looking for direction?
October 31, 2011
…how about inspiration?
Just a reminder that there are two inspiring poetry workshops coming up on Saturday, November 12, at Mindport Exhibits in Bellingham. The first, Intergenerational Poetry, taught by Luther Allen, is designed for pairs of participants from different generations. The second, Poetry and the Spiritual, taught by Paul Piper, will explore what it means to engage the spiritual in the form of a poem.
Modest fees benefit the Sue Boynton Poetry Contest. Read more about the workshops, download a flyer (PDF, Adobe Reader required) and then sign up by e-mail at BoyntonPoetryContest AT hotmail DOT com.
For more inspiration, why not attend a reading? November is spilling over with poetry…just have a look at the NW Lit Events page. It’s updated almost daily, so check back often — and do let us know if you’ve scheduled a poetry event that’s open to the public in Washington State.
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465th St and Poetry Av photo by Sarah
the poet on poetry…
October 30, 2011
“A poem is a box, a thing, to put other things in. For safe keeping.” Marianne Boruch
more daily poems…
October 29, 2011
Here are some additional suggestions* for poem-a-day inspiration:
Poetry Daily offers a daily poem and a lot more. Visit the website or go directly to subscription information.
Daily Haiku is a print and online literary publication complete with searchable archives.
tinywords features haiku and other small poems. Here’s a link to the subscription page.
The Mann Library, out of Cornell University, features a guest author each month and a new haiku each day.
*with thanks to Sheila Sondik
poem-ize your inbox
October 28, 2011
Are you getting your recommended daily intake of poetry? Need a poem to spark your creativity engine? Whether you want a page to visit for a new poem each day, an e-mail in your inbox, an RSS feed, or audio or text mobile app, there are scores, perhaps hundreds, of poem-a-day sites and subscriptions available on the internet. Here are four:
Library of Congress – Poetry 180 is a collection of poems assembled by former poet laureate Billy Collins, one for each day of the school year. Go to this page and click on Subscribe to get a list of options, or just view all 180 poems.
Panhala – View an archive of past Panhala poems or to subscribe to Panhala, send a blank email to: Panhala-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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Poem of the Day logo
cops and…poetry…
October 27, 2011
Do you know (or are you) a police officer, detective, investigator, jailer, FBI agent, probation officer or other current or former law enforcement type who writes poetry? The new call for submissions from the literary magazine RATTLE invites “poetry written by poets working in or retired from a career in law enforcement” for the Summer 2012 issue. Interested? Read the call for submissions for Issue #37 and beyond, see the submission guidelines and find out lots more about Rattle.
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what to do in February…
October 26, 2011
In addition to shoveling your sidewalk, finishing the novel you started in November (NaNoWriMo) and drafting your poem for submission to the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest, you are invited to participate in National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo) in February.
Short poems for a short month, with plenty of information and inspiration to be found on the NaHaiWriMo website (including why NO 5-7-5). NaHaiWriMo also has a Facebook page, which is packed with frequent posts and prompts. [Post-post: click on Comment below this post and read what Michael Dylan Welch has to say about NaHaiWriMo!]
write a novel in a month!
October 25, 2011
You’ve probably heard of National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo), which happens every April. The idea is that poets make a commitment to write a poem every day of the month.
Well, here’s another chance to heat up your writing muscles as the chilly winds blow: National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) gets under way next week, on Tuesday, November 1.
The goal, as stated on the NaNoWriMo website, is “to write a 50,000 word (approximately 175 page) novel by 11:59:59, November 30.” It’s designed to be an exercise in quantity, not quality, almost guaranteed to produce volumes of words and ideas that can be reworked into more refined novels, stories, essays…or even poems!
You simply sign up on the NaNoWriMo site and, on November 1, start writing. (Scroll to the bottom of the home page and click on About for more information.)
Start limbering up those fingers!
found poetry…5
October 24, 2011
The found poetry file grows…
Looking for a starting place? Here’s a tidy little flickr set of accidental poetry on signs.
John Bevis has written a handbook on found poetry. You can purchase it for download at his website (you may need to communicate with him about converting £ to $) or you can download a sample chapter at no charge here (.pdf format, Adobe Reader required).
For his July 31, 2009 column in The New York Times, Alan Feuer perused the personal ads and came up with a delightful set of found poems from the Missed Connections section. An easily adaptable idea…
If you can’t find poetry anywhere else, look in Texas. Leo Waltz did and here’s what he found. (By the way, if you have $15 to spare, you can actually adopt the unincorporated town of Poetry, Texas, and include a line of text in the Texas Almanac!)
If you’re uncertain about what’s okay to use as found poetry, have a look at the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Poetry, in particular section 2 under Principles and Limitations: New Works “Remixed” from Other Material: Allusion, Pastiche, Centos, Erasure, Use of “Found” Material, Poetry-Generating Software.
and yet another poetry walk…
October 23, 2011
Oh, here’s a wonderful set of poetry postings: “Regard,” by Rebecca Lowry. Hosted by the City of West Hollywood as part of its Art on the Outside Program, these look like your average parking signs, but are actually haiku written in a variety of languages.
There’s a slide show and downloadable map here plus additional views and information on Lowry’s website and the Los Angeles Art Association website.
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Whatcom Writes!
October 22, 2011
Each year, Whatcom County residents participate in a sort of “county-wide book club” as they read and discuss a selected book for Whatcom READS! This year, the book is In the Presence of the Enemy by mystery novelist and Whidbey Island resident, Elizabeth George.
In addition to reading and talking, Whatcom County residents are also invited to write. Whatcom WRITES! is now accepting submissions on the subject of enemies (in keeping with the book’s theme). Poetry, fiction and non-fiction are welcome. Thirty winning entries will be compiled into a printed anthology and winners will be invited to read at Village Books on Sunday, February 12, 2012.
The deadline for submissions is December 1, 2011. For guidelines and more information, see the Whatcom WRITES! web page… and then start writing!
The Poetry Department . . . aka The Boynton Blog 