poetry on film…

The 13th Annual Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival, now under way, will close with the film Poetry of Resilience, in which international poets eloquently narrate their experiences of political violence.

More on the film festival here. More on Poetry of Resilience here.
. . . . .
Thanks to Sheila Sondik for the tip!

fix it!

Every November during National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) writers commit to a frenzy of daily word-work. (Participants officially logged 3,292,472,334 words in 2012.) On December 1, they put their writing aside and pick up the pieces of their lives.

But by March 1, the writing has rested long enough and it’s time to start the real project: editing. That’s where NaNoEdMo comes in. The goal is to log at least 50 hours of editing time on previously-written text.

Didn’t draft a novel in November? No problem. Just imagine what 50 hours of editing would do for your poetry collection! Get all the details at NaNoEdMo.

beyond the page…

Hunting down details for these posts often takes us in unexpected directions. Today’s offering fits into that category.

It turns out that poets are not the only ones taking poetry seriously. The National Association for Poetry Therapy is not a gathering of people who psychoanalyze your writing, but a serious organization devoted to the use of poetry as a form of bibliotherapy. They publish newsletters and books, hold an annual conference (April 11-14, 2013, in Chicago) and provide a variety of other benefits to their members. (NOTE: NAPT does not accept any unsolicited submissions of poetry.)

Intrigued? See also the National Federation for Biblio/Poetry Therapy and the International Academy for Poetry Therapy.

Who knew?

on being a poet…

“I’d sooner call myself a haddock than a poet. A haddock is a brilliant thing… A poet is pure vicariousness; he goes out into nature, all eyes, and then when he gets home he hunches long hours under a lamp. If he’s lucky, he winds up with a good hunch (and a mild myopia).” Heather McHugh, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

. . . . .
Heather McHugh photo

Chuckanut Writers Conference!

Guest post by Anna Wolff

The Chuckanut Writers Conference is now taking registrations for the 2013 conference. A two-day conference on solstice weekend, June 21-22, 2013, the Chuckanut Writers Conference will offer a range of workshops, meetings with agents and author readings. Our conference team has been hard at work on creating a diverse and exciting program suitable for writers of all experience levels featuring seventeen Northwest writers and publishers. Now in its third year, we are looking forward to seeing some familiar returning faces, and hoping to see some new ones, too. Past attendee Edie Dietzen of Vancouver, WA, had this to say about the 2012 conference: “So inspirational, so supportive. I will definitely be back!” The 2013 Conference promises to be even better!

About the Chuckanut Writers Conference:

Mission Statement

Inspiration into Action. Deeply grounded in the Pacific Northwest’s rich abundance, the Chuckanut Writers Conference is a craft-centered, cross-genre celebration inspiring writers to bring forth their unique voices.

Conference Program

The Chuckanut Writers Conference will spotlight both authors and agents, and enthusiastically invites writers of poetry, fiction and non-fiction to join us for a varied program suitable for writers at every stage of their careers. A joint effort of Village Books and Whatcom Community College, the conference emphasizes craft presentations, discussion and author interaction.

The two-day conference will launch at 9:00 AM on Friday, June 21, with featured speakers, panels, breakout craft sessions, signings, and a faculty reading. The conference will conclude Saturday evening, June 22 with concurrent open-mics for the participants at venues in Bellingham’s historic Fairhaven District.

This year’s faculty includes: Alice Acheson, Bruce Beasley, Jeff Bender, Wendy Call, Karen Finneyfrock, Waverly Fitzgerald, Kathleen Flenniken, Mary Hammerbeck, Thor Hanson, Gary Luke, Frances McCue, Suzanne Paola, Brenda Peterson, Naseem Rakha, Natalie Serber, Jennie Shortridge and Garth Stein.

Please visit our website for more information and registration: www.chuckanutwritersconference.com

. . . . .
Anna Wolff was born a lover of words in England, raised a lover of books in Texas, and now lives as a lover of language and writing in Washington State. She is a poet, a teacher of writing and the planner for the 2013 Chuckanut Writers Conference. She also likes wine and bicycles. A lot.

poetry reimagined…

Artist Jamie Poole constructs word portraits, literally. The detail above is from a self-portrait created with words cut from poems and love letters. Warhorse, inspired by a book of the same name by Micheal Morpurgo, uses war poems from World War I and more recent conflicts to create the image. In another portrait, Sophie, he collages the words of six poems selected by his model, whose passion is English literature. More from Jamie Poole here.
. . . . .
Jamie Poole ~ Self Portrait with Love Letters

on poetry…

“It still makes me uncomfortable to call myself a poet. I think of myself as someone in the service of poetry.” Franz Wright

. . . . .
photo

the antidote for February…

When it seems that February’s gloom will never end, laugh.

At Old Pond Comics, Jessica Tremblay offers a haiku comic a day for National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo).

At The The Poetry, Bianca Stone curates Poetry Comics. (Bianca Stone also blogs at Poetry Comics.)

At Cartoon Stock, check out the Poetry Cartoons.

At Savage Chickens, Doug Savage draws sticky-note-size cartoons, including poetry clucks.

Okay. That’s enough. Go write a poem.
. . . . .
Laughing Buddha

Poems that Double as Rock Lyrics

Paul Muldoon’s credits are extensive and diverse. The author of more than thirty books of poetry, he has written opera libretti, co-wrote “My Ride’s Here” with Warren Zevon (recorded by Zevon and later by Bruce Springsteen), penned essays and criticism, written children’s stories, edited and translated books, and served as a radio and television producer for BBC, Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford and Poetry Editor of The New Yorker. He won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, plays guitar and writes lyrics for Wayside Shrines and is Howard G. B. Clark ’21 Professor at Princeton University.

You can hear Paul Muldoon online, or, better yet, go hear him in person at Town Hall in Seattle on Thursday, February 28, 2013, 7:30pm.
. . . . .
Photo by Pieter M. van Hattem

while you were waiting…

You’ve been there: sitting in the doctor’s waiting room, looking around at the dismal selection of magazines you’d never read (or you’ve already read). Since 1998, Poems in the Waiting Room (PitWR) has combatted waiting-room boredom by printing and distributing free folded cards that include both classic and contemporary poetry. A registered U.K. charity, PitWR is administered by Edmund and Helen Lee from their cottage in Wiltshire, England.

From the PitWR website: “The poetry cards are distributed quarterly in bundles of twenty. Each card provides some seven or eight poems, many suggested by readers and poets, with about two hundred lines or so of poetry. NHS doctors can sign up, and receive cards each quarter for their waiting room. Patients and poets can become a Friend of PitWR, and support the supply of cards to their local doctor.” The cards can be read on site and/or taken away to enjoy later.

An anthology was published in 2010 and, not surprisingly, this appealing project has spread to other parts of the world. The Dunedin, New Zealand, project website is packed with information, including, to our delight, a story that links back to the Boynton site! Small world.
. . . . .
Thanks to Sheila Sondik for the heads-up on PitWR.