Still reading The Best American Poetry 2007, and it's been slowing up some, because all these different styles of poems always get me trying new things out. For instance, Christian Bok's poem "Vowels," in particular, got my experimental brain think-think-thinking.

You can read "Vowels" here.

In his comments about the poem in BAP 2007, Bok writes, "'Vowels' is an anagrammatic text, permuting the fixed array of letters found only in the title. 'Vowels' appears in my book Eunoia, a lipogrammatic suite of stories, in which each vowel appears by itself in its own chapter."

Since reading this, I've been very interested in trying to write my own poem using only the letters within the title word. During lunch today, this is what I came up with:

"Spread"

Red dresses drape spare dressers,
pass dreaded pear parades...

Spears reads radar passes,
spares dapper dad seeds...

Dear are dead are dads
are ads pressed deep sea dares...

Dear papa pared raps,
spread seeds, snapped red era apps...

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The real challenge with this kind of poem was first picking a word that had at least a couple vowels and a good mix of consonants. Then, I brainstormed all the words I could think of using only those letters (as many times as you wish, of course). Creating that word list really gave me a new appreciation of the importance and diversity one extra letter can bring to the table.

After creating a word list, it's just a matter of playing around with different word combinations. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a better "Spread" poem lurking out there since I crammed all these steps in during my lunch break, but it does help illustrate the possibilities and limitations of writing this kind of poetry.

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Check out other Poetic Forms.

The ode is a poetic form formed for flattery. There are three types of odes: the Horation; the Pindaric; and the Irregular.

The Horation ode (named for the Latin poet, Horace) contains one stanza pattern that repeats throughout the poem--usually 2 or 4 lines in length.

The Pindaric ode (named for the Greek poet, Pindar) is made up of a pattern of three stanzas called triads. This type of ode can be composed of several triads, but the first (the strophe) and the second (antistrophe) should be idnentical metrically with the third (epode) wandering off on its own metrical path.

The irregular ode (named for no one in particular) does away with formalities and focuses on the praising aspect of the ode.

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Many odes are longer poems, but I'm going to share a basic example of my irregular ode here:

"Ode to Rain"

Without rain
there would be no frog
to leap into the pond.
No pond.
No sound.

Of course, this piece is also tipping its hat to Basho's famous haiku as well.

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I've, of course, got some more resources to share on odes:

• Wikipedia definition
• Poets.org definition
• Instructions for writing your own ode
• Odes written by Pablo Neruda

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Check out other Poetic Forms.

SPAM prompt line: finally a little justice

There just doesn't seem to be a whole lot of justice in the world right now. Sure, things have never been totally fair, but it used to be that a good instance of justice being served helped balance everything out and restore a person's faith. Now the bad guys, whoever you perceive them to be, constantly seem to get away with murder (or any of a whole laundry list of crimes).

Is poetic justice easier to come by--perhaps, especially, in your own life? (See this site for a thorough review of what "poetic justice" means; I especially like the Simpsons example.) Was there "finally a little [poetic] justice" when virtue was rewarded and vice punished, and you still think about it because it was just so good? Maybe you even helped that justice to triumph. It doesn't have to be a major event; it could just be a small moment ripe with reckoning (that Simpsons example again).

On the other hand, were you ever the recipient of a little poetic justice yourself? What happened? Would you like to talk about it? Can you talk about it?

Write your poem in any form; can be serious or humorous (remember, irony is important). Set the bar a little higher and write a sonnet (or any other form that seems to suit your specific situation).

Happy writing!

--Nancy

You can find more poetry prompts here.

Though I'd been writing poetry very regularly since my sophomore year of high school, I did not start submitting my poems to publications until January of 2006. Being my own harshest critic, I was prepared to get rejected to all the places I submitted, so I set a rule that I would only submit my work via e-mail or online submission forms (as an economic decision). However, I was surprised to find more than 20 of my poems accepted over the first 15 months or so of my submission efforts.

After success via e-mail and online submission forms (and with the ability to afford stamps without sacrificing my son's next haircut appointment), I decided it was time to start submitting to places that only accept submissions the traditional route. That's what I'm currently in the process of doing, and I'm wondering if that is a good or bad thing.

I wonder: Am I somehow just following the crowd by submitting by post? Am I doing it just to have a cool credit? Should I just be trying to get my material published as fast as possible by whoever "understands" what I'm getting at?

By the way, I don't have any answers to those questions yet. Just thinking out loud.

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As far as the respectability factor, Virginia Quarterly Review and The Pedestal Magazine--both very respectable publications--only accept submissions online. The New Yorker and Ploughshares accept submissions online and through the post. So there shouldn't be any kind of taboo on online submissions--it all comes down to what works best for the editors.

Yet, I've noticed that I submit by traditional mail if I'm given the option of either/or, because I figure traditional mail at least forces the editors to open the envelope. Online submissions are so easy to "accidentally" delete or forget.

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I submit both ways, but I'm wondering if one is better than the other. Or is a mix-and-match approach the best way to submit.

Recently, in a bit of nostalgic self-indulgence, I bought a lot of seven 1966 Treasure Chest magazines off eBay. Treasure Chest, offered by subscription to Catholic school kids, was a hybrid publication combining comic book and general interest magazine.*

I wasn't much of a comic book reader, but I did enjoy Treasure Chest, especially the historical features. In the lot I purchased, there's the edition that contained part two of the life of educational pioneer Maria Montessori. I'd remembered many of those images through the years; and, by association, had recalled many details of Montessori's life (or as many as can be communicated through a two-part comic serial). Even without the visual prompting of having old issues in hand, I vividly remember scenes from such stories as the life of Father Isaac Jogues (with his maimed hands) and the tale (possibly apocryphal) of  a Union Soldier in the Civil War who woke up in a hospital on Christmas morning to find his childhood crazy quilt on his bed.

Because of how I experienced the power of words melding with graphic images, I'm very interested in the "The Poem as Comic Strip" feature on The Poetry Foundation's website. I'm looking forward to seeing more poems in graphic form over time; right now there are five (numbers one through four can be accessed through the set of links on the right of the screen). I haven't gotten into graphic novels yet, but I should. I think I'd really enjoy them.

I've always been a fan of Edward Lear's limericks with their surreal accompanying line drawings. It would be interesting to see what modern poets who can also draw might come up with if they could present their own poems as comics. (I don't draw, but I play around with collage and ATCs [artist trading cards]. I've often thought of collaging one of my poems, or doing an "altered chapbook." The interplay of the literary and the visual is intriguing.)

--Nancy

*The Authentic History Center offers scans of the 1961 Treasure Chest series, "This Godless Communism." Something changed drastically by 1965, when I started subscribing, because I don't remember anything that overtly propagandistic. Sure, the adventure stories usually featured good Catholic heroes, but the text and drawings weren't preachy and didn't directly tout the Catholicism of the characters. And I don't remember ever reading about communism, or even kid-level discussions of Vietnam.