12 or 20 Questions Blog

I have returned safely and somewhat frazzled thanks to the usual muck-ups at airports and I am so glad to be home! Now life can get back to "normal."

Check this out: I found a link to this blog via Ron Silliman’s site and I have been trying to read the interviews off and on, all of them are awesome! Also, Mr. McLennan, the creator of this site, responded to some questions I had and said that due to the nature of his work he knew each and every one of these people personally, so that of course makes for some great interview questions since you can really dive in knowing your subject. I urge you to check them out at:

http://12or20questions.blogspot.com/

Thanks for returning to my blog after my brief absence. Tomorrow will be another living
poet…

Away for a Week

Hello all, I am sorry to say I will be away on a business trip for a full week and will have to get back to our regularly scheduled program on February 9th. Until then, feel free to peruse my blog, the links on the side, or check back in on February 9th.

For new visitors, the typical agenda is as such:

Sundays: Living Poets
Mondays: Poetry web-sites
Tuesdays: Poets that have passed away
Wednesdays: Links to great poems around the web
Thursdays: Journals/web-sites open to submissions of poems
Fridays: Poetry Tips
Saturdays: A poetry blogger is featured

Thanks for dropping in, I will see you again February 9th!

Poetry Tips: Journals with Customer Service

Now for those of you who are rather new to submitting, like myself, I thought you might like to be let in on those journals/sites that provide more personal service when it comes to acceptance/rejection slips.
There are more places to submit poems than I can ever count, but for the ones I have submitted to, there are several who are very kind and if you are looking for someone who actually pays attention and acknowledges you personally, I suggest submitting to these:

Nerve Cowboy
Right Hand Pointing
Lilliput Review

So far, these three take the time to address you as an individual, not just a formatted response. I am sure there are other journals out there like them, I just haven’t found them all yet. The above mentioned all have links on my sidebar so you can check them out to your heart’s content!
Also, once I decided to subscribe to Nerve Cowboy I have received a short, hand-written note from the Editor expressing his desire that he hopes I enjoy the issue. Now how many journals have ever done that for you? This one is a first for me!

Thanks for stopping in, I will see you tomorrow…

Borders Open Submissions

Here is an unusual one for you! Click on the link and find out how to submit your poems to Mark Strand, the judge for Borders Bookstores’ Poetry Contest. This was featured on Ron Silliman’s site a couple weeks ago but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to include it for anyone who might have missed this. You have until March to submit up to five poems for publication in a “Best of” book, and the entries can by audio or test. Good luck!

http://www.bordersmedia.com/odp/contest.asp

Thanks for dropping in, check in tomorrow for more Poetry Tips!

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://www.righthandpointing.com/Issue18/1chriscunningham.html
“waiting on the sun” by Chris Cunningham pretty much sums it up…

http://poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=180096
“The Lonesome Death of Hattie Caroll” by Bob Dylan. Why? Because it’s Bob Dylan..

Ogden Nash the Legendary

Ogden Nash is well known in the world of literature, especially since he worked for The New Yorker for some time. Mr. Nash was born in 1902 in Rye, New York. According to poets.org his first book of published poems had seven print runs in its first year alone. Aren’t you just jealous? I know I am. Mr. Nash also appeared on radio and television therefore drawing quite an audience. Again, aren’t you just jealous? I picked up The Pocket Book of Ogden Nash published by Washington Square Press at the local library. The titles of his poems alone were enough to have me snatching it off the shelf. Ogden Nash passed away in 1971, sadly, but his words are still a fantastic read. He is witty and humorous, his poems often rhyme, and again, his titles alone are enough entertainment! Some examples of great titles are “Curl Up and Diet,” “Kindly Unhitch That Star, Buddy,” and “Polterguest, My Polterguest…” Wouldn’t you just love to find out what these poems say based on the titles alone? “Poltergues, My Poltergues” is about a most undesirable guest, of course, whom Mr. Nash admits that if he had to deal with her again would be much more likely to throw her under the train than help her onto it. Lines such as “She clogged the pipes and she blew the fuses,/she broke the rocker that grandma uses/… give you just a taste of what the detestable Ms. Hopper wrought upon Nash’s household. There are countless poems that will bring no less than a wide grin to your face so if you haven’t already done so, I suggest you read up on Ogden Nash.

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/673

Thank you for reading and please come by tomorrow for poems found around the world wide web…

Sunny Outside Press

This site publishes wonderful poetry and is not open for submissions often so if you are looking for when to submit, check their “news” tab often. There is plenty to look at, chapbooks, books, broadsides, and mini chapbooks. Depending on what you want, prices range from a mere $1.00 to $12.00. They have links for their authors, they also host events and have many of their publications archived at Poet’s House. Check them out at:

http://www.sunnyoutside.com/

As always, thank you for dropping in. I’ll see you tomorrow for another passed poet…

Dana Gioia’s Daily Horoscope

Mr. Gioia was born in 1950 in L.A. and pursued a career in business while having studied Literature in college. He also met and studied with Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Fitzgerald as mentioned in the poets.org biography. I picked up his book, Daily Horoscopes, published by Graywolf Press. It happened to be a rainy day when I sat down to read it, and turns out this book has quite a few poems that are just perfect for a rainy day. “Today will be…” is a great poem for a rainy day with lines such as “And lying in the warm half-darkness, wish/ for any of the dreams you left, convinced/ that any change would be an argosy-…” I also enjoy “4. Beware of Things in Duplicate…” which describes things in pairs to be a sort of bad omen. Conveniently, Mr. Gioia has his own website that I have provided a link to below and features poems from his published books for you to look through at your leisure. As always, I hope you find him on the book shelves and pick up his words.

