Can Physicists Be Funny?

I've caught a few episodes of "Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman" on the Science Channel and found a fellow "Stanek." While I have no reason to believe there is a direct familial connection, I do know that some of my grandparents' relatives ended up in Chicago, which is home town to particle physicist Bob Stanek. Imagine my delight in finding out that not only is Bob a physicist, he also believes in having a sense of humor, contrary to what Dr. Sheldon Cooper of "The Big Bang Theory" may think. I encourage you to check out the Wall Street Journal article explaining the connection between science and humor. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122048206487796841.html?mod=hpp_us_pageone

Fall is here and I'm back...

It's good to be back at my desk after a couple of weeks of medical leave. Thanks to all for your prayers and well wishes.

It's the height of the fall reading period and if you are already in my queue, you will definitely have your submissions in hand well before the deadlines begin. If you did not queue up, many journals and presses will be reading through spring and there are always those that read year-round.

On a humerous note, it seems our military has decided that my web site is considered "entertainment" and therefore is not accessible to our troops overseas. I'm not certain I would catagorize poetry submission preparation along with Hulu or Netflix...

My poem "A Walking Tour of Central Europe on American Soil" appears in the I-90 Manifesto edition of Redactions: Poetry and Poetics, guest-edited by Sean Thomas Dougherty. http://www.redactions.com/

Poet Michael Meyerhofer will be in Rochester next week courtesy of Palettes & Quills, Poetic Effect, the Arts Minor Program at St. John Fisher College and Just Poets. If you're in the area, he will be reading at the Golisano Gateway on Fisher's campus Thursday, October 13 at 7:30 pm. Meyerhofer's books include Blue Collar Eulogies and Pure Elysium, which won the Palettes & Quills Chapbook Contest judged by Dorianne Laux. I hope to see you there. http://palettesnquills.com/

NYFA Grant Award Winners

This spring, I was privileged to serve as a panelist for the New York State Foundation for the Arts in the poetry category. It was exciting to read the work of so many talented poets. Below is the list of poets who were awarded grants:

Desirée Alvarez (New York)
Ari Banias (Kings) – Gregory Millard Fellow
Jose Beduya (Tompkins)
Cara Benson (Rensselaer)
Michael Burkard (Onondaga)
Ken Chen (Kings)
Barbara Cole (Erie)
Susan Deer Cloud (Broome)
Robert Fitterman (New York)
Tonya Foster (Kings)
Rigoberto Gonzalez (Queens)
James Hall (St. Lawrence)
Brenda Iijima (Kings)
Garrett Kalleberg (Suffolk)
Amy Lawless (Kings)
Ricardo Maldonado (New York)
Ryan Murphy (Dutchess)
Jacob Rakovan (Monroe)
Wendy Walters (Kings)

The other panelists were:

Jennifer Hayashida (Kings)
Anna Moschovakis (Delaware)
Willie Perdomo (New York)
Paige Taggart (Kings)

I hope you will check out the work of these fine poets.

Tupelo Press announces First/Second Book Award Winner

Lantern Puzzle byYe Chun of Columbus, MO has been selected as the 2011 First/Second Book Prize Winner at Tupelo Press. DA Powell was the final judge. For more information and a list of finalists visit www.tupelopress.org.

ABG Show at the Williams Gallery

The Artist Breakfast Group which, although "breakfast" is part of its name does not actually have breakfast at its early morning meetings, has an art show opening Friday, June 24 at the Williams Gallery located at the First Unitarian Church, 220 Winton Rd., Rochester, NY. The show will run until August 22, 2011. Poets will be reading (myself included) at the opening which runs from 5:00 - 8:00 pm and refreshments will be served. I hope to see you there. http://artistsbreakfastgroup.com/ABG/events.html

New Publication Opportunity

Architrave Press, founded by Jennifer Tappenden, is a new venture committed to "bridging the gap between intelligent poems and artful readers." This is a unique publishing opportunity for your poems, under 33 lines per poem. For more information visit http://architrave.submishmash.com/Submit.

Reading at Books, Etc.

I will be reading with David Michael Nixon Sunday, May 15 at Books, Etc., 78 W. Main St., Macedon, NY. The reading begins at 4:00 PM.

A bit about David: He is a mainstay in poetry in the Rochester area. I first encountered David at the Genesee Reading Series several years ago when Writers & Books was located in its temporary space on East Avenue while its University Avenue home was being renovated. His powerful short poems and distinctive reading style made quite an impression on me. David has served as a president of Just Poets and is a member of the Golden Links Folk Singing group.

I hope to see you at our reading on the 15th.

Ophelia's Flowers

I hope to see you at this special performance.

Ophelia’s Flowers: Mythic Women and Love
Song Cycle for Piano and Voice to be followed by a Poetry Reading

Libretto and poems by E. Louise Beach; Jennifer Bellor, composer.

Thursday, March 24, 7:00 pm
Wilson Formal Lounge
St. John Fisher College
3690 East Ave.
Rochester, NY 14618

Free and open to the public. Reception to follow the performance.

*Please note this is not an open mic event.

Sponsored by Just Poets and St. John Fisher College’s Arts Minor Program
Additional support by Poetic Effect

E. Louise Beach is a lyric poet, critic, translator, and librettist. Recently, she has been published in Barrow Street, Many Mountains Moving, Rosebud, The Bitter Oleander and TriQuarterly Online, among others. Finishing Line Press has published her two chapbooks: Blue Skies (2006) and Sine Nomine, (2011). She was recently named a finalist in the May Swenson Poetry Book Award. Seven of her poem cycles have been set to music by composers Jen Bellor, Gerald Coleman, Bryan Page, and Robert Pound. In 2011, Ms. Beach received a grant to create a libretto for August Strindberg’s The Dance of Death.


Jennifer Bellor is currently a Ph.D student in music composition at the Eastman School of Music. She holds an M.M. in composition at Syracuse University where she was the recipient of The Brian Israel Award in Composition in 2007. She was a participant in the Buffalo Philharmonic Young Composers' Readings in 2007 for her orchestral work, "Chimera." She has been commissioned by The Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, NY, Society for New Music, Reuben Blundell and the Millersville University orchestra, The Women in Music Festival at Eastman, and Peachtree United Methodist Church in Atlanta, GA with organist Nicole Marane and brass members from the Atlanta Symphony. Her piece, "Stars," for soprano and marimba was performed on the 2009 Eastman China Tour in May.

Call for Submissions

From Rob Tyler: R-Spec is accepting submissions for their 2nd anthology, "Alternative Rochesters," until March 31. Don't be fooled by the hard sci fi feel of the home page (or the cryptic comments in the right hand column - the dangers of too much automation!) - they love experimental fiction, magical realism, slipstream, and fantasy, with the emphasis not on genre but on literary quality. So dust off your memoirs, change a date or two, add an extraterrestrial or a dragon, and submit. And - set it in or around Rochester. Now, it could be "New Rochester," under a dome in a Martian crater, or the UFP Rochester trans-generational colony ship en route to Andromeda, or.... The first anthology included work by Nancy Kress, Nick DiChario, Jonathan Sherwood and JacK Garner so you'll be in good company.
http://r-spec.org

Genesee Reading Series

Please join Kathy Van Schaick and me for our reading at the Genesee Reading Series Tuesday, March 8 at 7:30 PM. The reading will be held at Writers & Books, 740 University Ave., Rochester, NY.

I will be reading new work, some of which is inspired by my residency in Poland last fall. Kathy will be reading from her outstanding poetry--if you haven't heard her read before, or read her work in Le Mot Juste and elsewhere, you don't want to miss this opportunity to get acquainted with it. Her bio is below:

Kathleen’s love of poetry began when, as an elementary school teacher, she collaborated with several local poets including Judith Kitchen and Dale Davis. Her poems have appeared in The Dire Elegies: An Anthology of Endangered Species, Listening to Water: An Anthology of the Susquehanna Watershed, Sea Stories, journal of the Blue Ocean Institute, and ByLine magazine in addition to several online literary journals including Puffin Circus. Her poem “women fish” won the 2006 S. Portia Steele Memorial Contest sponsored by the San Francisco Peninsula Chapter of the California Writers Club. Kathleen is past editor of Le Mot Juste, the annual anthology of Just Poets, (FootHills Publishing, 2008-2010). She is very honored to have been a participating poet in the in the 2009 Women in Music Festival sponsored by the Eastman School of Music.

Wanda Schubmehl is the curator of the Genesee Reading Series. Many thanks to her and to Writers & Books for the invitation to read.

Haiku North America 2011: Rochester, New York, July 27–31

From Michael Rehling: Organizers of the 2011 Haiku North America conference are pleased to announce that Rochester, New York, will now host the 2011 HNA conference, to be held July 27–31, 2011. The conference will maintain the theme of education in haiku and will take place at the Rochester Institute of Technology, cosponsored by the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, by the Postsecondary Educational Network-International funded by the Nippon Foundation of Tokyo, and by the Rochester Area Haiku Group.

Led by Jerome Cushman, the local organizing committee also includes Carolyn Dancy, Deb Koen, and Deanna Tiefenthal, with local and long-distance help from Francine Banwarth, Randy Brooks, and others. Anticipated activities include an Erie Canal boat cruise, banquet, regional readings, a memorial reading, anthology, T-shirts, and possible visits to nearby cultural attractions, including the National Museum of Play and a guided tour of historic Mt. Hope Cemetery, the oldest Victorian municipal cemetery in America and burial site of Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglas, and poet Adelaide Crapsey.More details will be provided at www.haikunorthamerica.com and on the HNA Facebook page.

Huffington Post Article on the MFA

What do you think about this Seth Abramson's article on the MFA?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/creative-writing-master_b_772628.html?ref=fb&src=sp#sb=1221877,b=facebook. Are there too many poets for the world and do poets need advanced degrees?

Can you help me get published?

This is for all who wonder about becoming a published poet or have been asked to help someone become a published poet.

Poets, this is a must read.

