Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://arseniclobster.magere.com/200901.html
Cypresses by Davide Trame

http://www.versedaily.org/2009/yearsaway.shtml
In England Away by Lois Williams

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

Giggle Poetry

Whether you are a parent, a teacher, or someone who enjoys good clean fun, this is a wonderful site for children sure to bring a smile to their face as well as to yours:

http://www.gigglepoetry.com/

Thanks for clicking in, please excuse me for not having had enough time over the weekend to prepare a post for tomorrow’s usual featured poet, please stop in on Wednesday for more Poems Found by Poet Hound…

Poetry Tips: Seek Advice

Never be afraid to seek advice from other writers, especially if you enjoy their work. While small press poets seem to be more easily accessible, it never hurts to write the ones in “the big leagues” who have a major publisher behind them. Some writers have a web-site with an e-mail address and it is a convenient way to get in touch with them, just be sure to be sincere and do not feel letdown if you do not receive a response. Sometimes e-mails get lost, or there may be so many e-mails the author or poet cannot respond quickly. Otherwise, you can always write to the publisher with the request that your letter be sent directly to the writer—I have done that and I received a response from the writer. Then of course there are plenty of blogs by writers where leaving comments is another way to connect and seek advice. If you are afraid of coming across as naïve or uneducated, do not let that stop you. When I first started trying to figure out how to publish I naively sent out letters to publishers asking for advice and a publisher directed me to one poet who finally responded kindly with some basic books to check out. It never hurts to ask, right?

Good luck to all who seek advice from those they admire, please drop in next week for another featured site…

Etched Press Open Submissions

“Query for full-length poetry collections, novels, or non-fiction titles. Do not send complete unsolicited manuscripts. Submissions may either be e-mailed to submit@etchedpress.com or sent by postal mail to
Etched Press
P.O. Box 3063
Wilmington, NC 28406
Include a SASE if you wish to have your manuscript returned.
Submissions by postal mail must be on letter-sized paper with one-inch margins on all sides, stapled in the top left corner, and have your name and contact information listed on the first sheet along with the title of your work. All individual poems must also have titles in bold and each poem must be on a separate page.

Poetry:
We invite you to submit twelve to eighteen pages of poetry to our chapbook series. We read submissions all year. Selected submissions will have their chapbook set, printed, bound, and the poet will receive 25 copies of the chapbook and further copies are sold in the online bookstore. Authors receive substantial royalties on all copies sold and can obtain their own copies at a discount. We will work directly with the author throughout the entire process. The layout, binding, and cover of the chapbook will be a few of the things the author will help decide.

Prose:
We are equipped to publish short stories, novellas, short memoirs, and how-to guides. Any prose we publish must be exceptional or extremely informative. Submit five to twenty pages of a complete prose piece or collection of shorter work with the title in bold at the top of the first page.”

http://www.pw.org/content/etched_press

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

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=173000#
Among The Rocks by Robert Browning

http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19998
Spirits of the Dead by Edgar Allen Poe

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Charles Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil

Charles Baudelaire was born April 21st in 1821 and was a fan of one of my favorite poets, Edgar Allen Poe. Mr. Baudelaire’s collection of poems, The Flowers of Evil, became infamous and banned by mainstream society when it was published in 1861 because his poems were thought to be gruesome and immoral in its depictions of humanity’s lesser, baser sides. I thought his poems would be a wonderful way to close out the month of October and a perfect accompaniment to all things related to Halloween so here are a few poems:


The Temptation

The Demon, in my chamber high,
This morning came to visit me,
And, thinking he would find some fault,
He whispered: “I would know of thee

Among the many lovely things
That make the magic of her face,
Among the beauties, black and rose,
That make her body’s charm and grace,

Which is most fair?” Thou didst reply
To the Abhorred, O soul of mine:
“No single beauty is the best
When she is all one flower divine.

When all things charm me I ignore
Which one brings most delight;
She shines before me like the dawn,
And she consoles me like the night.

The harmony is far too great,
That governs all her body fair.
For impotence to analyse
And say which note is sweetest there.

O mystic metamorphosis!
My sense into one sense flow—
Her voice makes perfume when she speaks,
Her breath is music faint and low!”



Reversibility

Angel of gaiety, have you tasted grief?
Shame and remorse and sobs and weary spite,
And the vague terrors of the fearful night
That crush the heart up like a crumpled leaf?
Angel of gaiety, have you tasted grief?

