"Heaven is a discotheque"

Children's Book by Younger Poet Alumnus/J.D. Smith, 1985

2008-10-19T16:41:00.003-05:00

Greetings to all.

It's been a long absence from the blog (I somehow got cut off for a while during the great Blogger migration), but I would like to take this opportunity to announce the publication of my first children's book, The Best Mariachi in the World/El Mejor Mariachi del Mundo, which is available in bilingual, Spanish and English editions in both hardcover and paperback.

Information on the book is available on the blog of illustrator Dani Jones at
http://mariachibook.blogspot.com/

Reviews have so far come out in two publications, Publishers Weekly affiliate Criticas at http://www.criticasmagazine.com/article/CA6584770.html and Washington Parent at http://www.washingtonparent.com/articles/0809/books.php. There has so far been one customer review on Amazon UK at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Mariachi-World-Jd-Smith/dp/1887744991/ref=ed_oe_h.

In the meantime, I am in the home stretch of my NEA grant activities, trying to circulate a chapbook and figuring out whether my two collection manuscripts (one free verse and one formal verse) are really ready.

I am looking forward to talking to Writing Bison at AWP Chicago.

J.D. Smith

a poem by Greg Wrenn

2008-10-10T23:18:00.002-05:00

click here to read Greg Wrenn's "At Keats' Grave Again" in Center.

a poem by Eric Kocher

2008-10-10T20:38:00.003-05:00

Kudos to Eric Kocher, whose poem "My Poor Heart" appears in the current issue of DIAGRAM.

Click here to read the poem.

Where have y'all been published? Send news.

Kudos

2008-09-26T09:19:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to Greg Wrenn, a 2000 Bucknell Younger Poet, on winning the Midwest Chapbook Series Award. Greg's chapbook, Off the Fire Road, will be published in 2009 by GreenTower Press. Full details here on John Gallaher's blog.

Contest for poems in a traditional form: Southwest Review

2008-07-12T12:03:00.004-05:00

The Morton Marr Poetry Prize:

Thanks to Marilyn Klepak of Dallas, the Southwest Review gives an annual award of $1000 for a poem by a writer who has not yet published a first book of poetry. Owing to a generous supplemental donation by Mr. and Mrs. David T. Searls, Jr., we offer a second prize of $500.

Contestants may submit no more than six poems in a "traditional" form (e.g., sonnet, sestina, villanelle, rhymed stanzas, blank verse, et al.).

A cover letter with name, address, and other relevant information may accompany the pieces, which must be printed without any identifying information. Submissions will not be returned.

Entry fee is $5.00 per poem.

Postmarked entry deadline is September 30, 2008. The poems will be published in the Southwest Review.

Address:
Southwest Review
Southern Methodist University
P.O. Box 750374
Dallas TX 75275-0374

JULY 7 DL: 2008-2009 T&W Fellowship Applications

2008-06-30T19:09:00.002-05:00

Teachers & Writers Collaborative (T&W) announces the second T&W Fellowships, which will be awarded for 2008–2009 to two early-career writers. The T&W Fellowships are made possible by the generous support of the EDWARD AND SALLY VAN LIER FUND in The New York Community Trust. Teachers & Writers Collaborative: T&W provides and advocates for literary arts education by supporting writers and teachers in developing and implementing strategies to enhance students’ interest in and love of literature and writing. Since 1967, more than 1,500 T&W writers have taught writing residencies in New York City public schools, working in partnership with teachers to implement innovative writing programs in the classroom. Approximately 700,000 students have participated in our programs, and T&W has collaborated with more than 25,000 teachers. T&W publishes books about the teaching of writing and the quarterly Teachers & Writers magazine. The Center for Imaginative Writing, housed in T&W’s office in Manhattan’s Garment District, offers a library of resources on teaching and writing and is the site of readings, workshops, and other educational and literary events.

The Fellowship: The T&W Fellowship period is October 1, 2008, to May 31, 2009. During that time, T&W Fellows will receive:
~ a $10,000 stipend
~ Office space and resources (e.g., computer, supplies) at T&W
~ Opportunities to meet with experienced professionals from publishing, literary arts, theater, or other fields related to the Fellow’s work
~ Exposure to all aspects of T&W’s work, including writing residencies, publications, and the 2020 Visions reading series
~ The 2008–2009 Fellows will work together to plan the calendar year 2009 2020 Visions reading series. Events in this series pair an established poet, fiction writer, or other author with an emerging writer working in the same genre. In addition, each Fellow will focus on one of the two following projects:

T&W Curricular Materials: T&W’s catalog of more than eighty books and four decades of periodicals offer a wealth of valuable curricular materials related to teaching creative writing. Working within a framework provided by T&W staff, one of the Fellows will focus on reviewing existing resources to select those that will be included in a curricular resources section on the T&W website. This work will involve updating materials as needed to ensure their relevance to current educational standards. In addition, this Fellow will provide material for the online T&W Discussion Group.

T&W Communications: One of the Fellows will focus on developing and editing material for Teachers & Writers magazine and the T&W website. Such materials could include, but are not limited to, interviews with noted authors, articles about T&W’s residency programs, how-to materials for teachers and for writers working in K–12 classrooms, and analytical pieces about issues in the creative writing field and classroom.In addition to the above projects, Fellows are expected to make progress on their own writing projects during the Fellowship period. Each Fellow must spend a minimum of 15 hours per week at T&W during regular business hours (8 AM–6 PM, Monday–Friday) , in addition to participating in evening events such as 2020 Visions readings. Fellows will have access to the T&W office at all times for use in working on their own writing, as well as their T&W assignments.

Eligibility and Application: Applicants for T&W Fellowships must:

~ Be age 30 or younger at the beginning of the Fellowship period
~ Live in New York City or be able to plan an extended stay in the area (T&W cannot assist with finding housing for individuals who do not currently live in New York.)
~ Show exceptional artistic promise and a commitment to a writing career
~ Demonstrate financial need

Applications for the 2008–2009 T&W Fellowships must be RECEIVED by 5:00 PM (Eastern), Monday, July 7. The completed application form, a résumé/CV, and a writing sample of 10-25 pages may be mailed to:

T&W Fellowship
Teachers & Writers Collaborative
520 Eighth Ave., Ste. 2020
New York, NY 10018

The application, résumé/CV, and writing sample may be sent via e-mail to: fellowship@twc. org Applications will not be accepted via fax.

Please note: Applicants may be asked for a face-to-face or phone interview with T&W staff prior to selection of the 2008–2009 Fellows.

Questions: If you have questions about the T&W Fellowships, please call 212-691-6590 or e-mail fellowship@twc. org .

The Bat City Review seeks the insightful, feisty, sincere, and snarky.

2007-11-06T19:40:00.000-05:00

The Bat City Review, edited by graduate creative writing students at the University of Texas, is a nationally distributed annual literary journal that seeks to publish striking and distinctive work.

The Bat City review is quickly becoming recognized as one of the leading periodicals in the country? Of us, NewPages.com says "With work this good, Bat City Review is certainly on the cusp of a wider recognition. While some new magazines are ones to watch Bat City Review is one to subscribe to, immediately and without delay."

Over the past four years we've published nonfiction by the Irish writer Colm Toibin, fiction by Patrick McGrath and Ander Monson, translations of the preeminent Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, as well as poetry by Dean Young, Marilyn Hacker, C.K. Williams, Clay Matthews, and many emerging writers.

We're currently in search of fresh and fascinating fiction and poetry: well-honed writing of all genres and styles.

Email submissions are encouraged, and simultaneous submissions are happily accepted (with the usual request that you let us know if your work is taken elsewhere). We read submissions from May 1 to November 15, and responses are sent primarily in late fall. Work submitted after this reading period will be held for consideration in the next year's publication.

Please visit Bat City Review's website to submit online, or to find out more about us!

Little help?

2007-08-05T10:46:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone. I'm Zach, a 2007 June poet, and I was hoping you guys could help me out. Does anyone know of journals that will accept work that has been previously published in an undergraduate literary magazine that only has campus-wide distribution? Crab Orchard Review is the only journal I've found thus far that will accept this work as part of its editorial policy. Does anyone know of any others?

Thank you!

Cross posting: Poetry & Flash Fiction Contest

2007-07-13T14:27:00.000-05:00

[I'm cross-posting this by request; this announcement may also be found at Allison Joseph's CRWROPPS-2 list]

2007 Poetry & Flash Fiction Contests ~ Many Mountains Moving

Eligibility:
* Open to all poets and writers whose work is in English.
* Entries may not be previously or simultaneously published.
* Staff members and family of staff members are ineligible.