http://www.danagioia.net/
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/423

Thanks for reading and supporting living poets, please stop by tomorrow for another poetry web-site…

Kujaku Poetry

I forget how I stumbled onto this site but it really is fantastic! Not only does it cater to particular poetic forms (Tanka) but the author talk about the process of sifting through submissions. I love this because I am clueless as to what editors truly go through in the submissions process and I am still learning about guidelines preferred by various editors. To see the whole process at work you need to check into this blog regularly, it’ll do you some good.

http://kujakupoet.blogspot.com/

Poetry Tips: Tanka Poems

Tanka poems consist of 5 lines. Lines one and three contain 5 syllables. Lines two, four, and five include 7 syllables. I stumbled onto the description at this site below:

http://www.edu.pe.ca/stjean/playing%20with%20poetry/Hennessey/how_to_write_a_tanka_poem.htm

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

Right Hand Pointing Open Submissions

This site publishes short poems and short fiction, and you really need to read their submission guidelines yourself because they are thorough, which I appreciate. Essentially, you can send them an e-mail at righthandpointingATgmailDOTcom with a subject line such as “Submission: Your Name” and include 1-4 poems. Try to make sure they are less than 16 lines long, but if they go up to 20 lines then make sure there are no more than 75 words in the poem. They also have special issues with specific ideas and right now they are looking for especially short poems. Check out the details by using the link provided, and good luck on your submissions!

http://www.righthandpointing.com/

Poems Found on the Web

http://www.poems.com/poem.php?date=13885
Rusty Morrison’s “please advise stop” is the best sort of poetic telegram…

http://poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=176434
George Starbuck’s “Working Habits” of poets, love the rhyme and rhythm!

Thanks for dropping in, see you tomorrow for more Open Submissions…

Myra Cohn Livingston's Cricket Never Does

Born in 1926, Ms. Livingston is known for children’s books of poetry. I had some difficulty finding much information about her and the link below is how I found out when she had passed away, which was in 1996. A reward has been created in her honor for poets who write for children. I picked up her book, Cricket Never Does by Margaret K. McElderry Books at my local library and just adored her poems. On the cover it says “A Collection of Haiku and Tanka.” I will explain Tanka poems on Friday in Poetry tips if you are curious.
Ms. Livingston’s lines are well-suited for adults and children alike. The lines are lively and vibrant and of course, the poems are short. I love the lines “Long green fingernails/grow and split…” She is able to turn trees into living beings, is able to make the funniest observation in a matter of a few words, and is just simply marvelous! I can hardly include examples because she is so succinct I would have to include the whole thing. “What mermaid found this/yellow scallop shell…/dressed herself in bright white coral/and bewitched a green merman?” Her imagery is surreal and lovely, I urge you to seek out this book and read it for yourself. I was unable to find much about her on-line so you may have to find and buy her book via Amazon which I have included a link to below:

http://www.amazon.com/Cricket-Never-Does-Collection-Haiku/dp/0689811233
To buy her book

http://www.childrensliteraturecouncil.org/myra_cohn_livingston_award.htm
To learn about the award for children’s poetry writers

In the meantime I hope you are able to stumble upon her in the library or local book-store and I thank you for reading. Please stop in for more poems found on the world wide web…

Scottish Poetry Library

This is just a great site I stumbled on…

http://www.spl.org.uk/

Don’t you just love the poems found in this on-line library? Do check it out!

Thanks for dropping in! See you tomorrow…

Galway Kinnell's Strong Hold

Galway Kinnel was born Feb. 1st, 1927 in Providence, Rhode Island. I picked up his book Strong Is Your Hold published by Houghton Mifflin Company. He has won the Pulitzer Prize and has published several books of translations in addition to his own work. You can also find out more by clicking the link below. What I love best about this book is that it comes with a CD of his poems so you can hear the author reading aloud, isn’t that wonderful? And as usual, I have picked this book up at my local library. Have I mentioned how wonderful and convenient libraries are? If you don’t have a library that you frequent I strongly urge you to do so, after all, they’re your tax dollars.
Galway Kinnel’s poems are plain-spoken, just the way I like it, and he depicts wonderful moments in life such as a bear in the backyard, or the time his son at the age of four sat on his own birthday cake by accident. Every day poems are sometimes just what we need to get us going in the morning, or wind down in the evening. His are perfectly paired with a cup of coffee on a lazy day when you are content to look out the window or sit on the porch and take in the view. In his poem, “The Quick and the Dead” he speaks of a garden pest: “Bending close,/I find the plump body of the vole./I lobbed him here myself,/…./He’s dead, and yet he lives,/he jerks, he heaves, he shudders,/” The poem is gruesome yet you can’t stop reading it, and you think back to all the times you have stumbled across something similar. He also speaks of the World Trade Center and the various angles of life and death there. No matter the poem, Mr. Kinnell is able to hold your attention and remind you of life outside of yourself. For more information you can click the links included below, and I hope you pick up his book when you happen upon it.

http://poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=3753

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/212

Thanks for reading, please stop in for another poetry web-site for Monday.