Poetry Tips: Prepare for National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month and lots of sites will be including special features, including myself, but what about you? What can you do to bring poetry to more people?
For myself, I’ll be posting poems at work in unexpected but easily accessed places for people to stumble onto. I’ll also be posting links to my blog on my Facebook page (Poet Hound itself doesn’t have a Facebook page but it’s on my personal page). I have other plans as well but you’ll just have to wait and see.

If you are looking for suggestions you can always join in the write-a-poem-a-day challenge as some blogs and sites challenge, post links to your favorite poems on your own web-sites, write short poems with sidewalk chalk on sidewalks and on not-so-busy streets. The possibilities are endless. If you have a unique idea please feel free to share it in the comments section to inspire others.

Thanks for dropping in, please stop by on Monday for another featured site…

Apt Open Submissions

You can save a stamp because your poems are accepted via e-mail, but make sure it hasn’t been published before and no simultaneous submissions. You can send your poem(s) to submit(AT)aforementionedproductions(DOT)com along with a bio and details where any other work of yours may be found and your poems either typed into the body of the e-mail or included as an attachment (.doc or .rtf is acceptable).

Definitely check out the site to see what they produce and please click the link below for more details:

http://apt.aforementionedproductions.com/submit.htm

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

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=180566
“How Good Fortune Surprises Us” by Jackson Wheeler

http://www.blossombones.com/winter09/bruno_w09.html
“Garden Walking” by Elizabeth Bruno

Thanks for clicking in, please stop by tomorrow for more Open Submissions…

Robin Schiff's Revolver

I found Robyn Schiff’s collection of poems, Revolver, at my local library. It was published in 2008 by the University of Iowa Press and the poems take cunning twists and turns throughout. Robyn Schiff has perfected the skill of taking items that to anyone else would seem random or be considered tangents and tying them all together in a thread of words that all relate to the poem. I am happy to share several of the poems below:


Luckily, you can click the link below where Poets & Writers have included the poem “Iron Door Knocker the Shape of a Man’s Face, by Freetham” below:
http://www.pw.org/content/revolver_robyn_schiff

What I love about this poem, and many of her other poems in the collection, is the absolute surprise in the pairings of images and concepts that somehow all relate together. From the idea that maggots should have overtaken the dead finch on her back porch to a door-knocker that has a man’s face as its shape and back to mayflies clinging to a screen door eventually opened by her grandmother to let the reader in, they all tie together. Some of the lines I love are: “I used to believe the wild/takes care of itself. I used to believe/maggots arise/like a spring of death/that need only be tapped,/but the flow of incarnation/is much too slow…” The word “incarnation” which implies divinity and is tied to maggots is a gruesome twist I appreciate. All the events in the poem take place concerning the door and back porch where “A swarm of mayflies clutching/the wire mesh on their only night on earth.” Again, seemingly unrelated things all tied to a particular theme which is the title of this poem. Well done!


Another poem I enjoy is titled “Eighty-blade Sportsman’s Knife, by Joseph Rodgers & Sons.” The counterbalance of comparisons is astounding and here is what I mean: “it arrives cold at the neck, a vampire knife/transforming in air from sheath/to edge and back again in a pulse like/the unaccountable translucent blades/of a helicopter;” Aren’t those lines terrific? To compare the sound of knife blades to that of a helicopter’s is a gratifying comparison you can hear for yourself while reading. In the poem it appears that she digresses but she always brings her train of thought back to her point: “Splayed it is/a bouquet of all the ways a point mutates. It/contains the bayonets piercing/the chain mail at the end of the mind. Screw/driver. Bottle opener. Isolation/wire cutter…When we use the/tool intended for the job/we are neutral.” This is a long poem and I couldn’t possible encompass all of its ingenuity but I hope that you will find a copy and read it for yourself.

Every poem in the collection is similar in its ingenious use of uncalculable twists and turns that always bring you back to Schiff’s original title and point. I hope you will find and pick up a copy of her book for yourself, it will keep you riveted.