Prizes:
* $200 cash prize for the best poem & $200 cash prize for the best flash fiction.
* Publication in the 2008 MMM print annual.
* Finalists in each genre will also be considered for publication.

Guidelines:
POSTMARK DEADLINE— September 30th, 2007.
* Winners announced by November 30th 2007.
* Do not put your name on your work(s). All entries will be read anonymously.
* Include in a cover letter: (i) your name, (ii) e-mail address and phone number(s), (iii) mailing address, (iv) the title(s) and genre of your submission.
* If you enter in both categories, please send them in separate envelopes.
* Mark "poetry contest" or "fiction contest" on the envelope.
* Mss. cannot be returned; do not send your only copies.
* Include an SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) to receive the announcement of the winners.

Fees: $10 for as many as 5 poems per entry (total submission cannot exceed 10 pages).
$10 for as many as 2 flash fictions (or short-short story under 1,000 words, typed double-spaced).
Entrants may also pay $15 and get a subscription in addition to the entry fee.
Make checks payable to: Many Mountains Moving.

Final Flash Fiction Judge: TBA
Final Poetry Judge: TBA

Send to:
Many Mountains Moving (Poetry or Flash Fiction) Contest; 549 Rider Ridge Drive; Longmont, CO 80501

Cross-posting: Keystone Chapbook Prize for PA poets

2007-07-13T14:06:00.000-05:00

SEVEN KITCHENS PRESS
2007 Keystone Chapbook Award – for Pennsylvania Poets

Prize: $100 plus 25 copies.
Submission deadline: Postmarked between June 17 and August 17 of each year.
Eligibility: Open to all Pennsylvania poets [see complete guidelines below].

COMPLETE GUIDELINES:

Any poet who was born, has lived, or currently lives in Pennsylvania is eligible to submit to the Keystone Chapbook Award. (Your manuscript does not have to treat Pennsylvania as its subject.) Additionally, poets living elsewhere may submit manuscripts which do show a strong connection to Pennsylvania.

Submit a paginated manuscript of 16-20 pages (not including front matter) of poetry. Include two cover pages: one with the manuscript title, author name, address, e-mail and phone number; the second cover page should have the manuscript title only. Include a table of contents page. Include, if applicable, an acknowledgments page for work previously published.

Please include, on a separate page, a brief (100-150 words) biographical note, which must address your specific connection to Pennsylvania (if you do not currently reside here).

The author’s name should not appear in the manuscript.

Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but you must notify us promptly if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.

Submissions must be posted between June 17 and August 17. The winning manuscript will be announced on or before October 15, at which time the name of the final judge will be announced. Manuscript finalists will also be announced, and may be eligible for spring/summer publication in the Keystone Chapbook Series.

Manuscripts will not be returned. E-mailed submission is preferred, but you may send via regular mail.
Do not staple or bind your manuscript. If you are sending by mail, please use a binder clip and mail flat in an 8.5 x 11 envelope. If you are sending by e-mail, please send one document in Microsoft Word format (.doc or .rtf files are ideal); you must include the words “Keystone Chapbook” in the subject line of your e-mail.
Include a $12 reading fee with each manuscript you submit. Multiple submissions are acceptable. Checks should be made payable to Ron Mohring. Online payment may be made via PayPal to sevenkitchens at yahoo dot com. Each entrant will receive one copy of the winning chapbook, to be published on or before December 31.

The winner will receive $100 and 25 copies of their chapbook. Additionally, the publisher will distribute ten review copies and will solicit online reviews of the chapbook.

Send your manuscript—
by e-mail, as a Microsoft Word attachment, to: sevenkitchens at yahoo dot com; or
by mail to Ron Mohring, Publisher & Editor; PO Box 668; Lewisburg PA 17837.

More June Poet pics

2007-07-02T12:00:00.000-05:00

Top to bottom: Ashley Lamb, Betsy Wheeler, Brian Trimboli, Brianna Caszatt, Chrissy Friedlander. Apologies for the general blurriness of some pics, and for not moving the flexy thingy out of the way.

More June Poet pics (final reading)

2007-07-02T11:59:00.000-05:00

Top to bottom: Nancy Eimers, Rimma Hussein, Ron Mohring, Ryan Bruno, Zach Harris.

More June Poet pics

2007-07-02T11:58:00.000-05:00

Top to bottom: Deirdre O'Connor, Ellen Kirby, Eric Kocher, Megan Moriarty, Michael Verschelden.

June Poet Pics!

2007-06-27T14:17:00.000-05:00

Pics from the June Seminar picnic at Deirdre & Bill's house, June 16. Top to bottom: Ashley, Betsy, Bri, Brian, and Deirdre. We miss you guys already.

More picnic photos

2007-06-27T14:16:00.000-05:00

More pics. Top to bottom: Ellen, Eric, Jessica, Megan, Michael.

Still more picnic shots

2007-06-27T14:15:00.000-05:00

Top to bottom: Nancy, Ron & Chrissy, Ryan, Zach.

Call for Manuscripts!

2007-02-15T14:18:00.000-05:00

Pebble Lake Review is accepting submissions of fiction and nonfiction for forthcoming issues.

GUIDELINES:

How to Submit: Please send typed manuscript with cover letter listing publication credits, if any, and a SASE. Name, address, and email must appear on cover letter. Accepts simultaneous submissions (if noted), no previously published material, no multiple submissions. Submissions will be accepted via email and postal mail (no disks). Submissions that do not follow these guidelines will be returned unread. Response time is typically 1-4 months.

Fiction: Send a short story, 3,000 words maximum care of Fiction Editor. If submitting via email, send stories to fiction@pebblelakereview.com, as Word or RTF attachment only. If submitting via postal mail, send to the address below.

Nonfiction: We accept critical essays, commentary, memoir, and excerpts or larger works (memoirs in progress) of 3,000 words or less. Please do not send classroom or “workshop” material. Send work care of Todd Dillard, Nonfiction editor to: nonfiction@pebblelakereview.com as a Word or RTF attachment only.

Snail Mail:

15318 Pebble Lake Dr.
Houston, TX 77095

BYP Profile: Drew Calvert

2007-01-20T10:33:00.000-05:00

The next profile in our series is that of Drew Calvert, another quite interesting contributor to the 2006 June Poets group. He was caught to do this interview via e-mail in December 2006 in the midst of saying his last good-byes to Lewisburg and packing up to move on to Hong Kong where he will be looking for a job, perhaps in journalism.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BIO: Drew Calvert grew up in

Singapore

and studied English at Bucknell University. In 2006, he was awarded first prize for poetry in the West Branch/Stadler Center Literary Awards for “Choosing Islands” and other poems.

EH: How did you end up in the June Seminar? Did anyone in particular help to get you there?

DC: I heard about the Seminar from Paula Closson Buck. I took one of her poetry classes in my final year at Bucknell, and near the end of the semester she encouraged me to apply. Paula had always been supportive of my work, and she was really enthusiastic about the kinds of students who arrived each June, so I knew it would be a great opportunity.

EH: Are you writing or working on anything presently?

DC: I keep rewriting the same long poem about my time in Pennsylvania, but nothing of the kind worth mentioning.

EH: What does your particular writing process look like?

DC: Most of the time, my poems begin in response to something I’ve read or heard. Eventually, something of my own might arise, and I use that as a point of origin. I try to locate the moment in which I’ve genuinely surprised myself, and begin the poem there. Usually better things happen once I’m revising, but it seems to take quite a long time.

EH: What types of things often inspire your work?

DC: Memories usually inspire me – memories of places, or people, or moments from the past that seem unreal or out of place. Language inspires me, of course. Music inspires me, too, although I don’t know much about it technically. But I think people inspire me most of all, along with my own inability to thank them or share with them certain feelings I may have.

EH: Who are your main literary influences?

DC: Pablo Neruda has been a major influence on me – I still catch myself trying to imitate those especially wild metaphors. Tomas Tranströmer is another poet whose metaphors and attentiveness I admire (even though I can only read both of them in translation). And for a long time I tried to write spare poems like many of James Wright’s. More recently, though, Larry Levis has been quite an influence. I have no idea what he’s doing most of the time, or how I might imitate or respond to him – maybe that’s part of the appeal. So I guess he’s more of an inspiration.

EH: Just about six months have passed since you participated in the Seminar -- can you share any reflections you have about the experience?

DC: I feel lucky to have met everyone. I wrote a few poems I’ve kept, but otherwise I think I was more interested in learning from others – in terms of what they wanted from poetry, how they thought of themselves as writers, and what kept them excited. I think a lot of us had some of the same reservations about what exactly we were doing, but then every once in a while one of us would be able to articulate something we thought was lost or inexpressible, and we – or at least I – would be sold all over again.