Have you ever wondered why you received your poems back from a journal with no note, acceptance or rejection? Have you waited more than two years for a response? This is worth reading (and forwarding). http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/2010/10/21/AnAppealToPoetryEditors.aspx

Just Poets Reading Series

Nancy Chalker-Tennant will be the featured reader Thursday, October 14 for the Just Poets Reading Series. The reading starts at 7:00 pm and will be followed by an open mic.

A bit about Nancy: Nancy Chalker-Tennant is both a poet and visual artist who teaches in both disciplines in the Rochester, NY area where she lives. While she is concentrating on poetry, her work has included painting, printmaking and small editions of hand made “artists’ books” some of which are in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, the Yale University Library, and The Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry. Nancy is the recipient of several grants including a Mid-Atlantic National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and New York State Council on the Arts grants, among others. Her poetry has been anthologized in Le Mot Juste.

Home from Poland

After nearly five weeks in the land of my paternal ancestors, I am finally home.

This trip to Poland has been more than worth the time and effort. I am most grateful to Axis Mundi, the arts organization that sponsored the writer's residency through the Art Factory in Bialystok; Don and Betty Orr, who shared their home and their perspective on Polish life from the point of view of North Americans living there for more than 10 years; Jolanta Wolagiewicz who introduced me to numerous contacts in my search for information on old Polish legends and folktales; my family and friends, who came to the rescue both personally and professionally allowing me to devote the time to take this trip; and the Arts & Cultural Council of Greater Rochester, which financially supported my travel. I am also grateful to my fellow writers-in-residence: Toni Denis, Kelly Hayes-Raitt, Eveyln Posamentier, Mairin O'Grady, and Dianna Mertz for their support and friendship throughout this adventure.

Uncovering one's roots affords the opportunity to make some sense of that which has often been taken for granted or gone unnoticed altogether. Background scenery--poplar, birch, and plum trees decimated by blight in Western New York thrive in the old country. Willows have more reason to weep in Poland, a nation all too often trounced upon by its neighbors. Poland is a nation long on tradition and determination. This is not a backward culture stuck in the time of cart and horse. This is a culture which has rebuilt itself time and again for a better future. This is a culture whose people, some whose courage enabled them to remain steadfast through the worst their enemies could do and others whose courage pressed them on to new lands where they worked to preserve their culture and language as they blended into foreign societies, have the resolve to persevere. It is this perseverance that remains in the genetic memory of those of us who lay claim to Polish ancestry, this unwillingness to be resigned to the acceptance of what is unacceptable.

Poem

I am happy to include the following poem, in both English and Polish, by Edyta Ślączka-Poskrobko, with her permission.

FAREWELL TO LHORIEN

I`d like to see beatiful Lhorien
again, in its passed glory
rest among the golden leaves
which fell down from Mallornes

listen to song of quiet river
which carried Elves' memories
and forget about my grief
and take the helm but oars

But there`s no forest any more
and memory is stray around
in gold Knyszyn-forest's deepness
in its clearings and wilderness

here under the bright blue sky
my heart changed into the wind
with Sokołda`s rapid current
wants to meet your hands again

But your hands not on the river
you are sailing far away
wind in shrouds whispers quietly
come back here come back, I beg you

I am waiting in Lhorien
like a gate closed long ago
but I`ll open myself as soon
as you say the password: darling

translated by
Paweł Poskrobko (the son of Edyta Ślączka-Poskrobk0)


POŻEGNANIE Z LHORIEN

Chciałabym Lhorien przepiękne
ujrzeć znowu w dawnej chwale
siąść wśród złotych liści cudnych
co z Mallornów pospadały

wsłuchać się w śpiew rzeki cichej
co wspomnienia Elfów niosła
i zapomnieć o swym żalu
w ręce chwycić ster nie wiosła

Lecz już nie ma tego lasu
i wspomnienie się tak błąka
po knyszyńskiej puszczy złotej
jej polanach i jej łąkach

Tu pod modrym niskim niebem
serce moje w wiatr zmienione
wraz z Sokołdy nurtem wartkim
chce napotkać twoje dłonie

Twoje dłonie nie na rzece
Twoje żagle na jeziorze
wiatr na wantach cicho szepce
wróć tu do mnie, wróć ja proszę...

Ja w Lhorien krainie czekam
jak zamknięta ongiś brama
lecz otworzę się gdy tylko
hasło rzekniesz: ukochana

Corrections to my last post.

The poet referenced in my September 7 post contacted me with some additions and corrections. I am so grateful that she did since I was unable to get all the information with my lack of knowledge of Polish. I am especially grateful since we poets don't get enough recognition for our work and I am more than happy to share more about her with my readers.

First of all, the art gallery is not part of the Bialystok university, but an independent institution – the Ślędzińscy museum. As for the poems, they were written by Edyta Ślączka-Poskrobko, her mother (Barbara Noworolska) and her father (Zbigniew Ślączka), not her grandfather as I had previously written on my blog. He was the grandfather to her son, who played his compositions on the piano – Paweł Poskrobko. The reading itself was titled Rodzinne Poezjowanie.

If Ms. Edyta Ślączka-Poskrobko allows, I will later post one of her poems that has been translated into English.

Witam!

Hello from Bialystok, Poland. As many of you know, I am here on a month-long writer's residency. Five other writers, one of which is also a poet, and I are absorbing Polish culture and the amazing richness of the cadence of the Polish language.

I am flattered that the people here view me as one of their own, a tribute to my half-Polish heritage. The complication is that it is assumed I speak the language when I only know a few words. Still, it is wonderful to be embraced so.

My poet-colleague and I attended a Polish poetry reading on Sunday. The reading was held at a small art gallery on the grounds of the University of Bialystok. The featured reader, a middle-aged woman who speaks no English, read not only her own work but that of her mother and grandfather. Her son also played a few piano compositions of his own. The poet herself was the embodiment of eccentricity, wearing neon green tights under her summery floral dress, a neon green shawl over her shoulders and a straw fedora on her head.

It might interest you to know that there seem to be some universal consistencies at poetry readings. No one, except for the host, sat in the first two rows of seats. There were late-comers. Someone's cell phone rang in the middle of the reading. Felt like just another second-Thursday-of-the-month reading at B & N. Speaking of B & N, I hope you'll join Anita Augesen who will be guest hosting for me Thursday night. Poet Victoria Korth will be the featured reader. As always, an open mic follows. The reading starts at 7:00pm. I hope you can make it.

Thank you in advance to my patient clients while my assistant works to keep your databases updated. In addition to helping me, she works full time and is a wife and mother. Thanks also to pet sitters and other family and friends for keeping everything in order at home so that I have no worries other than running out of paper while I'm here.

Please check back periodically for more posts as this adventure continues to unfold.

Do widzenia, for now.

Announcing the Black Mountain North Symposium, Rochester, NY, October 1-3, 2010. This conference celebrates the experimental arts tradition in upstate NY, while also commemorating the centenary of Black Mountain College rector Charles Olson and the life of poet Robert Creeley. In the collaborative and multidisciplinary spirit of the original Black Mountain, Black Mountain North will feature poetry and visual arts panels, as well as readings and performing arts performances. Distinguished speakers include poet and troubadour Ed Sanders, Black Mountain historian Mary Emma Harris, and Black Mountain College alumni Martha Rittenhouse Treichler, Basil King, and Martha King, among many notables. See http://www.blackmountainnorth.org/. For questions, contact John Roche at jfrgla@rit.edu.

Cleveland State University Poetry Center First Book and Open Competition Award Results

The Wick Poetry Center at Cleveland State University has announced the prize winners for both its Open Book and First Book competitions:

Winner of 2010 Cleveland State University First Book Prize, selected by Rae Armantrout forthcoming Spring 2011, is The Grief Performance by Emily Kendal Frey.

Winner of 2010 Cleveland State University Open Competition, forthcoming Spring 2011, is
The Firestorm by Zach Savich.

For a complete list of finalists and semi-finalists visit http://www.csuohio.edu/poetrycenter/2010openbookresults.html.

Web Site for Women Writers

Whether you are looking for an opportunity for self promotion or would like to share your work with others for critiquing, check out www.shewrites.com. This online community of women writers from all genres recently reached 10,000 members. As a member you will be able to post your publication news on the site's weekly digest. You will also be able to join any groups relevant to your interests, ranging from spiritual writing, publishing and editing, and many more. Your participation can be as little or as much as you wish. Please take a look at She Writes and let me know what you think by posting a comment on this blog.

May Update

Update on contests, presses, and journals reading now: Nearly 20 chapbook publishers are reading via contests. Some of these are looking for manuscripts from specific demographics such as Midwestern poets only, poet-residents of NY and New England only, or LGBT poets only. More than 35 full-length book contests and presses are actively reading. While most college sponsored literary journals either have or are about to close to submissions, there are others that read exclusively from spring to fall. Plenty of journals read year-round though they may take a little more time to respond between now and autumn. Email me at info@poeticeffect.com if you'd like me to help your manuscript find a home.

Here's an online journal of high quality: Valparaiso Poetry Review, http://www.valpo.edu/vpr/. The current issue features work by Brian Turner, Sean Thomas Dougherty, and Michael Blumenthal.

Ha(nay)ku Reading

Over the winter, five teams of poets embarked on another form poetry project conceived by M.J. Iuppa, this time writing chains of ha(nay)ku. The form is simple: six words in any combination over three lines. Some teams, as decided by their captains, saw all of their team members' poems before writing their own in response. Since it worked so well last year with the Adelaide Crapsey project, I decided not to allow my team to see any poems other than that of the immediately preceding person's.

While there won't be a chapbook like Cinquainicity last year, there will be a reading Tuesday, April 27 at St. John Fisher College. The reading will begin at 7:30pm in the Hughes rotunda. For more information on the location visit http://www.sjfc.edu/.

My team members include Dave Tilley, Elaine Thayer Olsson, Ron Bailey, Ann C. Putnam, and Suzanne Slack.

AWP 2010 Thoughts

Denver did a great job hosting AWP.

