Poetry Tips: Picking Flowers

We’ve finally had a break from colder-than-usual weather and now the birds are chirping and all of the plants look ready to produce blooms. This week I want you to envision Spring and everything in bloom. Write poems about childhood days of picking flowers for your mother, planting gardens, etc. Anything that brings about fond memories of Spring!

Good luck to all who try it, please stop in next week for another featured site…

Autumn Sky Open Submissions

You may send up to four free-verse poems, simultaneous submissions are accepted so long as you provide notification. Please paste the poems into the body of the e-mail and please include a brief bio as well. You may e-mail your poems to: autumnskypoetryeditorATgmailDOTcom and be sure to place the word “Submission” in the subject line.

For more details go to:
http://www.autumnskypoetry.com/archive/Submission_Guidelines.html

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

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://juked.com/2010/02/whitechickens.asp
“White Chickens” by Caroline Manring

http://www.alicebluereview.org/main.html
Julia Cohen’s “I’m Asking For A Little Murmur” and “Panic At My Wilderness”


Also, some news for those who didn’t know (like myself): The poet, Ai, passed away on March 17th and Jerry Williams was kind enough to send me a link to his tribute to her:
http://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2010/03/in-memoriam-to-ai-1947-2010-by-jerry-wiliams-.html


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

Divertimiento by Julian Gallo

Julian Gallo’s collection of poems in Divertimiento detail interpersonal relationships and the less savory moments of encountering old flames, friends, and even strangers.

Cracks In The Paint

Will you be there for me
when the sun disappears behind
tenement water towers;
when the moon sneaks out quietly
from behind factory windows;
when the street lamps ignite over slick,
glistening streets;

Will you be there for me
when pimps release the whores for
nocturnal bliss;
when the nuts and wackos comb
cardboard tenements for smack
and a kiss from dirty chapped lips;
when the dogs pick through the trash,
eyes looking straight
into the urban abyss?

Will you be there for me
when the sun reappears to shine upon
the carnage you leave in your wake?

For I am still waiting,
huddled in the doorway
counting the cracks in the paint

one less button on my coat
one less beat of my heart.

Most poems asking the universal question of emotion “Will you be there for me?” often use much more sentimental imagery often paired with hope. Here, Mr. Gallo takes a twist in using imagery from the grittier sides of life, “nuts and wackos,” and “pimps” who release “whores” while the person in question is described as leaving carnage in their wake. It makes me wonder about the character of the person he is hoping will be there when it is his turn and the imagery leads me to believe that the person will not be there when the time comes.



Auteur

Narcissism in overdrive—
amazing the lengths some people
will go to make absolutely certain that
things, people & events
will completely revolve around
themselves.
You are merely a prop
in a film
they are making that
no one is
watching…

I share this poem because we can all relate to such people. Plainly spoken, Mr. Gallo points out that whoever you are, no one is watching you as closely or cares as much as you do about your life. Frankly, it’s a poem I’d like to leave lying around for certain other people to find, how about you?



A Sort of Mirage

Shadows in ink.
On such evenings I’m
too tired to applaud the maestro
but a fresh mate’ soothes nevertheless.
War has not been declared
and there is not one fraction
of my life left behind.
There are lots of commas
and etceteras lying about the hallway
waiting to be used, waiting to be set
free
to dance across the page.
They seem to comfort each other
after these outbursts;
a sort of mirage
these words I cannot grasp


I like the idea of “lots of commas/and etceteras lying about the hallway” as though all that is unsaid is hanging in the air waiting to land as words on the page. I like the imagery in this poem and the message that all that could be said has not yet been officially declared. I think that is what most writing is: That which is officially declared.



If you enjoyed this sample of poems, you may purchase Divertimiento for $3 (plus $2 US shipping or $3 out-of-US shipping) from Alternating Current (alt-current.com). You can also mail payment to:

Alternating Current
PO Box 398058
Cambridge, MA 02139

Remember that Alternating Current is one of the few presses where poets can be paid for their work so please support the small press!

