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Poetry Month 2015: Lary Kleeman
FORTY* by Lary Kleeman it is time to explain myself or at least the pauses that come between my self and my self expression()namely, the use of parentheses—why & why the empty parentheses when questions should end in question marks, exclamations in marks of their own()is it under- stated rebellion, a faulty keyboard or just resorting to the easiest means of caesura sans periods or colons or semi- colons()let’s face it, specialization is over- rated()now hyphens & dashes designate a length of pause by a length of line— this is straightforward & to be admired, but what of the colon…Read More
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Poetry Month 2015: Ce Rosenow
EUMENIDES by Ce Rosenow Life filled with a sense of place, work, friends, love. But something isn’t right. Isn’t enough. Isn’t finished. Isn’t. The river rages by. I want forgiveness for wanting more. Instead I hear: Be satisfied. Be grateful. Desiring the out-of-reach could cost everything. white water the fury in my heart * birthday— a year longer than Shiki lived [from Spectral Forms] * * * From the poet-publisher’s Web site: Ce Rosenow founded her first small press publishing company, North Lake Press, in 1990 and she co-edited its primary publication, Northwest Literary Forum, until 1997.Read More
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Poetry Month 2015: David Mason
THE BAY OF WRITING by David Mason And I with only a reed in my hands. — George Seferis The reed, dried and cut, could make a pan-pipe on an idle day. I say the word again, kalamus, that early pen, from breezy leaf to leaves of nervy writing—Sappho, Archilochos, their fingering lines, a silent music till our voices find it.Read More
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Poetry Month 2015: Philip Levine with Bill Moyers
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Poetry Month 2015: Jim Murdoch
THE BEHELD by Jim Murdoch (for B.) She took several stones from the mosaic and gave them to me. “But now they are meaningless,” I said. “No,” she smiled, “their meaning has changed. “Why do you look through and not at?” And she drew a figure eight and turned it on its side and asked me if I could see forever. [From Reader Please Supply Meaning] * * * Jim Murdoch, a Scottish writer living just outside Glasgow, claims to be the character Beckett never got around to writing.Read More
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Poetry Month 2015: Nicholas Samaras
INVOCATION by Nicholas Samaras If what we summon is not what we desire, but what we are—then our petitions must be from our best selves. If what we give thanks for consuming consumes us, be sure we can first admire the art of our meal. Take in only what will nourish. Give thanks for bread from the hands of friends. Bring stories to the table and our realest selves. Before you move, be still. Let the crisp tablecloth hold up depth. Invoke our lives and the lives we offer back.Read More
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Poetry Month 2015: Margaret Chula
[UNTITLED] by Margaret Chula thirty years later I find them pressed in my journal what was that flower and who was that man * father-in-law who taught me how to sail now asks me the word for the place where horses sleep * my parents and in-laws moving toward senility suddenly there’s no one I need to impress [from Just This] * * * From the poet’s Web site: Margaret Chula lived in Japan for twelve years where she taught English and creative writing at universities in Kyoto.Read More
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Poetry Month 2015: History in Poetry
There is still plenty of room in this course, which launches on April 9th. Click here to register.Read More
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David Giannini: An Interview (Part Two)
[Today’s post concludes my interview with David Giannini. Jump back to Part One for a brief introduction and a substantial bio-/bibliography of the poet.] * * * TPB: Given your inclination toward the poetic sequence and the mixing of verse and prose, do you see yourself as part of the Modernist project? Not to apply labels or anything. Just curious about how you see yourself within “the tribe” that Eliot spoke of….Read More