Angel of kindness, have you tasted hate?
With hands clenched in the shade and tears of gall,
When Vengeance beats her hellish battle-call,
And makes herself the captain of our fate,
Angel of kindness, have you tasted hate?

Angel of health, did ever you know pain,
Which like an exile trails his tired footfalls
The cold length of the white infirmary walls,
With lips compressed, seeking the sun in vain?
Angel of health, did ever you know pain?

Angel of beauty, do you wrinkles know?
Know you the fear of age, the torment vile
Of reading secret horror in the smile
Of eyes your eyes have loved since long ago?
Angel of beauty, do you wrinkles know?

Angel of happiness, and joy, and light,
Old David would have asked for youth afresh
From the pure touch of your enchanted flesh;
I but implore your prayers to aid my plight,
Angel of happiness, and joy, and light.



The Corpse

Remember, my Beloved, what thing we met
By the roadside on that sweet summer day;
There on a grassy couch with pebbles set,
A loathsome body lay.

The wanton limbs stiff-stretched into the air,
Steaming with exhalations vile and dank,
In ruthless cynic fashion had laid bare
The swollen side and flank.

On this decay the sun shone hot from heaven
As though with chemic heat to broil and burn,
And unto Nature all that she had given
A hundredfold return.

The sky smiled down upon the horror there
As on a flower that opens to the day;
So awful an infection smote the air,
Almost you swooned away.

The swarming flies hummed on the putrid side,
Whence poured the maggots in a darkling stream,
That ran along these tatters of life’s pride
With a liquescent gleam.

And like a wave the maggots rose and fell,
The murmuring flies swirled round in busy strife:
It seemed as though a vague breath came to swell
And multiply with life

The hideous corpse. From all his living world
A music as of wind and water ran,
Or as of grain in rhythmic motion swirled
By the swift winnower’s fan.

And then the vague forms like a dream died out,
Or like some distant scene that slowly falls
Upon the artist’s canvas, that with doubt
He only half recalls.

A homeless dog behind the boulders lay
And watched us both with angry eyes forlorn,
Waiting a chance to come and take away
The morsel she had torn.

And you, even you, will be like this drear thing,
A vile infection man may not endure;
Star that I yearn to! Sun that lights my spring!
O passionate and pure!

Yes, such will be you, Queen of every grace!
When the last sacramental words are said;
And beneath grass and flowers that lovely face
Moulders among the dead.

Then, O Beloved, whisper to the worm
That crawls up to devour you with a kiss,
That I still guard in memory the dear form
Of love that comes to this!



If you would like to devour the whole collection yourself, you can easily find Charles Baudelaire’s collection of poems in libraries, universities, book-stores, and on-line book-stores. For an on-line resource that is educational and thorough, I urge you to check out:

http://fleursdumal.org/

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

Poetry Translation Site

This is an incredible site with featured poems on the home page. You can also find live events, learn the process of translation, read poems from over 20 countries, and more at:

http://www.poetrytranslation.org/
Thanks for clicking in, please stop by tomorrow for another featured poet…

Poetry Tips: The Supply Closet of Bad Poetry

This tip is thanks to a literal event in which I was cleaning out my office’s supply closet and found a box titled “Joey’s.” I looked inside to find all manner of crumpled up pieces of paper, various colors, and on a plain white piece was a carefully hand-written poem of love turned sour and bitter. I described my find to my father and he said “It’s like the Supply Closet of Bad Poetry!” Which, if you ask me, would be a fantastic titled to a collection of poems but I also loved the title so much I thought I would turn it into a poetry tip. I urge you to dig out your own bad poems, the poems you can’t bear to throw away but you also cannot bear the thought of others reading and face them in the light. I’ve dragged out some of my own, wincing or laughing, and I may actually get around to cleaning them up and dressing them anew with better flow, better words. I urge you to do the same.

Have fun, thanks for stopping by and please drop in next week for another featured site…

Blue Collar Review Open Submissions

You may mail up to five poems (no simultaneous submissions) in a regular #10 envelope with a Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope enclosed (cover letter optional) to:
Blue Collar Review
PO Box 11417
Norfolk, VA 23157

For more details please visit:
http://www.angelfire.com/va/bcr/Guidelines.html
http://www.angelfire.com/va/bcr/

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

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=178046#
Philip Larkin, Days

http://www.versedaily.org/2009/killingsworthandalbina.shtml
Sid Miller, Around Killingsworth and Albina

Thanks for clicking in, please drop by tomorrow for more Open Submissions...

