Monday, October 22, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Poetry Chapbook Elizabeth P. Glixman- New Release - Finishing Line Press
Finishing Line Press
PO Box 1626
Georgetown, KY 40324
859-514-8966
Publishing timeline.
Release date (books will
be mailed):
Nov. 10, 2012
Nov. 10, 2012
The poems in I Am the Flame are
visual and
poignant, holding moments of longing, tenderness, sadness, acceptance, humor
and wonder. The poet revisits her female ancestral
roots.
What
Others Have Said About I Am the Flame
"In poems rich with evocative details and surprising turns,
Elizabeth Glixman, through family stories,
history, and an imagination brimming with wonder and wisdom, defines her place
among her female ancestors. She solidifies her connection with them as she writes, "I am all these women /
... I am their flame." Later, she returns their "bones to the core of the earth / to the heat" where, with her
flame of passion and new found understanding, they become a "new orchestra
/ of woman song."
Berwyn Moore, professor of English
Gannon University and author of O Body Swayed and Dissolution of
Ghosts
“I Am the Flame blazes a
trail of poems that looks back upon one's roots. Through insightful vignettes,
Glixman delves into the traditions and lives
of her ancestors with the inquiring mind of "a child entering life shocked
by light / remembering the womb from where we all came." A beautiful and
riveting collection.”
Arlene Ang, poetry editor The
Pedestal Magazine, Press 1, author of Seeing Birds in Church is a Kind
of Adieu
“With these poems, Glixman goes "to the outer edges of
memory" to honor her ancestors. Even though "the people who know who
they were to each other, what happened are
gone," Glixman's songs "mix longing, imagination" to remember
language, lives unspoken til now.”
Kimberly L. Becker, author Words Facing East, member of Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers
Sample
Poem
Did my Ancestors
Travel
from
China
to Mongolia to Russia to Eastern Europe
in time for the Holocaust?
Could a seed have escaped trauma
floated in the air before the annihilation
pollinate another ancestor?
Did a seed travel to India northern Africa Israel
to the Golden Age in Spain
flee the Spanish Inquisition to Europe
mingle on the way with pistils
stop to grow rice, live in a yurt, a Persian palace
hunt milk goats
do Sufi twirls
read Rumi
wail at the Wailing Wall
birth babies in beds made of hay?
There is a picture of my great grandmother
She is low and wide like a locomotive
I fill in the pieces
I see her in fields on horse back riding
carrying my Mongol brother
in her arms through the mountains
covered with blue skies
to Mongolia to Russia to Eastern Europe
in time for the Holocaust?
Could a seed have escaped trauma
floated in the air before the annihilation
pollinate another ancestor?
Did a seed travel to India northern Africa Israel
to the Golden Age in Spain
flee the Spanish Inquisition to Europe
mingle on the way with pistils
stop to grow rice, live in a yurt, a Persian palace
hunt milk goats
do Sufi twirls
read Rumi
wail at the Wailing Wall
birth babies in beds made of hay?
There is a picture of my great grandmother
She is low and wide like a locomotive
I fill in the pieces
I see her in fields on horse back riding
carrying my Mongol brother
in her arms through the mountains
covered with blue skies
I
see her criticize her husband
the one who is thin and angular
(in the picture where she is rotund)
for his weaknesses
his inability to do more than dream.
This is all make believe
The people who know who they were to each other
what happened are gone.
the one who is thin and angular
(in the picture where she is rotund)
for his weaknesses
his inability to do more than dream.
This is all make believe
The people who know who they were to each other
what happened are gone.
black hats with brims, long waistcoats and withered hands
wide almond eyes and yurts
prologue and epilogue
narrative and poetry- what I create are dreams.
Order Online at www.finishinglinepress.com
Order by Mail:
Send shipping address along with check or money order made payable to:
Send shipping address along with check or money order made payable to:
Finishing Line Press
Post Office Box 1626
Georgetown,
KY 40324
Media Contact:
Leah Maines, Editor
Finishing Line Press
P.O. Box 1626
Georgetown, KY 40324
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Writer Joan Hanna Interviews Me about New Poems “Summer Kitchen” and “Fishes and Their Fathers”
Interview
“Summer Kitchen” and “Fishes and Their Fathers” poems in the July/r.kv.ry
by Joan Hanna
“Summer Kitchen” and “Fishes and Their Fathers” poems in the July/r.kv.ry
by Joan Hanna
JH
Can you share a little about the inspiration for these poems?
Elizabeth
P. Glixman:
Inspiration for these poems started with images. Years ago I lived in an old
farmhouse circa 1800s. There was no central heating or plumbing. And of course
no air conditioning. This farmhouse like many others of that time had a summer kitchen. Summer kitchens
were in separate buildings away from the house or off the main kitchen. That way the whole house would not
heat up from the cook stove. Through the windows of this particular summer
kitchen in winter (the windows faced maybe a dozen apples trees) I could see
the bare branches of the trees at dusk against a purple, deep blue and pink
fading sky. There was snow on the ground as well as the deep forest of dark
green behind the trees. It was a stunning image that never left me. That image
floated around in my mind for years until I needed it to express a feeling I
was having about another experience.