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

Kaleidowhirl site

This is an on-line literary journal with links to poems, all of them wonderful! Please check it out at:

http://home.windstream.net/ellablue/

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

Poetry Tips: Empty

This week I couldn’t think of anything for poetry tips and came up empty so I’m using the word as inspiration. Write poems about empty items—cups, boxes, homes, or the feeling of emptiness over missing someone, anything that comes to mind with the word “empty.”

Good luck to all who try it! Please drop by next Monday for another featured site…

5 X 5 Open Submissions

You may send up to five short poems by June 1st for the themed issue “SELF” (simultaneous submissions are accepted) via e-mail to poetryAT5X5litmagDOTorg
For more details go to:
http://www.5x5litmag.org/Submit.html

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

Poems Found By Poet Hound

http://poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20038
“Envoy” by Robert L Stevenson

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=17607
“Scenes of Childhood” by James Merrill

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

Befallen by K. Alma Peterson

Befallen is a collection of poems that spin off from their creator, K. Alma Peterson, and evolve into new creatures, some exciting, some unnerving. A graduate from the MFA Program for writers at Warren Wilson College, K. Alma Peterson’s poems have appeared in journals such as Hayden’s Ferry Review, Skidrow Penthouse, and Wicked Alice, to name a few. Her poem “Between Us” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 1999. Below is a small sample from her collection, Befallen, published by Alternating Current:


Lost Poem

An insect insinuates the pleural wall rests a fraction
in the laurelled chamber of goldenrod stalk

a swelling in the stem how did you in your final silence
part the June and Needle grasses find the strap and lever
up the rubric door one hinge broken

your zippered leather pouch a sac of sorts
contains a crow call and a grainy field photo

duly referencing the gall an only chance to fumble
then fly forth


Turning a lost poem into a meandering insect is an interesting idea and evolves as the insect is personified in carrying odds and ends in a sac. The line breaks are interesting, as though the regular lines were separated with space rather than punctuation, that’s how I came to read it.



Acher With Grub and Earworm

Ingrained and firm the summer platitudes begin to rattle in
October’s broadleaved sheaves bring tasseled girls in early
from straight furrows their platinum silks dyed a bristled
horsetail brown they shiver pleasant rumors through maize
and up sleeves of crowpecked men wadded up in cornices
thumping tables for the milkweed to come mingle full sun my
eye introduce me to a purple thistle too pretty to do prickle
yet look away past ruts of crib and silo to lady slippers of hip
bible belts where late rains saunter in winter sobers enough
to muck and clot as they pick so shall they sell us roadside to
passerby in plaids who peel back our paper collars examine
for conformity our kernels gleaned by rote curled and rotting

I really enjoyed this poem/prose piece. It seems a little of both to me and I love the imagery, I immediately think of corn fields in Indiana. I see farmer’s daughters and wives picking the corn while gossiping “they shiver pleasant rumors through maize” and then the “crowpicked men” waiting for supper by thumping the tables. Finally, you realize that the poem has evolved so that “we” become the corn: “so shall they sell us roadside to/passerby n plaids who peel back our paper collars.” It’s an endlessly fascinating transition that happens so fast you hardly notice it until you think about what you’ve just read. Very clever indeed!



The Squid Reconsiders Its Approach

Inking up the ocean I advance dagger-eyed on a jet of
self-propulsion
head-footed and a pulse forgetful I entertain a
fondness for the snail
squeezed and bearing up its whorled frame only a truss
embedded deep and out of mind remains of mine

I speak for all mollusks less advanced the grim calm
pried hard
would ask the knobbed whelk why the false mouth

your muscled foot will overbear you have a crude
tool to grate
on my resolve goad my flesh for weakness my
abductors
revealed doubly tender once my ropy ligaments relax

Maybe it’s the loose clasp of an inconspicuous hinge or
the symmetry
of simple bivalves that compels a predator to have at
them
as do the lightning and the frilly dogwhelk jag and
dollop

I like this poem quite a bit, too. A squid personified who then in turn personifies the mollusks. Here is another poem that evolves in a way that seems independent of the poet.


