The Painted Ladies have hustled through the Bay Area and are reportedly in farther Northern California now. I don’t know if I could have stood it for another day, so many dustings of delicate purpose rolling by without cease (except at night). The butterflies left are black and tiny white, and far fewer. It felt as if I was holding my breath for a week. National Poetry Month rolls on, however, and along with it…
Seems fitting that National Poetry Month would be the time for the government to announce a new Poet Laureate: former rapper Vanilla Ice. You heard me. Known these days as Robert Van Winkle, a native of Dallas (my husband’s hometown, and just about the last place I’d expect a Poet Laureate to emerge from, though they do have a mighty fine state fair). Apparently, the former Vanilla Ice has taken a literary turn in recent…
It’s almost over, I wrote my poem, and facing 29 more daily poems, I’m thinking about racehorses and pacing. Question: Is anyone reading doing the exercise and posting on your own blog, and if so, how do you regard the copyright situation? I’m hesitant to post here because I don’t want to lose First No. American Serials if I should happen to write something publishable. Views, anyone? It’s my fourth go-round, and I’m already thinking…
Why does it begin on April Fool’s? Infoplease.com has my favorite proposed theory of the origin of April Fools’ Day: Spring Fever It is worth noting that many different cultures have had days of foolishness around the start of April, give or take a couple of weeks. The Romans had a festival named Hilaria on March 25, rejoicing in the resurrection of Attis. The Hindu calendar has Holi, and the Jewish calendar has Purim. Perhaps…
I’ve decided to hold a lottery for National Poetry Month and give away copies of my chapbook Another Circle of Delight. I’ll give away one a day every day in April. To enter, email me your name and address. If you’re the first person on that day, I’ll send you the chap. Write to: racheldacus@gmail.com I just read a terrific autobiography essay by C.K. Williams on the Academy of American Poets website. A rich resource…
So if you don’t want to run the NaPoWriMo 30 poems in April marathon, there are many other ways to celebrate poetry every day in the coming month, or so says this New York Times article. Some are a little silly, such as: Identify a poet whose life and work you think children would find interesting. Create the cover art for an illustrated children’s book about the poet’s life and work. But some are provocative…
Hi, my name is Rachel, and it’s been two whole weeks since my last blog. Or maybe I’ve confused this confessional booth with AA again. National Poetry Month approaches, with its annual question: to join the NaPoWriMo challenge or not — to scale the cliffs of a daily poem, or to sit back in the valley of artistic smugness and tell myself I’m too busy tweaking my manuscript to worry about new work. Trouble is,…
For the last month, while Northern California has been slammed with wonderful storms that battle back talk of drought — almost enough snow in the Sierras to approach “normal” — I’ve been having a writing dry spell. I take that back – not a dry spell in terms of writing, because I’ve cranked out enough direct mail pieces and grant proposals and play scripts that if the paper on which they were printed miraculously turned…
Interesting article on the tradition of epistolary poetry in The Guardian’s Books Blog. Even though it’s an English publication, I appreciate that American poets Cid Corman, Anne Sexton and Jack Spicer — but how can one think of poems sent in letters without thinking of Emily Dickinson? The poems she sent to Higginson and other friends and family are about the only version of publishing she allowed herself. The Atlantic has an article on Dickinson’s…
Having blogged probably more than you wanted about the dangers of book contests, and pointed readers to David Alpaugh’s canny — and now infamous — essay on the paradigm of poetry book publishing contests and why they’re like the pre-2008 economy (a bubble bound to eventually burst under their own weight), I have to admit that I have entered a few book contests this spring. DISCLAIMER: I have only entered contests where I have some…