poetry Towards Peaceful Co-Existence", was held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President of the United Arab Emirates, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, who attended the opening session. The London forum was programmed to complement the subject areas debated in Dubai. The two events were linked by author and broadcaster Paul Blezard, who flew from Dubai to London, to participate in both Forums.

In his opening speech in Dubai, Abdul Aziz Saud Al-Babtain, Chairman of The Foundation, highlighted the role of poetry in promoting dialogue between civilisations and said that the decision to hold the event in Dubai reflected the Emirate’s leading role in bringing about peaceful coexistence and understanding between people from different cultural backgrounds.

Speakers who took part in the London event were:

· Rosie Goldsmith, journalist and broadcaster, chair

· Sarah Ardizzone, award winning translator

· Sharmila Beezmohun, deputy editor Wasafiri magazine

· Paul Blezard, Literary director, The Firebird Poetry Prizes

· Christina Patterson , writer and columnist, The Independent

· Rhona Wells, assistant editor, The Middle East magazine

The London panellists discussed issues of translation and interpretation, poetry and performance, as well as debating the role poetry can play in today’s world, and its impact on different cultures globally.

The Dubai Forum was attended by Arab and foreign academics and poets from five continents. Sessions discussed the impact of Arabic and world poetry on human communication throughout the ages, and readings from an international line up of poets included prolific writer and poet Yang Lian from Beijing; Egyptian poet and writer Yaser Anwar; poet and cultural critic Kirpal Singh from Singapore; American poet, essayist and professor Brian Turner and the International Kristal Vilenica Prize 2009 winner Luljeta Lleshanaku from Albania.

The head of The Foundation, Abdul Aziz Saud Al-Babtain, himself a prominent Kuwaiti poet and businessman, well known in Kuwait, the Gulf area and the Arab world, established and fully financed The Foundation of Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain's Prize for Poetic Creativity.

Abdul Aziz Saud Al-Babtain, Chairman of the Foundation, said: I am delighted with the response to the Forum in Dubai. Academics and poets travelled from far and wide to take part in the symposium, and the result was three days of inspiring speeches and debate. Speakers were in general agreement with the theme of this year’s Forum – that poetry can play a role in developing cultural understanding in a time of political, social and economic change around the world.”

Video footage from the London event can be found at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XsWlsmF8ZQ


Sunday, October 9, 2011

Spirit Poem

This poem was published in 3 A.M. Magazine in 2002. It is about the seed of creative possibilities that lives inside all of us.

Spirit


In the where we are world
intangible and tangled
a space of movies in holy time
without intermission
there is no waiting to rewrite the script.
It is happening as the popcorn crunches
in our mouths
as gunshots and diplomats talk
pulverizing the seeds of the living.

I am the seed they are trying to kill
created from an inner space of infinity
from musical strings a universe Einstein
could not imagine but longed for.
The Theory of Everything is in the oscillating ringing
the waves of unified motion
the tender inquisitiveness of time.

Vibration is all there is and time knows this.
Chords of sounds sunbathing on legs, arms,
lips, eyes, and inward in to ecstasy
grandiose and microscopic.
Wide open sounds that tenderize sunburns
and dance as the black holes pop open
when the journey is over
and we are sucked back into the beginning of time
where we see ourselves
in silence.
The seed they try to kill
waving undulating holding an infinite space
where fear is not found is the dream maker
of this dream time.
It will never be destroyed

Earth light beams into waters
that are in touch with feeling.
Waters that rush still
intoxicating inlets
with a happiness our human minds
would dance on the head of a pin to find.
Minted green foliage grows
light bound untangled
with all, lives in peace birthing choruses
with the bark of its neighbor.
Earth light is the director of sprouting seed souls
creator of the trunk and the roots.
It digs down
humming to earth.

In this where we are world change
sits in each quark of non linear time
rejoicing in the
freedom
of a creative mind.
Whirlpools of possibilities swim
as seed in little husks and kernels that
go dance or slide or ride
in the earth's decay, in it rise
in the soul's ability to multiple
and divide
with help from the chorus master who lives
sleeps and breaths
in each of us.
harmonizing all in creative reverie.



Elizabeth P. Glixman
copyright © 2002 all rights reserved

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Tweeter- I Tweeted my First Poem

By the Salem Sea

16 Sept.
1.
Boats numbered by the sun
watery trawlers
whaling towards
widows waiting for the one
Read the rest

http://unfoldmag.wordpress.com/2011/09/16/by-the-salem-sea/



Writing a poem with 140 words (including spaces) is no easy feat. Word choice is always important when you write anything. In poetry it is critical. I found this 140 word tweet a wonderful challenge. I focused on creating the feel of the sea and beach with imagery and sound (alliteration). Although the 3 stanzas are posted as one poem, to me they are each separate snapshots of the beach, sea, and Salem.

