tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-362396712012-02-12T13:58:27.701-06:00Call it a do-it-yourself MFA: 30 hours a week for working, 20 for writing. The goal? To complete a book of poems by 2008.Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.comBlogger1121100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-45777751832437367332008-06-10T23:10:00.005-05:002008-12-09T00:52:50.177-06:00

After a few months of organizing and revising earlier this spring (I went back to work full-time in January), I'm happy to say that my book, titled "The Caretaker's Manual," is finally done. In the excitement of finishing it, I somehow neglected to mention it here, where I've been tracking the development of said collection. Good lord. Anyway, click on the link to take a look and order a

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-52797879241686457842008-01-01T11:45:00.001-06:002008-01-01T12:48:24.384-06:00

Officially at least, today is the last day of A Writing Year. Tomorrow I return to my regular job full-time, and resume writing the way I did before -- whenever I can.Since I know from past experience that "whenever I can" is not very often (except for some regular writing time in the mornings, which I aim to continue), I've done my best to set things up so that I can complete the manuscript of

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-23883170566146083822007-12-17T08:57:00.000-06:002007-12-17T09:26:54.405-06:00

With the holidays coming up next week, I'm in the final days of AWY. There's still a lot to do, but I've been lucky enough to get this week off of work to concentrate on finishing. By Thursday night, I hope to have retyped all of my stronger poems into the manuscript and started the afterword I want to write about the process. That seems--at least from the vantage point of 9 AM on Monday--well

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-54310469384141154032007-12-12T09:16:00.000-06:002008-12-09T00:52:50.465-06:00

Just days ago I wrote about Shenandoah's novel approach to subscription solicitation and noted--though not with a great deal of optimism--that my rejection fears had not materialized. Yet.Sadly, I was right not to expect too much. But in the interest of science I'll put aside my disappointment and carry on. Let's assess:Rating Summary: Shenandoah's rejection slip is printed on card stock and

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-16359320488506299012007-12-10T09:41:00.000-06:002007-12-10T10:11:58.304-06:00

With the end of AWY fast approaching, I've continued to prioritize ordering and editing the poems I've produced so far. Now that I have figured out the basic structure, I'm focusing on organizing each of the four sections and revising the individual poems they contain.Last Friday I spread each section across the floor and arranged and rearranged the sequences until I was satisfied with the basic

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-61774226483236970872007-11-29T10:03:00.000-06:002007-11-29T10:20:16.662-06:00

Yesterday and today I spent some more time sketching out the structure of my collection. I started by trying to figure out which poems I wanted as the first and last of the manuscript, which turned out to be easier than I'd anticipated. Both are poems I like a lot and they just seemed to make sense in those positions.After that I began looking through the remaining poems that I'd triaged for

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-69795555578493257192007-11-27T09:00:00.000-06:002007-11-27T09:24:18.380-06:00

A couple of weeks ago I sent a few poems to Shenandoah, a journal published from Washington and Lee University. When I got an envelope back from them this weekend, I steeled myself for the rejection slip and hoped that it wouldn't be something so awful as to undermine all the positive things I'd heard about editor R.T. Smith.Interestingly, though the letter was response (of sorts) to my

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-81562938143660670332007-11-20T09:34:00.000-06:002007-11-20T09:42:54.274-06:00

I don't normally post my poems to this blog, but what the heck, right? Happy Thanksgiving everybody. On ThanksgivingBlack spasm of starlings from the lone spruce,like a silenced cough or the sudden sloughing of each branch’s shadow. Mutely they pulse among the gusts—not likeus, walkingloud on the packed gravel, chattering about the spiced sweet potatoes, the hike up the bluff, the time it

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-13878492783235692882007-11-13T10:03:00.000-06:002008-12-09T00:52:50.674-06:00

I've been making my way through Kenneth Koch's Collected Poems (and what an odd and brilliant way that is) and thought I'd share his rules for knowing when a poem is ready for the wide open world. (Kenny, forgive the scrambled line breaks -- blogger wasn't made for long-lined poems.)"... Just how good a poem should beBefore one releases it, either into one's own work or then into the purview of

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-63742060133595115922007-11-08T09:47:00.000-06:002008-12-09T00:52:50.953-06:00

Put yourself in the position of an editor at a respected literary magazine. (Nice, isn't it? Now stop fiddling with your smoking jacket and pay attention.) Say you received a submission from a writer a while ago and decided not to take it, but encouraged him to try again a few months later. You're feeling generous, maybe. Time goes by and, like magic, a new submission appears. But eh, you're not

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-78522561506306568132007-11-07T09:45:00.000-06:002007-11-07T10:29:03.193-06:00

As I was considering how best to start organizing the poems I've written this year into a coherent collection, I realized that I first needed to better understand what I had to work with. I could easily keep in mind my most (and least) successful drafts, but the remainder -- those that still needed work, but were promising -- were a blur. Likewise, I tended to forget about some of the older poems

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-91470114607827853822007-10-30T09:28:00.000-05:002007-10-30T09:50:11.755-05:00

Now home from New York, I'm looking to get back into rhythm as quickly as possible. The official end of AWY is on the horizon (just two months left), and I'm increasingly conscious of the limited time I have remaining -- especially since a couple of those weeks will be eaten up by the holidays. I don't expect that the end of December will bring an abrupt and complete halt to all things

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-19099092748119632962007-10-22T08:59:00.000-05:002007-10-22T09:24:57.385-05:00

