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Odd Bits of a Creative Life (9/13)

13 Wednesday Sep 2017

Posted by BoneSpark Blog in Odd Bits from a Creative Life

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#readNDN, A Little Book of Form, acrylic paintings, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Alicia Ostriker, An Exaltation of Forms, Brenda Hillman, Copper Canyon, Death Tractates, Duppy Conqueror, Fish Psalms, grant applications, Kwame Dawes, Lit Hub, Lyn Hejinian, Matthew Zapruder, Native Arts&Cultures, Oceania, poetry readings, Robert Hass, Robin Houghton, short stories, Terrance Hayes, The Rumpus, Vievee Francis, Why Poetry, Wind in a Box

BOOKS, Books, books

WHYPOETRY
HASSFORM

I was happy to discover Matthew Zapruder’s Why Poetry at my local library, and have spent several happy weeks with it. The chronicle of how he evolved as a poet was interesting, but mostly I appreciated how he was able to articulate so much of what I’ve been thinking about poetry, but didn’t quite know how communicate.  Wow, that sounds very self-centered, but maybe it is. It is what it is. Here are a few of my favorite passages from the book:

There really was no such thing as ‘poetic language.’ The words in poems are for the most part the same as those we find everywhere else. The energy of poetry comes primarily from the reanimation and reactivation of the language that we recognize and know.”  (p.9)

“I began to discover why poems look the way they do on the page…A poem, literally, makes a space to move through. To read a poem is to move through that constructed space of ideas and thinking…As we think along, we start to make connections, and have experiences and feelings we might not have otherwise had without the poem.” (p.57)

“One of the greatest pleasures of reading poetry is to feel words mean what they usually do in every day life, and also start to move into a more charged, activated, even symbolic realm.” (p. 164)

“In a poem, language remains itself yet is also made to feel different, even sacred, like a spell. How this happens is the mystery of each poem, and maybe its deepest meaning.” (p. 166)

That last quote really made me think of Terrance Hayes’ collection Wind In a Box, and more specifically the poem “The Blue Seuss”.  You can find text and audio here. But also please buy the book. It’s one of my favorites.

More than once, he mentions Brenda Hillman’s Death Tractates, (as does Hass–not surprisingly– in A Little Book on Form).  I remember reading some sort of mini-review from him about this book several years ago, and wanted to pick it up then.  [Here’s the 2014 Rumpus “Last Book of Poems I Loved” article if you’re interested]. I know I had it in my Amazon cart at some point, but somehow didn’t get to the actual purchase.  Remedying that soon.

I tackled Hass’ Form book alongside the Zapruder one.  They make a fantastic  pair. First of all, Hass’ “little book” is not ‘little’ in any sense, not in length and not in intellectual weight. It is less textbooky than say  An Exaltation of Forms (which incidentally I was introduced to by a youtube video featuring Terrance Hayes.)

Hass’ book has wonderful sections on sonnets and odes, but the last few chapters–“Collage, Abstraction, Oulipo and Procedural Poetics”; “Mixed Forms”:  and “Prose Poem” were worth the price of the book.  Before I die, I will have to audit at least one of his Berkeley classes.

When I go, I will also crash Lyn Hejinian’s “Slow Seeing/Slow Reading (English 190) class, which Lit Hub teased recently in their “Classes 25 Famous Writers Teach” piece.

Via that post, I also found out that Vievee Francis, one of my poetry heroes, teaches “Engaging in Hybridity: Race, Gender, Genre” at Dartmouth.  I am at this very moment scooping up much of her reading list, especially Kwame Dawes’ Duppy Conqueror,  which how have I not read that already?

Also, I am hoping the ARC gods at Copper Canyon, will bestow a copy of Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s upcoming Oceania on me before I lose my mind waiting. Maybe if I send a muster of peacocks up to the author at Ole Miss, she will help smooth the way.

SCRIBBLINGS

This year, I am scheduling a few readings and really appreciated Robin Houghton’s timely post on Tackling Poetry Readings.

In other news, I applied for a Native Arts& Cultures grant. They were super helpful in the application process. Receiving the grant would help me launch a better funded #readNDN campaign, revive this blog and allow me to finish a WIP collection of poems that I’m calling Fish Psalms.

 

Why psalms?

Psalms as a form have always intrigued me. The Hebrew ones are essentially lyric poems set to music, in other words, a type of song language. The Tlingit word for ‘poetry’ is roughly translated “song language” (at shí yoo xh’atángi). Additionally, the Tlingit (other Native Americans, the Irish and Acadians) have much in common with the Hebrew people, down to the complicated clan system, a tight focus on landscape common to the displaced, and a reliance on the larger community in times of trial. These groups are all deeply spiritual, each in their own way, and are all groups that inform my work by heritage or adoption.

