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 Monday, October 01, 2007
A PROMPT RESPONSE: #720 Are you still with short ramrod?
Posted by Nancy
I am so far behind! I originally posted this prompt way back in July. I've written to it a few times, but never felt I had anything to work with. However, now I'm determined during the month of October to finally catch up on these prompts, so I made myself get to work.
This untitled draft is the semi-polished version of what I'd come up with after lots of wheel-spinning:
He was sort of a runt, stocky
and ungraceful. He wasn't
dreamboat material with his broad,
turned-up nose, off-kilter smile (not
crooked, like Gable's, just skewed),
watery eyes that protruded a bit.
The wavy blond hair should have counted
for something, but it lacked highlights
and sat on his skull like a lop-sided cap.
Appearances get in the way
in seventh grade: He was friendly, with maybe even
kindness behind those dull eyes. He was
"one of the guys," even though he wasn't crude
and never baited the nuns to score points.
No one disliked him. He simply
didn't make hearts flutter.
I thought he'd scored the last laugh
when he married one of my high school classmates,
a bookish girl who developed style and luster
as she matured. She made a beautiful bride,
still as smart and funny as she'd been
freshman year. She and her scruffy groom
were laughing and affectionate, as if they enjoyed
each other as well as their romance. No one
would have modeled a cake topper after
the mismatched pair, but everyone at the reception
smiled watching them dance, the two of them
grinning, gazing (him up, her down)
into each other's eyes.
No, I wasn't happy about this version at all. It was too wordy, and too bogged down with details that weren't needed. Originally I'd said not to write an epic, and I wanted to at least try to follow my own directions.
I pared and rewrote lines, wrote new lines, and wound up frequently glowering at the computer screen. Finally I decided to focus on the original wording of the prompt: Are you still with short Ramrod? I started with the first meeting with the unlikely bride, instead of going back in time to establish the details of why "Ramrod" wasn't especially attractive. I was able to work in some of the imagery from my previous draft, although I'm still not satisifed with this poem at all. Maybe if I take a look at it six months from now, I can see how to fix it--or whether it's worth any more effort.
BELIEVE ME OR YOUR LYING EYES
I'd gone to school with her fiancé
in seventh grade. She must have read my mind
when she told me they were engaged.
She chuckled. Yeah, he's a smart-ass
little runt. Coming from her,
it sounded like an endearment.
She and I been friends off and on in high school.
Knowing her, I couldn't imagine them together.
Then I realized I didn't know her at all,
had no idea whether he was her "type."
His father and I were members
of the church choir, and we sang at the wedding.
The bride was lovely, outclassed
her groom in every way; but they seemed
happy, enjoying the party and each other
as if romance were gravy. The guests
smiled to see them dance together,
the mismatched couple grinning,
gazing (him up, her down)
into each other's eyes.
I didn't see her for a decade or more.
At our ten-year reunion she told me
they were divorced. He was a jerk,
she announced with a live-and-learn shrug.
I didn't know what to say. A jerk,
a runty, unappealing jerk--that
had been my impression of him all along.
I'm sorry was all I could say.
Then we let it go, and talked about school.
[Sigh.] Maybe the next prompt will go better.
--Nancy
Go here to see more prompts and responses.
Poetry Prompts
10/1/2007 5:08:01 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00) 
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Sunday, September 30, 2007
Last day of September
Posted by Robert
Today is my last chance to update you on what I've been up to recently in September.
First, check out the most recent edition of my Faulty Mindbomb project. This edition features the poem "After a drink at the Tavern," by Caili Wilk.
Go to: http://faultymindbomb.blogspot.com/2007/09/fmb0030.html
*****
Second, I recently submitted some poems to the Atlanta Review. I'm always very pumped when I'm able to fit in a little time to get some kind of submission action going.
*****
Third, I'm getting some poems together to submit to a chapbook competition for Ohio poets. Almost done putting the final touches on that, and I think I've got until the end of October to send it in. Good stuff.