EH: Thanks, Drew, for sharing both a glimpse of your story and the poems below that come out of work you did in the June Seminar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Freelance Metaphor

I am the charm that keeps the watchman
awake, the imperceptible smile of wind patterns
over sand. I am the folded
socks of an afterlife and the engineer of softness.
I am the touch apology wants to be. I am minor
Lightning, coos of thunder, each reassuring
Element of storm. I am never the laughter that flares
Up the stairwell in hotels where grieving men
Empty their pockets. I am the light that crouches
On the porch. I am the dancer's pause. I chaperone
For lovers in paintings. I am too young
For advice. I am a mattress for battered
Proverbs and swift as a blessing. I am the moment's
Blushed skin. I belong to the experiment of dawn.
I am the historian of gifts. I am the dragon
Asleep in the mist you always
Mistake for a coastline.

Far East Plaza

The prettier girls in high school always
Got tattoos and dyed their hair
The color of bourbon. At the mall
Mostly known for its Chinese dentists and Japanese
Comics, there's a parlor called
Johnny Two-Thumbs.

The day I was invited, as I stood watching
Vanessa's lower back
Bleed in Chinese, I wondered
About the difference between tattoos and novels,
How much ink a civilization needs
To ward off spells of aging,
How much ink a girl needs
To brand herself
For the sake of the world's distances.

Billboards loomed overhead
As we rode the escalator down
Carrying bags of gauze and medicinal cream.
The models wore jeans like a drug from the underworld,
bodies dipped into alpine stillness.

All I know about history is that my
name is more or less a joke. I've studied
hesitations; I've listened to poets who nickname centuries
And quote from the Book of Questions.

Now I'm in this coffee shop, and let's say I'm
Reading prose: that perpetual
Lowering of the flame, the bird who coasts
Between wire perches above low
Boils of mall traffic, an essay between
Earthquakes. Last week, at the gate in O'Hara,
I watched the newscasters speaking
My language stare into the dark
Eye of oblivion. All around me
Airport voices caught
Between clockwork and thunder.

And now, sitting across from me,
There's a girl with bleached bangs,
A paperback, and a serpent
Around her wrist. She's hiding
A history in her collarbone.

We are neighbors of fire: the photographer's
material, the secret to romance, shadows
warm against the cave, whatever it is that
lights the human eye.

*italicized line by Anne Carson in The Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse, published by Alfred A. Knopf in New York, 1998

[interview by Emily Hurd; photo of Drew Calvert also by Emily Hurd]

Alumnus News, J.D. Smith

2006-12-12T11:01:00.000-05:00

As one of the oldest Younger Poets in captivity, I am pleased and amazed to announce that I have been selected for an NEA Fellowship in Poetry. I would be interested in finding out if there any other Younger Poets on the list, which appears at the following link:

http://www.nea.gov/news/news06/Announce12-06.html

I hope this finds everyone enjoying the holidays.

Best,

John
www.jdsmithwriter.com

2006-12-06T21:20:00.000-05:00

I adore this "Carolina" poem by Matt Siegel. I just got engaged and this poem seems to really be hitting my mood right now. AH! The sun-bleached beginning. And don't we all do the same thing...just walk away as quickly as possible and try to regain normalcy through some routine action...hands through hair, picking teeth, gazing with fake interest at some now mundane and colorless sun...

If I'm in a store and this happens, I grab the nearest rack of sweaters and pretend I'm feeling the fabric for quality or I'm considering the color. How stupid.

(maybe it's the current state of things that has me looking for this in this poem, but) So this wave of possibility washes over the guy, he foresees a conversation with parents, and the essential question is: "Am I allowed to feel this>?" Is the conclusion, then, "No, it's too much, I have to leave the store?" Or is it just, more simply, that he's surprised himself. The tinge of embarrassment. I love it I love it I love it. It IS embarassing...but why...b/c it seems so unwarranted?

Thoughts? Mr. Siegel?

All hail Ron! What a gorgeous idea to do interviews! You have such a wealth of great ideas. I haven't looked at this blog in awhile but now I'll keep peeking in for some wonderful poems. How often do you hope to do them? Once every few months? It's a lot of work with your schedule, I'm sure, but I, for one, really enjoyed this one!

Meg Lav, '04 group, teaching elementary school in Korea and missing my language TERRIBLY

summer poetry workshops in france!

2006-11-13T16:42:00.000-05:00

The VCCA is pleased to offer workshops for writers at our beautiful new facility in Auvillar, a tiny unspoiled village in the south of France located between Toulouse and Bordeaux, three hours north of Barcelona. Led by award-winning writers, these workshops are geared toward all levels of writers, will feature much individual attention, and will draw upon the charm and beauty of this quaint village.

POETRY WORKSHOP WITH DENISE DUHAMEL & NICK CARBÓ, June 21-27, 2007

This intensive workshop provides both group and individual sessions and a combination of discussion, writing prompts and workshop.

The cost of the workshop is $2195 and includes accommodations at a charming local hotel, all meals, introductions to the region and walking tours of Auvillar.

To register, please visit:
http://www.vcca.com/france_workshops.html

A stopover on the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, Auvillar has a well-earned tradition of hospitality. Designated as one of France's "100 Most Beautiful Villages," Auvillar is set on the broad green Garonne River, with clearly visible remnants of ancient hilltop fortifications, monuments that go back centuries, nearby medieval cathedrals and museums to explore. The weekly farmer’s market is a highlight, and there are also a butcher shop, bakery, pharmacy, tabac, post office and public email access, plus six eateries, ranging from a pizzeria to a four-star restaurant. The region is noted for medieval villages, Faïence pottery, troubadour singing, cassoulet, foie gras, strawberries, exquisite wines and tantalizing cheeses.

BYP Profile: Introducing Matt Siegel

2006-11-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

[We have started an exciting new project this fall: a series of June Poet Profiles! At least once a month, and hopefully more often, we'll profile former Bucknell Seminar poets with brief interviews, photos, and samples of their work.

The first profile in this new series is an interview with Matt Siegel, a 2006 Fellow in the Bucknell Seminar for Younger Poets. This interview was conducted via e-mail in August 2006, just as Matt was preparing to start his graduate work at the University of Houston.]

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

BIO: Matthew Siegel was born in 1984 in New York. He spent this past summer on fellowship at the Bucknell Seminar for Younger Poets. Recently transplanted to Houston, TX, he is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in Poetry at the University of Houston where he also teaches composition. He recently received a B.A. in English with a concentration in Creative Writing and Global Literary Culture from Binghamton University (SUNY) where he was awarded the Andrew Bergman Prize in Creative Writing, the George R. Dunham Poetry Prize, two AWP Intro Journals Award nominations, and an Academy of American Poets Prize selected by Dorianne Laux. In 2005 he was chosen by Nikki Giovanni as the winner of the Cargoes National Undergraduate Competition in Poetry. He has had poems published in Lilies & Cannonballs Review, Clark Street Review, Ginger Hill, Susquehanna Review, and forthcoming in Passages North. He has also done extensive work with the spoken word community.

RM: How did you hear about the June Seminar? Did someone encourage you to apply?

MS: I heard about the program, initially, I think, from a flyer in the English department hall at Binghamton University, where I just earned my BA. But I also saw ads in the Writer’s Chronicle and places like that. Maria Mazziotti Gillan, my mentor at Binghamton, encouraged me to apply. In fact, she had published Terrance Hayes in one of her anthologies and thought I would work especially well with him.

I began working with Maria my first year at Binghamton as a sophomore. She took me under her wing and I was fortunate enough to work with her every semester since that first one. I find this kind of funny because I find myself writing this paragraph over and over trying to shorten it. I really cannot say enough about the impact this woman had on my life and writing. She saw something in me and just kept letting me come back to her with my work. Her workshops were two eight-hour sessions three weekends a semester. She had us writing a lot of poems that were difficult to write, and when I say write, I mean to face, to deal with. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, an ulcer condition, when I was sixteen and she guided me through writing those poems. I had to write them but I was also running from them as they were coming out. I would close the book and say to myself No, I can’t do this, I can’t write this. But we had twenty minutes to have something or else risk embarrassment in front of a whole workshop full of people who just struggled with their own situations. So I wrote the poems and they ended up being some of my best. In fact, a decent portion of the manuscript that got me into graduate school was those poems.

RM: What are you doing now—what occupies your time?

MS: Right now I am at a Comfort Inn in Panama City, Florida on the Gulf Coast. Yes, I’m grinning. I’m with my friend Devon Branca, a poet in the PhD program at Binghamton, and we’re moving me to Houston. We figured since I have to drive, we might as well take the scenic route. So traveling has been taking up the most of my time. And preparing for graduate school and teaching composition (yikes!). Today I swam in the ocean for five hours and then cooked fish on a portable gas camping stove behind my car in the parking lot.

