Haiku by Anonymous

Someone left this haiku for me to find this morning:



Sara is fair child

cold and bright in the stillness

rosy cheeks in frost



Thank you! Very good haiku. :-)

How to Haiku

How to haiku, you ask? It's like this:
5 syllables
7 syllables
5 syllables

For example:

what ever you do
write only what you know is
too good to be true

You try one! Post yours in the comments and I'll pick my favorite to post tomorrow :-)

Small town poets vs. big city poets

I often wonder how many advantages big city poets have over small town poets, and vice versa. For example, big city poets may have more chances to perform at poetry readings, find fellow poets and meet, go to poet-related events, and so on... But what about small town poets? Well, some local newspapers will publish local folks' poetry and recipes, and I lived in such a town not too long ago. In fact, I published a poem about my Grandpa and his friends in a local small town newspaper and some of the people went out of their way to tell my Grandpa and his friends that they were now famous. Isn't that cute? Literally tens of people saw that poem and they tell my Grandpa that he's "famous", isn't that great?? So is it like that for big city poets? Do they get a chance at publishing in their city's paper and have people coming up to them or their loved ones saying they're famous? I've yet to find out. I've moved about an hour away and I'm still not in a big city, but at least it's fairly large compared to where I was. Any musings on the advantages/disadvantages for the lives of either small or large city poets?

Business Card Poems

I've seen poems on matchboxes and business cards. I've seen them on book-marks, napkins, etc. Not my poems, other people's, mind you. So if you think you are safe from poetry, you are not. I like to write poetry myself, and I think I may try making business-card sized poetry to distribute at random for people to stumble upon. Isn't that a wonderful and funny idea? Why not make yourself heard in a way other than publishing in Poetry Journals or Poetry Books? Here is the poem I have turned into a business-card sized cry of "Read me!"

Shipwrecked

Short waves between us all,
a kick of fins,
dislodge of a mask,
salt stinging all eyes,
listening to echo-cavern
sucking breath of regulators.
All I know is the throttle
of underwater hurricane-force
winds whipping us like ragdolls
while we grasp steel barnacle-
covered railings with bare
hands, limbs ricocheting
like ropes snapping off
ledges of canyons.
One boy sits in an eddy current,
hands folded in his lap.
He is the calm
Before the throbbing,
pulsating limbs of co-divers-
starfish in the hurricane
waving helplessly at one another.

Poetry Magazines and Poets in your Pocket

What do I love more than poetry books? Poetry magazines! Why? You get up to a half dozen to a hundred poets for a much lower price than buying an entire book of just one poet. Why is that good? Well, if you are starting to get back into reading poetry you might not know what kind you like just yet, which is why the magazines are great. You can discover voices that you enjoy and can then search the author out at the book-store. That, and it will clue you into poetry trends such as popular subjects, the way a poem flows nowadays, whether they all rhyme or not, and each magazine has its own style. The magazine Poetry, simply named, has no limits on the type of poetry it prints, and is one of the most widely recognized magazines. Most poetry journals don't allow foul language or obscene commentary, and Poetry has not allowed it as far as I can tell, nor does The Comstock Review. If you want something edgier or don't want just a poetry magazine, there's Tin House, which is edgy and can be taken as more liberal than others. For example, it takes more risks and allows their writers to use language or themes that might be seen as controversial by some. Tin House features fiction, essays, and interviews as well as poems. Perhaps, if you look through various poetry magazines and books you might discover a hidden "broadside" from the Guerilla Poetics Project. They type up poems by less known authors on card stock (four poems per piece of card-stock), cut them to size, and their operatives hide these broadsides in book-stores for people like you and me to find. If you like the poem you find, you can look up the author. And don't forget to register your Guerilla Projects Broadside on-line to see how far the operatives have travelled. That's all for today, thanks for checking in!

Fun and Easy, Lunch Poems

Today we are talking about Frank O'Hara. It's a shame he has passed away, but he has left behind some very readable poetry. So for those of you who haven't dipped your toe in the Ocean of Poetry, here's a great guy to start with. His book called Lunch Poems focuses on his usual walks to various favorite places to eat lunch in New York, commenting on all the wonders of the city before finally making it to the lunch counter. Some are fun, some are sad, but all are easily digestable in short little scenic vignettes. The book itself is small and bright orange, and can fit easily in your lunch sack, your picnic basket, or even a purse or briefcase. It is much loved by poets and poetry readers everywhere, you will be sure to enjoy it, too. If you want a sample of his poems, go to poetryfoundation.org and type his name in the search box. Several of his poems are there along with a brief bio. The poems "Rhapsody" and "A Step Away From Them" are in the Lunch Poems book.
Thanks for stopping by today.

Poet Hound Begins!

Hello and welcome to my Poetry Blog, Poet Hound! Mainly, I am an avid poetry reader who is trying to win over Poetry Abstainers. You know the ones, the people whose high school education ruined poetry for them by making poetry much too complicated to enjoy. I think a great place for people to start a new interest in poetry is Poetry Daily (poems.com). Oh, and do you miss the days of playing Secret Agent as a kid? Try the Guerrilla Poetics Project (www.guerillapoetics.org)and look up what it takes to be a secret agent for them, the site is awesome, clever, and excellent!
Thanks for checking me out!