Poeisis Number Three

Alternating Current presents a new collection of poems by various poets in a wave of enlightening, brazen, and lyrical forms. Below are some of my favorites of the collection:

Roses
By Tim Scannell

Sent a bushel of
Autumn leaves to her
(UPS: $10.50);
A box of wooden matches
(Safeway $1.19), and
Enclosed the best love note
Ever penned:

“Ignore the city ordinance!”

What a fun and mischievous little poem, don’t you think? This is a perfect opening poem for the journal, and I love that instead of a bouquet of roses, as the title presents, it is a bushel of autumn leaves. Beautiful!



Dancing With Words
By A.D. Winans

There are poets who like
To dance with words
But dancing for an audience
Isn’t like moving to the
Music on your own
Stirring the notes of the soul

Fame kills
Billie Holiday’s ghost attests
To this
Money pigeonholes
Power corrupts
The spiritual truth
The scriptures tell us this

The true poet knows this
Stands tall above the
Dancing with word poets
Who are little more than
Instruments of a poem greater
Than themselves

Be like Li Po and sail your poems
On streams and puddles written on leaves
Be like the anonymous poets of Poland
During the height of martial law
Dropping their poems into the public square
For the people to read
Giving them hope courage and peace
Risk your life your literary life
Especially for the people who need
Something to cling to in desperate times

Telling people how cruel
Their tormentors are won’t inspire them
To go on living and to overcome oppression
Loving them becoming one with them
Standing fearless in their midst
This is the mark of the true poet

Walt Whitman was the John Wayne of poetry
Standing tall and fearless against the enemy
Which is never really man but the
Poison in his soul, pride envy and lust
How can those afflicted with the disease of egomania
Jealousy and desire for fame and fortune
Write about and from the heart?
Gone is the fire of Keats Shelley Byron
Whitman and Baudelaire
One column of media praise is of less value
Than a single teardrop on a poem
From a waitress in a greasy spoon diner
These people know nothing of genius
How can cockroaches evaluate eagles?
The true poet’s topic is people
Not the poet

Well said, Mr. Winans. I find this poem inspiring in its speech to call poets to write about hope instead of cruelty, about others instead of themselves. I can’t say it any better than he can.




Contagious
By Stephanie Hiteshew

They all
call me ugly
I tell them,
“If that’s true,
I hope it’s contagious.”
And they scatter
like the days
I wasn’t this smart.

Where was Ms. Hiteshew when I was an awkward teenager? This is a perfect little poem with sass and wit, don’t you think?



The End
By Michael Kriesel

The man
who is writing
the end of the world
began like this

he sat down
in a chair
beside a window
closed his eyes
& waited for the steam
to finish rising from
a cup of coffee

pen & paper resting
on the windowsill

darkness spreading
from behind some trees
outside the window

the trees are an aquamarine

what kind of trees they are is unimportant

what’s important
is the way already it’s begun

how every night
behind his eyes
a few less stars come out.

Mr. Kriesel lends this unknown man, who is writing the end of the world, an air of the supernatural with the “closing his eyes” and while pen and paper rests on the windowsill darkness spreads until “every night/behind his eyes/a few less stars come out.” As though the unknown man in the poem is controlling the end of the world. I also like the seemingly random reference to what color the trees are, as though the darkness that spreads is swallowing color before the poet has time to notice them fully. It is a surreal and enjoyable poem.


If you enjoyed this sample of poems, you may purchase a copy for a mere $4 (plus $2 US or $3 out-of-US shipping) at alt-current.com, or address payment to Alternating Current with a check, well-concealed cash, or money order (and indicate that you’d like a copy of Poiesis 3) to:

Alternating Current
PO Box 398058
Cambridge, MA 02139 USA

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

Juked Open Submissions

Juked is a quirky journal that accepts poetry and non-fiction, I’m a fan of what they publish on their web-site as I’m sure you’ve noticed by now in the Poems Found by Poet Hound features.
While they accept on-line e-mailed submissions they do ask that it be as a .rtf or .doc and to address your e-mail heading according to genre (Poetry). The Poetry Editor is Lindsay Walker, you may send up to five poems, simultaneous submissions are acceptable as long as you notify the editor if your poems are accepted elsewhere so you may e-mail your submissions and include a brief bio to:
submissionsATjukedDOTcom

For more details, go to:
http://www.juked.com/info/

Good luck to all who submit!