RM: What are you working on—writing?

MS: Right now I’m not really working on anything. I mean, I have a few poems that I’m tweaking slowly, but really so much else has been going on writing has sort of been moved to the rear burner. I jot a few lines down here and there but that’s it. I’m reading a little too.

RM: Can you talk about your writing process, and specifically, how reading and/or interacting with other forms of art triggers or informs your own work?

MS: My writing process feels sort of feels like a non-process, but maybe that’s just because it’s mine. I feel it sometimes and I sit down and it comes out. Sort of sounds like going to the bathroom, I know, but really, that’s what it comes down to most of the time. Sometimes I have to poke it a little with a stick. But really, it’s always changing, maybe because I’m changing. Usually I’ll start with an image or seed in my head and just jump on and ride it, see where it takes me. I revise a bunch, save my drafts (all on the computer), but like to have other poets whose work I respect go through it with a pen and make comments as well. Devon is a great editor of my work, as is Maria. Too much of that, though, can be annoying depending on the piece. I guess I would say I let the poem dictate the process.

RM: Any current obsessions?

MS: I’m always obsessed with finding new voices, new poets to sort of turn my world upside down. Lately, I’ve just been trying to keep my eyes open. There’s just so much to see right now and be affected by. I feel as if I am currently in the hinge of my life. Things are all very new and exciting/frightening. I’m in a brand new city and surrounded by all kinds of crazily intelligent and creative people. I just want to try and get all their stories. It might take awhile. Oh, and break dancing.

RM: Whose work inspires you right now?

MS: That’s always a big question. Right now there are a ton of people who are influencing not only how I write but how I look at the world. Dina Ben-Lev is probably my favorite contemporary poet. Olena Kalytiak Davis is a big one for me right now as well, especially that first book. I just met a personal hero of mine, Jeffrey McDaniel, at the National Poetry Slam in Austin, so I’ve been going back to his work. I’ve been corresponding with Clay Matthews some. I really like his work, and I see it all over the place so it gets me excited to be reading journals. Paul Guest is another one of those. Terrance Hayes, Lydia Melvin, the Wave Books crew, Bob Hicok (the new poems he has in Field are 100% BAD-ASS), I’m pretty excited for Patricia Smith’s new book…oh, and Larry Levis. He’s been kicking my ass all over the page. And of course the faculty here at Houston. I mean, shit, I drove over 2,400 miles for something! (On a side-note, I stood in front of Tony Hoagland’s closed office door yesterday and just stared for about a minute. Is that weird? I mean, it’s not like he was in there or anything…)

RM: It's been about two months since your June Seminar experience. How do you look back on it?

MS: I can’t say I don’t miss it. I don’t know if I’ll ever be in such a supportive, kind, and open environment as I was at Bucknell. It was all about the poems there, a total love-fest. I met some incredible talents that will remain with me for the rest of my years as a poet. The faculty was just as excited as the fellows were and seemed to be always available to talk and go over poems. So I look back on it favorably. At orientation here at Houston someone asked me about the program and I just sighed, smiled, and said amazing.

RM: Describe your support network: do you share poem drafts with anyone, for instance? How does that work?

MS: My ‘support network’ is sort of in transition right now because of the move I just made. Generally, I would show in-progress to my former roommate and forever-friend Devon Branca, and he seemed to be a great reader for me. Cody Todd, a friend of mine starting the PhD at Southern Cal is also a great reader of my work. I find that it is important to show my work to people who are looking out for my/the poem’s best interests and not just making it how they want to see it, like I seem to do at times. Terrance Hayes was great with that. Maria Gillan, who I worked with at Binghamton, was also a great editor for me.

RM: What's next for you?

MS: Well, the next step is the current one. I start classes this Monday here at the University of Houston in the MFA program and I’m also going to be teaching TWO sections of composition (27 students per section) per semester which I’m simultaneously scared of and excited about. I’d like to try and do the Writers in the Schools program at some point. Working on Gulf Coast is also something I’m looking forward to. I’m just going to try and do all the right things here to make the most of the next three years. As for this semester, I’m taking Pedagogy, Modern Thought (with Jane Miller), and Writers on Literature: Writing the Body (with Mark Doty) and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Jane Miller is a wonderful poet and Mark Doty is…well, Mark Doty. He and I share an August 10th birthday. I sense good things coming from this semester.

RM: You've been kind enough to provide two poems to post along with this interview. Is there anything that we should know about them?

MS: ‘Back to This’ was written my senior year at Binghamton and ‘Southern Shores’ was written at Bucknell.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Back To This

Today in my rearview I saw a tractor trailer demolish
a sedan, its plastic pieces exploding into the air
like dry ice in a glass bottle with the top screwed on.

One of these almost took my friend’s trachea
at twelve years old as his mother was dying,
lung cancer. I can’t forget the bandages

around his hands and his neck and his mother
with that rag around her small head, her hands.
I don’t know why I keep going back to this.

I just can’t seem to rub these things from my eyes:
a deer painted down a hundred foot stretch of highway,
ending as a pile of mush, no fur, no teeth to be seen.

But yesterday I saw a girl light a cigarette
and place it into the mouth of a quadriplegic
and how it hung loose from his lips, and I saw

a child, barely able to stand, with his arms full
of fresh leaves, still red on the ground throwing
them into a man’s face as they both shouted

with their hands in the air.

Southern Shores, North Carolina

So what’s wrong with me that I can’t walk into a boat shop
where a girl sits on her knees,
straddled over a jet ski pumping a nail gun into its sides?

The girl behind the counter looked at me, of course she could tell.
My skin became transparent, my teeth became soft.
What could I do but leave?

I walked along the tire blocks in the parking lot,
squinted at the sky, ran fingers through my hair.
I don’t care if she could have loved me or not.

And what could I have told my family? Mom, Bill, please
understand I am a fragment, a fracture without this stranger
I am so small, I don’t know if I can ever come home

but I want to believe I could have. And that lovers are not boulders
that tumble down mountains, colliding
and smashing each other to pieces.

She barely looked at me when I walked in.
She shot nails into a jet ski.
POPPOPPOP

[interview by Ron Mohring; photo of Matt Siegel by Betsy Wheeler]

Deirdre O'Connor - reading at Bucknell

2006-11-03T12:01:00.000-05:00

For those who may be in the area, our own Deirdre O'Connor will be reading in Bucknell Hall on Tuesday night, November 7, at 7 PM. Reading with Deirdre will be our Roth Resident, poet Beth Martinelli. It's election day: vote early, then come cast your vote for some great poetry.

Writing prompts

2006-11-01T15:05:00.000-05:00

In my writing classes, I find that I'm always inventing writing prompts--just stuff that comes to me on the fly, in the shower, before falling asleep--I jot them down and often spring them on my students without giving much thought to how (or whether) they might work. What's important is to get them writing (or so I tell myself).

These prompts fall into two categories: (1) the shorter, fill-in-the-blank "starter" bits (which I call prompts) designed to generate a quick list or descriptive passage, from which point the writer will then (hopefully) go deeper, and (2) the more detailed, (usually) more thought-out (or tested) assignments, which I expect the students to complete over the course of a week and which (ideally) involve several stages.

Here are a few of this semester's prompts, and two of my assignments. Anyone want to share some of yours?

prompts:
1) "I Never Knew"
2) "I get my _____ from _____"
3) "My parents looked _____"
4) "If I were you, "
5) Rita Dove's "Ten-Minute Spill" [see The Practice of Poetry]
6) A- generate random list of nouns; B- plug them into this rubric: "The ____ says . . ." ("The tree says..."; "The snail says . . ."; "The air-traffic controller says . . ."; "The shoulder says . . .")

assignments:
1) Write a poem in which something lacking the capacity for language is nevertheless "speaking" to you.
2) Borrow a line from another text--NOT a poem--and use it as the opening line in your poem.

Lynch

2006-08-01T21:40:00.000-05:00

If you're a David Lynch/Twin Peaks fan, go buy the chapbook A Slice of Cherry Pie: Poetry inspired by David Lynch's Twin Peaks from Half Empty/Half Full (even better: it's $6!)

Featuring poems by Emilie Zoey Baker, Jilly Dybka, Collin Kelley, elena knox, Jared Leising, Daniel Lloyd, Siobhan Logan, Eileen Tabios, Maureen Thorson, Andrew J Wilson & Maike Zock.

Looking for Information

2006-07-24T13:12:00.000-05:00

Maybe some of you have been in this position before, so I'll try to condense my situation.

