Kate Greenstreet's Young Tambling or Cole Swensen's Gravesend or Martha Ronk's Transfer of Qualities
Wayne Koestenbaum's My 1980s
Bhanu Kapil's Schizophrene
Catherine Taylor's APART
Sunday, December 15, 2013
CA Conrad's list
The latest thing on facebook is to post the ten books that have stayed with someone. I enjoyed CA's, so here it is:
13 books of poetry that changed my life (i.e. saved my life)
(in alphabetical order by poet):
kari edwards, A DAY IN THE LIFE OF P
Alfred Starr Hamilton, THE POEMS OF ALFRED STARR HAMILTON ...
Merle Hoyleman, ASP OF THE AGE
Mina Loy, THE LOST LUNAR BAEDEKER
Bernadette Mayer, STUDYING HUNGER
Rosalie Moore, THE GRASSHOPPER'S MAN
Eileen Myles, SAPPHO’S BOAT
Alice Notely, HOW SPRING COMES
Gil Ott, PUBLIC DOMAIN
Ron Silliman, ed., IN THE AMERICAN TREE
Jack Spicer, THE COLLECTED BOOKS OF JACK SPICER
Susie Timmons, LOCKED FROM THE OUTSIDE
John Wieners, BEHIND THE STATE CAPITOL
(in alphabetical order by poet):
kari edwards, A DAY IN THE LIFE OF P
Alfred Starr Hamilton, THE POEMS OF ALFRED STARR HAMILTON ...
Merle Hoyleman, ASP OF THE AGE
Mina Loy, THE LOST LUNAR BAEDEKER
Bernadette Mayer, STUDYING HUNGER
Rosalie Moore, THE GRASSHOPPER'S MAN
Eileen Myles, SAPPHO’S BOAT
Alice Notely, HOW SPRING COMES
Gil Ott, PUBLIC DOMAIN
Ron Silliman, ed., IN THE AMERICAN TREE
Jack Spicer, THE COLLECTED BOOKS OF JACK SPICER
Susie Timmons, LOCKED FROM THE OUTSIDE
John Wieners, BEHIND THE STATE CAPITOL
Sunday, December 8, 2013
When does one write?
"How many hours do you write a day? And how do you do it? Stay up late? Set a schedule? Strict routine or random?"
Good questions! My answer is: depends on the day. I get more done during breaks. 0 to 2 hours on normal days.
Really, during semesters of teaching, my writing is narrowed down. I often make lists of strategies, things I want to write, etc. then go to that list when I have time.
I take the William Stafford approach, by waking up early in the morning and heading to PT's or the office to get some writing done. I also write to my friend Kevin Rabas, around three letters a week. He sends me letters too, so it is a terrific way to write, reflect, correspond.
I get most of my writing done during winter break, or during summer vacations. I know a lot of my writer friends do well in winter, too, as one gets isolated, turns inward. Also, there is something about getting away that helps with creativity. I wrote/compiled My Secret Wars of 1984 during a vacation in 2011, and it should be my first full-length book. I've had the most published from that.
I can't write when it is late. Instead, when I can't sleep, I watch Netflix. I am more poetic, more productive in the morning.
Good questions! My answer is: depends on the day. I get more done during breaks. 0 to 2 hours on normal days.
Really, during semesters of teaching, my writing is narrowed down. I often make lists of strategies, things I want to write, etc. then go to that list when I have time.
I take the William Stafford approach, by waking up early in the morning and heading to PT's or the office to get some writing done. I also write to my friend Kevin Rabas, around three letters a week. He sends me letters too, so it is a terrific way to write, reflect, correspond.
I get most of my writing done during winter break, or during summer vacations. I know a lot of my writer friends do well in winter, too, as one gets isolated, turns inward. Also, there is something about getting away that helps with creativity. I wrote/compiled My Secret Wars of 1984 during a vacation in 2011, and it should be my first full-length book. I've had the most published from that.
I can't write when it is late. Instead, when I can't sleep, I watch Netflix. I am more poetic, more productive in the morning.
This semester, I wrote eight flash fiction pieces with my fiction writing class. I polished two. Now it will be the basis of my first novel. I think I can pull it off by writing flash fiction, around the overall story arc.
It's a strictly-randomly planned routine.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Kristin Prevallet Holidays Repost
From Kristin Prevallet!
Gifts
The Power of Exchange
Buying gifts during the holidays can be stressful -- but keep in mind that the real reason for giving gifts has nothing to do with the frenzied anxiety of shopping for something perfect. It has to do with an almost magical exchange.
With a little reflection, it's not hard to see that gifts are more alive and mystical than we realize. Like magic mushrooms, once we consume them we recognize that they were always there, spreading out through the fields and forests of our minds.
And as you picture that, perhaps you'll also see how gifts can be an extension of our physical biology and our material environment. Gifts are a reminder that through exchange and contact we learn to engage with other creatures -- much in the way that each organism in an ecosystem connects with every living thing around it.
When you are shopping for someone else you are projecting yourself into this generous exchange of living energy in which each organism knits itself into a complex fabric and pattern -- much in the way that the subatomic particles that compose us exist in relation to the space and particles that surround them.
Whatever it is that makes the act of giving gifts profound for you, remember that gifts are as much about you as they are about your recipients. You are never alone with the object you are giving: you're sharing a dynamic part of yourself, knowing that your life force will be reciprocated.
All my best for these holidays.
Kristin Prevallet
Writer, Teacher, Hypnotherapist
www.mindbodystudies.com
With a little reflection, it's not hard to see that gifts are more alive and mystical than we realize. Like magic mushrooms, once we consume them we recognize that they were always there, spreading out through the fields and forests of our minds.
And as you picture that, perhaps you'll also see how gifts can be an extension of our physical biology and our material environment. Gifts are a reminder that through exchange and contact we learn to engage with other creatures -- much in the way that each organism in an ecosystem connects with every living thing around it.
When you are shopping for someone else you are projecting yourself into this generous exchange of living energy in which each organism knits itself into a complex fabric and pattern -- much in the way that the subatomic particles that compose us exist in relation to the space and particles that surround them.
Whatever it is that makes the act of giving gifts profound for you, remember that gifts are as much about you as they are about your recipients. You are never alone with the object you are giving: you're sharing a dynamic part of yourself, knowing that your life force will be reciprocated.
All my best for these holidays.
Kristin Prevallet
Writer, Teacher, Hypnotherapist
www.mindbodystudies.com
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Skivies Reading
Last night was my official first reading of TSoTM. Sue Edgerton is an amazing force in creating community, hosting the open-mic with encouragement and care. As Lisa records, each reader can even request the recording of her of his reading. That makes it special, too!
The open-mic poetry starts at 7pm every first Tuesday of each month.
http://splash.topeka.net/bars/gay-and-lesbian/skivies-bar-grill
The open-mic poetry starts at 7pm every first Tuesday of each month.
http://splash.topeka.net/bars/gay-and-lesbian/skivies-bar-grill
Sum of Two Mothers Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
With
special thanks to the editors of the following literary magazines, in which Sum poems appeared:
Julia
Cohen and Bin Ramke
Denver Quarterly: “my mother
comes out,” “as one mother is a nurse”
Jennifer
A. Luebbers, Cate Lycurgus, and Deborah Kim
Indiana Review: “two women,”
“when neighbors,” “the new neighbor”
Geoffrey
Gatza
BlazeVOX: in
another form, “the
first grade teacher,” “the mother says,” “wait for Orion’s sword”
Kevin
Rabas
Flint Hills
Review:
“she was a mother before”Monday, November 25, 2013
About Sum Poems
Q: Did you feel that it was cathartic to write? As I finished it, I wondered if you were coming to terms with your childhood in a way that will let you focus on your boys' childhood next.
Me: Yes--it was the most difficult to write, too. These are poems I've tried to write for more than two decades, and I'm glad Joe Harrington made me make a choice to do so for my MFA thesis. "I wondered if you were coming to terms with your childhood in a way that will let you focus on your boys' childhood next." Exactly! I decided to get back in touch with my father after I was going to be a father myself. I knew I needed to do that. Those last poems were written two years ago, post-MFA, as I like poetry that tries to "figure out something" that can't be said.