*****
Anyway, thought I'd let you know what I've been up to, though wish there was a bit more to report. :)
Personal Updates | Poets
9/30/2007 1:57:13 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, September 28, 2007
Friday SPAM poetry prompt #928
Posted by Nancy
SPAM prompt line: Mrs. Brown has never given an interview about her family.
If you have a curious nature (and it certainly helps to have one if you're a writer), this prompt line should raise a flurry of questions on sight. Who is this Mrs. Brown? What is her family like? Why would there be any notion of her "giving an interview" in the first place--how many mothers are contacted for interviews, even in this media-rich age? Why has she never given an interview (i.e., did she refuse when asked)? Who's asking her to do so, and why?
Or maybe the point here is, Mrs. Brown is too common, too uninteresting for anyone to care about an interview involving her and her brood. How uninteresting is her life--what else has she never done? How has it shaped her (or not)? Is she as neutral as her name suggests?
You have a lot of options with this prompt. You don't have to have literally known a "Mrs. Brown" by name; she can be someone you'd like to examine through the viewfinder created by the prompt line. Or you can create a character based on the answers you provide to the questions this prompt line inspires.
You can even make the poem about you, i.e., "I've never given an interview about my family." Are you glad, sorry, relieved you haven't? Would you like to? What would you say? What might you reveal that your family would rather you kept quiet about? You could also take the "I've never...but I have..." approach.
You can also use first person to write a persona poem.
Lots of possibilities. Happy writing!
--Nancy
P.S. Often SPAM subject lines lift directly from news stories, so this line may refer to an actual interview with an actual person. For all I know, it's taken from a story about the mother of Nicole Brown Simpson. If you're really the curious sort, you could Google it and find out.
You can find more poetry prompts here.
Poetry Prompts
9/28/2007 2:26:34 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Should Poets And Politics Mix, Part Two
Posted by Robert
If you're interested in part one, click here.
While "Professor publishes April 16 poem," by Liza Roesch for the Collegiate Times, might sound mundane enough, it actually explores the idea of whether poetry and politics (and current events, for that matter) should mix.
The article is about Bob Hicok and a poem he published in the September/October issue of American Poetry Review called "So I know." It is a confessional poem from Hicok about his guilt for not doing more to prevent the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech shootings brought about by one of his former students, Seung-Hui Cho.
Click here to read Hicok's poem "So I know."
In it, Hicok addresses why he's written and attempted to publish the poem: "too soon/people will say, so what. This is what I do."
And Hicok definitely has a point.
****
Check out other Poetry News here.
Commentary | Poetry News | Poets
9/28/2007 12:53:54 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Translating Poetry: Is it worth it?
Posted by Robert
Commentary | Poetry News | Poets
9/28/2007 10:22:36 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, September 27, 2007
List Poem: A Surprisingly American Poem
Posted by Robert
Of course, I don't mean to say that the list poem was founded in America--far from it. The list poem was used by the Greeks and in many books of the Bible. But two of the most popular American poems, Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" and Allen Ginsberg's "Howl," are list poems. So what is a list poem?
Basically, a list poem (also known as a catalog poem) is a poem that lists things, whether names, places, actions, thoughts, images, etc. It's a very flexible and fun form to work with.
For instance, I've written a list poem below to describe the experience of watching my high school football team for four years (and maybe that many wins over the entire period). Our team mascot, the Pirate, is clearly visible from I-75 if you're ever driving between Dayton and Cincinnati. We have a large set of bleachers and even this really cool wood pirate ship with a canon for when we score (sadly, underused most seasons). You would think we'd have some sort of great football team, but:
"Watching the Pirates"
We watched them lose every Friday;
first, they lost to the Beavers;
second, they fell to the Vikings;
third, they were knocked off by Elks;
fourth, the Green Wave swept over them;
fifth, the Trojans had their way;
sixth, they succumbed to Spartans;
seventh, the Skyhawks flew to victory;
eight, the Rams clobbered them;
ninth, it was the Golden Knights;
in the tenth week, they finally won,
but no one was there to see it.