Best readings: Mary Biddinger, G.C. Waldrep, Oliver de la Paz, and Major Jackson. Kudos to Diode Poetry and FishHouse.

Hot topic: Delivery system of the literary magazine. Print, online, Kindle, or IPad? Would you like an app with that?

Controversial trend: Submission fees for lit mags.

Grayest area: Copyrights. Think multimedia. Electronic rights. Then there's Kindle and IPad again. What about YouTube? Read your contract before you sign.

More Q's than A's.

It was a pleasure to meet and chat with Margo Stever (Frozen Spring) and Diane Wakoski (The Diamond Dog).

Best meal: Dinner at Laguna's with Jules.

March Update

Spring has arrived early in western New York. Crocuses bloom through melting snow just as many literary journals have ended their winter reading and many Poetic Effect clients will soon be seeing their responses in the mail/email. Currently, more than 250 print journals are considering poetry submissions. Many of these will close to submissions when the tulips and lilacs are in full color here in May. Full-length book manuscript contests are at their peak with 35+ reading right now. More than 20 chapbook contests are running as well. If you would like to get into the Poetic Effect spring queue, get in touch soon info@poeticeffect.com.

Congratulations to Poetic Effect clients who have recently had work accepted by Southern Indiana Review, Pearl, Inkwell, Chaffin Journal, Roanoke Review, Worcester Review, Blueline, River Oak Review, Soundings Review, Eureka Literary Review, Avocet, South Dakota Review, Clackamas, Yalobusha Review, Red Wheelbarrow, Coe Review, and others.

AWP, the largest conference for writers and writing programs, will be held in Denver next month. I will be blogging about various panels and other writing-related news. I hope to see some of you there.

The Just Poets Reading Series and Open Mic will be featuring James Cook (tonight), Sue Ann Wells (April), Suzanne Slack (May), and contributors to Le Mot Juste 2010 (June). The reading series is held at 7:00 pm the second Thursday of every month (except December) at Barnes & Noble, Pittsford.

Leah Zazulyer Reading

Poet and translator Leah Zazulyer will be reading from her work Friday, March 5 at Greenwood Books, 123 East Ave., Rochester, NY. The reading, which begins at 7:00 pm, is one of many events held as part of the city's ongoing First Fridays.

Reading at Yesterday's Muse

Kathy Van Schaick will be the featured reader at Yesterday's Muse in the village of Webster, NY, Friday, March 5 at 7:00 pm. Bring your own work for the open mike that follows her reading.

Kathy is a board member of Just Poets in Rochester, NY and serves as the Managing Editor of Le Mot Juste, the annual Just Poets anthology. She also volunteers at a local hospice as well as public radio.

Publication in Euphony

My poem "Preservation" appears in the just-released Winter 2010 issue of Euphony http://euphonyjournal.com/current/. Enjoy!

Congratulations to Donna Marbach

Congratulations to Donna Marbach for her recent publication in Redactions Poetry & Poetics. Check out issue 12, guest edited by Rob Carney, which also includes work by Christopher Kennedy and James Grabill.

Publication in 2009 Chaffin Journal

I just received my contributor's copy of the 2009 Chaffin Journal where my poem "Hide" appears. I am pleased to have my work published along side that of fellow Bennington grads David Scronce and especially my classmate Susan Howard Case who passed away earlier this year.

What do those puppies own?

Recently spotted in the village: Puppy's for sale. I'm wondering just what those puppies own that they are selling...

Genesee Reading Series

I will be reading tomorrow with Leah Ruekberg for the Genesee Reading Series at Writers & Books, 740 University Ave., Rochester, NY. The reading begins at 7:30 pm. If you're in the area, I'd love to see you there!

Duane Esposito to Read at FLCC

On Wednesday, October 14, poet Duane Esposito will be reading in Canandaigua at the FLCC Honors House at 7:00 pm as part of the FLCC Diversity Series. Esposito is also a literature and creative writing professor at Nassau Community College.

Cynthia Iannaccone to Read for Just Poets

Cynthia Iannaccone will be the featured reader Thursday, October 8 for the monthly Just Poets reading series and open mic. Just Poets members in good standing may sign up in advance by emailing claudiastanek@gmail.com.

Just Poets Retreat

I will be leading a workshop on How Does a Poem Mean at the Just Poets Retreat at the Gell Center of the Finger Lakes tomorrow. Thirty Just Poets members are attending this first ever event. Additional workshops will be led by Ron Bailey, Karla Linn Merrifield, and Dwain Wilder.

Sarah Freligh Reading

Sarah Freligh will be the featured reader Thursday, September 10 for the monthly Just Poets Reading Series and Open Mic. Join us at 7:00pm in the Community Room at Barnes & Noble, Pittsford. An open mic will follow. Just Poets members in good standing may sign up in advance by emailing claudiastanek@gmail.com.

August Just Poets Reading

Dee Hogan will be the featured reader Thursday, August 13 for the Just Poets Reading Series and Open Mic. The reading begins at 7:00 pm in the Community Room. Just Poets members in good standing may sign up in advance by emailing claudiastanek@gmail.com.

Colleen Powderly to Read for Just Poets

Colleen Powderly will be the featured reader Thursday, July 9 for the monthly Just Poets Reading Series and Open Mic. The reading begins at 7:00pm in the Community Room at Barnes & Noble, Pittsford. An open mic will follow. Just Poets members in good standing may sign up in advance by emailing claudiastanek@gmail.com.

Language Abuse

Every writer has a list of particular annoyances when it comes to spelling and grammar mistakes. Below are two seen and heard in the Rochester, NY area this past week.

The first was offered by a female anchor during a live newscast: "has spreaded."

The second was seen on a sign along the road at a driving range/miniature golf course: "birthday partys."

Feel free to send me some that you've seen and/or heard.

Le Mot Juste Reading

The premier reading of Le Mot Juste 2009 is Thursday, June 11 at Barnes & Noble, Pittsford, 7:00pm in the Community Room. Le Mot Juste is the annual anthology of Just Poets which celebrates its fifth anniversary this year. An open mic will follow. For information on Just Poets visit www.justpoets.org.

Donna M. Marbach to Read Thursday

Poet and editor Donna M. Marbach will be reading from her work Thursday, June 4 at Writers & Books, 7:00pm. Marbach, who will be reading with chapbook contest winner Kathryn Howd Machan, is the owner and manager of Palettes & Quills (http://www.palettesnquills.com/), a small press based in Rochester, NY.

Marbach is a founding member and past president of Just Poets (http://www.justpoets.org/) and is the current editor of the organization's newsletter, Poet Talk. When not writing, editing or publishing, she paints and markets textbooks.

Iris Miller to Read for Just Poets

Iris Miller will be the featured reader Thursday, May 14 at the monthly Just Poets Reading Series at Barnes & Noble Pittsford. Join us at 7:00pm in the Community Room and bring your own work to read at the open mic which follows.

Iris Miller believes strongly in the power of the image to teach and to heal. After retiring from teaching art in the Rochester City School District, she became a certified art therapist, a trained shamanic practitioner, and a writer of poetry. Her poems have appeared in literary journals such as Nimrod, The South Carolina Review, and The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, as well as various anthologies. Her chapbook, Angels Flying Backwards, will be available in 2010.

Cinquainicity: The Adelaide Crapsey Project

The chapbook Cinquainicity: The Adelaide Crapsey Project is on display all this month at Poets House in NYC. This chapbook, published by Palettes & Quills, features five series of linked cinquains as the form was defined by Adelaide Crapsey. M.J. Iuppa created and organized the project which includes 28 poets.

The form is syllabically driven: first line -2 syllables, second line -4 syllables, third line -6 syllables, fourth line -8 syllables, last line -2 syllables. Each poet began a cinquain with the last line of the cinquain written by the preceding poet.

I had the privilege of being the captain of the chain with poets Nici Knebel, Francis Bragan Richman, Jan Wenk Cedras, Cynthia Iannaconne, and John Roche.

For information on purchasing this chapbook visit www.palettesnquills.com.

Publication in Blueline

My poem "Girl with Laurel" appears in the latest issue of Blueline, published by SUNY Potsdam. Joining me in issue XXX are fine poets M.J. Iuppa, Adam Wilcox, and Karla Linn Merrifield. As of this writing, the new issue is not listed on the Blueline web site. Check back with the site for ordering details.

Dwain Wilder Reading Thursday

Dwain Wilder will be the featured reader this Thursday, April 9 at the montlhy Just Poets reading series and open mic. Join us in the Community Room at the Pittsford location at 7:00pm and bring your own work to read during the open mic that follows.

Dwain's bio: Dwain, a native of a small town outside Dallas, has lived in Rochester, NY since 1970 and now lives with his wife and niece, and dogs, in a quaint, untidy old farmhouse. He makes his livelihood as a luthier (a builder of stringed musical instruments). Dwain’s Appalachian dulcimers are held in high regard, both here and abroad, where he regularly receives commissions from Europe, Great Britain and the Far East. Dwain also teaches dulcimer building classes at the Northeast Dulcimer Symposium in Blue Mountain Lake in the Adirondacks, as well as in his studio.

Dwain also writes poetry and essays on Zen. He has published poems in various small poetry periodicals and collections but not extensively -- due to having no taste for rejection slips and a lack of industry. He has published a chapbook, “Under the Only Moon,” under the Kinko/FedEx imprimatur. And he also composes and inscribes a short dedicatory verse in each dulcimer he sells (which, one might say, makes him the world’s highest paid poet, on a per line basis).

World Premiere of "Housewife"

I am delighted by Dr. Judith Lang Zaimont's interpretation of my poem "Housewife" which served as the textual basis for her composition of the same name. The piece was performed at the Eastman School of Music yesterday as part of the Women in Music Festival, organized by Eastman faculty member Dr. Sylvie Beaudette. Susan Conkling directed the Eastman Women's Chorus in the performance which was written for piano and chorus.

I am also grateful to Dr. Beaudette for inviting me to send poetry for this commissioned project and to Dr. Conkling for her assistance in the choice of the poem but also for her superb direction of the premiere.

