Poetry TIps: Linking to Your Neighbor, The Poet

I have to say I am thrilled to find that Talia at http://taliatulledge.blogspot.com/
(her blog link is also on the sidebar) has been posting links on her own blog to poets’ work found on the web and I think it would be great if more people took the time to do the same. Regular readers know that I post two links to other poets’ poems found on the web every Wednesday. Since it is National Poetry Month why not try finding some poems you like on the web and posting it on your web-site, blog, or in your e-mail and spread the word to inspire others. Not only will this increase readership for the poet it will also expose more people to all kinds of poems they may not have encountered before.

Good luck and please drop by on Monday…

Lilliput Review Open Submissions

Lilliput Review is open to submissions year round and specializes in short poems. Please send up to 3 poems and make sure they are all less than 10 lines long. Don’t forget to include your Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope and mail it to:

Lilliput ReviewDon Wentworth, Editor282 Main StreetPittsburgh, PA 15201

Also, Don’t forget that it is Poems in Your Pocket Day! So while you are sending off poems for Editors to pocket, give some away to friends, family, co-workers, strangers in honor of this great day for spreading Poetry. Good luck!

Poems Found By Poet Hound

http://www.poems.com/poem.php?date=13971
Anne Stevenson’s “Dreaming of the Dead”

http://juked.com/2008/04/thereitis.asp
Leslie LaChance’s “So There It Is”

Thanks for dropping by, please visit tomorrow for another Open Submissions!

An Interview with Christopher Cunningham

Thanks to Bill Shute at Kendra Steiner Editions I was able to purchase a fabulous collection of Chris Cunningham’s poems titled Next Exit: Five and Chris was also happy to oblige to an interview:

When did you fall in love with poetry and who, or what collection, did you fall in love with?

I’ve always toyed with the poem, starting in high school after my first collision with T.S. Eliot and “The Hollow Men.” I was struck by the darkness at first, and the magic of words creating instant images in my mind. To this day it’s how I write poems: fix the image/scene in my mind and then describe it, letting the metaphor take care of itself.

Which poets (living or dead) would you like to gather in a bar with?

All of my choices would be living poets, I prefer to let the dead rest: they’ve earned it. I’d tip a glass with Hosho McCreesh, justin.barrett, Luis C. Berriozabal, Michael Philips, Bill Roberts, Father Luke…there are others but that would be a hell of a start right there.


When did you start taking poetry seriously enough to try and publish it and why?

I really started ‘finding my voice’ and the words to get across what I wanted to say around 2000. I began sending out submissions and got my first accepts at American Dissident and the fantastic Nerve Cowboy. As for the ‘why,’ poetry for me has always been about communication, about conveying the depths of the human condition, the suffering and the hope and the finer details of our passing thru. It’s about reaching an actual level of pure communication between humans who are alive and awake enough to experience it. Although, to be fair, I also use the act of writing poetry as a kind of therapy, as a way into that mental place where art is created and the rest this brutal world falls away, so not all of it is for public consumption.


How did you come about your collection of poems for Next Exit: Five?

Bill Shute at Kendra Steiner Editions asked me for some poems for his fantastic series Next Exit, so I sat down and wrote ten new poems for him with the chapbook in mind. He’d planned on pairing me up with another poet (as he’d done with the other versions) but felt the poems worked well enough as a whole that he published the whole batch.


I love your poem, “Mobile, Alabama.” I especially love the lines “everyone is tired/and the world is/a difficult place.” Could you tell me how this poem came about and may I post it?

Sure, feel free to post it. That poem is a true story. All the poems in the chapbook are true stories. A couple of friends and I had a nasty bout of car trouble at the top of that big bridge in Mobile and our car died in the middle of the night. We had to coast down that long slope with semis blasting past, holding a tiny maglite out the window for illumination. We were on our way back from New Orleans. It turned out to be a long night with many revelations.

