S&R readers have probably noticed that we like poetry around here. Something we have been talking about for quite a while, in fact, is why we didn’t take the next step and become a poetry publisher. Now, after months of planning, we’re doing precisely that. On Monday, we will publish our first poem as a poetry journal. If you’re wondering,
Read moreCrest (New Year’s Day, 2011) – for Ann When time is a wolf, the year a pack of yellow teeth; when one by one we lay us down, or stop to kiss goodbyes when one of us can run no more, then back into the trees;
Read moreIt’s as though Tennyson were writing about the past year, isn’t it? In Memoriam (Ring Out, Wild Bells) by Alfred, Lord Tennyson Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Read moreFreddie Mercury died 19 years ago today. If you’re a Baby Boomer you probably remember how you felt when John Lennon died. Freddie was my John Lennon. I finally wrote something about his death a few years later. In truth, it’s not a very good poem at all, but I kept it around and treated it with reverence because it
Read moreA bit of Saturday afternoon fun, courtesy of Thomas Stearns Eliot and Wordle.
Read moreOn several occasions we have pointed you toward the Poem for Tuesday feature at The Agonist. That weekly must-read is presented by Bruce Jacobs, who’s a fantastic poet in his own right. He’s our Poet of the Day at the Samuel Smith Poetry community on Facebook, and I thought I’d take a moment to point S&R lit lovers to his
Read moreToday is a day for politics and all that signifies. I suppose, as dark as the times have been of late, we might be forgiven if we approach the polls with a bit of cynicism. Certainly many of our very greatest poets have shared our misgivings over the political forces that shape our lives and dictate our opportunities, including my
Read moreIn honor of the Sabbat, I offer up this fragment from my poem “Eleven Fables.” ______ 9. Dog, Two Roads, Samhain October hardwoods crest the Blue Ridge, red gold orange, the incandescent rumor of All Hallows. Dog, tail flying full mast, sniffs from oak to maple, back again:
Read moreSage I am not my geography, you say, but immure yourself in dead country retching your dreams into an open grave. Stands of aspen overwatch Eagle Nest and Angel Fire. Toward Cimarron yellowjacket light immolates the sky. Listen: there are liturgies of geography where no graves gouge the land.
Read moreLately I’ve caught myself saying things like “if a culture gets poetry right, its politics will take care of itself.” Kudos to Bruce Jacobs and our friends at The Agonist for their Poem for Tuesday feature, which reminds us each week of the true, transcendent power of words. Today Bruce offers up something from Mark Doty. A snippet: What these
Read moreIn 2005 my friend and colleague, Lars Bjuvberg, committed suicide in Stockholm. Lars and I weren’t all that close, but his death hit me in a way that I still don’t fully understand. Perhaps it was as simple as the fact that someone so very talented had escorted himself off this mortal stage. Or perhaps it was more complicated –
Read moreToday The Agonist features the wonderful art of found poetry. That’s the great thing about art – sometimes it doesn’t wait to be made. It just goes ahead and makes itself. Like poetry? Tune into The Agonist every Tuesday, and you might also like this little poetry community, where today’s featured poem examines what the heck is a poem, anyway.
Read moreIn addition to being a blogger and a marketing whore, I’m a poet. Actually, that’s what I enjoy the most and what I’m best at. Sadly, poetry doesn’t pay the way I’d like. Still, I do it because it matters a great deal to me. Lately I’ve been writing more and thinking more about how I can better promote my
Read moreI’m not normally a slam guy. I’m a poet, and slam poetry tends to be more about the performance and less about the words, per se. That’s a generalization, I know, and there are exceptions. Most slam I see has more in common with hip-hop than poetry. All that said, this guy is amazing.
Read moreSometimes you write poetry. Other times you just find it laying around in the oddest places. Much fun this morning at The Agonist. Have a look.
Read more
lullaby pit 