Lolita & Gilda's Burlesque

What do you think about poets who strip during their readings? “What?!” Funny and not as x-rated as you might think, I am dying to know how this got started. Check it out, I’m serious, at the one and only Lolita and Gilda’s Burlesque. Someday, maybe you, too, can strip for your poetic supper…

http://burlesquepoetryhour.blogspot.com/

Thanks for dropping in, please stop by for another living, breathing poet…

Poetry Tips: New Year's Resolutions

Last year I made a resolution to take poetry seriously and to try and get published. I was only able to publish in a small local newspaper but I also ended up joining a poetry group and forming this blog, all as a result of my New Year’s Resolution.

I would like to hear your New Year’s Resolutions for Poetry and hope that you will leave comments or send e-mails regarding your personal goals for poetry this year.

Mine are to continue writing and seeking publication, as well as to try and include more interviews in this blog. If I am able, I would like to include one interview a month, wish me luck!
Good luck on your New Year’s Resolutions, poetry related or not.

Please stop by tomorrow for another wonderful poetry blog…

Comstock Review Open Submissions

Open Submissions are from January 1st through March 15th so you have some time to polish and send your best. I subscribed to their journal, two issues for one year, and was very happy with it. I recommend this magazine for people who write what they mean in beautiful language full of imagery. They prefer poems to fit on one page, just as an FYI.
You may submit between 3 to 5 poems, with an SASE to:
The Comstock Review
4956 St. John Drive
Syracuse, NY 13215

http://www.comstockreview.org/howtosubmit.html


Happy submitting! Best of luck!
Please stop in tomorrow for a New Year’s Resolution edition of Poetry Tips…

Poems Linked by Poet Hound

http://www.alicebluereview.org/main.html
Union, by Arlene Ang, I love the line “a house lit by snow”

http://www.sundress.net/wickedalice/sloat.html
Snorkeling, by Sarah Sloat, for those of you who want to remember warmer weather...

Thanks for dropping in, please stop by for another Open Submissions on Thursday.

Happy New Year with David Ignatow

David Ignatow was a prolific writer with 17 books of poetry over the span of his career. He was born in Brooklyn in 1914 and was eventually employed in his father’s bookbinding business. After being poet-in-residence at several colleges including University of Kentucky, University of Kansas, and Vassar College, as well as being a professor at CUNY, he became President of the Poetry Society of America from 1980-84. Mr. Ignatow passed away in 1997 and I was fortunate enough to pick up a collection of his work titled at my ease: uncollected poems of the fifties and sixties from BOA Editions published in 1998. This collection is about life in its plainest form, almost pessimistic but still has hope and the possibility of waking up to a brighter morning. These poems are good for anyone feeling apprehension for the new year. The information about David Ignatow was provided by this volume of work and more can be found at Poets.org and Poetry Foundation using the links below:

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/777

http://poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=3396

I wasn’t able to obtain permission from BOA editions in time post his poems in their entirety but I will an excerpt from his poem “Resolved:”


Do you love?
Then you are wretched:
you have been hitched
to a plow, the ground
is hard and dry. ….
…
Pride returns
in the knowledge of your achievement.
It is possible to be happy.



I also love his poem “The Jobholder” as there are days for many of us where we feel the same way. He describes the mundane cycle of boarding the bus to go to work, disembarking to return home, and waiting for his turn to die. In this sense it is almost too dismal to take as concrete fact that this is how Mr. Ignatow lives. Surely, something interesting lies around the next corner. In his preface written in 1994 for this book he explains how he wishes his audience to read these poems and feel pleasure and relief. Perhaps he means that by reading his work we will know that life isn’t always so full of mundane, negative, or painful things and that it is time to embrace life for all of its ups and downs. That is how I view these poems, and hope you have some thoughts on them as well if you get a chance to read him.
Thanks for reading, please stop in tomorrow for more linked poems…

Web Del Sol

This site is all about poetry on the web, and provides many useful links and news articles related to poetry. Check it out below at:

http://www.webdelsol.com/IBPC/index.htm

Thanks for dropping in, help me ring in the new year with another poet who is no longer…

Philip Levine's A Simple Truth

First let me say I have a hard time finding ways to ask permission to post an entire poem, so therefore I cannot enlighten you as much as I would like to Levine’s poems. Philip Levine was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1928. He has won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and several other prizes for his work. The link below provides more detailed information about him and poems to read as well as an Audio Clip so you can listen to his poem. Levine is another poet whom I enjoy because he says what he means while making the language beautiful. You don’t have to find hidden meanings unless you want to, some poems are deep and some are just a breath of fresh air. I picked up his book The Simple Truth published in 1994 by Alfred A. Knopf. In this book, one of my favorite poems is “Ask For Nothing” in which he describes going on a walk in the evenings. This is a simple enough subject but I happen to love long walks in the countryside and no longer live where that is possible and he captures the feelings, sights, and sounds perfectly. Here is a short excerpt from “Ask For Nothing:”

Behind you the windows of the town
blink on and off, the houses close down;
ahead the voices fade like music
over deep water, and then are gone;

Please click the link below to find out more and certainly look for his work while you are out and about in your daily busy life. He will remind you to take a breath and see the wonderful things that greet you every day.

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/19

Thanks for reading, tomorrow is another poetry web-site installment…