Mobile, Alabama

as the trucks
pound across the
giant expanse of
bridge looming
in the distance

the water
somewhere below

exhales and inhales.

everyone is tired
and the world is
a difficult place.

nothing is very reliable.

people are lost, much
is broken.

this road seems
endless.

but it
isn’t.

taillights
disappear into the southern air.

metal, mostly,

groans.



What is your favorite poem in this collection, why, and may I post it?

Probably standing indian, north carolina. I don’t write many poems that might be classified as ‘love’ poems, unless it’s the difficult kind, but this is a poem for my girlfriend of eighteen years writ about a camping trip that was full of thunder and madness and a deeper appreciation for the power of nature, and the nature of love and trust.

Standing Indian, North Carolina

as the storm built
a castle of silver
rain
in the distance
and the wind
struck down
non-believers
in its path,

as the emeralds
lining the trail
flashed and waved on
slender stalks of
rusted copper wire,

as the husked remnants
of fallen trees
became strange wild animals
and the air vibrated with
current,

the river
tumbled over the falls
nearby and

your fingers
tightened
around mine.


Where do you live in Georgia and have you been to all of the towns you name in your collection?

I live outside of Atlanta near the airport, a city called College Park, in a house with my girl and my dog, Stella Blue. I have indeed been to all those towns, and more…I love the inspiration of travel and especially discovering weird and strange new places.

What is your favorite place to visit of all the towns named in your collection?

Really, my favorite city is mentioned in one of the poems: New Orleans. Though we’re probably moving to Asheville, NC at some point…we love the mountains too.

What is your favorite word?

That’s a tough one. It’s either “savage” or an obscenity and all its myriad variations that gets used frequently around here: rhymes with “chuck.”

What is your least favorite word?

It’s the word “like” when not being used in a poem for metaphorical purposes, as in, “I mean, oh my god, she was all, like, whatever.”


What does your family think of you as a poet and about poetry in general?

I’m lucky to have a family that enjoys my poems and thinks it’s a worthy pursuit. My mom in particular is a big supporter of the small press and small press poets; she’s recently bought books by William Taylor, Jr., Luis Berriozabal, Hosho McCreesh, others. She’s even tried her hand at a few poems and they turned out damn fine.

What work and hobbies do you have outside of poetry?

I write prose and paint. I also play some poker. As a hobby.


As a member of the Guerrilla Poetics Project are there any hurdles you’ve had to overcome or are still overcoming in the process of distributing poems to all?

I love the mission of the GPP and support it with time and energy, as well as cash. Every small press publishing outfit has hurdles to vault, and we’ve had our share. They just make the Project stronger…


Finally, what would you like to accomplish for your own poetry in the next two to five years?

Keep writing the kind of poems I need to write and putting together books, keep attempting that deep communication with my fellow human beings, keep trying to understand the savagery and beauty of our species.

Thanks for asking and for the chance to run my mouth.

Thanks Chris!

If you’re a regular reader you know that Kendra Steiner Editions (link is on the sidebar) offers chapbooks one for $4.00 or three for $10.00 and that is an excellent deal if I may say so. I urge you to support the small presses and the poets they feature so I hope you’ll visit the site and pick out a few titles for yourself. You won’t be disappointed and the poets may even sign their work for you if you ask nicely.

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

Read Write Poem Site

Aha! Here is a great resource for all of you writing poems out there. If you have writer’s block or need a new idea this is the site to go to, and if you want to learn about poetry holidays, bingo, this is the site. Check it all out at:

http://readwritepoem.org/

Please stop by tomorrow for an interview with Christopher Cunningham…

Poetry Tips: Random Acts of Kindness

I stumbled onto some Random Acts of Kindness and wondered if it was possible to do random acts of kindness through poetry? So I figured why not create a “thank you poem” to all of you for reading my blog and challenge you to create random acts of kindness through poetry. Pass on thank you poems of your own, or give a random person a free poem that inspires you, or even a broadside, chapbook, book, something related to Poetry. After all, April is Poetry Month and why not double the “wonderfulness” of it by turning towards Random Acts of Kindness through Poetry?