*****
Check out other Poetic Forms here.
Personal Updates | Poetic Forms
9/27/2007 2:58:29 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, September 26, 2007
A lot of poetry news to report today...
Posted by Robert
Some days just seem to bring more news than others. Maybe it's the shifting of the seasons.
"Arab poetry's sometimes subversive answer to 'American Idol,'" by Saifedean Ammous for The Electronic Intifada, examines the success of a televised poetry contest named Prince of Poets. Ammous: "Perhaps the only thing that is as hard as translating Arab poetry to other languages is trying to explain to non-Arabs the extent of poetry's popularity, importance and Arab's strong attachment to it."
*****
"A new direction for the New Yorker," by Robert Potts for Guardian Unlimited, offers another take on Paul Muldoon's recent appointment as Poetry Editor at The New Yorker.
*****
"Poetry award increases prize pot," by Anna Richardson for Bookseller.com, reports the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry has increased the prize money awarded to make it the largest cash prize in British poetry.
*****
Check out other Poetry News here.
Poetry News | Poetry Publishing | Poets
9/26/2007 5:08:23 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Monday, September 24, 2007
Nobody Ever Buys Poetry--Ever
Posted by Robert
Okay, so maybe that's not technically correct. For instance, I buy new poetry collections about once a week. And I know poets who purchase collections of poetry on a regular basis. People do buy poetry, but it's not easy finding a good selection of poetry to buy.
There's a chicken and egg problem with poetry collections in the marketplace. Booksellers don't stock too much poetry, because poetry doesn't sell well. Potential poetry buyers don't buy poetry, because there's not a good selection (or sometimes, in my personal experience, I've had trouble even finding a poetry section in bookstores).
Would poetry sell better if it had more shelf space? I'm not sure we'll ever know, because it doesn't make good business sense for bookstores to take a chance on poetry. I don't agree with it, but that's how the bottom line works.
"Local poetry publisher BOA rises to national status," by Matthew Daneman for Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, profiles prominent poetry publisher BOA. Of particular interest, BOA estimates 43% of its revenue comes from book sales and 37% from grants and donations--illustrating just how hard it is to sell poetry.
Despite this despicable state of the poetry publishing industry, I feel very certain that poetry will never die. Readers do go out of their way to find poetry in the nooks and crannies of bookstores and flea markets and Web sites and anywhere they can find it, because those who read poetry are passionate about poetry.
So anyway, I just sometimes get discouraged about the lack of shelf space devoted to poetry. I'm sure other poets do too. However, I just want to remind everyone (myself included) that we don't write poetry for the money or fame; we write poetry, because we can't stop ourselves. What's wrong with us anyway? (Just kidding, I think.)
Commentary
9/24/2007 1:55:20 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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I'm Excited About Rejection!
Posted by Robert
On Saturday, I received two rejections in the mail. And I was actually pumped up after reading them.
Really, the first one from Asheville Poetry Review is the one that got me excited. While I could see it was a form rejection letter, there was a handwritten note at the bottom from the editor Keith Flynn:
"Robert,
It was nice to see you in NYC--sorry this isn't better news, but 'Pride Park' did make it to our final cut--thanks for your interest and keep pushing.
All best,
Keith"
And when I looked at my returned poems, the one Keith mentioned had been marked a few times with his signature. So, naturally, there was a part of me that was bummed about coming so close, but then there was another part of me that was excited to make it to the final cut in a journal that publishes a lot of poets I read in those annual Best American Poetry anthologies.
To emphasize the point, my rejection from The Sun had no special note--just a form rejection letter on a small piece of paper.
So yeah, "Pride Park" is definitely going out again soonish, and I'm excited to ramp up my submission efforts for the final 3 months of the year!