On
page five In The Triggering Town, Lectures and Essays on
Poetry and Writing the author poet/ teacher Richard Hugo writes: “I
suspect that the true or valid triggering subject is one in which physical
characteristics or details correspond to attitudes the poet has toward the
world and himself.”
On
page fifteen he writes: “Your
triggering subjects are those that ignite your need for words.”
The
image of that apple orchard through the seasons and in winter in particular
ignited my need for words. But I had no poem to write at that time. Thirty
years later as I watched many of my older relatives pass away, I walked through
their homes before they were sold. Many objects including a blue milk glass shoe, the lamp that was left on with a timer for as long
as I could remember were taken from the house by strangers or other relatives.
No one was home anymore. The sense of place I had known for years was gone only
to live in memory. Just like the sky faded behind the apple trees I watched
from the kitchen in the farmhouse so do life’s season and situations change.
That image lying dormant in my mind woke up.
There
is more to the creation of the poem “The Summer Kitchen.”
The
couple that owned the farmhouse with the summer kitchen moved to a home
with electricity and central plumbing long before I arrived. The physical
challenges of the house with the summer kitchen were beyond them as they aged.
I understood this years ago. But now after years more of living I gained a greater
understanding of the emotional challenges, what it means to loose a home, a
person, a dream, your youth and be left with memories. Images, experience and
memories were like a perfect storm and became the poem, a larger poem then if I
had written one about the branches of the apple trees years ago.
The
unique and wonderful thing about creating poetry, art or fiction is that
everything that is stored in a poet, writer, or artist’s mind can be accessed
at any moment when it is needed to explore something. This usually happens when
a feeling or an experience is ready to be expressed. It ripens. Time
doesn’t matter. I think it is this way for everyone. Even if they do not create
works of art. Everyone has “ah ha” moments. Creative people are able to unite
all the elements and create something concrete to show others.
About
“Fishes and Their Fathers”
The
image of my vail tail beta fish Benny (he was an indigo blue) was the triggering moment for the poem “Fishes and Fathers.” That fish lived in a bowl
for over two years. I religiously cleaned that bowl weekly. I felt protective
of that small fish. I was his caretaker. Number one trigger: the image.
Number
two trigger:
I'd
seen many single mothers while working as a preschool teacher. I saw and heard
about the hardships they faced raising children alone. I saw their protective
instincts toward their kids and their frustrations. Since many meaningful conversations
with young children can happen when doing a task together, I
added an imagined conversation of a single mother and her daughter as they
watched the fish and cleaned the fish bowl to the poem. I gave the mother the burden of explaining to the child why her father was not coming home.
I didn’t clearly state if the father had died or left. The poem is about loss,
coping, adjustment so that aspect was not important to me. The reader can
decide and bring their own experience or imagination to the poem. I wanted to
show a woman alone (similar to the woman in the “Summer Kitchen” poem)
adjusting to change in her life, a different season in her life. And, show the
relationship of caring she had with her child.
JH:
I love your repetition of images in “Fishes and Their Fathers" like the
curve of the fishbowl linking to “the curve of my belly” and “the roundness of
your face.” Can you elaborate a little on this technique?
EPG:
Being a visual person I notice repeated patterns of line, shape and color in my
environment. In this poem I tied together images of a bowl, a belly a
face by their common denominator curves and roundness. These images
are more like metaphors or similes: the bowl is like a belly, the cheek is
like the bowl, the cheek ‘s curve, the belly’s roundness, the fish bowl are all
like each other.
Then
there are the associations. I put these images to good use in my work. I associated
the curve or roundness of the bowl with a pregnant woman’s belly and the curve
on the face with the touch of a hand on a cheek to the protective tender
maternal instinct. Curves are inherently feminine or organic. The mother was
protective of her child in the womb as she was now when her child asked her a
difficult question. The fish bowl was also pregnant in another way, it was the
catalyst for the child’s question. I hope this is not confusing.
Sometimes it is hard for me to explain "clearly" the workings
of my own poems.
JH:
Please share links to your website, publications or book links.
EPG:
Finishing Line Press will publish my latest chapbook, I Am the Flame,
about my female ancestors, in November.
Here is
the pre-sales link. https://www.finishinglinepress.com/index.php?cPath=4&sort=2a&filter_id=962&osCsid=ncnfta7mq08q45kqbdq7hbe8c1
Here
are links with comments and reviews about my other chapbooks
A
White Girl Lynching
Cowboy
Writes a Letter and Other Love Poems
The
Wonder of It All
I
Am the Flame book
cover blurbs to let readers know the overall theme of the poems.
