Waiting and Contemplating

The schedule for this year's Dodge festival is still not posted. Not that I should need more than 28 days to figure out how to spend 48 hours of my life, but the list of poets - especially the PFKAPAA (Poets Formerly Known as Poets Among Us) is just tremendous this year, and I know I need to run a nice optimization algorithm to get the right mix of fine poets whose work I know and fine poets whose work I've yet to meet.

Lord, I'm really geeky this week.

I'm actually looking forward to Dodge more than usual this year because I've written almost nothing since April, and I could use the time, inspiration, and bad cel phone reception to squeeze out some words.

Maybe even save a few to start repopulating this litte desert corner of the internet, too....

Miscellany for a Wednesday

It's Charles Bukowski's birthday. Maybe we should all do today's writing drunk, naked and sweaty in commemoration. I've been meandering my way through Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way: New Poems for months and to be honest, I find parts of it brutal - where the subject overwhelms what craft there is to the point where I have to put it down. It's like spotting micrograms of diamond in a pail of rotting meat.

***

On the other end of the spectrum, I've been spending lots of time with my contributor's copy of Silk Road. I'm just thrilled at being included in this inaugural volume alongside some of the writers whose works I've been studying and learning from. Among the poets you'll find there are Deborah Ager, Kelli Agodon, Steve Schroeder and Suzanne Frischkorn. From the Editors' note:

A series of collected writings on place is like a string of caravansaries along the ancient Silk Road. Each one offers a similar refuge from the immediacy of a dusty, perilous highway, yet no two are the same because of the mix of travelers who gather there.

What a great way to approach creating a magazine.

***

The 06-07 season of the Spoken Word Series has been posted at DeBaun.org. If artistic diversity is my primary objective in scheduling artists, I may have hit my peak in this, our 5th full year. And we're not done - I'm finalizing plans for a day of workshops in May and stewing up some longer term plans. I hope you NJ locals will keep an eye out. Or better, get on our mailing list.

***

The list of poets presenting at this year's Dodge Festival has been posted. It takes artistic diversity to a whole other level (and look for some lesser known but terrific talents in the bottom section of that list). It's interesting to think of this list and my own much smaller effort in the context of Deborah's recent comments on "KINDS" of poets, and to imagine the conscious and unconscious checklists in my head (and the heads of other event planners). "Diversity" requires criteria against which to check off "differences". Have to think about that some more.

Here, gone, here

From the comings and goings files...

• Lost and Found Investigations has posted new comics this week, bringing its Gamefly-imposed hiatus to an apparent end. (Yay!)
• Kelli Agodon's blog has been subtracted the universe. A comment over at Jeannine's place leads me to think this was purposeful. Too bad - Kelli's was one of the truer-to-format "writer's blogs", with (I thought) the right mix of personal, projects, and poetry/prose.
• I just noticed that Kim Addonizio is blogging again, however.
• The Yankees did me the substantial favor of aquiring the two Phillies on my fantasy baseball team. Thanks, Brian Cashman! The Mets reacquired Roberto Hernandez, because Julio Franco wasn't doing enough to increase the average age of the team.

The next thing to go needs to be the HEAT!

James Weil (1929 – 2006)

By various electronic means, Ed Foster and Ron Sillman both bring us news today of the death of James Weil. For me to provide links here would imply a false familiarity with his work, but you can do a Google search on him and find a large number of references.

Among the accomplishments Ed included in his email obituary for Mr. Weil were these lines from "A Coney Island Life", which is on the Academy of American Poets' list of Great Poems to Teach:

Having lived a Coney Island life
on roller coaster ups and downs
and seen my helium hopes
break skyward without me,
now arms filled with dolls
I threw so much for
I take perhaps my last ride
on this planet-carousel
and ask
how many more times round
I have
to catch that brass-ring-sun
before the game is up.

Feeding the Geek

Taking a small break from versification this week, and have been completely absorbed by The Physics of Superheroes by James Kakalios. It's a physics text of sorts, in that the science is solid and thoroughly explained, but it's also documentation of a love affair with comics. It asks and answers the question "Could this happen?" about many comics from the Golden and Silver eras, with examples of plausible and, well, miraculous physical happenings depicted in those glorious 4-color pages.

I'm not a huge comics fan (though I do enjoy a good Iron Man from time to time), but the enthusiasm Professor Kakalios shows for both his heroes and his equations is enough to carry me - and you - through his 400 pages quickly. He's an eloquent and talented writer.

And yes, I am a geek.