The sales of my book are stagnant at the moment, and I am looking for reading venues at bookstores and universities that might help the situation, as well as other publicity possibilities. As I live in DC, the Northeast Corridor is accessible to me, but working outside of academia makes it a little harder to network and find out about opportunities.

Any suggestions on or off-list (smitros@gmail.com) are welcome.

Thanks.

John
www.jdsmithwriter.com
http://www.cherry-grove.com/smith.html

writer's week at Rancho la Puerta Spa

2006-07-03T15:59:00.000-05:00

http://www.rancholapuerta.com/Specialty/072206.html

July 22-July 27, 2006

Join poets Denise Duhamel and Nick Carbo, fiction writers April Smith and Dan Wakefield for the fabulous Writers Week at the physically invigorating, spiritually soothing, and creativity generating, world famous spa called Rancho la Puerta in Tecate, Mexico. In the early mornings you can hike one of many mountain trails, come back and have a hydro massage before a delicious lunch, and then go to one of the writer's workshops in the afternoon. Who says poets don't need pampering? Even Bukowski had a couple of scalp massages during his lifetime. Ooooooh, aaaaaaaaaaah.

My favorite activity was the labyrinth walk timed just right to catch the sunrise over Mt. Kuchumaa as you reached the center of your enlightenment.

Bypassed

2006-06-29T07:59:00.000-05:00

For those who are wondering, the river at Lewisburg did not flood. However, there is significant flooding at points east, including Danville, Bloomsburg, and on and on. Binghamton, as you've probably heard, has been hit hard.

Hope everyone is safe out there.

Go, Becca!

2006-06-28T09:53:00.000-05:00

Congrats to our Becca Wadlinger (BYP '05)--her poem "Later, People Took on Qualities that Planets Usually Have," from Pebble Lake Review, is reprinted today on Verse Daily.

Chapbook Opportunity for Asian American Poets

2006-06-26T14:58:00.000-05:00

[reposted from Nick Carbo's blog]:

The Vincent Chin Memorial Chapbook Prize

Deadline: June 30, 2006
Judge: John Yau
Prize: $500, Barrow Street publication, & Full Scholarship to Kundiman Retreat 2007
Fee: $15, payable to The New York Foundation for the Arts
Guidelines: www.kundiman.org
Eligibility: Asian American poets who have not published more than one book of forty-eight pages or more.

Backstory: On June 19, 1982, in Detroit, Vincent Chin was beaten to death with a baseball bat by a man and his stepson. The two laid-off autoworkers mistook Chin for Japanese — an Asian group they blamed for the ailing U.S. auto industry. The assailants never served jail time, and later federal civil-rights courts acquitted them entirely of the crime. For many today, this is a rarely remembered footnote in American history. However, the tragedy of Vincent Chin marked an important change in how Asian Americans viewed themselves. It was the first time, according to APA advocates and academics, that people who traced their ancestry to different countries in Asia and the Pacific Islands crossed ethnic and socioeconomic lines to fight [politically] as a united group of Asian Pacific Americans. They were Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Filipino; they were waiters, lawyers, and grandmothers who were moved to action by what happened to Vincent Chin. For the first time, Asian Americans banded together against the discrimination and racism directed toward the APA community. Decades later, the need for Asian Americans to unite as a population and to project a voice into the cultural mainstream is as urgent as ever. In honor of Vincent Chin and this watershed moment in Asian American history, Kundiman and Barrow Street are sponsoring The Vincent Chin Memorial Chapbook Prize. This annual prize is an opportunity for both Kundiman and Barrow Street to support and spotlight the talent of an emerging Asian American poet, a new voice in the landscape of Asian American expression and power.

Thinking ahead to Atlanta,

2006-06-22T09:29:00.000-05:00

where I'll be traveling this spring for the AWP Conference, and wondering how many of y'all are planning to go? I've been to AWP three times and have never attended one of the many parties--not even with my grad school buddies from Vermont--though this time, this time, I really want to. There are just too many people I miss. So who's going?

Last night's reading in Bucknell Hall was super, and the after party at the cottage (I actually went, and stayed till eleven) delightful. This morning the poets disperse, but we shall have photos soon (I hope) and I know that we'll be hearing more from our gang of twelve.

Paula asked me to read a poem with the staff, which was really sweet of her. I dashed up the hall to log into the West Branch computer, plugged in my flash drive, played "this one? or that one?" for about twenty seconds and then printed out a new poem. It was great fun to read it out loud.

Walked Deirdre back to her car, feeling punchy and energized and sad all at once. Did you know that she and Bill are moving into their new house? It's only half a block down the street--the same street--in Mifflinburg.

The catalpa trees have lost their frothy blooms. It's funny how I never notice the beany pods until they're fully formed. I always associate catalpa flowers with the June Seminar. Right now the oak leaf hydrangeas are blooming all over campus. I'm grading papers in my office (in the geology/psychology building, of all places) and thinking about putting a big honking rainbow sticker on my office window: every day I hear campus tour guides leading knots of prospective students past the building--it would be good to show a visible sign of diversity, even though I'm not a rainbow sort of queer.

Okay. Back to work.

Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing Bang

2006-06-20T15:52:00.000-05:00

So sweet to see Betsy getting misty this morning over the imminent departure of this year's awesome Gang of Twelve. . . Tomorrow night's the final reading. Michael Waters and a dozen BYPs, rocking Bucknell Hall. It's been a treat, even from my office high on the hill, to know the poets were back in town.

I re-sent the Blogger invitation to the folks who weren't able to log on first time around. Don't know what's up with that. Hope it works. If you're reading this, it did.

Drew, Ashley, Rasheeda, Jeff, Sophie, Jane, Marianne, Caitlin, Matthew, Emily, Steven, Rachel: Here's to the group that made sunglasses cool again. Stay in touch, y'all.

2006-05-27T14:10:00.000-05:00

How I wish I were anticipating Lewisburg's lovely lamps again...

I've fallen into cyber-disrepair (although I am a bit of a facebook junky). I admit.

I am working on my thesis, which will tenatively be about Cajun mysticism, music, and the little way. I am into transforming dance halls into abattoirs.

Living in a post-Apocalyptic city is not so bad right now. Although the weather is once more volatile. Sure there are pockets of desparation and destruction, but I thankfully live in the "sliver by the river" or "bubble." Linda and I will move away from this mess with a pre-emptive evacuation to Paris for the Fall Semester.

I wonder what our year is doing now, whether it still abides by the virtue of wanton behavior.

Oh and Chicago was beautiful.

One more week--

2006-05-26T15:14:00.000-05:00

--before the June Seminar, and I've just sent out invitations to this year's June Poets to join the blog. It would be great to hear about some of your summer plans.

I'll be teaching summer comp, trying to finish a few new poems, and making preparations for three courses this fall. Very exciting. No travel plans. If anyone's passing this way en route to oh, I don't know, NEW YORK, e-mail me! You've gotta stop for coffee in good old Lewisburg.

Recommendations? First Book Prizes

2006-05-03T17:04:00.000-05:00

Hello, Fellows:

Katie has asked me to post a question on her behalf: Which of the multitude of first-book prizes out there do y'all think are the "best," and why?

Hope everyone's well. I'm working in the garden a lot, and will be teaching comp during summer session in six weeks.

Cheers,

Ron

Stacey Waite at Penn State

2006-03-27T11:49:00.000-05:00

Stacey Waite, a June Poet from 1997, gave a great reading on Tuesday night at Penn State. Jeanne Walker, Lynn Emanuel and I had selected Stacey's poem "Dear Gender" (from her chapbook, Choke) as one of four poems to be printed on broadsides in this year's Public Poetry Project. The project distributes broadsides/posters by poets with a Pennsylvania connection to schools, libraries, and other public venues across the state. The other recipients this year were Gerald Stern, Gregory Djanikian, and the ever-awesome Terrance Hayes.

You can find out more about this program on my *other* blog, PA Poetry.

[photos: Stacey reading and then signing posters at the reception]

Supple Amounts: New York State Summer Writers Institute

2006-02-13T10:32:00.000-05:00

Cross-posting this from my blog--please pass along (or apply if you can):

Supple Amounts: New York State Summer Writers Institute

Head count

2006-01-24T14:18:00.000-05:00

Okay, you lurking lovers of literature, I've had just about enough of this dead airspace. Chime in, count off, post a poem, send a photo, submit a recipe--I don't care, just let us all know you're alive out there. Howzabout some updates, y'all?