In
poems rich with evocative details and surprising turns, Elizabeth
Glixman, through family stories, history, and an imagination brimming with
wonder and wisdom, defines her place among her female ancestors. She solidifies
her connection with them as she writes, "I am all these women / ... I am their flame."
Later, she returns their "bones to the core of the earth / to the heat" where, with her flame
of passion and newfound understanding, they become a "new orchestra / of
woman song. -Berwyn Moore
Glixman, through family stories, history, and an imagination brimming with
wonder and wisdom, defines her place among her female ancestors. She solidifies
her connection with them as she writes, "I am all these women / ... I am their flame."
Later, she returns their "bones to the core of the earth / to the heat" where, with her flame
of passion and newfound understanding, they become a "new orchestra / of
woman song. -Berwyn Moore
I
Am the Flame blazes
a trail of poems that looks back upon one's roots. Through insightful
vignettes, Glixman delves into the traditions and lives of her ancestors with
the inquiring mind of "a child entering life shocked by light /
remembering the womb from where we all came." A beautiful and riveting
collection. -Arlene
Ang
JH: Thank
you so much for sharing your thoughts on poetry, links to other chapbooks and
the lovely book blurbs for your upcoming chapbook, I Am The
Flame. Just one final question, what does recovery mean to you?
EPG:
For me recovery is the process of moving forward to a more balanced self or
life when you have been traumatized or affected adversely by experiences.
It can be a big event or addiction but doesn’t have to be. It only needs
to be a deeply felt experience or condition, one that has altered your life
kept you stuck. I think most of us are in some form of recovery from something
whether is a relationship that didn’t work, a death of a loved one or issues
with weight, lack of motivation, job loss, insomnia and unfullfillment (life
offers a lot of possibilities). The women in both poems have lost their husbands
and have to move forward. They are in recovery imo. In both poems the natural cycle of nature is
significant as it mirrors the changes in their and our lives.
Joan Hanna was born and raised in Philadelphia and now lives
in New Jersey with her husband Craig and rescued Beagle Odessa. Joan holds an
MFA in Creative Writing from Ashland University and has published poetry,
nonfiction, fiction and book reviews in various online and print journals. Joan
is an Adjunct English Instructor at GCC and also works as Managing Editor for
Poets’ Quarterly, Assistant Managing Editor for River Teeth, A Journal
of Nonfiction Narrative and Assistant Editor, Nonfiction/Poetry for
r.kv.r.y. Quarterly Literary Journal. Follow Joan’s personal blog at www.WritingThroughQuicksand.blogspot.com.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
The Wonder of It All Blurbed by Poet Dennis Mahagin Author of FARE
Read the blurb poet Dennis Mahagin wrote about my chapbook The Wonder of It All
Then click on the other links to read about Dennis and his work and his latest chapbook Fare.
After I read Fare I'll write a post. Dennis is a talented unique poet.
After I read Fare I'll write a post. Dennis is a talented unique poet.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Poem "Roots" in Poetica Magazine. Poetica is Available on Kindle.
We all have roots. We all come from somewhere. Like many children and grandchildren of immigrants, I am drawn to explore my cultural identity. If you've watched the TV show Who Do You Think You Are you will see the journey famous people take to find their roots. I am not famous so no one invited me to go on this show. I reflect on my roots, my ancestors, how I am shaped by who came before me. I reflect through pictures, letters, bits of information handed down by my parents and relatives. I think about (imagine)what my ancestors believed, where they lived and ask do I believe these things.When I look at old photographs from the 1800s, I search for physical resemblances.
My poem in Poetica Magazine is about a longing to return to the "source" of who I am. Once you know that source moving forward in life becomes easier. Parts of yourself all come together in an Ah Ha moment. That has been my experience.
Take time to read my poem and all the other poems and stories in Poetica.
http://www.poeticamagazine.com/2012summeredition.htm
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
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
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/vietnamelegy.htm
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
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.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Humorous Children's Poetry- April is Poetry Month
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
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/jack-prelutsky
Arnold Lobel Books
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?
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
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)
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)
Saturday, March 31, 2012
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.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Is Poetry Boring? Who Reads Poetry?
POETRY?
Got Poetry?
What? Poetry?
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.
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
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.
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.
Monday, March 5, 2012
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 roomclosed, 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
Poems and Commentaryby Robert Pinksy and Others
Audio
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20560
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
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.
http://www.cortlandreview.com/issue/53/schiffman.php
I also enjoyed Jessica Johnson's poem.
Friday, January 6, 2012
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
Enjoy these interviews as well as the fiction, poetry, book reviews, essays and op-ed pieces in this issue.
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
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.
http://thequietplaceproject.com/
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.
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
Read the rest
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
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