Reading and Sleeping

Has much been going on in the past month? Life continues to interfere with more regular posting; if you're looking for more regular (and more literarily astute) posting, check out the Frequented Blogs list. Here are a few miscellany from this corner of the world:

• Criticize his anthologies if you like, but Garrison Keillor continues to show good taste in selecting poems for The Writer's Almanac, this time rediscovering a gem from Meg Kearney's first book, An Unkindness of Ravens: "Creed".
• That, of course, follows the selection over the past month of two from Jeannine Gailey's Becoming the Villainess (click her blog below for details and current news).
• The DeBaun Series is coming together for next year, including what is shaping up to be a dynamite writing workshop day in May. Hope to be announcing detials by end-August.
• I did it again. I got some emergency expert guidance (and will be back to you for more, oh benevolent coach!) and submitted "To The Ones Who Must Be Loved" in an open reading period.
• What I'm reading currently: Only Here, Joe Salerno; Diary of a Cell, Jennifer Gresham; Never Before - Poems about first experience, edited by Laure-Anne Bosselaar. And all the writing mags - which I get more and more convinced just have nothing to say anymore.
• I did not make it into the New Jersey Writers Project, but am revamping my grammar school class concepts anyway - just in case any of you English teachers friends are checking in....

OK. That's all I'm awake enough to tell you about. I'm hoping for more awake time (for me and my dialup connection) soon!

Contrary to Popular Opinion...

...I have not, in fact, fallen from the face of the earth. However, I have had precious little time to focus on producing any new creative writings, and I'm just to darned private to tell you why. So speculate away; you get three guesses and the first two don't count.

But I have had some time to do some reading and listening. What reading I've been able to do has focused on a few places:

• What Will Suffice, has a bunch of interesting commentaries by poets whose "ars poetica" poems were selected for inclusion in this pretty good anthology. Some of it loses me - I think the tendency to inflate good poems to find universality is a bit unchecked in this book, but it still is a nice collection.
• The latest 32 Poems is quite a strong issue. I've read it three times cover to cover and still find myself discovering things in it. Sandra Beasley's work is up at the website now - work a look and certainly enough for me to renew my subscription.
• I've rediscovered Discover. It's been a usual practice to grab a copy whenever I have time in an airport, but now, as a subsriber, I'm reinfusing myself with the sense of wonder this magazine has about just about everything. Even if you're not a science geek, you can benefit from at wonder, I promise.

As for listening, my ears have been focused mostly on the soundtrack from Barnum because my kids have fallen in love with the show. It's reminded me of all those great parts I had on my list of "Roles I'd Love to Play" back when I trod the boards frequently: John Adams in 1776, PT Barnum in Barnum, and other assorted blowhards.

Ah, for time for it all....

How Far I've Come, I Think

The Celebration of NJ Literary Journals was a great event. I've not been to any of the major literary conferences, so my only comparisons are the Dodge, the Warren County Poetry Festival, and local reading series. But how much fun is it to be in a room where the audience varies between 20 and 50 for three hours, as opposed to between -1 (one person, there just to rest their feet, not listening) and 5 for 40 minutes - an even better, where the readers go straight from the podium to their cars. Ugh.

Anyway, it was terrific. And I had one of those moments where you suddenly feel like you're accomplishing something. A poet whose work I've followed and who has known me at least casually for ten years stopped me after my little 4 minute bit to say "Hey, it's terrific to hear how far you've come since I first heard your work." That's the kind of comment that is more meaningful than a casual "Loved your stuff" from someone exiting the men's room. It shows awareness of change in my work and the presence of something different, some growth and accomplishment. Even if he didn't mean it, but I'm pretty sure that he did.

So I went and looked over my stuff from 1996 and earlier to see what's different. At the risk of oversimplifying, there are two biggies:

• The "Murphy Rules" (though I know he wouldn't call them that) - Peter Murphy uses a set of questions to judge your level of accomplishment as a poet, to help decide between basic and advanced classes in his writing seminars. In a nutshell, they boil down to concreteness (the ratio of abstract words to concrete ones) and the absence of clichés. I don't know when it happened, but I can see in the more recent work how I do more showing, use more scenes and examples, and most importantly, am more specific in my descriptions, making my mood-setting more effective.
• The "Two Lines Too Many" rules. Harder to simplify, this is the tendency to let the poem end when it wants to, rather than force it into a neat package, or worse, to clarify what it "means" with a wrap-up clause. I'm enormously guilty of this in my earlier writings, and on more than one occasion, editors have accepted my work after suggesting (and me accepting) taking 1-2 lines off the end, and leaving the rest as it is.

In noticing these differences, I realize that I've changed my audience expectations a little. But interestingly, I think it's the audience of myself - my own expectations for my poems have changed. I attribute this to tons of reading, as well as learning to teach a little poetry myself. Both have exposed me to wide attitudes about poetry, and both have forced me to consciously decide what I like about a poem, what I find the essence of that poem to be.

Navel-gazing? Maybe. But fascinating to me nonetheless.

