tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3298000432832551662024-02-19T11:14:14.005-05:00Strong VersePoetry is God’s fingerprint in human clay.G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.comBlogger274125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-73270051192363944622016-11-03T08:23:00.001-04:002016-11-03T08:23:25.759-04:00Verse novels and agentsHaven't posted in years. Might as well dump a thought or two.<br />
<br />
Since there's no money in poetry, I've written a verse novel. There is a demonstrated market for verse novels (Crank and Inside Out and Back Again) and experimental narratives (ttfn) in YA. I've covered that already somewhere in the archives.<br />
<br />
I know this is a silly longshot. But meh. I like silly longshots.<br />
<br />
What interests me is the finding of an agent. Like back in the day when I was querying agents for my epic poem 1779 (like a verse novella maybe? 150 pages or so) I have gotten a lot of "this is great but I don't know how to sell it" responses.<br />
<br />
It's important to say how encouraging that is.<br />
<br />
So I'm saying it.<br />
<br />
Not sure what I'm going to do with this space right here, but for now I want to say thanks for the encouragement.G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-80667518828239764802013-11-27T14:01:00.000-05:002013-11-27T14:01:02.312-05:00Poetry Isn't Safe: a new kickstarter! Hello everyone!<br />
<br />
Please check out my newest project:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1348543899/poetry-isnt-safe-a-new-best-reading-ever-film">Poetry Isn't Safe</a><br />
<br />
Please share and support the film!G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-76510985180178204982013-10-31T12:21:00.002-04:002013-10-31T12:22:52.643-04:00We Real Cool Vampires: Happy Halloween!I stole this idea from <a href="http://therumpus.net/2013/10/this-is-just-to-say-im-a-zombie-by-david-hernandez/">David Hernandez at the Rumpus</a> via <a href="http://www.taraskurtu.com/">Tara Skurtu</a>. Oh the cheezy fun!<br />
THANKS Y'ALL!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15433">We Real Cool Vampires</a><br />
<br />
VAMPIRES HAVE EATEN THE POOL PLAYERS.<br />
MURDERED SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL.<br />
<br />
We real cool. We fly in the night 'cause we<br />
Left school. We hunt in a pack and we<br />
<br />
Lurk late. We sharpen our teeth--our claws<br />
Strike straight. We raise Hell when we<br />
<br />
Sing sin. We drink bloody girls who taste of<br />
Thin gin. We rock Ann and roll Jill and<br />
<br />
Jazz June. We're coming for you--you're gonna<br />
Die soon.
<br />
<br />G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-4079510754781334662013-10-25T13:17:00.003-04:002013-10-25T13:17:49.563-04:00Margaret's Song<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/FWCYx85SHIA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
Here's my song for Margaret.<br />
<br />G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-9395594584665478292013-09-24T08:09:00.001-04:002013-09-24T08:09:12.597-04:00Alissa Nutting: Tampa loves Strong VerseSo if you're one of the 8 people who didn't read <a href="http://www.alissanutting.com/">Alissa Nutting's <i>Tampa</i></a> this summer, let me point you to my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R1W8E77OOAHZ22/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0062280546&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag=">Amazon Review</a>. It's a fun book if you can have fun reading a disturbing topic (note: I can!).<br />
<br />
Alissa picked up a copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/With-Rough-Gods-ebook/dp/B009G8T8IC/">With Rough Gods</a> recently and had this to say about it:<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R1J30A65E0NQ8O/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0982387814&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag=">Everything you love about reading ancient myths, rendered in lucid, incredible poems--a clear winner! As an enormous fan of fairy tales, origin stories, and mythology, I found this book to be essential and enjoyable.</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
Short, lovely, and to the point! As she was a former editor of the incomparable <a href="http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/fairytalereview/vol8/iss1/">Fairy Tale Review</a>, I couldn't be happier with it.<br />
<br />
Thanks, Alissa!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-37406531439207746962013-09-20T11:22:00.002-04:002013-09-20T11:22:48.786-04:00Review of Annie Finch's Spells at Critical Flame<a href="http://criticalflame.org/why-we-read-spells-by-annie-finch/">Let's talk about Beck!</a>G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-49223319709479136832013-09-03T11:50:00.001-04:002013-09-03T11:50:04.841-04:00Review With Rough GodsHi all!<br />
<br />
If you already have <a href="http://www.amazon.com/With-Rough-Gods-G-Palmer/dp/0982387814/">With Rough Gods</a>, I'd love it if you took a moment to say something nice about it at the following places:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://bookdigits.com/book?ID=1052429">Book Digits</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16051613-with-rough-gods">Goodreads</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/With-Rough-Gods-G-Palmer/product-reviews/0982387814/">Amazon</a><br />
