It's not usual that I go a whole week without a post between the Wednesday Poetry Prompts, but that's what happened this week. On one hand, I've been very, very busy with database and website work. On the other hand, I really didn't have much to talk about anyway this past week (wrote a little, submitted some).

For the last couple weeks I've been on a diet, and I've lost some real poundage (trying to get down to a decent running weight). So for this week's prompt, I'd like you to write a poem about dieting and/or diets. It can be pro-diet, anti-diet, or use dieting as an aside for the rest of the poem.

Here's my attempt:

"23.4"

Instant oatmeal, vegetable soup, dill pickles--
he counts the calories on carrots and wonders
if he's using enough self-restraint. When he
was young, he'd eat double quarter-pounders
(with cheese) and large fries; he'd eat three
large plates of spaghetti; he'd wash it down
with pop; he couldn't gain weight. Now, he
can't make the weight go away. He can't trick
it off his body. So he looks in the mirror; he
steps on the scale; and what does he see?  

As my stepson commented this morning, today is a messy day (at least, in the Atlanta area). Lots of rain, a little thunder and lightning, and even a little chill in the air. Since I've been coughing and battling a cold the past few days, this messy morning only feels that much messier. But I'm not too concerned, because I know that soon the mornings will get less messy and my cold will pass.

This is why for this week's prompt, I want everyone to write an ode. If you're not sure what an ode is, check out this link: http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/Odes+Praise+Poetry.aspx.

As you can see, odes can be formalized or irregular. The main point is to praise someone or something. You can praise a folk hero, a politician, a species of animal, an association, or even a pair of sweaty gym socks (though I'm not sure where I'd start on that one--Peeee-eeew!).

Here's my attempt for the day:

"An Ode to Poetry Collections"

They're always so thin
you worry about their health.
They don't make any money,
and they're never to be found
at the bookstore unless penned
by someone dead, famous, or
associated with MTV (remember
when MTV played music?).
Still, you can find them
in the seediest of locations--
coffee shops, college bookstores,
and author websites. Those
who sell them to you will not
look you in the eye as money
changes hands. However,
when you get home and crack
open these slim volumes, you
will feel part of a conspiracy
trying to shake meaning
down to its basest roots;
you will see someone working
hard at craft for the sake
of communication; you will see
a slice of humanity reaching out
until you feel the need to pick
up your pen and reach out, too.

I received the following question via e-mail from a poet who wishes to remain anonymous:

Believe me, editors (especially of well-respected publications) are not afraid to send rejection notes. So, it's not good news yet (because your work hasn't been accepted), but it's not bad news either. Unless you don't like waiting around for responses.

If you're tired of waiting and the well-respected publication doesn't allow simultaneous submissions, then you can always respectfully pull your work from their consideration. Or you can move on as if it was rejected.

Many editors go over their stated guidelines, especially when they are drowning in submissions from eager writers. Often, response estimates are given by editors who are overly optimistic about how quick they'll get through everything.

One way to avoid this problem, of course, is to only submit to publications that accept simultaneous submissions. While I'm not a simultaneous submitter myself, many well-published poets are. If you go down that road, just make sure you have a good submission tracking system in place--so that you can notify journals when specific poems have been accepted for publication.

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Click here to check out other Poetry FAQs from Poetic Asides: http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/CategoryView,category,Poetry%20FAQs.aspx.

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If you wish to submit a question, e-mail me at robert.brewer@fwmedia.com with the subject line: "Poetry Question".

Grisel Y. Acosta has shared some more of her experience at AWP in Chicago: http://writetoright.blogspot.com/2009/02/awp-or-zombie-fest.html

Looks like there was plenty of room for surprises at the event.

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Also, I see that the Poetic Asides Chapbook Champion, Shann Palmer, has self-published and is selling copies of her winning chapbook: "Change." If you want to check it out, go to: http://shannpalmer.blogspot.com/2009/02/buy-my-change-chapbook.html

I'm sure Shann would appreciate your support!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

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Jacqueline Cartier, media relations with NPR, shared the following link with me earlier this week: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100619363

It's a poetry slam for Valentine's Day! Check out the link to hear some cool poems.