Shorts

• Got word this week my poem "You Are Here" was accepted for the inaugural Silk Road. Thanks to Jeannine for spreading the invitation to submit.
• I've been so out of touch, I didn't hear about Stanley Kunitz until Tuesday, when this quote from him was coincidentally on the Poetry Speaks Page-a-Day: "Every new poem is like finding a new bride. Words are so erotic, they never tire of their coupling"
• I'm one of 5,567 readers (OK, just 26) this Sunday in West Caldwell. You should come.
• I'm reading Caroll Spinney's autobiography and the Bosselaar-edited anthology "Never Before, Poems About First Experiences". The whiplash is worth it. The anthology contains a terribly funny poem from Meg Kearney that she read at the Dodge in 2004, whose title I can't bring myself to provide here, lest my mother stop by.
• One quick word for everyone taking this weekend's movies much too seriously: FICTION.
• The Mets beat the Yankees tonight. Not that these things matter in May, but WOO HOO!

Looking forward to more insightful posting again soon. Hope you are, too.

Celebrating NJ Journals

"And while West Caldwell may not be quite as hip as Hoboken or Montclair, it's mayor, Joseph Tempesta, said visitors shouldn't be surprised that the township would host such a cultural event. "We always try to offer a variety of programs that appeal to a lot of age groups," he said. "We are thriving in the arts, and in the performing arts." from "W. Caldwell brings out the poet in everyone" by Star-Ledger staffer Elizabeth Moore.

This Sunday is Mother's Day. I am not promoting myself on that day.

However, the following Sunday is the (now) annual Celebration of NJ Literary Journals, organized by the estimable Diane Lockward, and I'll have a couple small pieces in that event, taking photographs for the artists' future use (and hopefully a few placements in the hometown paper), and representing Edison Literary Review as a reader late in the afternoon.

If you are local to north Jersey, I expect to see you there. I'll be the guy in the back with the camera in my hand, hopefully not wearing the same green shirt I wore the last two years.

I've promised myself I will read the newest, rawest poem I have that day. It will be an audience of 75% accomplished poets and 25% highly well-read (well-listened?) poetry fans. Feedback from that room is worth its weight in baseball cards.

The Visible Word II

The Center for the Performing Arts at DeBaun Auditorium is pleased to present its 2nd Annual

VISIBLE WORD
ekphrastic art for the senses Exhibit

Saturday, May 6, 2006
Exhibit from 5-9pm with Reading and Artists' Talk at 7pm
FREE TO ALL! Refreshments will be served.

Exhibit Location & Directions: DeBaun Auditorium, Edwin A. Stevens Hall 5th & Hudson Sts., Hoboken, NJ For directions: http://www.debaun.org/cgi-bin/directions3.php Easily accessible by PATH, LightRail, NJ Transit & NY Waterways

Visual & Written Word Artists Featured:

Jennifer Benn & Lise Bargardo
Michael Filan & John J. Trause
Nancy Tobin & Jerome Rothenberg

For artist biographies and more information, please visit http://www.debaun.org/cgi-bin/onstage/visibleword.php

http://www.debaun.org

From Today's Poetry Speaks Calendar

A poem is a way of meaning more than one thing at a time - John Ciardi

Draft: Gypsy Moths

{sorry, this poem has been deleted}

Reading Format Question

Planning for another year of The Spoken Word Series, and I'm contemplating format changes. We have what I consider the "typical" format: a feature of 30-40 minutes, a short break, an open mic.

I'm starting to see more open mic of fixed duration opening followed by the feature followed by more open if there are enough signups. Alternatively, open til complete followed by feature.

The argument for open mic first usually goes: this way people aren't ruffling through their own poems, they're concentrating on the feature. I don't necessarily buy this, but I'm open to new arguments.

Which do you prefer? Why?

Returning a Draft

I poked at drafts from Steve and Jeannine this week. Only seemed fair to offer them a shot at a brandy new one of my own.

{Sorry, this poem has been deleted}

Jetsam

Haven't had much time for this little space recently - and still don't - but here are some thoughts for very late on a weeknight, removed from my brain that I might make room for sleep.

(1) Very interesting looking event this Sunday in Cranford, NJ: Deborah LaVeglia, Joe Weil, John McDermott & the CHS Madrigal Singers from 1-4 PM at the Cranford Public Library. This is the kind of ambitious event I aspire to design for my own poetry series. Excellent poets, music. This event also includes visual art - we've linked to the visual arts (and will again on May 6), but the verbal presentation of poetry really does best, I think, when another aural medium complements it. Things to think about for future seasons.

(2) Jilly linkes to an article on the latest posthumous Bukowski that contains the following thought:

He knew that life was in the doing, not the laurels, which he said he didn’t care about. Good thing, because he wasn’t going to get any from the American literary elite who also have no use for e.e. cummings, Edward Arlington Robinson, Edna St. Vincent Millay and several other poets who are an ongoing source of inspiration for those of us who do not look to the critics for permission to be moved.

