Poetry Tips: Succinct

In other words, how can you be “brief, concise, curt, short” in your poems? While some poems or prose do well to expand in their imagery and explanation, others benefit from some trimming. What if you were to turn your lengthier poems into haiku? Could you pare down a poem longer than ten lines into just three? What about a thirty lined poems cut in half to fifteen? The idea is that you can say quite a bit with a lot less.

Good luck to all of you who try being succinct, and please remember to drop in on Sunday for our first Featured Interview for National Poetry Month with M. Kei…

Caffeine Destiny Open Submissions

Send your previously unpublished poems to Caffeine Destiny to poetryeditor at caffeinedestiny dot com either as an attachment from Microsoft word, as an RTF file, or simply copy and paste into the body of the e-mail. Response time is around 4 to 6 weeks and please investigate the site and check out the guidelines in further detail by clicking the link below:

http://www.caffeinedestiny.com/guidelines.html

Good luck to all who submit, please stop in tomorrow for more Poetry Tips…

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=173994
“Spring” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

http://caffeinedestiny.com/poetry/FALL2008/murdoch.html
“Sometimes” by Jim Murdoch

Happy April Fool’s Day and Happy National Poetry Month!

Bulletin: In honor of National Poetry Month I will be featuring interviews every Sunday with either poets or editors of small presses that publish Poetry so please be sure to drop in on Sundays as well!

Thanks for clicking in, please drop in tomorrow for more Open Submissions…

Raymond Sapienza's Political Prisoner

Raymond Sapienza’s collection, Political Prisoners, is part of the Pocket Protector Series from Alternating Current. Mr. Sapienza has the ability to create a rhythm in his poems while delivering his message in short and sweet lines which I am a fan of. Below are some of my favorites:


peace

peace is not passive.
it will not descend in clouds
nor slip by in streams.
peace requires action of heart,
of mind, of limbs, and of will.

Who can argue with this poem? It is simplistic and wise.



flies

as flies upon a carcass,
we jockey for a favored spot
to lay the eggs of our perspective,
of our particular political thought.

that our progeny might feast
upon the excremental woe,
the blood and sinew of fellow men,
descendent future to secure and bloat.

A rather importune argument for mankind but excellent nonetheless. These days with everyone so vehement in their political opinion I’d have to say this poem nails its message on the head.



wages

daily sold in the marketplace
a price on our time determined.
a penny a thought, a dime an action,
a dollar if done in combination.

I like the rhythm and subtle end rhyme in this one, don’t you?




I will leave you with this one to ponder on your own:

quicksand

anyone who watched old westerns
when they were young
knows about quicksand
and knows that the more you struggle
the faster you sink.

anyone who went to catholic school
knows that it works pretty much
the same way.


If you enjoy this small sample of poems, Political Prisoners is book #6 in the Pocket Protector Series and can be purchased for $3.00 from Propaganda Press and you will also receive a bonus chapbook from the archives! Please support the small press and remember that the poets published here receive royalties on their collections.

Thanks always for reading, please stop in tomorrow for more Poems Found by Poet Hound…

Emily Dickinson Museum

I have always wanted to visit the houses of famous authors and poets but have never done so. I did find a link to Emily Dickinson’s home and the museum dedicated to her and included the link below for you to explore as well and perhaps someday take a trip to visit:

http://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/mission.html

Thanks for dropping in, please stop by tomorrow for another featured poet…