I'll jump in:

work- interesting. I'm not teaching this semester. Currently subbing at the Writing Center front desk, which is great because I loved being on staff here in the fall, but it's also a bit nerve-wracking (because it's a temp thing).

writing- is coming around again. I have a few new poems in the works and actually sent out some work for the first time in about a year. Also collaborating with a few poets, which I love to do.

home- Randy and I are quilting a lot. (Check my blog for pix of Randy working on a sawtooth quilt.) Sadie & Allie are fine. We had strange warm weather for a few days and I got antsy about the garden; we drove down to Lowe's and wandered through their (sad) garden department looking at (wilted) houseplants; R bought a thistle feeder to hang outside the laundry room and I bought mesclun and arugula seeds to start under lights indoors.

travel- no plans to go anywhere, alas. But if anyone is coming through the 'Burg, please let me know! And y'all make sure to fill up on fajitas while you're in Austin. And stop at Half Price Books on Guadalupe. And breakfast at Las Manitas. I'll stop now; I suddenly miss Austin sooo much . . .

Stadler stuff- Carol Frost arrived this weekend. I'm looking forward to meeting her soon. West Branch is chugging along and we're reading a ton of submissions. E-mailed fiction has leveled off--not sure why--but I'm still hoping to get us up to 50% by the next fall (reading fiction on my laptop has been an easy transition, but I do find that if a story really grabs me, I still want to print it out for re-reading).

news- my new chapbook should be out this week. See my blog for an announcement as soon as I get my copies (again, should be this week).

All from me for now. Hope to hear from all you Mouseketeers soon.

Salad Fingre

2006-01-17T10:47:00.000-05:00

Have you seen Hubert Cumberdale's Shack?

BTW: Who's going to AWP this year?

Little Bragging Rights

2005-12-07T13:54:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to share with you my great, great news:

I found out this week that I am the recipient of the 2005 Milton Kessler Memorial Poetry Prize from Harpur Palate and of the 2005 James Wright Poetry Award from Mid-American Review.

I'm so excited. And miss you all!

Love,

Amanda Auchter

Paula's on Poetry Daily!

2005-11-28T17:50:00.000-05:00

Hey Folks,

Check out Paula's way cool poem on today's Poetry Daily. Congrats, Paula!

And J.D. Smith had a nice poem up on Verse Daily the other day. And I read a Sam Reed poem a couple weeks ago, I think it was in the Colorado Review? It's so good to see y'all's poems out there in print (and in the ether). . .

In other po-happenings at Bucknell, Mary Szybist is on campus today and tomorrow (she's giving a reading tomorrow night in Bucknell Hall). Mary was a June Poet back in '92; check out her book, Granted: well worth the read!

Hope all's well with everyone out there and that those who celebrated Turkey Day had their yummy fill of feasting and family time.

Cheers,

Ron

and Ruth Kocher, too

2005-11-17T18:38:00.000-05:00

While you're checking out Matt's poems in West Branch, don't miss Ruth Kocher (1990)'s poem, "Fidelity."

Matt Ladd, Matt Ladd, Matt Ladd

2005-11-17T18:28:00.000-05:00

Congrats also to Matt Ladd (2002), whose three gorgeous poems appear in the luminously redesigned West Branch: I just read "A Difficult Knowledge of California" to my intro students on Monday (I've stolen Jeff Hardin's engaging practice of reading a poem a day to all my classes) and they loved it. Their favorite line: "Las Vegas is still / popping its glamorous jaw."

Look for the new WB at fine bookstores (or a Barnes & Noble) near you; the new issue is just out.

Kevin's Sonnet's on Po-Daily!

2005-11-17T18:19:00.000-05:00

Dearlings,

Please check out the badass sonnet ("To You") on today's Poetry Daily; it was penned by our own Kevin A. Gonzalez (June Poet, 2002). Kudos, Kevin, to you.

has anyone got diz j's email address?

2005-11-04T12:22:00.000-05:00

i am in desperate need of david st john's email address, please charming poetry children help, it would be splendid.

yrs
emily

Terrance Hayes, Visiting Poet, named one of Pittsburgh's "Top 40 Under 40"

2005-10-25T08:20:00.000-05:00

Check it out in Pittsburgh Magazine, y'all.

new phone number

2005-10-24T16:38:00.000-05:00

773-633-6961. please prank me, but only after 9 pm.

hey bucknell poets: POETRY CRUISE!

2005-10-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

The first ever, Poetry Cruise on the fabulous liner Carribean Princes (Princes Cruise Lines) to sail in late Spring of '06. Take poetry workshops with Denise Duhamel, Nick Carbo, David Lehman, Gariel Gudding, and David Trinidad. Take a dip in the two pools, drink a pina-colada on the sun deck, read a poem at the open mic, visit the casino, snorkle with clown fish and the dolphins, tour the islands, all on this seven day cruise in the western Carribean.

2005 June Anthology Reprint--Here!

2005-10-01T15:15:00.000-05:00

The snazzy new quadruple-proofed lighter-hued June Anthology (with a brand new poem by Evan Beaty) is in the house. And I'm in the house too, the house being the Stadler Center (on a Saturday, no less) printing labels to mail these out. I hope all of your addresses are the same as they were in August. Let me know if there's a correction. The Cajun Sensation lives somewhere new for now, I know that much. Thanks for any updates.

Katie

RITA Update

2005-09-22T07:31:00.000-05:00

My husband & I are not able to evacuate our home. HWY 6, which is the street right outside of our neighborhood, is at a standstill. We are not able to get out of our neighborhood at all. Also, no gasoline. All gas station within a 30 mi. radius of us are out of gas and are not getting any more gas. We have plenty of food, water, flashlights, etc.,. We are going to shelter in place in the most secure room of our home, but are concerned about the 120 mph winds expected this far inland (70mi.). We are hoping for the best. The storm is coming in Sat morning @ approx. 1AM, so we'll be able to take calls until then. If you want to get in contact with me, email me. Thanks.

Amanda

RITA

2005-09-20T21:28:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm evacuating on Thursday with my family to my sister's house in Montgomery, TX, approx. 100 mi. from the coast. They've issued mandatory evacuations, here. Think good thoughts for me and everyone else, here. My parents live right on the coast, so that's a little scary. My house is about 50 mi. inland, but surrounded by trees. Ugh. I'll post when I can.

Amanda

Favorite Writing Exercises

2005-09-20T11:48:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody,
I'm looking for some captivating poetry prompts to use on my middle school kids (grades 5-8). Do any of you remember a particularly exciting writing exercise from that time? Or, if you've worked with middle school kids, which exercises were resounding successes? Know of any writing exercises that you think would translate well to that age group? I've tried a few of the exercises from "Wishes, Lies, and Dreams" by Kenneth Koch, but some of the 7th and 8th grade students seem a little old for those prompts. I will adore you for any help you can offer.

In other news, teaching is crazy and hectic but also wonderful. My students are such dollfaces. (Dollfaces outfitted in huge faux gold medallions who admire 50cent above all others. But they are sweet, and they've written some amazing poems so far.) I'm looking forward to the reunion--who else is going & when do you plan to be there?

Fine Press Seminar for Emerging Writers

2005-09-08T07:46:00.000-05:00

Folks, I'm passing along this e-mail from the Fine Arts Work Center; please share this opportunity:

The Center for Book Arts invites applications for our Letterpress Printing & Fine Press Publishing Seminar For Emerging Writers. The next section of this seminar is scheduled for Fall 2005. The seminar is tuition free for
participants. Participants will hear lectures from various professionals in the field - printers, fine press publishers, book artists, and dealers, to get a practical overview of letterpress printing and fine press publishing. They will learn the basics of letterpress printing, both traditional typesetting and options with new technology, by collaboratively printing a small edition of chapbooks or other projects.
Each seminar will be offered to a maximum of eight students. Writers from culturally diverse backgrounds are especially encouraged to apply. Finalists may be interviewed or asked to provide supplemental information to their applications.
Applications will not be accepted from students enrolled in undergraduate or graduate degree programs during the program year (September 2005 - May2006).
Application postmark has been extended to October 1, 2005.
Email snicholls@centerforbookarts.org for more information, or download the guidelines at http://www.centerforbookarts.org/newsite/opportunities/.
Sarah Nicholls
Program Manager
Center for Book Arts
28 W. 27th Street
NY, NY 10001
212 481 0295
FAX 212 481 9853

Cover

2005-09-06T21:52:00.000-05:00

The cover image for my chapbook is up on my blog: http://www.alauchter.blogspot.com. Let me know what you think!

ALA

i'm hording an imagiste.

