Poets United

Vice/Versa - Midnight Snack Weekly Prompt #5

2012-01-31T10:53:00.000-06:00

Every Tuesday you will find either Vice/Versa or Midnight Snack (they will alternate)posted here at 12:01 a.m. For “Vice/Versa” two random words will be posted along with their polar opposites (Otherwise known as antonyms). Write something using all four words. It can be any form of writing; poetry, prose, short stories or whatever else. For “Midnight Snack” a simple photo prompt is posted. We will guide you in no direction. It is just you and the photo. If it inspires you, then write about it, if it doesn't then go back to bed.

A link tool will be posted at the same exact moment the post is published. Post your related scribbling and leave a comment. Be sure to visit the others who post here and see how creative others can be.

This week it is time for:

Vice Versa

Write poetry or prose using all four words. It can be any form of poetry or prose. Post your related scribbling and leave a comment. Be sure to visit the others who post here and see how they differ from you.

By jamestalbertkirk at deviantART

Start your week off with a challenge writing vice versa.

Sound/Silence

Guilt /Innocence

Sound- Vibrations that travel through the air or another medium and can be heard when they reach a person or animal's ear.

Silence-A complete absence of sound.

Guilt - The state of one who has committed and offense especially consciously.

Innocence - Lack of guile or corruption: pure.

Simple Rules

Post anytime its just the night owls who get first crack
Make sure to visit other late night scribes.
Leave us a comment about the photo before you finally nod off.
Please post no more than 3 poems per prompt.

The Poetry Pantry Is Now Open! - # 85

2012-01-29T09:00:00.002-06:00

The Poetry Pantry

2nd Chance Poems or 1st time shares

Anything goes!! All Poems, all Poets, All Week!!

Do you have a poem you would like to share? Something that you just felt inspired to write and want others to read. Perhaps it’s a poem that didn’t get as much exposure on your blog as you would have liked. Maybe it’s a poem that you wrote a long time ago that you would like people to revisit. That’s what this section of Poets United is for.

Each Sunday we start a new post with a New Mr. Linky for you. This is so that you can post a link to anything you want us to read, anything at all related to poetry or prose found on your own poetry blogs. It will remain open all week so that you can show us your writings and thoughts. You can post links weekly should you chose to do so. What poetry you put here is up to you so don't be afraid to share with us!!

There 3 simple rules:

1. Don’t link to more than 3 poems per week.

2. Please visit some of the other poems linked here when you link to yours.

3. Leave a comment after you have posted
your link.

I Wish I'd Written This

2012-01-28T01:46:00.040-06:00

sacred places
by Thom Woodruff (Thom the World Poet)

know them by absence—spirals of seashells, circles and riverflow
bend in the rock where you get off the path
and find the track invisible. Getting lost helps.
That is the purpose of deserts and distance. City cages
cede to seasedges. Sit on a beach for the waves reassurance
Slip away like a snake in a rainforest. Alone is easier
To retrieve original silences(and lost ones)
To forget time(apart from pulse/and heartbeat)
To remember who and why you are(in connection
with others and with consciousness and choice means
every path is sacred, every choice is yours. Before and after,
we will be forgotten. Who counts waves? Moons? Stars?
Who witnesses what is most important? Meaning waits
even if we rush fast past. Inside every leaf, a new forest.
In each drop, oceans. One is all in miniature. Maps hide mysteries
lest crowds demand miracles made for moments. Like this one
When you make a sacred space for breath. Time slows.
Death waits. Life pulsates through each opened cell.
There is a quality innate. Found, not made. Like a rock pool
where life in tides waves...Where water knows. We visit, but must go
What is most sacred might be best met in silence
Seeking with attunement and respect—via riversedge/in deserts
in the speech of rocks and stones and stars long past
Most of all…in silences...(like this one...

I’ve known Thom for decades, since he was Tom the Street Poet in Melbourne, founder of the Street Poets who used to stand on street corners handing out sheets of poetry to commuters going to work. He was also Dial-a-Poet; people could ring a number just as they would the weather or the time, to be greeted by lines of verse. It was listed in the Melbourne phone book along with those other services.

Now he has been based in Austin, Texas for many years (having married an American). There he has established many venues for performance poetry; and he and three other poets started the Austin International Poetry Festival, which has grown to be a huge, prestigious event.

He also travels to other countries — including home to Australia every now and then — to present poems, give workshops, and generally inspire people through poetry. He is quoted on his website — where you can find more details of his history and his many activities — as saying: "I'm not working for poetry, I'm working for the people who want to be poets, who want to honor the poet inside of them. I'm working with them so we can all honor the diversity of verse." He firmly believes poetry is the last bastion of free speech.

He loves to improvise to music, which was the thing that started him on his poetic career — in sixties Australia, at a music festival, he was inspired to get up in front of the musicians and chant, over and over again to the crowd, ‘This is your life! Don’t waste your time! Get up and dance!’ To his amazed delight they did, and he thought, ‘This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.’

I have had people say to me that they are not so impressed with his poems when they read them on the page. It’s true that many of them are harder to ‘get’ that way, because Thom is really a performance poet, whose rhymes and rhythms aren’t always obvious until you hear him chant his work aloud. Luckily, you can do that on YouTube.

He goes by various names, because he likes to keep letting go of identity. There is Thom Moon 10, Thom the Circus, Thom the Future, and Thom Anon; probably more. His actual, legal name is Thom Woodruff, and he is known all over the world as Thom the World Poet. On facebook he is Thom Worldpoet. One of his friends in Texas likes to think of him — partly because of his colourful dressing for performance — as the jester, delivering serious messages in the guise of entertainment. And a woman here at whose venue he gave a reading said afterwards, breathless with admiration, ‘He is really teaching all the time.’ In his writing and his life, he is absolutely life-affirming.

Though I know he is many things, I see him primarily as an inspirer. I always grab him when he’s in this part of the world, to give a workshop to WordsFlow, the writers’ group I facilitate. It is always enthusiastically received. Even those in the group who don’t care for poetry love Thom’s workshops! You can read some joyful accounts of them at the WordsFlow blog.

And you can read lots more of his poems at his blog, The Poetry of Thom World Poet. Personally I prefer his nature poems and his domestic poems to his political and historical pieces, but he has a wide audience for all his work. The one above I love for its content, its language, its music, its flow, and its beautiful crafting so that this one you HAVE to read as intended.

Thom is the most prolific poet I've ever come across. He also produces CDs and small booklets jam-packed with poems. There is a list on his website, with ordering information.

