The Fever Continues

One more poem recommendation for today. I just fell in love with Anna Journey's poem "Red-Haired Girl Wants You to Know" over at 42opus. It begins:

Red-Haired Girl Wants You to Know

The sycamore mark on her inner thigh is a continent

about to divide itself into the angel

that sat in the votive light


of a fourteen year-old's cigarette, and the angel

that was never there


but for the inked tattoo of wings under each blade

of a bartender's shoulder.


The poem develops in a lovely, complex way from there.

What I'm Reading: Poetry December 08

As it slowly dawns on both body and brain that I am gloriously without official work for some small space of time, a sense of mania towards reading through stacks of books and journals rushes in. This morning, the latest issue of Poetry.

I know this journal does not need little old me to help spread its readership, but this month, I've found two poems in particular that resonate: Nicky Beer's "Prairie Octopus, Awake" and Michael Rutherglen's "Lives of the Watchmakers." The following line drew me to Beer's poem: "Owls swallow vowels in stilled trees." ~Such luscious sounds that melt on the tongue. And for Rutherglen, aside from the eternal subject matter of time and mortality, I admire his use of rhyme without seeming heavy-handed. Poetry is now publishing the majority of each issue online, so please check out the links for the entire poems.

Today

My poem "Nothing is haunted" just came out in the new edition of West Branch, and I'm thrilled to have it chosen for today's poem on Verse Daily.

Also, today is the official beginning of my Holiday Break! Woo Hoo! Thanking the calendar gods, we have almost a full month off this year. I'm happy for so many reasons about this. For one thing, this means lots and lots of time for reading and hopefully even some writing. Since July, I've been fairly diligent about working out 4 times a week. Now, I plan to create a writing routine in the same way. No matter what is going on...there will be writing time when I must tune out everything else.

This Feels Like a Thanksgiving Poem to Me

A Blessing
by James Wright

Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,

Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.

And the eyes of those two Indian ponies

Darken with kindness.

They have come gladly out of the willows

To welcome my friend and me.

We step over the barbed wire into the pasture

Where they have been grazing all day, alone.

They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness

That we have come.

They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.

There is no loneliness like theirs.

At home once more,

They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.

I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,

For she has walked over to me

And nuzzled my left hand.

She is black and white,

Her mane falls wild on her forehead,

And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear

That is delicate as the skin over a girl’s wrist.

Suddenly I realize

That if I stepped out of my body I would break

Into blossom.

James Wright, “A Blessing” from Above the River: The Complete Poems and Selected Prose.

Such Long Silence

First to the happy news. Grist, a new annual journal from the U of Tennessee Knoxville, accepted the poem "For the One Pulled North." My thanks to the editors.

Now, I have to admit that November got the better of me. I can already feel the New Year's Resolutions beginning to form regarding posting to this blog. I am grateful to those of you who still frequent the link, and I hope you'll hang in there.

I've been going through the mood swings that accompany completing a manuscript; however, I wasn't aware this was happening until a good friend pointed it out a few weeks ago. Working with Blood Almanac was a long and drawn out affair, perhaps because there was only a loosely defined core to the book. I wrote whatever poems arrived in whatever space I created for them. Three-quarters of the book was written in the super-charged/condensed air of graduate school. Glacial Elegies is a different animal all together. It took about six months of flopping about after BA came out, but eventually, I discovered that I did have a central idea controlling the most successful poems I was writing. Then, I began to write to that theme more purposefully. In the end, the manuscript feels more whole than the first. And, as most of you know, I've begun sending the manuscript out, but I don't have a good feel for whether this different approach will lead to success.

Over the last month, I've been feeling distant from writing, not even wanting to pick up my pen/journal even when I did have an hour or two to do so. I began to think I might have lost it...whatever that elusive "it" is. Finally, after an email confession on my part, aforementioned good friend pointed out that I was probably just feeling drained from "finishing" this second book. Most likely, that's exactly what is happening. As frequent readers will know, the individual poems are making their way into journals, and that's the first step for the book itself, but it is also reaffirming to me that the poems I make mean something to someone somewhere.

To end on a positive note, there is a certain clarity in the sunlight today, slanting through the remaining leaves, falling crisp across my desk, my papers, my fingers.

Did You?

Linebreak

My poem "Honor Thy" is up on Linebreak.org. One of the coolest things about this online journal is that the editors solicit others to read the poems. So, go the the site and hear Maureen Alsop read my poem. It's so interesting to hear another person's interpretation of the words on the page. If you like what you read/hear, submit your work or volunteer to read!

Happy Mail

A little more good news on the publishing front. The editors of Meridian have accepted two poems for the next issue. This will be my second appearance in Meridian, and they also published a review of Blood Almanac. If you've never checked them out, this is one of my favorite journals...a good balance of work and beautifully produced.

