About Poetry Newsletter: New Year's Poems

From Bob Holman & Margery Snyder, your Guide to Poetry

Our New Year’s Anthology 

The turning of the calendar from one year to the next has always been a time for summing up past experience, bidding farewell to those we have lost, renewing old friendships, making plans and resolutions, and expressing our hopes for the future.

See More About:  new year's poems  classic poems  auld lang syne

“Auld Lang Syne” 

This is the first in our collection—the traditional ballad written down by Robert Burns in the 18th century, and sung ever since to mark the coming of the New Year. Print it out to share if you want to sing all the verses for real on Saturday night!

See More About:  robert burns  ballads  auld lang syne

Adobe Walls deadline reminder

A timely Adobe Walls submissions reminder, plus guidelines. Does anyone else have deadline reminders to post? Other 2011 poetry house keeping ~ calls, due dates, reminders, announcements, events, workshops, launches, new blogs, open mics, even shameless self-promotion? Post them as comments here or on Picnic's Facebook wall. Send them on by email. Suggestions for both 2012 Virtual Picnic and poetry / writing resolutions are also invited.

 

Kenneth Gurney writes...

Hello

A simple reminder that the deadline for Adobe Walls submissions is that last instant of 31 December, which is Saturday just before it becomes Sunday.  As long as your submission is time stamped on or before that last moment of 2011, your work will be considered.

If you have sent in work, but have not heard back from me, the submission may have been lost in the emailing.  Several Taos and vicinity people and I have discovered that their submissions did not make it to me on the first attempt and they had to submit a second time.  I do not know how or why the internet sometimes loses email.  I only know it does.

Happy season of sun's return festivals....

Kenneth P. Gurney, editor
Adobe Walls

On ad-speak and poetry

On ad-speak and poetry shamelessly re-posted in toto from Harriet the Blog at the Poetry Foundation

Ian Daly — a “planning director and cultural strategist” at a marketing firm in New York called Anomaly — recently compiled a list of words and phrases that he titled “Shit I Never Said Before Working in Advertising.” A sampling:

Blow it out
Ladder it up
Tease it out
Bullet it out
Build it out
Build affinity
Soft launch
Hard stop
Fair push
Push back
Reach out
Touch base
Connect around
Loop in
Circle back
Topline
Top-of-mind
Share of mind
Are you tracking? I’m tracking.

about Nicanor Parra + 2 poems

Chilean Poet Nicanor Parra wins 2011 Miguel de Cervantes Prize (CBC article); Nicanor Parra, University of Chile website; about his technique of anti-poetry (English); and the ubiquitous Wikipedia on Parra


Young Poets
Write as you will
In whatever style you like
Too much blood has run under the bridge
To go on believing
That only one road is right.
In poetry everything is permitted.
With only this condition of course,
You have to improve the blank page.

ImmaStar call for submissions

Carlos (aka @soothxsayer) writes, "Send me some love, Send me your #NMPoetry" and blogs:

on ImmaStar Productions Send me some love, Send me your #Poetry, call for submissions by ImmaStar Productions I am super stoked to be having such a large amount of site traffic lately.  I am attributing this, not to myself, but of course to those that have joined me in the courageous act of posting their poetry on this site.  If you are a contributing writer via: Escritores de Esperanza, a "staff writer," or someone who sent in an online submission, please continue to do so!   Together, we can build a community of writers, where folks feel comfortable being open, honest, vulnerable, and exposed.  If you would like to submit poetry to Immastar, please look for my (Carlos C's) email, in the Bio(s) section, and send it on over. We are moving into the holidays and I expect that folks will get busy, however sometimes we need to slow down, reflect and appreciate.  Sometimes we need to make time to thank, remember, forget, or enlighten... So, take that time and spend it here with us.   If you have friends, family, or students who write poetry, please feel free to submit!  Immastar is a free speech, equal opportunity kind of blog for poets - very rarely will I ever not post someone's writing.  The rare instance of not being posted would have to include writing that I feel is harmful to the poet or the audience - hate speech... Otherwise, all is fair game!  Gimme whatchu got yall!  This is about to get real fun!

So send him some.... 'tis the season, giving, sharing and all that. If you haven't been following his blog, poetry, projects and such, give yourself the gift of doing so.

