I don't know what the weather is like in your neck of the woods, but it is super hot around these parts. Even the evening can't cool things off, because first thing in the morning is still hot and humid. Blech. Soooo, in an effort to change the tide with wishful thinking...

This week's prompt is to write a cold poem. I'll leave the interpretation of what constitutes a cold poem to you. It could mean temperature, but cold carries other meanings and connotations as well.

Here's my attempt:

"Blizzard"

I found myself singing "White Christmas" this morning
for no apparent reason, except I felt that something
was out of place. Maybe the heat that never leaves
burned the tune into my head. If I could make a film
with a low budget, I'd make a horror movie named
"White Death." It would start with snow and finish
with two survivors riding out of town on a bulldozer
and discussing their favorite milkshakes. The sequel
(there's always a sequel) would start with the snow
melting and be called something like "The Flood,"
because there's always something to complain about.

*****

Follow me on Twitter @robertleebrewer

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Want to experience a flood of ideas? Click here to check out this amazing Writer's Idea Bundle. Two great creativity titles for less than $20. Wow!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 3:57:27 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [127] 

I swear these challenges just keep getting harder and harder to judge. Of course, that's only because the poems continue to be more and more enjoyable to the point where it's hard to pick a winner. I loved reading everyone's lunes (click here to go to the original post and read all of them in the Comments).

That said, the winner of this challenge is--oddly enough--the first person who posted a lune: Don Share. Congratulations!

Usually, I just post the winner's poem. However, since the lune is only a 3-line poem (click here to read more about the form), here's the entire top 10 beginning with Don Share's lune:

I hope to be dead

and gone, but

not in that order

Don Share

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i hid the house keys

underneath

my red flowerpot

Marissa Coon

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The shiner minnows

zip past me.

Thousands move as one.

Nancy Posey

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The wind-stirred limbs seem

to tickle

the wide-bellied moon

Brian Slusher

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a bug on my screen

wants to read

my blank Word file

Gregory Gilewski

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Fireflies weave lightning

threads through corn, bean fields.

Sparkling tapestry rises.

Willy

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Ballet dancer holds:

her toes crushed.

The audience smiles.

Carol Grannick

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no lifeguard on staff

hotel pool

swim at your own risk

RJ Clarken

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A squirt of dish-soap –

bubbled light,

perfect rainbow globes.

Taylor Graham

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a lune by any

other name

haiku just the same

Cara Holman

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Congratulations to everyone in the Top 10! And thank you to everyone who participated! I really enjoyed reading all of the poems so much and look forward to whatever our next challenge might be.

*****

Follow me on Twitter @robertleebrewer

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The winner of this WD Poetic Form Challenge will be published in the November/December issue of Writer's Digest. Click here to learn more about this awesome magazine for writers.

Or check out these resources for poets:

• 2011 Poet's Market, edited by Robert Lee Brewer
• Writing the Life Poetic, by Sage Cohen
• The Poetry Dictionary, by John Drury

Sunday, July 25, 2010 2:00:02 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [21] 

I'm very pleased to share Kristina Marie Darling with the Poetic Asides community. Darling is a graduate of Washington University and has published several chapbooks, including Fevers and Clocks (March Street Press) and The Traffic in Women (Dancing Girl Press), before her 2010 full-length collection Night Songs was released by Gold Wake Press. Naturally, she's well-published and has won quite a few awards, including residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, the Centrum Foundation, the Mary Anderson Center for the Arts, and the Prairie Center of the Arts.

Night Songs is a unique collection that brings together prose poems with two appendices--one comprised of found poems, the other of erasures. There are many great poems in Night Songs, but here is one I especially liked:

"A Clear Direction"

The cellist admitted to experiencing a sense of bewilderment in the presence of sheet music. As the small black notes curve and twist, scurrying like beetles across a clean white page, only the conductor's bobbing hand seems legible. Yet he soon discovered that any concerto may be navigated with a compass, its slim metal hands whirling under dim chandeliers. On the night of his last performance, the song's highest note became its northernmost when the scale ascended, a strange bird rising in the dark blue hall. The audience was startled by the intentionality of the music, its sudden attainment of a clear direction.

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What are you currently up to?