As I've said before, it's hard to stay motivated about writing during the height of the semester, but moments like these prove that all of the work from the summer matters in the end.

Congratulations Are In Order

Good news for a fellow Arkansas MFA and good friend.

Crab Orchard Review and Southern Illinois University Press are pleased to announce the selection of last year's competition. Our final judge, Ricardo Pau-Llosa, selected William Notter's HOLDING EVERYTHING DOWN as the winner of the 2008 Crab Orchard Series in Poetry First Book Award. HOLDING EVERYTHING DOWN will be published by Southern Illinois University Press in October 2009.

Congratulations Bill!

What I'm Reading: Poets & Writers Nov/Dec 2008

Just got the new edition of Poets & Writers and am regretting a schedule that precludes reading it from cover to cover as usual. I did read two of the shorter articles tonight. One is an overview of the Cider Press/Stacey Lynn Brown events. The article presents more information from the point of view of the press, along with Brown's points. Also, I read the profile of Paul Guest, a poet whose work I admire and whose blog I read fairly regularly. If you aren't familiar with his work, check it out. I can't wait to read the profile of Toni Morrison. Also of interest to me is Mike Chasar's piece on being asked to write poems for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Lots to look forward too.

Also in the mail: a copy of Carolyn Guinzio's new book Quarry.

Absentee

I have been prioritizing my time lately, and when I sit down to poetry, I've been reading a lot rather than posting here. I've also devoted time to continue sending out poems to magazines and the book to publishers. Some good news: I'll have poems appearing in the new issues of Hunger Mountain and New South, as well as one set to appear in Linebreak.

What I'm Reading: Poetry October 08

Yesterday, during my office hours, I turned around twice and realized that, aside from some minor homework grading, I had no major school work to do this weekend. Woo Hoo. A return to poetry. So I'm catching up with the stack of journals on my desk.

In the October 2008 issue of Poetry, I found quite a few poems that touched a chord with me. Poets Sarah Lindsay, Laura Kasischke, Jill Osier, and Maurice Manning have been favorites of mine for awhile now, and I was glad to read their new poems. However, it was Eric Ekstrand's work that stood out the most.

This issue contains five poems by Ekstrand, all titled "Appleblossom," with the fifth poem adding "(Leaving Edo)" to the title. The footnote on the first poem says, "Each 'Appleblossom' is a verse translation from the Japanese of a short selection from the notebooks of Chiri, Basho's traveling companion during the years between Withered Chestnuts and Travelogue of Weatherbeaten Bones." Intriguing.

These poems express a fragile strength. There is beauty in the images and humor and grief and desire. While Ekstrand uses long lines, the poems themselves are rather short. Still, after reading each one, I find myself pausing in the best way and rereading, only to discover that the poem continues to unfold.

Recharging the Batteries

Friday was a good day in my creative writing class. Earlier in the week it had become apparent that everybody was feeling the stress and time crunch I referenced in a recent post. The bounce had gone out of our collective step. So we went to the library. We went to the library but not to look at books. Our campus has recently sprouted gallery space for the visual arts within our new library. It's a small area, a set of cases on the first floor, and some wall space on the second floor, but for many of our students, it will be their first opportunity to look at art up close and personal, in the flesh, so to speak. For example, we are currently hosting an exhibit owned by the Arkansas Arts Council.

So, I did what my undergraduate teacher did (albeit in a much larger gallery space). I invited the students to mill about and absorb the art. Then, I asked them to pick a piece that they felt strongly about. Only after they picked a piece of art did I give them the prompt: write a poem or story inspired by this piece of art. I emphasized the inspiration part rather that a summary of what the piece looked like.

For 25 minutes hardly anyone's pen stopped moving. There was an aura of concentrated energy in the space. Once I noticed people running out of gas, I asked for any brave volunteers to read from these very rough drafts. We gathered around each "featured" piece of art. Then, five students read out loud in a public place, and for first drafts, several knocked me back a step or two. Most of the students left with a smile, and one even stopped me outside later that day to tell me she wanted to go back and write about some of the other pieces.

Sometimes it's the little victories that help the most.

An Evening of Arkansas Authors

For anyone who lives in Central Arkansas, I'll be moderating the following reading and discussion with Kevin Brockeier, Hope Coulter, and Trenton Lee Stewart next Tuesday, 9/30/08. Hope to see you there!

Pulaski Technical College Presents

An Evening of Arkansas Authors

Author Readings and Discussion

Tuesday, September 30^th 6:30pm – 8:00pm

R.J. Wills Lecture Hall, Campus Center Building

Trenton Lee Stewart, author of The Mysterious Benedict Society

Kevin Brockmeier, author of The View from the Seventh Layer

Hope Coulter, author of Dry Bones

Sunday Smiles

The Onion breaks the news of a $1.3 Billion Poem. Read all about it!