BTW –

If you happen to like either of those poem recordings, feel free to share them.  Thanks 🙂

Results of Our Poll about Literary Magazines, Part 1

Poll Results

About ten days ago, I put this poll up on the blog here. While not a great number of responses, I am pleased with the number of people who took the minute or so to offer their opinions on the state of contemporary literary magazines.

One of the things I wrote in that original post was

We know that there are more literary magazines than there are readers, but not as many as there are writers,

and this is a problem. Another problem writers come across is that there is little payment available out there for accepted works. That is a discussion outside of this one.

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Style? No Style? What’s Wrong with Letters?

Style, then, involves a meeting between arrangements inside the prose and expectations outside it. You can’t have a strong style without a community of readers able to recognize and appreciate its departures from the common usages they know.

So, interesting thoughts in this article over at The New York Review of Books, written by Tim Parks.

Something to read, reread, ponder, think about, reread, and then maybe write on…

Got Two New Books in the Mail Today

to be added to the soon-to-be-reviewed list:

– The Book of Goodbyes by Jillian Weise
– Metaphysical Dog by Frank Bidart

Next one up though is Matthew Rohrer’s Rise Up…

Revision and Creation: 1 – Close Attention pt. 1

The initial post introducing the ideas here occurred over on Poetry Thesis Musings, a blog about it being self-defining. Go ahead and take a minute to read that; it’s short, I promise.

Now that you’ve read the initial post, walk along this exploration with me. The beginning of this journey is about the act of close attention. As just about any poet will tell you, close attention is one of the primary aspects of writing poetry. Another way to say this is that poems do not unveil themselves without your hard work of paying attention to the world around you.

But what does this have to do with revision?

Good question, you! Where ecstatic creation in the face of the results of close attention (a good example is found among the Beat Poets) may result in much earnest poetry–and even very good poetry–the act of revision asks for close attention to the poem, the poet, and the subject of the poem. Revision forces the poet to decide, to act, to reflect, to unveil, and to question.

What I have Missed

Right now, I am missing my books. They are all boxed up, you see. So all of the listings under “Upcoming Reviews and Reflections” are on hold. At least most of them are. I do have a couple of those with me. Strike that, I have none of those with me. But I do have the following books, which I’ll be adding to the list:

Ha Ha! I’m Back!

Over the past year, most of my posts appeared either here or here. But now, I think, it is time to return to Poetic Idealism.

I would like to revisit the purpose behind Poetic Idealism. As I write on the about page,

 criticism, reflection, and etc. about reading and writing poetry; sometimes social commentary creeps in; and every once in a while, I’ll post a (or part of a) poem here

and I think that covers the major purposes. Maybe I’ll begin posting rants here…

Letter to the Next President

Dear Mr. President,

Some things to do in your first couple of months:

1. Call the Governors in for a Round Table Discussion:
   1. End Militarization of Local Police Forces.
   2. End Drone Flights Over US.
2. Call a Full Session of Congress:
   1. Whip Their Asses into Shape re: Running the Country, not Their Own Personal Beliefs.
   2. Passing Wall Street Regulation.
   3. Passing Real Energy Reform.
   4. Passing Real Economic Recovery Steps. (Look to the Great Depression for ideas. Those actually worked.)
3. Address the Nation re: Market Forces & Fuel Prices.
4. Prosecute & Break Up the “Too Big to Fail” Corporations.
5. Equal Rights Amendment for LGBT.

The US is a country which has led the world in every endeavor. Make it so again.

Thanks,

Eric

Poetic Idealism and the Search, pt. 1

Many of the readers who end up at this blog do so by searching Google with the phrase “idealism in poetry” or something similar. While I think the overall contents of the blog offer my thoughts on the topic, I am sure that many of these searchers are looking for research for their undergraduate or high school papers. This post will offer some reflection on the concept in general, but I would like to also point them toward the recently updated “plagiarism note” in the right column. Your teacher/professor will recognize a voice other than yours, and drop text into Google to figure out where it came from. Then you will fail the paper, if not the course. Be forewarned.

after the first night of awp

Thinking we would hear some good music, a small group of us went to Buddy Guy’s Legends behind the Hilton. The music was pretty good…