For more information about Dr. Zaimont, visit her web site www.jzaimont.com.

"Housewife" Premieres Wednesday

Please join me Wednesday, March 25 at noon in the Grand Hallway at the Eastman School of Music for the world premiere of "Housewife," a libretto composed by Judith Zaimont for the Women in Music Festival. My poem "Housewife" was selected by Zaimont to serve as the textual basis for this segment of her larger work, "Life Cycle."

Women in Music Festival

An interactive concert, two silent film shorts, readings by local poets of their works, premieres of new compositions, and performances in the community are just some of the events highlighting the fifth annual Women in Music Festival at the Eastman School of Music. Running from Monday, March 23, through Friday, March 27, the festival celebrates the many achievements and contributions of women in all aspects of music, including composition, performance, teaching, and scholarship.

The public is invited to attend these free performances and experience the amazing works by women that are becoming standards in the repertoire or are heard for the very first time. Judith Lang Zaimont will be this year's composer-in residence. Her music, which includes some 100 symphonic, chamber opera, voice, and solo instrumental compositions, is internationally acclaimed for its expressive strength and dynamism. Zaimont also has authored numerous articles and is the editor of the three-volume series The Musical Woman: An International Perspective. Her composition "Housewife," commissioned by Eastman's Hanson Institute for American Music and based on a text by local poet Claudia M. Stanek, will receive its premiere by the Eastman Women's Chorus during a concert of her work at noon on Wednesday, March 25, in the Eastman School's Main Hall. In addition, Zaimont's "Sacred Service for the Sabbath Evening" will be performed by singers from Eastman School and Temple B'rith Kodesh at 7 p.m. Friday, March 27, at the Temple.

The festival features five noontime concerts of works written by women in a broad range of musical styles, with each piece being introduced by a local woman poet reading from her work. Scheduled to appear are poets Donna Marbach, Karla Lynn Merrifield, Wanda Schubmehl, Kathleen Van Schaick, and Andrea Weinstein. The noontime concert on Thursday, March 26, in Eastman's Schmitt Organ Recital Hall will include two silent shorts by German filmmaker Lotte Reiniger, which will be screened to music written for a duet consisting of saxophone and vibraphone. The concert will end in Christ Church (Episcopal) where the work "Pent," written by Eastman composition student Elizabeth Kelly for the Craighead-Saunders organ, will receive its premiere.

Also on Thursday, March 26, pianist Kevin Nitsch and mixed media artist Kathleen Nicastro will present a concert at 3:30 p.m. in the Miller Center Atrium as part of their interactive "Labyrinth of Sound and Light" series. Titled "Water's Edge: 200 Years of Women Composers," the event also features soprano Amy Cochrane and pianist Beverley Smoker. Individuals will be able to wander into the Atrium to listen, watch, and move around the artists to enhance the participatory experience; writing and drawing materials will be available so that audience members can express their own thoughts or impressions.

Besides the performance of Zaimont's "Sacred Service for the Sabbath Evening," events on the evening of Friday, March 27, include a recital by Eastman alumna and flutist Jennifer Oh-Brown and the Chicago New Arts Trio at 7 p.m. at the University of Rochester's Interfaith Chapel.

A complete schedule of events, which are free and open to the public, can be found online at www.esm.rochester.edu/wmf/. In addition, the weekly mini-recitals on the Italian Baroque organ at the Memorial Art Gallery at 1 and 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 22, and Sunday March 29, will be devoted to women composers.

The Eastman School's Women in Music Festival was launched in 2005. Sylvie Beaudette, assistant professor of chamber music and accompanying is the founding director of the festival.The 2009 festival is sponsored by The Hanson Institute for American Music at the Eastman School; the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender & Women¹s Studies and the Department of Music in the College of the University of Rochester; the departments of Chamber Music, Composition, Humanities, Piano, Voice, Winds, Brass & Percussion and the Eastman All-Events Committee of the Eastman School of Music; and the Office of the Dean of the Eastman School of Music.

Zaimont's residency was funded in part through Meet the Composer's MetLife Creative Connections program.

Charlie Cote Reading for Just Poets

Poet Charlie Cote will be the featured reader for the Just Poets Reading series and open mic Thursday, March 12 at Barnes & Noble, Pittsford. Join us at 7pm in the Community Room. Just Poets members in good standing may sign up in advance by emailing claudiastanek@gmail.com.

In the late 90s, Charlie Coté was a faithful church attendee but found himself sitting more and more in the doubter’s pew. As weekly sermons were often, shall we say, less than inspiring, he took to doodling phrases scraps of paper. These morphed into the beginnings of early poems. From there, he found the most accomplished, devout agnostic poet he could find to help him complete these heresies. Said poet will remain unnamed but let’s say his name rhymed with bored, appropriately enough. When Charlie gets dry, he can still count on the doubter’s pew to be his triggering town...

Publication credits include: The Cortland Review, Upstreet, Boston Literary Magazine, ByLine, Connecticut River Review, and a recent chapbook, Flying for the Window (Finishing Line Press, 2008), elegies about his son’s illness and death.

Charlie is a clinical social worker in private practice and lives with his wife and two sons in Brighton.

A Change of Plans

I am not a believer of circumstance. I was supposed to be attending a mult-journal off-site AWP reading in Chicago this evening. Instead, my flight having been cancelled, I was pleased to attend Rochester native and 2008 Pulitzer prize winner Philip Schultz's reading at the University of Rochester. Schultz, whose work spans his youth growing up here in Living in the Past (Harcourt, 2004) and moves through multi-faceted Failures in his notable book of the same name (Harcourt, 2008) addresses recurring themes related to the imigrant experience and mind-set. His reading immediately connected several audience members to that past time and place so often now only found in foggy memory and vacant lots where the quaint but serviceable homes of families once stood. As the imigrant neighborhoods of his generation are re-shaped, a driving cultural amalgamation of the 20th. century in the United States diminishes and will all but disappear but for the efforts of artists such as Schultz.

Remembering Faces Reading

Join guest host Donna Marbach (publisher/editor) for a reading by the poets from the anthology Remembering Faces (Palettes & Quills, 2008) sponsored by Just Poets. The reading is at 7:00 pm Thursday, February 12 at Barnes & Noble Pittsford in the Community Room. An open mic will follow. Just Poets members in good standing may sign up in advance via email: claudiastanek@yahoo.com.

Adam Wilcox Discusses the Poetry of Alan Dugan

Adam Wilcox will be discussing the poetry of Alan Dugan at the next Just Poets meeting, Saturday, February 7 at St. John Fisher College.

Adam is the president of WritWilcox, LLC. His poems have appeared in or are forthcoming in Poetry, The Colorado Review, Folio, Cairn, and Blueline, among others. He has been a featured reader for the Genesee Readers Series. For eight years, he wrote the "Gut Instincts" food column for Rochester City Newspaper. H.e plays in two original bands in addition to playing jazz as a volunteer with the ARC of Monroe County. He lives in Rochester, NY with his choreographer wife, Anne Harris Wilcox and their three homeschooled children.

Jan Wenk Cedras Reads for Just Poets

Jan Wenk Cedras will be the featured reader for the monthly Just Poets Reading Series and Open Mic at Barnes & Noble Thursday, January 8. The reading, which begins at 7pm, will be in the community room at the Pittsford location. Paulette Schwartzfager will be your emcee for this evening. Just Poets members in good standing may pre-register for the open mic by emailing me at claudiastanek@yahoo.com.

Wynne McClure to Read

Please join me at Barnes & Noble Pittsford this Thursday, December 11 for this month's Just Poets Reading Series. Poet Wynne McClure will be the featured reader. An open mic will follow the 7 pm reading.

Wynne McClure has written 3 books of poetry: My Lonely Luxury (Foothills, 2008), Torn For Peace (with Paul Bither, Foothills, 2005), and The Hidden Self (Foothills, 2004). Other work has appeared in or is forthcoming in Soundings Review, Tipton Poetry Journal, Hazmat Review, ByLine, Listening to Water: The Susquehanna Watershed Anthology, and Summer Songs as well as elsewhere.

Le Mot Juste Reading

Avoid the crowd at the SUNY metro center and join Just Poets at Barnes & Noble Pittsford tomorrow evening at 7pm for a reading from the Just Poets Anthology Le Mot Juste 2008. While we can't beat Ted Kooser's reading, we can entertain with some locally spun poetry. See you in the community room!

Denise Duhamel's Reading Last Night

How many poetry readings feature a strong, ebullient poet? Denise Duhamel entertained a larger than average crowd at SUNY Brockport's Writers Forum. Duhamel was introduced by SUNY Brockport's Steve Fellner. Fellner's own book, Blind Date with Cavafy, was selected by Duhamel for the 2006 Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize. Having heard Fellner read just this past Tuesday evening at the Genesee Reading Series at Writers & Books, I can say it is easy to understand how Duhamel selected Fellner's manuscript. Both poets have a penchant for viewing the familiar in unexpected ways.

Duhamel, whose work is not strictly written for academicians, stood at the podium with confidence and a youthfulness that belied her 47 years. She prefers to open her readings with the lighthearted and humorous to capture her audience and, having their attention, she then feels comfortable addressing more serious issues, like death and loss. Duhamel uses the Barbie doll as a character to ponder the possibility of joining the military, among other humorous explorations. Her work is accessible and employs various forms such as the abcedarian, where in "Our Americano" her use of long lines and slang terminology from the 1950s makes what is old new again to a generation oblivious to that era. She devised another form based on the Mobius strip, where her poem about the struggles of a friend suffering from Alzheimer's may begin and end anywhere on the three dimensional page plainly conveys the how of the poem. One does wonder, though, how such poems incorporating lengthy lines and breathlessness read on the printed page to a voiceless reader.