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

Issa on Twitter Site

While I already subscribe to Daily Issa for both of my e-mail accounts I saw that Don Wentworth at Lilliput Review provided this link (which I’ve provided you below as well) and I just couldn’t help myself! I bet you won’t be able to resist, either, so please check out Issa’s daily haikus by clicking below:

http://twitter.com/issa_haiku

Thanks for dropping in, please drop in tomorrow for another featured poet…

Poetry Tips: Park Benches

This week I couldn’t help but notice the weather has been warmer and the people sitting on benches waiting for the bus or in the parks have come alive compared to being huddled in jackets. This week I want you to try writing poems dedicated to benches and the people using them. I’ve also provided a link to a poem about Central Park for inspiration on the subject. Good luck to all of you who try it!

http://poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=171587
“Retired Ballerinas, Central Park West” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti


Thanks for stopping in, please stop by on Monday for another featured site…

Rope-A-Dope Open Submissions

You better act fast because the open submissions for chapbooks closes on March 31st at Rope-A-Dope press! Include two copies of your original manuscript, 15-35 pages, and include two title pages for EACH copy of your manuscript. The first title page should have your contact information and the title, the second title page should feature the title only. Include a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope and mail them to the editors to:

Golden Gloves Chapbook Series
Rope-a-Dope Press
516 East 2nd Street #42
South Boston, MA 02127

Please check out the site and the details by clicking the link below and good luck to all of you who submit:

http://rope-a-dope-press.blogspot.com/2008/11/open-submissions-february-march-2009.html


Thanks for dropping in, please stop by tomorrow for more Poetry Tips…

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://apt.aforementionedproductions.com/nineteen/townsend1.htm
“The Elegy: Cherry Blossom” by Beth Townsend

http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20447
“Not Ideas About the Thing But the Thing Itself” by Wallace Stevens


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

Poiesis 2 Review

Alternating Current's biannual literary magazine, Poiesis, was released back in January and once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. There are over fifty poets featured, some of which have been featured in Poet Hound before such as Hosho McCreesh, Justin Barrett, Leah Angstman, and Timothy Gager. The collection of poems is as diverse as the writers and you are sure to find more than several poems you’ll want to make copies of to share with your friends, family, and co-workers. Each issue has a Featured Writer who happens to be J.J. Campbell in this issue and when I read his poems I said “I like this guy!” So let me start out by sharing one of his poems below:

my fellow man

often as i watch the seconds aimlessly
tick away each day as i wait for my
number to be called certain thoughts
will enter my head

like how my fellow man could ever
allow reality tv to become popular

or how my fellow man could ever let a
government of the people, for the people
and by the people become so corrupt and
hell bent on greed and ruling through fear

when did my fellow man become
a member of the religious right

how did my fellow man
forget the one rule for this planet

keep the rich rich
and the poor poor

why did my fellow man allow the
schools to rot into ruin and suddenly
become naïve and think raising a
collective voice would change
anything, anything at all

my fellow man must have missed
the memo about the almighty dollar

but anytime i’m out there, waiting in
line, running a red light or pulling up
a chair at the bar next to my fellow man

it only takes me a few seconds to order
another drink, something stronger this
time, for the look on my fellow man
says it all

we’re fucking doomed

J.J. Campbell’s poem is very abrasive and visceral which I like because blunt people are my favorite type of people—you know exactly where you stand with them. All of his poems featured in this collection have the same visceral quality and you need a strong stomach to read them all.


Another poem not quite so abrasive but also blunt is one by Joseph Veronneau below:

An Artist’s Night Out

Entering the building, I could
see the academics sitting
stiffly in cushioned chairs.
I quietly filled a seat in the back
Amongst snob-nosed “professionals.”
The poet kept his wine glass
closer than his book of poems,
selling his words to us in monotone.
A delicate two-finger clap
to the palm and then silence –
for the English Professor wannabe-poet
is about to speak again.
After the last metaphor
and sentences of “grandmother’s
crisp apple pie,”
I was ready to leave.
I received a dirty look
on the way out
by the bookstore owners.
I was pleased because
I had finally received something
from the evening.