The Thursday Think Tank # 82 - The Road

2012-01-26T09:05:00.000-06:00

When you sit there and think of the word “Road” do youactually see a highway and the person next to you not paying attention or doyou think of the yellow brick road in the Wizard of Oz. Maybe you reflect on a road trip where you and3 other friends went half way across the country just because you were youngand you could. Maybe you see the road tonowhere and cringe at that thought. Whatroad will your writing take you down today, the streets of Spain or Italy, aback alley littered with dirty secrets?

Every morning many of us get up groggy eyed and thick headedand fight our way into the current reality of life. That reality requires us to go to work toearn our keep. That trip to workrequires us to get on a road to get there. This may be the literal road where we pass many others that are doingthe same, all of us navigating in and out of morning traffic, or it may be thefigurative road we are all traveling on in life. Whatever road you are on we want to hearabout it.

We can’t wait to travel down your road and see the worldthrough your eyes and pen. So fill upyour take and set off down the road of poetry and be sure to share it with us.

If you have a prompt idea (even a Music or Film inspired one) that you would like to suggest or share with us please send it to poetsunited@ymail.com . We keep a folder set aside with all your suggestions and just might use it one day.

There 3 simple rules:

1. Don’t link to more than 3 poems per week.

2. Please visit some of the other poems linked here when you link to yours.

3. Leave a comment after you have posted your link.

The Life of a Poet - Margo Roby

2012-01-25T12:10:00.000-06:00

Kids, today we are taking a transcontinental flight. We will be flying over some exotic places. A clue: there might even be penguins! In order to interview Margo Roby, global citizen, world traveler, and talented creator of Wordgathering, we have used our press pass to hop aboard a very large jet. As we are going first class, I am hoping they will provide us with a beverage and at least a bag of peanuts, along with our air sickness bags. Take your seats, kids, and try not to fight over the windows. We are going to hit some spots on our Bucket Lists today with someone who has lived and traveled all over the world.

Poets United: Margo, your site is a treasure trove of writing information and links to other sites and resources. What a feast for a writer to wander through! Your history looks fantastically interesting as well – lots of stories there, I have little doubt. I’m so excited to hear them. Shall we start with your childhood? Tell us about your first twenty years in Hong Kong? (Wow!)

Margo: Wow! indeed. I haven't been able to wrap my head around a poem of this, my most beloved of places, never mind tell about the twenty years! In brief, my parents met in Hong Kong. Dad worked for a business, mom was in the CIA [I kid you not--my grandmother was too]. They loved Hong Kong so much, they stayed thirty years. My two brothers and I were born and grew up there.

image by Mao Yi Gang

For those who have been there, or seen pictures, try to imagine this: When I lived in Hong Kong, the tallest building was seven stories.

Poets United: Whoa!

Hong Kong today

Margo: I know! By the time I left, it was the harbinger of what we see today. Growing up there was a child's and a parent's dream. I could go anywhere on the island, at any time of the day and night, alone.

Our apartment was in what they call the mid-levels, on the Peak Tram stop number two, MacDonnell Road. I could walk into town in ten minutes, I could take the Peak Tram, I could grab a bus. The Peak Tram was how I got to elementary school every day. Zip up two stops to May Road and then walk a quarter mile along a cool highly vegetated road with a couple of apartment buildings.

I attended a British school until my junior year when the Hong Kong International School was built. American system: piece of cake; I remember nothing. British system: intense; I still know the corn laws of Britain in the early 1800's, [not that that is terribly useful, but one never knows.]

I cannot capture the place except to say that I have been away several decades and the loss is still a part of who I am.

Poets United: And then you married? Can you tell us a bit about being an army wife and raising your kids as globetrotters? (What an unusually interesting life you have lived!)

Margo: And then I married. After High School I chose a university in Texas, it being my idea that I wanted to marry a rancher. I was told later that Trinity [in San Antonio] was not the place to go to find ranchers. But, I did meet Skip who was training to become an officer in the Army, and forty years later here we are. If I may resort to mush for a moment: he is my poetry.

Poets United: [Wistful Sigh.] SO lovely!

Margo: My poor husband. I was never, at any time in his twenty year career, an Army wife. I didn't get them, so I didn't play. But I loved the travel, something we never tire of. We were stationed in Monterey, CA, where we both learned to speak Greek; northern Greece, where our son was born; Monterey, where our daughter was born; Crete -- need I say anything? Next was Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, which was one of my favourite places, given the historical aspects. I worked as the Curator of Conservation at the military museum [the largest of all of them] and marveled that one could work hard and think of every minute as play. Next was a quick stop in Monterey [our friends had all stopped talking to us at this point], for a course in Malaysian; Kuala Lumpur for a year and a half; Springfield, VA, where I worked in a bookstore and collected a lot of books; and finally, Skip's final two years, in Jakarta.

Margo's name graffiti'd on a wall in Jakarta

Kids, I'm starting to feel a little woozy, from all the zipping back and forth. How are you doing? We can ask the flight attendant for some water, that might help - and fanning those thoughtfully provided little bags works too. There. Better now.

Poets United: And then Jakarta: fill us in! Teaching, living there......what was it like? Did your kids grow up there?

Margo: Our son was only there two years before graduating, but our daughter considers Jakarta home. Jakarta was...interesting. I loathed the city, crowded, polluted, unwieldy, but loved my job passionately. My husband, after retirement from the Army, appreciated my passion and found other jobs, until the school called him and asked if he would like to join the Middle School and teach computer tech. Having substitute taught there, he leapt.

I fell into teaching, had never done it before, but if I could choose anywhere to teach, this would be it. The Jakarta International School has a huge campus. The High School, where I worked in the English Department, is made up of modules with winding walkways, trees, flowers, shrubs, stone, space. The different departments each have a module. The students wanted to study; even the most un-student-like made an effort. The admin left us alone to teach. They were irksome in many other ways, but not in the classroom. And, we had unlimited supplies.

Perhaps what we most appreciated about living in Jakarta was leaving Jakarta every chance we had. We traveled to other parts of Indonesia, and there are many gorgeous, and historically interesting places. We have seen Borobudur, and Krakatoa, and spent many days in the bliss that is Bali. We visited other countries in Asia, went often to Australia and New Zealand, and went to Europe as often as we could. Having four breaks a year allowed us to spoil ourselves in this regard.

Skip and Margo on top of a mountain in New Zealand -

to which they were helicoptered

Margo on a beach in Broome, Australia

Poets United: I must say, since I live vicariously if, indeed, I live at all, I am enjoying this journey immensely. I may just be able to cross off most of the places on my Bucket List, at this rate. Where next?