Personal Updates | Poetry Publishing
9/24/2007 9:54:48 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday, September 21, 2007
My Brother Is Engaged & Other News
Posted by Robert
I know this has nothing to do with poetry, but as the oldest brother in my family unit, I was excited to learn that my brother proposed to his long-time girlfriend today, and (drum roll) she said, "Yes."
Great news! I was excited. Had to share.
*****
In other (personal) news, I released a new edition of Faulty Mindbomb at http://faultymindbomb.blogspot.com/2007/09/fmb0029.html. Be sure to check out Linda Benninghoff's poem "Easter" (yes, in September--I'm a little slow, okay).
*****
Have a great weekend!
Personal Updates | Poets
9/21/2007 4:42:31 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Friday SPAM Poetry Prompt #921
Posted by Nancy
SPAM prompt line: Are you confident in bed?
For some reason, every time I read this line, I start hearing "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" in my head for the next two hours.
So why not run with it? First approach: Use this as the first line in a poem modeled after a stanza of "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" (You can see the lyrics here and here if you need a model for the rhyme scheme.) You can let that one stanza stand as your poem, or you can move on to additional stanzas just as the song (and its parodies) do. You can explore the word "confidence" (i.e., "Are you confident at work?" "Are you confident in sports?" "Are you confident in love?") or you can focus on "bed," literally as a place to sleep or as a euphemism for sex ("Are you comfortable in bed?" "Are you really loud in bed?" "Are you vigorous in bed?")
Second approach: Ignore "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" (if you are able to now) and simply use the "Are you confident in bed?" line somewhere in the poem, or as inspiration for a poem about--well, you decide. Maybe it's not about "bed" at all, but an examination of self-doubt. Or maybe it will form the basis of your own commercial-in-verse on treatments for ED. Form and length are up to you.
Note: Yes, I'm aware that the tune is a variation of "Turkey in the Straw," which is supposed to be a variation of a blackface minstrel tune. I'm also aware that there are versions of "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" that focus on other parts of the anatomy. I know it inspired a hip-hop hit last year. I've also read online that the song was originally sung by Confederate soldiers about taking physical "mementos" from the bodies of runaway slaves and black Union soldiers; OR that the song originated in Spain during the post-World War I flu epidemic, and that medics sang the song to distract themselves as they put tags (i.e., like toe tags) in the ears of flu victims.
The pivotal word here is "originally." I haven't seen anything anywhere that confirms the veracity of the two latter stories as the actual origins of "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" Not that those stories might not be true, but I'd like to see some documentation besides blog posts that go viral. Since "Continental soldier" goes back to the American Revolutionary War, I suspect the song is at least that old, maybe older. If anyone has genuine evidence of the song's origins, please inform us in Comments. Thanks!
--Nancy
More poetry prompts are located here.
Poetry Prompts
9/21/2007 4:23:28 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Moves Made at The New Yorker
Posted by Nancy
Poetry News | Poets | Poet's Market updates
9/21/2007 10:34:37 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Thursday, September 20, 2007
Fibonacci Poetry: A new poetic form!
Posted by Robert
Fibonacci poetry was founded by Gregory K. Pincus last year as a 6-line poem that follows the Fibonacci sequence for syllable count per line.
For the 6-line poem that means:
- 1 syllable for first line
- 1 syllable for second line
- 2 syllables for third
- 3 syllables for fourth
- 5 syllables for fifth
- 8 syllables for sixth
An example:
"Confession"
My
first
poem
was not a
Fibonacci or
even an unrhymed sestina.
There are variations where the Fibonacci expands even further with each line, but to understand how to accomplish this, you need to understand the Fibonacci math sequence of starting with 0 and 1 and then adding the last two numbers together to add to infinity.
0+1=1
1+1=2
1+2=3
2+3=5
3+5=8
5+8=13
8+13=21
13+21=34
and so on and so forth...