<br />
If you don't have it, GET IT!<br />
<br />
Thanks!G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-87824592094199142702013-08-28T11:33:00.003-04:002013-08-29T14:06:12.177-04:00Haiku for Margaret & lossOver at Lutheran Surrealism (see the links list) there's a haiku contest up. Much of the commentary is, fortunately or un-, not haiku. Ah well. I've been taking the opportunity to write some emotionally healing one-offs to deal with the loss of my youngest.<br />
<br />
Here they are. I'll update if more get written before Sunday. Enjoy!<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">A missing daughter</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Summer fades into autumn</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">And silenced laughter</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Indefinite In Context</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">impossible loss</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">words unravel like a tear</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">winds abrading me</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Not a crook</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">My wrinkled thumb stumps</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">air now no weight is there my</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">arm cradles absence.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Holy Matrimony</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">We are wound by God</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">to breed immortal children</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">even though they die.<br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Loss/Lost</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">A sunken island</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">wishes to unmoor itself</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202020; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">and drift, forgotten.</span>G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-27400801212994980062013-08-15T09:59:00.002-04:002013-08-15T09:59:24.546-04:00Elegy for Margaret by Michael P. Bobbitt<div class="MsoNormal">
Elegy for Margaret </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Is her still dead?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A 3-year old big sister giving voice<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To a very grown-up confusion—<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Baby Margaret, blameless and perfect in her mother’s
embrace,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Swaddled in the arms of death.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Surely there’s been some mistake,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Reaper with a wrong address<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or a God distracted by beauty elsewhere in creation<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To let this happen.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Why is she so cold, daddy?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Because this is just her body, sweetheart. Her spirit lives
in our hearts now.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And yet there are still forms to sign,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Flowers and dinners and details to arrange—<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All the things that people do—<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well-meaning friends grasping for something to say<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When no poet or minister <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Could ever find a single comforting word<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That would but wither in the face of this despair. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A family strewn instantly against the rocks, irreparably
broken.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because we’re not starfish or lizards.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When you cut away a part of us<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The empty space is there forever,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A phantom chord ringing unresolved in our ear—<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A one/three clamoring for a five<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or even the sting of a minor seventh—<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anything but these missing notes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When already her song<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Was the joyful refrain for so many,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The unfinished symphony of a life unlived. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mother and Father must go on shepherding,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Encouraged by the Christ story<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because Resurrection is yet possible:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That a baby’s light cannot be entombed,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Shining still on a family that refuses to go dark.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On her sisters that must bear this loss together.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the carefree affection of Genevieve,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the calculating whimsy of Josephine,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the grace and poise of Cordelia. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In all of us<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Who resolve to carry on in the midst of sorrow.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To sing into the stillness of heartbreak.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To answer the impermanence of life<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With the eternal promise of love.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Suffer the little children…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For of such is the kingdom of heaven,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But suffer one another as well, friends—<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because the kingdom of Earth <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Holds but small refuge <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Beyond each other.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And the hopefully frequent memories <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of this sweet child—<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wide-eyed and laughing—<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
A peace in the hearts of men.</div>
G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-81559604441390607812013-08-09T21:00:00.003-04:002013-08-09T21:03:55.365-04:00For Margaret Palmer by A.E. Stallings<div class="MsoNormal">
For Margaret Palmer<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>who died suddenly at two months old</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Life is brief and grief is long,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Joy is deep and sorrow wide,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Love is heavier than song,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Life is brief and grief is long.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The lullaby is right, is wrong:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hunger, kisses, milk, and sleep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Life is brief and grief is long,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sorrow wide as joy is deep.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
A.E. Stallings</div>
G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-85500605493193567022013-08-07T09:49:00.002-04:002013-08-07T09:49:41.255-04:00Interrobang by Jessica PiazzaThis is not a review.<br />
<br />
I was going to write a review of Jessica Piazza's wonderful book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Interrobang-Jessica-Piazza/dp/1597097225">Interrobang</a></i> but my youngest daughter Margaret died suddenly on Monday, August 5th. Instead I will leave this poem which was my favorite in the book when I first read it two weeks ago and is now far more important to me. Please buy Jess's book. Anyone who can write this deserves your patronage.<br />
<br />
Pediophilia<br />
<i>Love of dolls</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
The week her daughter died, the room her girl<br />
had occupied became a home for dolls.<br />
The first an angel: fearsome, glass-gazed gift<br />
to dull a mother's utter grief; the next<br />
a paint and porcelain she numbly bought<br />
from QVC. It looked like <i>her</i>. And now<br />
she sees her small grandchildren grow, and knows<br />
it's good. But they can't guess each small dress<br />
arranged by day comes into disarray<br />
by night. They bring her more, naive. Don't know<br />
she weeps in the overflowing sea of limbs<br />
that manage, year by year, to commandeer<br />
the bed, the floor, and more. An orphanage<br />
of girls. A thousand eyes that cannot shut.G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-15789357040809673692013-05-01T10:36:00.000-04:002013-05-01T10:36:54.898-04:00What's Wrong With A.E. Stallings?Perhaps the answer is nothing.<br />
<br />
As evidenced by her two new poems in this month's issue of <i>Poetry</i>, "<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/245872">Sestina: Like</a>" and "<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/245782">The Rosehead Nail</a>," Stallings maintains my claim that she is <a href="http://strongverse.blogspot.com/2012/07/review-olives-by-ae-stallings_13.html">the best American poet since Sylvia Plath</a>. Her poems seem specifically calculated to make me swoon.<br />
<br />
By "me" I mean anyone with a serious education (traditional or autodidact) in the classics, poetry, and poetics. If you're the kind of person who owns an OED and for whom "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" holds a dear place in your heart, you're going to love A.E. Stallings' poetry (if you don't already).<br />