I am also drawn to psalms for another reason. Poet Alicia Ostriker put it best when she stated that “the emotions of Psalms surge and collapse like breaking waves”. I want FISH PSALMS to tap the full range of human emotion and to mimick natural cycles of water, evening to morning, creation to death, etc., as the Hebrew ones do.

By the end of the week, I hope to finish a short story that is on the surface about a lost dog, but underneath about the ever-present class struggles in the Deep South. I am 2 scenes away from being done. Currently calling it “Denny Albers’ Dog.

ART

Besides taking new photos for the blog, twitter and the grant application (see a few below),

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LaRue2
LaRue3
LaRue4

I tried to translate the success of my oil pastel portraits to acrylics by trying out sheets of 10x 12 canvas paper and reinterpreting photos from the historic New Orleans collection.  This seems to be the right mix of materials and subjects. FINALLY.

 

 

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#NationalPoetryMonth’16 Round-up (Day 21)

21 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by BoneSpark Blog in National Poetry Month '16

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#NaPoWriMo, #NationalPoetryMonth, Apparatus Magazine, Blogalicious, Catherine Pierce, Cathy Linh Che, Cuban poetry, Found Poetry Review, Ginger Murchison, Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, Indiana Humanities, Jamaal May, Jen Fitzgerald, Kate Foley, Louise Gluck, Mary Caroll-Hackett, NotaLiteraryJournal, NPM16, Pocket Poets, Poem a Day, Poetic Asides, poetry prompts, Poetry School, QuillsEdge Press, Susan Lefler, The Rumpus, The Writer's Center, Tweetspeak Poetry, W.S. Merwin, women poets

21

DAY TWENTY-ONE of the best prompts, poems and news from your  #NaPoWriMo/#NPM16/#NaPoMo /#NationalPoetryMonth/#poemaday hashtags.

Best of the Prompts

NaPoWriMo’s “Minor Character from a Fairytale/Myth prompt”
NotaLiteraryJournal’s “Rites of Passage prompt”
Poetic Asides P-A-D “Response to Another Poem prompt”
Poetry School’s “Unusual Means prompt”
QuillsEdge Press’ “Climbed Trees prompt”
Found Poetry’s “#erasingwarhol performance challenge”
Apparatus Mag’s “Someone Else’s Shoes prompt”
Imaginary Garden’s “Elephants prompt”
Kate Foley’s “Art prompt”
Indiana Humanities’ “Night Time prompt”
Mary Caroll-Hackett’s “Oh Those Eyes prompt”
The Writer’s Center’s “Open Field Prompt”

Poems I Have Loved (Tweeters’ Shares)

Catherine Pierce “The Town Dreams the Tornado Apologizes”
Jamaal May “Little Design”
W.S. Merwin “Thanks”
Susan Lefler “Alligator Sun”
Cathy Linh Che “Los Angeles, Manila, Đà Nẵng”

Miscellaneous

Jen Fitzgerald’s Poetry Mixtape #3 (The Rumpus)
The Poet on the Poem: Ginger Murchison (Blogalicious)
Top 10 Pocket Poets & Their Poems (Tweetspeak Poetry)
50 Years of Louise Glück’s appearances in Poetry
Island Verses: A Cuban Poetry Primer

**Poets, if you would like to be featured in 2sDay Poems, have your collection reviewed, guest post in the Poetry Lab or blog on any of the Thoughts on Poetry topics, including Foremother Friday or Small Press Interviews, drop me a line at  bonesparkblog@yahoo.com.

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#NationalPoetryMonth’16 Round-up (Day 14)

14 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by BoneSpark Blog in National Poetry Month '16

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#NaPoWriMo, #NationalPoetryMonth, Alice Walker, Apparatus Magazine, Czeslaw Milosz, David Ignataw, Found Poetry Review, Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, Indiana Humanities, Jane Kenyon, Jen Fitzgerald, Jo Bell, Juan Felips Herrera, Kate Foley, Lagan Press, Leslea Newman, Lyn Hejinian, Mariah Wilson, Marianne Moore, Mary Carroll Hackett, NotaLiteraryJournal, NPM16, Poem a Day, Poet Envy Chain, Poetic Asides, poetry prompts, Public Books, QuillsEdge Press, Tania Runyan, The City Quill, The Rumpus, Winter Tangerine, women poets

14

DAY FOURTEEN of the best prompts, poems and news from your  #NaPoWriMo/#NPM16/#NaPoMo /#NationalPoetryMonth/#poemaday hashtags.