Atlanta

Margo: Peachtree Road, Atlanta. I feel like I am in a novel. The name has such pedigree! But we love it. Why Atlanta? Because that is the International School that hired Skip. And we decided it was time for us to become a one-income family, so I could stay home and write.

We are in an apartment and are loving apartment living -- so convenient, as is the location. There is nothing I need in my life, I cannot walk to. The weather is terrific [from our point of view]; the area we are in is very international [I love that the grocery stores have a huge section of British food. Makes me feel like I am in my childhood]; every stage play and concert comes through Atlanta, at some point [we have Neil Diamond tickets for June!!!]; and Atlantans love food, so the restaurant scene is unbelievable.

Poets United: What do you most love about your life today?

Margo: No more papers to mark. I have been able to relearn cooking, and am loving it as if it were a new arena. I am in complete control of what I do with each day. Now I am trying to relax and ratchet back that control a bit. And, most of all, I can write.

Poets United: Oh, yes, I suppose we should talk about writing? When and how did you discover writing poetry? What made you pick up a pen and start writing on that first piece of paper?

Margo: I never get tired of this story, because I still find it a miracle of happenstance. It was 1992, I was approaching forty, and I was beginning my second year of teaching. We [the English department] had hired a new teacher over the summer and the credential I was most interested in was that he was an internationally published writer, with his main focus on poetry. The area of my teaching of which I was most unsure, was the analysis of poetry.

During the teacher prep days leading up to the first semester, I saw that Jack's schedule included creative writing. In talking with him, I found that the first semester would focus solely on poetry. I asked if I could take the class with the students. I figured if I knew how poetry worked, I could teach its analysis. He asked the class and the upshot was that I spent a semester learning what went into writing poetry.

I picked up my pen the first day of class because my teacher told me to :-) I know that two of the earliest exercises were writing a diamante, and writing to music.

Poets United: I can see your background as a teacher on your site, as there are so many discussions about poetry, explanations of the various forms, and links to so many other writing sites. You have created a wonderful resource for poets. (Kids, check it out if you haven’t already.) Is this the format you envisioned when you began blogging ?

Margo: When I began blogging, it was with the intent, from the first, to create a site where I hoped to make the writing of poetry accessible to any level of writer.

Poets United: You have certainly accomplished that. Have you written a poem that you think best defines you as a person?

Margo: Sherry, I do have one, that I used recently in an interview with Poetic Bloomings [Kids, this link will take you to the very interesting interview, which covers a lot of what we don't address here.]

If Once I Wished
[After Granger’s the letter I]

I wonder what if death were nothing
a waking to snowfall
ice comes undone
thaws.

Eighty springs beat through me in whispered floods.
The end of my life sounds a retreat
from a time where my mind lives and the sun shines
and the days seem forever.

Once I sang
of hill and sky of earth and sea,
plucked a stalk of grass
and took away the ocean in a shell.
I thought that grown-up people chose
and flew as high as Icarus,
an idle visitation.

I tried to live small
a girl waiting for her lover
when love was gone like a breath
and I was alone then looking at the picture of a child.

I wish that I were so much clay. A fragment.
I wish I could remember the first day.
I wish I had the voice of Homer reaching through the years.
I wish I knew the names of all the stars.
I wish I lived in a peddler’s caravan no known destination
and wonder what I mean by sanctuary.

I am tired of being a woman
considering the outnumbering dead.
I will not be inhabited.
I want my house with open doors
as I wait for him who restores my fingertips.

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow
and walk, a prisoner to the road.
I walk by the seashore facing against the wind.
I walk out into the country at night
through a snowfall to the hill where he and I were young.

A blanket of stillness surrounds me
and the loamy black earth lies fallow
under a rime of frost.
The moon glances off the surface
and I know

all my life
has led me to this winter
when my body will sleep
beneath the cold, black earth
and tomorrow will be as dust.

Life shines sweetly near my winter moment.

Published in Waterways, June, 2011

Poets United: So beautiful, Margo. Wow. That last line gives me chills. You say in the Poetic Bloomings interview that the speaker is not you, but the poem is who you are. Can you explain this further?

Margo: I was taught that the poet is never the speaker. In crafting a poem, the integrity of the poem comes before fact, so poets create speakers. That doesn't mean parts or even most of a poem is about the poet, but we don't know where the poet changed something to make the poem work. When I say the poem is who I am, I mean the spirit of the speaker, and the style of the poem. Does that make sense?

Poets United: Indeed, it does. Who is your most favourite poet, either well known or not? Has his or her work had any influence on your writing style?

Margo: Robert Frost. Always has been, always will be. While I have loved many poems by many poets, I love every poem of his. I have had his complete works since I was about twelve. The second question is interesting. I am going to say yes, sub-consciously. His writing is direct, spare, with strong nouns, verbs, and sensory details. Those are the things I strive towards, while also wanting to be able to let loose in a flood of imagery and metaphor, something I have only accomplished in two poems.

Poets United: And who would you say has been the biggest influence on your writing?

Margo: Jack Penha, my friend and colleague, whose class I took. He worked with me, teaching, editing, showing how writing works, for years. I mention him often in my posts.

Poets United: When you aren’t writing, what other interests do you pursue?

Margo: Cooking and reading, but writing is pretty much most of the time, in one form or another.

Poets United: You have lived a very adventurous life, Margo. When you look back, what day stands out the most in your memory?

Margo: Tough one. When I read the question, my brain presented, simultaneously, images of: our wedding, our children's births, the moon landing, and the moment I heard of JFK's death.

Poets United: Oh, great answer! The Kennedy era, and the days of the civil rights movement, still haunts me, too. Of everywhere you have lived, which place did or do you love the most, and why?

Margo: Oh, Hong Kong. I'm not even sure I can explain it, but it is in my blood, so much so that its landscape is me and I am its landscape. My brothers feel the same. My parents must have, to live there thirty years. When the home office in New York periodically wrote my dad to tell him he really must come back, he wrote back to say he would quit. They left him alone, after a couple of tries.

I used to tell my students, at the beginning of each school year, that I have an English brain, a Chinese soul, and an American passport.

Poets United: I so love that description. You are a global citizen, which is very cool. Will there be more traveling in your future? Or are you done with all that yet?

Margo: Good question. If you mean are we traveled out, I'm close. If you mean, have we lived elsewhere long enough and are ready for here, hmmmmm......... I think the only move left will be to San Antonio, where, as far as we have planned, we will retire. We will stay in Atlanta for as long as Skip enjoys his job, which we hope will be at least another couple of years. We are loving living in a flat, especially one convenient to everything. And, we love Atlanta.