Me: Yes--it was the most difficult to write, too. These are poems I've tried to write for more than two decades, and I'm glad Joe Harrington made me make a choice to do so for my MFA thesis. "I wondered if you were coming to terms with your childhood in a way that will let you focus on your boys' childhood next." Exactly! I decided to get back in touch with my father after I was going to be a father myself. I knew I needed to do that. Those last poems were written two years ago, post-MFA, as I like poetry that tries to "figure out something" that can't be said.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
1913 Press Fundraiser
As 1913 Press has its fundraiser going, they recently posted why one should contribute. I appreciate the list as is as well:
-because poetry/art/language matters
-because small publishers take risks on putting out books that we care about, regardless of a narrow vision of “marketability”
-because value is not quantifiable
-because it’s important to acknowledge something as seemingly insignificant and quantifiable as “cost” in publishing
-because collectively, small presses like 1913 have changed the literary landscape over the past 10-15 years, from one that was closed to emerging & wild writers, to one that is open, inclusive, unofficial, and decentered
-because no matter how you feel about the notion of “glut” in contemporary publishing, more good work out there is better than less good work out there
-because there is so much good out there
-because small press publishers like 1913 put their own money, time, and energies into our projects simply because we believe in them
-because so many individuals named & unnamed put their own hard-won monies into every project we’ve ever put out
-because poets work for free
-because we as poets/writers/artists/readers/
If you wished:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/1913-s-fundraiser
-because poetry/art/language matters
-because small publishers take risks on putting out books that we care about, regardless of a narrow vision of “marketability”
-because value is not quantifiable
-because it’s important to acknowledge something as seemingly insignificant and quantifiable as “cost” in publishing
-because collectively, small presses like 1913 have changed the literary landscape over the past 10-15 years, from one that was closed to emerging & wild writers, to one that is open, inclusive, unofficial, and decentered
-because no matter how you feel about the notion of “glut” in contemporary publishing, more good work out there is better than less good work out there
-because there is so much good out there
-because small press publishers like 1913 put their own money, time, and energies into our projects simply because we believe in them
-because so many individuals named & unnamed put their own hard-won monies into every project we’ve ever put out
-because poets work for free
-because we as poets/writers/artists/readers/
If you wished:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/1913-s-fundraiser
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Blurbs for The Sum of Two Mothers
Sometimes the most complicated stories of our
lives can be put into the shortest of forms. In this small book of poems Dennis
Etzel Jr. recounts a fragmented chronology from his childhood to his
fatherhood. Living their lives with love and integrity, Etzel's two mothers
raised him together despite the status quo resistance they daily faced in
Topeka, KS. Now the father of sons, Etzel's poems draw as much from his own
memories as they do from the larger social context of marriage equality — and
in bridging that gap between the personal and the political with lyrical grace
and political conviction, Sum of Two Mothers is a riveting little book that is
as much about growing up with two mothers, as it is about becoming a father who
is raising his sons with a more inclusive — but equally protected — model of
the world.
—Kristin Prevallet, I Afterlife, Essay in Mourning Time
I love this book, and I wanted to say that
first, “in danger / of being / engendered”.
These are the beautiful and percipient poems Minnie Bruce Pratt’s son
could have written if the cops hadn’t ripped him from the arms of his two
mothers. Crime Against Nature, meet The
Sum of Two Mothers, it’s time we all meet up over here where Dennis Etzel
Jr. is making the magic happen for us!
You will hear in him with me the voice of a poet we have been waiting to
hear, and glad we finally found him!
—CA Conrad, A
Beautiful Marsupial Afternoon: New (Soma)tics
There is always the kid who refuses to dissect
the dead pig in science class. Or the kid who “liberates” the frogs from their
glass cubes to the chagrin of the teacher and the glee of the students. And
then there is Dennis Etzel Jr., who gives the command, “make shining rescues”
while acknowledging the impossibility of this act. Yet, any color is possible
in the light these poems throw. An orange that only exists in the kiss between
two mothers. The color of witnessing. The color of sliding out of childhood
into snowy legalities. Etzel is a color-sharpener. These poems will graze you
with the glare of gendered equations. They measure the sum of omission. They
are the prism’s reach and rescue.
—Julia
Cohen, Collateral Light
Rarely does a poem do as much in as few words
as Dennis Etzel Jr.’s Sum of Two Mothers.
It is a complete mini-autobiography in verse — but one that leaves ample room
for the reader’s imagination. The poem’s supple, continuous syntax,
plain-spoken musicality, architectural lines, and ample white space deftly
convey both what is said and experienced, as well as what is not said or talked
about. Reading Dennis Etzel, Jr.’s work is like reading William Carlos
Williams, if Williams had had Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas as mothers.
—Joseph Harrington, Things Come On: An Amneoir
Dennis Etzel Jr’s The
Sum of Two Mothers wades open-wounded into the unfriendly waters of a
society bent on strangle-holding natural love and motherhood into pat
definitions: “she was a mother before I thought of her / as my ‘other mother,’
// or ‘another mother’ because ‘mother’ / for me is hard to define.” In tones
questioning, unsure, and ultimately defiant, these poems gather together in
representation of the complexity of familial love. The Sum of Two Mothers is an imperative story, and one that is cast
in lines intuitive, melodic, and resonant.
—Leah Sewell, Birth in StormTuesday, November 12, 2013
Book Tour
December 2013
December 3rd: Open-mic at Skivies, 7pm
December 4th: Washburn Bookstore Open House, 1-2:30pm
December 8th: Topeka SC Public Library Local Author Fair, 3-5pm
February 2014
February 7th, First Friday: The Eclective (NOTO), 5:30-8pm
February 26-March 1: AWP?
March 2014
March 10, 2014: ESU Reading with Kevin Rabas, 7pm
April 2014
April 4th, First Friday: Top City Poetry Crawl, 5:30-8pm
June 2014
June 21st at Aimee's, Lawrence, 5:30p
July 2014
Tuesday, July 15th in Fort Collins: Old Firehouse Books, with Sasha Steensen and Aby Kaupang, 7pm
Thursday, July 17th in Boulder: Innisfree Poetry Bookstore, 7pm
Saturday, July 19th in Denver: Leon Presents a Reading Series with TBA, 7pm
September 2013
Sept 19, 2014: The Writers Place, KC, with Leah Sewell and TBA, 7pm
[
The Raven - pend
Collective Art Gallery - First Friday? - pend
December 3rd: Open-mic at Skivies, 7pm
December 4th: Washburn Bookstore Open House, 1-2:30pm
December 8th: Topeka SC Public Library Local Author Fair, 3-5pm
February 2014
February 7th, First Friday: The Eclective (NOTO), 5:30-8pm
February 26-March 1: AWP?
March 2014
March 10, 2014: ESU Reading with Kevin Rabas, 7pm
April 2014
April 4th, First Friday: Top City Poetry Crawl, 5:30-8pm
June 2014
June 21st at Aimee's, Lawrence, 5:30p
July 2014
Tuesday, July 15th in Fort Collins: Old Firehouse Books, with Sasha Steensen and Aby Kaupang, 7pm
Thursday, July 17th in Boulder: Innisfree Poetry Bookstore, 7pm
Saturday, July 19th in Denver: Leon Presents a Reading Series with TBA, 7pm
September 2013
Sept 19, 2014: The Writers Place, KC, with Leah Sewell and TBA, 7pm
[
The Raven - pend
Collective Art Gallery - First Friday? - pend
Sunday, November 10, 2013
The Sum of Two Mothers
With
loving thanks to the mothers in my life: Susan & Sondra (familial), Margy (adoptive),
and Carrie (spousal). With familial thanks to DeAnn and Tom, Carl, Sarah,
Martha, Joy, Ron, and Luanne and Tom. With many thanks to Joe Harrington and
Hadara Bar-Nadav for their mentorship, friendship, help with the poems that
sparked this collection, and for their endless dedication to people. With
grateful thanks to the editors who reeled in some of these poems: Julia Cohen,
Bin Ramke, Jennifer A. Luebbers, Cate Lycurgus, Deborah Kim, and Geoffrey Gatza.
With brotherly thanks to Kevin Rabas, for his letters and support, and for
being like a real brother. With friendly thanks to some real friends: Ben
Cartwright, Leslie Von Holten, Jennifer Pacioianu, Melanie Burdick, and Sarah
Smarsh. With deepest thanks to the mentors who really continue mentoring: Tom
Averill, Amy Fleury, Li-Young Lee, Elizabeth Dodd, Donna Potts, Susan
Jackson-Rogers, and Laura Moriarty. With a poetic thanks to CA Conrad, Kristin
Prevallet, Lyn Hejinian, Travis and JenMarie Macdonald, Amy King, and Sandra
Simonds for keeping poetry real. With collegial thanks to Danny Wade, Sharon
Sullivan, the Department of English, and everyone at Washburn University for
their support—especially my students who keep me real. With a Topekan thanks to
Leah Sewell, Tom Kennedy, Laura Burton, Matt Beneka, Sara O'Keeffe, the great
people at PT's at College Hill, Juli's, the YWCA and its Center for Safety and
Empowerment, seveneightfive, I DO, XYZ, NOTO, and the other people who keep
Topeka real. With a Lawrencian thanks to Judy Roitman, Jim McCrary, Megan
Kaminski, Billie Joe Harris, Brian Daldorph, Denise Low-Weso, and the other
poets there who keep Lawrence real. With a literary thanks to the Woodley
Staff, especially Larry and Linda McGurn, who keep books made in Kansas real.
With a Kansan thanks to Julie Mulvihill, the board, and everyone at Kansas
Humanities Council who help keep the humanities in Kansas alive and real. With
ecstatic thanks to Ariana Den Bleyker for taking in the manuscript, and for all
of the work she does in building real poetic communities. With warmest thanks
to you, for real.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Thank you!
Hello there! Some of you I recognize, and others I don't. What I mean is: you follow my blog, read the posts, and continue--even as some of my posts are kinda ordinary.
What I mean is: I want to thank you!
In about a month, my [first] chapbook will be out, The Sum of Two Mothers. You've read my thanks in my posting, read about the cover art, and, now, Ariana of ELJ Publications has said the release date is moved up to December 1--if not sooner!