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The Poetry Foundation lists more than 1,200 love poems here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/tool.poem.cat.2.1.html?id=7

If you need a Valentine's Day idea, you can always e-mail a favorite poem from this link to that extra special person.

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Here's another Valentine's Day idea: Why not write a love poem for the one you love? I did so last Valentine's Day, and now I'm married to her. To check out that poem, go here: http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/Will+You+Be+My+Valentine.aspx

I'm not saying you'll get married if you write a love poem, but it doesn't hurt, eh?

Since I'm a man of routines, here's my Valentine's Day poem for this year:

You
-For Tammy Brewer

found me in airports. You found me
in bookstores. You found me on the
streets of Manhattan. I made you
mix CDs. We listened as we
drove to Yellow Springs, to Helen.
We fell in love as we wandered
along nature trails and city
streets--both walking at the same pace,
letting the others run past us.

Been back in Atlanta since Sunday evening, and--wow!--it's so much warmer. Last week in Ohio: 6-8 inches of snow and negative degrees (before the wind chill). This week in Georgia: sunny skies and 60s & 70s for the temps. It's amazing what a difference an 8-hour drive can make on my perspective concerning the weather.

For this week's prompt, I want you to write a poem about a neighborhood. It could be about your current neighborhood, a previous neighborhood, a neighborhood you've visited, or just one you've imagined.

Here's my attempt for the day:

"Florence Avenue"

I drove through the old neighborhood last week,
surprised at how small the houses were, how
fast the houses passed by my car. When I
was a boy, kids played outside from morning
until evening. Now, the street might as
well have tumbleweed blowing from one end
to the other. When I was a boy, this
neighborhood felt safe, but now, I see cracked
windows, beaten up cars, broken fences.

I drove through the old neighborhood last week
thinking I might stop at my old house and
survey my childhood. Remember the fire
hydrant that used to shoot water into
the gutters where we'd splash around under
a hot summer sun. Remember the bend
in the road where we'd start all our races.
Remember how all the kids would play and
chase and call out each others' names. But when

I drove through the old neighborhood last week,
my car kept driving. The houses in which
we lived had moved on to new lives, the same
as we had. I realized I could not stop
to admire my history here, because
my past life no longer lives on Florence
Avenue. My history left town
when I did, still as a young kid, full of
the stuff that makes someone want to look back.

For a few years now, I've been aware of J.P. Dancing Bear's work--from seeing his name floating around in literary journals. It wasn't until we became friends on Facebook (a year or so ago) that I knew he was the editor of American Poetry Journal and Dream Horse Press, as well as host of "Out of Our Minds" (a weekly poetry program on public radio station KKUP). Dancing Bear is also the author of What Language (Slipstream), Billy Last Crow (Turning Point), Gacela of Narcissus City (Main Street Rag), and--most recently--Conflicted Light (Salmon Poetry).

Here's a favorite poem of mine from Conflicted Light:

Auricle

I heard the humming engine
of a heart smaller than an anvil;
in the hummingbird's forest
my ear was mistaken for a flower--
I should be complimented
for the brief moment before
the taste of my ear canal
will forever mark the thin tongue.
The hunger that was whispered
to me, woke me from a dream:

I was the drum in the redwoods,
the tongue of green prophesies,
the anvil of summer hunger,
awakened to the canopy songs
that had lain in the linens of leaves
I called my stomach. Now I hear
the hammer's rumor of sparks
on the anvil and can taste fear.
Now I realize I worked for years
in the coded silence of a paper heart.

*****

What are you currently up to?

Well, I tend to keep fairly busy most of the time.  Right now, I'm working on getting Bruce Cohen's book, Disloyal Yo-Yo, published.  I'm also putting the final touches on my next book, Inner Cities of Gulls, which will come out by Salmon Poetry next year.  I just went through and revised my other manuscript for submission to a few contests. I've been writing two other manuscript/projects, Birthday Notes and Dancing to Orphee's Radio. Then there's reading for the Dream Horse Press and the APJ.  