I will be out of town Friday and Monday attending a family reunion in Santa Fe, New Mexico so please drop by again next Tuesday when I return!

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://www.sundress.net/wickedalice/nissalee.html
The Rule of Three by Nissa Lee


http://www.juked.com/2009/09/sha-zam.asp
Sha-Zam by Luke Deegan


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

Adrian Manning's All This I See Before Me, All This I Cannot Resist

Adrian Manning’s chapbook, All This I See Before Me, All This I Cannot Resist, is published by Alternating Current’s press. Adrian Manning is on my list of poets I always enjoy reading for being straightforward and visually appealing in his imagery. His poems can be lively or melancholy in this collection which provides an ebb and flow in its intensity. Below I will share a few poems:


Night music

On the rooftop
rain drums wildly
like some crazy
ornette coleman
freeform rhythm
dark shadows
dance like mad
jazz women
around tiny cigarette
flashes of light
trying to break
the dense darkness
it is a murderous and
suicidal night
a cop car wails its
saxophone
accompaniment
someone has gone
with the flow
let loose their mind
danced to the beat
of a wild abandoned score
written in
rain soaked streets
bringing it all to an
eventual climactic
crescendo

Don’t you love the visuals of “tiny cigarette/flashes of light/trying to break/the dense darkness” and “suicidal night/a cop car wails its/saxophone?” The reference to jazz and the words “jazz women,” “cop car wails” and “danced to the beat” lend me to believe he is either reminiscing the roaring 1920’s jazz movement or a wild city night. If only he could include which city he is referring to, New York comes to my mind right away. I like the short lines that lend the air of quick movements of dancing women in a smoky bar.



Sunlight in motion

sunlight is your motif
you pour it over m
you are sunlight in motion

you are so good for me
you don’t know how this feels
you kick away my darkness
make me shine again

I breathe in your black hair
the raven’s splintered wings
my fingers run through
your voracious rivers

you move around me
engulfing and swallowing
my being

you have moved from the edges
into the center of me
become the very core
the beating heart
of me

that once was stilled
and closed down to a
bloodless drip.

This poem is a nice contrast to the one above, the poet refers himself as being lifeless and finds someone who pours life back into him. The stanza of “I breathe in your black hair/the raven’s splintered wings” are lovely in their lines. We can all relate to finding someone whose energy picks us up out of our “funk” and Manning does a wonderful job of portraying happiness and hope without ever using the actual words.



This beautiful line

many years ago
I read a book of
leonard cohen poems,
and I have been
fascinated ever since
by the line
‘let us compare mythologies’

I’ve wanted to drop
this beautiful line
into many a conversation

just as it gets
monotonous
tiresome
or dull

I long to say
“let us compare mythologies”
and watch the response

I know it would work
like a stun gun
stemming the flow
immediately

I would get many strange looks
an uncomfortable silence
and confusion would reign

they may assume
I am crazy
they may not understand
what I mean
and I may not, either,
for we have nothing to
compare

but at least
despite the rest of it
the end of the conversation
would be memorable
and that would be something
worth holding onto

This is one of my favorite poems simply because I think all of us want to write at least one great line to be remembered by and Manning has found one in Leonard Cohen’s poems and expounded on what it means to him. I love that he would like to use the line as a way to “stun gun” conversations that have turned drab. What more could a poet ask like Leonard Cohen ask for as a compliment in his work? What does a great line in a poem do for you?



If you enjoyed this short sample of poems, you may purchase a copy of All This I See Before Me, All This I Cannot Resist for your very own for $6.00 (plus $2 US or $3 out-of-US shipping) at:
http://alt-current.com
and you may also e-mail for more details at:
alt.currentATgmailDOTcom

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

Instant Books

I found this linked on Ron Silliman’s blog and while it isn’t a poetry site I thought it was interesting, so I urge you to take a look if you haven’t already:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/09/espresso.html

My crafty side wishes I had one of my very own to make up all kinds of weird instant books that no one could possibly be interested in except me, this could be a dangerous machine for certain people. What do you think?

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