I'm waiting for my amazing artist-friend to finish her work, then hand it over to Leah to design the cover.
Yesterday, I signed the contract.
So, I am excited, for sure.
If you've read this far, please do me a favor. Will you private message me on facebook your address? I want to send you a copy when it comes out.
Of course, also please identify yourself as a follower of my blog, and your follower-name.
Note: the offer above has expired.
I just want to thank you again!
Dennis
Here are some blurbs for the chapbook:
What I mean is: I want to thank you!
In about a month, my [first] chapbook will be out, The Sum of Two Mothers. You've read my thanks in my posting, read about the cover art, and, now, Ariana of ELJ Publications has said the release date is moved up to December 1--if not sooner!
I'm waiting for my amazing artist-friend to finish her work, then hand it over to Leah to design the cover.
Yesterday, I signed the contract.
So, I am excited, for sure.
Note: the offer above has expired.
I just want to thank you again!
Dennis
Here are some blurbs for the chapbook:
Sometimes the most complicated stories of our
lives can be put into the shortest of forms. In this small book of poems Dennis
Etzel Jr. recounts a fragmented chronology from his childhood to his
fatherhood. Living their lives with love and integrity, Etzel's two mothers
raised him together despite the status quo resistance they daily faced in
Topeka, KS. Now the father of sons, Etzel's poems draw as much from his own
memories as they do from the larger social context of marriage equality — and
in bridging that gap between the personal and the political with lyrical grace
and political conviction, Sum of Two Mothers is a riveting little book that is
as much about growing up with two mothers, as it is about becoming a father who
is raising his sons with a more inclusive — but equally protected — model of
the world.
—Kristin Prevallet, I Afterlife, Essay in Mourning Time
I love this book, and I wanted to say that
first, “in danger / of being / engendered”.
These are the beautiful and percipient poems Minnie Bruce Pratt’s son
could have written if the cops hadn’t ripped him from the arms of his two
mothers. Crime Against Nature, meet The
Sum of Two Mothers, it’s time we all meet up over here where Dennis Etzel
Jr. is making the magic happen for us!
You will hear in him with me the voice of a poet we have been waiting to
hear, and glad we finally found him!
—CA Conrad, A
Beautiful Marsupial Afternoon: New (Soma)tics
Rarely does a poem do as much in as few words
as Dennis Etzel Jr.’s Sum of Two Mothers.
It is a complete mini-autobiography in verse — but one that leaves ample room
for the reader’s imagination. The poem’s supple, continuous syntax,
plain-spoken musicality, architectural lines, and ample white space deftly
convey both what is said and experienced, as well as what is not said or talked
about. Reading Dennis Etzel, Jr.’s work is like reading William Carlos
Williams, if Williams had had Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas as mothers.
—Joseph Harrington, Things Come On: An Amneoir
Dennis Etzel Jr’s The
Sum of Two Mothers wades open-wounded into the unfriendly waters of a
society bent on strangle-holding natural love and motherhood into pat
definitions: “she was a mother before I thought of her / as my ‘other mother,’
// or ‘another mother’ because ‘mother’ / for me is hard to define.” In tones
questioning, unsure, and ultimately defiant, these poems gather together in
representation of the complexity of familial love. The Sum of Two Mothers is an imperative story, and one that is cast
in lines intuitive, melodic, and resonant.
—Leah Sewell, Birth in Storm
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Cover Art
I have my cover art! As soon as it is painted.
Thanks to Lawrence artist Jessica Phoenix and White Rainbow Studios! Check out her work on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/whiterainbowstudios
The funny thing is: I've had to turn down art because it featured two nude women together. Well, if this chapbook is about my mothers, I'd rather not "go there!"
Jessica's preliminary sketch featured nude women. :)
Luckily, she is open to figuring out how to portray them. I don't want to give anything away, but it will be awesome!
Also, last night I received my very first blurb. Ever. From CA Conrad.
I admire him as a poet, an activist, and for having a heart. He really said sweet things about my poems. It's hard to be a writer, especially a poet, when there is a lot of negativity, etc. I'm not talking about the kind of rejection a lit mag sends because your work isn't what they are looking for. I'm thinking petty rejection based on ego, malice, etc.
I crave community. It's something Jessica and I talked about this morning, how being an artist doesn't mean one has the exclusive right in whatever town one is in. It's about collaboration, figuring out even how to sustain a living without being cut throat, excluding others, etc.
Love to you all!
Thanks to Lawrence artist Jessica Phoenix and White Rainbow Studios! Check out her work on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/whiterainbowstudios
The funny thing is: I've had to turn down art because it featured two nude women together. Well, if this chapbook is about my mothers, I'd rather not "go there!"
Jessica's preliminary sketch featured nude women. :)
Luckily, she is open to figuring out how to portray them. I don't want to give anything away, but it will be awesome!
Also, last night I received my very first blurb. Ever. From CA Conrad.
I admire him as a poet, an activist, and for having a heart. He really said sweet things about my poems. It's hard to be a writer, especially a poet, when there is a lot of negativity, etc. I'm not talking about the kind of rejection a lit mag sends because your work isn't what they are looking for. I'm thinking petty rejection based on ego, malice, etc.
I crave community. It's something Jessica and I talked about this morning, how being an artist doesn't mean one has the exclusive right in whatever town one is in. It's about collaboration, figuring out even how to sustain a living without being cut throat, excluding others, etc.
Love to you all!
Sunday, October 6, 2013
more people
Miranda Ericsson Kendall
Fran Beier
April Ewing
Susan Jackson-Rodgers
Lisa Tatonetti
and
Jessica Phoenix
Fran Beier
April Ewing
Susan Jackson-Rodgers
Lisa Tatonetti
and
Jessica Phoenix
Cover Art
The theme of the poetry is around my memoir--around being raised by two mothers. My mom came out in 1983, then met Sondra after a couple of years. They've been together for almost 30 years now.
As far as what a painting would look like, based on the poems: I picture a white, snowy background, the old Kansas Capitol Building (pre-Ad-Astra, and with its green dome), and two Valkyrie in flight on horses.
This is the cover I originally wanted:
http://marvel.wikia.com/Defenders_Vol_1_130
Marvel's gatekeeper wants $2500 for me to use it.
Then I found this:
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=726847&GSub=27627
Wizards of the Coast is without reply.
So this is where I am.
As far as what a painting would look like, based on the poems: I picture a white, snowy background, the old Kansas Capitol Building (pre-Ad-Astra, and with its green dome), and two Valkyrie in flight on horses.
This is the cover I originally wanted:
http://marvel.wikia.com/Defenders_Vol_1_130
Marvel's gatekeeper wants $2500 for me to use it.
Then I found this:
http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=726847&GSub=27627
Wizards of the Coast is without reply.
So this is where I am.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Friday, October 4, 2013
I don't like Tom Petty!
Good news: Subito Press selected My Secret Wars of 1984 as a semi-finalist!
Bad news: Cue Tom Petty. "The wa-a-ait-ing is the hardest part."
Yes, waiting to see if we can bring MSWo1984 into the world.
Don't get me wrong--I am thankful to get the recognition, to meet new poets, and to be part of the community.
It's just that Tom Petty breaks in with his Southern whine.
Bad news: Cue Tom Petty. "The wa-a-ait-ing is the hardest part."
Yes, waiting to see if we can bring MSWo1984 into the world.
Don't get me wrong--I am thankful to get the recognition, to meet new poets, and to be part of the community.
It's just that Tom Petty breaks in with his Southern whine.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Just sent the file
I just sent the file to Ariana, the final words I want in the chapbook.
Also, I am close to having the cover art selected.
Very thrilling.
I'm reflecting on the people I will be joining at ELJ. I've also facebook friended a few.
I'm just happy all-around!
Also, I am close to having the cover art selected.
Very thrilling.
I'm reflecting on the people I will be joining at ELJ. I've also facebook friended a few.
I'm just happy all-around!
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
With Loving Thanks
With loving thanks to the mothers in my life: Susan & Sondra (familial), Margy (adoptive), and Carrie (spousal). With many thanks to Joe Harrington and Hadara Bar-Nadav for their mentorship, friendship, help with the poems that sparked this collection, and for their endless dedication to people. With grateful thanks to the editors who took in some of these poems: Julia
Cohen, Bin Ramke, Jennifer A.