I just finished editing an anthology of prose poems by writers under the age of 40.  The project is called narrative (dis)continuities: prose experiments by younger american writers and will be published by VOX Press sometime in 2011.  I'm really excited to have had the opportunity to include work by writers like Kate Durbin, Kim Gek Lin Short, William Allegrezza, and Kyle McCord. 

I've also been working on a new poetry book, which is going to be called Compendium.  The manuscript is made up entirely of marginalia--footnotes, vignettes, glossaries, appendices, and notes scrawled inside the covers of books.  I hope that the reader will be able to construct a narrative from these fragmentary texts, and that this story will be different for everyone who engages with the poems. 

And as usual, I'm reviewing a never-ending stack of poetry books.

The first half of Night Songs is comprised of prose poems. What do you like about this form?

As a writer who uses lots of conventionally beautiful imagery, I find that it's very easy to become lofty when writing a lyric poem.  But this isn't as much of a problem with prose poetry.  I think this is because prose brings to mind a certain set of ideas in the reader.  Most seem to anticipate a linear narrative where images, particularly sublime or transcendent ones, don't play much of a role at all.  It's often great fun to undermine and manipulate these sorts of expectations.  An image that might seem cliché or overly pretty in a lyric poem becomes new again when set against the preconceived notions that prose evokes for many readers.  With that said, hybrid forms allow a writer to think about the sublime in a more interesting, complex way than we see in some other modes of expression.      

As a follow-up question, do you have any tips for poets who attempt to write prose poems?

The prose poem can be anything you want it to be, so writers should never limit themselves.  Some recent hybrid pieces I've seen use footnotes, endnotes, found texts, erasure, and various experimental techniques.  Other writers use many of the strategies of formal poetry.  For example, Samiya Bashir writes prose sonnets, which contain all the characteristics of a Shakespearean or Petrarchan sonnet except the line breaks.  With that said, the possibilities are endless, and writers should always keep that in mind.   

One complete section of Night Songs is made of found poems. Could you discuss the sources of your material and how you handled writing the poems?

The found poems in Night Songs mostly contain text from Victorian guides to music appreciation.  As for the writing process, I definitely had to learn to let myself take liberties with the books that I was selecting material from.  At first, I really wanted to maintain their integrity, and to accurately represent Victorian music culture.  But the poems weren't very exciting this way, and neither did they seem to fit my voice or the rest of the manuscript. The more I changed the original pieces, rearranged them, and rewrote them, the more I liked what I was working on.  When a project involves found texts, I think it's important to balance other writers' words with one's own aesthetic.  For me, this was the most challenging part of incorporating a section like this in Night Songs.   

The final section of Night Songs is called Erasures. Could you explain the technique used for the poems in this section?

For the erasure section of Night Songs, I chose poems from earlier in the manuscript and removed part of the text, creating a different piece than what I had started with.  While some poets choose to erase the work of other writers (like Mary Ruefle in A Little White Shadow), dismantling my own poems felt right for this particular project.  It's been said that a poem is built on its individual phrases and their rhythms.  In my case, the erasures were intended as a return to my poems' most essential music. 

Your individual poems have been published in several journals and publications. How do you handle the submission process?

I've always been an advocate of starting small.  While it's great to shoot for the top, and send your poems to The New Yorker or The Atlantic Monthly, I think it's important for writers to realize that there are other ways to build an audience.  Publishing in online journals and smaller print magazines can help a writer gain credentials, name recognition, and practice with the submission process.  And these are all things that more prestigious journals look for. 

This was certainly the case for me with my poetry criticism.  It wasn't until I had significant experience working with small journals that The Gettysburg Review would consider looking at my clips.  And when I wrote my first essay-review for them, I would have been lost without the expertise I gained writing for other magazines. 

You’ve published several collections of poetry now, including chapbooks. What do you feel makes for a great collection? Do you have a method for gathering your poems together?

For me, a sense that the poems belong together is what makes a great collection.  As a reader, I'm always drawn to books that create their own worlds. Keith Waldrop's Transcendental Studies, G.C. Waldrep's Archicembalo, Julia Story's Post Moxie, and Kent Shaw's Calenture are all good examples of this.  Each collection presents the audience with a few carefully chosen images, characters, and places that reappear throughout the book.  Readers watch them acquire an increasingly complex meaning as the sequence unfolds.  This way, the poems illuminate and complicate one another.  With that said, I've never thought of poetry books as a compilation of individual pieces, but rather as an attempt to orchestrate an aesthetic experience for the reader.  In this respect, collections of verse are more like novels or plays than many of us believe. 