Thank You Blog Readers

I thank you for your insight,
wisdom and comments,
trials and hindsight corrections.
I thank you for
fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants
poems sent sailing to the floor
which end up published with high scores.

I wish you happiness, health,
an ever-present muse
and a poetic rendezvous
of thanking the poets
who inspire you.

Thank you blog readers and contributors! May the muse be with you and may you inspire everyone you meet with poetry…

27 Rue De Fleures Open Submissions

If you are female and know that your poetry is experimental, then this is the place for you! You can submit via e-mail or snail mail. Send up to 3 pieces to
Submissions[at]27rue[dot]com (do not use attachments, just paste into the e-mail) snail mail to: 27 rue de fleures (submissions)/ 600 N. Walnut St./ Bay City, MI 48706.

You can find out more by going to their website and familiarizing yourself with the poems available on their site.

http://www.27rue.com/

Good luck and please stop by tomorrow for more Poetry Tips!

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://www.poems.com/poem.php?date=13956
Mary Jo Salter’s “Point of View”

http://www.mascarapoetry.com/issue3/papa_osmubal.htm
Papa Osumbal’s poems—all of them.


Thanks for reading, please stop by tomorrow for another Open Submissions…

An Interview with Hosho McCreesh

Welcome everyone to an interview with Hosho McCreesh. I asked if he would be so kind as to let me interview him about his chapbook 37 Psalms From The Badlands published by Kendra Steiner Editions and he happily obliged:

What was your first introduction to poetry that you can remember?

It would have to be 2 things: Music in general, but Bob Dylan’s music specifically & the readings of Yeats my father recorded on his own albums. That’s where words first had real power for me. I also loved the tune the Tennessee Stud. I remember wanting to know what things I heard meant…I’d hear an interesting word that I didn’t know & wanted to understand it. Having moved on to rock, I remember calling a radio station when I was about 8 or 9 years old, requesting “Dirty Dees And The Dunder Chee”—I didn’t know what “Dees” were, nor what a “dunder chee” was, but I was pretty sure that’s what AC/DC was singing about & I loved that song! My father spent many years on the road making music—& he does Yeats readings superbly—a tremendous voice for it. The Fiddler of Dooney, The Lake Isle of Innsfree, The Hosts of the Air…they were just magic for me, still are, actually.

Which poet (living or dead) would you willingly buy dinner for to learn more about him/her?

Lots, I can’t decide which—from Li Po, and Issa, to Whitman and Bukowski. But it would have to be outside the realm of a “meeting an idol” kind of situation—with all that stupid, uncomfortable energy, & the dull questions I’d surely want answered. Better if we were bumped off the same plane or something & the airline gave us meal vouchers. I once had a terrific dinner with a beautiful older woman just this way. She said I could run away to Peru with her, that she’d give me her $400 voucher towards the price of the ticket. I was on my way to visit family, otherwise I might’ve gone…it would’ve been quite an adventure! But those poets are, most obviously to me, so much more than just the sum of their work. The spirit of each of them lives & breathes in their lines even still…it’s really easy to see compassionate, bright, wise, & funny people beyond the work. Of course, there’s a handful of folks writing now that I hope to someday meet as well.

When did you start writing and when was your first poem published?

I always remember writing, & I even think a wonderful teacher, Kay Goodman, helped me place something in newspapers when I was in 7th or 8th grade. I remember writing Shakespearean sonnets to girls in high school. I’d say it was college where I started writing seriously. It wasn’t until after college that I really discovered the small press, but I’d been writing poems & stories for a while by then. I can’t be sure where my first poem was published—it might’ve been The American Dissident; editor G. Tod Slone published quite a few early pieces and was a kind, early supporter of my work.

What does your family think about you being a poet and about poetry in general?