Luebbers, Cate Lycurgus, and Deborah Kim. With brotherly thanks to Kevin Rabas, for his letters and support. With friendly thanks to Ben Cartwright, Leslie Von Holten, Jennifer Pacioianu, Melanie Burdick, and Sarah Smarsh. With familial thanks to DeAnn, Tom, Carl, Sarah, Martha, Joy, and Ron. With deepest thanks to the mentors who continue: Tom Averill, Amy Fleury, Li-Young Lee, Elizabeth Dodd, Donna Potts, Susan Jackson-Rogers, and Laura Moriarty. With a poetic thanks to CA Conrad, Kristin Prevallet, Lyn Hejinian, Travis and JenMarie Macdonald, and Sandra Simonds for keeping it real. With collegial thanks to Danny Wade, Sharon Sullivan, the Department of English, and everyone at Washburn University for their support--especially my students who keep me real. With a Topekan thanks to Leah Sewell, Tom Kennedy, Laura Burton, Matt Beneka, Sara O'Keeffe, the great people at PT's at College Hill, Juli's, the YWCA and its Center for Safety and Empowerment, seveneightfive, I DO, XYZ, NOTO, and the other people who keep it real. With a Lawrencian thanks to Judy Roitman, Jim McCrary, Megan Kaminski, Billie Joe Harris, Brian Daldorph, Denise Low-Weso, and the other poets there who keep it real. With a literary thanks to the Woodley Staff, especially Larry and Linda McGurn. With a Kansan thanks to Julie Mulvihill, the board, and everyone at Kansas Humanities Council who help keep the humanities in Kansas alive. With ecstatic thanks to Ariana Den Bleyker for taking in the manuscript, and for all of the work she does in building poetic communities. With warmest thanks to you.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Thank yous to:
Joseph Harrington
Hadara Bar-Nadav
CA Conrad
Julia Cohen
Kristin Prevallet
Leah Sewell
[
With deepest condolences to Rachel Zucker
Hadara Bar-Nadav
CA Conrad
Julia Cohen
Kristin Prevallet
Leah Sewell
[
With deepest condolences to Rachel Zucker
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
I love bookstores!
I love bookstores, especially pro-community, indie bookstores. The Raven in Lawrence is sucha bookstore, and you need to visit.
That's all for now.
That's all for now.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Insecurties and mistakes
As the person who sends books out for a press and often compiles poetry event lists, I am often the "bad guy."
What I mean is, I get snarky remarks.
"Why can't you just send the books right away to me?"
"Why do I have to pre-pay?"
"Where are my books?"
"I can't believe you don't trust your authors, that you want payment first."
"Is this an academics-only list of readings? If so, what about the rest of us?"
I admit, I sometimes lash back.
"Please delete my [unlisted] phone number. [I'm not sure how you found it.] You called me on vacation, so I chose not to respond to your call."
"When I first joined the Press, many bookstores and authors had not paid--for more than a year."
I guess what I am saying is: I try to be understanding. I want to be compassionate, not just as a poet, a publisher-editor, or person. I want to echo what the world at rest is. Maybe we use these metaphors to find that peace?
I would like to say, I still carry the stress of that phone call from the bookstore who sent a check on Tuesday, needed the books that Friday, and still hadn't received them. She truly pulled out every emotional blackmail on me with a coarse tone: "What about those people who want to buy the book at the event? We already paid. I am too busy to come by to pick them up. We have a lot planned on our trip today."
I am just as compassionate about books, wanting to get them into others' hands. I don't get paid to work for the Press--no one on the staff does. We are a true not-for-profit, as any money regained goes to printing the next book.
I wish I could provide more, but that is how the Press runs. I want it to continue, and I don't want to be the "bad guy." I want us to be friends. I just ask for your understanding, as you know you have mine.
What I mean is, I get snarky remarks.
"Why can't you just send the books right away to me?"
"Why do I have to pre-pay?"
"Where are my books?"
"I can't believe you don't trust your authors, that you want payment first."
"Is this an academics-only list of readings? If so, what about the rest of us?"
I admit, I sometimes lash back.
"Please delete my [unlisted] phone number. [I'm not sure how you found it.] You called me on vacation, so I chose not to respond to your call."
"When I first joined the Press, many bookstores and authors had not paid--for more than a year."
I guess what I am saying is: I try to be understanding. I want to be compassionate, not just as a poet, a publisher-editor, or person. I want to echo what the world at rest is. Maybe we use these metaphors to find that peace?
I would like to say, I still carry the stress of that phone call from the bookstore who sent a check on Tuesday, needed the books that Friday, and still hadn't received them. She truly pulled out every emotional blackmail on me with a coarse tone: "What about those people who want to buy the book at the event? We already paid. I am too busy to come by to pick them up. We have a lot planned on our trip today."
I am just as compassionate about books, wanting to get them into others' hands. I don't get paid to work for the Press--no one on the staff does. We are a true not-for-profit, as any money regained goes to printing the next book.
I wish I could provide more, but that is how the Press runs. I want it to continue, and I don't want to be the "bad guy." I want us to be friends. I just ask for your understanding, as you know you have mine.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Topeka and Lawrence Readings
Topeka readings
September 7, 2013
Israel Wasserstein and Nick Twemlow
Kansas Book Festival
Kansas State Capitol Building
1:30 p.m. in Room 546-S
September 16, 2013
Natalie Diaz, poetry
Washburn University
Mabee Library
4pm
September 24, 2013
Thomas Fox Averill, fiction
Washburn University
White Concert Hall
7pm
Reads from the WU iRead book Rode
November 7, 2013
Stephen Meats, fiction
Washburn University
Mabee Library
4pm
November 8, 2013
Megan Kaminski, Jim McCrary, Leah Sewell, and Jordan Stempleman, poetry
PT’s at College Hill (Flying Monkey)
7pm
[
Lawrence readings
•JONATHAN STALLING & BENJAMIN CARTWRIGHT. Lawrence. Thurs., Sept. 5, 7:30 p.m., International Room, Kansas Union, KU Campus. FREE
•STEPHANIE ANDERSON, TIMOTHY BRADFORD, CYRUS CONSOLE, & GRANT JENKINS. Lawrence. Sun., Sept. 15, 5:00 (preceded by open mic). Eighth Street Taproom (x New Hampshire).
•KATE GREENSTREET. Lawrence. Mon., Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m. Spooner Hall, KU Campus.
•DENNIS ETZEL, JR., MARY KLAYDER, & JIM STEVENS. Lawrence. Thurs., 26 Sept., 7:00 p.m. Raven Bookstore, 6 E. 7th St. FREE.
•JONATHAN MAYHEW & JORDAN STEMPLEMAN. Lawrence. Sun., 6 October, 5:00 p.m. (preceded by open mic). Eighth Street Taproom (x New Hampshire).
September 7, 2013
Israel Wasserstein and Nick Twemlow
Kansas Book Festival
Kansas State Capitol Building
1:30 p.m. in Room 546-S
September 16, 2013
Natalie Diaz, poetry
Washburn University
Mabee Library
4pm
September 24, 2013
Thomas Fox Averill, fiction
Washburn University
White Concert Hall
7pm
Reads from the WU iRead book Rode
November 7, 2013
Stephen Meats, fiction
Washburn University
Mabee Library
4pm
November 8, 2013
Megan Kaminski, Jim McCrary, Leah Sewell, and Jordan Stempleman, poetry
PT’s at College Hill (Flying Monkey)
7pm
[
Lawrence readings
•JONATHAN STALLING & BENJAMIN CARTWRIGHT. Lawrence. Thurs., Sept. 5, 7:30 p.m., International Room, Kansas Union, KU Campus. FREE
•STEPHANIE ANDERSON, TIMOTHY BRADFORD, CYRUS CONSOLE, & GRANT JENKINS. Lawrence. Sun., Sept. 15, 5:00 (preceded by open mic). Eighth Street Taproom (x New Hampshire).
•KATE GREENSTREET. Lawrence. Mon., Sept. 23, 7:30 p.m. Spooner Hall, KU Campus.
•DENNIS ETZEL, JR., MARY KLAYDER, & JIM STEVENS. Lawrence. Thurs., 26 Sept., 7:00 p.m. Raven Bookstore, 6 E. 7th St. FREE.
•JONATHAN MAYHEW & JORDAN STEMPLEMAN. Lawrence. Sun., 6 October, 5:00 p.m. (preceded by open mic). Eighth Street Taproom (x New Hampshire).
Friday, August 23, 2013
About publishing
From a Woodley author:
Hearing from people that they have bought my book from Amazon, but [ ] told me Woodley Authors don't get any of the money for that. Can you explain how that works? About 20 people, so far, I'm estimating, have said they gotta book from someplace besides me. I'm honored that they got all Motivated but still, it would be nice to see that dough.
[
Yes--the dough from booksales. Amazon.com makes their money, even with a 6% online discount, because they get some kind of percentage break from Ingrams--the book distributor. Ingrams set up Lightning Source as a subsidiary to keep the money in-house when a book is needed. Woodley uses Lightning Source as an inexpensive way to publish books. That means amazon.com says they need books from Ingrams at a special percentage rate off the cover, Ingrams tells Lightning Source to print the books, Woodley is paid by Lightning Source per copy sold, which is discounted rate minus publishing cost, which is usually a dollar. Woodley uses this money to offset the setup cost of the author's book. In other words, Woodley can't publish an author unless it has the funding to setup a title, order a proof, etc.
On another note, since Woodley is a special non-profit organization interested in getting awesome Kansas poets and writers out there, we also feel the author should make some money out of it. That is why we give the free copies of the book, as well as a 40% discount to the author and bookstores.
Sadly, when bookstores sell your book, they make the 40% of the cover price.
However, I've heard Barnes & Noble cuts a check for 80% of the book price after a reading.
Another note about us who work for Woodley: as Woodley is very not-for-profit, none of us get paid. Really, it is a love for working with a Press and seeing amazing authors get published in a competative publishing world.