Dec3 Los Lunas Authors Day

from Debbi Miller Gutierrez (via Elaine Schwartz)

Shirley Blackwell and Debbi Miller Gutierrez will both appear, along with other local authors, at the first ever Los Lunas Authors' Day (sponsored by the Valencia County Historical Society), Sunday December 4, 2-4 pm, to talk about their craft and sell and sign books. 

Shirley Blackwell, poet & NMSPS President

Shirley will be presenting her new book of 100 poems, Already There, and Debbi will lave three of her picture books, The Pinecone Problem, Why Baby Sister Woke Up From Her Nap,  and Horse's Horrible Halloween on hand, as well as her new middle grade reader chapter book Cactus Factory.  Of course, all these books are available on Amazon.com, but it's so much more fun to have the author sign them in person,

The event will be at the Los Lunas Transportation Center (also known as the Los Lunas Rail Runner Station) at  Highway 314 & Court House Road in Los Lunas. Follow link above for directions. Read more about Local Writers Speak about their Books at First Authors' Day in Valencia County News-Bulletin. Also, NMSPS member Mary Fogarty will also be there, presenting her poetry collections. If you know anyone else who would be interested, please share this information,

PS Virtual Picnic (that's us) would also like to draw your attention to the NM State Poetry Society's outstanding calendar. Read the Fall 2011 NMSPS Newsletter online

Norway on Poetry International Web, December 2011

PIW 1 December 2011

In our latest issue of Poetry International Web, we are delighted to launch a Norwegian domain under the editorship of Liesbeth Huijer, who has chosen three poets whose work gives a taste of the excellent poetry being written in Norway at the moment: Rune Christiansen, Cecilie Løveid and Ingrid Storholmen. We also present German poet Barbara Köhler, whose experimental writing probes the limits and possibilities of language in expressing human experience.

For the editorial, articles, poems and translations, see: www.poetryinternationalweb.org

Archive Tour

'PHOTOS FROM NORWAY': Poems from the PIW archive that touch on Norway, from its fjords to its knitwear, its language to its landscape. Selected by PIW Norway editor Liesbeth Huijer.

Clip of the Month: ROSE I, Øyvind Rimbereid (Norway)

Follow Poetry International Web on Twitter and Facebook

Dec1: Poetry and Tapas

#ABQ #NMpoetry: Cosmo Tapas Poetry Reading, Thurs, 5-10 pm, via Bill Nevins, NM Slam group. Just a reminder to Bill that he can post this directly on the Poets and Writers Picnic Facebook wall. So here's the information. Please let me know if this will be a regular event and if so, whether weekly or monthly, to add to the calendar.

The Cosmo Tapas Poetry Reading, hosted by Gina Marselle (ginamarselle@gmail.com), will be (no surprise there) at Cosmo Tapas Restaurant & Bar, 4200 Central Avenue Southeast, Albuquerque, NM 87108-1163, on the corner of Sierra and Central, phone: 505.232.0535 Original art, crafts (homemade belt buckles for instance), poetry books, CDs, chapbooks, etc, will be for purchase. Poets and performance times scheduled so far: 5:10 to 5:30 pm, Merimee Moffitt 5:40 to 5:50 pm, Bill Nevins 5:50 to 6:00 pm, Maria Gallegos 6:10 to 6:30 pm, Zachary Kluckman 6:40 to 7:00 pm, Sara Roman 7:10 to 7:30 pm,. Stewart S. Warren 7:40 to 8:00 pm, Rich Boucher 8:10 p.m. to 8:30 pm, Andrea Serrano 8:40 p.m. to 9:00 pm, Julie Brokken 9:10 p.m. to 9:30 pm, Katrina K Guarascio 9:40 p.m. to 10:00 pm, Jazz Cuffee Cosmo Tapas ~ Shop and Stroll. Please note: Central will be blocked off from Girard to Washington, so use back streets... ABQ Slams page + on MySpace and Facebook

PIW: A short history of Polar exploration

A short history of Polar exploration, Poetry International Web

The snowlines, moving in, and light failing fast
as aurora borealis throbs there like a walrus heart,
all the land so wide, so all around; so vast as to
haunt. Mythology, the oil flares far away. Lightning
down the pipeline, a shiver down the spine of Alaska.
The Arctic poppy, ambergris, a narwhal tusk, and all
the massive muskoxen delineate the one soft curve
when moving. Further out the pack ice is a camel caravan.

