sweater poetry

Feel the desire,

sea shell seeker.

You are the route to my feelings.

* * *

This is the funniest thing I've read on NPR in a long time since -- well, at least since the "This American Life" episode about testosterone.

teaching 4th graders

Today, I'm preparing my lesson plans, gathering books and samples of my journals through the years and various litmags, organizing poems and thinking about the elements of poetry that come together to create images, linguistic magic and meaning.

And tomorrow afternoon, I will meet the 4th graders at a local elementary school -- leading them in poetry workshops, each class one hour a week, until sometime in May near the end of the school year.

As I was going through my files, here's something that a very wise and important teacher and poet, Tom Brush, gave me long ago when I was in his poetry workshop class in high school.

Poetry Workshop - with Mr. Brush

SOME THINGS THAT WILL HELP

February is cold stones and ice.
February is wind. February is
Brass tacks.

1. Calling things by exact names helps cut hints of sentimentality.

2. Don't be vague. Be subtle instead.

3. A poet: someone who is never satisfied with saying one thing at a time.

4. Poetry: a sense of the doubleness of life.

5. Poetry is an act of mischief.

6. Show the future with poems, indulge every poetic fancy...anything that provides release...

7. Are the words predictable? (Better they aren't.)

8. Long line: Sings, has more speed and grace. May also be used for long rushes of angry sentences where words tumble over each other. Lyric.

9. Be content with as many selves as you can as a poet. Never restrain yourself to one voice.

10. Short lines: Slows the reader down, more weight to the words, more tension to end stops. Short line is terse, breathless. Makes the reader pay more attention to individual words. Double check line lengths as suitable.

11. Poem: one more triumph over chaos.

12. The basis of poetry is sensation.

13. You need spins, the shifts, the rants, the howls.

14. Faith. Writing is an act of faith in the creative capacity of all of us. (I want...I want...)

15. Fill in the blanks, open other end, take a chance, use it all!

16. Write about what you know about. Your place on the back lawn, your father's face, the car that was left by the side of the road, rain against the windows you look out, the party that turned out badly, limes and signs, dos and don'ts.

17. Write about what you don't know about. What you didn't know you knew.

Poetry is warmth and sunlight.
Poetry is kind. Poetry is
All right.

***
Here's a new blog I found today by poet Joseph Duemer, who went to the same high school as me, although years apart. He, too, adores Tom Brush.

emissions free

the water bike

pedaling to work across the Sound
passing the sea gulls
breathing the sky
filling his lungs with saltwater air and joy

God Bless This Mess - wow

so happy

Emerson could lay here for hours.

Emerson's bliss

too heavy for the kennel roof


16" before last night's storm






the trail from the patio to the backyard

our backyard deck

a writer's endorsement

Novelist Toni Morrison endorses Barack Obama. According to an AP article, "Writing with the touch of a poet in a letter to the Illinois senator, Morrison explained why she chose Obama over Hillary Rodham Clinton for her first public presidential endorsement."

Here's an excerpt of her letter to Obama, according to the AP:

"In addition to keen intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit something that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender and something I don't see in other candidates. That something is a creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom. It is too bad if we associate it only with gray hair and old age. Or if we call searing vision naivete. Or if we believe cunning is insight. Or if we settle for finessing cures tailored for each ravaged tree in the forest while ignoring the poisonous landscape that feeds and surrounds it. Wisdom is a gift; you can't train for it, inherit it, learn it in a class, or earn it in the workplace — that access can foster the acquisition of knowledge, but not wisdom."

surfing for ideas

Sometimes writing ideas come in unlikely places like this or this.

Or the smell of ribs slow cooking in barbecue sauce in the crock pot on my kitchen counter.

The "Disney green" walls of my home office. A soy candle (smells like hot apple cider) burning on top of the bookcase to my right. A stack of New Yorkers on the floor to my left. And on the floor to my right, my dog dreaming in his sleep -- small whimpers, twitching paws, sometimes a whispered bark. He must be chasing a squirrel, or worse -- a neighborhood cat.

Emerson's been following me around from room to room today -- except the bedroom (big no-no). But the "Green Room" is his new cave of comfort. When it's time to go outside at night to sleep in his kennel, he sometimes dashes away to the Green Room -- to sprawl on the carpet or lie down under the square table-desk -- as if to say, "Can't I stay here? Not in the living room, but here? Where all the books are? Where Amy will be eventually come back?"

favorite new website

According to its creator (another EWU MFA alumni), "LitList is a dynamic list of literary journals, independent book publishers, and e-magazines. It also gives small publishers new ways to interact with readers and writers. Built on the idea that updating information about small publishers online is often a tedious task, LitList gives publishers the power to update their own information, including contest deadlines and contact information.But that's not all. LitList is also a social center for news and articles surrounding the small publishing market and industry. Allowing users and publishers to comment on articles, blog posts, and publisher profiles, ideas about publishing are being expressed in real time."

is that a poem I see?

Idea Weather captures the spirit of Emerson, the real huskypoet,


before reading good poems
at Rockwood Bakery -- literally.

outdoor writing

my recent freelance work.

this was fun to research and write. even better that my friend happened to be an excellent interview source.

poetry and a new president

This is a Presidential candidate who I can support. I bet he reads poetry -- Obama has that kind of soul.

cool niece

Need some inspiration? Check out Colorful Purls.

3 inches and counting

emerson in the snow

new chief poet

Charles Simic is the new head poet. Here's a list of those who've served in the past.