Anne Coon Reading Thursday

Poet Anne Coon will be the featured reader for this month's edition of the Just Poets Reading Series Thursday, October 9 at Barnes & Noble, Pittsford. Join us in the Community Room at 7:00 pm. Read Anne's brief bio below:

Anne Coon is the author of four books: Henry James Sat Here (The Old School Press, Bath, UK, 2006); Via del Paradiso (FootHills Publishing, 2006); Daedalus’ Daughter (FootHills Publishing, 2004); and her newest book, co-authored with Marcia Birken, Discovering Patterns in Mathematics and Poetry (Editions Rodopi, Amsterdam, 2008). Her poems appear in several journals. She recently retired after 28 years at RIT and is now writing full-time, working on a novel and a new poetry manuscript.

Jennings / Memmer Reading at W&B

Poets Michael Jennings and Phil Memmer, two very different poets both from the Syracuse area, read to a sparse audience at Writers & Books last night. "Read" took on new meaning as Jennings, dyslexic as a child, recited his poetry while not once consulting the written page. Jennings recited work from his book Silky Thefts (Orchises Press, 2007) which features mostly autobiographical longer poems about his experiences growing up in the middle east and the U.S. Jennings "composes" his poems for the ear rather than writing them, thus making them a more natural fit for recitation.

Memmer, director of the Syracuse equivalent to W&B, the Downtown Writing Center, read from his book Lucifer: A Hagiography forthcoming in 2009. The premise of this book is based on various translations of the word used for the name Lucifer (one of which could be the name for Jesus). Memmer posits both Lucifer and Jesus as God's children though he sees Lucifer as a "typical disaffected child," a rebellious teen rather than devil engaged in war against God. Memmer also read from his more personal collection of poems Sweetheart, Baby, Darling (WordTech Communications, 2004).

Upcoming: William Heyen will be reading Thursday, October 2 at W&B, www.wab.org. Charles Simic will be reading Friday, October 3 at the Downtown Writing Center. For tickets visit: http://www.ymcaarts.org/readings.html.

M.J. Iuppa Reading for Just Poets

Poet and prose writer M.J. Iuppa will be featured Thursday, September 11, 2008 for the next Just Poets reading at Barnes & Noble, Pittsford. Join us at 7:00pm upstairs, in the community room. An open mic will follow.

M.J. is a much beloved figure in the Rochester area literary scene. She teaches at both SUNY Brockport and St. John Fisher College and is involved in bringing creative writing into public schools as well as many community oriented creative writing projects. Her work explores nature--both that of the world around us and that of the world within each of us. Her most recent book of poetry, Night Traveler, was published by Foothills Publishing.

Poetic Effect Web Site Updated

Poetic Effect is now offering a new service: chapbook and book manuscript submission. Visit www.poeticeffect.com for more information.

August Occasion

My weekend was spent participating in Writers & Books and the Downtown Writing Center's joint poetry and fiction "August Occasion." The weekend featured four genre specific workshops led by poet Phil Memmer of the Downtown Writing Center, poet and prose writer Steve Huff of Writers & Books, poet Debra Kang Dean and prose writer Jennifer Pashley. The event was held at Writers & Books' Gell Center in Bristol where some of the more outdoor-friendly participants pitched tents while others stayed in the Thoreau cabin and still others chose to rough it at local B & Bs. Donna Marbach and I chose to carpool and commute from our suburban Rochester homes each of the 3 days. Were I to attend this event again, I would probably be less interested in commuting to save more personal energy.


Personally, I appreciated Memmer's critiquing from the perspective of a literary journal editor as well as Dean's careful attention to "how the poem means," the importence of which was ingrained in me by Tim Liu. I came away with interesting input on and direction for the poems I'd brought. The poetry workshop attendees were, with the exception of one, from the Rochester area. In spite of this, I was not familiar with everyone's work which made for a pleasant treat to experience works in progress I would not otherwise have seen.


While this was neither a "Bennington" experience--I think nothing can duplicate an actual Bennington experience--nor a rival of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, it was a good opportunity to connect with other poets in a different setting and a credit to the western and central New York literary communities.

Jeremy Fernaays to Read Thursday

Williamson resident Jeremy Fernaays will be reading his poetry Thursday, August 14 at the Just Poets Reading Series at Barnes and Noble, Pittsford. Join us at 7 PM in the Community Room. An open mic will follow. Feel free to bring your own work to read. Please remember that Barnes and Noble is a family place when choosing what you will read.

Publication in Roanoke Review

My poem "A Cosmology" appears in Volume XXXIII, Spring 2008 issue of Roanoke Review which is published annually by Roanoke College. To purchase a copy of Roanoke Review, click on the link provided: http://www.roanoke.edu/roanokereview/subscriptions.html.

"Coming Home" Reading at W&B

Both originally from the Rochester area, W&B billed their July 24, 2007 readings as "Coming Home." Randall, who now resides in Colorado Springs, CO, began the evening reading from her 2007 collection A Day in Boyland (Ghost Road Press). The cover of this book is rather Rod Serling--an extreme close-up of the made-up face of a haunting doll. Randall's poems elicited chuckles and smiles from the audience which consisted largely of both poets' friends and families. Most memorable are the titles of her poems, especially the title poem of a small self-published group collection "The Underpants of Gloom" The chapbook includes over-sized sewn paper underpants in an envelope on the inside back cover. Check out http://www.ghostroadpress.com/ for more info on Randall.

Fagan, whose original inspiration in poetry was Edgar Allan Poe, couldn't be more different from Randall. Fagan's work is admittedly dark incorporating violent and graphic imagery. He read from his collection Garage (Salt Publishing, 2007). "Scatology" was inspired by Maxine Kumin's "The Excrement Poem." What begins with a somewhat lighthearted account of the simultaneous profusion of an elephant's liquid and solid waste elimination ends with the image of Christ on the cross. Fagan's juxtaposition of such seemingly unrelated images is the fresh edge of a poet worth reading. To learn more about Fagan, including a video introduction, visit http://www.saltpublishing.com/.

Leah Zazulyer Reading Thursday

Join me at Barnes & Noble Pittsford Thursday at 7pm for the July 2008 Just Poets Reading Series and Open Mic. Leah Zazulyer will be the featured reader. You'll find us upstairs in the Community Room. Bring your own work to read at the open mic!

Just Poets Reading Series

Join me this Thursday, June 12 for the Just Poets Reading Series at Barnes & Noble Pittsford. Poet, actor, playright, director and retired teacher Ed Scutt will be the featured reader. The event starts at 7pm in the Community Room. An open mic will follow.

Le Mot Juste Reading

The first Le Mot Juste 2008 (Just Poets anthology) reading will be Sunday, June 1 at 1:00pm at Lift Bridge Books in Brockport, NY. If you're in the area, stop by. www.justpoets.org.

Publication in Red Wheelbarrow

I am pleased to have my poem "That Year" published in the 2008 issue of Red Wheelbarrow Literary Magazine. Just Poets members Ron Bailey and Donna Marbach as well as Kim Addonizio also have poems appearing in this nationally distributed journal. Edited by Randolph Splitter, Red Wheelbarrow is published by De Anza College. For more information visit: http://faculty.deanza.edu/splitterrandolph/stories/storyReader$209

Just Poets Reading - May 2008

Please join us for the Just Poets Reading Series at Barnes & Noble Pittsford Thursday, May 8 at 7:00 pm. The featured readers will be Donna Marbach, Tricia Asklar and Tom Holmes. An open mic will follow.

Publication in the Briar Cliff Review

The 20th. anniversary edition of the Briar Cliff Review is now available. My poem "Stakes" appears in this 2008 volume. The Briar Cliff Review is published by Briar Cliff University. For more information visit http://www.briarcliff.edu/campus_info/bcu_review/home_bcu_review.asp.

Adam Wilcox to Read Thursday

Please join me at 7:00 pm on Thursday, April 10 at Barnes & Noble Pittsford for the monthly Just Poets Reading Series and open mic. Adam Wilcox will be the featured reader. An open mic follows.

Women in Music Festival

I will be reading as part of the Eastman School of Music's Women in Music Festival at noon on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 in the Miller Center Atrium. My poems will be read prior to the performances of various musical selections. Poets M.J. Iuppa, Wynne McClure, Patricia Roth Schwartz, and Karla Linn Merrifield will also be performing on other days and in other locations that week. If you happen to find yourself in downtown Rochester, please stop by to listen! For more information visit http://www.esm.rochester.edu/wmf/.

Info on ByLine Magazine

To receive the back issue of ByLine Magazine in which my article "Five Essential Books Every Poet Must Have," contact the editors through their website: http://www.bylinemag.com/.

Highlights from AWP

Charles Simic and, standing in for the ill Bruce Weigl, Laure-Ann Bosselaer discussed their journals and their influence on the poems they’ve written. Other than mentioning minutia such as “lined” or “unlined” journals and their size, the discussion ran toward a couple of interesting yet unrelated points. The first came from Bosselaer who explained the meaning of the seldom used word “sempiternal,” a word which I have used in a poem of my own. I’ll let you discover its meaning for yourself. The second point as stated by Simic was “Most poets do not understand their own metaphors” to which he added “Metaphor proves the existence of heaven and hell.” I’m curious as to how you might interpret this last statement.

Kevin Larimer of Poets & Writers magazine moderated a panel discussion on Issues and Contemporary Poetry. The magazine will launch an updated web site that will include a calendar of events later this month. Tree Swenson, chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, described that organization’s role as the “serotonin of the poetry world.” New to the Academy, www.poets.org/mobile.

Lee Briccetti of Poets House (http://www.poetshouse.org/) considers that organization the “physical space and spiritual home for poetry.” Poets House receives 2000 new titles each year and maintains a Directory of Poetry Books. It will move to its new rent-free location in Battery Park City in the fall of this year.

The Poetry Society of America (http://www.poetrysociety.org/), represented by Alice Quinn, boasts having placed poems in the subways and buses of 16 cities. It also maintains a chapbook fellowship program which publishes 4 new titles annually.

Lastly, John Barr of the Poetry Foundation would have you visit http://www.poetryfoundation.org/ where anyone may download any of 6500 poems for free.

Also available online is access to the Library of Congress: www.loc.gov/poetry where its Poetry at Noon reading series items are updated every May.

All panelists agreed that poetry audiences are growing.

