Bare Feet*
July 30, 2012
2009 Walk Award
Bare Feet*
By Tessa Haggerty, Third Grade
Bare feet squish squash
in the hot summer mud.
Bare feet flip flop
on a warm spring day.
Bare feet shake shake
on cold winter days.
Bare feet kick dry
leaves on windy fall days.
Bare feet are the
best kind of feet there are.
*Copyright 2009 by Tessa Haggerty. This poem appears in POETRY WALK: Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest – The First Five Years. Placard design by Egress Studio.
Bellingham poetry reading…
July 29, 2012
You are invited to join the writers, artists and editors of Cirque, a literary journal, on Sunday, August 12, 7:00pm, for a reading at The Amadeus Project, 1209 Cornwall Avenue, Bellingham. Writers include include Brian Hutton, J.I. Kleinberg, Sandra Kleven, Len Kuntz, Rachel Mehl, John Morgan, Keith Moul, Tim Pilgrim and Carey Taylor, and the evening will also feature a silent auction for framed artwork from the pages of Cirque.
A second reading will be held at 7:00pm the following evening at ACT in Seattle, featuring Christianne Balk, Janet Buttenwieser, Jacqueline Haskins, Brian Hutton, J.I. Kleinberg, Sandra Kleven, Charles Leggett, Stefon Mears, David Stallings and Carey Taylor.
Cirque in Bellingham is a SpeakEasy event produced by Luther Allen.
on writing poetry…
July 27, 2012
Writing poems, for me, is a bit like mining a seam of rock. One day you get some silver, and the next day you get just rock.
Eavan Boland
picking favorites…
July 26, 2012
There are scores of “best of” lists for fiction and non-fiction, but Austin Allen, a poet and adjunct professor in creative writing at Johns Hopkins University, noticed that “no one has yet compiled a similar list for poetry.” He took it upon himself to start the conversation, choosing, for entirely subjective reasons he explains in “What Are the Best Poems of the Past 25 Years?” five poems and five runners-up.
Which poems would you choose? Have a look. Read the poems. Read Allen’s explanations. Even if you disagree with Allen’s choices, these are still poems worth rereading.
December Dusk: The Stables off Smith Road*
July 25, 2012
2012 Walk Award
By Sheila Nickerson
December Dusk: The Stables off Smith Road
Behind me, in the arena, horses play.
In front, across the field, coyotes yip and howl.
The dogs run out, barking.
I call them back, call and call.
Finally, the small ones come,
but the large one stays, holding his ground.
And who would dare to cross, either way,
where barking melds with howling,
stubble stiffens with cold,
and a winter night steps out of the woods?
*Copyright 2012 by Sheila Nickerson. Placard design by Egress Studio.
graphing dystopia…
July 24, 2012
This post is more about the poetry of flowcharts than it is about poetry.
If you’ve ridden the bus, taken a plane or gone to the beach lately, you’ve probably noticed that a lot of people are reading The Hunger Games, a “dystopian” fiction.
So what is dystopia anyway? Wikipedia says: “A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian.”
If you’re not sure what qualifies as dystopian, start here, with Erin Bowman’s flowchart for decoding the genre.
If you’re curious what books have qualified as dystopian, have a look at the goodreads timeline of dystopian literature.
If you’re already hip-deep in The Hunger Games and wondering where to turn next, here’s a magnificent answer from the Lawrence (Kansas) Public Library.
And where does dystopian poetry fit in? “The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot… “The Second Coming” by W. B. Yeats… “Fragments for the Gates of Times Square: The Fear of Neon” by Philena Pugh… Where’s the flowchart?!
—–
Thanks to Media Bistro / Galley Cat
behind bars down under…
July 23, 2012
At correctional centers in New South Wales, Australia, a project known as “Unlocked” “unlocks the potential of inmates through the transformative power of poetry.” Intensive workshops conducted by Australian poets guide the participants through “every stage of the writing process, from the initial exercises and experimentations, through the editing and rewriting process, to recording, performing and publishing their work in a professionally designed print anthology. Piloted in Sydney in 2010, the project has now entered its third year.”
Read and hear poems and find out more about this worthwhile program from the Red Room Company.
rules for poets…
July 22, 2012
There are no simplistic rules for poets: if there were, any duffer could write poetry. There are, however, rules of thumb, and one of the best is that getting the focus off yourself gives you the best chance of tapping your personal experience.
Clive James
poetry times 60…
July 21, 2012
Our friends at Harriet, the Poetry Foundation blog, have alerted us to the fine site, 60 Years in 60 Poems, which marks the 60-year anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. “With a poem for each of the years of the Queen’s reign, Jubilee Lines offers both a unique portrayal of the times in which we have lived, and an essential portrait of today. The poems celebrate the way we speak, the way we chronicle, the way we love and fight, honour and remember.”
Previously published in the anthology Jubilee Lines, commissioned and edited by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, the poems are read by actors Samantha Bond, Alex Lanipekun, Lyndsey Marshal and Dan Stevens.
Turn up the volume and feast on the sound of poetry.
Thanks, Harriet!
—-
Jubilee Lines
poetry tonight!
July 20, 2012
Tonight…Friday, July 20, 2012…7:30pm
SpeakEasy 7: Variations on a Prompt
featuring Poets on Assignment: Jim Bertolino, Anita K. Boyle, Jennifer Bullis, J.I. Kleinberg and Jeanne Yeasting
The Amadeus Project ~ 1209 Cornwall Avenue ~ Bellingham
A chapbook will be available for sale (image is the cover illustration by Anita K. Boyle / Egress Studio).
The event is free…donations to The Amadeus Project are appreciated.
The Poetry Department . . . aka The Boynton Blog 