2005-09-02T16:03:00.000-05:00

chris and linda are safe and sound in my apartment... we have a full house. come tomorrow there will be 6 of us here, maybe more if their friends call back. everyone is welcome even if you aren't a katrina refugee... we're having a bbq on sunday so hop on the amtrak NOW. if anyone wants to get ahold of christopher lirette via the telephone, you can call me if his does not work. 312-510-6152.

miss all of you. love.

wave at all

2005-09-01T12:47:00.000-05:00

200...1?...checking in here. S'bad when I can't even remember that.

Anyone check this out yet?: fascicle

Some pretty great stuff.

--Adam Cole

I did not think death had undone so many

2005-08-30T16:37:00.000-05:00

The scoop.
It isn't the worst case scenario. Thankful for that. But we aren't out the woods. There weren't six figures of folks in the Superdome, maybe only a third of that. Today the authorities are rescuing people from roofs and attics. The dead bodies are being pushed aside. Let go of the old, make way for the living. NOLA East (9th ward) is flooded. French Quarter started flooding today as the 17th Street Canal broke. My apartment is more than likely fine, but again, who knows. My girlfriend's family's and grandparent's houses are almost definitely partially submerged.
I may need a new college for the upcoming semester. Undoubtedly this will intefere with normalcy and academia. Kristen, what's Loyola Chi look like? Anyone else near a Jesuit Uni? I speculate that they will either transfer tuition to another Jesuit school or refund or carry over until next semester.
I am ok, my family is ok, and most of my friends definitely made it out.
The important thing to remember is that New Orleans (or any other city) is not made of the structures but of the people. We will rebuild. The city will take care of itself.

Yours,
-CL, Imagiste

Rhino Lovers Everywhere

2005-08-29T21:57:00.000-05:00

My friend Halli subscribed me to the Word-a-Day service, where I get (duh) a new word delivered to my email box each day (lucky or not). Thought you rhinoerotica freaks would love this:

rhinorrhea (ry-nuh-REE-uh) noun: A runny nose. [From Neo-Latin, from Greek rhino- (nose), -rrhea (flow).]Another word with the same prefix: rhinoceros. Another word with the same suffix: logorrhea (excessive flow of words:talkativeness). So what happens when you combine these two words? You redefine rhinorrhea: a rhinoceros who talks too much.

So much fun.

exit strategy

2005-08-28T23:27:00.000-05:00

I'm all disco. I am riding the storm in Jax, MS with my girlfriend and her family. It will only be a category two when it hits. New Orleans, on the other hand may have a harder time for wear, with what--twenty foot storm surge could mean twenty big ones of water in the city for what could be weeks, but who knows for sure. There are something like 100 grand in the superdome right now, and probably some that haven't left. If you have a direct line to God or whatever you like, please give him my regards and maybe a teensy plea to spare the prodigal city.

Thanks for your thoughts Amanda, and those of you who've called. It means enormous.

I'll update in the aftermath.

Yours
-CL, Imagiste

Katrina

2005-08-28T10:26:00.000-05:00

Chris: I'm thinking about you and hope you and your family will be safe from this horrible hurricane! You always have a place here in Houston if you need it (though from what I hear, I-10 coming this way is gridlocked). Be safe and please post as soon as you can so we know you're all right.

post from Katie re: anthology boo-boos: please read & respond

2005-08-22T17:25:00.000-05:00

Folks,

I let Katie know that there were errors in the anthology, and I'm posting the message below on her behalf.

-Ron

"hey, if anyone sees other problems in the anthology, tell me!
i'm going to fix this stuff and get a snazzy, reprinted, corrected,
new-and-improved version from administrative services.
so this is your chance to see other mistakes. here are the three
that i'm fixing already:
1. emily clamen's name
2. the hybridization of an evan poem with an amanda poem
3. the mysterious disappearance of the second half of shep's poem"

YOU LOVED ME BEFORE, DO YOU LOVE ME NOW?

2005-08-18T19:52:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long-ish absence from communication, everyone. I'm really terrible at 1) computers and 2) keeping in touch with people I adore, so you can fill in the blanks yourselves. (My next mission: adding myself to the facebook community, which has also proven a little difficult for who knows what reason.)

I was chagrined to find Pittsburgh in exactly the same condition as I left it--full, in other words, of surly ex-boyfriends working at all my favorite coffeeshops. And humid. So humid my sunglasses fog up as soon as I go outside.

But I do have good news: I now have a job. I'll be an artist in residence in the Beaver County School System, just north of Pgh. I'll be teaching a few days here and there, depending on how often schools want to bring me in, and the rest of the time I'll be teaching at a cyber school. (Did I somehow end up in a mid-'80s vision of what the 21st century would be like? Needless to say, I am thoroughly bugged out about this, but will forge ahead.) If anybody has experience with teaching poetry in a cyber school, I'd love to talk to you about it.

In other news: the most popular song on the jukebox at Ritter's, Pittsburgh's best diner, is "Crazy" by Patsy Cline, and I rely on this information daily.

By the way, I request permission to make giddy phone calls during Steelers games.

X
Sarah

Uberprops

2005-08-13T17:33:00.000-05:00

I would just like to take a moment here to hand out the first-ever "Batman Begins" Memorial Award in Badassitude to Becca von Suttner for completely spanking all previous chapbook covers with her design for the 2005 edition. Truly, Becca is a Bucknellian's Bucknellian, and not a young lady to be trifled with.

The Ego Has Landed

2005-08-12T15:37:00.000-05:00

The book thing is now, like, official and stuff. The book cover and sample poems are available on the publisher's web site:
http://www.cherry-grove.com/

The ISBN is 1933456051, if you're into that kind of thing. It's not up on Amazon yet but soon will be, and it can be ordered through bookstores by way of Ingram.

The tour in support of this thing will start at the Midwest Literary Festival (www.midwestliteraryfestival.com) on 10-11 September in Aurora, Illinois, not far from Chicago.

The authors there will include Stephen J. Cannell who, when he isn't writing hard-boiled fiction, is being producing television shows and such. He was the creator of The A-Team. I'll get to meet royalty.

In other news, it 5 p.m. at the end of a work week at the day job, and I could really go for a couple of cold beers.

Peace,

John

Anthology Greatness & Evan

2005-08-12T14:35:00.000-05:00

I just got my copy of the 2005 Anthology today and I'm enjoying reading through everyone's great work! I miss all of you so much. It's been nostalgic around here (I also just had my class reunion this weekend-- scary!). Evan, notice anything odd with your first poem? Yup, they took my last 2 stanzas from "Elegy" and put them on yours. Ack!

Side note: send me poems or else. I've "saved" space for you lovely Bucknellians.

Want to know what I've been up to? Can't wait to see everyone in October. Who is going?

the "matches" section of the chicago reader

2005-08-05T18:25:00.000-05:00

yes, i'm a nosey bitch and read the 'i saw you' and the 'match' sections, but this one was SO worth it. couldn't find it online to paste a link, so i'll just type it out here. thought you guys would get a kick. sorry it's not raunchier:

APRIL IS THE CRUELLEST MONTH
Cute, slim professional female looking for girl-
friend to play with, tell secrets, have lunch,
maybe more. Looking for new experiences,
passionate kisses, a confidant. Supergirl, 39,
#112199

i'll tell you what..

2005-07-26T18:57:00.000-05:00

for all of you living in the south.. it went up to 98 degrees in philly today. now i can be in your hot weather club.. as long as there is no initiation.

i melted into a pot hole and was lost for good.

that's really all i have to say about that.

enjoying the pleasures of nettles

2005-07-24T20:50:00.000-05:00

For all the Salad Fingers fans of Summer '05, this one was made today.

Four dollar wine: Too gross to drink and other stories

2005-07-20T22:18:00.000-05:00

Hi. My name is Jen. Bucknell team 2004. I used to live in Pittsburgh, PA. Now I live in Miami. Thanks, Ron, for sending me another invite. I was wondering if it would be possible for someone to summarize this summer's Bucknell experience for me. If so, thank you.

if anyone talks to moonlight...

2005-07-12T14:30:00.000-05:00

i'm learning to navigate this here blog...forgive the NYC photos, i was just practicing. i wish i could see a new orleans trip in my near future. i think i'm going to vegas which in no way compares but will have to do. wish all well, ry

2005-07-12T14:12:00.002-05:00

the infamous trip

2005-07-12T14:12:00.001-05:00

The Bowie's

2005-07-12T14:12:00.000-05:00

Evan equals cool

2005-07-12T14:11:00.000-05:00

Becca and Sarah

2005-07-12T14:10:00.000-05:00

Quinlan and Auchter

2005-07-12T14:09:00.000-05:00

pastoral from lake trip with emily

Is that all there is to a hurricane?