Salem Mass is known for its Victorian homes that have widow walks where sailors' wives kept watch waiting for their loved ones to come home from the sea.
http://www.fishermensvoice.com/0310widowsWalk.html

http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/widowswalk/Interesting








Friday, August 12, 2011

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Summer Eclectica





There is a lot of good reading in the summer Eclectica: poetry, fiction, travel pieces, commentary, non-fiction, book reviews and interviews. I interviewed poet John Vick whose You Tube "conceptual" poetry caught my eye.
http://www.eclectica.org/v15n3/glixman_vick.html

Poet Kimberly Becker interviewed poet Molly McGlennen author of Fried Fish and Flour Biscuits.

http://www.eclectica.org/v15n3/toc.html

Poetry editor Jennifer Finstrom offers an opportunity to meet a word challenge each issue.
Read more about this at

http://www.eclectica.org/v15n3/poetry_special.html


Saturday, August 6, 2011

Poetry and Animation - Motion Poems- Best American Poetry anthology

"Hello from Angella and Todd!

We have news.

We've got a really exciting new partnership to tell you about.

This year, with your help, we'll produce 12-15 new motionpoems to accompany Scribner's celebrated annual Best American Poetry anthology... the 2011 volume. It's a new pilot-year collaboration that significantly raises the profile for us. It means we'll be working with a stellar lineup of poets this summer, from emerging writers to multiple Pulitzer Prize winners. The completed projects will be free online for general audiences and educators. The entire publishing industry will be watching. We can't wait to show you the results!"

Read the rest.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/375616979/poems-on-the-big-screen-motionpoems

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Poems in Wordgathering


Volume 5 Issue 2 June 2011

http://www.wordgathering.com/issue18/poetry/glixman.html


What's it like to be disabled or have a chronic illness? How do you experience life and how do others experience you? The poems in Wordgathering are written by people who understand. They show the reader a world not everyone knows and worlds that are all too familiar to people dealing with daily challenges whether their own or loved ones. Many of the poems in this online magazine grasp the human condition in a profound way.

Other poets in this issue.

http://www.wordgathering.com/issue18/poetry/poetry18.html

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Rumi- 13th Century Persian Mystic




Today, like every other day, we wake up empty
and frightened. Don't open the door to the study
and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

translated by John Moyne and Coleman Barks

Listen to audios of Rumi's poetry
http://being.publicradio.org/programs/rumi/poetry.shtml

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Sculpture as Poetry and Science- Janet Echelman's Vision

 Watch Video at Ted.com

poetry 180: A Turning Back To Poetry





Some readers and writers do not like Billy Collin's poetry. They say it is too easy among other things. They write


and here



and here on his recent book Nine Horses

Amazon.com Review

"In Nine Horses, Billy Collins, U.S. poet laureate and author of the bestselling collection Sailing Alone Around the Room, attempts to find beauty in simplicity, but ends up achieving the simply banal. Some poems, such as "Rooms" and "Obituaries," in which readers are given freedom to draw their own conclusions, are memorable, but the language in Nine Horses has little music and thoughts are plainly stated." 
Read the rest of the review and readers' comments.


There are days when I find  what the naysayers say about B.C.'s  poetry true. Other days I revel in his writing for the very same reasons. Some days all I want is a warm piece of freshly baked bread smothered with butter or an apple in a poem that is an an apple nothing more.

I am a bit behind on my reading. poetry 180, the anthology and the poetry 180 website  have been around for a while. Read about Collin's poetry 180 project that was created with high school students in mind to make poetry more accessible and enjoyable for these readers and with the intention that one poem could be read or listened to each of the 180 days school was in session that year. http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/

I was curious what kind of poems would be in a Billy Collin's edited anthology. Many are witty and charming as are Collin's poems. Many do not require minutes or hours of reflection but there are poems that ellicit  reflection and that feeling of angst that appears in much contemporary poetry, that feeling some naysayers of Collins suggest is not in his own work.

Among the poets whose work appears in the anthology are Stephen Dobyns, Sharon Olds, Phillip Levine, Charles Simic, David Ray, Rebecca Wee, Naomi Shihab Nye, Lucille Clifton and Daisey Fried.

 These are three of my favorite poems in the anthology
 One is by children's book author Jane Yolen.