You're the editor of American Poetry Journal and Dream Horse Press; you host the "Out of Our Minds" radio show on KKUP; and you’re constantly getting your own writing published widely. How do you manage to wear so many poetic hats at once?

I try not to think about how much work there is to do. I try to remain focused on whatever the task is at hand, get it done and move on. I think it also helps that I normally don't require as much sleep as most people do.  I've been a 4.5 to 6 hour sleeper since I was a kid—used to drive my parents crazy that I would stay awake until 2 sometimes 3 in the morning.  And for the longest time, my writing time was between midnight and 2 a.m., but I've learned to write whenever the mood takes me.  Dream Horse requires and APJ require that I set aside whole portions of a day to work on them.  I like to work at least 4 to 8 hours straight on either.  

Your recent collection, Conflicted Light, was released by an Irish publisher (Salmon Poetry). How did that come about?

I think Jessie Lendennie (the owner of Salmon Poetry) and I were on a large group mailing list together at one point. I tend to lurk, but I will chime in when I think I have something to offer on a topic that hasn't already been expressed.  I had piped up about something and about a day later I got a message from Jessie saying she'd read my work and really liked it.  I had been a fan of Salmon Poetry (I've got several titles on my shelves) for quite some time, and well… the rest just fell into place.

What do you feel makes a great collection of poems?

I think there are any number of things that work to make a great collection of poems.  If you are asking me to step out of my Dream Horse Press editor's hat, then I would say that a great collection of poems is one in which every page is something to be savored. That you read the first poem and it is like a fine and delicate morsel of food. You want to take your time and enjoy it. You know just from that first poem that you are in for a gourmet meal. You do not want to rush to the next page, you may want to read one or two poems a day.  And reread them. And then again.

If I'm wearing my Dream Horse Press editor's hat… I like to look for collections that hold together as a larger poem. I also enjoy crafted poems that clearly show the writer's knowledge and skill without taking away from the poem at all.  In other words, I think there should be something in the poems for a second and third reading that make those just as enjoyable as the first reading. 

On a poem-by-poem level, what is the typical life of one of your poems—from idea to publication?

I tend to work in projects or manuscripts first.  So a project comes to me sometimes as a couple of poems that I can see go together, or I will sometimes challenge myself in some way, creating a set of rules that I have to follow. I don't have one set way of writing a poem, sometimes it's a line that comes to me, sometimes it's an idea or a thought I begin exploring, sometimes it's an image, and sometimes it's a voice. I will usually play with it in my head for several days. Rolling it back and forth, adding to and taking away from it until I feel there's a core something there.

Then I will write it down, usually the first draft will take about an hour. I will then read it aloud and edit it until I think it "sounds" right. Then I have a few friends whom I might "try it out" on. I'll get feedback and "try" to incorporate that back into the poem.  Then I'll set the poem aside.  I will generally write about three quarters to four fifths of a manuscript (or when I know there's only a few months left) before I start sending poems from that project.  

I do this for a number of reasons: One, it gives me distance from the first poems I wrote in the series, so I can stand back and look at them and decide if they are ready, or edit them to the point of being ready; Two, I will not get discouraged about the entire project if the poems are rejected, and therefore question whether I should continue working on the project; Three, the editing and submission functions, I find, are distractions from the actual creative action, so I don't like to do that until later in the project. If a poem is accepted, I may want to tinker with it a little more, nothing too big, a word or a phrase at most. If a poem is rejected, I will go back and review it, read it aloud several times, possibly revise it, and send it out again. At the point where about a quarter to half of the manuscript has been published, I will begin sending that out.

The exception to this rule has been my Birthday Notes project on Facebook.  The rules I set out for myself is that the poems have to be written using an application available to me when I go to the person having a birthday that day's wall, I will also put them together and publish them on my Notes/Wall page, and I write a prose poem there on their wall and it has to be done on that day. Since it's all done on the spur of the moment, it's a different kind of writing. I have to make a decision and run with it right away. Sometimes there's been as many as nine of them to write, and you just can't deliberate choices and ideas.