I attended several panels on lit-mag publishing as well as a few on poetics including one on the poetry of Marianne Moore (Timothy Liu was one of the panelists) and another on the poetic sequence.

The most memorable reading was on the poetry of grief and faith organized by Allison Granucci of Blue Flower Arts. Li-Young Lee, Claudia Emerson, Mary Karr, C.K. Williams and Robert Bly read. Lee, while still never raising his head to look at the audience, was more composed than when I last saw him read for BOA in 2006. Emerson and Williams essentially read the same poems they had read at the Palm Beach Poetry Festival the week before AWP. Mary Karr, whose work both in poetry and prose I admire very much, was a big disappointment. Hers was the briefest reading of the group. She also selected poems from her book Sinners Welcome that were the least representative of either grief or faith. As to Bly, his personality overshadowed the reading as he inserted explanations into the poems as he read them and often repeated himself. He's still quite a character.

Finally, during the Bennington cocktail party Ed Ochester collapsed much to the horror of those of us standing near him. Ochester is no small man so seeing him crumble was all the more dramatic. When the paramedics finally arrived to take him to hospital, he was pale but responsive, even raising his fist as they wheeled him down the corridor. It has since been disclosed that he was rushed into surgery to repair an aortic aneuryism, definitely a life-threatening event (my grandmother's third husband did not survive this type of crisis). At last report, he is doing well though not yet ready for visitors.

Feel free to add your thoughts about AWP.

Palm Beach Poetry Festival: Final Notes

Friday evening, Claudia Emerson (my workshop leader) and Campbell McGrath gave their readings. McGrath read mostly from his new work. Emerson spoke about what influenced the poems she read. She had been the dean of a boarding school and has written poems on the subject. Those of us from her workshop tried to do the "wave" at the end of her reading but weren't quite coordinated enough to make it work. The thought was what mattered.

Saturday brought more of the workshop participants' readings. Emerson's workshop read first. My selection was my poem "On Arriving in India and Walking the Streets of Mumbai in Monsoon Season" which I wrote for Lorrie Divers's father since he had traveled there extensively during his career. I felt it important to read this particular poem since Mr. Divers passed away New Year's day.

Saturday afternoon all of the workshop leaders gave a brief talk on their most "beloved" poems. Emerson and Sharon Olds both selected from Dickinson. Addonizio chose Whitman. I'd be happy to tell you the others' selections if only I could find my notes...

Sharon Olds and C.K. Williams were the final poets to read on Saturday evening. Olds read the audience onto a train of emotions with her interspersing her more personal familial poems with more humorous recent work. The most impressive poem she read is the title poem from her forthcoming book One Secret Thing. The poem centers around her bedside presence at her mother's death watch. The speaker of the poem describes moistening the lips and inner tissues of the mother's painful mouth. This resonated so well with me because that is an act I could not perform myself while at my own mother's deathbed when her mouth had become an entire cracked wound.

I would like to say that I enjoyed Williams's reading though I found myself unable to connect with his poetry as he read. The only poem I specifically recall was "The Dog" though I can't say it truly reached me on a visceral level since the speaker of the poem behaved in an unremorseful and judgemental way.

I would highly recommend this Poetry Festival to any poet who seeks serious consideration of one's work and who is willing to give the same. You will probably never find me at a conference in the mountains, any mountains, but I'll be motivated to be anywhere there's a beach and powerful poetry. Should my dog ever accompany me I may not return to the tundra in Rochester.

Palm Beach Poetry Festival: Day Three

After attending the first of two participant readings this afternoon, I made my way to the beach (finally). While the water temperature was a bit too cold, even for me in my northern winter coat of excess fat, I walked in the surf as the tide began to come in, the coolness of the sand therapeutic for my aching feet.

Later, a local shuttle driver flagged me down on my way to tonight's readings. My feet gratefully accepted not knowing the pronouncement to follow. The driver, in what could best be considered an oracular manner, insisted that I remain in Del Ray Beach and not return to frozen Lake Ontario soil. Politesse? Of course. Good PR? Sure. But he repeated his insistence as I made my way off the shuttle, even after I had told him of my need to be in Manhattan next week. Such events do make one wonder...

Lola Haskins read first this evening, which was labelled "Florida Poets" night. In some ways she could be labelled a caricature of a poet; despite her tall, lean figure she always dresses in poet's black, right down to the cast she wore on her broken leg. Haskins has memorized all the poems she has ever written, pehaps not such a tremendous surpise considering that up until recently she taught computer science and web design--she has an analytical mind pre-occupied by detail. She performed her work with grace and an elegance not often seen on the literary stage.

Spencer Reece followed Haskins. Reece, who is hoping to leave his Florida clerk's life for the seminary in CT, had many family members in attendance. Dressed as smartly as ever, as his Brooks Brothers position demands, Reece exhibited a more relaxed demeanor behind the podium than when I first heard his work at Bennington. In addition to reading a couple of selections from his prize winning book A Clerk's Tale, he read two new pieces, both rather lengthy, one extremely personal dealing with the murder of his cousin many years ago. Reece is a sensitive soul; tears canaled his face as he read the latter poem. He may very well become the wonderful hospice chaplain he aspires to be.

Day One Addendum & Day Two

Day One finished with readings given by Malena Morling and Major Jackson. Morling, who once taught at Syracuse University, has an engaging voice and a distinctive style that pricks the listener's ear. She did read a poem referencing places in the Syracuse area, something my Syracuse native friends might appreciate.

Despite my acquaintance with Major during a workshop at Bennington, where he still teaches in the low-res MFA program, I had not heard him read his own work. Major reads with a quiet but compelling voice; his poems could be described as an tonic in this seemingly pervasive climate of cultural and personal human confusion.

After the second of four workshops with Emerson and the other participants, I feel gratified to know that this conference attracts serious poets and not merely hobbyists. The feedback given is sincere, precise and beneficial, even when slightly painful. This is, however, what I am in attendance to receive, especially in regard to my ongoing struggle with certain narrative poems.

The evening's readers were Kim Addonizio and Thomas Lux. Addonizio held my attention more, perhaps because I am more familiar with her work and her reading style since she was a headline poet at the first RochesterInk Poetry Festival in 2005. I would be reluctant to say that Lux's reading was not entrancing, just that Addonizio is a difficult personality to follow. Most fun was their collaboration; Kim's harmonica served as background music to one of Lux's poems. She is quite accomplished in her musical ability.

More tomorrow!

Day One: Palm Beach Poetry Festival

After last night's networking and dinner at the local Brazilian restaurant (thanks, Jim), this morning's workshop brought me back to the personal growth purpose for being here. The group discussed my poem "The Rambler" and helped me move closer to a possible chapbook decision for that and all the other related poems. If not a chapbook, then at least a very separate section in a full length book.

This afternoon, Kim Addonizio read from her upcoming book on poetic craft, The Poem's Progress. Addonizio used sonnets from Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Lucia Perillo and even Shakespeare. Though I haven't personally considered Addonizio to be a New Formalist, that was how she was presented to the audience.

Campbell McGrath then gave a talk called "Peeling the Onion: Poetry and Specificity." Examples he cited include "One Day at a Florida Key" by Robert Bly, "The Smokehouse" by Yusef Komunyakaa and "In the Waiting Room" by Elizabeth Bishop. I encourage you to take in the specificity of these poems for yourself but will tell you that according to McGrath the process might better be called "Rebuilding the Onion from its Concentric Selves." Hmmmm...

Cherry by Mary Karr

Cherry (Thorndike Press, 2001) picks up where the author's first memoir, The Liar's Club, ended with her as a preteen. As one might guess from the not-so-subtle title, this centers around her coming of age in the Texas refinery town of Leechfield.

Karr's prose is not quite as poetic as in the first installment. She has chosen to tell the story in the second person, which yields a more immediate read to events that, by today's standards for publication (what outrageous secrets can you expose?), are more innocuous than the latest antics of Britney Spears though they happened in a less public time.

Karr neither portrays herself as victim or survivor but relays her experiences in an almost matter-of-fact tone. Unlike The Liar's Club, her dysfunctional parents and perfect sister are only afforded cameo appearances though the textures of their personalities could have added dimension to Cherry, as did the appearance of Charlie (her mother) near the end of the book where Charlie's own past influences the outcome of the younger Karr's first arrest.

Still, her story is more interesting than my own, though it ends before mine begins. I suspect the telling of Karr's tale is not yet complete and will happily read the next volume.

Blue Angel

Francine Prose's novel Blue Angel (Harper Collins, 2000) is an interesting satire of undergraduate creative writing programs. It just happens to be set in Vermont. It just happens to center around a middle-aged male character named "Swenson" who just happens to be a somewhat sympathetic washed up novelist and professor. He just happens to end up in disgrace with everyone in his life and just happens to be grateful for the new life opportunity his disgrace brings him. Not so believable, at least not as compared to J. M. Coetzee's Disgrace (Viking, 2000), which takes a larger, darker walk into total debasement and self-destruction.

Not that the two books can fairly be compared. While Prose's novel is more satirical than Disgrace, it fails to make the same emotional connectivity, something I crave in any writing even if part of authorial intent. The protagonists in both novels have strained relationships with their daughters though Coetzee more succesfully carries that relationship into the meat of his larger plot which truly earns the book's title.

Different authors, different continents, different outcomes. Perhaps the American reader prefers the melodrama of suburban soap operas to serious personal and cultural trauma. Perhaps Americans need a larger world-view, one that takes them out of sleepy college towns and onto the farms of another continent where the shockingly true aspects of human nature are more than sound bites on CNN.

Please feel free to leave your comments on either/both novels. I would appreciate your point of view.l

Just Poets Meeting 10/6/07

Many thanks to Gary Lisman, President of Just Poets, for leading all who attended in a haiku (or short poem, as each poet preferred) collaboration. The assignment was to spend a few minutes making observations with a random poet-partner then to write a short poem either together or individually. Some pairs did both. After sharing what each poet had written, a lively discussion on the nature of haiku in English took place. Gary is also a member of the Rochester Haiku Society and is well-informed on current issues related to this Japanese form, having recently attended the Haiku Society of America's conference here in Rochester.

