The Poets' Notebook

We Find an ‘Ode to Mix Tapes’

Denise — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:04:12 +0000

Found this on the PBS web site…fun!

more about "We Find an ‘Ode to Mix Tapes’", posted with vodpod

We Lose Another Poet

Denise — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:26:06 +0000

Just saw this article about the passing of Kamala Das, an Indian poet. Her poetry contains unapologetic discussions of women’s sexual lives. Read Herons as posted in the NY Times article.

We Spot Fisher Poets

Denise — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:54:51 +0000

Check out this article on the NY Times web site about fishermen turned poets. Apparently, there’s been an annual gathering of fisher poets since 1998.

Gathering of Fisher Poets

We Spot Diplomacy by Poetry

Denise — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:38:37 +0000

How fun that poetry has made it to the national fake-news headlines!

more about “Diplomacy by Poetry“, posted with vodpod

We Read Poets of Distinction

Denise — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 01:53:33 +0000

For our January meeting, we focused on poets who had earned a distinctive honor in celebration of poetry coming back to the inaugural activities.

Maxine Kumin (1925- ) – Pulitzer prize winner for Poems of New England in 1972, Poet Laureate of New Hampshire

Jack

Kay Ryan (1945- ) – appointed the 16th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by the Library of Congress

Duck
Turtle
The Edges or Time
Patience
A Cat/A Future
Things Shouldn’t Be So Hard

Robert Frost (1874-1963) - delivered poem at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration in 1961

The Gift Outright

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) – first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone

Annabel Lee

Maya Angelou (1928- ) – delivered poem at Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993

Still I Rise
Woman Work
On the Pulse of Morning
The Health-Food Diner

Wislawa Symborska (1923-) – Nobel laureate, 1996

Under One Small Star
Utopia

Margaret Atwood (1939- ) – multiple award winner for poetry and literature

Is/Not
More and More

Gabriela Mistral (Lucila Godoy y Alcayaga) (1889-1957) – first female Latin American poet to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1945.

Anniversary
The Stranger
I Am Not Alone

We Examine the Politics of Poetry

Denise — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 15:59:08 +0000

The prodigal blogger has returned to poetry and now is trying to get caught up. We met at Frances’ house (last November) and discussed the upcoming election. Of course, since we all seem to share the same political sentiments, there wasn’t a whole lot of spirited debating, at least not about who to support for President. So we meandered into the politics of poetry.

Jan started us off with:

A jingle to help us recall the order of Presidents from Washington to Wilson

And this little gem which I could not find online. It’s from 1972 when Nixon won reelection in a landslide.

The election is over, the results are now known,
The will of the people has clearly been shown.

Let’s all get together and show by our deeds,
That we will give Dick all the help that he needs.

Let bygones by bygones and all bitterness pass,
I’ll hug your elephant if you kiss my ass.

Robert Hayden (1913-1980) – bio

El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz

from Words in Mourning Time - part I which opens with
For King, for Robert Kennedy,
destroyed by those they could not save
Read an analysis here.

Billy Collins (1941- ) – bio

The Future

Carl Adamshick

Our flag

Madeleine Begun Kane – bio

McCain Limericks

Sarah Who??

Some Friendly Advice for Obama

Langston Hughes (1902-1967) – bio

Let America Be America Again

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) – bio

If–

My Boy Jack

Eugene McCarthy (1916-2005) – bio

Whose foot is on the treadle

We Take a Quick Look Back

Denise — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 18:18:58 +0000

It’s been a year of very successful poetry studies. Thank you all for your inspiring poetic contributions and thoughtful interpretations. I must tell you that I enjoy our gatherings very much…who would have thought that a group of such disparate people could find a wealth of common ground through a shared interest in verse.

Jason Shinder (1955-2008)

I was moved to write this post when I came across this eulogy of Jason Shinder in the NY Times. Born in 1955, he was our contemporary or thereabouts. I hadn’t heard of Jason Shinder before, sadly. But reading the article, his apparent passion for poetry reminded me of our little group. He didn’t publish much of his own poetry. The article quotes him as saying, “I’m not that good yet, but I’ll get there.” Instead, he spent his time editing a number of poetry anthologies, an activity which is not unlike our monthly thematic adventures where we find common threads across a gamut of poems.

You can read some of Jason’s poetry at the Academy of American Poets site.

Happy New Year to all you poetry fans. I wish you much peace, love and harmony in 2009! And I can’t wait to hear what poems you’ll come up with next!

Peace, Love, & Harmony

We Have a Happy Thanksgiving

Denise — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:36:02 +0000

I was surfing around the Academy of American Poets site and came across this classic gem.

The New-England Boy’s Song About Thanksgiving Day

Happy Thanksgiving all you poetry enthusiasts!

Election Day Poems

Denise — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 02:58:32 +0000

In case you didn’t catch these election day poems in the Wednesday, November 5 NY Times, I’ve posted links to them here. At each page, you can hear the poet read his or her work.

When the Fog
by August Kleinzahler

When the Fog

Election Day

by J.D. McClatchy

Election Day

In the Present and Probable Future

by Mary Jo Bang

In the Present and Probable Future

The Polling Place

by Joshua Mehigan

The Polling Place

Infomercial 2

by John Ashbery

Informercial 2

We Study the Landscape

Denise — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 03:48:11 +0000

Ellen hosted our gathering in October where we studied landscapes.

Carl Sandburg (1878-1967) – bio

Mist Marches Across the Valley
Crossing Ohio When Poppies Bloom in Ashtabula

Robert Frost (1874-1963) - bio

The Mountain
The Road Not Taken

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) – bio

Landscape With the Fall of Icarus

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) – bio

God’s World

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) – Wordsworth Trust; poet’s bio

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud aka The Daffodils and the Wordsworth Rap

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) – bio

The Land of the Counterpane

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) – poet’s Web page; other bio

Landscape

Hayden Carruth (1921-2008) – bio

I Know, I Remember, But How Can I Help You
Song of the Two Crows

Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000) – bio

What Did I Learn in the Wars?
End of Summer in the Judean Mountains

Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) – poet’s homepage; other bio

Six Significant Landscapes

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) – Wordsworth Trust; poet’s bio

Lines Composed Above Tintern Abbey

Garrett Kaoru Hongo (1951- ) – bio

Yellow Light