<br />
And yet I wonder.<br />
<br />
Look at the vocabulary of both poems. "Sestina" uses "<a href="http://onelook.com/?w=desuetude&ls=a">desuetude</a>" and "Nail" "<a href="http://onelook.com/?w=quincunx&ls=a">quincunx</a>." While I love the challenge of both finding and providing unfamiliar words (especially ones that sound so lovely: see "<a href="http://onelook.com/?w=indehiscent&ls=a">indehiscent</a>" in her poem "<a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2011/11/weekly-poem-olives.html">Olives</a>") I know from experience both reading and teaching that vocabulary can be a huge turn-off <i>for some folks</i>.<br />
<br />
And that's sort of the crux of the question. In a world with a triple division of poetry: popular, traditional, and obfuscatory, I would like to know what the uninitate thinks of the average Stallings poem. Is she merely a "poet's poet"? Worse, is she merely <i>this</i> "poet's poet"? Most of me doesn't think so, though in reading contemporary poetry with my students I've gotten a lot more traction with the poems of Jill Alexander Essbaum or Joshua Mehigan or Brian McGackin than I have with Stallings' poems.<br />
<br />
Maybe it's not her it's me?<br />
<br />
Perhaps I see Stallings' poems and see exemplars for what I have tried to write. Lord knows reading her "<a href="http://www.valpo.edu/vpr/v12n1/v12n1poetry/stallingsthree.php">Three Poems to Psyche</a>" so soon after the publication of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/With-Rough-Gods-G-Palmer/dp/0982387814/" style="font-style: italic;">With Rough Gods</a> was incredibly unsettling. But I don't think I'm unrealistic about the potential audience for poetry. That is, I know big words scare people. Someone once told me that I was writing poetry for the intellectual crowd as well. Somehow I didn't see this (like seriously, my first book is about Greek Mythology--who ELSE was I writing for?) and was taken a bit aback.<br />
<br />
Artists always need to balance their desire to communicate with the ability of the audience to comprehend. While I agree with both Dante and Eliot that the experience trumps the understanding, the possibility of comprehension must exist. It clearly does in Stallings' work--so is there a problem?<br />
<br />
Maybe it's everyone else?<br />
<br />
I am unsettled still when I read her work and am concerned about its reach to a broader audience. As I count her among my favorite poets and among our best poets, that concern bleeds into a more general concern for poetry.<br />
<br />
Why is it that difficulty in poetry should stop an audience cold when this is not the case for other forms of art? Folks loved <i>Inception</i>. LOVED IT. <i>Lost</i>, too. I hear both students and adults debate the complexity of this song, that lyric--the complexity of some puzzling video game.<br />
<br />
Why have they lost the ability to appreciate such puzzles in poetry?<br />
<br />
There are plenty of answers but I think I am more interested in this question: what do we as poets do if we acknowledge this disparity?<br />
<br />
Is it a compromise of art to acknowledge and adjust your work to accommodate the limitations of your broader audience or do you accept that your art--by its nature--limits its own audience?<br />
<br />
A.E. Stallings work thus far gives her a solid claim to be the best poet of our age. But will she be our age's favorite poet? What value is there in either honorific? In any honorific? Laurels are just leaves, after all.G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-77206636520594729352013-04-25T10:50:00.000-04:002013-04-25T10:50:30.586-04:00Scholarship in poetics: is it really that hard?So twitter showed me a new article at Harriet today:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2013/04/rhyme/">Rhyme by Anthony Madrid</a><br />
<br />
In it, Mr. Madrid makes the claim that non-visual rhymes (tough and fluff) are better than visual rhymes (blow and show) because they create cognitive dissonance.<br />
<br />
That would be nice if it weren't untrue (indeed, maybe they do on a second, third, fifteenth reading--but that's not what he's getting at in his article).<br />
<br />
<a href="http://scientopia.org/blogs/scicurious/2013/01/23/silent-reading-isnt-so-silent-at-least-not-to-your-brain/">We "hear" what we read</a>. It's one of the reasons poetry has to "sound good" even if it's "closet verse."<br />
<br />
But asking the average poetry scholar to know about cognitive science appears to be a losing battle. I wish it weren't so.G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-42522847558233810182013-03-19T10:24:00.001-04:002013-03-19T10:24:42.502-04:00Overrated Writers and YouSo <a href="http://anisshivani.com/">Anis Shivani</a> has a HuffPo article on the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anis-shivani/the-15-most-overrated-con_b_672974.html#s123717&title=William_T_Vollmann">15 Most Overrated American Writers</a>.<br />
<br />
On the one hand, we probably spend too much time tearing folks down. On the other hand, this is funny stuff--and while I like one poem from almost every poet he mentions, that's the only poem of theirs I like.<br />