Okay, if money were no object, which I take to mean I am rolling in it, I would live in London [with Venice trailing a little behind]. My entire family has had a love affair with London for as long as I can remember. So if someone said "London" tomorrow, we are there.

Puerto Rico. Not on my bucket list, but we do plan to go there, probably for Fall Break. We would go during Spring Break, but thought we might go visit our new granddaughter, due to arrive February 23rd! I went on Amazon yesterday and bought the first grandmother things: a car seat, two crib toys, and the 65th anniversary edition of Dr. Spock's child and baby care book. Then I got away as fast as I could before I really started looking at stuff.

Poets United: ACK! Dr Spock's 65th edition? How frightening! I am older than I thought! Quick! The little bags! (fanning furiously) But how wonderful to be awaiting your first grandchild. And a girl! Bonus!

Margo: (Smiling.) As for the Bucket list...I do have one, but it's a money no object sort of thing. I would like to travel on all the luxury train trips that are still around in the world: across Russia, India, Africa, Canada. And I want to take the boat cruise from start to finish of the Danube. Otherwise, I am content with all the places I have been and lived.

Antarctica from above, as seen by Margo and Skip, and now us. And for those with poor eyesight, like me, here are the promised penguins:

Poets United: I just looked up the fare for a train trip across Canada. Yoiks! I cant even get as far as Alberta, hee hee. So I know what you mean about money having to be no object. The trip across Russia would be incredible. You must take Dr Zhivago with you! (In book form, that is.) What have you learned about the world from your travels?

Margo: Well, I am a historian, as well as a writer of poetry. People don't change; only the things around them change. The same motivations and emotions possessed by our earliest ancestors are what move us today.

Poets United: Interesting outlook. Do you have a cause or causes that are dear to your heart?

Margo: The Southern Poverty Law Center which fights hate crimes; anything to do with literacy; teacher's rights; and the World Wildlife Fund.

Poets United: Awesome causes. What are your writing goals for 2012?

Margo: To have a chapbook published. But first I need to write enough poems to fit a theme!

Poets United: Me too. Let's have a race! Any advice for a beginning or less confident writer?

Margo: Yes. You are allowed to write crap. You are allowed to have lousy stuff --my notebooks are full of things that didn't work. That's how we get to writing that does work.

Never throw anything away. The poem itself might not work, but you can mine it for ideas, words, and phrases.

Find a supportive group of writers, and post. What's the worst thing that can happen? Someone doesn't like the poem [or prose piece]. Think about it: do you like every poem you read? There will be people who like and people who don't like what you write, but it's not a reflection on you. Having said that, it took me a long time to not feel vulnerable when submitting, and posting.

Poets United: Sage advice, Margo. Thank you. Anything else you’d like to say to Poets United?

Margo: Thank you for being. I have been with this site since its inception, or pretty close, and have loved watching it grow, the nurturing, the safety, the care for each other.

Poets United: It is wonderful, isn't it? I so love it. Thank you, Margo, for being such a loyal long-time member, and for giving us a look into your fabulous life – not to mention, this international flight and the great view out the window! In my next life, I'm coming back as you!

Kids, the stewardesses are coming down the aisles snapping the little tables back against the seats, and are gesturing at us to fasten our seat belts. We have zoomed through Hong Kong, Jakarta, and even crossed over Antarctica. Now it is back to the U.S. of A., where I will catch my shuttle flight home to Canada.

Sigh. Wasn’t this a wonderful trip? And isn’t it true that the people behind the pens are some of the most interesting folks around? Week by week, we discover it’s true. Do come back to see who we talk to next. Who knows? It might be you!

Vice/Versa - Midnight Snack Weekly Prompt #4

2012-01-24T00:01:00.000-06:00

This week it is time for:

Midnight Snack

A simple photo prompt for insomniacs, early birds and the rest of you.
You can post at anytime its just the night owls and early birds get the first crack at it.

Adam by try to touch at deviantART

Look...

Think...

Write...

Post...

Simple Rules

Post anytime its just the night owls who get first crack
Make sure to visit other late night scribes.
Leave us a comment about the photo before you finally nod off.
Please post no more than 3 poems per prompt.

Blog Roll Repairs

2012-01-23T10:53:00.001-06:00

This time its not our fault! Please be patient with us over the next few days. Google and Blogger have been having issues with the old blog list method. Currently we cannot add or remove any blogs on our blog roll. The only way to remedy this is to add a new list and transfer all the blogs manually to the new blog roll. This means Robb will be doing this between work, real life and sleep. It may take a few days since there are over 450 blogs linked. He will have to go to each blog individually listed on our old list and then copy and paste into the new list. Thank god he's bald or he would pull out all his hair.

This will be a good chance to clean up the blog list. Any blogs that have been inactive for over 90 days will be removed. Obviously any blogs that have been deleted will also be removed.

We know many of you come here to visit other poet's blogs and to see if yours is popping up. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope you understand this is not entirely our fault. We hope everything will be back to normal by no later than Friday.

Thank you for you understanding and patience.

Poets United

The Poetry Pantry Is Now Open! - # 84

2012-01-22T11:40:00.000-06:00

The Poetry Pantry

2nd Chance Poems or 1st time shares

Anything goes!! All Poems, all Poets, All Week!!

There 3 simple rules:

1. Don’t link to more than 3 poems per week.

2. Please visit some of the other poems linked here when you link to yours.

3. Leave a comment after you have posted
your link.

Classic Poetry - "XI" by Omar Khayyam

2012-01-21T05:00:00.004-06:00

Omar Khayyam, 1044 - 1123

XI

Here with a loaf of bread beneath the bough
a flask of wine, a book of verse -- and thou
beside me singing in the wilderness --
and wilderness is paradise enow.

Omar Khayyam was a significant mathematician and astronomer of the medieval era. He wrote one of the most important early discourses on algebra, Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra, which includes a geometric method for solving cubic equations by intersecting a hyperbola with a circle. He is equally well-known for his collected poetry, The Rubaiyat, as translated by the 19th century english poet and writer, Edward FitzGerald.

Quite the romantic, this man of math and science!

I Wish I'd Written This

2012-01-20T01:55:00.012-06:00

Jewish-Australian Leah Kaminsky (a Melbourne girl) married an Israeli and lived with him in Haifa for 11 years, during which time their three children were born. Situations like that described in this poem eventually influenced them to resettle in Australia.