Best of the Prompts

NaPoWriMo’s “san san Challenge”
NotaLiteraryJournal’s “Tree Names prompt”
Indiana Humanities’ “Memories of a Board Game prompt”
Poetic Asides P-A-D “Time-out prompt”
Poetry School’s “Banned Activities prompt”
Mariah Wilson’s “Caught in a Storm prompt”
QuillsEdge Press’ “If These Windows Could Talk prompt”
Found Poetry’s “First Hand Experience prompt”
Mary Carroll-Hacket’s “Wandering prompt”
Apparatus Mag’s “Let’s Write About Sex prompt”
Imaginary Garden’s “Substitution prompt”
30dpc “Artifact prompt”
Kate Foley’s “Difficult to Love prompt”
Jo Bell’s “Laudation challenge”
Winter Tangerine’s “Words from Another Poem prompt”

Poems I Have Loved (Tweeters’ Shares)

Lesléa Newman “Looking at Her”
Lyn Hejinian “A name trimmed with colored ribbons”
Jane Kenyon “Briefly It Enters, and Briefly Speaks”
David Ignataw “The Bagel”
Czeslaw Milosz “Dedication”
Tania Runyan “The Bee Box”
Alice Walker “If There Was Any Justice” (video)

Miscellaneous

Voices& Visions: Marianne Moore Documentary
Juan Felipe Herrera Named to Second Term as Poet Laureate (NY Times)
Jen Fitzgeralds’s Poetry Mixtape#2: Poets on Poetry& Art (The Rumpus)
A Poetry Envy Chain (Public Books)

**Poets, if you would like to be featured in 2sDay Poems, have your collection reviewed, guest post in the Poetry Lab or blog on any of the Thoughts on Poetry topics, including Foremother Friday or Small Press Interviews, drop me a line at  bonesparkblog@yahoo.com.

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#NationalPoetryMonth’16 Round-up (Day 11)

11 Monday Apr 2016

Posted by BoneSpark Blog in National Poetry Month '16

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Tags

#NaPoWriMo, #NationalPoetryMonth, 30dpc, Apparatus Magazine, Bruno Rios, Found Poetry Review, Harry Baker, Imaginary Garden with Real Toads, Joan Naviyuk Kane, Kate Foley, Kim Addonizio, Lagan Press, Mariah Wilson, Mary Carroll Hackett, Maureen Doallas, NotaLiteraryJournal, NPM16, Poem a Day, Poet Laureate, Poetic Asides, poetry comics, poetry prompts, Poetry School, QuillsEdge Press, Safia Elhillo, Sherman Alexie, Tanka Feminism, The City Quill, The Rumpus, Wallace Stevens, Winter Tangerine, women poets

11

DAY ELEVEN of the best prompts, poems and news from your  #NaPoWriMo/#NPM16/#NaPoMo /#NationalPoetryMonth/#poemaday hashtags.

Best of the Prompts

NaPoWriMo’s “Close Description w/ Surprise Turn prompt”
NotaLiteraryJournal’s “Ode to an Animal prompt”
Imaginary Garden’s “Soviet Kitsch (movie posters) prompt”
Poetic Asides P-A-D “Defensive poem prompt”
Poetry School’s “Found Gun prompt”
Mariah Wilson’s “Random Article Blackout prompt”
QuillsEdge Press’ “State of Justice prompt”
Found Poetry’s “Astrological Self-Portrait prompt”
Mary Carroll-Hacket’s “Being Water prompt”
Lagan Press’ “Constrained Writing prompt”
The City Quill’s “Favorite Greek God prompt”
Kate Foley’s “Favorite Adjectives & Nouns prompt”
Apparatus Mag’s “Sci-fi Elements prompt”
30dpc’s “Case of the Mondays prompt”
Winter Tangerine’s “From the Mirror’s Perspective prompt”

Poems I Have Loved (Tweeters’ Shares)

Harry Baker “A Love Poem for Lonely Prime Numbers”
Safia Elhillo “Self-Portriat with Yellow Dress”
Wallace Stevens “The Emperor of Ice Cream”
Kimiko Hahn “Not Nothing”
Sherman Alexie “The Powwow at the End of the World”
Joan Naviyuk Kane “Asymmetry”
Kim Addonizio “Here”

Miscellaneous

A Poetry Comics Discussion (The Rumpus)
A Little Tanka Feminism (Kelly Fineman)
Monday Muse Profile on CT’s Poet Laureate (Maureen Doallas)
Sound Portrait of Bruno Rios (Houston Public Media)

**Poets, if you would like to be featured in 2sDay Poems, have your collection reviewed, guest post in the Poetry Lab or blog on any of the Thoughts on Poetry topics, including Foremother Friday or Small Press Interviews, drop me a line at  bonesparkblog@yahoo.com.

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