OK, not in it for the attaboys. That's great. But am I the only person who detects a great deal more poetic effort (craft, word choice, form or conscious anarchy, etc.) in those other poets than in Bukowski? I think Bukowski is a much better and more enjoyable read than cummings, but I think cummings took more care in the selection and placement of words on the page. That article then goes on:

The list of poets I recommend to aspirants starts with William Carlos Williams. Then come the other untouchables. But Bukowski is not far down on the list. I can think of no writer a young poet should more often read to see writing as risk, as consent to following one’s leadings regardless of caliber.

Oh, no. That doesn't really suggest write what you feel no matter how good it is, does it? Please, PLEASE someone correct what simply MUST be a misinterpretation on my part. I also hate the word "untouchables" to discuss great poets, but that's picky, and for another time.

(3) Maureen has posted a review of Debra Galant's book Rattled. Ms. Galant is a bit famous in the crowded suburban stripe that stretches west from Newark, NJ for the local news and commentary site The Barista of Bloomfield Avenue. The Newark mayoral race promises to be quite entertaining this year; if you're interested in the local politics version of Jon Stewart, go bookmark the Barista.

(4) And finally, Writer's Digest had an article on ordering a poetry manuscript this month that contains quotes from many excellent poets (I was pleasantly surprised to see one of the great ladies of NJ poetry therein: Maria Mazziotti Gillan), yet still managed to be completely without a non-obvious suggestion. I'm beginning to think compiling a book is like hitting a baseball - either you can or you can't. And coaches can only help those who have proven they can.

My big dilemma now is deciding whether I'm a can or a can't.

Ahh, nothing like a good spleen venting. (That's right, this was nothing like a good spleen venting). But now to sleep....

Believe...

I believe that no one is spared
the darkness,
and no one gets all of it.

from "What I Believe" by Michael Blumenthal
in Poems to Live By In Uncertain Times, edited by Joan Murray.

You could hypnotize yourself with this stanza, no?

Upcoming Readings

If you're in the northeast US, please take note of three places I'll be visible in the next few months:

Tomorrow night, I'll be at Saint Catherine's in Ringwood, NJ. I was one of the judges of their annual poetry contest, and will be participating in the poetry reading to celebrate that contest. It's part of a large community arts festival; well worth stopping by.

Later this month (March 22 to be precise) I'll be reading in the Wednesday Night Poetry Series in Bethel, CT.

And in May, I'll be representing the Edison Literary Review at the annual Celebration of New Jersey Literary Journals in West Caldwell on May 21 (details forthcoming).

For reminders of these and other NJ and DV events, sign up for my emailing list.

Aphorisms for Caregivers

Somewhat at random:

• The patient who has lost all language still speaks her own pain fluently.
• In the doorway to the hospital, you are just the second domino.
• Confidence is trust in things promised. It is not the absence of questions.

Be back soon.

Reduction to Practice

Well, my application is in for the New Jersey Writer's Project. My thanks to those who let me use their names as reference, and to anyone who wants to direct a little mojo my way (hint, hint).

Coincidentally, the latest Teaching Artist Journal arrived last week. I haven't completed it yet - always takes me a few weeks to nibble and digest, nibble and digest. This issue seems to have play and the application of play as its theme. A good subject, as TAs need to use fun as a motivator, at least at start. In "In Search of Serious Play", David Wallace makes the point that the rules of play have to be firm and clear yet enticing. Its a good article, but it trips over one of my peeves in the following excerpt:

"Virtually every form of play has rules of some sort - consider how many rules there are in baseball, chess, and other favorite pasttimes, In our lessons, two or three simple rules can provide structure for creative exploration."

I know what he's saying (and the rest of the article says it well), but the use of these examples seems to me to be missing the point a little. Sure these are complicated games, but they can be simplified in practice to be much less intimidating. It's not so much the rules of chess, for example, but the execution of its strategy that is daunting. Yet chess strategy 101 can be boiled down to three rules: 1. Take the center. 2. Make his king move. 3. Follow his king. Why can't we reduce our teaching of writing that way?

At the last Warren County Poetry Festival, Peter gave a great exercise, which (If I may simplify) was to answer three seemingly unrelated questions and put those answers into a poem. The reason it worked was because it provided specific, short, actionable steps. It turned "Write a poem" (cue scary music) into "Fill in the blank".

The article does go on to talk about ways to playfully but seriously engage students as a TA. But I fear that examples like this do an inustice to the things the engage in comparison. Baseball need not be more complicated than running, readiness, and the happiness of getting a hit. Chess, like creative writing, can be allowed to feel intimidating, or it can be presented in a way that makes it inviting, attaches to it some manageable goals, and welcomes play.

{Sorry, connection problems, links to come later}