I hope this helps,
Dennis
Hearing from people that they have bought my book from Amazon, but [ ] told me Woodley Authors don't get any of the money for that. Can you explain how that works? About 20 people, so far, I'm estimating, have said they gotta book from someplace besides me. I'm honored that they got all Motivated but still, it would be nice to see that dough.
[
Yes--the dough from booksales. Amazon.com makes their money, even with a 6% online discount, because they get some kind of percentage break from Ingrams--the book distributor. Ingrams set up Lightning Source as a subsidiary to keep the money in-house when a book is needed. Woodley uses Lightning Source as an inexpensive way to publish books. That means amazon.com says they need books from Ingrams at a special percentage rate off the cover, Ingrams tells Lightning Source to print the books, Woodley is paid by Lightning Source per copy sold, which is discounted rate minus publishing cost, which is usually a dollar. Woodley uses this money to offset the setup cost of the author's book. In other words, Woodley can't publish an author unless it has the funding to setup a title, order a proof, etc.
On another note, since Woodley is a special non-profit organization interested in getting awesome Kansas poets and writers out there, we also feel the author should make some money out of it. That is why we give the free copies of the book, as well as a 40% discount to the author and bookstores.
Sadly, when bookstores sell your book, they make the 40% of the cover price.
However, I've heard Barnes & Noble cuts a check for 80% of the book price after a reading.
Another note about us who work for Woodley: as Woodley is very not-for-profit, none of us get paid. Really, it is a love for working with a Press and seeing amazing authors get published in a competative publishing world.
I hope this helps,
Dennis
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Friendship
Foucault - Friendship as a Way of Life
Derrida - Politics of Friendship
Ciciero - De Amicitia
Montaigne - On Friendship
Rorty - The Historicity of Psychological Attitudes
Badiou - In Praise of Love
Clement X Clementine - Against the Couple Form
Stivale - Folds of Frienship: Derrida-Deleuze-Foucault
Bacon - On Friendship
Friedman - Feminism and Modern Friendship
Shanley - Marital Slavery and Friendship
Blum - Frienship as a Moral Phenomenon
Railton - Alienation, Consequentialism, and the Demands of Morality
Derrida - Politics of Friendship
Ciciero - De Amicitia
Montaigne - On Friendship
Rorty - The Historicity of Psychological Attitudes
Badiou - In Praise of Love
Clement X Clementine - Against the Couple Form
Stivale - Folds of Frienship: Derrida-Deleuze-Foucault
Bacon - On Friendship
Friedman - Feminism and Modern Friendship
Shanley - Marital Slavery and Friendship
Blum - Frienship as a Moral Phenomenon
Railton - Alienation, Consequentialism, and the Demands of Morality
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Shadow Poems
A great Tinge interview with Kristin Prevallet includes a discussion on Shadowing poems:
Referring to my “shadowing” of T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, after reading one of the sections at Temple, I had a wonderful conversation and brief correspondence with Rachel Blau DuPlessis, and we decided that her notion of “torquing” and my notion of “shadowing” are conversant. (By the way, my notion of shadowing comes from Anne Waldman.) Think about torquing as describing the action of taking a “core” text (for me it was Four Quartets, for Rachel it was George Oppen’s Of Being Numerous) and writing into the energy of every line so that the basic structure of the original is still evident, but the context and meaning of the words change. Check out this diagram:
In the image of the top, there is a center (which is the original poem). Once you start torquing it, the force of the momentum around it causes it to move. So the poem may shift in tone, register, metaphor, and measure, but you can still “sense” the fulcrum of Oppen, or Eliot, or Whitman, etc. But it has been “overlaid,” and so takes on an assuming presence. I wrote to Rachel that “I wonder if ‘shadow’ refers to the end result — not the process or act of sitting down to torque the language, but the shadow that appears to help the reader gain her bearings in the collaboration.…”
To use the physics of the top, there seems to be two ways to control how it spins: angular momentum (L) and torque (tau). So maybe that is the balance between the two — different parts of the same equation?
Perhaps another way to think about the “shadow” is in parallel to shadow theater (not to muddle with your term too much). The method or play becomes the moving of the center farther or closer to the light source, bringing the image in or out of focus and making it appear larger or smaller. It’s more about looking at the effect than the object or process that is casting the shadow. That may be a little too much like the Allegory of the Cave, but does it jibe with what you had in mind?
Well, once we really try and get into it, it’s all about metaphor — it’s hard to talk about it any other way but through the vision field of something else. I do like your shadow theater image, and the idea of the original text as a “light” that goes in and out of focus, sometimes blurring completely as the new text becomes a poem (event in language) in and of itself…I prefer this lingering on the metaphorical realm to getting too far into physics, because this whole idea of shadow/torque is a mental activity — as William Carlos Williams said: “There is no thing that with a twist of the imagination cannot be something else.” Physics leaves little room for that (as it is classically understood).
As for Plato’s allegory, Coldplay’s “Fix You” song, and actually even more so the video, covers everything I both love and hate about Plato and what the imagery of “light” represents culturally. It’s such an omnipresent metaphor.
Light is omnipresent, and often more direct than metaphor. Maybe this is why it’s more important to look at the shadows, because we can more fully engage in the metaphor. Especially today, our culture will whitewash more often than “guide you home and ignite your bones.” Is the subject of light and shadow how you chose some of the work for which you’ve written “shadow poems”?
Wow, you are firing my synapses! So, I used to teach freshman composition, and I always taught the Allegory of the Cave as a means of revealing a metaphor that is so culturally clichéd that it’s everywhere (see the light, free yourself from mental slavery, truth is power, etc.). After reading it out loud with the students and then having them draw it, I played the “Fix You” video and asked them to analyze it in relation to the Allegory of the Cave. It’s just too perfect, whether Chris Martin meant it or not. What always struck me about that assignment is how amazingly successful it was for students, and how dreadfully it failed for me. In other words, it reinforced ideas of “truth” and “knowledge” and “beauty” and led to precious few cultural critiques of how that metaphor oppresses as much as it enlightens.
I followed it with Malcolm X’s education narrative, but still the value of the “light” was vivified for most students. (Obviously, as in any class, there are five or so who take it to another level and question rhetorical supremacy of white = light, etc.)
So, Eliot = white and is equated with Plato’s sun (knowledge, power, status, stature). He’s also got the whole “buried life” thing going on. My “shadowing” of the poem takes the “light” that he so grandiloquently revealed, and recasts it onto a different power source in a different era: Iraq/Afghanistan; cultural depression, and environmental catastrophe. So, yes, I am playing with the light.
I recently participated in a panel at Harvard called “Poetic Fashion and Unfashion: Literary Outliers Roundtable” with Annie Finch, Cate Marvin, and Don Share. We talked about what “embarrasses” us in terms of sources/references that are not cool, or in keeping with current trends in poetics. I spent my time talking about Duncan’s H.D. book and my work on Helen Adam. One of the issues that came up for me was that the contemporary (our poetic “now”) can focus bantering with and resisting sources of power in the poetry world (like Poetry Magazine, perhaps, or The New Yorker), but it’s much more interesting — and I think relevant to the long-term work of poets — to focus on larger systemic and structural issues at play in larger worlds. For me, I find the Ecopoetics project (Skinner, Ijima, Durand, etc.) or the Somatic poetry project (Conrad, Kocik, Stecopoulos, et al.) very relevant to the way I am thinking about writing as well as the way I am enacting participation in the larger world, because these ways of thinking about poetry are generative, as opposed to reactionary.
In other words, I’m cooking up Eliot in a shadow-torque soup not to impress anyone except for those with whom I am in correspondence — where correspondence means a widening sphere of potential influences, friends, and commiserators (not a word, but I like it), both known and unknown. The light comes from the source that you tend. (Which is another way of saying “Which wolf will win? The one you feed”…)
Referring to my “shadowing” of T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, after reading one of the sections at Temple, I had a wonderful conversation and brief correspondence with Rachel Blau DuPlessis, and we decided that her notion of “torquing” and my notion of “shadowing” are conversant. (By the way, my notion of shadowing comes from Anne Waldman.) Think about torquing as describing the action of taking a “core” text (for me it was Four Quartets, for Rachel it was George Oppen’s Of Being Numerous) and writing into the energy of every line so that the basic structure of the original is still evident, but the context and meaning of the words change. Check out this diagram:
Diagram by Xavier Snelgrove from Wikimedia Commons.
In the image of the top, there is a center (which is the original poem). Once you start torquing it, the force of the momentum around it causes it to move. So the poem may shift in tone, register, metaphor, and measure, but you can still “sense” the fulcrum of Oppen, or Eliot, or Whitman, etc. But it has been “overlaid,” and so takes on an assuming presence. I wrote to Rachel that “I wonder if ‘shadow’ refers to the end result — not the process or act of sitting down to torque the language, but the shadow that appears to help the reader gain her bearings in the collaboration.…”
To use the physics of the top, there seems to be two ways to control how it spins: angular momentum (L) and torque (tau). So maybe that is the balance between the two — different parts of the same equation?