A poem for Alon on his eighth birthday

And so this is a poem for you
although you write it yourself
every day
when you look for your soccer ball
and kick it around the house
last month, you broke an antique plate

Holes in your socks
eyes on TV or computer screen
you know all the words of
Popeye and Pokemon
the jingles of every ad
you sing them out loud behind a closed toilet door

You turn eight
and ten years of Haifa sun
have burnt my eyes
another ten and you will carry a gun
I stare into your ocean eyes
they are too deep for a boy

I want to stop you now
keep you close, bound to me
watch you play Aussie Rules
delete from your lexicon
intifada, bomb shelter
gas mask, dead baby

for your birthday I would stop the sirens
that call the whole country to attention
drivers on the freeway, stand beside their cars
a minute’s silence
in memory of all the eighteen year old
soldiers killed

I will tie a ribbon around this poem
and put it in my drawer for ten years
then I will give you
a poem for Alon on his eighteenth birthday

from Stitching Things Together, Brisbane, Interactive Press, 2010. This volume of poetry is available in a Kindle edition, a Google ebook, and in print.

An award-winning writer, Leah is also a doctor in general practice. She has written and edited a number of books, both medical and literary, and sometimes both together in volumes of stories by medical doctors who are also writers. (And she is mother to three children. Wherever does she find the time for it all?) Details are on her website which will also lead you to some of her short prose writings and a couple of other poems, as well as an excerpt from a novel in progress.

The Thursday Think Tank # 81 - Goodbyes

2012-01-19T11:01:00.000-06:00

Goodbye is an interesting word and concept. The word is so simple but means so much. It can bring relief and pain all in one breath. We say it to loved ones everyday knowing they will come back to us. Sometimes way say it knowing its forever. When you sit and think of the word goodbye what comes to mind? Do you imagine a youthful love that came to end? Maybe you think on a hard loss that endures in your memories.

Goodbye is not always the end it can signify new beginnings and adventures, a new chapter in life. When did you last say the word good bye? Was it this morning on your way out the door to work, maybe as you quickly got off the phone with a friend?

Take the next few moments to think on the word goodbye. Take whatever comes to mind and share it with us.

We look forward to reading all about your best and worst goodbyes.

If you have a prompt idea (even a Music or Film inspired one) that you would like to suggest or share with us please send it to poetsunited@ymail.com . We keep a folder set aside with all your suggestions and just might use it one day.

There 3 simple rules:

1. Don’t link to more than 3 poems per week.

2. Please visit some of the other poems linked here when you link to yours.

3. Leave a comment after you have posted your link.

Life of a Poet - Buddah Moskowitz

2012-01-18T06:00:00.022-06:00

Kids, I was tripping around the blogosphere a while ago when I happened upon a poem by one of our members, wishing he could be the subject of an in-depth interview in Rolling Stone………you can read its entirety here. It’s entitled Sort of Famous. It closes with:

I just want one of those

seemingly in-depth

interviews

like I’ve seen in

Rolling Stone,

where they try to discover

what drives me

what excites me

what disgusts me

what inspires me.

They’d make me sound

important

relevant

and essential.

But,

I know the odds

of that ever happening

so,

I keep adding

to the interview

I am conducting on myself

one poem at a time.

Who could possibly resist?

Well, we are far from being Rolling Stone, but I knew I could do something about his wish to be interviewed, so I contacted him and, kids, here we have it. We’re sitting down today with Buddah Moskowitz, of ihatepoetry.blogspot.com

There has been some secrecy involved with this interview, as Buddah does not wish to use any identifying photos, in the interview or on his blog. We have to make do with his interesting “profile pic”.

That’s okay, we’re flexible. We can roll with that. Here he comes now. I can tell it’s Buddah, because he has a paper bag over his head, and is cloaked in mystery. Clue: through the eye-holes, his dark eyes are dancing!

Poets United: Buddah! Is that you? Thanks for risking your secret identity by meeting in public like this. Can you manage a coffee with that thing on your head? (I’m secretly hoping the steam will loosen the bag. You know how we interviewers are: you just cant trust us!) Can you tell us a little about yourself, your family and life in your part of the world? (I poked around in your archives and see you are a stepdad, and a really good one......)

Buddah: Thanks for the compliment. I am a lifelong resident of Southern California – grew up literally 5 miles away from world-famous Disneyland. My family of origin was of a lower middle class background. I was the middle of three boys born to my Mexican-American parents. We were nominally Catholic, baptized but not confirmed (because according to my mom that’s what everybody did back then). We were taught the Golden Rule, and my parents were basically loving, wonderful people. Now, if you’ve read my writing, you’ll see that my parents had many, many shortcomings – which, in retrospect, gave me lots of material.

My family now: I’ve been married to Anita for nine years and she brought to the union three children, two of whom are now adults. My life with them is a huge source of inspiration. I think if anyone who reads my writing even briefly, they will know me pretty well. I've said, I’m not an artist as much as a documentarian. And my favorite subject is me.

Poets United: Oh I so hear you. Our families do give us endless material. I really admire you for helping to raise your three step-kids. Not every man is willing to do that, and it says a lot about you. I must know – how did you come by your name? Is there a story?

Buddah: I learned early on that if I was going to write with my Spanish surname, I was going to be unintentionally biasing my readers. So I decided to come up with a nom de plume that would go beyond category. Like Whoopi Goldberg or Jello Biafra. Or spell Buddha the way I saw it on Buddah Records from back in the 70's.

Kids, here is where Buddah dropped his notebook. He had a bit of trouble trying to pick it up with the bag over his head, so I helped him. The book had fallen open to this page, which seemed kind of spooky at the time.

How Moskowitz was Born

When I picked up

the writer’s pencil at 16

it was really the birth

of something new in

so I’d picture

the eventual credits

flashing on the screen

“Teleplay by …”

“Written by…”

with my given name

and after a while

I realized how my name

looked so incongruous

against the backdrop of

Mary Richard’s Minneapolis

or the exterior bar shot that

preceded every episode of

“Cheers”

When I was 19

I wrote a play and

my theatre instructor –

an aging actor who chain smoked

and had flakes

of dried Brylcreem in his hair-

told me that if I was going

to write a play called

“Illegal Alien” and

use my given surname

that it was going to

prejudice people.

Seems like he made that

decision without even reading

the play.

