Last month Robert very kindly responded to being "tagged" for a meme in which the blogger posts eight things about himself that readers probably don't know. (It was very kind because my mother is the one who tagged him. I said it was okay, even though she tagged me as well and I was going to tag Robert, but what the heck. She seemed a lot more concerned than I was about tagging the required number of people, and Robert was going to catch it from one of us no matter what.)

Even though I posted eight things at my personal blog, Salmagundi Express, I thought I'd do a special poetry-related one here. Hence, eight things you could have lived your entire life without knowing about me and not missed a thing. (I'm supposed to post the rules to this thing, but just go to Lillian's Cupboard if you're actually interested in pursuing this further yourself. I'm not tagging ANYONE else!)

1) I wanted to become a writer after I read Harriet the Spy in sixth grade; but I never dreamed of writing poetry until I was in high school and just kind of started doing it. (Considering how outdated the poetry was in our high school textbook compared to what was going on in the 70s literary scene, it was a couple more years before I purged the taint of sing-song rhyme and coy imagery from my work and delighted in discovering what poetry could really be--and do). 

2) My first published poem appeared in Seven Hills Review, a literary magazine by and for high school students produced through the Young Friends of the Library in Cincinnati. It was October 1972; I was a senior in high school; and I was thrilled. (And yes, it was free verse.)

3) I attended the 1975 Bread Loaf Writer's Conference as a contributor in poetry and was assigned to Anthony Hecht. He was extremely kind and gracious about the very inadequate poetry he had to critique for me, sharing insights and wisdom I really wasn't entitled to.

4) My first poetry workshop experience was also at Bread Loaf, when Hecht presented two of my poems in his workshop sessions. It was brutal, but I learned a lot (and I got to hear him read my lines in that melodious voice before the mob descended with their cudgels and battle axes).

5) My first "adult" publication was two poems in a journal called Xanadu. Those acceptances came the winter after Bread Loaf, so I must have absorbed something useful from the workshop bloodletting.

6) I self-published my first chapbook, called Fake Slaps, in fall of 1978. It was a collection of circus-themed poetry based on my experiences as a Ringling Clown College student and some of the professional and volunteer clowning I'd done.

7) I had a poem accepted by Rolling Stone in 1985 (one of those tiny poems they used as filler between the album reviews). About two months after I received the acceptance letter and check ($15!!), I learned the magazine was going to stop publishing poetry, so my little gem never appeared in print.

8) On January 25, 2008, my nearly eight year involvement with Poet's Market will come to an end. It's a corporate decision, not mine. However, change isn't necessarily a bad thing. And I like to think you're never too old for new adventures. And yes, for the forseeable future, Poet's Market will continue.

(More later about who to contact regarding Poet's Market issues once I've ridden into the sunset.)

--Nancy

Like many of you, Robert and I will be celebrating Christmas with our families and enjoying other revels over the coming week. Since we're all probably going to be otherwise engaged in various forms of merrymaking, posting at Poetic Asides will be light (if at all).

In the meantime, we wish you a joyful Christmas. And if we don't see you again in 2007, all best wishes for a wonderful 2008.

--Nancy

While I don't want to promise that I'll be doing a lot of poetry reviews and critiques and such, I think it makes sense for me to share good things when I happen upon them. The current "good thing" I just finished reading is Ted Kooser's The Poetry Home Repair Manual (Bison Books).

Without getting into metrics or poetic forms, Kooser gives poets a lot of practical instruction on how to write good poetry that will appeal to an audience. In fact, one of Kooser's stronger points is that every poem should be written written with an audience in mind, whether you're writing a poem for dog owners or people who appreciate jazz.

In this book, he also doesn't waste time giving his thoughts on what poetry is and should be: "Poetry is communication, and every word I've written here subscribes to that belief. Poetry's purpose is to reach other people and to touch their hearts. If a poem doesn't make sense to anybody but its author, nobody but its author will care a whit about it. That doesn't mean that your poems can't be cryptic, or elusive, or ambiguous if that's how you want to write, as long as you keep in mind that there's somebody on the other end of the communication."

For poets looking to get published, that's a very important quote, since publication forces the poet to write for three audiences at once. First, poets should always write to satisfy themselves on some level. Second, poets have to write for an editor or team of editors to get their approval. Third, poets have to write for the readers of the publication in question, because editors can love a poem but still not think it fits with their audience (it does happen). Many poets who struggle to get published early in their careers are only writing for that first audience: themselves (myself included).

Anyway, I can't get to all the great instruction Kooser provides in this slim volume that is a quick and delightful read, but here are some highlights:

• The best explanation of when, why and how to use metaphors and similes I've ever come across
• Advice on submitting to publications
• How to deal with line breaks
• The effects of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs
• And a lot more

Earlier this year, I wrote about a post about epitaphs. At that time, I made the decision to not combine them with elegies.