2005-07-11T10:29:00.000-05:00

So the imminent threat of the destruction of New Orleans is, on the whole, passed.
You can all now return to your regularly scheduled planning of the Po-union in NOLA for Halloween.

p.s. I will be getting home Internet soon, meaning I can post mes photos.

June 4th pics

2005-07-07T23:08:00.000-05:00

after the reading, 6.4.05

2005-07-07T23:07:00.000-05:00

Alex & Ryan, 6.4.05

2005-07-07T23:05:00.000-05:00

Sarah S & Chris, before the June 4th reading.

2005-07-07T23:04:00.000-05:00

Ryan and his stealthy pocket cam.

2005-07-07T23:03:00.000-05:00

At the June 4th reading.

2005-07-07T23:02:00.000-05:00

Mary Ruefle's reading, June 4th.

Nice cowboy shirt

2005-07-07T23:00:00.000-05:00

Evan, June 4th.

I've been gifted a grubby hurricane

2005-07-06T10:48:00.000-05:00

First tropical storm of the season (actually I think one hit while I was away at PoCamp). I got to climb over a felled tree during an errand this morning on campus. The power only blinked once, or twice last night. This is just a preview for this weekend's carnage. Hopefully, New Orleans will be spared for this Halloween's decadent and wanton reunion.
What else is there in the land of Cajun Darkness™? Well, humidity is one thing. The fragility of reunion. One new poem. Misunderstanding. Cabaret. Corona, with lime. Swimming. And a sweet job that allows me to be paid, more or less, for reading books and wasting time on the Internet. And Allegorical Content.
The only real tragedy, on the scale of things, is that we aren't suspended anymore.
This is yours,
CL, Imagiste

June 16th photos

2005-07-04T20:23:00.000-05:00

Elizabeth, Paula (talking with her hands) & Emily at the last picnic.

Yeah, he likes it, but will you finish the bottle now?

2005-07-04T20:20:00.000-05:00

Ryan, Becky, and Keeper. Ask Ryan for the rest of the story.

Girl in the Trees

2005-07-04T20:15:00.000-05:00

Kristin.

2005-07-04T20:13:00.000-05:00

Melanie & Deirdre tiptoe through the peonies.

2005-07-04T20:12:00.000-05:00

Becca. And a bottle cap.

2005-07-04T20:03:00.000-05:00

DSJ and crew checking out the view of the Susquehanna.

2005-07-04T20:01:00.000-05:00

Amanda, Kristin, Evan, Paula, Emily, Alex on the RR tracks at the Gundy Farm.

Deadline

2005-07-04T01:55:00.000-05:00

Hey guys. . .thanks for all the emails! The new issue of Pebble Lake Review will be out shortly, so be sure to check it out. In this issue: J.P. Dancing Bear, Lyn Lifshin, Susan H. Case, Rob Cook, Mark Cunningham, John Grey, and Wendy Wisner, to name a few. Submissions for the Fall 2005 issue will close in mid-August, so those of you who expressed interest in submitting, please send in your work soon! Guidelines are available on the website.

Happy July 4th to all!

Amanda Auchter

Photos, More Excitement & Mr. Moonlight, Where Are You?

2005-07-01T12:40:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

I have posted photos from the 2005 Seminar to my blog: http://alauchter.blogspot.com/. It's hot as hell (98) here in Houston and I miss you all and the mild weather of the big PA. As I told Kristin earlier, people just DO NOT GET sayings like "comment vas-tu?" O Cajun Man, Where Art Thou?

Side Note: ALEX QUINLAN -- I don't have your contact info and I need you to sign a release form at some point in the near future for Finishing Line Press. I posted the photo on my blog (scroll down) that I'm going to use. XOXOXOX for you and your lovely photography skills.

Anyway, I hope you will all leave me posts and yummy messages.

Love,

Amanda Auchter

seeking truth on the nature of things

2005-06-28T23:32:00.000-05:00

are wanton flowers edible like on expensive salads and wedding cakes, or are they of a purely decorative nature?

and if they are of a purely decorative nature would that mean they are otherwise poisonous, and if otherwise poisonous don't you think it would be just uberpoetic to cause oneself to expire due to an excessive intake of wanton blooms with suicidal intent? now that is just beauty if i ever heard it.

Oh Catalpa! My Catalpa!

2005-06-28T21:14:00.000-05:00

O, Catalpa! Thou wanton flower!

radio, radio

2005-06-27T13:13:00.000-05:00

so in april i read some poems on neighborhood public radio and i just now found it on the internet. i haven't actually listened to it, but my friends say it's really quiet, but i thought you guys would still want to check it out. just scroll down and click MP3 next to my name. let me know what you think.

http://conceptualart.dreamhosters.com/npr/archives/29

In the Mix

2005-06-24T13:58:00.000-05:00

This is my first meaningful participation in a blog. The more meaningless involvements were youthful indiscretions.

As a member of the charter group of 1985, I am one of the oldest Younger Poets in captivity.

The big news is as follows: I am moving to my fiancee's place, and we are getting married in October. We also have a wonderful rescue dog.

On the literary front, my book Settling for Beauty comes out in August. More can be found out on the web site (www.cherry-grove.com) or by getting in touch with me.

Peace,

John

Just Confirmed: the San Antonio SPURS are the World CHAMPEENS

2005-06-24T12:18:00.000-05:00

That's right, my Spurs have brought the glory home, to me, specifically. After loyally watching games 1-6 at the Bull Run Inn in Lewisburg amongst apathetic farmers and other local types, I have been gifted with a badass home victory to close out the series. Much rejoicing occurs throughout the city. Kristin will be pleased to know that among our fireworks....are mortars! Also, I hit my brother in the face with a shovel.

Island of the Lost Poets

2005-06-23T15:49:00.000-05:00

Well I've sent out invites to all the folks from the Yahoo group, plus a few others I've been able to track down. Here are five whose e-mails are bouncing: anyone know the whereabouts (or e-mail addies) of these folks?

Thom McCaffrey '02; Matthew Hittinger '00; Rachel Epstein '03; Jill Kupchik '03; Sophia Giacomazzi '96

muchas gracias--

"Heaven is a discotheque"

Children's Book by Younger Poet Alumnus/J.D. Smith, 1985

a poem by Greg Wrenn

a poem by Eric Kocher

Kudos

Contest for poems in a traditional form: Southwest Review

JULY 7 DL: 2008-2009 T&W Fellowship Applications

The Bat City Review seeks the insightful, feisty, sincere, and snarky.

Little help?

Cross posting: Poetry & Flash Fiction Contest

Cross-posting: Keystone Chapbook Prize for PA poets

More June Poet pics

More June Poet pics (final reading)

More June Poet pics

June Poet Pics!

More picnic photos

Still more picnic shots

Call for Manuscripts!

BYP Profile: Drew Calvert

Alumnus News, J.D. Smith

summer poetry workshops in france!

BYP Profile: Introducing Matt Siegel

Deirdre O'Connor - reading at Bucknell

Writing prompts

Lynch

Looking for Information

writer's week at Rancho la Puerta Spa

Bypassed

Go, Becca!

Chapbook Opportunity for Asian American Poets

Thinking ahead to Atlanta,

Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing Bang

One more week--

Recommendations? First Book Prizes

Stacey Waite at Penn State

Supple Amounts: New York State Summer Writers Institute

Head count

Salad Fingre

Little Bragging Rights

Paula's on Poetry Daily!

and Ruth Kocher, too

Matt Ladd, Matt Ladd, Matt Ladd

Kevin's Sonnet's on Po-Daily!

has anyone got diz j's email address?

Terrance Hayes, Visiting Poet, named one of Pittsburgh's "Top 40 Under 40"

new phone number

hey bucknell poets: POETRY CRUISE!

2005 June Anthology Reprint--Here!

RITA Update

RITA

Favorite Writing Exercises

Fine Press Seminar for Emerging Writers

Cover

i'm hording an imagiste.

*wave at all*

I did not think death had undone so many

Rhino Lovers Everywhere

exit strategy

Katrina

post from Katie re: anthology boo-boos: please read & respond

YOU LOVED ME BEFORE, DO YOU LOVE ME NOW?

Uberprops

The Ego Has Landed

Anthology Greatness & Evan

the "matches" section of the chicago reader

i'll tell you what..

enjoying the pleasures of nettles

Four dollar wine: Too gross to drink and other stories

if anyone talks to moonlight...

Is that all there is to a hurricane?

June 4th pics

Nice cowboy shirt

I've been gifted a grubby hurricane

June 16th photos

Yeah, he likes it, but will you finish the bottle now?

Girl in the Trees

Deadline

Photos, More Excitement & Mr. Moonlight, Where Are You?

seeking truth on the nature of things

Oh Catalpa! My Catalpa!

wave at all