The name I was born with

so beautiful

so ill-fitting

and unglamorous and real

would condemn me to writing

about bilingualism

affirmative action

the barrio

immigracion

and I figured that

was just about as much

pigeonholing

as I could stomach

and I took a good hard

look at myself

I saw a fat belly

attached to dancing eyes and a

darting mind still

wrapped in guilt and obligation

and ethnic sounds like

“kh” and

“oy” and

“ai”

and I knew of the nirvana

samsara

the logic of law

the comfort of

one God

with one entity

and I liked the name

because it embodied East

and West and Middle East

and it wasn’t clear if it

was male or female

and it was such a strange

mélange

that no one could dare

to presume correctly

to guess my

age

ethnicity

gender

religion

all the categories

that put us apart

from one another

were laid to rest

when I anointed myself

in mechanical pencil and

ink as

Buddah Moskowitz

_____________________________________________

Poets United: Well, that explains it wonderfully. Why did you call your blog – and your book of poems – I Hate Poetry?

Buddah: I make special note that I hate poetry with a capital P. That's the kind of poetry that is rarefied, overly pretentious, the kind that is used to marginalize and alienate others. I really hate the snobbery and exclusivity of the poetry world. Let’s not lose our perspectives. It’s just writing, and there’s no one out there setting the world on fire with poetry. Poetry is not the prerogative of the elite, it belongs to everyone.

Poets United: Yes, it does, and we all prove it every day. Well said, Buddah. Did you self-publish your book?

Buddah: I love the democracy that the Internet allows people. Anyone with minimal technical ability can make a website and have it visited. The tricky part now becomes marketing. With millions of sites out there, how does one make their site stand out? I liked the idea of making something and having it so that anyone can order it.

I self published my first book in 2005 via lulu .com (It’s been since discontinued). It’s a real kick knowing that my words are literally in the hands of readers across the world. Now, the challenge is getting people to commit and buy a copy! The poetry we write on the Internet should be treated as ephemera - it’s here and then it’s gone. If there are millions of websites, there must be hundreds of millions, perhaps billions of poems out there, with the vast majority of them never being read by more than a handful of people. If you’re looking to make a living as a poet on the Internet, it’s going to be a rough road.

The waitress has come with coffee. Buddah is having some difficulty fitting the large mug under his bagged head, so she thoughtfully provides him with a jointed straw. She must have thought: “a Head!” (Sorry, cant help myself!)

Poets United: How long have you been writing, and why did you choose poetry as your means of expression?

Buddah: I grew up in what many consider was the Golden Age of Television sitcoms, the early 1970s. At that time I was a shy, overweight Mexican kid, who could only find acceptance into the schoolyard circle via my sense of humor. So what I used to do was audiotape shows like M*A*S*H, All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Mary Tyler Moore, and I’d listen to them obsessively throughout the week , memorizing jokes, lines, the cadence, anything that I could use to make my peers laugh. I used to also memorize stand-up bits from Bill Cosby and Cheech and Chong that my peers never heard before and palm them off as my own. I was plagiarizing from Day One.

I think the first poem I ever wrote was a love poem written in the 10th grade for Laurie, a girl I kidded myself was my girlfriend. I started writing in earnest in 1980, (two years later), as a means of getting out of teenage angst and depression.

I remember seeing the movie “Annie Hall” on tv, and that Woody Allen schlemiel persona was what propelled my earliest writing. For about three years, I wrote plays, but I could never give the stories decent plots, so I was discouraged. I even once wrote to my sitcom writing idol, David Lloyd (of Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, etc) and asked how to get into the business, and I still treasure his letter, as he was pretty realistic in telling me it was dog eat dog and that I needed an incredible talent to be successful. (I think at least one of his offspring is responsible for “Modern Family” so now in retrospect, I see how clearly that one of my biggest problems as a writer was not being born into the correct family. I come from a long line of upholsterers and tv repairmen. )

Poets United: I so love the story of you as a shy kid using humor to make your classmates laugh. And you still might write a play for tv, you know. Never say never. What do you love about poetry – what keeps you writing it?

Buddah: What I love about poetry is the brevity of it - it can be written at a red light, in a parking lot, in the drive thru - does it sound like I compose a lot in my car? I like poetry because it’s finite, it’s portable, and because there’s precious little money to be made, it’s somewhat incorruptible.

Here Buddah pauses and makes a note to himself on his brown bag. For a poem, later, he tells me, over the crackling.

Poets United: What brought you to the world of blogging? What do you love about it?

Buddah: I started blogging because my pal Johnny Masuda started a poetry blog and I had to copy him and try to get more people to like me. I’m insecure and competitive. Eventually I wanted to create a brand of I Hate Poetry, but someone aced me out of the domain name.

Poets United: I hate when that happens! There is a WildWoman1 out there somewhere I’d like to have words with! Your profile photo is rather hilarious – do you have actual photos we can use in this interview? No?

Buddah: Thank you - I stole that image from someplace on the Internet, and I generally use that as my avatar. I guard my personal life mostly because I don’t necessarily want my church or my workplace to know who or what a Buddah Moskowitz is. Believe me, the real me loves all this attention, and it’s good that no one knows what I look like. As for clues, if you deconstruct my avatar, you get the two most salient clues about who I am, at least how I always refer to myself. Too cryptic? Good! Next!

It is too cryptic. I’m Old. The steam is thinning his paper bag and I sense time is running short. I start talking faster.

Poets United: Who would you say has been the single biggest influence on your writing?

Buddah: This answer may surprise you because he’s not known as a writer as much as a producer: James L . Brooks. He’s a television / film producer who’s been responsible for some of the most powerful art (IMHO) of the past century - and he’s done it very consistently. I won’t bore you with his resume, but he’s had a hand in so many of the really most wonderful, humanistic literature of the late 20th century (and I put TV and movies in the category of literature). There’s always humor, sometimes bittersweet, in his work, but more than that, there’s an authentic weight to his work. Now maybe some people are going to disagree, because he’s not a “serious writer”, but I would argue that more people alive today have seen and been touched by Brooks’ work than Shakespeare (BTW, he’s one of the creators of The Simpsons, so I know most have probably seen his work somewhere).

Poets United: Wow! Thanks for telling us about him. What would you say has influenced your writing the most – what circumstance of life, what learning, what life wisdom informs your writing, would you say?

Buddah: I don’t know if it influenced my writing, but I still have a tremendous need for love and acceptance. I started writing because I felt like I had no control over my world - I felt like I was fated to live my life as an overweight Mexican with bad hair living out of a car. I always felt like I was going to end up on the street, a bum with nothing and no one. Writing changed that - it gave me a reason to get up and imagine new stories, it gave me a sense of power. I had the mastery of words, and if I could master words, then perhaps I could master people’s perception of me. I could re-create myself as many times as I wanted - it just took writing the words. I also found that I could find friends with my writing, and I could even get first dates with my writing, although the ability to get laid from writing prowess was greatly overstated in the movies. Writing gave me a direction, a persona, and in many ways, has been the one act of continuity in my life. That and Christmas.