Fat Is Not a Fairy Tale

I am thinking of a fairy tale,
Cinder Elephant,
Sleeping Tubby,
Snow Weight,
where the princess is not
anorexic, wasp-waisted,
flinging herself down the stairs.
I am thinking of a fairy tale,
Hansel and Great,
Repoundsel,
Bounty and the Beast,
where the beauty
has a pillowed breast,
and fingers plump as sausage.
I am thinking of a fairy tale
that is not yet written,
for a teller not yet born,
for a listener not yet conceived,
for a world not yet won,
where everything round is good:
the sun, wheels, cookies, and the princess.
~ Jane Yolen

 
My Father's Hat  
by Mark Irwin

Sunday mornings I would reach
high into his dark closet while standing
   on a chair and tiptoeing reach
higher, touching, sometimes fumbling
   the soft crowns and imagine
I was in a forest, wind hymning
   through pines, where the musky scent
of rain clinging to damp earth was
   his scent I loved, lingering on
bands, leather, and on the inner silk
   crowns where I would smell his
hair and almost think I was being
   held, or climbing a tree, touching
the yellow fruit, leaves whose scent
   was that of a clove in the godsome
air, as now, thinking of his fabulous
   sleep, I stand on this canyon floor
and watch light slowly close
   on water I'm not sure is there.
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16707 
 
 
Dog's Death by John Updike
    
She must have been kicked unseen or brushed by a car.
Too young to know much, she was beginning to learn
To use the newspapers spread on the kitchen floor
And to win, wetting there, the words, "Good dog!
                                                                    Good dog!"
We thought her shy malaise was a shot reaction.
The autopsy disclosed a rupture in her liver.
As we teased her with play, blood was filling her skin
And her heart was learning to lie down forever.
Monday morning, as the children were noisily fed
And sent to school, she crawled beneath the youngest's bed.
We found her twisted and limp but still alive.
In the car to the vet's, on my lap, she tried
To bite my hand and died. I stroked her warm fur
And my wife called in a voice imperious with tears.
Though surrounded by love that would have upheld her,
Nevertheless she sank and, stiffening, disappeared.
Back home, we found that in the night her frame,
Drawing near to dissolution, had endured the shame
Of diarrhoea and had dragged across the floor
To a newspaper carelessly left there.  Good dog.

John Updike, POETSPEAK In Their Work, About Their Work (A Selection by Paul B. Janeczko)
 

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Inspiration

 Definition of inspiration from The Free Dictionary
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/inspiration
1.
a. Stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity.
b. The condition of being so stimulated.
2. An agency, such as a person or work of art, that moves the intellect or emotions or prompts action or invention.
3. Something, such as a sudden creative act or idea, that is inspired.
4. The quality of inspiring or exalting: a painting full of inspiration.
5. Divine guidance or influence exerted directly on the mind and soul of humankind.
6. The act of drawing in, especially the inhalation of air into the lungs.
 What inspires poetry? For everyone who writes a poem the inspiration is different. There are those universal inspirations or themes love, loss, beauty, happiness, life, death and birth. Some days these inspirations are too big for me. Some days I don't feel much  happening in these areas. On those days I try to write a poem about a tree or the sky. I look outside me (writing from the outside in)and I can  find words or a few sentences about  a feeling or how something looks or a certain inner dissatisfaction or disappointment but the poem goes nowhere. I have nothing to say. Whatever I saw did not inspire me enough. The poem fizzled. When this happens I might look for a poetry prompt online or write my own. A few lines nothing. I finally realize like a teacher of mine said, sometimes the field needs to remain fallow. So I read  poetry. In this particular dry spell  I've been reading fiction. No threat there. I am not reading a poem hoping my absentee muses will reappear to inspire me. 
 In my recent month or so of feeling totally uninspired I've been reading fiction. I've finished reading Kalfka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. This book was published in 2005. I haven't written a poem related to the reading of this book (yet) but I can tell you this author inspired me.

"Murakami is an aficionado of the drowsy interstices of everyday life, reality's cul-de-sacs, places so filled with the nothing that happens in them that they become uncanny: hallways, highway rest stops, vacant lots. Although the dreamlike quality of his work makes the film director David Lynch his nearest American counterpart, Lynch's palette is primarily nocturnal while Murakami's welcomes the noontime sun. No one is better at evoking the spookiness of midday in a quiet neighborhood when everyone is at work.
A lot of things happen in Murakami's novels, but what lingers longest in the memory is this distinctive mood, a stillness pregnant with . . . what? Some meaning that's forever slipping away. The author achieves this effect by doing everything wrong, at least by Western literary standards. Over the years, his prose has become increasingly, and even militantly, simple. Although Murakami is both an admirer and a translator of Raymond Carver, this simplicity isn't the semaphoric purity of American minimalism. Partisans of the beautiful sentence will find little sustenance here."