<br />
On the other-other hand, I wonder if I should start throwing up articles on Huff and see who reposts them.G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-84528217626388511402013-03-05T08:33:00.000-05:002013-03-05T09:05:19.147-05:00BRE at AWP13<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAri0mSg8w7iAzs_LQNKwvSL1rmxJTtUrjymHGkXq1wNdX2rqLKE_GEnmxninSZnGSkhROIJO-BSawbhExCW8x_znOyjK-sa4A2wfBU-4EeM80Kzyllgu_CPvMlORUmTWu7uW9xzF_yR4/s1600/BREAWP.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAri0mSg8w7iAzs_LQNKwvSL1rmxJTtUrjymHGkXq1wNdX2rqLKE_GEnmxninSZnGSkhROIJO-BSawbhExCW8x_znOyjK-sa4A2wfBU-4EeM80Kzyllgu_CPvMlORUmTWu7uW9xzF_yR4/s320/BREAWP.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Everyone! Come to The Best Reading (and after-party) Ever at AWP13!<br />
<br />
Thanks to all who helped with the <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1348543899/film-the-best-reading-and-after-party-ever">Kickstarter</a>, this reading will be recorded!<br />
The film is slated for release in May.<br />
<br />
Readers will feature:<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 27px;"><a href="http://anniefinch.com/">Annie Finch</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 27px;"><a href="http://www.cprw.com/Hilbert/dawson.htm">Erica Dawson</a></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 27px;"><a href="http://www.withroughgods.com/">G.M. Palmer</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 27px;"><a href="http://www.salon.com/writer/heather_aimee_o%E2%80%99neill/">Heather O'Neill</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 27px;"><a href="http://www.jessicapiazza.com/">Jessica Piazza</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 27px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/Bobbittopolis">Michael Bobbitt</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 27px;"><a href="http://nickcourtright.com/">Nick Courtright</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 27px;"><a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/rebecca-lindenberg">Rebecca Lindenberg</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 27px;"><a href="http://www.taraskurtu.com/">Tara Skurtu</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 27px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/ThaddeusGunn">Thaddeus Gunn</a></span><br />
<br />
To get your invite and the location, email AWPsBestReading AT gmail!G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-74744494597374811512013-02-26T10:41:00.001-05:002013-02-26T10:41:47.760-05:00Without Definition"Without definitions, poetry is impossible."<br />
<br />
When theory discussions are relevant to the presentation of poetry, you'll find them on Theory Tuesdays at <a href="http://www.literarymag.net/2013/02/theory-tuesday-definitions-and-whole.html">Literary Magnet</a>.<br />
<br />
Enjoy and discuss!G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-48935523832469795102013-02-25T08:54:00.000-05:002013-02-25T08:54:13.113-05:00Just what is poetry, anyway?So after someone telling me that Homer and Tennyson didn't write poetry I'm wondering what it is I do then?<br />
<br />
Not that I'm Homer and Tennyson-class--but you get the idea. Poetry has become something either indefinable or unimportant or both.<br />
<br />
Perhaps that's why this blog (and the magazine it came from) is called "Strong Verse" not "Strong Poetry." I'm interested in the craft of writing verse, not slapping a silly "it's automatically art" label on some words.<br />
<br />
More to it though, what's the delivery system of poetry?<br />
<br />
Back when poetry was first created in those good old prehistorical times folks didn't read nor write--so they had to listen to a poet chant. Maybe they did it around a fire, maybe in what would become an amphitheater.<br />
<br />
At any rate is was the voice that mattered. Folks could only see large gestures--so there could and likely would have been some motion--but an emphasis on that was what drove us to drama (the first split from poetry?).<br />
<br />
Then along came the historical world. Folks could read--well, some of them--but performance was still king (at least if your audience was more than the king who could read anyway). But poets, who now could rely on the exobrain of paper for memorization, could devote more time to versecraft. Hence the rigor of national poetic forms.<br />
<br />
Then came printing and the rise of literacy.<br />
<br />
Here you have the ability of verse to reach the person interested in poetry before the poet. This creates a few problems, notably the difficulty of transmitting inflection and performance. The Beatles could create "concerts" with their Pepper-and-on albums but that's because they could record. Printed words don't carry the same weight.<br />
<br />
Which speaking of, the rise of printing mirrored the rise of musical notation which <i>could</i> carry the same weight as performance. Unfortunately no such easy guide was given to the written word. Readers had to rely on a knowledge of rhyme and meter to eke out how a poem should be read (unless they were lucky enough to catch the poet--and how often did that happen? Legit question, btw).<br />