... not as interesting when you're only going to New York for a conference. Yet that's where I'm headed for most of this week, which unfortunately almost guarantees zero productivity from a writing standpoint.I don't know how writers who travel frequently manage to work despite the disruption it causes. I guess they must get used it, but for me it seems almost impossible. The distractions are

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-59380413982776907392007-10-11T09:10:00.000-05:002007-10-11T09:35:46.871-05:00

A long silence between posts, owing to back to back trips out of town and general work craziness. To shake off the lingering effects of not writing for the last few days, I thought I'd take this opportunity to take stock. Here's what's going on:Submissions: I'm still waiting to hear back from VQR. No clue whether the mounting weeks my poems have been under review is reason for optimism or not. I

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-83909554497313384482007-10-03T09:57:00.000-05:002008-12-09T00:52:51.053-06:00

Well, technically at least. The editors at Poetry haven't changed their minds about not wanting my poems, but they called yesterday to say they're going to print a letter I wrote in full in their November issue. As I said to my wife, if my dream of being a poet doesn't work out, at least I'm well on my way to an equally glamorous and enriching career in letter-writing about poetry. It's always

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-10504329129099911762007-09-28T09:52:00.000-05:002007-09-28T10:09:18.366-05:00

The new poems I'm writing now are a lot more playful than many of those I've written in the past. I thought I would give you a peek through the keyhole at all the wackiness by listing some of the draft titles from the past month. Probably these are illuminating to some, alarming to others:"Babies""Feeding Your Neighbor's Cat""Lunatics""What You Don't Know""Weathermen""Wipe On, Wipe Off""The New

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-5338438663298988592007-09-24T09:25:00.000-05:002007-09-24T09:36:20.619-05:00

Running perilously low on reading material ("perilously" because of the way an hour or so of reading kicks off my writing day, every day), I went searching this weekend and returned with some great stuff. I've found that the work of a few poets in particular resonates with the new kind of poems I'm writing now. For the most part they're poets I've always liked, but now I'm seeing something new in

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-59675400449581338822007-09-18T09:09:00.000-05:002007-09-18T09:28:20.656-05:00

I'm feeling guilty, as usual, for not posting frequently enough. The truth is I've been running out of time in the mornings, when I've been prioritizing new poems. A few days ago I wrote about the lucky moment when I realized what kind of collection I wanted to put together, and fortunately that realization has continued to be a source of energy and inspiration. I've gotten some good feedback

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-83577597359296475842007-09-12T11:08:00.000-05:002007-09-14T09:41:12.673-05:00

The September 2007 issue of Poetry has an essay by Brian Phillips on "Poetry and the Problem of Taste." It's a good piece, but like many other articles about the culture of contemporary American poetry, it puts too much emphasis on the extreme factions. I got so worked up about it I wrote a letter to the editor. Who knows whether they'll print it, but I will, right here and now:Dear Editor, I

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-27650965336957135642007-09-07T09:35:00.000-05:002007-09-07T10:10:05.014-05:00

This morning I re-read W.D. Snodgrass' masterful essay on poetry, "Tact and the Poet's Force," which he wrote just under half a century ago (and which is included in a book I've raved about before, Claims for Poetry). In it, he states that, "it is a poet's business to say something interesting.... He always says something we have not heard before; he always suggests possibilities," and explores

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-55375934110206741152007-09-05T09:41:00.000-05:002007-09-05T10:29:23.031-05:00

The Sep/Oct issue of Poets & Writers has a curious article by poet and professor John Poch ("Pimp My Writing") in which he compares the workshop he teaches to an episode of MTV's Pimp My Ride. This is awkward, to say the least, though it does yield some interesting, statistically improbable phrases, such as "Did Ezra Pound pimp T.S. Eliot's ride when he helped him with one of the greatest poems

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-91711147646265623562007-08-29T09:17:00.000-05:002007-08-29T09:49:03.415-05:00

I've written over and over again about the difficulties of writing and my struggle to find direction, so having a chance to share more positive news is thrilling. The short of it is this: the night before last, just before turning in, I had an idea for a poem. That doesn't sound like much, and it wasn't much, but I snapped the light back on and made a few notes so I wouldn't forget, then went to

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-7530784498109171982007-08-27T09:22:00.000-05:002007-08-27T09:49:54.248-05:00

My morbid habit of dwelling on rejection slips has been drawing some new visitors to AWY lately, courtesy of the Perpetual Folly blog (thanks Clifford) and Writing in the Mountains (thanks Kris) as well as a few others. Welcome all and enjoy the site. There are sure to be more rejections soon.In other news, my friend and official AWY reader Jeff Navicky has quietly launched Four Quarter Review, a

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-74496882788329259842007-08-24T09:12:00.000-05:002007-08-24T09:51:17.242-05:00

What a week. Over the last couple of months my job has gotten busier than ever. I've been waiting for the hectic pace to abate but increasingly it seems the new normal, as they say. Except for a few especially chaotic days I've been able to stick to my writing schedule, though the pressure does take a toll.One of the writing challenges I'm having now is staying loose and permitting myself freedom

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-51361857856160272332007-08-20T09:37:00.000-05:002007-08-21T10:16:21.664-05:00

My last unsuccessful submission to the Virginia Quarterly Review prompted the inaugural entry in my rate the rejection series. It also attracted some attention from VQR editor Ted Genoways and put me back in touch with an old high school friend, Waldo Jaquith, who is now leading the charge to bring VQR into the digital age.Waldo recently contacted me about testing out the magazine's fancy new

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-38231631810154238752007-08-14T08:59:00.000-05:002007-08-14T09:01:10.748-05:00

Slate.com is running a new bad poetry contest, with the winner to be announced this week. There's still time to enter!