 From the New York Times review of Kalfka on the Shore by Laura Miller. Read the rest at

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/books/review/06COVERMI.html


To me the story of Kalfka on the Shore is poetry and philosophy, evolutionary history and Greek tragedy. I felt suspended in time where time was held hostage didn't move and also where time became urgent, time was running out, a time portal to change Kalfka's fate would close soon. Dreams, alternate realities, fish falling from the sky, talking cats, murder, lost soldiers from WW II who had not aged stuck in a forest time warp, free will vs fate, big questions woven into this strange dreamlike  novel set in contemporary Japan. This novel opened  or stimulated  my "mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity." Defintion 1
What it did was take me into another reality, the journey of Kalfka Tamura  a 15 year old  who ran away from home and an old man Nakata who is challenged by an old  head injury. He says he is not too smart but he is magical.  These two characters are drawn together in the end of the story to change reality playing their pre-ordained roles. Lives end, others begin. Time moves on.

No poem yet but I can feel one forming. I think the lesson for me when experiencing a dry spell in writing a poem, is to let the field remain fallow yet plant the seeds of future growth. In my case this time the seeds are reading fiction.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Massachusetts Poetry Festival May 12 -14 - Salem Massachusetts


  • The Massachusetts Poetry Festival – a unique 2 day gathering of poets and poetry lovers from across the Commonwealth for readings, workshops, panels, concerts, a small press fair and more
  • Taking poetry to people: we sponsor poets to work in schools, senior centers, prisons and communities.
  • Assisting more readers to read and reconnect with poetry
  • Working with teachers to assist them to work with poetry in the classroom
  • Creating a central information center for poets and poetry readers and lovers to find reading series, workshops, MFA programs, and other resources
  • Building a robust website to support all of these activities
  • Linking together all the dispirit strands of the Massachusetts poetry community to promote more collaboration, respect and communication
  •  Read the rest at  about  at  http://masspoetry.crowdvine.com/

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

A Review of A White Girl Lynching from 2009. What Took Me This Long to Link It? I Have No Clue.

Here is a review at Full of Crow from 2009.  I did not post. Full of Crow features poetry, fiction, art, interviews, audio, ebooks, reviews, and more.

http://www.fullofcrow.com/crowreviews/2009/06/a-white-girl-lynching/

Friday, April 1, 2011

Celebrate! April is National Poetry Month -Write a Poem- Poetry Prompt in This Post, Buy a Book, Watch Poets on You Tube, Go to a Reading.

 The History of National Poetry Month

"Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April, when publishers, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries, schools and poets around the country band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture. Thousands of businesses and non-profit organizations participate through readings, festivals, book displays, workshops, and other events."

 Read the rest

http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/41

 Write a Poem

 Poetry Prompt


Write a poem about what a poem is to you
and or second prompt- write about nuclear energy,
its power, its uses, our responsibilities so that it does not
go Kaboom! A third prompt- Write about an April Fool.

Here is my poem (first draft).


Forks are
One-dimensional pieces of metal
Spoons are
flat.... although
curved in functional places.
Spoons have..... tiny muscles
that ripple in milk,
in particular Wheaties.
They are powerless
Hear their cries as they hit
The bowl
Plate
Cup.

Personification poems about utensils
are not  in now (What is? I have no idea)
Who cares? I do.
Every large, small, medium sized metal object
was created by a man's brain waves
I have empathy for the utilitarian
Like nuclear power plants
That depend on human intelligence
(It is all about us. Always. We create.)
To help them help people
Take a fork 
It was made to keep hands clean and
Not spill hot dogs or textured soybeans
On the floor next to the table
Take a nuclear power plant
It was made to not spill
Radioactive waste in the ground
Or water.

