Saturday, February 2, 2008

Away for a Week

Hello all, I am sorry to say I will be away on a business trip for a full week and will have to get back to our regularly scheduled program on February 9th. Until then, feel free to peruse my blog, the links on the side, or check back in on February 9th.

For new visitors, the typical agenda is as such:

Sundays: Living Poets
Mondays: Poetry web-sites
Tuesdays: Poets that have passed away
Wednesdays: Links to great poems around the web
Thursdays: Journals/web-sites open to submissions of poems
Fridays: Poetry Tips
Saturdays: A poetry blogger is featured

Thanks for dropping in, I will see you again February 9th!

Friday, February 1, 2008

Poetry Tips: Journals with Customer Service

Now for those of you who are rather new to submitting, like myself, I thought you might like to be let in on those journals/sites that provide more personal service when it comes to acceptance/rejection slips.
There are more places to submit poems than I can ever count, but for the ones I have submitted to, there are several who are very kind and if you are looking for someone who actually pays attention and acknowledges you personally, I suggest submitting to these:

Nerve Cowboy
Right Hand Pointing
Lilliput Review

So far, these three take the time to address you as an individual, not just a formatted response. I am sure there are other journals out there like them, I just haven’t found them all yet. The above mentioned all have links on my sidebar so you can check them out to your heart’s content!
Also, once I decided to subscribe to Nerve Cowboy I have received a short, hand-written note from the Editor expressing his desire that he hopes I enjoy the issue. Now how many journals have ever done that for you? This one is a first for me!

Thanks for stopping in, I will see you tomorrow…

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Borders Open Submissions

Here is an unusual one for you! Click on the link and find out how to submit your poems to Mark Strand, the judge for Borders Bookstores’ Poetry Contest. This was featured on Ron Silliman’s site a couple weeks ago but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to include it for anyone who might have missed this. You have until March to submit up to five poems for publication in a “Best of” book, and the entries can by audio or test. Good luck!

http://www.bordersmedia.com/odp/contest.asp

Thanks for dropping in, check in tomorrow for more Poetry Tips!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Poems Found by Poet Hound

http://www.righthandpointing.com/Issue18/1chriscunningham.html
“waiting on the sun” by Chris Cunningham pretty much sums it up…

http://poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=180096
“The Lonesome Death of Hattie Caroll” by Bob Dylan. Why? Because it’s Bob Dylan..

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Ogden Nash the Legendary

Ogden Nash is well known in the world of literature, especially since he worked for The New Yorker for some time. Mr. Nash was born in 1902 in Rye, New York. According to poets.org his first book of published poems had seven print runs in its first year alone. Aren’t you just jealous? I know I am. Mr. Nash also appeared on radio and television therefore drawing quite an audience. Again, aren’t you just jealous? I picked up The Pocket Book of Ogden Nash published by Washington Square Press at the local library. The titles of his poems alone were enough to have me snatching it off the shelf. Ogden Nash passed away in 1971, sadly, but his words are still a fantastic read. He is witty and humorous, his poems often rhyme, and again, his titles alone are enough entertainment! Some examples of great titles are “Curl Up and Diet,” “Kindly Unhitch That Star, Buddy,” and “Polterguest, My Polterguest…” Wouldn’t you just love to find out what these poems say based on the titles alone? “Poltergues, My Poltergues” is about a most undesirable guest, of course, whom Mr. Nash admits that if he had to deal with her again would be much more likely to throw her under the train than help her onto it. Lines such as “She clogged the pipes and she blew the fuses,/she broke the rocker that grandma uses/… give you just a taste of what the detestable Ms. Hopper wrought upon Nash’s household. There are countless poems that will bring no less than a wide grin to your face so if you haven’t already done so, I suggest you read up on Ogden Nash.

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/673

Thank you for reading and please come by tomorrow for poems found around the world wide web…

Monday, January 28, 2008

Sunny Outside Press

This site publishes wonderful poetry and is not open for submissions often so if you are looking for when to submit, check their “news” tab often. There is plenty to look at, chapbooks, books, broadsides, and mini chapbooks. Depending on what you want, prices range from a mere $1.00 to $12.00. They have links for their authors, they also host events and have many of their publications archived at Poet’s House. Check them out at:

http://www.sunnyoutside.com/

As always, thank you for dropping in. I’ll see you tomorrow for another passed poet…

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Dana Gioia’s Daily Horoscope

Mr. Gioia was born in 1950 in L.A. and pursued a career in business while having studied Literature in college. He also met and studied with Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Fitzgerald as mentioned in the poets.org biography. I picked up his book, Daily Horoscopes, published by Graywolf Press. It happened to be a rainy day when I sat down to read it, and turns out this book has quite a few poems that are just perfect for a rainy day. “Today will be…” is a great poem for a rainy day with lines such as “And lying in the warm half-darkness, wish/ for any of the dreams you left, convinced/ that any change would be an argosy-…” I also enjoy “4. Beware of Things in Duplicate…” which describes things in pairs to be a sort of bad omen. Conveniently, Mr. Gioia has his own website that I have provided a link to below and features poems from his published books for you to look through at your leisure. As always, I hope you find him on the book shelves and pick up his words.

http://www.danagioia.net/
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/423

Thanks for reading and supporting living poets, please stop by tomorrow for another poetry web-site…