My family is terrific. They buy my books, they sell my books to co-workers, they try to talk people at supermarkets & drive-thrus into buying my books—they are really out there pushing for me…which is just terrific, because I hate that stuff. It embarrasses me, but I owe it to the publishers that gamble on my work to get out there & hustle my mystical snake-oils! When I didn’t have a reliable computer, my aunt & uncle let me store all my work on their machine, let me monopolize it when putting together submissions until all hours of the night—heck, they even let me steal their stamps! It’s terrific to have such love & support from them.

For your book, 37 Psalms From The Badlands how did you come up with this collection of poems and the title?

Bill Shute of the terrific & varied KENDRA STEINER EDITIONS wrote me & asked if I’d be interested in writing something for his NEXT EXIT series—which, for readers unfamiliar with it, is a somewhat anonymous mix of two poets with different but hopefully complimentary styles, with poems titled only by CITY, and STATE, no direct indications who wrote what. I was honored & told him yes, definitely—as I’d recently seen the terrific books Bill had put out by both Christopher Cunningham & Luis Berriozabal. I remember this being around mid-December & I knew I had some days off from work coming up which would afford me some time to just sit & write. Bill gave me 2 months to write them, &, much to my surprise, I wrote the 6 poems he requested in about a week. I shipped them off, & Bill was really pleased, so he asked if I’d like to try to putting together a full suite of poems—& we were rolling. I’ve long believed that giving New Mexico the Japanese “breath poem” treatment was something that just made sense & so, after years of wondering how, the PERFECT opportunity really just arrived at the right time. I’d been reading lots of haiku, had been obsessed with Mike Kreisel’s sublime FEEDING MY HEART TO THE WIND from Sunnyoutside, & I’d BEEN experimenting—specifically using torn scraps of paper as my page size, telling myself I had to write a whole poem on 1 sheet…then, telling myself I had to get 2 poems on 1 sheet. Anyhow, I felt like I was finally at the point where, as a writer, I could try something larger working in really short form. So that was the origin. As for the title, I wrestled for days with it. I was careful not to call these haiku—as haiku is far more controlled, & the rules more regimented. A few, loose-knit forms began to appear as I wrote & instead of trying to wrench them all into a certain form or look on the page, I just let them each be what they were. They weren’t SONGS, they weren’t ODES, or BALLADS, there just wasn’t a word for what they were that I liked, & I tried a lot of different titles. I then started goofing with some more biblical terminology like “scripture” & “verses” & stumbled on to PSALMS & it finally felt right. I wrote 37 PSALMS, & they fit perfectly on the 6 pages I sent Bill Shute—it was a lucky coincidence that 37 is probably my favorite number. As for the BADLANDS, well, sometimes I call New Mexico the BADLANDS—so once I settled on Psalms, the rest just fell into place.


Obviously your life in New Mexico has influenced these poems. Where in New Mexico do you live and how many years have you been living there?

Actually I’m born & raised. I’ve lived my entire life here—except when I’ve been traveling. All told, I’ve spent about 1 year overseas—meaning the other 34 years I’ve happily lived in New Mexico. It will always be home. I’ve lived all over the state. In fact, the whole design of NEXT EXIT 8 is what I’d call a kind of autobiography by city…using invented narrators, & metaphorical situations that echo my life in each place. PSALMS is written specifically for New Mexicans, full of things they will easily recognize. I’m surprised it’s sold as well as it had beyond the American southwest—surprised & flattered.


What about the landscape of New Mexico inspires you? I lived in El Paso for five years and loved the mountains and deserts of New Mexico myself. Do you draw your creative energy from the scenery there?

I surely do. I just love it here. It’s a really beautiful place, though one that can be hard to recognize or know. As a landscape, as scenery—the clash of earth & sky is amazing. But more so than that, there’s a palpable kind of danger here, a kind of desperation. Many places don’t have cell phone reception; many roads are long & lonely. If you break down out here, depending on where you are, it could be a while before someone finds you. It’s also an interesting place culturally—a combination of centuries old Spanish & Mexican influences, the native Indian tribes, immigration up from South & Central America & through to the last vestiges of the American Old West. There are trees rumored to be older than Jesus, & churches older than America—all still standing. I think that is just mind-bending.