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-87397144465570925622007-08-13T09:46:00.000-05:002008-12-09T00:52:51.437-06:00

Lately the cardboard armor I made for myself with the Rate the Rejection series has been showing its weaknesses. The fact of the matter is that getting a rejection note is still dispiriting, and each one saps a trickle of the energy I have to write. Well, here's another little leech, from the Beloit Poetry Journal:Rating Summary: It's obviously an email, which is unusual given that I did not

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-75021662031573789642007-08-09T09:22:00.000-05:002008-12-09T00:52:51.542-06:00

I've been curious for a while about what kind of rejection notes the grande dame of the American poetry community sends to the hopeful poetish masses. Turns out she's rather a polite and thoughtful old bat.Rating Summary: There are a lot of poets who question the current editorial direction of Poetry (and the motives and methods of its publisher, the Poetry Foundation). But something you have to

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-51230053255860373152007-08-02T09:28:00.000-05:002007-08-03T10:27:23.405-05:00

In the ongoing saga of The Poetry Foundation Is Ruining Everything, Everything!, John Casteen unloads on David Orr in the Virginia Quarterly Review (for attacking Dana Goodyear in the New York Times Book Review, for besmearing Poetry in The New Yorker). This is getting complicated.Luckily, Casteen's essay is not. The gist of it is basically that Poetry doesn't know what the hell it's doing or

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-53785272403797509742007-08-01T10:01:00.000-05:002007-08-01T10:47:57.235-05:00

I've written a few times before about submitting to literary journals, but this morning, as I was considering what to send out next, I was struck by the arbitrariness of the whole process. When is a poem ready to go blinking into the big bright world? At any given moment, there may be four or five poems that seem strong enough to put in front of an editor, but rarely do I feel that any are

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-62946933589729580542007-07-25T10:04:00.000-05:002008-12-09T00:52:51.711-06:00

It's been a while since I've raved about a particular book, but Tony Hoagland's essay collection Real Sofistikashun deserves a few cheers. In it he does an exceptionally good job representing a centrist perspective on poetry, keenly assessing contemporary trends while modestly advocating for poems that resonate with human experience. His essay "Fear of Narrative and the Skittery Poem of Our

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-87178539701886920842007-07-23T09:30:00.000-05:002008-12-09T00:52:51.830-06:00

Et tu, RHINO? You're in Evanston, I'm in Chicago. Our zip codes share four digits. We are practically family.You should be NICE to your FAMILY.Rating SummaryDear Editors,I understand. Publishing a literary magazine is hard. All of us writers/masochists send you reams of paper filled with our scribblings, but we're all too cheap to pony up for a subscription. Probably the last issue was partially

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-42307737597559180552007-07-18T09:42:00.000-05:002007-07-18T10:41:05.830-05:00

My colleague and alert AWY reader Adele spotted this gem in a MensNewsDaily.com interview with poet David Yezzi:"It’s not that masters degrees in poetry, which function as excellent cash cows for universities across the country, are completely worthless. I have one myself, and I can say that they are only almost completely worthless. They do have one serious downside however: students seeking

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-65284016806027677412007-07-17T10:00:00.000-05:002007-07-17T10:09:04.805-05:00

From Tony Hoagland's essay collection Real Sofistikashun:"And here is one explanation for the lack of rhetorical experiment in much contemporary work: we are constrained by our own belief in the precious individuality of the poet, and by our conviction that poetry equals sincerity. We are oddly ready to become poets by getting down and dirty with the details of our private lives, but oddly

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-40924752799159378972007-07-12T09:17:00.000-05:002007-07-16T09:40:18.343-05:00

Poets often get caricatured as humorless, brooding party-spoilers. So I was happy to see that Poetry magazine used its summer issue to bash away at that image like a dark piñata and scoop up all the hard candy hidden inside. Ah, piñatas. Blind rage and destruction rewarded with sugar -- what's not to like?In addition to some vivacious poems, the July/August issue features several very funny

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-62824086328075969762007-07-09T10:20:00.000-05:002007-07-10T10:27:53.156-05:00

Now that it's July, I'm over halfway through this little project. Thinking back on what I've been able to accomplish and what I've learned so far, it strikes me that there haven't been any major surprises.By far the biggest challenge has been effectively balancing my writing time with my work time and, more to the point, conserving enough energy to be able to focus on writing. I thought that

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-62654667264390947422007-07-05T09:20:00.000-05:002007-07-05T09:31:11.719-05:00

From William Stafford:"This witness would note, confess, or assert, how small--how trivial--the elements which lead to a poem (or any work of art, or theory, or a truth) are. That is, the beginning impulse and perhaps the successive impulses too are often so colorless, so apparently random, so homeless and unaccountable, that most people would neglect them: they don't seem to amount to much. It

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-7988888603693354982007-07-02T10:17:00.001-05:002007-07-11T10:13:41.744-05:00

With a workweek chock full of deadlines behind me, I'm looking forward to some more restful and productive writing time in the week ahead. I'm also making progress on my reading list and thought I'd share what I've read so far. Here's what's done and on the shelf:PoetryBogan, Louise. The Blue EstuariesFennelly, Beth Ann. Open HouseGoldbarth, Albert. The Kitchen Sink: New and Selected Poems 1972-