<br />
Also now the music of poetry had to compete with the standardized (and far more performed) music of music. And drama and and and.<br />
<br />
Then came sound recording and broadcast capabilities. While wax recordings of Tennyson exist, what is clear in them is that there's no notion of performance. He intones and warbles "Haalf a leeeague, haalf a leeague" in a rhythm familiar to many who attend contemporary poetry readings. Even the reportedly gorgeous and vivacious Edna St. Vincent Millay reads her poetry as if she's at a funeral.<br />
<br />
Why do we think people want to listen to this?<br />
<br />
Who has effectively recorded poetry (without music)? Garrison Keillor?<br />
<br />
Is it really that hard or is it simply unlearned?<br />
<br />
At any rate it hardly matters because TV (and more importantly internet distribution of video). <br />
<br />
But where are the poets of TV? Of film?<br />
<br />
Why did we stop in the 19th century and leave well enough alone? Did all of the folks who would have been our greatest poets just become song- and screenwriters?<br />
<br />
Aural storytelling is powerful. Visual storytelling is powerful. Why not have some animated or even live-action recreations of poems?<br />
<br />
We must rethink our delivery methods. Print is wonderful and powerful but we can't leave performance poetry to the performance poets and visual poetry to the avant garde.<br />
<br />
What do you want to see as a poem?G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-35500570819979798672013-02-19T10:23:00.003-05:002013-02-19T10:23:38.449-05:00Poetry off the Page<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1351910088/3doodler-the-worlds-first-3d-printing-pen">Literally.</a><br />
<br />
What does the world of writing look like when you can pick up your poem and pass it around?<br />
<br />
Developments like this will rend the veil between purely visual and purely linguistic art (it's difficult at this point to call such theoretical work "aural" though one would assume the proper areas of the brain will still be activated).<br />
<br />
Who will be the first visual poet to make art from this?G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-36230085478275494072013-02-15T11:33:00.001-05:002013-02-15T11:33:34.796-05:00Amorak Huey's "Dungeon Master's Guide. . ." in The CollagistSo I love learning about new publications and new poets.<br />
<br />
Saw this lovely poem in <i><a href="http://www.dzancbooks.org/the-collagist/2013/2/12/dungeon-masters-guide-to-eighth-grade.html">The Collagist</a></i> (thanks, Sun Dog Lit!) and I had to share:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The lunchroom is an unguarded wilderness<br />
of potential humiliation. So is conversation.<br />
This is when <i>every </i>girl is out of your league,<br />
when you realize such leagues even exist.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You know, I was that boy. Were you?</div>
G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-39283918180085825102013-02-11T09:00:00.000-05:002013-02-11T09:00:02.060-05:00Met only in words: Sylvia Plath, 50 years later<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">To the last syllable of recorded time;</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">And all our yesterdays have lighted fools</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">And then is heard no more. It is a tale</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Signifying nothing.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21336933">Here is a brief article on Sylvia Plath's final days</a>.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">I put that here, at the beginning, because it's not the drama of suicide that is important in Plath's death. Suicide <i>is</i> indeed terrible. Please ask someone for help. No one wants you to die.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">What we lost, however, was our finest modern practitioner of the sound of the English language. Had she not killed herself, Plath would still be with us, alive and likely kicking at the ripe old age of 80.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">What we have instead is a controversial collection of Plath's last work, butchered by her estranged husband, Ted Hughes, and "restored" by her daughter, Frieda. While I prefer vastly the thematic arc of her original intent (moving from <a href="http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15293">"Morning Song"</a> to <a href="http://strongverse.blogspot.com/2013/01/sylvia-plaths-bee-poems.html">The Bee Cycle</a>, specifically ending with <a href="http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/sylviaplath/1461">"Wintering"</a>: from "love" to "spring"), the "manic woman" that Plath became in the American consciousness was, essentially, cemented by Hughes. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">This results in an awful lot of eye rolling when I name Plath as a great poet. People know her, if at all, as a violent, lost soul, the author of "Daddy" or "Lady Lazarus." </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">At <a href="http://www.literarymag.net/">Literary Magnet</a>, my new literary magazine, I've said a bit more about the way I learned to love Sylvia Plath.