May I post poem #21 (my personal favorite) and how were you inspired to write this poem?

Thank you for the kind words. That one has won over a few folks, actually. Watching & helping my Mom & my aunts peel chile was the sole inspiration for it. It’s something distinctly New Mexico—the smell of the fire-roasted chile every year—it’s glorious. But the chile does get into your hands where it will subtly burn for days, in particular when the sun shines on your hands…sort like pepper mace burning days after the fact. The visions of my family, hunched over the sink, peeling & sacking chile…I don’t know…it’s just powerful for me. The kitchen is the heart of the house, family get-togethers year round—food, fun, drinks, playing cards or games…like many of the PSALMS, it’s just a kind of snapshot I needed to write down.


#21
The women’s hands;
watching them peel chile,
the way it still burned days later
in the sunlight—

still burns
years later
in your mind.


What is your favorite poem and may I post it?

That’s a tough question, to single them out, because, for me, it’s the accumulation of images, feelings, vivid sights, sounds, & smells—that’s where the greater picture starts coming into focus. But I suppose, if I had to pick (out of these first 37) I’d say either Cabezon or the descansos…those two stand both individually, as well as work effortlessly in the larger framework—not to mention capture what most of the entire collection is hoping at capture. Cabezon is an old volcano cone about 60 miles west of Albuquerque & a descanso is the Spanish word for the little crosses you see along side the road—to mark the place where a soul left the earth. I’ve long been enamored with both. I hope to use this collection as the cornerstone to a much larger piece—one I plan to work on for the entirety of 2008. There are a lot of PSALMS I’ve written since that also feel as complete as the two I mentioned.

#4
Cabezon
& crows picking
At roadkill—

beautiful, all that
remains.


#17
Three descansos,
a tangle of milkweed,
& fifty miles of empty blacktop—

behold, a sacred place.


What is your favorite sound?
Two jump immediately to mind: 1) wind through trees & leaves 2) the sound of a family get-together through an open window.

What is your least favorite sound?

Anything loud, mechanical, grinding, the hum of electricity in wires, cell phones.

What do you think of the Guerrilla Poetics Project?

I dig the GPP. I think it’s a really inventive way to extend the reach of the small press. Even your friendliest neighborhood bookstore simply can’t gamble on copies of every chapbook or small press rag out there—so, instead of trying to pick & choose, they just refuse to stock them. But a fine, letterpressed broadside, given freely to unsuspecting readers—that’s a fine way to grab their attention. $25 for 24 broadsides is a damn good deal, any way you slice it. Logistically, I also really dig the notion that, together, we can accomplish things that, alone, we could never do. I mean, for example: to have a fine little poem by Kathleen Paul-Flanagan found in Ask The Dust by John Fante in Göteborg Sweden…c’mon, how cool is that? I often marvel thinking about the different figurative & literal fingerprints on each broadside—poet to designer to printer to operative to unsuspecting findee, the miles some broadsides travel to end up in the people’s hands—it’s a really cool artistic lineage, the completing of a circle…a metaphor for human interconnectedness. & with every member now able to both submit poems & help decide which poems are printed, it’s about as democratic as a publishing project can be! But, even aside from all of that, the broadsides are just terrific little pieces of art. I like to imagine a long white hall lined with them, one after the other, in nice little matching frames!


What other hobbies/work do you do outside of poetry?

I paint—watercolors & oils, I’m trying to learn how to letterpress, I’m learning how to make paper. I’d love to learn how to sculpt, work with ceramics, photography, I’ve worked on occasional short films—heck, almost anything artistic interests me. But selling any of it does not—so there’s the rub. I would love to be able to design & build things—from an adobe house to a Japanese garden in my backyard. I love to eat, drink & be merry as well—though not always in that order.

Finally, what would you like to accomplish for your own poetry in the next two to five years?