Poets United: Buddah, this is why I love doing these interviews. People have such wonderful stories, and are so touching! What are your personal criteria for good poetry, your own and others?

Buddah: It’s hard to put into words what makes good poetry -sometimes a poem will be dragging me along and then a flash of words at the end completely zips it into something I need to read again. I like poetry that is accessible and uses mostly everyday language. Note: I said mostly as there has to be at least one thing in each poem that makes it artful. It could be the use of a word, the curve of a phrase, or the novelty of an idea. But if it catches my heart, or makes me think, and best, if it makes me laugh, hell, yes, it’s good!

Poets United: That is just exactly right. Where do you go for inspiration? And when you feel uninspired, are you still able to write?

Buddah: If I’m not feeling particularly inspired, I usually read other poets. That usually gets me inspired to write a response to what I arrogantly presume is an inferior work. Revenge, one-upsmanship are great motivators for me. Also, sometimes, I’ll play music (I am self taught in piano, guitar, etc) and let something in my head get jostled loose. (For some of my experiments see soundcloud.com under “Noisy Therapy” or youtube .com for a recent experiment in music.)

Poets United: Sounds cool. Is there a modern author or poet who has had a significant impact on your own approach to writing?

Buddah: The naturalism of Bukowski permeated my earlier work - he makes it look easy , but when I read him, he’s profound. When I read what I’ve written (that was obviously inspired by him) it comes across as posturing and inauthentic. Another writer I liked is David Lehman . He often edits the “Best Poetry of …[year]” volumes, but his own books are excellent. They’re quiet and thoughtful, but also passionate and messy. Just a lot of fun to read.

I don’t read many poets - I feel alienated from them - they always seem to make me feel like “you’re not smart enough to read this.” I’ve written extensively about this feeling (“Moskowitz 0, Poetry 1” “Life’s Too Short to Read Poetry with a Capital P” and “Polishing My Sestina” for examples). I prize accessibility. Another reader I would like to let your readers know about is John Yamrus. He’s pretty prolific and not at all predictable. Love the writing of Amy Barlow Liberatore - now she’s sharp like a pencil, funny and can be trenchant as a sociologist. Now, there’s a really talented writer named DeJackson who hasn’t published a book (yet) but I encourage her to consider.

My values as a writer are authenticity, accessibility, being prolific and be entertaining! I remember reading a great book on poetry by Ted Kooser called The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice For Beginning Poets), and he alluded that while you should not write for your audience, you do need to have some kind of a reader in mind, otherwise it’s one long journal isn’t it?

authenticity and accessibility

Poets United: I love your criteria: authenticity and accessibility. One of your poems speaks of addiction and your 21 years of sobriety. Would you like to talk a little about that journey here or would you rather not? It is a huge achievement.

Buddah: Thanks. February 10, 1990 I walked away from a nasty habit of drinking. I remember waking up with my daily hangover and realizing I wasn’t going to feel better for about 6 hours. Then I started doing the math and realized that that if I kept this up, that comes out to about 3 months a year feeling positively terrible! So, I stopped, and let me tell you some days it’s harder than others to stay away. But I’ve gone through a bad marriage, betrayal, adultery, death threats, restraining orders, a father dying completely unexpectedly, lots and lots of bad things (like everyone) and I haven’t had a drink yet. So, this February 10th, it’ll be 22 years sober, by the grace of God.

Poets United: Way to go, Buddah. That is a major accomplishment.

Buddah is fidgeting in his chair, and fiddling worriedly with the paper bag that looks in danger of falling off his head. Quickly, let’s wrap this up!

Poets United: Do you have a favorite poem?

Buddah: Hard to say, it’s like they’re all my children, my special needs children. Here are I few I especially like:

I Believe

Once I Had a Secret Love
David [Name Withheld ]

Poets United: When you are not writing, what other interests do you pursue?

Buddah: I love reading (nonfiction exclusively), eating, hanging out with Anita, raising kids, taking our dogs for walks, playing / composing music.

Poets United: It sounds nice, Buddah. And happy. What do you do for your day job?

Buddah: I am a social science researcher for an institution of higher education in Southern California.

Poets United: When you have a day off to spend as you please, what are you most likely to be doing?

Buddah: Going to the public library with my 15 year old daughter. Puttering around the house.

Poets United: What causes are dear to your heart? What are the things that worry you the most?

Buddah: Hunger, poverty and illiteracy are the causes most dear to my heart - mostly because they are all man-made, and consequently can be man-solved.

Poets United: If you had to sum up your philosophy of life, what would you tell us?

Buddah: Love and take care of one another.

Poets United: What is the single best day you ever spent?

Buddah: Today - everything else is an illusion. (OK, if that’s too cute an answer, November 29, 2002, when Anita and I were married.)

Poets United: Awwwwwwww, that is sweet! Who are your fave blogging pals?

Buddah: I really don’t interact too much with other bloggers, and I don’t feel right listing only three, but in the right hand column at my ihatepoetry .blogspot .com site, there are blogs I list as “Worth Your Time” and those always get checked whenever I go online.

Poets United: Is there anything else you’d like to share with Poets United?

Buddah: Yes, I want to encourage anyone who wants to be part of my project at http ://www .virtualpoetryreading .com. All you have to do is call 951-665-8161 and read your poem into the voice mail. I’ll post it, and you’ll have a worldwide audience! Try it, it’s fun!

Also, if anyone would like to buy a copy of my ebook “I Hate Poetry 2.0: Formatted for Mobile Devices” it’s available for the Kindle or the Nook . I specifically formatted it for smart phones, e-readers and tablets, as I tend to think that’s the wave of the future. It’s 100 poems for only $9.99 - that’s a bargain! Also, all funds raised from the sales will go to literacy charities. I’m not in this for the money, that’s why I have a day job!

Also, for up-to-the-minute-poetry come see me at ihatepoetry .blogspot .com or write me at ihatepoetry@verizon.net.

Thanks for helping fulfill a lifelong dream to be interviewed! - el mosk

Poets United: Thank you, Buddah, for such a great and entertaining interview. I only wish we had a huge readership for you. But I will tell you, our members are so warm and wonderful, that a hundred of them are worth a million of anyone else’s readers.

Kids, as Buddah left the restaurant, I saw him remove the bag and run his hands through his dark hair. But you know what? I’ll never tell. I really got to like Buddah during this interview, and so his identity is safe with me! A clue: he’s cute!