A snooker table built from blocks of ice (we do not
want the men to go insane, have hooked up mirrors
at the cabin doors, to catch what little sun there is,
this for the worst of the scurvies.) At night my dreams
are green, blue, gold: hues I cannot see out there. The bear
is white, the land is too. Nothing to name into existence.

© 2004, Luke Davies

Poem of the week, Luke Davies page on PIW (listen to the poet) and more about Australian poetry and poets

Follow PIW on Twitter and Facebook

Posted via email from Just Writing

Adobe Walls #4 submission call

Adobe Walls will open to submissions for volume #4 on 1 DEC 2011 and close on 31 DEC 2011.

Since there are now a great number of poets submitting work, there have been changes made in the submission guidelines.  Please visit and review the new guidelines.

If you have questions, please direct your queries to me.

Kenneth P. Gurney, editor

kpgurney@mac.com

Adobe Walls

A Poem For Thanksgiving

        One Blessing had I than the rest
        So larger to my Eyes
        That I stopped gauging--satisfied--
        For this enchanted size--

        It was the limit of my Dream--
        The focus of my Prayer--
        A perfect--paralyzing Bliss--
        Contented as Despair--

        I knew no more of Want--or Cold--
        Phantasms both become
        For this new Value in the Soul--
        Supremest Earthly Sum--

        The Heaven below the Heaven above--
        Obscured with ruddier Blue--
        Life's Latitudes leant over--full--
        The Judgment perished--too--

        Why Bliss so scantily disburse--
        Why Paradise defer--
        Why Floods be served to Us--in Bowls--
        I speculate no more--

-- Emily Dickinson.

Final Reminder: Fixed & Free Poetry

Thu Nov24, #NMpoetry featuring Priscilla Baca y Candelaria, 6:45-9 pm, at The Source, 1111 Carlisle SE. Host Billy Brown writes, 

Dear Poets and Poetry Lovers,

 

I know, I know ... we're scheduled for Thanksgiving evening ... what BETTER time to share poetry than on the one day of the year when we are reminded just how much we can be thankful for?

 

( Parenthetically, even though our suggested theme is "Celebrating Gratitude" I want to be sure that anyone NOT feeling particularly grateful that evening will be welcomed with open arms, as will be poems of anger or sadness or any other negative sort of emotion. After all, if we are not angry or sad about something, then perhaps we are not paying attention ... :-)

(PS I can't be there but as someone who has spent years, albeit different sets of them ~ no T.A.R.D.I.S. at my disposal ~ traversing both Tahrir Square and the UC Davis Quad on a daily basis, I hope that someone or several ones will have poems for both)

 

I know, I know ... many people have other plans ... travel, being with family and friends, watching football ... no one is expecting anyone to drop their long-existing Thanksgiving plans! (No one is being asked to feel guilty if you cannot make it ... :-)

 

BUT IF you ARE available on Thanksgiving evening, then please come on out to what promises to be

a wonderful, warm gathering of lovely poets and inspirational poetry! We will love to see you ... and hear you.

 

AND, perhaps your family and friends would APPRECIATE a change of pace ... some uplifting, passionate, inspirational poetry, instead of sleeping on the couch or watching football! (Personally, I would LOVE to see more non-poets attend our readings ... or are we only interested in preaching to the poetic choir?)

⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘

 

I am pleased to remind you of the November 2011 Fixed and Free poetry reading, Thursday, November 24, 6:45-9 pm, at The Source, with featured poet Priscilla Baca y Candelaria. This is NOT a double feature, though we shall have an early start time of 6:45 pm, as previous publicity indicated.

  

Please come out and hear an enormously accomplished poeta and performer. I know that you will be delighted by her poetry, and while you are at it, we all would love to hear you read some of your own poems and/or poems by favorite poets. 

Also, please invite friends who love poetry. Yours for Powerful Poetry, Billy Brown 401-8139

⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘ ⌘

Schedule:  

6:30 pm open mic sign-up

6:45 - open mike

7:30 - Priscilla Baca y Candelaria's feature, followed by a 5-10 minute break

8:00 - open mike till the end!

 

Location:   

The Source, 1111 Carlisle Blvd SE, SW corner of Carlisle & Anderson. If the weather allows, we'll meet on the Source's deck; otherwise, in the Garden Room.