5 years is such a short amount of time—so I’d have to say just keep evolving as a writer, being more deliberate & restrained with line & language. If I can, that will help me keep placing quality work with committed people. I’m excited about the small press again—& you have to ride that energy while you have it. Because there will be long, lonely stints when you’re not writing well, when you’re struggling to place work even when you feel you are writing well, or when life comes at you from all directions at once & the last thing in the world you want to do is sit down at the typer. I never want writing to feel like a job—I always want it to be something I do for the pure joy of it all, of figuring out how I feel & putting it down on the blank page. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to continue riding the uber-talented coattails of these masterful independent printers & publishers like BOTTLE OF SMOKE PRESS, CENTENNIAL PRESS, HEMISPHERICAL PRESS, KENDRA STEINER EDITIONS & SUNNYOUTSIDE. I am really honored to have placed work with most them—they are each fully committed to their writers, & they just do beautiful stuff.


Thank You Hosho!
You can learn more about Hosho McCreesh and find his poems on the GPP Poets Page on the Guerrilla Poetics site, please use the link on the sidebar.


Also, please note that you can purchase his book and many other fine poets’ work at Kendra Steiner Editions (KSE) headed by Bill Shute. You can purchase one book for $4 of 3 for $10.00. I chose to buy 3 chapbooks for $10.00 and enjoyed every one of my picks. Next week I’ll be featuring Chris Cunningham’s chapbook from KSE titled Next Exit: Five. I’ve included the link to KSE below so you can check out the site and I sincerely hope you purchase some chapbooks, you will not be disappointed! Each chapbook is hand-numbered, and if you ask real nicely, I’m sure the poets will be happy to sign them as well…

Check it out at:

http://kendrasteinereditions.wordpress.com/


Thanks for reading, please support the poets, small and independent presses, and please stop by tomorrow for more Poems Found by Poet Hound…

Poets in your pocket

This isn’t a new site but it IS National Poetry Month and on April 17th is Poets in Your Pocket Day is the 17th. In order to prepare you in time, I have provided this link for ideas and inspiration for the 17th!

http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/406

Thanks for checking in, please stop by tomorrow for an interview with poet Hosho McCreesh…

Weekend Up-Date

Starting today, I am going to cease posting on weekends. Around this time of year I become highly involved with my dance troupe and need the time to practice and sew costumes. So for now, Mondays are Poetry Sites (blogs or web-sites) and Tuesdays will be Featured Poets days. Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays remain unchanged. Saturdays and Sundays will not have posts until after August 1st/ 2nd.
Thank you for continuing to visit my blog and understanding my need for some extra time on weekends…

Poetry Tips Question 5: How do you keep submitting after many rejections?

Jim Murdoch:

I've been receiving rejections for thirty-five years and it never gets easy. The bottom line is: grow a think skin and grow it quickly. Most of the time it is not personal. There are so many places to submit that if what you write doesn’t suit on then try somewhere else. I make a point of keeping a large number of poems and stories out there. Once I get a few replies back I send a few more out normally at the end of each month.

Barbara Smith:

Remember it's the work, not you. Look for a sympathetic editor - i.e. one who publishes work similiar to yours. Do workshops regularly to keep honing and sharpening your critical eye. You do get lucky eventually and one thing leads to another.

Rob Mack:

You’ve got to be persistent. I don’t submit much, I only submit my best stuff, and I only submit to magazines I really like. That cuts down my options quite a lot, but I’ve found it does increase my percentage of acceptances. I’d be lying if I said that rejections didn’t bother me – sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t – but you’ve got to shrug them off.


Juliet Wilson:
The list of what to do is simple. Type up your poems in a clear, legible font on plain A4 paper. Proofread. One poem to a page, please: give them room to breathe. Write a brief covering letter. Be polite, but don't try to butter up the editor. Your poems should do the talking. Mention briefly any previous successes, publications and / or prizes. Make sure you include an SAE and sufficient return postage with your submission, and make sure that your envelopes are a decent size (A5). Be patient when waiting for a response. A gentle email nudge after two or three months (unless the average reading time is stated as being much longer) is usually acceptable.