Who (or what) are you reading right now?

Thalia Field's Point and Line and Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations. 

If you could pass on only one piece of advice to other poets, what would it be?

Most writing teachers talk about the importance of reading poetry that's currently being published.  But it's also necessary to read about philosophy, history, science, music, and just about everything else.  Some of the most inspiring texts I've encountered--the ones that have had the most profound impact on my poems--weren't poetry-related at all.  Writers should always keep an open mind about what they can learn from and be inspired by.   

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To learn more about Kristina Marie Darling and her collection Night Songs, check out http://goldwakepress.org.

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Poets and Publishers! Interested in a Poetic Asides interview? Click here to find out how to make it happen.

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Follow me on Twitter @robertleebrewer

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Here are some poetry resources to check out:

• Other poet interviews
• More than 20 poetic forms
• 2011 Poet's Market, edited by Robert Lee Brewer
• The Poetry Dictionary, by John Drury
• Writing the Life Poetic, by Sage Cohen

Thursday, July 22, 2010 3:05:58 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [8] 

Just wanted to share some good news! I recently had five poems accepted for publication by Hobble Creek Review. They are all part of a series of poems I've been writing recently (employing a simple poetic form I created).

One other poem from the series was already accepted for publication by MiPOesias, and the issue is now available online. Click here to check out the August issue of MiPO. I'm on page 26, but the whole issue is a great read.

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For today's prompt, write an inverted pyramid poem. In nonfiction, journalists employ the inverted pyramid to make it easier on the editors to cut articles for space considerations. So the journalists pack all the essential information in the first paragraph, slightly less important information in the second paragraph, even less important information in the third, etc. The idea is that an editor would be able to cut the bottom of the article if needed without losing any of the essential "news." Anyway, I want you to write a poem like this that gets the what, who, where, when, why and how near the top.

Here's my attempt:

"Lost man flies out of desert"

A pilot, who was thought lost and even
possibly dead, flew out of the desert
on Sunday. He'd been gone ten days without
much hope for survival. On the eighth day,
he found a well. Though he was alive and
in good health, he seemed incredibly sad.
He said, "It's fatigue." But it appeared
as if he'd lost his best friend to the stars.
The identity of the pilot was
not revealed; his voice is an unmuzzled
sheep that has or has not eaten a rose.

*****

Follow me on Twitter @robertleebrewer

*****

Are you on Twitter? Click here to learn how to use Twitter to boost your writing income.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010 2:26:42 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [226] 

Wow! It feels so good to get the results of the April PAD Challenge out (nearly) on time this year. In fact, I may start making it a habit of announcing on my birthday; it's kind of a present to myself to be able to share the selections.

But before I share the Top 50 list or Poet Laureate selection, I just want to say THANK YOU. So much. It's amazing to see so much response to my prompts every April, November and Wednesday. It's beyond amazing to hear stories of poets who'd abandoned the craft and returned to it because of the prompts (and that some have even gone on to get published). Also, beyond amazing, is to hear from poets who'd never written poems before finding this blog. And well, the community on this blog is just incredible, and it's all because of each and every one of you. And then, after you've come together to do all this great poeming, you thank me. So THANK YOU! It's your involvement that is so incredible.

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With that said, it's time to pick this year's Poetic Asides Poet Laureate. The first two Poet Laureates were not only great poets but ambassadors of poetry in their own ways. This year's Poet Laureate is also such a person. He's someone who has worked hard at the craft on this blog and who has also been one of the most encouraging members of the community. I'm sure it comes as no surprise to many that this year's Poetic Asides Poet Laureate is Walt Wojtanik!

Congratulations, Walt!

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Now that we have the Poet Laureate, it's time to announce the Top 50 list. I have not ranked this Top 50 list, because all of the poems are great. And with each poet's permission, I'm going to try posting each poem with some words from and about the poet over the course of the next few months.