The metal things are powerless
They are our Frankenstein
Al or Shelley for good or evil
For better or worse
In sickness or in health
We are wedded to them
With no life asssurance policy


You Tube- Poet Videos

Billy Collins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xovLpim_1s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrEPJh14mcU

Stanley Kunitz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nihqt3Ct2KU

Gregory Corso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGPDZD7AK5o

Women's Poetry Slam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jc6wB8gTRc

Emily Dickinson - I Heard A Fly Buzz When I Died


Buy a Book - My Chapbooks  (A little self promotion)

http://elizabeth-inthemoment.blogspot.com/2010/11/cowboy-writes-letter-other-love-poems.html

http://elizabeth-inthemoment.blogspot.com/2008/03/white-girl-lynching-pudding-house-press.htm


Poetry Readings April 2011- Events Calendar


http://www.poets.org/calendar.php/varClear/1

 You can google to find more events in your area.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

A Mary Oliver Poem- Wild Geese & Geese by E.P. Glixman

 Geese
© 2000 by Elizabeth P. Glixman
Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting 
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver
published by Atlantic Monthly Press
© Mary Oliver

Friday, February 11, 2011

Words Facing East, Poems by Kimberly L. Becker


I'm reading Words Facing East by Kimberly L. Becker. Ms. Becker's love of nature, her investigation of her Indian heritage and  the struggles of her ancestors and their descendants,  her relationship with her son and other significant people in her life create passionate poems of loss, anger, longing, discovery, affirmation and healing.


Shaking the Snow , Come Back to the World  and  Letting Down The Stories  are several poems that I especially enjoyed.  The poems are accessible strong and clear. They are rooted in the earth and human emotion.



 Praise for  the Poems

“How perfectly titled Words Facing East is, for Kimberly L. Becker’s poems reflect the unconquered spirit and eloquence of Eastern Cherokee descendants. Kimberly L. Becker has taken personal Trails of Tears and with her poetry transformed them into Trails of Strong Light and Homecoming.  Here is brave poetry that soars and speaks not just to Indian people but to any human being who is yearning for homeland.”—Susan Deer Cloud






In the Purple and Blue of It

Walking the property
In the late afternoon
In the purple and blue of it
The stand of pines
Fairytale deepness
Past the reservoir
Crunching hulls of black walnuts
Thinking:
This is sacred ground
My eyes devour the view
That I like to claim as mine
But know it’s not, despite the deed
When I return to the anxiety
Of the city
I will long for this land
As a lover for the body of the beloved
I will recall its voice
The trickle of creek
       call of hawks
       rain as it comes up the valley

  Read the rest of this poem.
www.kimberlylbecker.com.

Monday, January 24, 2011

New Poem in Press 1 Literary Magazine

 I have a new poem in
Press 1
Volume 4, Number 3
January-April 2011

This issue is a tribute to the late poet and novelist Jayne Pupek.

http://www.leafscape.org/press1/v4n3/glixman.html

The poetry section includes the work of Jon Vick, Miriam N. Kotzin, Bebe Cook, Barbara Henning and others.

Trailer for ADAMANTINE Poetry by Shin Yui Pai

 

Shin Yui Pai writes on her website" I am the author of seven books of poetry, as well as an oral historian, photographer, and editor. My work has appeared in publications throughout the U.S., Japan, China, Taiwan, The United Kingdom, and Canada." 

I find her work inspiring.See the trailer for her latest poetry book (many poets are making trailers for their books. It's taken me sometime to get used to this). Trailers were for movies or fiction books, why not poetry collections.

ADAMANTINE

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGlAfoJlfE8&feature=player_embedded

 and read a recent interview

 in  the January 2011 issue of Eclectica

http://www.eclectica.org/v15n1/becker.html


 

 

 

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Don Paterson - RAIN

 

Rain is a truly important book, not only in the development of this must-read poet, but because it engages with the rough and tumble of life in a way we recognise as true. Read it now, before it becomes famous.—Fiona Sampson, The Independent

 

I am not always a fan of  what is considered well crafted traditional poems. Often they feel dry to me or too controlled.  There is no "pop." I have to work to get the meaning  and when I do I say, hmm. Paterson's poetry in RAIN has that subtle pop and is well crafted.  The "pop" to me is the way the poem shows  how life feels. The poems are a joy to read.  Read The New Yorker review.

  


 In “Rain,” what matters is children, friends, and work. What also matters, it turns out, is matter, matter driven by the uncompromising laws of matter. Friends die, work comes to nothing, a child’s pride is undone by “the flutter in his signature.” Imagining people, for Paterson, requires imagining with equal and competing sympathy the enormous latticework of impersonal, indifferent matter that surrounds them. Mentions Robert Frost. The heart of the book isn’t loss, exactly, but, rather, a crisis over how to think about loss.

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2010/04/19/100419crbo_books_chiasson

 

Rain

 Don  Paterson



I love all films that start with rain:
rain, braiding a windowpane
or darkening a hung-out dress
or streaming down her upturned face;

one long thundering downpour
right through the empty script and score
before the act, before the blame,
before the lens pulls through the frame

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/poetry/2008/05/26/080526po_poem_paterson#ixzz1AS8kITcs

Don Paterson's biography
http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth206