Sean Thomas Farragher- Poet, Writer, Artist, Teacher, Editor, Friend RIP

Sean Thomas Farragher passed away this week. He was a mentor to me and a friend. From him I learned poetry’s (and all forms of writing) ability to show truth when the poet/writer is honest, often brutally honest. For Sean a poet's life was an open book. What does a finely crafted  work convey to others if honesty is not there. Sean's work was always honest. 

Sean  knew poetry. He taught it as a poet in the schools. He wrote it for over 40 years. He was the poetry editor of http://www.friggmagazine.com/ I wish I could find the e-mails  he sent me about line breaks and the breath or about William Carlos Williams. They were inspirational. I am still searching for them in my paper piles.

Sean knew life.  His life was full of varied experiences both joyous and heartbreaking, one was being  a medic in Vietnam. His life was too short. Sixty odd years seems short for man with such gifts and exuberance.  But who am I or anyone to say when a life is too short. For even if a life is a week or an hour, there is a purpose to it. Everything that sees the light of day has meaning.

Your life was a blessing to many, Sean.  Rip, dear friend.

Sean leaves behind admirers of his work, friends and family.
Sean's spirit lives on in his work, in his children, grandchild and all those who hold memories of him close to their hearts. Here are several links to his work. There are links to his Selected Poems online at the Poem Directory at each link..

http://seanfarragher.org/selectedpoems/snowman.htm
http://seanfarragher.org/selectedpoems/vietnamelegy.htm

Poetry Lovers-New Pocket Size Poetry Chapbooks/ Propaganda Press/ Elizabeth P. Glixman, Kevin M. Hibshman, Howie Good, Cee, Adam Moorad and Others

Readers of this blog may be tired of my posts about my chapbook The Wonder of It All.  Or maybe not. I've posted several times about my latest chapbook because I think chapbooks, mine and others, need more exposure. I also like the poems in this chapbook.  Yes, I admit it. I like some of my own poems. That is not always the case. I've been writing poetry for over ten years and its hasn't been a picnic. The re-writes are often difficult, many poems never see the light of day. But I love writing poems more than I don't  so I continue.

A recent review
http://savvyverseandwit.com/2012/05/the-wonder-of-it-all-by-elizabeth-p-glixman.html
An older post about my chapbook.
http://elizabeth-inthemoment.blogspot.com/2012/02/21212-i-hope-you-enjoy-new-poetry.html

 I  also do repeat posts because the Internet is a jungle. It is often hard to maneuver its depths unless you know the intricacies of getting work visible. Often I feel like I have been dropped off by plane with only a backpack, a compass and enough water for a week and told to  find  my way out. It is a daunting task  to get out of the woods and back to civilization. So I keep posting  as I  metaphorically trudge through the jungle determined to find my way to a McDonalds and to connect to readers who enjoy  poetry.

 Today I am posting a link to my book(again) and the chapbooks of fellow poets published by Propaganda Press. I’ve read Howie Good's chapbook and Kevin Hibshman's. I enjoy both poet's poems although  they are totally different. Who says a person has to like only one style of poetry?


 For poetry lovers and those who are new to poetry, Propaganda Press  publishes a variety of themed  small chapbooks you can put in you pocket or purse and enjoy anywhere when you  have a moment.

 Check Out All the New Releases

 and

 Read a Poem Today.

 It May Do Your Heart Good.

http://alternating-current-weekly.blogspot.com/2012/03/new-releases-at-propaganda-press.html

Humorous Children's Poetry- April is Poetry Month

http://www.amazon.com/Random-House-Book-Poetry-Children/dp/0394850106

I enjoy the sounds of words, the way the consonants blend together, the long and short sounds of vowels. I enjoy rhymes, the simple kinds and the more sophisticated ones. I enjoy silliness and the absurd. Thinking about poets whose poems are exceptionally auditory and playful I think of the poets whose work is in  the poetry anthology  The Random House Book of Poetry for Children.  The Random House Book of Poetry for Children, Random House; First Edition edition (September 12, 1983) is a prized possession of mine.

The poems in the book were selected and introduced by Jack Prelutsky and illustrated by Arnold Lobel. The book is 248 pages of sheer visual and aural fun and silliness. It has an innocence that today's kids may find unappealing. Maybe not. On children's TV programs you hear rap and other contemporary ways to use letters and words to teach children ABCs and reading. Silliness and the absurd  can still  be found in these forms . It is over twenty years since this anthology was published. It is a classic in my opinion.

Poets include Jack Prelutsky, Eve Merriam, Judith Thurman, Lilian Moore, Gwendolyn Brooks, Mary O'Neill, Emily Dickinson, Myra Cohn Livingston, Ogden Nash, William Cole, Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, Shel Silverstein, Judith Viorst, Russell Hoban, and R.C. Scriven.

 About Jack Prelutsky

 http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/prelutsky/
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/jack-prelutsky

 Arnold Lobel Books

http://www.amazon.com/Arnold-Lobel/e/B000APNG74

These two poems are in the anthology.

Some Things Don't Make Any Sense at All

My mom says I'm her sugarplum.
My mom says I'm her lamb.
My mom says I'm completely perfect
Just the way I am.
My mom says I'm a super-special wonderful terrific little guy.
My mom just had another baby.
Why?

Judith Viorst

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/some-things-don-t-make-any-sense-at-all/

Cats Sleep Anywhere

Cats sleep anywhere, any table, any chair.
Top of piano, window-ledge, in the middle, on the edge.
Open drawer, empty shoe, anybody’s lap will do.
Fitted in a cardboard box, in the cupboard with your frocks.
Anywhere! They don’t care! Cats sleep anywhere.
(Eleanor Farjeon  – 1881-1965)

Freshness of Vison, Seeing the World Anew -Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

I read Annie Dillard’s “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek” years ago. What I loved then and still do love is her freshness of vision, and her great love of all that wiggles, crawls, and flies in nature. Re-reading the first chapter of this book recently added a conscious understanding of what freshness of vision really means.

I was mesmerized by Dillard’s description of the recently sighted people who Von Sender wrote about in “Space and Spirit." Some people were frightened by their new sighted world, some in awe of it, being able to see color patches those color patches infants see before seeing kicks in. Dillard says, “I live now in a world of shadows that shape and distance color, a world where space makes a kind of terrible sense.” She calls this world of colored patches “a world unraveled from reason."

These newly sighted people had sight as a pure sensation without being filtered by meaning. This is the world Annie Dillard seems to long for. To be able to see the familiar in a new way. She writes with envy in the positive sense of the experiences of the newly sighted. Some people had no sense of size or space. They couldn’t picture anything but what was in front of them and did not know that what they saw had substance. The language of the world upset some of the newly sighted people. The world was beyond their concept of what was touchable. One person was upset to the realize that he had been visible to people and this happened without his giving them his consent. As if we need permission to see each other physically. What was upsetting was that people could look and maybe he was unattractive. Some people when realizing this visibility groomed themselves differently.

This is an extraordinary idea; because the person had no concept of sight they assumed no visibility for themselves or others. They had no concept of visibility.In a sense this “normal vision” is what clouds our seeing and to Annie Dillard making the familiar unfamiliar is a full time job. In this unfamiliarity the grandeur of the universe is revealed, allowing wonder and gratitude to appear.

Annie Dillard's way of wanting to see in this book is like that of a child's I saw observing a worm. The child was lying in the dirt on his stomach. He was about three years old and he had his head about a half-inch from the worm. He looked up at me with sheer joy in his voice and on his face and said, “Want to see this worm wiggle?” This worm was the most fascinating creature on earth to this child. Since this child had no meaning for worm, he was like the unsighted or newly sighted person seeing the worm as a patch of color and looking very hard to see what it was all about.

Perhaps the gift of Dillard’s writing is to encourage us to see the old in a new extraordinary way. Time, observation, reflection and a new vision are the methods to re-see the natural world as a show where a magician is always taking something awesome out of his hat.

http://www.amazon.com/Pilgrim-Tinker-Creek-Annie-Dillard/dp/0060953020

Is Poetry Boring? Who Reads Poetry?

POETRY?

 POETRY?

Got Poetry?

 What? Poetry?

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040626.html

     Two times in the last year I gave my poetry chapbooks to friends who are fiction readers to get their opinions. When one friend returned  the book she said nothing, not even thank you. It was as if she didn't want to talk about the book. She seemed embarrassed like I had given her something illegal or so horrible she wanted to cover if up like a woman who hides her face not wanting to let a man she likes see her blush. Yes, some people still blush.
     I asked  the other friend what she thought. She was honest and said she didn't get many of  the poems and said it was her not me. I have heard that line its me not you before, not from a friend and not about poetry.

     Both friends love to read but not poetry. I had inflicted them with words in a form that had little meaning to them. And they had a hard time telling me. I became the poetry leper. If  you see her walking towards you with one of her little books, run is what I imagine one of my friends now says to the other.

     Sometimes I wonder if people who write poetry are from some kinder gentler world ruled by the planet Neptune. In astrology Neptune rules poetry.

"Neptune comprises those transcendent forces that tend to loosen and dissolve the artificial barriers of time, space, egos, and nations, and the traditions, conventions and laws (of man and nature) which appear unchangeable".

http://www.trans4mind.com/personal_development/astrology/LearningAstrology/planetsNeptune.htm

Read more.
http://www.librarising.com/astrology/misc/neptunepower.html

     Or maybe  poets live in an alternate universe ruled by the sounds and symbols of words and images that not everyone finds familiar or tangible. Many poets live in a world of incomplete sentences (when they write poetry) and metaphor among other experiences. 
     Whatever the reason poetry does not seem to capture the attention of the mainstream unless it rhymes, like in hip hop or advertising copy or song lyrics. Even then it can be a hard sell. I know people who would much rather read a Jackie Collin's novel, no offense to you Jackie, than read a poem that gets to the core of passion and  greed and ends happily in about 5 minutes. 

   There are genres for everyone.  Literature diversity is a good thing. But why is poetry a misunderstood form of writing to many, a mystery they cannot be bothered to decipher?

 Do You Like  Poetry?
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june00/poetryboxteachers.html


 Post a response if you'd like.

What Do Women Poets Write About?The Poetry of Dorianne Laux

 

Dorianne Laux's poems are lyrical, many filled with reflection on everything "female."  Reading  her poems, I feel good about the process of living, how everything unfolds. Laux can write about disturbing events or emotions and still I feel inspired by her direct intimate encounter with all she sees.

"About Laux's work, the poet Tony Hoagland has said, "Her poems are those of a grown American woman, one who looks clearly, passionately, and affectionately at rites of passage, motherhood, the life of work, sisterhood, and especially sexual love, in a celebratory fashion."

GIRL IN THE DOORWAY

She is twelve now, the door to her room
closed, telephone cord trailing the hallway
in tight curls. I stand at the dryer, listening
through the thin wall between us, her voice
rising and falling as she describes her new life.
Static flies in brief blue stars from her socks,
her hairbrush in the morning. Her silver braces
shine inside the velvet case of her mouth.
Her grades rise and fall, her friends call
or they don't, her dog chews her new shoes
to a canvas pulp. Some days she opens her door
and musk rises from the long crease in her bed,
fills the dim hall. She grabs a denim coat
and drags the floor. Dust swirls in gold eddies
behind her. She walks through the house, a goddess,
each window pulsing with summer. Outside,
the boys wait for her teeth to straighten.
They have a vibrant patience.
When she steps onto the front porch, sun shimmies
through the tips of her hair, the V of her legs,
fans out like wings under her arms
as she raises them and waves. Goodbye, Goodbye.
Then she turns to go, folds up
all that light in her arms like a blanket
and takes it with her.

 Read More

 http://www.webdelsol.com/LITARTS/laux/dl-part2.htm


Dorianne Laux's  Website

http://doriannelaux.com/

 Poems and Commentaryby Robert Pinksy and Others

http://doriannelaux.com/media.html

 Audio

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20560

2/12/12 Read Poems about Andy Rooney, Nancy Pelosi, Tuna Fish, Bugs, Worry, Medical Procedures and Fudge in THE WONDER OF IT ALL

 Propaganda Press

http://alt-current.com/pp/pp_item.html#the_wonder_of_it_all

Poem by Richard Schiffman in the The Cortland Review

 I like this poem. Listen to the audio.

http://www.cortlandreview.com/issue/53/schiffman.php

 I also enjoyed Jessica Johnson's poem.

Winter Eclectica Magazine- Author Interviews -Allison Adelle Hedge Coke and Travis Hedge Coke, Saeed Jones and Paul Blezard

New Interviews


 Literature and  Peace-  An Interview with Paul Blezard,
"An author and broadcaster, Paul Blezard was the founder of the Chelsea Poets Society and his work has been published in the UK and abroad. Currently writing a new novel and chairing events at literary festivals around the world, he was the former Literary Editor of The Lady magazine and for ten years was the popular voice of Oneword Radio." Paul Blezard recently took part in the  Poetry Towards Peaceful Co-Existence forums in London and Dubai created by The Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain Foundation.

http://www.eclectica.org/v16n1/glixman_blezard.html


Interview with poet Saaed Jones. He earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers University. He is a new powerful relevant voice in contemporary poetry. He talks about  his recent book When the Only Light is Fire.

http://www.eclectica.org/v16n1/gadson.html

Interview with Allison Adelle Hedge Coke and Travis Hedge Coke. Both are amazing accomplished talents. Among Allsion's accomplishments is this "she is the editor of the recently published Sing (2011), a multilingual collection of Indigenous American poetry, from the University of Arizona Press."

 "Travis Hedge Coke is Allison's son. He is of mixed ethnicity and mixed feelings about admitting that in his biographies. His visual art has been showcased from Los Angeles to Kyoto, and he has read from New York City to Amman, Jordan (most recently, at Naropa's Summer Writing Program)."

http://www.eclectica.org/v16n1/becker.html

Enjoy these interviews as well as the fiction, poetry, book reviews, essays and op-ed pieces in this issue.

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/

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.

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/

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