"Could Stalin have been a poet instead of a tyrant?," from Russia Today, is a very interesting piece on how Joseph Stalin went from being a rising poetic star to a Bolshevik leader. Of special interest is how Stalin's poetry may have helped him rise to be the leader of a nation.

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With that story in mind, it is not recommended that you use poetry as a platform for political gain (or to stage robberies, for that matter). Poetry should always be kept separate of any such evil doing.

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"Missouri to Appoint Poet Laureate," from Kansas City infoZine, reports that Gov. Matt Blunt announced the creation of an official Missouri Poet Laureate post. Nominations for the post will be accepted through December 1, 2007.

Of special interest, Jay Barnes of the governor's staff wrote a 10-line poem to mark the announcement.

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For a little more on the new Missouri Poet Laureate announcement, check out "Blunt is seeking Missouri's first Poet Laureate," from the Joplin Independent.

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So another issue of Faulty Mindbomb is up and running. This time around, Howie Good, a journalism professor, has supplied "Home From the War." Check it out at http://faultymindbomb.blogspot.com/2007/10/fmb0032.html.

If you're interested, submission details are also available on the site, and I accept submissions year-round 24/7 (though I check at my own leisure).

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In the past week, I also made poetry submissions to:

• The Georgia Review
• The Missouri Review
• Five Points

Fingers crossed.

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Fingers crossed did not save me from a rejection letter for Michigan Quarterly Review. Did get a "Sorry!" with exclammation point on the form rejection note. Oh well, next time.

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Hope everyone's having a good start to this week, because I'm out!

The kyrielle is a French four-line stanza form that has a refrain in the fourth line. Often, there is a rhyme scheme in the poem consisting of the following possibilities:

• aabb
• abab
• aaab
• abcb

The poem can be as long as you wish and as short as two stanzas (otherwise, the refrain is not really a refrain, is it?), and, as with many French forms, it is very nice for stretching your poetic muscles.

Also, tres importante! Your lines must contain 8 syllables. I've written an example below to show how this poem works (on a technical level).

"She's not a Pretty Singer"

Evening cell phone conversation--
he rakes his hair with long fingers
that were once filled with devotion,
though she's not a pretty singer.

He never was a man to say,
"baby," or let his eyes linger,
and she only likes boys who stay,
but she's not a pretty singer.

So he offered his warm coat to
another to start a fling her
aging looks could never undo,
and she's not a pretty singer.

Some say she moved to another
state and made her name selling or
buying something, though why bother
when she's not a pretty singer?

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Here are some other resources on the kyrielle form:

• http://members.optushome.com.au/kazoom/poetry/kyrielle.html
• http://www.noggs.dsl.pipex.com/vf/kyrielle.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrielle

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NPR reports that Doris Lessing has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Many speculators were zeroed in on Margaret Atwood or Joyce Carol Oates as the favorites among women, so this is a bit of a surprise. However, Lessing is a worthwhile selection. Congratulations to her!

While Lessing wrote a little poetry, she made her name and won the prize for her novels. It would've been nice to have a poet win, but I guess there's always next year. Sigh.

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For more on Lessing, go to www.dorislessing.org.

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There are a couple pieces on Sean O'Brien winning the U.K.'s Forward Poetry Prizes award for the Best Collection...for his third time.

• "Sean O'Brien Becomes Third Time Recipient of U.K.'s Top Poetry Prize," by Sheveta Bansal for AHN.
• "Poet Sean O'Brien wins unique hat-trick of Forward prizes," by John Ezard for The Guardian.

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"'Leaves of Grass' Still Growing, Inspiring," by Diane Ackerman for NPR, is a great piece on Walt Whitman and why his words are still vital to poets today. Personally, he's one of the best. Seriously.

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...I had this great idea (at least, I thought so) for a poetry prompt this morning. One of the perks of working at F+W Publications is that I'm constantly surrounded by a wide range of enthusiast magazines and books (from writing to scuba diving and from coin collecting to decorative painting).

This morning I'm breezing through the production department and see two brand new titles: one for some kind of knitting and the other with the image of a handgun on the cover with the title of Glock.

Of course, my mind started spinning on some yarn about an old woman who knits a pretty carrying case for her glock. And maybe it's not her glock; maybe it's for her grandson Bruno who works for the mob. The possibilities are endless really with a knitting-glock juxtaposition.

And that's what my (long-winded) poetry prompt is: Juxtapose two or more seemingly unrelated things (images, ideas, people, etc.) to create an interesting poem.

The nice thing about juxtaposition is that it can increase tension and make an interesting idea unforgettable. Have fun going at it. If you wish to share, post your poem in the comments below.

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...I've posted the most recent Faulty Mindbomb. This issue features Patricia Kennelly's "Believe Me" at http://faultymindbomb.blogspot.com.

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Remember: If you'd like to submit to the journal (basically, a one-man nonprofit operation run by yours truly), then send a few poems my way at theaphexshrug@hotmail.com. I don't accept everything, but I'm pretty nice and try to get back relatively fast.

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Happy weekend!

...oh, we weren't speaking of poet laureates? Well, that's okay, because here are two good pieces on them speaking.

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From Guardian Unlimited, here's a speech by UK Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, on the relationship between poetry and power. His whole speech transcript is available. Highly recommended.

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"Americans still love poetry, says poet laureate Pinsky," by Lila Hanft for ClevelandJewishNews.com, profiles the former U.S. poet laureate. In the article, Robert Pinsky says, "As dancing is to movement, as cuisine is to nutrition, as lovemaking is to procreation, poetry is an art: an expressive form of speech. If art is important, poetry is important."

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So in the past week, I've made several poetry submissions to:

• Virginia Quarterly Review (they've got to have the coolest online submission form on the planet)
• Michigan Quarterly Review
• Chattahoochee Review
• The Cincinnati Review (this submission makes me a bit nervous, because the poetry editor is a former undergrad professor of mine--I can already see the rejection note saying, "Your skills have actually diminished since college, and they weren't good then."--yes, maybe that was a foolish decision)

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I've also submitted a chapbook manuscript to the Wick Open Poetry Competition for Ohio poets.

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While part of me wants complete acceptance from all of the above, I'd really be happy with an acceptance from at least one.

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Actually, a nice rejection note from any of the above would go a long way toward making me feel good.

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Or even a coffee stain on one of the form rejection letters. (It doesn't take much.)