If you enjoyed this short sample of poems by K. Alma Peterson, you may purchase a copy of Befallen for $7 (plus $2 US Shipping or $3 out-of-US shipping) via check, cash, or money order by mail at:
Alternating Current
PO Box 398058
Cambridge, MA 02139

Or you may purchase a copy on-line at:
http://alternating-current-weekly.blogspot.com/

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

Jeffrey Bahr Site

Mr. Bahr has compiled lots of useful information on submissions and journal response times, resources, the works! Check it out at:

http://www.jefferybahr.com/

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

Poetry Tips: Time Capsule

This week I want you to go back in time with your own writings and select the best poems you have to offer from the whole of your lifespan, maybe one per year or every five years. These may inspire you to write new ones, and in the end, place them all into an envelope or a box and “hide” them from yourself with a date for ten or twenty years into the future to be opened again. This will be like a time capsule of your best work and refresh you in later years when you find them again.

Good luck to all who try it, please stop in next Monday for another featured site…

The Sentinel Literary Quarterly

I received an e-mail from the contest judge, Claire Askew, from “across the pond” and I have copied-and-pasted the guidelines below for The Sentinel Literary Quarterly Contest:

"Very exciting news: I have been asked to judge a poetry competition! The Sentinel Literary Quarterly is a fabulous London-based magazine dedicated to publishing world literature: everything from poetry to plays, essays to reviews. Every quarter, they hold a poetry competition with a top prize of £100, to seek out and reward great writing. And I’m very pleased to announce that for the latest contest, they’ve asked me to be their poetry judge.
The contest is open to all — you can enter regardless of age, experience or your location in the world. The only rules are these:
* Poems must be 40 lines or less
* They only accept submissions in the English language
* Poems must be typed
* Identifying marks must not appear on the poems themselves
* You have to include an entry fee of £3 per poem — OR take advantage of a discount: 5 poems for £12.
What could you win?
* The first prize poem wins £100 and publication in Sentinel Literary Quarterly
* Second prize is £60, and third prize £40 — plus publication in Sentinel Literary Quarterly
* A further twelve highly-commended poems will also be published in the magazine
There are more details of how to enter, how to present your poems and what you can win here, at the competition’s homepage. The closing date is THURSDAY 25TH MARCH 2010 so get scribbling!
What will I be looking for?
As the contest’s judge, I’ll be looking for a variety of things in the winning poems. Firstly, a strong and original voice — any subject, however old and tired, can be reinvigorated by a fresh perspective, an engaging voice. I’ll also be looking for excellent wordsmithery — not necessarily anything flashy, but signs that the writer knows what language is all about, and how to weild it. I want ideas that make me think “damn, I wish I’d thought of that!”, and turns of phrase that excite and inspire me.
I know that so many of you ONS readers have the power to write work like this — I definitely think you’re all up to the challenge, and hey, I know none of you would say no to a free hundred quid, right? So I hope you’ll all get yourselves to the contest page and enter your work. This is a great contest: there’s no theme, and apart from length, no formal contraints. I’m excited to sift through what I’m sure will be a melting pot of themes, ideas and voices. Make sure yours is part of it!
To learn more about Sentinel Literary Quarterly and for details on entering on-line for their contest, see below:
http://www.sentinelpoetry.org.uk/slq/3.2/competitions/poetry2010april.htm"

Claire Askew’s site is below, where I got the details on the contest:

http://www.readthismagazine.co.uk/onenightstanzas/?p=1265

Good luck to all of you who enter, please stop in tomorrow for more Poetry Tips…

Poems Found By Poet Hound

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=173990
“Lament” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

http://arseniclobster.magere.com/211201.html
“Black Squirrel Poem” by Bill Yarrow

Thanks for clicking in, please drop in tomorrow for more Poetry Tips…

Sorry Everyone...

Sorry everyone, I ran out of time this weekend to finish reading a chapbook on my desk to feature it this week. I got busy working on some other projects and quite a few birthdays are in order this month as well. I’ll hopefully be back on track next week and I do have posts for the rest of the week so please click in tomorrow for more Poems Found by Poet Hound…

Luminous Clarity Blog

This blog features poems and poetry tidbits by Lisa Espenmiller complete with poetic dedications and is a wonderful read, check it out at:

http://luminousclarity.blogspot.com/

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