Anyway, those lines can easily get more and more unwieldy the more you let them expand.
Here's how my example might expand, for instance:
"A Longer Confession"
My
first
poem
was not a
Fibonacci or
even an unrhymed sestina;
my first poem was not a sonnet or triolet,
a ghazal or haiku; my first poem wasn't free form, either: I don't know what it was.
Yeah, 21 syllables is a lot of syllables for one line. So, there's another variation that has taken flight in making Fibonacci poems that ascend and descend in syllables.
My tired example:
"A Bell Curve Confession"
My
first
poem
was not a
Fibonacci or
even an unrhymed sestina;
my first poem wasn't a sonnet,
triolet, ghazal,
haiku or
even
free
verse.
For poets who also like mathematics (am I the only one raising my hand?), this is definitely an interesting form to get your mind working.
*****
Here's more on the Fibonacci poem:
*****
Check out other Poetic Forms here.
Poetic Forms | Poets
9/20/2007 1:05:21 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Wednesday, September 19, 2007
180 Poems Free Online!
Posted by Robert
Stumbled across the Library of Congress Poetry 180 site that offers educators access to a poem a day through the school year. That's right: 180 poems by poets, such as Billy Collins, Thomas Lux, and Dorianne Laux.
While this is great for secondary ed students, it's also a wonderful resource for all lovers of poetry. Just go to http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/p180-list.html to check it out.
General | Poets
9/19/2007 4:47:34 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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LOTS of Poet's Market updates...
Posted by Nancy
Here are some changes to note in your copy of the 2008 edition of Poet's Market:
1) The e-mail addy in the Pennsylvania Poetry Society Annual Contest
listing should be changed from pps_contest_chair@hotmail.com (now
inactive) to paperlesspoetsonline@hotmail.com.
2) "I'm sorry to say, my journal eye is no more," writes editor Peter
Schwartz. I'm adding eye to the "Closing Post 2008 Edition" list at the
bottom here.
3) Lyric Poetry Review did not appear in the 2008 edition, but should have
(another verification that went into an e-mail black hole). Submission
guidelines are here. Additional update: Nathaniel Perry should now be
listed as editor.
4) John Palattella, poetry editor for The Nation, writes:
Please note that as of 10 September, the guidelines for submitting poems to The Nation are as follows.
The Nation welcomes unsolicited poetry submissions. You may send up to three poems at a time, and no more than eight poems during a calendar year. Send poems by First-Class Mail, accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. The Nation does not read simultaneous submissions, nor can it reply to or return poems sent by fax or e-mail or submitted without an SASE. Manuscripts may be mailed to:
John Palattella
Poetry Editor
The Nation
33 Irving Place
New York, NY 10003
The submission guidelines are posted on The Nation's website.
5) Yemassee has new contact information: E-mail:
editor@yemasseejournal.org. Website: www.yemasseejournal.org.
Contact: Darien Cavanaugh and Jonathan Maricle, co-editors.
6) The Concrete Wolf Chapbook Press Contest did not appear in the 2008
edition; however, we were later notified that their contact information has
changed to: Address: P.O. Box 788, Kirkland WA 98083. E-mail:
concretewolf@yahoo.com. Website: http://concretewolf.com. Contact:
Lana Hechtman Ayers, editor/publisher.
7) Although Southern California Review didn't appear in the 2008 edition,
Annlee Ellingson, editor-in-chief, notified us of lots of changes in contact
information (note: also a change of title--formerly Southern California
Anthology): Address: c/o Master of Professional Writing Program, 3501
Trousdale Parkway, Mark Taper Hall, THH 355J, University of Southern
California, Los Angeles CA 90089-0355. E-mail: scr@college.usc.edu.
Website: www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/mpw/students/sca.php.
