This year’s National Poetry Month poster showed up in the mail, sent from the Academy of American Poets. It celebrates not just poetry, but “the important and enriching role that letter writing has played in the lives of poets.” It’s a good reminder of that kinship between poems and letters – I think of the correspondences between […]
Jeremy Pataky | Committed to Memory Read More »
I remember seeing a cartoon once in a literary journal. A young writer was standing before the Eiffel Tower with a sign that said, “I thought it was publish or Paris.” I laughed, of course. But it made me think more seriously about where the humorless dictum “publish or perish” originated. Academia, no doubt, where
Anne Coray: A Poem a Day Read More »
Welcome and thank you to poet Susanna Mishler, our July featured writer and a long-time volunteer for the 49 Alaska Writing Center.One of my favorite writing exercises is called “negative inversion.” It goes like this: 1) Find a one-page poem or a paragraph of writing that you want to take apart in some way. You
(Un)civil Disobedience: Guest-post by Susanna Mishler Read More »
You catch a whiff of something on the border of consciousness. A phrase floats into your head and you recognize the voice. A fly buzzes at the windowsill; you wonder what it thinks it’s doing. Usually we dismiss such occurrences. They seem to have no practical use. But the suspicion lingers that these events may
National Poetry Month Begins Friday: A Guest Post by John Morgan Read More »
Thanks to January featured author Marybeth Holleman for this final guest-post. Lately I’ve been puppy-sitting Ivy, a three-month old Siberian Husky-Labrador mix. God, is she cute, and God, is she crazy-wild. The only way to keep her from tearing up my houseplants and irritating my two older dogs is for my husband to walk all
Holleman: On Jane Kenyon and Puppies Read More »
In response to some reader requests, we are doing something a little different with our next online book club: we are reading Alaska poetry In line with our ongoing aim to introduce Alaska writers to our readership, we have asked local poet Sandra Kleven to be moderator (with Andromeda assisting — and plenty of you,
January online book club: poetry! Read More »
Like most writers, I read a lot. OK, that’s an understatement. I depend on reading like other people depend on exercise or therapy or friendships: it centers me, guides me, defines me. Books are as necessary as food. I came late to poetry. I rarely read it until my first marriage disintegrated in the widening
A poem a day: Guest-post by Marybeth Holleman Read More »
This is why I love the increasingly collaborative nature of this blog. Nancy Lord just sent a link to this NYT 12/24 story about Elizabeth Alexander, the poet who has been chosen to write a poem that she will read at Barack Obama’s Jan. 20 Inauguration. She is only the fourth poet to be included
Poetry at the Inauguration Read More »