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">What I'd like to say here, though, is that as poets and lovers of poetry, remember the words Plath placed together. Study them. Live within those sounds--the only place she remains.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, 'Liberation Sans', FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">As people, simply love each other and don't, in the words of Jillian Becker, "endure long remorse" for something that could have been done.</span>G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-34767951219021369562013-02-08T11:52:00.001-05:002013-02-08T11:52:36.167-05:00The Orange Bottle by Joshua Mehigan<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/245222">Stop.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/245222"> Run.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/245222"> Go.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/245222">Read.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/245222"> This.</a><br />
<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/245222"> Poem.</a><br />
<br />
Joshua Mehigan's "The Orange Bottle" is just fantastic.<br />
<br />
It's got everything I've been calling for since I started this blog. It's narrative, long enough to satisfy, and plays with sound in some wonderful ways:<br />
<br />
For instance, listen to the way Mehigan changes sound in this stanza near the poem's end:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the car away from that
place,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the family had a pleasant
chat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He seemed fine again, and
humble,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
though his speech was oddly
flat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The c's, ch's, t's and f's throughout--except the c's being replaced with h's in the third line--which reinforce the humility (which Mehigan's poem posits as restricted humanity, at least for our subject) and the t's being entirely absent--that is, the only hard sound in that third line is the "g" of again, which is hardly cacophonic while all the other "oddly flat" lines have far more displeasing sounds.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Utterly delightful craftsmanship, I must say.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Keep it up, <i>Poetry</i>, and I just might renew my subscription, even if all you give me is rejection (and the occasional commentary on my reviews. . .).</div>
G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-19372242401969665322013-02-07T11:11:00.002-05:002013-02-07T11:11:41.095-05:00My electronic newspaperNow that the morning newspaper tradition is obsolete, what do you do to fill that void?<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here's my newspaper replacement routine:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Read the funny papers: <a href="http://www.sluggy.com/">Sluggy</a>, <a href="http://www.questionablecontent.net/">QC</a>, <a href="http://www.penny-arcade.com/">Penny-Arcade/The Trenches</a>, <a href="http://www.giantitp.com/">OOTS</a>, <a href="http://www.erfworld.com/">Erfworld</a>, <a href="http://www.picturesforsadchildren.com/">pfsc</a>, <a href="http://xkcd.com/">xkcd</a>, etc.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Update <a href="http://www.literarymag.net/">Literary Magnet</a>. (You can participate by reading!)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Check my <a href="https://twitter.com/gm_palmer">twitter</a> since I follow a lot of folks who talk about literary news.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Check reddit, especially r/literature, r/cogsci, and r/redditdayof (I'm not going to link anyone to reddit if I can help it--that's your own black hole of information to discover).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Check the drudge report. I know it's a flaming pile of inflammatory screed BUT it's really a collection of news feeds and spares most commentary apart from headlines. If there's a neutral site that does this, I'd love to know about it.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Read the new posts on <a href="http://www.everseradio.com/">E-Verse Radio</a> and <a href="http://www.cprw.com/">CPRW</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
See if Kirby has said anything fun at <a href="http://lutheransurrealism.blogspot.com/">Lutheran Surrealism</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There are a few other sites I visit, but I go to these places nearly every day. Since Google handles most (if not all) the ad revenue on the sites that use it (note: no ads ever on Literary Magnet), it seems not that newspapers have died but simply Google has become the world's largest distributed (or dis-mastheaded) newspaper.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What do you read daily?</div>
G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-61026015302332600332013-02-06T08:00:00.001-05:002013-02-06T08:00:53.550-05:00And Literary Magnet is bornBack in 2006, I was awarded a grant for the furtherance of poetry.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I have tried several times to get a little literary mag off the ground.</div>