Ben Wilkinson:

Unwavering belief in my own genius. Seriously? Because sooner or later you'll crack it, or before that, you'll find an editor who offers you some kind, encouraging words out of their otherwise busy, often tiring and sometimes thankless job (bear in mind that almost all poetry magazine editors have other jobs as well). The best favour you can do for yourself in terms of avoiding rejection (aside giving up writing poetry, which isn't a half-bad idea) is to subscribe to as many poetry magazines as you can and get a feel for the sort of publication that includes the work you admire. Then send your very best poems to that publication (before you seal the envelope, ask yourself – would I publish these poems?). Whatever you do, don't send off poems on a whim to a magazine you've never read and know little or nothing about. That's just an invitation for rejection, not to mention a waste of stamps. The simple fact is this: if you're going to write poetry, you're going to have to learn to be pretty thick-skinned. Learn to take criticism, but only when it comes from the people and places you trust. Keep reading. Then read some more.


Cuitlamiztli Carter:

One would hope that after numerous rejections, a poet would find somelike-minded artists to review her or his work. But perseverance iskey, and one must realize that editors receive a staggering amount ofpoetry, and also an editor can be as idiosyncratic as the folksattempting to woo them. A good poem might not connect with a certaineditor, and blind luck may put three or four of those editors in a rowduring a poet's submission process. So, take the Apostle Paul's adviceand persevere.


Hazel B. Cameron

Cut out or copy any good words and comments from the rejection note and paste them in a book to create your very own positive rejects. But do take on board any useful advice and ignore everything else.
Keep a good rota of poems out there so there is always one you’re waiting to hear from, that way you always have hope.


Thanks again to all of the contributors, this is the last piece for the questions for the audience series.

*Also, for those who guessed right about the truth behind Poet Hound’s April Fool’s Joke, your poem will be sent in the mail shortly. For those who guessed wrong, well, better luck next year… That’s right! I’m not giving away the answer unless someone else blurts it out on their own site. So you’ll just have to find out some other way…
Thanks for stopping in, please stop by tomorrow…

Octopus Magazine Open Submissions

Octopus Magazine is reading Full Length Manuscript submissions between now and April 30th, so if you have a book waiting in the wings, now is your chance! Must be between 48 to 100 pages long, with two cover pages. One cover page should only the manuscript title, the second should have all of your contact information including the title. There is also a ten dollar reading fee. Include an SASE for notification only, and please check out the rest of the guidelines by using the link below.

http://www.octopusmagazine.com/issue10/main.html

Best of luck to all of you submitting your precious gems and I hope you will stop by tomorrow for another Poetry Tips Friday!

Tomorrow I will reveal the results of the April Fool’s Joke

Poems Found By Poet Hound

http://www.fishousepoems.org/archives/terry_l_kennedy/acony_bell.shtml
Terry L. Kennedy’s “Acony Bell”

http://www.27rue.com/Summer_2007/14.htm
Kristin Abraham’s “Gender-Specific Wings”


Thanks for stopping by, please come by tomorrow...

April Fooled?

How do you like the new photos?
Here’s your April Fool’s Challenge:
Can you guess whether Poet Hound is a Cat owner or Dog owner? The dog’s name is Duchess and the cat’s name is Truman. The dog is female, the cat is male. If you would like to take a guess and shoot me an e-mail I will respond as to whether you are correct or not. If you are correct, I’ll offer to send you a hand-written poem via snail mail if you are willing to include a mailing address. (Offer not available to those outside the U.S., sorry folks, need to save some pennies). You must respond by THURSDAY April 3rd via e-mail poethoundATblogspotDOTcom in order to get the hand-written poem offer. Otherwise, I will only confirm via e-mail whether you are correct or not. Either way, an interesting twist, isn’t it? Good luck, and hope you have a great April Fool’s Day.

Hint: I only own one animal, one person asked if it was a trick question and perhaps both? Nope, only one or the other...
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