Perhaps another way to think about the “shadow” is in parallel to shadow theater (not to muddle with your term too much). The method or play becomes the moving of the center farther or closer to the light source, bringing the image in or out of focus and making it appear larger or smaller. It’s more about looking at the effect than the object or process that is casting the shadow. That may be a little too much like the Allegory of the Cave, but does it jibe with what you had in mind?
Well, once we really try and get into it, it’s all about metaphor — it’s hard to talk about it any other way but through the vision field of something else. I do like your shadow theater image, and the idea of the original text as a “light” that goes in and out of focus, sometimes blurring completely as the new text becomes a poem (event in language) in and of itself…I prefer this lingering on the metaphorical realm to getting too far into physics, because this whole idea of shadow/torque is a mental activity — as William Carlos Williams said: “There is no thing that with a twist of the imagination cannot be something else.” Physics leaves little room for that (as it is classically understood).
As for Plato’s allegory, Coldplay’s “Fix You” song, and actually even more so the video, covers everything I both love and hate about Plato and what the imagery of “light” represents culturally. It’s such an omnipresent metaphor.
Light is omnipresent, and often more direct than metaphor. Maybe this is why it’s more important to look at the shadows, because we can more fully engage in the metaphor. Especially today, our culture will whitewash more often than “guide you home and ignite your bones.” Is the subject of light and shadow how you chose some of the work for which you’ve written “shadow poems”?
Wow, you are firing my synapses! So, I used to teach freshman composition, and I always taught the Allegory of the Cave as a means of revealing a metaphor that is so culturally clichéd that it’s everywhere (see the light, free yourself from mental slavery, truth is power, etc.). After reading it out loud with the students and then having them draw it, I played the “Fix You” video and asked them to analyze it in relation to the Allegory of the Cave. It’s just too perfect, whether Chris Martin meant it or not. What always struck me about that assignment is how amazingly successful it was for students, and how dreadfully it failed for me. In other words, it reinforced ideas of “truth” and “knowledge” and “beauty” and led to precious few cultural critiques of how that metaphor oppresses as much as it enlightens.
I followed it with Malcolm X’s education narrative, but still the value of the “light” was vivified for most students. (Obviously, as in any class, there are five or so who take it to another level and question rhetorical supremacy of white = light, etc.)
So, Eliot = white and is equated with Plato’s sun (knowledge, power, status, stature). He’s also got the whole “buried life” thing going on. My “shadowing” of the poem takes the “light” that he so grandiloquently revealed, and recasts it onto a different power source in a different era: Iraq/Afghanistan; cultural depression, and environmental catastrophe. So, yes, I am playing with the light.
I recently participated in a panel at Harvard called “Poetic Fashion and Unfashion: Literary Outliers Roundtable” with Annie Finch, Cate Marvin, and Don Share. We talked about what “embarrasses” us in terms of sources/references that are not cool, or in keeping with current trends in poetics. I spent my time talking about Duncan’s H.D. book and my work on Helen Adam. One of the issues that came up for me was that the contemporary (our poetic “now”) can focus bantering with and resisting sources of power in the poetry world (like Poetry Magazine, perhaps, or The New Yorker), but it’s much more interesting — and I think relevant to the long-term work of poets — to focus on larger systemic and structural issues at play in larger worlds. For me, I find the Ecopoetics project (Skinner, Ijima, Durand, etc.) or the Somatic poetry project (Conrad, Kocik, Stecopoulos, et al.) very relevant to the way I am thinking about writing as well as the way I am enacting participation in the larger world, because these ways of thinking about poetry are generative, as opposed to reactionary.
In other words, I’m cooking up Eliot in a shadow-torque soup not to impress anyone except for those with whom I am in correspondence — where correspondence means a widening sphere of potential influences, friends, and commiserators (not a word, but I like it), both known and unknown. The light comes from the source that you tend. (Which is another way of saying “Which wolf will win? The one you feed”…)
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Trance Poetics: Your Writing Mind by Kristin Prevallet
I can't sing enough praises for this book! I just submitted my review on amazon. I hope it helps!
"This is a fantastic book, written by a poetic practitioner for sure! I admire Prevallet's poetry, and this work is a fantastic complement to it. For those interested in mystical traditions, neuroscience, or how to move past those "writer's blocks," Prevallet has done the practice and research around these fields of study. I am in awe of her examination of the body, language, neurology, history, poetic and religious traditions, memoir, and biofeedback--and how they relate writing to life, to open up creativity and "write without self-judgement." As practical as it is scholarly, I personally can vouch for this book. As a conceptual writer, this book helped me to reconnect with my lyric roots with the "Automatic Writing Process" section and other creative inspirations this book evokes. Really, stay away from those "how-to" books and give this one a try. This is the real deal."
"This is a fantastic book, written by a poetic practitioner for sure! I admire Prevallet's poetry, and this work is a fantastic complement to it. For those interested in mystical traditions, neuroscience, or how to move past those "writer's blocks," Prevallet has done the practice and research around these fields of study. I am in awe of her examination of the body, language, neurology, history, poetic and religious traditions, memoir, and biofeedback--and how they relate writing to life, to open up creativity and "write without self-judgement." As practical as it is scholarly, I personally can vouch for this book. As a conceptual writer, this book helped me to reconnect with my lyric roots with the "Automatic Writing Process" section and other creative inspirations this book evokes. Really, stay away from those "how-to" books and give this one a try. This is the real deal."
Monday, July 22, 2013
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
William Stafford celebration at AWP 2014 Seattle
Although I consider myself a conceptual, hybrid poetics writer, I also like the other side--the one I first started in. William Stafford was born in Kansas, so it was easy to relate to his lyrical/narrative style. Also, the local station aired the conversation between him and Robert Bly in the mid-90's, when I started writing poems.
Now, the Press I am Managing Editor of is releasing an anthology in November. We are also waiting to hear if the panel for AWP is accepted, as well as have a reading.
Here are links:
The mind and heart behind this, who dedicated time, funds, and approached Woodley, Becca J.R. Lachman.
Reading at Caffe Ladro, event on facebook.
More to come!
Now, the Press I am Managing Editor of is releasing an anthology in November. We are also waiting to hear if the panel for AWP is accepted, as well as have a reading.
Here are links:
The mind and heart behind this, who dedicated time, funds, and approached Woodley, Becca J.R. Lachman.
Reading at Caffe Ladro, event on facebook.
More to come!
The William Stafford Centennial 2014, from Kim Stafford
krs@lclark.edu
15 June 2013
Dear Friend,
I want to tell you about a project for 2014, the centennial of the beginning of World War I, and…
The William Stafford Centennial 2014:
100 Years of Poetry & Peace.
For twenty years I’ve worked as the literary executor for The Estate of William Stafford, the often rewarding
but sometimes overwhelming unpaid job my father left me at his death in 1993. The Centennial marks the
culmination of this labor by me and many others. We are publishing a spate of books for this occasion, the
Oregon Library Association has created a state-wide “Everybody Reads” program based on six of these books,
various schools and organizations around the country will feature the work of my father, and—with kind
support from Lewis & Clark College and the Oregon Library Association—I will be a pinball in ricochet from
one event to another.
Apart from these events, I will be available in two ways during this period for anyone interested in learning
more about William Stafford and the life of creation:
1. “Stafford Studies” (a retreat I will facilitate at the William Stafford Archives, Lewis & Clark College, to
delve into the creative practice of WS, 15-19 July 2013 & 21-25 July 2014).
http://graduate.lclark.edu/programs/continuing_education/events/info/?id=16024
2. “Daily Writing in the Spirit of William Stafford” (an online course beginning in January 2014).
For information or to register for either program, please contact Pam Hooten <phooten@lclark.edu>).
In addition, I and others will be hosting the William Stafford Symposium at Lewis & Clark on February 7-8,
2014, co-sponsored by Literary Arts.
http://www.lclark.edu/live/news/22143-lewis-amp-clark-launches-yearlong-william-stafford
https://www.lclark.edu/william_stafford/
http://www.literary-arts.org
And we will present programs and offer workshops at Oregon libraries throughout 2014. For information,
please check the Oregon Library Association website in July 2013: http://www.olaweb.org
The six William Stafford books to be featured by the Oregon Library Association:
Ask Me: 100 Poems, by William Stafford (Graywolf Press, 2014).
The Osage Orange Tree: A Story by William Stafford, ed. Kim Stafford, designed by John Laursen, with
illustrations by Dennis Cunningham (Trinity University Press, 2014).
Early Morning: Remembering My Father, William Stafford, by Kim Stafford (Graywolf Press, 2002).
Every War Has Two Losers: William Stafford on Peace & War, by William Stafford, edited by Kim Stafford
(Milkweed Editions, 2003). Also the film by this name (Zinc Films, www.everywar.com).
Down in My Heart: Peace Witness in Wartime, by William Stafford, edited by Kim Stafford (Oregon State
University Press, 2006).
Everyone Out Here Knows, a poem for young children by William Stafford, ed. Tim Barnes, with illustrations
by Angelina Marino-Heidel (Arnica, 2014).
In addition, please watch for the following new books in 2014:
A Ritual to Read Together: Poems in Conversation with William Stafford, ed. Rebecca Lachman (Woodley
Press 2014).
