#NationalPoetryMonth Round-up (Day 7)

Tags

#napomo, #NaPoWriMo, #NationalPoetryMonth, #NPM15, 30dpc, Apparatus Magazine, arthurian legends, artspeak, atlas obscura, Emily Skaja, Gary Soto, George Washington, hatbooks, Jane Hirshfield, John Ashberry, Kimberly Blaeser, Kristin Naca, Martha Silano, Mary Biddinger, Miss Rumphius Effect, mslexia, National Museum of the American Indian, O Magazine, PBS, picture prompts, pink ink press, Poem a Day, poet laureates, Poetic Asides, Poetically Speaking, poetry prompts, poets on twitter, Robert Hass, Sarah Heller, Storybird, Terri Witek, Wild Violet, women poets, Yusef Komunyakaa

Your one-stop source for the best of the prompts, poems and news from DAY SEVEN of #NaPoWriMo/#NPM15 /#NationalPoetryMonth.

Best of the Prompts

ARTSPEAK #7: “Elizabeth Moutal’s Mortars and Pestles”
Mslexia “Childhood Utterings Prompt”
Poetic Asides P-A-D “Love Poems & Anti-Love poems”
Apparatus Magazine’s “Sex? poems”
30dpc “Looking Ahead prompt”
Wild Violet “F is for Figure of Speech”
Miss Rumphius Effect’s “Jumping Into Form–Senryu”
The Language Inside’s “Everyday Images w/ Repeated Lines”
Pink Ink Press’ “Romance &Affectionate Moments prompt”
PBS’ El Velador (The Nighwatchman): Place-based Poems
National Museum of the American Indian “Strawberry and Chocolate” picture prompt
Atlas Obscura “Natural Wonders: Grand Prismatic Spring” factoid prompt
Storybird “Poetry Roulette”
NaPoWriMo’s “Money poems”

Poems I Have Loved (Tweeters’ Shares)

Thuli Zuma| “90trilliion” (video)
Shakespeare| “Sonnet 126” (read by David Tennant)
Yusef Komunyakaa| “The Shortest Night”
Martha Silano| “Peach Glosa”
Gary Soto| “Oranges”
Sarah Heller| “Leaving Egypt”
Emily Skaja| “Self-Portrait with Hawk & Armada”
Jane Hirshfield| “Tolstoy and the Spider”

Miscellaneous

Ashberry on Poetry & Visual Art
Interview w/ Poet Terri Witek
Uplifting Verses from 11 Strong Female Poets
Eating Lorca: Nouns You Can Smell (Kristin Naca at Poetry)
George Washington as Poet
Poetically Speaking: The Surprises of Poetry
38 Gifted Poets on Twitter
Kimberly Blaeser and the Revelatory Power of Poetry
O Magazine’s 12 Books of Poetry to Savor
Interview: Mary Biddinger
Bankhead Visiting Writers: Robert Hass

 

 

 

Merlinated: Arthurian Legend Beyond the BBC

Tags

Angel Coulby, arthurian legends, Arthurian romance, bbc merlin, bernard cromwell, Bradley James, California Polytechnic, Colin Morgan, Cromwell's Warlord series, Debora B. Schwartz, Emilia Fox, Guinevere, Katie McGrath, King Arthur and His Noble Knights, Knights of the Roundtable, M.K. Hume, Mary Stewart, medieval bestiary, medieval literature, merlin, Merlin Trilogy, Mists of Avalon, Modern Arthurian Legend, Monty Python's Holy Grail, Pendragon Cycle, Steinbeck, Steve Lawhead, the camelot project, the Gawain Poet, The Idylls of the King, The Once and Future King, The Sword in the Stone, Tolkien

Young Merlin (Colin Morgan) with Prince Arthur (Bradley James)

If Fall TV has disappointed, cast your gaze upon the BBC’s Merlin, available now at Hulu.com, free for the full five seasons.  Great scripts, gorgeous actors and all the beauty that the BBC brings in recreating the period, plus some very kicka$$ medieval chicks!

Katie McGrath as Morgana

Angel Coulby as Guinevere

Emilia Fox as Morgana’s Half-sister, Morgause

 

 

But don’t spend all of your time in front of the screen when there are more Modern Arthurian Legends to explore.  Dr. Debora B. Schwartz,

Associate Professor English Department, College of Liberal Arts · California Polytechnic State University recommends these texts:

• Lacy, Ashe and Mancoff, The Arthurian Handbook, 2nd ed. (Garland)
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson, The Idylls of the King (Penguin Classics)
• T. H. White, The Once and Future King (Ace)
• John Steinbeck, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights (Noonday)
• Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon (Del Rey)

The full reading schedule is available on her very detailed course page.  You’ll notice she’s sprinkled in viewings of several films, including The Sword in the Stone and Monty Python’s Holy Grail. 

 

And if you are dying for something more authentic, consider working through her

Medieval Arthurian Legends syllabus, which looks at the older texts such as Chrétien de Troyes’ Arthurian Romances, or the Medieval Literature course, which adds in the writings of the Gawain-Poet (try the Tolkien version) and other classics.  There are extensive links to background resources at both sites.

 

If you visit none of the others, do click through:

The Camelot Project

and

The Medieval Bestiary

 

And do not close the door on all things Arthurian until you’ve read all of Bernard Cromwell’s thrilling Warlord series.

 

 

====> BUT WAIT!  If it’s more Merlin you want, try these enchanted reads:

Mary Stewart’s Merlin Trilogy
M.K. Hume’s Merlin series
Steve Lawhead’s Merlin (Part of the Pendragon Cycle)
T.A. Barron’s Lost Years of Merlin Series (YA)
Priya Ardis’ My Merlin series (YA)
Jane Yolen’s Young Merlin series (YA)