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-64695749705200551382007-06-25T10:09:00.000-05:002007-06-25T10:56:43.366-05:00

With the Southern Review's rejection behind me, I'm looking ahead to my next beat down. As I mentioned earlier, Poetry magazine claims that they are reviewing only poets they haven't published before (now through August), so I'm thinking of sending them a batch. I know my chances are low, so I also hope to send a second group out at the same time, perhaps to Beloit Poetry Journal.In the meantime,

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-73894732156145008072007-06-20T09:01:00.000-05:002008-12-09T00:52:52.060-06:00

Nothing says 'Welcome home!' quite like a rejection note. After two weeks' absence from my usual AWY schedule (week one: work madness; week two: travel madness), I returned to find a little Dear John letter from the Southern Review waiting for me. Damn. And I thought she loved me 4ever.Anyhow, here's the heartbreaker:Rating Summary: I suppose it should come as no surprise that the Southern Review

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-41890108194484094562007-06-06T09:26:00.000-05:002007-06-06T09:35:05.320-05:00

Lordy. It's been a whirlwind of a week so far, and I've been shamefully unable to hold the line dividing my writing time and my work time. It doesn't help that I'll be out of town all next week (heading to the Pacific Northwest to visit Jen's family and see my sister graduate), a trip that I'm looking forward to but that also requires a lot of advance work on the job side of things. So, apologies

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-28714324613320362642007-05-31T09:40:00.000-05:002007-05-31T10:11:45.293-05:00

In New York Magazine, Australian-born novelist Peter Carey has a smart and humane article on coming of age as a writer by way of MFA programs: "A New York Writer's Catch-22." (Thanks to my colleague Adele for drawing my attention to this one.) It includes a pithy description of one of the major issues MFA students face -- the cost of their education and the unlikelihood that they will be able to

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-8134991936877257072007-05-30T09:56:00.001-05:002007-05-30T10:28:12.774-05:00

And really, that's about all I have to say. I've mentioned previously that I frequently turn to his book Jelly Roll for inspiration. His poems are witty, musical and seemingly effortless, all at once. Now I'm reading his latest collection of poems, For the Confederate Dead, and enjoying it mightily. Here's a fragment for you, from his poem "Bedlam":"No such thingas sleep--just the noiseof night,

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-14610166956382068562007-05-24T10:49:00.000-05:002007-05-24T11:04:30.230-05:00

I went to The Danny's Reading Series last night to see three poets including Sam Witt, who's shown some staying power over the last few years. Not sure if it was the poetry, the beer, or just a couple of hours out of my head, but something clicked and lo, a path forward to poems did appear. Today, writing outside (per one of my Not Working strategies and because it's getting toasty in our non-air

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-91527441982267436732007-05-22T09:57:00.000-05:002007-05-22T11:08:08.945-05:00

Writing part-time and working part-time has generally made for a good balance. I feel like I have enough time for writing but am still connected to and invested in my job, which I honestly enjoy. I expected that I would have some difficulty maintaining a boundary between the two; after all, my job is fast-paced and I work from home, so that boundary is really just a click of the mouse on my

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-21477378058134526922007-05-18T10:26:00.000-05:002007-05-18T10:45:19.046-05:00

When I started AWY, one of my goals was to submit to a range of journals, including at least a few in the Chicago area. I have been lax about that so far, but today I'm sending off a submission to RHINO magazine in Evanston. RHINO publishes only poetry and comes out once a year. Qwerky, somewhat, but hopefully they will like one of the four poems I'm sending.Speaking of Chicago-area literariness,

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-11375330196650894662007-05-16T10:54:00.000-05:002007-05-16T11:22:40.305-05:00

I'm reading Keats' poems and selected letters at the moment, both of which have proved inspiring except for when I recall how much he was able to accomplish in so little time. Then it's almost overwhelmingly humbling. The contradictory responses I have when reading this kind of poetry are alarming in their extremity; one part of me clamors to write poems that are just as good while another asks

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-65320046343593352332007-05-14T10:33:00.000-05:002007-05-14T10:49:13.641-05:00

(Because I've always wanted to title a post with that word, that's why.)As part of my ongoing reclaim-some-momentum campaign, I'm gearing up for another submission this week. Boston Review, Shenandoah and TriQuarterly are some of the possibilities, though I'll be looking for others over the next few days.Of note to anyone else out there who is looking for publishing opportunities, Poetry magazine

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-53661666166710716122007-05-08T09:59:00.000-05:002007-05-08T10:54:14.180-05:00

Reading William Logan's 1999 essay "Four or Five Motions Toward a Poetics" this morning, I was struck by his discussion of the "trust" between reader and poem. "Trust," he writes, "... is the poem's ability to proceed without distracting the reader with clumsiness of technique, while offering benefit to the reader's imagination equal to or exceeding the energy expended in reading." Essentially,

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-15372657909625958982007-05-07T10:25:00.000-05:002008-12-09T00:52:52.347-06:00

This weekend I bought a new writing notebook, having realized that the old one had only two or three blank pages remaining. I'm not hugely picky about my notebooks but I do have certain standards. Criteria, you could say. Buying a new one got me thinking about what those criteria are and my reasons for sticking to them, which I shall present here forthwith:1) Light weight: Because where I go, it

