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Michaelian on “Blind Poetics”
Two quotes here from an insightful post by William Michaelian, the third in his series on “Blind Poetics”: A poet who insists on the superiority of his vision will attract followers who are afraid to see, think, and feel for themselves. * A poet who dismisses the life and work of another poet, living or dead, will dismiss any human being he thinks is in his way, or who challenges the cherished notion of himself.Read More
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Earnings Report
In the comment stream related to a piquant entry on his blog, William Michaelian made this observation: “By and large, it seems we earn a readership that mirrors our own strengths and shortcomings.” Turn that one over a few times! There’s wisdom in it. I added a reaction to the comment stream there, and thought it might be worth expanding a bit here. What I thought is that the reverse may be true as well—that the writers we value mirror our own strengths and shortcomings.Read More
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Aphoristical
Yes, that’s me: a sucker for aphorisms. Maybe because I really can’t write them, though occasionally one will surface in the context of a poem—which of course makes it not an aphorism, I think, because an aphorism must stand alone. On the other hand, my Oxford American Dictionary defines aphorism as merely “a pithy observation that contains a general truth,” which is fine but begs the question of why they’re so damned delightful. This particular post was inspired, by the way, by another blogger who posts under the moniker of “JforJames” on his blog, ursprache.Read More
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A Blogger’s Notebook Poem Wordle-ized
Now this is fun: my “Blogger’s Notebook” poem “The Things That Carried Them” as graphically transformed on Wordle. I posted the original on this blog some time ago.Read More
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“Simblins” Update (**Updated!**)
Thanks to William Michaelian’s recent blog post, I did some follow-up Googling for “simblins” information in the hope of fleshing out the Mark Twain quote I posted earlier. Here some tidbits I found. An entry in his journal by Private Joseph Whitehouse, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, on his travels through the Rickoree nation. The entry is dated Saturday, September 29, 1804: Saturday 29th Sept. 1804. we Set off eairly. proceeded on passed bluffs on S. S.Read More
Joseph Hutchison, Colorado Poet Laureate 2014-2019, has published 20 collections of poems and edited or co-edited three poetry anthologies. He currently directs two master’s-level programs for University College at the University of Denver: Professional Creative Writing and Arts & Culture Management. Joe lives with his wife, Melody Madonna, in the mountains southwest of Denver, Colorado, the city where he was born. 
