Billy Collins' new book of poetry, Ballistics, is out, and my darling husband Jack bought it for me right away. I've had it in one hand or the other pretty much ever since. How kind of him to send out 68 more nearly perfect spaces into the world. It seems to me that the voice in this book is a little less joyous, a little more in touch with all the things that go wrong, but it is still a voice I could listen to every day.
One of the best things about poetry is the infinite variety, and that there is space in that variety for all of us. Billy can't be every man's cup of meat, but if you're not sure where your poetic stick floats, he's a very good place to start.
One poem, called January in Paris, seems to say everything I feel about poetry, and everything I hope poetry feels about me.
I hope you find joy.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Free Rice!
Freerice.com is a vocabulary building site that fights world hunger. It's one of the best things on the web. If you love words, if you love humans, if you have ten minutes and are looking for something to pass the time, this is a great site.
The creators of the site arrange for rice to be purchased with the money paid for adspace on the main page. Players earn 'rice' each time they guess the correct definition for a word. Words become increasingly more difficult as you play.
If you look around the site, you'll find a page that show the total amount of rice they have donated by date. First, be amazed that people playing a word game have helped distribute more than 14 billion grains of rice in about 10 months. But then, notice that donations have dropped since last December. I imagine that there has not been a great publicity push for the site since then. So this post is my little publicity push for them; and if you like the site, maybe you'll push a little, too.
The creators of the site arrange for rice to be purchased with the money paid for adspace on the main page. Players earn 'rice' each time they guess the correct definition for a word. Words become increasingly more difficult as you play.
If you look around the site, you'll find a page that show the total amount of rice they have donated by date. First, be amazed that people playing a word game have helped distribute more than 14 billion grains of rice in about 10 months. But then, notice that donations have dropped since last December. I imagine that there has not been a great publicity push for the site since then. So this post is my little publicity push for them; and if you like the site, maybe you'll push a little, too.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
August Writers' Magazines
Great articles and advice abound in this month's issues of Poets & Writers, The Writer, and Writer's Digest:
My favorite living poet, Billy Collins, is on the cover of Poets & Writers' September/October issue. His new book, Ballistics, releases September 9th. P&W looks at Collins' career and life, and how he succeeds by focusing on his readers.
Even if Mr. Collins doesn't make you dive headlong into this issue, P&W is always worth a look. Besides the cover story, this issue contains articles on making your own chapbooks, getting an agent, and 100 Writing Contests with Upcoming Deadlines.
After you've made your chapbook by hand, you'll need a website to promote it, and that's what Writer's Digest promises this month: a how-to for turning a website into a wonder. They also show off the winner and finalists of their website contest, and we can all visit and learn from those sites. I have friends whose only website success so far has been to even try -- that puts them ahead of me!
Writer's Digest also offers an interview with Isabel Allende, advice from Debbie Macomber, and more get-an-agent tips.
The Writer for September drew me in with a screaming cover story on 104 Worst Cliches. This list-type article hit the heads of many a nail. But what really impressed me was the magazine's willingness to follow that story with one on exploiting the hidden power of cliches! They present possibilities positively.
There's also a good interview with Tess Gerritsen, tips for successful collaborations, and overall, the you-can-do-it push I always get from The Writer.
We have all of these magazines here at the library (although I'm going to buy P&W; Billy's really my guy, poetically) and I hope you come and enjoy them.
My favorite living poet, Billy Collins, is on the cover of Poets & Writers' September/October issue. His new book, Ballistics, releases September 9th. P&W looks at Collins' career and life, and how he succeeds by focusing on his readers.
Even if Mr. Collins doesn't make you dive headlong into this issue, P&W is always worth a look. Besides the cover story, this issue contains articles on making your own chapbooks, getting an agent, and 100 Writing Contests with Upcoming Deadlines.
After you've made your chapbook by hand, you'll need a website to promote it, and that's what Writer's Digest promises this month: a how-to for turning a website into a wonder. They also show off the winner and finalists of their website contest, and we can all visit and learn from those sites. I have friends whose only website success so far has been to even try -- that puts them ahead of me!
Writer's Digest also offers an interview with Isabel Allende, advice from Debbie Macomber, and more get-an-agent tips.
The Writer for September drew me in with a screaming cover story on 104 Worst Cliches. This list-type article hit the heads of many a nail. But what really impressed me was the magazine's willingness to follow that story with one on exploiting the hidden power of cliches! They present possibilities positively.
There's also a good interview with Tess Gerritsen, tips for successful collaborations, and overall, the you-can-do-it push I always get from The Writer.
We have all of these magazines here at the library (although I'm going to buy P&W; Billy's really my guy, poetically) and I hope you come and enjoy them.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Good news all around
Two exciting bits of news:
Jed Allen, poet and faculty member here at PC, stopped by the library this morning to mention that Jack Evans will be reading on Thursday, August 21st, at Copper Star Coffee. Should be good times; hope you can come by. There's nothing about it on the Copper Star site, but I imagine the evening will get going about 7:30. If anyone out there hears a more definitive time, let me know!
The second bit of news is less exciting to the general world, but I did want to say that I got the CRW Distribution List up and running. Hooray!
Jed Allen, poet and faculty member here at PC, stopped by the library this morning to mention that Jack Evans will be reading on Thursday, August 21st, at Copper Star Coffee. Should be good times; hope you can come by. There's nothing about it on the Copper Star site, but I imagine the evening will get going about 7:30. If anyone out there hears a more definitive time, let me know!
The second bit of news is less exciting to the general world, but I did want to say that I got the CRW Distribution List up and running. Hooray!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)