Here's the list:

1. Water Poem, by Susan Budig
2. And Suddenly My Culture Bit Back, by Pamela Murray Winters
3. And Suddenly the Room Fell Silent, by Walt Wojtanik
4. Classic Craftsman Drill, by Pamela Taylor
5. Mad Scientists, by Sandy D. Green
6. Tenth Grade Biology Class, by Mike Barzacchini
7. Moonglow, by Jean Morris
8. Getting Away, by Nancy Posey
9. And Suddenly the World, by Brian Slusher
10. Death, by Ken Wanamaker
11. Stapler, by Kevin Spenst
12. An Origin of Black Birds, by Khara House
13. Partly Fallen, by Khara House
14. Ted Kooser, by Kim King
15. Hope is, by Kimberly Dark
16. End of the Line, by Kimiko Martinez
17. Thai restaurant, table for two, by Laurie Granieri
18. Looking Back, Learning, by Linda Goin
19. Practical Ulu, or, uses delineated by a woman's knife, by Linda Goin
20. Unction, by Linda Wastila
21. The tunnel of the evening, by Madronna Holden
22. Montcoal, by Marissa Coon
23. Woman in the Window, by Marissa Coon
24. White Rock Fairy, by MaryAnn McCarra-Fitzpatrick
25. To Pen Myself In, by Matt Blair
26. Death, by Linda Hofke
27. Escape, by Penny
28. Ulysses Gone Home, by Taylor Graham
29. Disclaimer, by Taylor Graham
30. Anna Maria Mayer, by Barbara Mayer
31. Geoff Munsterman, by Geoff Munsterman
32. Donetsk, by Darryl Willis
33. According to Ethan, by Diane Mowery
34. Michael G. Donkin, by David W. Pritchard
35. Partly Touching God, by Jon Roland Kratzner
36. The Frost Equation, by Jon Roland Kratzner
37. Globe, by Donald C. York
38. Paris, by Cara Holman
39. Stresstina, by Joseph Harker
40. Self-Portrait, by John Larkin
41. The Observer, by Alfred J. Bruey
42. When It Happened, by Devon Brenner
43. Surrender, Dorothy!, by Carolee Sherwood
44. Warning: Adverbs Adversely Affect Your Writing Health, by Carolyn A. Martin
45. A Mutation of Memory Sparked by Margaret's Picture, by Helen Losse
46. No Diving, by Jenn Monroe
47. Mementos, by Bruce W. Niedt
48. According to Hoyle, by Bruce W. Niedt
49. Platform, by De Jackson
50. Pocahontas Takes Aim, by Deborah Hauser

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If you made the Top 50 list, congratulations! That's quite an accomplishment, because I received more than 1,000 poems that poets considered their Top 5 of the month. So the poems that made the Top 50 list are not only in the top five percent of the poems submitted, but more like in the top less than one percent of those written during the month. Well done!

If you did not make the Top 50 list, please don't get too upset. It was very, very competitive--especially once I got it down to the final 85 poems.

Besides, the goal of this challenge is to write new poems. Hopefully, everyone is a winner in that category!

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One last special thank you goes out to Anders Bylund. Once again, he created a program to hunt down your April PAD Challenge submissions--a tool I know many poets used to help them make their Top 5 lists. Thank you so much, Anders!

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That's it. I hope everyone had fun in April and will be back for the 2011 challenge. Also, there's a November challenge on this blog and weekly prompts on Wednesdays. I hope you take advantage of these poeming opportunities as well.

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Follow me on Twitter @robertleebrewer

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Interested in publishing your poetry?

Check out the brand new 2011 Poet's Market, edited by moi! It's seriously the best book available to help you publish your poetry, and each copy includes a unique activation code you can use to access the poetry-related information on WritersMarket.com.

Click here to learn more about the 2011 Poet's Market today!

Sunday, July 18, 2010 7:41:17 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [68] 

Before we get to the prompt, I just wanted to share the good news that a poem of mine is over at the Poets for Living Waters site in their Open Mic section. (Click here to find it between Sean Burn and Edward Byrne.) I noticed many other familiar names on there as well.

Also, MiPOesias recently accepted a poem for publication in a future edition of that publication. (Click here to read the MiPO submission guidelines.) More details when it is released.

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For this week's prompt, write an "after the rain" poem. There are a lot of possibilities for this poem, because there are a lot of possibilities for what could happen after the rain. For instance, my six-year-old-named-Reese likes to hunt snails after the rain. Baseball games may resume after the rain has passed. Rainbows may appear. Of course, another rain shower may follow the one that just rolled through.