An elegy is a song of sorrow or mourning--often for someone who has died. However, poets being an especially creative and contrary group have also written elegies for the ends of things, whether a life, a love affair, a great era, a football season, etc.

While there are such things as elegiac couplets and elegiac stanzas, form does not rule an elegy; content is king (or queen) when writing elegies.

*****

Here are some examples:

"Elegy in Present Tense," by Nancy Krygowski

"Elegy Written in a Country Courtyard," by Thomas Gray

*****

Here's some more on elegies:

Wikipedia entry

Academy of American Poets entry

Scanning the poetry news today, I came across "Author reveals his 'secret life' writing poetry," by Lisa Pierce from The Advocate. It's about a poetry event for John Phillip Santos' poetry collection Songs Older Than Any Known Singer (Wings Press).

In the article, Santos says, "Once I moved to New York and began making television shows (the act of writing poetry) became even more private. I was working at CBS News for the first years in New York and it just wasn't something you told your colleagues openly about."

Through the years, I've spoken with many poets who've shared this sentiment where it's okay to be a poet around other poets. But in the everyday life, these same poets are afraid to reveal they're poets around "regular folk" (who may or may not be poets themselves).

I'm often guilty of this myself. In my Clark Kent life, I'm a mild-mannered editor of Writer's Market with two sons and a love of outdoor activities (running, disc golfing, hiking, etc.). But at night, when even crime (or rhyme?) is sleeping, I break out the pen and composition notebook and craft poems with wild abandon as Superman. In the morning, I put my Clark Kent spectacles back on, part my hair in the other direction, and trade in my tights for business casual. If the "regular folk" mention poets or poetry, I usually just give an all-knowing smile without revealing my identity.

Why?!?

Why do poets feel this way? Are poets generally thought of as bad people who should not be around children or small dogs? Are poets considered outcasts who are never invited to social gatherings? I'm pretty sure the answer is no--yet, many poets (myself included, mind you) feel the need to hide their identities around the "regular folk." These are the same "regular folk" most poets lament don't read poetry. Hmmm...

Maybe we should be more open about our identities as poets. Maybe everyone should scrawl that down as a New Year resolution heading into 2008. Put it after reading and writing more poetry past the witching hour.

*****

In the meantime, read this excellent article by Nancy for Writer's Digest magazine: "The 21st Century Poet."

In it, Nancy goes over a survey conducted by the Poetry Foundation and says, "While we should be most concerned with writing poetry, not who we are as poets, I can't help but think more people would read our work if they realized we're right there waiting in the dentist's office, cheering during our kids' soccer games, getting our tires rotated, walking the dog in the park, comparing the prices of canned beans in Aisle 5 and buying a cup of coffee at the convenience store."

Right on!

SPAM prompt line: proverbial fruit cake

Just wanted you all to know that this will be the last SPAM poetry prompt (for a couple of reasons I'll explain later on). I hope you've enjoyed trying them as much as I've enjoyed creating them.

I saved this prompt line especially for the holiday season. I've been intrigued by this line ever since I first saw it last summer. How exactly is a fruitcake "proverbial"? If it referred to the "proverbial unpopular fruitcake" or the "proverbial awful fruitcake," maybe it would make more sense. Not that I could agree; I love fruitcake (when it's good--with quality fruits and nuts and preferably soaked in strong spirits).

I thought of various cakes in Ireland and the UK in which items are baked: charms, coins, etc. Could this fruitcake have little rolled up proverbs baked inside? What would these proverbs say? Imagine such a proverb, what it tells you, how it changes your outlook on your life--and maybe fruitcakes.

Or could "fruitcake" here be politically incorrect slang for a certain type of person? Are these people among your family and friends? Discuss. (I'd say my family is stocked with such fruitcakes, but they'd simply yell, "Hey, pot--meet kettle!")

If none of this excites your creative juices, write about how much you hate--or love--fruitcake. If you knew a fruitcake baker (or are one yourself), use that as your inspiration. If you can work "proverbial" into it somehow, extra points for you!

Enjoy--and have a wonderful holiday season.

--Nancy

More prompts are available here.

...writers start to panic. I love Waldo Jaquith's use of the term "The Angry Letter." As part of my job, I receive many such complaints from writers about not hearing back from a magazine after waiting patiently for a whole month. Maybe they'll be pleased to read Waldo's blog post: "We Are Altogether Too Efficient."

As I raved earlier in this blog, I love VQR's sleek online submission system. It totally threw me for a loop with how efficiently it managed my submission of five poems--automatically notifying my email account that they were received. Even now when I check on the site, my cookies alert the site that I already have five poems currently under review, which five they are, and what the status is.

Hopefully, more journals will go this route. It's easier for the writers, and according to Waldo it's easier for the editors as well.