How important do you feel community is to a poet?

I have mixed feelings about it. Online, I tend to enjoy being "connected" to writers all over the planet. We have fun, and I think some of us are playful. I also enjoy playing word games with other writers. And touching base with them. 

The physically local writing communities really depend on where you are and who you fall in with. I think it also depends on the types of personalities that are part of the formal organization. I remember back in the late nineties a group of us used to get together, go to readings, put together potluck gatherings and had a lot of fun doing it. It was all done in the spirit of openness and we were trying to reach across political, group or community lines. The events were very informal and fun.  I've been part of more formalized organizations and it frankly wasn't my cup of tea. 

I appreciate those kinds of groups when they are done right, and one of them I think that does a good job is Poetry Santa Cruz, they present or sponsor a couple of readings a month (usually at least one with a writer who is visiting the area), and are involved in fostering a strong poetry community.

However, I tend to be better with the online community because I can work in being a part of them to compliment my schedule, I cannot necessarily do this with the physical ones.

Who are you currently reading?

Eesh.  This is not an easy answer for me because I am constantly reading. And I could answer this with any number of parameters. So first, I'll split out the dead writers and list them (in no particular order) first: James Wright, Federico Garcia Lorca, Robert Frost, John Berryman, Larry Levis, John Logan, Sylvia Plath, Ted Hughes, Lynda Hull, W. H. Auden, Neruda, Paul Celan, and Reginald Shepherd (if you ask me tomorrow, I'd probably have a different list depending on memory).  

I tend to read a lot of magazines (both online and printed) and there are certain names that I will naturally gravitate to and read first, and I would say the same holds true if I'm in a bookstore and I see their name on the spine of a book (and I am going to limit this list to authors with more than one book published): Nance van Winckel, Natasha Saje, Mary Ruefle, Roddy Lumsden, Kathleen Jamie, Ralph Angel, Jack Gilbert, Mary Jo Bang, Carolyn Forche, Tony Barnstone, Willis Barnstone, Jim Powell, Dorianne Laux, Margret Gibson, Mary Oliver, John Ashbury, Paul Guest, Mark Doty, Sherman Alexie, Robert Bly (and again, these were off the top of my head, and I'm sure I would have a different list tomorrow). I will also add that I read and seek out any of the authors that I've published.  And just to round this off, if you are a friend of mine, naturally I'm going to read your poem if I see it.

I will also say that I like to read many different writers and have an ever-expanding list of favorites. I feel, that it is essential to keeping an open mind and to being a good editor.

If you could share only one piece of advice with other poets, what would it be?

Constantly push and challenge yourself to do new things and learn new things.  If you've never written a sonnet, then challenge yourself to writing a crown of sonnets. If you've never written anything other than formal verse, write a prose poem.  Breaking down things, understanding the craft behind them and rebuilding the way you write only makes you a stronger and better writer. Never, ever think you are "there"--always be on the journey.

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To learn more about J.P. Dancing Bear (including Dream Horse Press and American Poetry Journal), check out his website at http://home.comcast.net/~jpdancingbear/.

To learn more about Salmon Poetry, which published Conflicted Light, check out their website at www.salmonpoetry.com.

If you are, then would you be willing to share your experiences with the rest of the Poetic Asides audience who are not able to attend (or who cannot sit in on every event--because, let's face it, there are soooooo many of them)?

If you're interested, just email updates at any time between 2/11 and 2/15 (the day after the event is over) to robert.brewer@fwmedia.com with the subject line of "AWP Update".

Please include your name so that you can get full credit for sharing the information. (If you have a website or blog, please include a URL with your name as well.)

Examples of things you could report on include:

• Cool sessions you attend.
• Great deals happening at publisher booths.
• Parties you might be attending (or hosting).
• Anything else that's going on or that strikes you.

Since this is a "first" for Poetic Asides, I'm not sure how well this will work (if at all), but I think it would be neat for those who have not experienced AWP or who won't be able to experience this year or who will be attending different sessions, parties, etc.