Not the Sound of an Ax: Poems and Aphorisms, by William Stafford, ed. Paul Merchant and Vince Wixon (Pitt
Poetry Series, 2014).
Winterward, by William Stafford (a reprinting of the 1954 poetry dissertation, from Tavern Books, 2013).
We Belong in History, ed. Rachel Pass (Oregon students write in response to William Stafford poems, from
Oooligan Press, 2014).
William Stafford: An Annotated Bibliography, by James W. Pirie, et. al. (Oak Knoll Press
& Lewis & Clark College, 2013).
Are you starting to get an idea of how busy things have been, and will be?
As my father said, “Your job is to find what the world is trying to be.” This is our work now. We are inviting
individuals, schools, libraries, and organizations to use the occasion of my father’s centennial to pursue their
own most cherished projects in support of poetry, literature, learning, peace and reconciliation, and language as
the fundamental human alternative to dissension and violence.
Do not seek the old masters. Seek what they sought.
—Basho
My father sought the power of human inquiry and conversation to overcome division: “The greatest ownership
of all is to look around and understand.”
After 2014, I will be able to return to my own writing, teaching, speaking, and conferring for worthy projects.
Be well in all ways, Kim Stafford
What We Did Before Radio
Before you go, say a few words. Underground, or inside your heart
The world gave you a voice— a stream was chanting. You took
cry, whisper, laugh, hum. a little dipper, sipped, and some words
Birds called down to you, wind began for you. For this, the world
teaching through bare winter trees, gave you a voice. Before you go,
rain tapping the code for joy.
come down like an angel to laugh
In silence at the window inside a child’s mind. Invisible
sometimes you didn’t know everywhere, be the one singing.
what to say, and then in school
they asked what you had almost learned. —Kim Stafford
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Trance Poetics
I've read Kristin Prevallet's Trance Poetics: Your Writing Mind, and I highly recommend it. I'll list those reasons soon.
For now, this is what is "freaking awesome" today. I write small bursts of writing last night, and out of one of them, I posted a phrase on facebook:
"I want to remand my man status."
An Emporia writer and acquaintence wrote this:
"The very root of the word denies this, Mano. And you know the Latin root of testify references holding one's testes, those things most dear and upon which solemn oath would be sworn..."
This is the freaking part: This is the seuquence I wrote.
"I want to unman my hands. My genes to be unmanned. Unnamed. To remand my man status. Unhand me, man."
Jungian? Shamanic? This concept is part of what Prevallet stresses in her book.
For now, this is what is "freaking awesome" today. I write small bursts of writing last night, and out of one of them, I posted a phrase on facebook:
"I want to remand my man status."
An Emporia writer and acquaintence wrote this:
"The very root of the word denies this, Mano. And you know the Latin root of testify references holding one's testes, those things most dear and upon which solemn oath would be sworn..."
This is the freaking part: This is the seuquence I wrote.
"I want to unman my hands. My genes to be unmanned. Unnamed. To remand my man status. Unhand me, man."
Jungian? Shamanic? This concept is part of what Prevallet stresses in her book.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Maybe I need to switch my self-identification as a feminist?
Pro-feminist might help those people who doubt. I mean, really, I would still be doing the same things I do.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Can men be feminists?
A female poet whom I admire as both poet and facebook-posting activist posted about how she doesn't believe men can be feminists. I can't remember the exact wording, as she has removed her posts, but I thanked her for her honesty. It is a discussion that needs to be talked about, needs to be expressed. I understand where the distrust for men comes from.
I will never know what it is like to have that experience, of being a woman in our objectifying, violent, phallocentric culture. but I do have a clue based on being raised by women, having girls as friends throughout childhood, women as friends in my life, close colleagues and family.
That is why I moved from theory and thought into practice. It was time for me to finally speak up and not feel afraid about it.
Being vocal about it is a way to raise awareness. The next, to participate in marches--or help out, if it is Take Back the Night. Also, volunteer work. I've done all three.
You will get backlash, of course. You will have both men and women be critical, doubt, discourage, etc. So what. Don't listen to that. You need to do what you need to do.
It's not the vocalization and protests that change anyone, but the awareness. Action follows.
Also, poetry is a form of voice. For me, it is a feminist practice, a site for revelation and change.
Of course, I totally understand the doubt, skepticism, and, from men, chiding and hassling.
I will never know what it is like to have that experience, of being a woman in our objectifying, violent, phallocentric culture. but I do have a clue based on being raised by women, having girls as friends throughout childhood, women as friends in my life, close colleagues and family.
That is why I moved from theory and thought into practice. It was time for me to finally speak up and not feel afraid about it.
Being vocal about it is a way to raise awareness. The next, to participate in marches--or help out, if it is Take Back the Night. Also, volunteer work. I've done all three.
You will get backlash, of course. You will have both men and women be critical, doubt, discourage, etc. So what. Don't listen to that. You need to do what you need to do.
It's not the vocalization and protests that change anyone, but the awareness. Action follows.
Also, poetry is a form of voice. For me, it is a feminist practice, a site for revelation and change.
Of course, I totally understand the doubt, skepticism, and, from men, chiding and hassling.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Bookstores in Colorado; Denver, Boulder, Estes Park, Fort Collins, and more
Denver:
Counterpath Books - 613 22nd Street
Boulder:
Red Letter Secondhand Bookstore - 1737 Pearl St.
Estes Park:
Macdonald Book Shop - 152 East Elkhorn Ave.
Fort Collins
Old Firehouse Books, 232 Walnut St
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Poetry Reading Series list
Omaha:
Strange Machine
Iowa City:
Strange Cage
Chicago:
Dollhouse Reads
Kyle and Nick's reading tour:
Strange Machine
Iowa City:
Strange Cage
Chicago:
Dollhouse Reads
Kyle and Nick's reading tour:
Terrible poets Kyle McCord and Nick Courtright bring the destruction of many gods upon the I-35 corridor. Beware and/or bring beer!
---
Austin, TX: Thursday, June 20th – Fun Party Reading Series – Tiny Park, 1101 Navasota Street, Suite 2, Austin, Texas 78702, 6:30 (w/ Karyna McGlynn)
...
Denton, TX: Friday, June 21st – Kraken Reading Series – Paschall’s Bar, 122 N. Locust St., Denton, Texas 76201, 6:00 pm (w/ Matt Haines)
Tulsa, OK: Saturday, June 22nd – Living Arts Gallery, 307 E Brady St Tulsa, OK 74120, 7:00 pm
Lawrence, KS: Sunday, June 23rd – Taproom Poetry Series – Eighth Street Taproom, 801 New Hampshire St Lawrence, KS 66044, 5:00 pm (w/ Lauren Schimming)
Lincoln, NE: Monday, June 24th – Indigo Bridge Books, 7:00 pm Lincoln NE
Iowa City, IA: Tuesday, June 25th – Strange Cage Reading Series – Fair Grounds Coffeehouse, 345 S. Dubuque Street, Iowa City, Iowa 8 pm
Des Moines, IA: Wednesday, June 26th – Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave, Des Moines, IA 50310, 7:00 pm (w/ Russell Jaffe)
Omaha, NE: Thursday, June 27th -- Gallery 72, 1806 Vinton Street, Omaha, NE, 7:30 pm
---
Austin, TX: Thursday, June 20th – Fun Party Reading Series – Tiny Park, 1101 Navasota Street, Suite 2, Austin, Texas 78702, 6:30 (w/ Karyna McGlynn)
...
Denton, TX: Friday, June 21st – Kraken Reading Series – Paschall’s Bar, 122 N. Locust St., Denton, Texas 76201, 6:00 pm (w/ Matt Haines)
Tulsa, OK: Saturday, June 22nd – Living Arts Gallery, 307 E Brady St Tulsa, OK 74120, 7:00 pm
Lawrence, KS: Sunday, June 23rd – Taproom Poetry Series – Eighth Street Taproom, 801 New Hampshire St Lawrence, KS 66044, 5:00 pm (w/ Lauren Schimming)
Lincoln, NE: Monday, June 24th – Indigo Bridge Books, 7:00 pm Lincoln NE
Iowa City, IA: Tuesday, June 25th – Strange Cage Reading Series – Fair Grounds Coffeehouse, 345 S. Dubuque Street, Iowa City, Iowa 8 pm
Des Moines, IA: Wednesday, June 26th – Beaverdale Books, 2629 Beaver Ave, Des Moines, IA 50310, 7:00 pm (w/ Russell Jaffe)
Omaha, NE: Thursday, June 27th -- Gallery 72, 1806 Vinton Street, Omaha, NE, 7:30 pm
Kansas City Lawrence Poetry Readings
In Lawrence:
Taproom Poetry Series
Big Tent Reading Series
In Kansas City:
A Common Sense Reading Series
In Topeka, coming back:
Top City Poetry Reading Series
on facebook
Taproom Poetry Series
Big Tent Reading Series
In Kansas City:
A Common Sense Reading Series
In Topeka, coming back:
Top City Poetry Reading Series
on facebook
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Genres
Genres
are not just forms. Genres are forms of life, ways of being. They are frames
for social action. They are environments for learning. They are locations
within which meaning is constructed. Genres shape the thoughts we form and the
communications by which we interact. Genres are the familiar places we go to to
create intelligible communicative action with each other and the guideposts we
use to explore the unfamiliar.