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-54438555712285570192007-05-04T11:06:00.000-05:002007-05-04T11:19:11.215-05:00

After a couple despondent weeks, today I finally was able to write something worth keeping (or at least I think so), and I've got another idea for a poem in the chamber. No telling whether this spell of creativity will last but I'm happy for the time being. Check back next week for an update.In the meantime, since I've been thinking so much about the conditions necessary for writing, here's a

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-58489964522194487422007-05-02T10:16:00.000-05:002007-05-02T22:46:39.637-05:00

Maybe it's because I've been traveling more often lately, but I've found myself fixating on the strange rhythms and patterns of business life, the purgatorial cab rides and waiting rooms. What's interesting to me is the way people strive (with varying effort and degrees of success) to remain individuals and retain some humanity despite spending vast amounts of time in environments that are

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-34595122640345196322007-04-26T10:58:00.000-05:002007-04-26T11:15:08.277-05:00

I'm not happy with the poems I'm writing right now. For one thing, there aren't many of them. And the ones I do produce strike me as boring and predictable (and based on a few initial comments on the latest batch from my readers, they think so too -- although they say so far more graciously). It's disheartening, not only because it never feels good to create crappy poems, but because good writing

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-41850391844178779572007-04-24T10:10:00.000-05:002007-05-02T10:04:35.474-05:00

Speaking of Robert Pinsky, the former poet laureate has published an interesting article on Slate.com, "In Praise of Difficult Poetry." "The issue of difficulty in art is far from new," he writes, "though people may like to refer to some unspecified good old days, when stuff was easier." A fine point to keep in mind, especially since both sides in the argument of "difficult" vs. "accessible"

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-38931239014286637482007-04-20T09:27:00.000-05:002007-04-20T09:54:43.060-05:00

Imagine my shock last night when Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report brought out poet Robert Pinsky (he of the honeyed and vaguely lascivious voice) to host a "Meta-Free-Phor-All" with Sean Penn. And further shock when he proved to do pretty well. Bob Barker, look out:Sure, the show was mostly about Penn's politics and one particularly colorful (if not nuanced) metaphor he employed vis-a-vis

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-89118697216202803982007-04-18T09:47:00.000-05:002008-12-09T00:52:52.580-06:00

Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles: Number 11, 1952."A painter like Pollock," John Ashbery writes in his essay The Invisible Avant-Garde, "... was gambling everything on the fact that he was the greatest painter in America, for if he wasn't, he was nothing, and the drips would turn out to be random splashes from the brush of a careless housepainter. It must often have occurred to Pollock that there was

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-50972460589935894022007-04-15T15:33:00.000-05:002008-12-09T00:52:52.692-06:00

Here's a stumper: How to rate a rejection letter that doesn't exist? It seems like a task for one of Samuel Beckett's characters. Yet that's exactly the task I'm faced with, as FIELD, apparently having nothing nice to say, says nothing at all. What that means for me is my SASE returned, with my poems, and no explanation. It's baffling. Here's what I've got to show you:That's right, just the empty

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-21132898635937265942007-04-15T14:54:00.000-05:002007-04-16T09:26:00.229-05:00

Did you miss me? Last week was a doozy. Two rejection letters (or rather, one actual letter, but two submissions rejected -- more on that later) and a four-day conference for work meant I was distracted and off-schedule all week. I'm still feeling a bit down and uncertain, but hopefully I'll be able to get back into some sort of rhythm and regain my focus. We'll see. For now, please accept my

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-37089805470912261562007-04-08T22:42:00.000-05:002008-12-09T00:52:52.825-06:00

Sadly it's time for another episode of Rate. The. Rejection! Today's contestant: Tin House, the pretty magazine from Portland. Someone responding to a previous Rate the Rejection mentioned that the House was particularly loathsome in its refusals, so I was (morbidly) curious to see if that really was the case. To the slip, shall we?Rating Summary: Well. Where to begin? Let's start with the paper.

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-2353334140102426612007-04-05T10:21:00.000-05:002007-04-08T23:24:49.425-05:00

Poetry readings are generally solemn, mirthless affairs. Kind of like church. You go out of a sense of obligation, or habit, or because of your own fervency. The poet takes the pulpit and to hushed nods and amens delivers the short, plosive sermons. Before leaving, everyone stops by to say what a fine thing it was.Don't get me wrong -- I love hearing poets read their work. It's just that the

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-76619944420587052202007-04-04T10:53:00.000-05:002007-04-05T09:00:30.533-05:00

Last night I read Jonathan Franzen's curiously long essay "Lost in the Mail," about the problems of Chicago's postal service and in particular the disaster that is the Uptown Post Office (my post office). Don't be fooled by the lovely architecture and murals depicted here -- they only enhance the Kafkaeque experience of doing business there. Anyway, Franzen notes in the essay that Carl Sandburg

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-26755107164945270382007-04-03T10:56:00.000-05:002007-04-03T11:02:11.705-05:00

Two fine American poets reading tomorrow as part of National Poetry Month. Check 'em out if you're in Chicago this week.DATE: Wednesday, April 4TIME: 6 PMPLACE: Cindy Pritzker Auditorium, Chicago Public Library (400 S. State St.)COST: Free, but call to reserve a seat - (312) 787-7070

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-44318946953698485012007-04-02T10:09:00.000-05:002007-04-03T11:09:50.138-05:00