I congratulate Joseph Veronneau for being so candid about the poetry reading he describes. I can picture perfectly the scenario and know that I may have struggled internally whether to leave or not if it had been me but Mr. Veronneau walked out and was pleased with the dirty looks he received as a result which makes a great ending for this poem.


I will now share one final and more sentimental poem by Janice Brabaw:

Moshe

You were too young to love me
The way I thought I needed to be loved
And in the end I wasn’t enough
Too much
For you

I was too young to love you
The way you thought you needed to be loved
And in the end you weren’t enough
Too much
For me

Dusk does not settle
Without the dust
of our love
whispering across
floorboards
from under the floor.

And every night
Before I sleep
I have to sweep it back
So I can rest again.

This poem sounds like first young, true love that you can never be rid of. Most of us have that experience and I love the repetition of “wasn’t enough/Too much” for each other. I also like the idea of having to sweep back the feelings to rest peacefully at night, it makes the relationship in the poem more pronounced and like a fresh memory than an old wound. This poem avoids being trite on a topic we all read and write about and I think Janice Brabaw does a wonderful job with her choice of words.


There are countless more poems I could share with you but I think you should check out the collection for yourself.

To purchase a copy you may find it for $4.00 at the link below and I hope you’ll take a look:
http://alt-current.com/pp/pp_item.html#poiesis_issue_2

Thanks for reading and please stop by tomorrow for more Poems Found by Poet Hound…

Poems Worth Your Time

You know how you can drop in on Wednesdays to find links for all kinds of poems here? Well this site does it more often than I do and what a grand selection! These poems are worth your time and I hope you’ll check it out at:

http://poemsworthyourtime.wordpress.com/


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

Poetry Tips: Spring Cleaning

Spring is fast approaching and it is time for you to clean out your poetry! Dust off your forgotten poems you’ve written and see if you can polish them up for upcoming Open Submissions at various journals and web-sites. Don’t forget to dust off and open your beloved and forgotten poetry books you’ve bought or borrowed over the years. Re-read your favorites, find which books you’re no longer interested in to lend to a friend or give to a local library as a donation. Perhaps the spring cleaning will inspire you to re-write old poems anew or bring forth new creative energy. Either way, you can’t lose, can you?

Thanks for dropping in and please stop by Monday for another featured site…

Roadrunner Haiku Open Submissions

You may send 5 to 15 poems of haiku, senryu, zappai, etc. via e-mail to Scott Metz at scott(AT)roadrunnerjournal.net. Please note: No simultaneous submissions, no previously published work, and be sure to look through the site and read the journal to get a feel for what is published. Roadrunner is published quarterly on February, May, August, and November, so please submit your best soon for the next issue!

http://www.roadrunnerjournal.net/pages_all/submissions.htm

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

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://adirondackreview.homestead.com/Dowding.html
Philippa Dowding’s “Then That Summer, Daniel”


http://arseniclobster.magere.com/180101.html
Emily Jern-Miller’s “Wetsuit Wearing Hot-Coal Walker”


Thanks for clicking in, please stop by tomorrow for more Open Submissions…

Mathea Harvey's Modern Life

I picked up Mathea Harvey’s collection Modern Life from Graywolf Press, published in 2007, at my local library. The cover features a set of dominoes with the dots melting towards the center. Normally I don’t talk about covers but I was seduced by the cover originally and was happy to be seduced by the poems and prose within.