Depending upon participation, I'll try making frequent updates.

I've been meaning to do my annual post on The Best American Poetry anthology for 2008 for some time now, but I keep not getting to it. So, here we go.

As usual, David Lehman is the series editor for this anthology, with Charles Wright as the guest editor. I've found that the poems in the anthology can vary greatly in style from guest editor to guest editor--and that's a good thing.

I haven't read the entire anthology yet, but the selections have been very good so far. Some of my favorite poets are included, and there are some new (to me) names in the bunch.

But the true value of this anthology is not the actual poetry, though that is a very nice bonus. The real value for other poets are the Contributors' Notes and Comments in the back of the book, where poets write about their poems, including what inspired their poems, forms they were using, etc.

That's why I always recommend purchasing a BAP every single year. There's the inspiration of great poems, but also so much insight into the crafting of the poetry.

Sorry for the late prompt today. I'm up in Ohio this week, and Cincinnati got hit with an unexpected 6-8 inches of snow yesterday afternoon that led to my commute taking singificantly longer than usual last night and this morning. I was secretly hoping moving to Georgia would help me miss such fun commutes. Oh well.

For this week's prompt, I want you to write a poem that describes a view. The view could be from a window, a rooftop, a desk, a satellite, whatever.

Here's my attempt for the day:

"Under the bridge"

He can't see as much as he hears. The difference
between a car and semi, the sound of voices walking
over. But he can read messages scrawled to no one.
Lisa Sucks in red over You Suck in blue. Something
written about someone's mother. Several foul words.
And it smells like cat piss and car exhaust. It feels
like the end of the world. Every so often, a train
clatters by--also covered in spray painted messages,
the world slowly being overrun by graffiti. The rails
are left alone. He can't see as much as he thinks.
The difference in going somewhere and nowhere.

First, it's Groundhog Day: Punxsutawney Phil (of PA) and Buckeye Chuck (of OH) have seen their shadows and forecast 6 more weeks of winter. General Beauregard Lee (of GA) did not, however, forecasting only 4 more weeks of winter. Of course, I find that funny, because as an Ohio transplant, I'm still waiting for winter to hit Georgia; so, how can there be 4 more weeks of it?

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Anyway, I know you're not reading this blog post to hear the state of Groundhog Day 2009; you want to know who won the first annual Poetic Asides Chapbook Challenge! (Woo-hoo!)

In November, many poets took part in this blog's November PAD Chapbook Challenge, in which I challenged poets to write a poem-a-day through the month of November around a specific theme. Then, I gave the poets all of December to revise and edit their material and put together a chapbook to be submitted by the beginning of January.

More than 50 submissions were received. My wife, Tammy, and I went through them and selected a winner and 3 honorable mentions. There were some great submissions, but we both knew and agreed upon the winner without any squabbling.

Here are the Honorable Mentions:

* "Pacing the Moon," by Sandy Green
* "One Boy, How Many Square Miles," by Taylor Graham
* "Hooks and Slaughterhouses," by Alana I. Capria

And the winner of the first ever Poetic Asides Chapbook Challenge is:

"Change," by Shann Palmer

Congratulations, Shann!

Her manuscript was one that Tammy and I both loved and agreed was the best separately. That is rare in a competition with so many good submissions, but I think it points to the great writing Shann was able to gather.

Also, it should be mentioned that she cut the manuscript down to its bare essentials. It was one of the shorter manuscripts at only 11 poems and pages long.

Hopefully, we can arrange to have Shann explain her manuscript in a future post. In the meantime, let me share one of the poems Tammy and I both enjoyed very much:

Adaptation

After all the laundry is done-
round edges folded to the right,
the soaps stacked, the tissue
turned and tucked, she can go

to the next room to begin again;
blinds open just below the latch,
vase to the left, books by the lamp-
so little time, so much disarray.

Don't suggest she see a doctor,
she doesn't wash her hands raw
or alphabetize the soup cans, she has
discovered order is its own reward,

his suits hug the closet, with those
magazines, those dirty magazines.

*****

Again, Shann, congratulations!