Conventional wisdom suggests that most writers dislike their day jobs. It makes sense, since they work other jobs out of necessity--writing alone (or creative writing alone) generally doesn't pay the bills. Waitressing, copy writing, temp work, teaching or bar tending does. It also makes sense that writers would harbor at least some resentment toward these more remunerative endeavors, which

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-68074758893333904812007-03-28T10:48:00.000-05:002007-03-28T11:01:40.926-05:00

A few noteworthy passages. First, Yvor Winters, from the foreword to The Testament of a Stone:"A poem is a state of perfection at which a poet has arrived by whatever means. It is a stasis in a world of flux and indecision, a permanent gateway to waking oblivion, which is the only infinity and the only rest. It has no responsibilities except to itself and its own perfection--neither to the man

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-11310040430030266442007-03-26T10:51:00.000-05:002008-12-09T00:52:52.990-06:00

Still working on defining my own guiding principles for poetry, and of course on continued revisions. I hope this week proves to be more productive than last, though a business trip on Thursday / Friday threatens to foul things up a bit. Airport poem, anyone?I'm also looking toward my next submission, with the hope of getting another one out before April. Given that this week may be a little

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-57390046834214991472007-03-22T10:14:00.000-05:002007-03-22T13:01:57.395-05:00

Freelance writer Caitlin O'Neil has an article in the Mar/Apr issue of Poets & Writers on how hard it is to find time to write: "The Writer's Triangle: Balancing Writing with Living." The "dreaded triangle," she explains, "refers to the metaphorical vortex writers get pulled into while trying to balance making a living, being committed to their literary lives, and staying connected to the world

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-43159701290931824232007-03-20T09:51:00.000-05:002007-03-21T11:13:01.871-05:00

For the most part, this dividing my time between writing and work has gone smoothly. But this week the work half has been chaotic, with a major grant deadline looming and too little time to get everything done. The stress has made it hard to concentrate in the mornings and left me feeling unbalanced. I often feel that I need to achieve a kind of serenity to write well, and all the anxiety of work

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-90295898908684608972007-03-15T10:27:00.000-05:002007-03-19T11:00:19.748-05:00

The summer after my junior year in college, I spent several weeks in a writing seminar series in Prague. The poet Stanley Plumly was the leader of workshop group I joined and, as I mentioned in a previous post, he refused to allow anyone in it to treat the writing of poems lightly, even if it was the summer, and Prague, and all very romantic. He reviled lazy writing and did not hesitate to cast

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-21619787060110093292007-03-14T10:37:00.000-05:002007-03-14T10:57:30.075-05:00

More revisions today as I try to prepare another set of poems for sending out. A mix of older and newer drafts, this time. This week I've been enjoying looking back on some of the poems I did five or six years ago and allowing myself to edit them aggressively. The intervening years provide the necessary distance to be merciless with those cherished lines and images.Meanwhile, Gioia, Mason and

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-88600516738765208082007-03-12T09:55:00.000-05:002007-08-03T10:27:06.089-05:00

Whether you agree or disagree with John Barr's tract on The State of Poetry Today (which, however rickety it may have first appeared, increasingly seems to have achieved near-earth orbit alongside similarly shouted-about essays like Dana Gioia's "Can Poetry Matter?"), you have to give him credit for igniting a large and lively discussion.David Orr, resident poetry critic for The New York Times,

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-32773541316387508642007-03-09T10:18:00.000-06:002007-03-09T10:44:06.176-06:00

"Praise the world to the angel, not what can't be talked about.You can't impress him with your grand emotions. In the cosmoswhere he so intently feels, you're just a novice. So showhim some simple thing shaped for generation after generationuntil it lives in our hands and in our eyes, and it's ours."-- Rainer Maria Rilke, from "The Ninth Elegy"Sound advice for a poet, I think. But what a

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-72598768239492796232007-03-07T10:53:00.000-06:002007-03-07T11:14:11.951-06:00

Some odd synchronicity in this morning's reading:"Continuous present is one thing and beginning again and again is another thing. These are both things. And then there is using everything. This brings us again to composition this the using everything. The using everything brings us to composition and to this composition. A continuous present and using everything and beginning again. In these two

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-30140189765418170882007-03-06T11:06:00.000-06:002007-03-06T11:11:17.438-06:00

"The Pablo Neruda of North American poets" will be taking the lectern at the Newberry. Certainly worth checking out if you're in Chicago.DATE: Thursday, March 15TIME: 6 PMPLACE: The Newberry Library (60 West Walton St.)COST: Free, but call to reserve a seat - (312) 787-7070

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-24927484884288593232007-03-02T10:29:00.000-06:002007-03-06T11:01:50.106-06:00

It's somewhere near terrifying that I'll be a quarter of the way through A Writing Year in just a few more weeks. Fortunately, over the last couple weeks, especially, I've felt a new energy for writing and a sense of confidence in the work I'm producing. I'm drafting about one poem a day, and though they certainly won't all be worth keeping, I feel like that pace is helping me build a kind of

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-15806323800248983112007-02-28T10:41:00.000-06:002007-02-28T10:54:04.659-06:00

A lot going on this week as I continue to keep up a steady writing pace. That feels lucky and I'm eager to maintain it as long as possible. From past experience I know that everything can dry up quickly, and getting as much as I can on paper now will help carry me through future droughts.I also sent three new poems out to my readers and flipped the ones I got back from Kenyon Review out to Tin

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-41793092603834996952007-02-27T09:26:00.000-06:002007-02-27T10:56:48.364-06:00