Special note: This post by Reb Livingston shows why small journals and presses and their editors are my heroes. Talk about dedication. Show your appreciation--buy a small press publication today! (Reb's magazine and press are not listed in Poet's Market; read her post--do NOT send her queries or manuscripts.)
--Nancy
More Poet's Market updates are available here.
A list of closed literary journals is here.
Journal Closings | Poet's Market updates
9/19/2007 3:54:41 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Shadorma: A highly addictive poetic form from Spain
Posted by Robert
I recently discovered a poetic form called shadorma (thanks to P.J. Nights via Tammy Trendle) that I had no record of in my two poetic form handbooks [kind of like my recent posting about hay(na)ku]. Shadorma is a Spanish 6-line syllabic poem of 3/5/3/3/7/5 syllable lines respectively. Simple as that.
Also, you can link multiple shadorma (shadormas? shadormae?) like in my example below:
"Miss Shadorma"
She throws birds
at the school children
on playgrounds
made of steel
who run intense spirals to
the chain-link fencing.
Sad teachers
watch as they spiral
into air
like reverse
helicopter seeds searching
for their maple trees.
I've found myself addicted to writing in this shadorma form. It's simple and has a nice ebb and flow to the lines. Very fun!
*****
Check out other Poetic Forms here.
Poetic Forms | Poets
9/19/2007 9:20:27 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Poet Tess Gallagher speaks on power of poetry
Posted by Robert
Poetry News | Poets
9/18/2007 10:42:55 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Monday, September 17, 2007
Hay(na)ku: Counting up a new poetic form
Posted by Robert
Hay(na)ku is a very simple poetic form, and it's also one of the newest. It was apparently created in 2003 by poet Eileen Tabios.
Hay(na)ku is a 3-line poem with one word in the first line, two words in the second, and three in the third. There are no restrictions beyond this.
A really basic example:
Boys
chase girls
on the playground.
There are already some variations of this new poetic form. For instance, a reverse hay(na)ku has lines of three, two, and one word(s) for lines one, two, and three respectively. Also, multiple hay(na)ku can be chained together to form longer poems.
*****
Here are some links to other hay(na)ku sites:
*****
Check out other Poetic Forms.
Poetic Forms | Poets
9/17/2007 10:27:51 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Sunday, September 16, 2007
Late Night/Early Morning Sick Poetry
Posted by Robert
Good evening/morning (depending on your Saturday night party attitude)!
For me, it is early, early morning. I've been attacked by a cold all weekend and am having trouble with that sleeping thing I try to do every night. I took my Nyquil, and I've stayed hydrated--hopefully, soon my eyes will get sleepy from typing this post (fingers crossed).
Anyway, I usually find myself writing weird, nonsensical poetry at this time of the night/morning when I'm sick. In fact, I was guilty of such stuff again just minutes ago. Writers write--even when they're sick.
I'm usually not happy with the writing later on, because sometimes it doesn't even make sense to me. But I think writing while I'm sick helps me get through the illness and still feel semi-productive. I think the writing can even act as a distraction, at times, from the discomfort my body is feeling.
Not sure that I have a point with this post--just sharing some of my experience as a poet.
*****
Also, I don't want to be a tease about the bad stuff I write when I'm up early/late and sick. Though I'll probably regret it later, I'm going to share some of what I've written just minutes earlier. For context, I took my boys to two different festivals Saturday (Ohio is filled with them this time of year). We did hit up the Preble County Pork Festival parade. Woo-hoo!
candy kids collect
scraps from the street
shove them in bags
and accept stickers
from every political
candidate who wants
their parents' votes
candy kids cover
their ears when bands
march through with drums
counting off steps
to the county festival
candy kids covet
time to enjoy
their sweet treasures
and want pop and
balloons and toys
and everything
*****
p.s. As you tear apart the writing above, please keep in mind that it is only a draft. Also, I'm sick and medicated.
*****
p.p.s. Hope everyone's sleeping better than me! :)
Personal Updates
9/16/2007 4:09:43 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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