~ Charles Bazerman, The Life of Genre, the Life in the Classrooms
Syllabus for a Poetry Class
“I think that an awful lot of American writing since the 1950s was in some ways anti-modernist, and that one of the reasons that poetry is undergoing this small boom is that people are turning to it and finding is surprisingly accessible, despite many years of education by teachers trained by New Critics to think that poetry was the best way to teach children analytic and interpretive skills in school--which could certainly kill off anything, you know? ~ Robert Hass, American Poet. An interview with Robert Hass on the office of the Poet Laureate, poetry, and its role in American culture
“Poetry is metamorphosis, change, and alchemical operation, and therefore it borders on magic, religion, and other attempts to transform man and make “this one” and “that one” that “other one” who is he himself...Poetry puts man outside of himself and, simultaneously, makes him return to his original being: returns him to himself...Poetry is entry into being.” - Octavio Paz, The Bow and the Lyre
We will begin our class with a look at what our perceptions of poetry are and how we formed them. We will discuss the first pleasures of language and then move into a discussion to find a way back into an appreciation of language. Throughout our time together, we will explore what poetry is and what it can do. In addition, we will discuss a creative way of thinking and artistic approach. We will honor the artists inside us and tap in, creating an environment conducive to creativity, intellectual growth, and sharing.
REQUIRED TEXTS
McKim, Elizabeth, & Steinbergh, Judith. (1999). Beyond Words: Writing Poems with Children, Brookline, MA: Talking Stone Press. (or order directly: www.troubadour.org)
Nye, Naomi Shahib. (Ed.) (1996). This Same Sky: A Collection of Poems from Around the World. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks.
Padgett, Ron. (Ed.) (2000). Handbook of Poetic Forms: Teachers and Writers Collaborative.
Additional readings provided.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This workshop will have a multiple focus:
* to provide a wide variety of poetry-writing experiences, from a writer's view
* to experience a process from warm-up to raw material to revisions to finished
* to sharpen critical skills through a positive workshop format
* to gain practical ideas for infusing poetry into the classroom
The emphasis will be on writing poetry and a poetic way of seeing, getting our whole hearts and minds and bodies involved, and exploring the ways we think and feel about poetry. Then this transformation will be applied to our work in the classroom.
The poetry workshop weekend is based on the following tenets:
1. We learn to write by reading and writing.
2. Writers benefit by having readers respond to their work-in-progress, rather than just having readers evaluate the work when it is finished. Bring xerox copies of your papers/poems for your group when asked.
3. A supportive working atmosphere is crucial if a writing workshop is to succeed. Your input is valued and is necessary to the course.
4. We will develop ourselves as writers of poetry and as teachers of poetry.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
1. Students will read and write a variety of poems and other pieces in and out of class.
2. Students will keep a source journal of visual and verbal images.
3. Students will participate in movement poems, poem enactment, and visual poetry.
4. Students will read and respond to a variety of poems.
5. Students will read children's poetry and explore approaches to sharing poetry with children.
6. Students will read outside material related to the understanding of poetry.
7. Students will value the imagination in childhood, and learn how to set up an environment that encourages expressive writing.
8. Students will demonstrate the ability to design and implement poetry writing within the classroom.
EXERCISES
The poetry-writing exercises from which we'll draw include:
Letter Poem
Photo Poem
Found Poem
Object Poem
Poem Hike
Exquisite Corpse
Dream Poem
Memory Poem
Newspaper Poem
We'll explore ways to write poetry from the world around us, from the media, from our thoughts and feelings, and from other poems. Other exercises will be adapted from the textbooks, and shared from our teaching experiences. We'll do exercises individually, in small groups, and as a class. The focus will be on active, engaged writing.
We'll also watch videos of poets, and share and discuss poetry from the textbooks and our individual reading.
Our aim is to saturate ourselves in the reading and writing of poetry, in order to build our skills, awareness and confidence, so that teaching poetry in the classroom is a natural outgrowth.
REQUIREMENTS
In-Class Participation. Active and engaged participation in our poetry writing exercises, sharing of readings, and discussion. Please save a written copy of your work for the portfolio.
Oral Report on Lesson Plan. Due the second weekend. A 10-15 minute presentation of the poetry lesson plan you have done in your classroom, accompanied by a 1-page summary/recipe for everyone. A poetry lesson may stand alone, be infused with movement, drama, music or art, or be integrated with another subject area such as social studies or science. (Remember to tap into the imagination and not just integrate facts.)
To expand everyone's repertoire, avoid familiar exercises (haiku, acrostic, diamente, cinquain), something you've done before like alphabet poems, and exercises we have done together in class.
Instead, choose something new and different: use a new form from "Handbook of Poetic Forms," imitate a poem from "Same Sky," or build on one of the exercises in "Beyond Words" (anything but
pp. 128-130). Please email me if you have questions or get stuck.
It's important that the lesson plan include:
- Page # and title of poem or exercise from our textbooks, on which you based lesson
- A warm-up activity, physical or mental or both
- Gathering of raw material
- Shaping the raw stuff into a first draft
- Revising into a finished form, with some kind of presentation
Make your presentation lively and engaging. You may bring in samples of student work, show materials you used in class, and invite our participation--if we have time, we'll try it ourselves!
FINAL PORTFOLIO. Must be postmarked no later than three weeks from our last class. Mail to my home address. Include a large, self-addressed, stamped envelope for its return; be sure to use stamps and not a meter strip, as it will expire. Include:
Your Poems. One typed copy of each poem you wrote in class. Revision is encouraged (expectation is 2-3 poems). Include all typed drafts. Staple last, best draft on top, first draft on bottom.
Oral Report Handout. 1-page handout/recipe from your oral report.
Reflection Paper on Lesson. 2-3 page paper that expands on your handout/recipe. It should address your project's successes and ways it could be improved, and should also include your ideas and plans for future uses of poetry in the classroom. You might also tell anecdotes of how individual students struggled and, in some cases, made breakthroughs. You may reflect on this class as well, and your changed (hopefully) attitudes toward poetry.
Book Responses. Two 1-2 page responses to two books of poetry by an adult for adults, written since 1960. No anthologies. Avoid Hallmark-like inspirational verse, or books by songwriters (like Jewel). Check out your local libraries and bookstores. Include personal reactions, favorite poems and lines, how it expands your ideas of what poetry can do, how it makes you think and feel. Please check with me if you have any questions. Explore:
- Why you chose the book and how it appeals to you
- Favorite poems and lines
- Observations on the subject matter (family or nature for example)
- Thoughts on the poetic style (how the poems look on the page, sound
SCHEDULE
Weekend One - Getting into Poetry
We'll focus on experiencing and responding to poems through reading, listening, and watching videos. We'll begin to write poems, moving from raw material in exercises to more finished work, and start to explore how they can be presented in different formats, perhaps including choral and dramatic.
Weekend Two - Poetry in the Classroom
We'll continue writing and discussing poetry, but the emphasis will shift to applying what we've learned to the classroom. Oral reports on lesson plans will be presented to the group, and we'll talk about translating our ideas to many grade levels. We'll conclude with a coffee house-like group poetry
reading--ideally at a student's house. Note: bring books of poems to share, and any classroom
resources--great books, visuals, etc.
SUGGESTED OUTSIDE TEXTS:
For Poetry Writing and Expressive Writing:
Goldberg, Natalie (199O). Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life. NY: Bantam (see her other book as well, Writing Down the Bones (These books introduce you to writing, but do not go into poetic techniques).
Oliver, Mary. A Poetry Handbook.
Twitchell, Chase. The Practice of Poetry.
For Teaching Poetry Writing in the Classroom:
Collom, Jack (1985). Moving Windows: Evaluating the Poetry Children Write. NY: Teachers & Writers Collaborative. (Elementary and up.)
Dunning, Stephen, et. al. (1966). Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle...and other Modern Verse. NYL: Scholastic. (A solid anthology of modern and contemporary poetry ; elementary and up.)
Edgar, Christopher, and Ron Padgett, eds. (1994). Educating The Imagination: Essays & Ideas for Teachers & Writers. 2 volumes. NY: Teachers & Writers Collaborative. 5 Union Square West. NY NY 10003-3306. ANY BOOK PUBLISHED BY TEACHERS & WRITERS COLLABORATIVE IS FINE.
Marzan, Julio, ed. (1997). Luna, Luna: Creative Writing Ideas from Spanish, Latin American & Latino Literature. NY: Teachers & Writers Collaborative, 1997. (Middle school and up.)
Flynn, Nick and Shirley McPhillips (2000). A Note Slipped Under the Door: Teaching from Poems We Love. ME: Stenhouse.
Kennedy, X. J. and Kennedy, Dorothy M.(1982). Knock at a Star: A Child's Introduction to Poetry. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. (Elementary; 3rd-middle school.) See new edition.
Frank, Marjorie (1979). If You're Trying to Teach Kids to Write, You've Got Have This Book!. Nashville; Incentive Publications. (Eelementary, a pot pourri of ideas.)
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