For more information on upcoming Just Poets events, visit www.justpoets.org.

Recent Literary Food

Currently, there are 39 books on my "Must Read" list, most of which, you might guess, are poetry. In my post-MFA literary consumption to date, here are some of the highlights:

The Body of Poetry, Annie Finch
The Body of the Beloved, Gregory Orr
A Small and Remarkable Life, Nick DiChario (see previous post)
Loostrife, Stephen Dunn
The Liar's Club, Mary Karr
Sinners Welcome, Mary Karr
Ishmael, Daniel Quinn
The Long Meadow, Vijay Seshadri
Please, Mr. Einstein, Jean-Claude Carriere
The Deepest Part of the River, Mekeel McBride
Magnetic North, Linda Gregerson
Poetry as Survival, Gregory Orr
The Last Fine Time, Verlin Klinkenborg
Various Orbits, Thom Ward
City of Lights, Lauren Belfer
Transformations, Anne Sexton
Facts About the Moon, Dorianne Laux
The Faith of a Writer, Joyce Carol Oates
What We Carry, Dorianne Laux

Favorites:

Best Book on Writing/Poetry: Poetry as Survival
Best Poetry Collection: Sinners Welcome
Best Memoir: The Last Fine Time (though The Liar's Club is fabulous, I prefer not to choose it since I've already selected Karr's poetry collection as a "Best." )
Best Novel: A Small and Remarkable Life

I am currently reading Blue Angel by Francine Prose.

Perhaps you'll notice a pattern in my selections above. If you've got a suggestion that might fit or rock that pattern, feel free to leave a comment. Please tell me why you think I should read what you suggest. I am especially interested in memoir/biography suggestions. I'd also be interested in reading your comments on any of the books mentioned, positive or negative.

Reflecting On the Death of Liam Rector

In the unsettled aftermath of Liam's suicide, I am reminded of Kendra Tenecea's January 2007 graduate lecture on the poetry of Ruth Stone and his comments on Stone's inability to get over her husband's suicide. Liam spoke with such negativity of Stone in this regard that his own suicide has come as more than a little shock to most of us in that graduating class.

My own thoughts go to Tree Swenson and his daughter Victoria as they process his decision over time. One can only suppose how Swenson's future poetry will be impacted, even as those poems begin to be written within her being, if not on paper, in the now.

While we process this active passing in our various ways--writing poems of our own, celebrating Liam's life, remembering the complex man who dominated every room where he was present, watching (or swearing never again to watch) that "brass balls" scene from Glengarry Glen Ross)--we cannot help but wonder about the future of the Writing Seminars at Bennington College.

The January and June 2007 graduating classes are Rector's final legacy. How will that legacy be lived out into the future?

To view his obituary, click on http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/arts/17rector.html.

Canandaigua Poetry Marathon

I have been invited to read as part of the second annual Canandaigua Poetry Marathon organized by Marie Starr. The first marathon, held last September, drew publicity from Poets & Writers magazine, http://www.pw.org/mag/0609/newsmantzaris.htm. This is a major finger lakes event in our little but literary-rich corner of the north east. Poets John Roche, Anita J. Augesen and Pat Schwartz will also be reading in addition to many others. It is a marathon, after all!

Readings will be ongoing from noon until 6:30 pm on Saturday, September 8, 2007. A musical open mic will follow the poetry marathon. For more information, check out the festival web site at http://www.poetryfestival.downtowncanandaigua.com/.

Benefit Reading for RochesterInk

A Poetry Chain reading to benefit the RochesterInk Poetry Festival, www.rochesterink.net, and Writers & Books will be held at Writers & Books at 7:00pm Wednesday, September 5, 2007. The Poetry Chain, as well as RochesterInk itself, is the brainchild of Wanda Schubmehl. In the Poetry Chain, seed poems are sent out to participants who then respond to those poems or write poems inspired by them. The resulting poems are then forwarded to other participants, forming a poetic chain. Wanda has overseen this process in the past, much to the delight of the participants, escpecially with the surprising results. I am one of the many poet participants who will be reading. I hope to see you there!

UPHILL BOTH WAYS: CONFESSIONS OF A CATHOLIC COLLEGE ALUM

is the title of poet-friend Sal Parlato's reminiscences of his Catholic college experiences in the 1950s. Sal's usual wit and wordplay are prominent in this quick read.

I first met Sal back in 2002 and learned that we have a common past: we both come from the Buffalo area originally. We have both also taught English as a second language right here in the Rochester area, though in different programs.

Sal's led a busy life. To see what he's been up to check out his web site at www.wordsandthensome.com.

Artworks & Poetwords Reprise

The Artworks & Poetwords collaborative project has finally come to fruition. The display will be on exhibit every weekend in May, with artist and poet talks as well as readings highlighting the collaborative process.

The exhibit will be held at the Dome Arena in the Glass Lounge, immediately to the left after entering the main building. An opening reception will be held there on Friday, May 4 from 5:00pm until 8:00pm. Several poets will be reading their work to the background accompaniment of Len Messeneo and Blue Cloud. Refreshments will be provided. There will also be a cash bar.

My collaboration with abstract expressionist Antoni Ooto resulted in a print of his painting alongside my poem "Talus." You'll have to attend the exhibit to see for yourself how both the art and the poetry complement each other.

For more information on the exhibit, visit the web site for the Rochester Art Club at www.rochesterartclub.org/.

AWP Atlanta 2007

Having family in the Atlanta area and also having just begun a poetry submission service, www.poeticeffect.com, it made sense to attend the annual AWP conference this year to do a little networking. It was fantastic to get out of the Arctic Circle for a little while at least.

Day one conference highlights included a panel on crossing genres to non-fiction which quickly digressed into a lively discussion on how to make money as a writer (writing children's books seems to be a solid source of revenue).

Day two's best panel dealt with experimental poetry and the workshop, where one view compared the workshop to a group of people deciding on restaurant options--no one can ever seem to agree. Timothy Liu offered a wine analogy where poems may be considered types of wine. Tim asked us to consider "how" the poem means as more revelatory than "what" the poem means. I would ask those of you with whom I share work to remember this the next time I bring along a "language" poem.

Day two ended with a fine reading by Terrance Hayes. Charles Wright followed. The two very different reading and poetry styles didn't quite mix well.

Day three began with a panel on our elegaic age which had me thinking of M. J. Iuppa and her research on the elegy. Successful elegies were described as remaining in the "now" with the speaker's voice implicating itself through tone. Would M. J. agree with that assessment?

A mostly "Bennington" panel on the contemporary "I" provided few surprises. Liam Rector sees the "I" as an "other" while Timothy Liu sees the "I" as "me" qualified as a lie. In other words, "I" is me except when it isn't. Don't we all add a little cumin to spice up those confessions for impact?

The book fair was as expected: very tired and sometimes hung-over editors waiting for someone to turn the air conditioning on (they finally did the last day). Most representatives offered chocolates if not free copies of their journals. I have to say that I am very pleased with the high quality of journals and magazines represented. Beautiful covers, strong work in-between.

It was good to visit with Garner Powell and Suzannah Simpson, who will both be graduating with their MFAs from Bennington College in June. Suzannah has work forthcoming in Nimrod. Gardner has interviewed Donald Hall, which I'm sure we'll see in print very soon.

ByLine Magazine Article

The February 2007 issue of ByLine magazine, now available for sale at Barnes & Noble Pittsford and Write Book & Gifts in Honeoye Falls (www.writebookandgifts.com), includes an article by me titled "The Five Essential Books Every Poet Must Have." I am grateful to the magazine's poetry editor, Donna M. Marbach, for the opportunity to share my thoughts on this subject.

Marbach, along with Robbi Hess and Peter Young, has invested in this magazine and all three are doing a wonderful job of updating it for the 21st. century. Both the January and February 2007 issues have a slick new look, inside and out. While it's not exactly Writer's Digest, it is informative for the novice to intermediate writer and poet. At a cover price of $5.oo per issue, it's quite affordable.

If you can get a print copy, let me know what you think of this magazine.

A Small and Remarkable Novel

Nick DiChario's novel A Small and Remarkable Life (Red Deer Press, 2006) is one of the best bits of speculative fiction I've read in quite some time. This is mostly due to the fact that being in an MFA program prevented me from reading genre fiction (since there's no extra time for leisurely reading and genre fiction couldn't possibly be literary). DiChario's book, however, would be a strong contender as literary fiction on the merits of its craft and the excellence in the telling of its tale, an allegory set in the 19th. century. While the protagonist is an earth-born alien, he is surprisingly accepted in the culture of western New York state. Perhaps this is because western New York has given birth to several different brands of religiousity where angels have visited and spiritual colonies have settled. We western New Yorkers are not easily shocked.

Blue-skinned (no, he's not an Andorian) Tink Puddah offers the reader a study in mercy, grace, and forgiveness, attributes that we would all be well -reminded to exhibit on this 21st. century quotidian Earth.

Stick a fork in her, she's done!

A saying borrowed from Tommy Conley. After two very long years, I have finally obtained an MFA from Bennington College.

My lecture on the 21st century American sonnet went well, thanks to all who offered advice and pointed me in the right direction (M.J. Iuppa, Lorrie Divers, Donna Marbach, John Roche, Jules Nyquist and many, many others to whom I am forever grateful). Henri Cole and April Bernard asked some tough questions but, surprisingly enough, Spencer Reece (a delightful new faculty member at the Writing Seminars) did not ask one--a huge relief since he was well-acquainted with sonneteer James Merrill. I wish Mr. Reece well in the writing of his own sonnets.

Some of the highlights of this last residency include a marvelous lecture by Louise Beach on the personas created by poet Fernando Pessoa. At the end of her lecture, Louise employed three of her own personas to reinforce her point: a farmer played by poet/instructor/editor Ed Ochester, a very naughty girl played to perfection by Celeste Guzman Mendoza, and a moody high schooler played by me. Talk about a memorable lecture!