Bike-to-Work Week -- at least do it Friday?

May is National Bike Month. And this week is Bike-to-Work Week, promoted by the League of American Bicyclists. (I'm a bit late in promoting it, but it just came to my attention.) And Bike-to-Work Day is Friday, May 18.

speak up, Americans

Remember when shock-jock Don Imus used racist and misogynistic terms to refer to a women's college basketball team? Well, it took CBS two weeks to fire him for that but it only took them TWO DAYS to fire a respected General from Iraq for speaking out against the president on the war.

CBS shouldn't be censoring or firing people for speaking their mind. I signed a petition urging CBS to re-hire General Batiste -- can you join me at the link below?

http://pol.moveon.org/batiste/?r_by=10331-8068908-kHYYD2&rc=paste

There's more information on the firing on that page, too.

what's on my mind

how cool it was that Sheryl Crow stood up to Karl Rove
how MoveOn.org is totally what the American people need now
why I rode my bike last weekend from home to downtown and back last weekend -- twice!
and this...

washington state poets rejoice

the WPA announcement letter...

Dear Washington Poets Association Members, Friends, and Subscribers:

It’s official!

Gov. Chris Gregoire has signed Substitute House Bill 1279, the long-awaited
legislation that creates the position of Washington State Poet Laureate.
The signing makes Washington the 41st state to have such a post.

“It’s about time,” exclaimed Karen Bonaudi, who, with WPA secretary Ed
Stover, co-chaired the WPA committee that has worked for months with
the state Arts Commission and Humanities Washington, a nonprofit, to
steer the bill through the legislative process.

Bonaudi, a former WPA president, has seen that process falter at least
four times in the past 10 years. “We could never get it passed out of
commmittee before--the interest just wasn’t there.”

Not so this year, and certainly not on Thursday, April 19, at about 1:30 p.m.
when Bonaudi, Stover, Kris Tucker of the Arts Commission, Karen Munro of
Humanities Washington, and a host of others were ushered into the
Governor’s Conference Room for the big moment.

“Everybody who comes in has to have a poem for me,”  joked Gregoire as
the group filed in.

Stover actually had a poem. State Rep. Mary Skinner, R-Yakima, the prime
sponsor of SHB 1279, had asked Stover, who is from Yakima, if he would
prepare a poem for the occasion. Stover wrote a short poem, “Waiting
for the Poets” (see below), which Skinner had framed for the governor.

And Roosevelt High School senior Nick David, Seattle, who is poet laureate
of his school, read a poem, “Strung Out,” which metaphorically explores
the strands of life we cling to at the expense of other things that might
seem small but turn out to be important.

The idea seemed appropriate, said David, a grand-nephew of House
Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam. “It might seem like small
legislation, but I think it will have a big impact,” he said.

Gregoire agreed: “Creating a poet laureate for Washington honors the role
played by poetry and poets in the creative culture of our state,” she said
as she signed the bill.

That role will be a proactive one, said Skinner following the ceremony: “The
poet laureate will be the state’s official spokesperson in verse,” she said.
“This person will be asked to share poetry and write it for special occasions.
This individual will go into communities and work with groups, organizations
and schools to expand the use of poetry.”

Stover said the partnership of the WPA, Arts Commission and Humanities
Washington will work together to develop the program, which will be
administered by the Arts Commission.

Under the law, the commission gets a start-up appropriation of $30,000 for
the 2007-09 biennium to cover expenses such as travel and a stipend for the
poet. Future funding will come from other sources: gifts, grants and
endowments. The WPA will spearhead that effort, said Stover, adding the
partnership is lucky because Humanities Washington director Ted Lord has
extensive fund-raising experience.

“Ted will be a great resource,” said Stover. “Humanities Washington
also has people in place to provide the administrative support we
need to conduct a fund-raising campaign.”

Obviously, poetry lovers throughout the state will be asked to contribute
whatever they can. “We hope people will be generous, give what they can
afford,” he said, adding the goal is to create a $300,000 endowment fund
that will generate enough interest to fund annual program expenses.

Bonaudi said the immediate task at hand is deciding who will be the poet
laureate. The law calls for the Arts Commission to appoint a selection
committee. Kris Tucker says that committee will represent education, the
publishing industry, the state library, Humanities Washington and the WPA.

Under the law, the poet laureate will “promote and encourage poetry within
the state, including but not limited to readings, workshops, lectures ...
in geographically diverse areas over a two-year term.” The selection
committee will establish final critieria, but candidates must be state
residents who are published, who are active as poets, and who are
willing to serve a two-year term.

“We hope to have someone named in 2008--between now and then we will be
working on the process,” Bonaudi.

Tucker, who likes to call poetry “the people’s art,” said the signing
of the bill after so many years, is cause for poetry lovers throughout
the state to rejoice.

“And it couldn’t have happened at a better time because April is National
Poetry Month.”

* * *

--For Gov. Chris Gregoire on the signing of SHB 1279
establishing the position of Washington State Poet Laureate
   —April 19, 2007

Waiting for the Poets

They will come bearing words
and I will be here with my yearnings,
this aching need to speak from my heart
about what I wish for this world.
Together, we will weave a poem,
a constellation of sounds
that will fall like cooling rain
along the parched margins of the way.
I have waited so long,
I have been patient,
but now the poets are coming.
They will help me say what it is that I need to say.

 —Ed Stover