I'm a little tardy getting to this, but The New Yorker's Dana Goodyear has a nice piece in the February 19 & 26 double issue on Ruth Lilly's jackpot gift to Poetry magazine. In it she explores the recent dust-up over Poetry Foundation president John Barr's essay "American Poetry in the New Century," which I previously wrote about here. Goodyear is clearly skeptical about Barr's background (among

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-63890419786664487722007-02-24T13:24:00.000-06:002008-12-09T00:52:53.223-06:00

Yes, it's time for another Rate the Rejection! This time, The Kenyon Review is in the hot seat, having declined a batch of four poems I submitted in mid-January. As you'll recall, the journal has moved to an online-only submissions system, so the note came via email. But let's get right down to business. Here's the message:(By way of explanation, KR requires that multiple poems be submitted in

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-68678438589460411362007-02-23T09:50:00.000-06:002007-02-23T10:30:09.744-06:00

William Packard, who taught creative writing in New York for more than 40 years, has a cutting section on workshops in his curmudgeonly, old-school tome The Art of Poetry Writing. I couldn't resist reprinting a poem by Norman Stock that he finds illustrative of their faults:Thank You forthe Helpful CommentsI sit quietly listeningas they tear my poem to shreds in the poetry workshopas each one

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-3964014911985515052007-02-22T10:11:00.000-06:002007-02-22T10:28:02.523-06:00

There's that word again. I'm getting ready for my next submission, this time probably three poems, perhaps including a couple inspired by or drafted during my trip earlier this month to Negril. Those will also be going to my readers, who I'm confident will tell me straight whether they've survived the long flight back. I'm cautiously optimistic -- after a week or two, they still seem worthwhile

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-43568792177420178922007-02-21T09:52:00.000-06:002007-02-21T10:40:54.407-06:00

I'd been feeling guilty about neglecting the AWY blog over the last several days, until it occurred to me that not blogging because I was too busy working on actual poems might not be such a bad thing. It already feels a little strange not to be posting any of my work here (though not strange enough to warrant a change, yet), and I think it would not be difficult to slip from simply documenting

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-19198171649014560432007-02-14T11:10:00.000-06:002008-12-09T00:52:53.462-06:00

Valentine's Day, which of course is one of the few days when poets actually seem useful. Good love poems are hard to write. I'm working on a couple right now, and since I am, and since it's a love-hungry day, I thought I'd mention Isn't It Romantic: 100 Love Poems by Younger American Poets, an especially good collection that Verse Press (now Wave Books) published in 2004. Here's a sample from

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-2614601791622338832007-02-13T10:54:00.000-06:002007-02-13T10:50:26.153-06:00

It's amazing what a little time away will do. Although it's depressing to be back in typically cold, monochromatic Chicago, I've had a lot of energy for writing this week. That's largely the result of last week's leisure, but I think some of it also comes from the experience of being someplace foreign, doing something entirely new. Jen and I were fortunate enough to connect with someone who knew

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-70949854430865714772007-02-12T09:59:00.000-06:002007-02-12T09:09:14.452-06:00

Still making the brutal transition back from lush Negril to snowbound Chicago, so I'll steady myself on the shoulder of W.S. Di Piero today (from Semba!: A Notebook):"Poetry doesn't have much to do with other arts, but there are coordinates. I'm bored by theatrical prophecy, by poetry that makes one fraught statement then another, without shapely sound or rhythm, without an availably complex

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-47448474088130435092007-02-02T09:59:00.000-06:002007-02-02T10:32:32.207-06:00

Next week AWY will endure a short hiatus while I enjoy a long-planned vacation in Jamaica. In my experience, poems written during such trips tend to resemble the palm tree-busy art you bring back to hang in your living room; what seemed stunningly beautiful there just looks embarrassingly out of place here. Nonetheless, between Red Stripes I intend to do at least a little writing to keep up my

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-30750712965397419132007-02-01T10:07:00.000-06:002007-02-02T09:57:36.178-06:00

Slow-going this week, as I grapple with some fundamental questions about subject matter. Bukowski says the poet is like a cat; it doesn't think about killing a bird, it just kills it. But what if there aren't any birds around? It seems to me that writing poetry involves a lot of waiting and hunting. You find a quiet place to watch for something with a heartbeat, or stalk it in the shadows. The

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-61998697475225184052007-01-31T08:56:00.000-06:002007-01-31T09:03:47.991-06:00

Thoughts on poetry from Charles Bukowski:"There's too much bad poetry being written today. People just don't know how to write down a simple easy line. It's difficult for them, it's like trying to keep a hard-on while drowning--not many can do it. Bad poetry is caused by people who sit down and think, Now I am going to write a Poem. And it comes out the way they think a poem should be. Take a cat

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-6976018750705080082007-01-29T11:01:00.000-06:002007-01-29T11:15:32.751-06:00

Three new poems for my readers this morning. As I mentioned in my email to them, it's all a little like Netflix. They send the old ones back and get new ones a few days later. Of course, the poems don't have quite the same entertainment value as, for example, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" (currently #2 on the Netflix Top 100). Well, perhaps a Brad Pitt / Angelina Jolie / married assassins poem is in the

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-36045843298574809342007-01-26T10:32:00.000-06:002007-01-26T11:12:34.789-06:00

It strikes me that writing a poem is like creating a picture by painting only the shadows. What the poem references is impossible to recreate, so we write around it. To work, the poem must achieve a certain volume defined by the words and, to last, the shape it makes must have a kind of movement or tension. You could also say that making poems is like sculpting pots, only the poem is not the pot

