Archive for December, 2008
« Previous EntriesPoems and personality
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Ted Burke Blog
How can anyone hope to comprehend the poetry without comprehending the poet first?
If the poet is good, they should be able to write poems that stand by themselves without the poet’s biography to guide them. Reader’s “get” Shakespeare’s speeches and sonnets with out requiring the background incidents [...]
Not mean, but…?
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Ted Burke Blog
A poem should not mean
But be.
That said by poet Archibald MacLeish, in his piece “Ars Poetica”. That thrust of that poem, in essence, was that poetry was no longer the central domain in which speculations about the nature of reality , beauty, and the pursuit of the [...]
Happy New Year, poets!
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Poets Who Blog
Happy New Year, poets! Thank you for making this another wonderful year here at PWB. To keep our site going in next year please make sure that you leave comments, visit the poets on our list, take part in our projects, and take about PWB on other [...]
Firefly Passions
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Knocking from Inside Blog
For 3 Word Wednesday: Glimmer. Passion. Wish
summer dusk glimmers
with wishes whispered on stars
and firefly passions
Collection available! Knocking from Inside
Designs
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Average Poet Blog
The thing about topography
is who decides where what will be
or is it just a tapestry
of chaos to the nth degree?
“An American Dream” by Norman Mailer
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Ted Burke Blog
An American Dream
a novel by Norman Mailer
(Vintage)
Mailer’s meditation on violence and evil will not be everyone’s idea of a good novel to read on the beach, but An American Dream is a fully realized male fantasy wherein one set-upon, White, alcoholic , protagonist berserks himself into sequential [...]
An SF/F Abecedarium
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Knocking from Inside Blog
Todd and I put this list together last night; it leans heavily towards authors we loved when we were young and is weak on more recent authors. We couldn’t quite assemble an alphabet out of author names, so some of the entries are titles, names of [...]
Knocked
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Average Poet Blog
The structure’s disrepair
deters potential dwelling,
you knock but no one’s there.
With premises so spare
the site’s just not compelling,
the structure’s disrepair
shows a lack of any care
or future chance for selling.
You knock but no one’s there,
suspended on the stair
your knuckles slowly swelling.
The structure’s disrepair
is a danger to beware
and sadly, quite [...]
Read Nicole Nicholson at Young American Poets
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Poets Who Blog
One of PWB’s very own had her work displayed at YAP last month. To read Nicole Nicholson’s poem Elegy click here.
Do you have poetry news to share? Send it to poetswhoblog at yahoo dot com with Poetry News in the subject line. But if it is of [...]
December poetry contest
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Poets Who Blog
Hi- We bring news (a little late!) of the December poetry contest soon to close on WritingRoom.com- winners of which will be featured in the WR Winners Forum on Poetrydances.com. Along with other great prizes - such as publication and cash! All participants will receive a certificate [...]
Shoeshine Blues
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Knocking from Inside Blog
Each morning I watch him set up in the street
with polish and rags and a little wood seat
and he waits there for someone to offer their feet.
Shoeshine man, shoeshine man
Nikes don’t need you, so do what you can.
Strollers in sandals with wool socks go by
while joggers [...]
Webster’s Word Of The Year - Overshare
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by World Class Poetry Blog
A very sweet lady who attends my church, a couple of weeks ago, asked me if I’d heard of Dana Gioia. Of course, as my regular readers know, I have. She wanted to know how I knew of him and I spent about 30 minutes filling [...]
The Time Value Of Literature:
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by World Class Poetry Blog
Who decides whether a piece of literature is good or not? Is there a committee somewhere that decides by a process of selection? Does it allow for vote by proxy? Is there a monarch or a king that raises his scepter in approbation? Perhaps all the [...]
Four Sonnets, sort of
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Ted Burke Blog
Sonnet 1
You turn your head, you cough and recover,
hand at your throat, the mike buzzes but not before
you shuffle your poems and read yet again, you go on in a room
where everyone has a first line, I would read about your eyes,
wide as they are as saucers [...]
Because Good-bye is too Cliche’
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Raven’s Shadow
Nature touches us the same
but you are blind in my world,
and I am a misfit in your circle
of circles, of circles, of circles.
You perceive me as complicated
and deep, but I am as simple as
red earth and blue sky.
You self-proclaimed wise child,
look, I wear too many clothes to fit
in [...]
Ever visited Lit Up Magazine Blog?
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Poets Who Blog
From their site:
Lit Up Magazine is whatever you want it to be. Send us your music, photos, video’s, news and events, your writing, opinions, whatever. This is your world. We want you happy. We want you here…all of you. Submit to litupmagazine@yahoo.com
If you decide to visit [...]
Recycled Poet Joins PWB
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Poets Who Blog
We have a new site on our blogroll. It focuses on the work of DPoetry and the poetry scene in Baltimore, Maryland. He is a spoken word poet who is interested in encouraging other poets to do more readings. Click here to check out Recycled Poet.
PWB Second Anniversary Party
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Poets Who Blog
You are cordially invited to celebrate the second anniversary of Poets Who Blog being online. This site takes the hard work, generosity and dedication of many members to keep it going. On January 5th we will be gathering here to commemorate the fact that we have made [...]
At the Corner of the Year
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Knocking from Inside Blog
The day is trapped in amber, a reflection
of traffic lights, half-changed from green to red.
The line of cars down at the intersection
exhausting clouds of steam, won’t move ahead
like pages on a calendar, unflipped,
with pictures that we’re tired of. Time’s a gate
with frozen hinge, a clock whose [...]
Critical Piranhas
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Knocking from Inside Blog
NB: this is not autobiographical.
Tread warily. The waters here are deep
and filled with hungry disputatious fish.
They’ll strip your flesh to bone. They’ll make you wish
you’d stayed in bed. No black horse in your sleep
can carve its hoofprints in your waking mind
the way these fish can leave [...]
Believing Soul
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Knocking from Inside Blog
God is not here. God is not there,
God IS.
Distance means nothing to the believing soul.
Location means nothing to the believing soul.
Condition and time are the veils
that cover the eyes of the blind and
believing soul.
God is the breath that stirs the veils
and lifts them to look as [...]
Runon
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Average Poet Blog
I’d meant to browse my favorite book
but weariness prevailed
so nestled in my nighttime nook
I drifted off then sailed
beyond the crassly crying crush
to mazes deep within
where fear is heightened by the hush
before my foes begin
pursuing me relentlessly
through sinister abodes
as I scramble senselessly
while confidence corrodes
and urgently my sneakers churn
through [...]
Observance
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Average Poet Blog
Jupiter and Venus are becoming quite estranged
apparently an aspect of their situation changed
but every body carries on, without a word to say
despite the glaring distance that increases by the day.
Left
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Average Poet Blog
Sifting through the aftermath
swallowing indignant wrath
surprised by a box of childhood crafts;
four siblings clearing out the berth
of she who brought them to the earth
together spurned those cold December drafts.
Solstice Sacrifice
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]Submitted by Knocking from Inside Blog
Swirls of candy-cane peppermint red-and-white
barber-pole stripes like the snow streaked with blood
trodden to slush in the cold of the darkest night
heat from the butchering thaws frozen mud.
Slaughtering reindeer on solstice at morning
meat for the wintertime, blood for the sun
bringing the light back, the new year a-borning
life [...]