 

Free admissions but donations are gratefully accepted for pastries, to cover the $ 20 charge for the venue, and to pay the featured poet!  5 minute limit on the open "mike"

There will be pastries for sale – 50¢ each, probably to involve some pumpkin ... and maybe some chocolate   :-) Water is available in the Source's kitchen for tea.

Love & Death: Greatest Hits Wins NM Book Award

via Elaine's excellent email list

Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

Excerpts from the poems:   i'm too busy being born to die,/and anyway death will come./It will be quiet and rigorous/and ask something of me/I had not thought to ask myself. -Renée Gregorio, "The Question of Death" Torch singers, contortionists,/all of us came from this,/sacred asembly of skin./Shot full of stars, I enter him./Something larger and larger/takes up the room. Open/the windows, he calls./ Open them. -Joan Logghe, "I Don't Know Wide But I Know Deep" At the wedding The guests argued about love Versus lust I looked at you in your hat, Felt both. -Miriam Sagan   ANNOUNCING!   Tres Chicas Books wins the New Mexico Book Award for poetry for      Love & Death: Greatest Hits selected poems by Renée Gregorio, Joan Logghe & Miriam Sagan. Please purchase locally at:   Collected Works Bookstore,   202 Galisteo Street, Santa Fe or order directly from the chicas at: reneeclaire@cybermesa.com $15, plus $3 postage  We are happy to share the good news with you that our tenth title, LOVE & DEATH: GREATEST HITS, just won the New Mexico book award for poetry! We tied with Veronica Golos of Taos, who also won the book award for poetry for her VOCABULARY OF SILENCE from Red Hen Press.   The poems in LOVE AND DEATH: GREATEST HITS are selections from three bodies of work and represent the poets' intertwined geographies, friendships, and loves. It's a collaborative effort, much like the press we founded together.     "The poems show the way love and death have been our companions, how much we've fallen in love, how we have mourned the deaths of husbands and lovers together, and how passion has informed our poetry, " the chicas say.  In addition, "Seeing the ways in which death has startled, then enriched us, then revisiting our favorite love poems has made us fall in love all over again.  It is our wish that you fall in love, too."

Renee Gregorio | 272 Placitas Road | P.O. Box 275 | El Rito | NM | 87530

Thursday Poem & a Weekend Performance

... and more... from one poem to an expanded Antonio Machado post with bio, links, video clip, context (Generation of 98, French Symbolists - but still best to read the poets themselves, the Spanish Civil War, exile), etc. Selected Machado poems translated by A. S. Kline © 2004. Poems from I Never Wanted Fame, translated by Robert Bly, on Issa's Untidy Hut. Even a Wikipedia visit to Soria alto y frio.

#OWS Poetry Anthology, created & maintained by Occupy Language

Hey, poets. To place your poem in the Poetry Anthology, which is cataloged in the Occupy Wall Street library and maintained by the Occupy Language (formerly Occupy Poetry) group . . . email a poem (attachment fine) to Stephen Boyer at stephenjboyer  [@]  gmail. com. 

You will receive an automated response. Like everything else I've seen at Zucotti Park, the project is extremely well-organized. You can trust your poem will be included. Right now the Anthology is organized in binders, by week. Portions or all will or probably will migrate to the Web.

Occupy Language is also defining its Dissemination Project. One member showed us origami-like handouts with word placements (on it). Some members have/will read to each other on a subway or bus.

Their choice of text. Yesterday there was a marathon reading of Bartleby the Scrivener in an indoor galleria/coffee place with tables (I cannot find the noun) in a big bldg.  at 55 Wall Street about seven
blocks from the park. No mic. (No mic, to keep it from being shut down, not that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has a stated aversion to Melville but you never know.)

Sarah Sarai

The Poetics List is moderated & does not accept all posts. Check guidelines 

So you want to be a writer: A Poem For Saturday

A Picnic dish from the Daily Dish, a late #whyiwrite entry, words for the Manzano Mountain Scribes, wisdom for NaNoWriMo and more. Yes, I know.... woefully behind on the daily dutiful of reposting area poetry announcements, updating calendar, sorting Buffalo Poetics and issuing reminders about events, deadlines, etc. How could I resist this? Could you?

"So You Want To Be A Writer" by Charles Bukowski:

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or
fame,
don't do it.

The poem continues.

(A Poem For Saturday; Image: By Andre Petterson via My Modern Met)