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-66428624992044859802007-01-25T10:55:00.000-06:002007-01-25T11:22:30.321-06:00

As I continue to get feedback from my motley crew of readers, I'm thrilled with their honest, probing assessments and their refusal to let me get away with any laziness. So far each of them has pointed out something I hadn't noticed or acknowledged before, not just in the poems themselves but in my fundamental approach to writing as well. That's a great thing, and I can't thank them enough for

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-81005160463119228232007-01-24T10:23:00.000-06:002007-03-27T10:03:17.156-05:00

My friend Lucas observed that the first group of poems I sent to my readers span a range of styles. In his response to me, he suggested that this was either an indication of my great virtuosity or evidence of internal conflict about the kind of work I'd like to produce.Much as I'd like to believe the former is true, his conjecture about my conflicting thoughts on what and how I want to write is

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-11672532557299757012007-01-23T10:48:00.000-06:002007-04-05T09:00:57.406-05:00

Some observant AWY readers will have noticed that Carl Sandburg's Complete Poems has been in my reading pile for some time now. That will continue to be the case as I make my way through his 600+ page work at the pace of about 10-15 pages a day. As one of the most recognized poets of Chicago (really, the poet of Chicago), I thought he would make a good companion as I started off.So far he's

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-19708166564434893282007-01-22T10:44:00.000-06:002007-01-31T10:13:00.578-06:00

From "The Trouble with Poetry," by poet (and apparent foot fetishist) Charles Simic:"The true poet specializes in a kind of bedroom and kitchen metaphysics. I'm the mystic of the frying pan and my love's pink toes. Like every other art, poetry depends on nuance. There are many ways to touch a guitar string, to kiss and nibble someone's toe. Blues musicians know that a few notes rightly placed

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-32673959576513074282007-01-19T10:08:00.000-06:002007-01-19T11:03:54.491-06:00

Submission. What a strange, unhealthy word. Whenever I write a cover letter to send off with a few poems, I can't avoid using it, and when I do, I can't suppress a little cringe. There really couldn't be a more perfect response to the word, with its suggestion of tentativeness, of I-await-your-good-judgement-my-lord. I submit unto you these humble poems, dear editor.Then again, sending out your

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-7068444286665256742007-01-18T10:54:00.000-06:002007-01-18T11:36:56.909-06:00

I've just finished Donald Hall's collection of essays on poetry, Breakfast Served Any Time All Day, and his essay "Poetry and Ambition" seems to be resonating with me. A few quotes I find especially memorable:"I see no reason to spend your life writing poems unless your goal is to write great poems.""Poets who stay outside the circle of peers--like Whitman, who did not go to Harvard; like

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-11757965754667958872007-01-16T10:33:00.000-06:002007-01-19T09:24:04.007-06:00

Already into week three, which makes me mindful of how quickly AWY may pass, which has me thinking about what I want to accomplish."Goals" has a kind of corporate aftertaste to it and suggests a focus on product that many would argue is or should be antithetical to the writing of poetry. I think that's probably true, or mostly true. However, I'm also aware that defined goals keep me writing when

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-1747296665162472202007-01-11T10:49:00.000-06:002007-01-18T10:50:41.812-06:00

I'm thinking of A Writing Year as a do-it-yourself MFA, and no MFA would be complete without the workshop, would it? Workshops are often maligned, and anyone who's taken a creative writing class or attended a writer's conference knows why -- they tend to devolve into therapy sessions, support groups, circle jerks, etc., and if unchecked they can result in a kind of writing-by-committee. In his

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-78321791212867715982007-01-09T10:54:00.000-06:002007-01-09T11:08:01.069-06:00

Strange goings-on. This morning, battling writers block, I turn to Kevin Young's incredible collection Jelly Roll for inspiration. Hours later, I get an email announcement that he will be reading from his newest book, For the Confederate Dead, next week. And there was much rejoicing.Those in Chicago will not want to miss this chance to see one of the best young American poets working today. Here

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-79862253443064716562007-01-09T10:25:00.000-06:002007-01-09T10:52:33.639-06:00

Having the whole morning to write still feels odd. Or maybe it's the opposite -- not getting my coffee, sitting down at my desk, and starting to check work email at 8:30 feels odd. I haven't quite developed a new rhythm, but I'm getting there.Last week I typed up several older poems in various draft stages, but I didn't do quite as much new writing as I had hoped. So this week I'm focusing on

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-80470877782574493382007-01-05T10:17:00.000-06:002008-12-09T00:52:53.715-06:00

Speaking of MFA programs, John Barr of the Poetry Foundation certainly has knotted some knickers with his essay "American Poetry in the New Century," which appeared in the September 2006 issue of Poetry. In it, he argues that, "American poetry is ready for something new because our poets have been writing in the same way for a long time now," and though he is careful to say that, "the malaise

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36239671.post-74991987402879826462007-01-04T10:29:00.000-06:002007-01-10T11:08:07.480-06:00

The way I see it, MFA programs have a few important things to offer. Mainly, these are:Structured timeMotivationCommunityMentorshipA degreeBefore I started AWY, I debated doing an MFA program instead. Taking classes, working with practicing writers, and making new, like-minded friends were all powerfully appealing, as was, frankly, the idea of having a socially acceptable reason to write while

Davidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11614958078342035541noreply@blogger.com8