The prose poem “The Golden Age of Figureheads” is a journey you take with the poet in the waters of the Pacific. “First we sloughed off the sailors—when a storm hit we’d lean into it and watch as they slipped into the water.” It’s a scary first line to read, but read on you must as you learn more about the adventure. “Sometimes we’ll peer into the water to catch a glimpse of our old enemies, the anchors, glinting at the bottom of the ocean,…” Are anchors enemies for holding back the boat from adventure? That is the feeling I get as I read on to learn “The ship with a bird’s head wants to squawk with the gulls that forage its sails, would follow them into the water when they dive for fish if only it could.” I love that line because you can imagine the rolling waves and the ship’s personification of a bird diving for fish rather than plunging for the sake of the waves. Then there is the rain: “When it falls hard enough we can’t tell which way is up, which way is down./Then we’re like the earth before the equator was invented…” Those are beautiful lines as well and I can’t help contemplate the idea of the earth before an equator was invented. Beautiful prose and a lively adventure.


You can find a link to the next prose poem titled “Wac-A-Mole Realism” if you will click below and read it first:
http://www.mattheaharvey.info/poems/index.html#

I love the idea of a Robo-Boy at a carnival and the Flirt Program installed in him results in “tilting at the school librarian which caused him to wheel in reverse into the Civil War section knocking over a cart of books that were waiting to be shelved under B.” What a wonderful and random anecdote for a robot boy. At a carnival, Robo-Boy seeks refuge at the Wac-A-Mole game where “He wins bear after bear./It’s only when he’s lugging them home, the largest one skidding face-down along the sidewalk getting dirt on its white nose and light blue belly, that he remembers the program: Wac-A-Mole Realism –the disc on the installer’s desk./Suddenly it all fits together: the way a deliciously strange thought will start wafting out of his consciousness—the then WHAM, it disappears.”
I love the visual of the teddy bear skidding along just like any other little boy dragging his carnival prize and then the “wake-up” Robo-Boy experiences in a very human-like way when he realizes he beat the game because he already knew the answers from the disc. It’s a very surreal prose poem that is futuristic in its idea but is so close we’re almost there today technology-wise. A spooky prediction of the future on behalf of Mrs. Harvey.



A third prose poem is ominous in its own right, “Dinna’ Pig.” A family that is obviously dysfunctional adopts a pig that is ultimately headed for doom. It’s a disturbing poem all around and like a car accident you can’t look away. The beginning line sets the tone with “Members of the Family rarely spoke to each other, but when they did, they studied each other’s throats.” A short time later, “Pa found the pig in a stall at market…/He felt something welling up inside him—love—and spat it onto the tin where it glistened like a chrysalis./That didn’t get rid of the feeling so he brought the pig home.” Isn’t that a strange reaction for a human being to have in regards to love? Ma gave the pig his name as it was headed for dinner and the poet explains her character this way: “She liked to call a spade a spade, hence her children: Mistake, Mistake 2 and Goddamit.” While you get a sick feeling as you smile at the names, the poem dives even deeper into the fascinating muck. “In any other farmyard, love would have slid off Dinna’ Pig’s oily hair, seeped from his watery eyes, bounced off the coil of his tail and landed on something fluffier./But the family couldn’t help itself—their love was stirred into the gray slop he was fed daily.” The oldest child shows his love in a way I won’t mention here, you may find and read the poem for yourself. The youngest child, Goddammit, leaves us with this ending: “She was having a beautiful dream./It was Sunday dinner and she was the only one at the table cramming handfuls of love into her enormous mouth.” You wonder if the only way the family can experience love is through dysfunctional means or if the only tenderness is through the consumption of this creature. This poem grabs my attention in a grotesque way but I bet you’ll find you can’t tear yourself away when you read it either. I dare you to find this poem in her collection and read it as soon as you can get your hands on a copy.


Mathea Harvey’s poems are blunt in their various subjects and I have always enjoyed the company of blunt talkers and writers alike. I hope you’ll pick up a copy of her book the next time you are able and hope you are also seduced by the poems within.

Mathea Harvey has her own site where you can find links and news items so please click below to find out more about her:
http://www.mattheaharvey.info/index.html

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

Bootstrap Productions

Check out this site that publishes volumes of poetry and awesome pictures of hand-written, or typed, letters. There are so many things to see and explore, it is well worth your while. Check it out at:

http://www.bootstrapproductions.org/home.html

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