Friday, October 24, 2008

Poetry Tips: Magnetic Poetry

Remember when magnetic poetry was all the rage? Well, this is a slight twist on the idea. I have friends and family who have all kinds of assorted magnets with clever or funny sayings on them, or advertisements for places they enjoy going to. See if you can make a poem using only words found on those refrigerator magnets. You may end up with a very strange or very clever poem but it will be sure to bring a smile to your face.
Good luck to those who try it!

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

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Erbacce Open Submissions

Richard at Gloom Cupboard forwarded this e-mail flyer to me so I am sharing it with all of you:
great erbacce-press 2009 Poetry Competition

...erbacce press, the unique writers co-operative, are proud to announce full details of
a poetry competition with THE most fantastic prize which will be:

1) A writing contract with erbacce-press paying exceptionally generous royalties
2) Publication of a full length, perfect bound, collection of the winning poet's work
3) 20 free copies of the publication sent to the winner post-free
4) A dedicated sales-page featuring the winning poet

We'll be looking for an initial submission of ten pages of poetry sent as a single MS attachment plus a commitment
to have enough poetry to fill at least a 100 page collection (but up to 150 pages)... we'll be looking for poetry that is
innovative and radical in form and/or content.

Judges will be Alan Corkish and Andrew Taylor plus other eminent writers to be announced.

Entry is FREE to anyone, anywhere in the world
We'll also be awarding a runners-up prize of a spot as the featured poet in an edition of the poetry journal erbacce

Send your MS attachment to BOTH of these emails: erbacce@blueyonder.co.uk and erbacce@hotmail.com
and you must include in the MS Document a declaration that the work is your own plus a snail-mail address.
IF YOU DON'T SEND TO BOTH EMAILS AND INCLUDE THIS DECLARATION AND A SNAIL-MAIL ADDRESS YOUR ENTRY WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED

The competition will run until mid 2009 and the winner will be notified then full publication will
commence with the winning book being published prior to Christmas 2009

GET WRITING! THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A FREE COMPETITION LIKE THIS!
PLEASE DO ALSO PASS THIS EMAIL ON TO OTHER POETS!


Good Luck to all those who submit, thanks for dropping in! Please stop by tomorrow for more Poetry Tips….

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://english.chass.ncsu.edu/freeverse/Archives/Spring_2008/poems/A_Fitzgerald.html
Anne Fitzgerald’s “Tuscany”

http://www.mascarapoetry.com/issue3/vivienne_glance.htm
Vivienne Glance’s “Spectrum”

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

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

October's Poetry Magazine

This time the poems I liked best weren’t selected to be links on the Poetry magazine site but the contents of the magazine were wonderful all around and I urge you to check out the site, read what is linked, and listen to the podcast.

In the meantime, I’ll mention a couple of poems I enjoyed immensely in case you happen to stumble upon a copy if you don’t already have one:

The first poem that really grabbed my eye is titled “Uncouplings” by Craig Arnold. He uses quite a bit of clever wordplay and while we all know “there is no I in teamwork” he also adds “but there is a two maker.” I really like what he comes up with for each word or phrase and they all flow together despite being seemingly unrelated. “the I in relationship/is the heart I slip on/a lithe prison,” and the lines “our listening skills/ are silent killings.” These are much more clever the more you take the time to read them. He turns trite phrases into insightful musings which is a skill I admire. I hope you are able to find it as amusing as I did.

The second poem is “Sad and Alone” by Maurice Manning. He starts out by addressing the reader that the idea of reminiscing is nothing new, but his memories are laid out so beautifully as he travels down memory lane and then brings us back to his present. “…I remember the time I laid/my homemade banjo in the fire/and let it burn. There was nothing else/to burn and the house was cold;…” he goes on to say “I could hear the raindrops plopping up/the buckets and kettles, scattered out/like little ponds around the room.” He describes the sound as music which he will never forget and always love. He explains that “I loved the helpless people I loved./That’s what a little boy will do,/but a grown man will turn it all/to sadness and let it soak his heart…” Those lines would have made a great ending but he proceeds a little further and turns the lines in another direction which also make it a fantastic ending. He brings you back to his beginning and brings about an emotion you nearly forgot about in the course of this relatively short poem. If you get a chance to read it I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.


Thanks always for reading, you may visit the current issue and read or listen by clicking on the link below.
http://www.poetrymagazine.org/

Please stop by tomorrow for more Poems Found by Poet Hound…

Monday, October 20, 2008

Graying Ghost Press

Not only do they have the Corduroy Mountain Journal as mentioned on Thursday’s Open Submissions, they also publish books which can be found at Press Press Press in addition to their web-site. Check them out at the link below:

http://www.airforcejoyride.com/gg

Thanks for visiting, please stop by tomorrow for another featured poet…