Classmate Kendra Tanacea gave an insightful lecture on the poetry of Ruth Stone. Bennington Writing Seminars Director Liam Rector had a strong reaction to Ms. Stone's poetry, especially in her treatment of men. Kendra handled the matter with grace and tact and, a few days later, tote bags sporting a photo of Ms. Stone with the slogan "Real men read Ruth Stone" appeared around campus.

The "brass balls" originated by Leslie McGrath became "brass breasts" in honor of Ms. Stone. Celeste Guzman Mendoza presented the first Ruth Stone award to Cheryl Tucker (June 2007). Don't worry, gentlemen. The brass breasts may be easily reconverted to brass balls, if necessary.

Other graduating poets' lectures included Jules Nyquist on the sestina, Elisabeth Farrell on the trickster in the poetry of Charles Simic, and Celeste Guzman Mendoza on the art of the literary interview. Our fiction and non-fiction classmates did us proud as well.

Sadly, Susan Howard Case could not graduate with us. We all missed her very much and as many of us as are able will try to be there to see her and several other former classmates being awarded their hoods and diplomas in June.

As if to make the point that leaving Bennington is not easy, a mouse chewed through the air filter and began to nest in the air flow line of my car, keeping my friend Lorrie Divers and me in VT one extra day. So much the better; we got to visit the Blue Benn one more time.

Thanks to David Dodd for his sage suggestions for my graduate reading.

Thanks to all the poets, writers, friends, family, dogs, cats and other beings for their support during this quest. That is what this experience was for me, a quest, though I'm still not certain just what I am searching for. I suspect I'll be on the cusp of finding it a minute or so before I die.

Whistling Shade

My poem "Late Afternoon, February 16, 1905" has been published in the Fall 2006 issue of Whistling Shade. It appears both in print and online: www.whistlingshade.com. The poem is a fictionalized account of the arrival of my grandmother Katarzyna Bryniarska Stanek and her son Andrew in the United States. It has only recently come to my attention that the daughter mentioned in the poem did not, in fact, die aboard ship but arrived with her mother and brother. Anna lived into her 80's in suburban Buffalo.

A Chorus Line

New York, October 25, 2006: Saw A Chorus Line, the broadway show in which my nephew, Tyler Hanes, plays Larry the dance captain. Since I did not see the original 30 years ago as did my friend Steven, I can't comment on a comparison. Today's version is supposed to be an exact duplication of the original, right down to the material of the costumes. Tyler is an energetic dancer, bleached out hair and all. Check out the link to his website or visit www.broadway.com for more info.

Poetic Effect

My business web site is now up and running: www.poeticeffect.com. It explains my poetry submission service. Check it out and if you're interested in becoming a client, email me at poeticeffect@hotmail.com.

ArtWorks and PoetWords

I have recently been invited to participate in a poet/artist collaborative project called ArtWorks and PoetWords. More than 70 poets and visual artists have been randomly paired and will work together to create original work to be shown during National Poetry Month (April 2007).

Antoni Ooto and I will be working together during the next five months. We have already met twice and have decided on an initial concept. For more information on Antoni and his work as well as the Rochester Art Club, check out the links on this page.

Recent Publication

My poem "Appendage" appears in the Fall 2006 issue of Main Channel Voices. To order a copy, visit the link on this page. Though the journal does place some of its contents on its web site, mine is only in the print version.

Annotation on She Had Some Horses

This 1983 collection is a demonstration of thematic and phraseological repetition. When done well, Harjo succeeds in creating the feel of a chant or meditation. Twenty-two years after the book’s publication, however, there are some word choices that might not work if first presented in today’s poetry culture.

The book is divided into four sections: “Survivors,” “What I Should Have Said,” “She Had Some Horses,” and “I Give You Back.” The first and most lengthy section establishes the poet’s terms as a basis for the entirety of the book. In 25 poems, Harjo enlightens us on various aspects of blood, earth, breath, stars, birth and voice, using each noun at least eight times, not to mention the anchor of the book: horses. Yet, she does so in a way that the reader does not feel compelled to close the book screaming, “Enough!”

Earth is the subject most frequently treated by the poet. It is described as “boiling” and “cooking” beneath us in “Anchorage,” (14) as if preparing to give rise to an uncertain newness. In “For Alva Benson, And For Those Who Have Learned To Speak,” (18) the earth acts as midwife as a Navajo woman “squatted down against the earth / to give birth.” The ground spoke then and continued to speak when birthing became the business of hospitals. Eventually, a woman is born who “learned to speak for the ground” after people learned to ignore it speaking for itself. The earth murmurs and “spinning beneath us / goes on talking.”

It is the intricate dance of this earth, along with the sky and stars that make the poet “memory alive” in “Skeleton of Winter” (31) as all three circle her heart. Harjo and / or the speaker of her poems speak often of the heart, perhaps a little too often by today’s standards, not just in the first section of the book, but in the other three as well. Whether these are “hearts / that would break into pieces” as in “Kansas City” (33) or are unwanted as in “Your Phone Call At 8 AM” (57) where “what you wanted, this morning / you said, was a few words / and not my heart,” the heart has lost much of its poetic magic from decades, if not centuries of trite overuse.

Breath and breathing are succumbing to the same problem in contemporary literature. Harjo asks the reader to “Remember your birth, how your mother struggled / to give you form and breath.” This particular poem, “Remember” (40), seems to encapsulate nearly all of Harjo’s key elements in this book: sky, stars, moon, sun, birth, earth, voice and dance. These are all essentials of the Native American culture the poet calls upon her readers to remember, most to which a person of any ethnic background could relate, in a global sense.

The third section is the title section, “She Had Some Horses,” (63) a poem in five parts. While horses appear throughout the book it is here that they are ascribed their identities by the poet. “She” is, presumably, Mother Earth in which all things originate. Her horses were “maps of drawn blood” or war; they “licked razor blades” or acted destructively. They “cried in their beer” and “lied.” Her horses, personified, were both loved and hated. Harjo selects the past tense here, as if to say to the reader that Mother is done with her work. Then in the last section of the poem, “Explosion,” (68) she offers us possibilities such as “a new people, coming forth” and tells us “maybe the explosion was horses” that will enable some “to see who they have become.”

The final section of the book is one poem, “I Give You Back.” (73) The speaker of the poem is done with fear, reinforced by her chant-like repetition of “I release you” four times followed by eight “I am not afraid” declarations. She declares, “I take myself back, fear.” Then, having experienced what fear has had to offer, the poet completes the book with a newfound confidence “But come here, fear / I am alive and you are so afraid / of dying.//”

There is a delicate balance between the judicious yet intentional use of repetitive thematic elements and phraseology and their overuse. Threads skillfully woven throughout a book keep the reader from being distracted by them, creating a pattern similar to weavings done by peoples indigenous to the southwest. The difficulty lies in determining just how obvious that pattern should be, and, if recreating in poetry a pattern like the art of the Navajo, determining where the requisite flaw should be.

Annotation on A Tomb for Anatole

A Tomb for Anatole (Pour un tombeau d’Anatole) is a fascinating translation of fragmentary notes written by French poet Stéphane Mallarmé after the sad but not altogether unexpected death of his son Anatole at the age of eight. The boy had never really been completely well from birth and his mother’s pregnancy had been difficult. By the medical standards of the late 19th century, Anatole had been diagnosed with children’s rheumatism, his symptoms being joint pain and a perpetually swollen abdomen.

Paul Auster, who translated Mallarmé’s fragments, comments in his introduction “This is one of the most moving accounts of a man trying to come to grips with modern death—that is to say, death without God, death without hope of salvation…” This comment made these fragments even more despairing for me to read. It is difficult enough to consider the death of any child, even more so the death of one’s own child. However, it is most difficult to read of such a painful loss knowing that the parents did not have any kind of faith to support them and, as Auster writes, “In this time of crisis even art failed Mallarmé” since he was unable to finish the long poem his notes suggest he would have written. The intended poem would have had four parts. Some of the fragments state for which part they were intended.

Auster describes the framents as “a kind of ur-text, the raw data of the poetic process” and most of them are just that. Auster also writes a disclaimer with which I would, in part, disagree:
Although they seem to resemble poems on the page, they should not be confused with poetry per se. Nevertheless, more than one hundred years after they were written, they are perhaps closer to what we today consider possible in poetry than at the time of their composition.

I would propose, rather, that some of these fragments are poems in and of themselves merely written at least 50 years ahead of their time. In my reckoning, nine of the 202 fragments could certainly qualify as poems by today’s standards, more if one is open to a much more abstract consideration of a poem. One such fragment poem is number 7 “what has taken refuge / your future in me / becomes my / purity through life, / which I shall not / touch— //. Mallarmé believed that his son was not really dead as long as the boy lived within his memory, creating a sense of the sacred within himself.

A sense of presence beyond death is conveyed in fragment number 30 “brother sister / not ever the absent one / -- / will not be less than / the one present—//.” This brief but concise poem of five lines quietly expresses the poet’s attempt to rationalize his loss by the very life of his daughter and does so perhaps more effectively than had the poet employed the conventions and constraints of his time.

We see denial demonstrated in fragment 93 which was designated for section 2 of the poem never written “the pious / burial of the / body, makes myste- / riously—this / admitted fiction— //” where being laid to rest becomes “fiction,” unreal for the poet. I would disagree with Auster’s insistence on breaking the lines awkwardly in the English translation for the sake of mirroring the original French. I would have broken “mysteriously” as “myster- / iously.” But, Auster is not claiming any of these fragments as poems so his decision to keep the translation letter for letter as it appears on the page in French makes sense authentically.

Fragment 129 speaks to me as if it were the title poem:

no death—you will not
deceive him—
--I take advantage of the fact



that you deceive him
--for his happy
ignorance
--but on the other hand
I take it back from you
for the ideal tomb

I agree with Auster’s assertion that Mallermé would not have completed his intended long poem for that would have been Anatole’s entombment and not entombed he lives on, even beyond his loving father.