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Finally, I have come upon the way and thing I want to publish.</div>
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I would like to introduce you to <a href="http://www.literarymag.net/">Literary Magnet</a>.</div>
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Each day you will be treated to a new poem, illustrated poem (you know, like a webcomic), review, or other literary work.</div>
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I hope it becomes part of your newspaper replacement daily routine. </div>
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G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-8917997007589533712013-02-05T12:12:00.002-05:002013-02-05T12:12:52.298-05:00Memorizing poetry<br />
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<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/01/why-we-should-memorize.html">From the article</a>:</div>
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Why undergo the laborious process of memorizing a poem
these days, when—tap, tap, tap—you have it at your fingertips? Has this become
another outmoded practice? When I was a Boy Scout, in the sixties, I spent some
hours trying to learn Morse code and even, on a couple of overly sunny,
headachey afternoons, trying to communicate by flag semaphore. Some things were
meant to disappear. (And many of my students wish that assignments to memorize
poems would follow them.)<o:p></o:p></div>
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The best argument for verse memorization may be that it
provides us with knowledge of a qualitatively and physiologically different
variety: you take the poem inside you, into your brain chemistry if not your
blood, and you know it at a deeper, bodily level than if you simply read it off
a screen. Robson puts the point succinctly: “If we do not learn by heart, the
heart does not feel the rhythms of poetry as echoes or variations of its own
insistent beat.”<o:p></o:p></div>
G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-329800043283255166.post-60651826574850251692013-02-05T11:50:00.003-05:002013-02-05T11:50:41.198-05:00A 250th post whine.Clearly, I don't get <i>Poetry</i>.<br />
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A Don Share tweet led me to this poem which gave me apoplexy:<br />
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<a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/245124">"The Gargantuan Muffin Beauty Contest."</a><br /><br />
Love is in the air, it’s in the whisper of the trees.<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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This is not America, this is the cover version:<o:p></o:p></div>
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sun, sex, sin, divine intervention, death and destruction,<o:p></o:p></div>
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welcome to The Sodom and Gomorrah Show.<o:p></o:p></div>
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All those white muffins trying to be black muffins!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Give us our daily muffin, save us from temptation.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Jimmy Buffett was singing, Why don’t we get drunk<o:p></o:p></div>
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and screw? In Times Square the most beautiful muffins<o:p></o:p></div>
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in the world were hanging on a thousand screens.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Where are my singing Tibetan balls? Am I dead?</div>
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I hope you recognize all the clever references and the oh-so-unsubtle allegorical use of "muffin."</div>
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In the immortal words of Liz Lemon, "what the what!?"</div>
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Please tell me what I'm missing. Because I see the work *I* write and the work of other folks I like and think "yeah, that's pretty good stuff." And some of it, truly, <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/181166">does</a> <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/181613">appear</a> <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/182823">in</a> <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/244722">poetry</a>.</div>
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And then I see this and ask "WHY GOD WHY?" Maybe I'm missing something.</div>
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Maybe it's just sour grapes. <i>Poetry</i> rejected <a href="http://www.friedchickenandcoffee.com/2012/05/02/poetry-by-gm-palmer/">these two poems</a>, for instance. </div>
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But if you've got some insight, I'd love to hear it. Maybe I'm not old enough or British enough, or something. Maybe my poetry sucks and I don't know good poetry from a muffin.</div>
G. M. Palmerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14515043039690357593noreply@blogger.com0