Here's my attempt:

"The early morning storm that woke us"

The gutters sing a few extra minutes
but we know the rain's passed because the birds
shoot between the branches and the insects
buzz and rattle. We listen and wonder
if it's worth getting out of bed today
because surely there's humidity and
surely there's always another storm cell
somewhere in the world, and besides, we are
huddled together like children--afraid
of the thunder, yet feeling safe and sound.

*****

Follow me on Twitter @robertleebrewer

*****

Want to publish your writing? There's never been a better time to subscribe to WritersMarket.com, which has rolled back its annual subscription rates to what they were when the site launched 10 years ago. With more than 8,000 publishing opportunities for poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and more, WritersMarket.com is the ultimate tool for freelance writers.

Click here to learn more and sign up today.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010 2:17:38 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [253] 

Be sure to check out the update on the 2010 April PAD Challenge results.

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For today's prompt, write a poem using one of the following headlines as the title of your poem (pulled from espn.com, cnn.com, npr.org, texasmonthly.com):

• Spectator falls from 2nd deck
• Life under melting Arctic ice
• Disheartened by the disaster
• The Many Voices of Lauryn Hill
• If You Can't Take the Heat, Use Fewer Jalapenos

Here's my attempt:

"Life under melting Arctic ice"

To our surprise, we weren't the beginning
or the center. The sun shines separate
of us. There is a life and a current
that hums--a breath that shakes awake the world
every so often. The thing to hold
close is that life changes without warning
or permission. That is the miracle.

*****

Follow me on Twitter @robertleebrewer

*****

Want some visual prompts? Click here to learn more about Phillip Sexton's A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010 3:18:59 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [169] 

I just wanted to update everyone on the progress of the April PAD Challenge results. I'm nearly finished judging (it's been much easier this year). The final results will be announced on July 18--my birthday.

Click here to read the updated April PAD Challenge guidelines.

I hope everyone has been having a fantastic summer!

Wednesday, July 07, 2010 2:15:52 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [12] 

Before we get into the prompt, I just want to let everyone know about the new WD Poetic Form Challenge. This time around, we're covering the lune. Click here to check out the guidelines.

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For this week's prompt, write a confined spaces poem. Someone or something could be confined in a space against their will. Or someone or something could be confined in a space on purpose (for instance, a vampire closing itself in a coffin every morning). Or you could take this prompt in a whole different direction.

Here's my attempt:

"Formal"

Consider the moon as its light reflects 
off her hair. Consider her smile as she
never doubts the beat of your heart. Expect
fantasy, but accept reality.
In the end, you're the one filled with doubt that
never ends. She considers your large feet
even as you feel there's nowhere to stand.
Don't fret. Find a bench. Offer her a seat. 
Slide your arm across the top without once
putting a hand on her. Look in her eyes
and remember how you ended up here.
Consider the moon and her smile, you dunce.
Even as her face is framed by fireflies
she just wants your kiss, your words in her ears.

*****

Follow me on Twitter @robertleebrewer

*****

Check out these poetic resources:

• Here are more than 20 poetic forms
• Learn how poeming is like dating
• 2011 Poet's Market, edited by Robert Lee Brewer
• Writing Metrical Poetry, by William Baer

Wednesday, June 30, 2010 3:53:47 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [179] 

For the 3rd Writer's Digest Poetic Form Challenge, I'm seeking lunes. I'll accept both Kelly and Collom lunes. Click here to learn more about the lune form.

As in previous challenges, the winner will be featured in a future issue of Writer's Digest (the November/December issue to be precise).

The lune is a very simple form modeled after the haiku. For the Kelly lune, write a tercet with 5 syllables in the first line, 3 syllables in the second line and 5 syllables in the final line. For the Collom lune, it's a tercet with 3 words in the first line, 5 words in the second line and 3 words in the final line.

Click here to read the general rules for the WD Poetic Form Challenge.

The deadline for the lune challenge is July 17, 2010. Or roughly three weeks for three lines.

*****

Follow me on Twitter @robertleebrewer

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By the way, Writer's Digest is a great magazine for all walks of the writing lifestyle. There are many ways to receive the magazine, here are a few:

• Digital subscription
• Print subscription
• Or as part of Writing VIP Program

Monday, June 28, 2010 7:00:23 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)    Comments [224]