Isnt it true that the people behind the pen - and, in this case, under the bag - are some of the most interesting folks around? Don’t forget to come back and see who we talk to next. Who knows? It might be you!

Vice/Versa - Midnight Snack Weekly Prompt #3

2012-01-17T07:53:00.000-06:00

This week it is time for:

Vice Versa

Bill Mory at Bill Mory's Page

Start your week off with a challenge writing vice versa.

Consume/Collect

Regret /Content

Consume- to destroy or expend by use; use up.

Collect- to gather together; assemble: The professor collected the students' exams.

Regret - to feel sorrow or remorse for (an act, fault, disappointment,etc.): He no sooner spoke than he regretted it.

Content - be content; rest satisfied, rest and be thankful; take the good the gods provide, let well alone, feel oneself at home, hug oneself, lay the flattering unction to one's soul.

Simple Rules

Post anytime its just the night owls who get first crack
Make sure to visit other late night scribes.
Leave us a comment about the photo before you finally nod off.
Please post no more than 3 poems per prompt.

Deadline for Entries Has Passed...Now for Part Two

2012-01-16T09:06:00.000-06:00

Our deadline for you to submit some of your poetry to be considered for inclusion in this year’s anthology has come and gone. Now the hard work begins. Over the next few months our panel will begin sifting through all the submissions (we have well over 300 poems and 100 authors) in an attempt to help put together our best anthology yet. That shouldn’t be too hard since we have only had one so far but still we plan to make this book awesome.

Over the next few weeks you will be receiving conformation that we have received your entry (if you have not already). Please be patient with us as this is not an easy undertaking. Designing and putting together a book of this sort takes time and dedication. Our goal is to have this completed near the end of March. Don’t be shocked if there are delays as all intended good work can come with hiccups.

Once we have selected the poems and photographs to be included those poets and photographers will be contacted as we begin a proofing and editing period. It is not our goal to change the work of the author. Save for non intentional and simple grammar and spelling errors being corrected and approved by the author the works will remain as submitted.

All rights to the poetry and photographs belong to the person who submitted them. We only receive permission to use them for this issue.

Again thank you for your patience as we take the next step toward our printing our second Anthology.

Robert Lloyd

Poets United

The Poetry Pantry Is Now Open! - # 83

2012-01-15T08:21:00.000-06:00

Today! Sunday is the last day to turn in your submissions to be considered for in inclusion in our second annual anthology. Act now or wait till next year.

The Poetry Pantry

2nd Chance Poems or 1st time shares

Anything goes!! All Poems, all Poets, All Week!!

There 3 simple rules:

1. Don’t link to more than 3 poems per week.

2. Please visit some of the other poems linked here when you link to yours.

3. Leave a comment after you have posted
your link.

I Wish I'd Written This

2012-01-13T05:25:00.015-06:00

Shelton Lea was legendary in (Aussie) poetic circles, and probably some others, and I’d heard the legends before I finally met him in the early eighties. He’d been in prison. He drank too much. He got into fights. Yet there was a respect, too, in the way people spoke of him, and that was for the poetry. His colourful life, as summarised here — and do scroll down to the first Comment, a poem by Komninos with more anecdotes of Shelton — stemmed from a bizarre childhood. Both are dealt with in detail in Diana Georgeff’s biography, the well named Delinquent Angel, and outlined in the review at this link. However, that book failed to convey his importance to Australian poetry and what a friend and mentor he became to many other poets — including me. My reminiscences of Shelton would make this much too long a post, but are told on my blog, in poetry.

There were funny stories about his years as a thief, such as robbing one grand house and then stopping to rearrange the pictures on the walls because they were, aesthetically, so badly hung. He told me himself of being halfway up a drainpipe one cold night and realising he was getting a bit old for that life. So he decided then and there to stop being a thief and be a poet instead.

He never joined organisations like the Poets Union or the Street Poets, but ran his life on similar principles. He created broadsheets and paper booklets of his poems, often illustrated by artist friends, and sold them (very cheaply). He recited his poetry anywhere and everywhere — at poetry festivals, on street corners, in bars.... His beautiful voice and theatrical manner (always with a hint of laughter at himself) won the hearts of all listeners. Rough men in pubs, who would normally sneer at poetry, begged for more — as you read in Liz Hall-Downs’s poem last week. My own elegy for Shelton concerns the publication of Poems from a Peach Melba Hat, the eighth of his ten published volumes. These and other tributes to him are in All Travellers We (2007) which is listed in one online reference as being by Shelton. Instead it was about and for him, by a number of the poets who loved him.

Loving the sounds of words, he was a master of extravagantly lyrical phrases: ‘... dead friends / who had the appalling grace / to spend some time with us’, ‘and when the soft sentinel of the starry night / the moon / sets / as languid as sleep’, ‘i dream of the soft slide of light / across the down of hair on your face’, and a reference to poems as ‘these senseless interrogations of the heart’. But the one I could most wish I’d written is one of his tougher pieces, a flawed but wonderful poem from his last book, Nebuchadnezzar, published in 2005, the year of his death from lung cancer. (He lived to attend the book launch.)

1988
for albert “ah” hayes the bidwell brother

australia, oh australia
i have seen you in your belly’s roar
that there’s nothing downwind
and the country’s offshore.
what have you done with your
mine-led recovery,
your destabilised dollar?
your people are grim
and your humour’s gone out the same door
others’ money’s come in.

where now are
the glad givers of the rape of our rivers,
those impertinent soldiers made absurd
by the black man’s dance
on his river’s curve?
and we,
we arrived on these shores
like shell-shocked pink angels
after a storm.

and deep down in sydney,
where the traffic’s roar
on a saturday night
is stilled by the heartbeat
of the city’s poor,
the bone moon shines,
shedding a light that is thin
through a sky that’s as large
as an idiot’s grin.

but i love the alleys and the highways,
the streets where it always rains;
the parkie-darkies round their campfires
in the dreaming of redfern;
the scud of clouds across the desert’s brutal sky,
the lap of words against
our gentle shores.

and there were wheat carriages,
their tarpaulined corners turned
through which a lad could slip
with his boy’s young loins.
and deep in the wheat a journey began
through this place that we call the common land.
from toorak through fitzroy;
from reform schools through jails;
from deserts to seas;
to cherbourg, redfern, toowong and sale,
this land has been trod
by a sod with a poem whose voice wants to speak
of the australia he’s known;
of this land of fences and diatribes,
where distances cannot be described by maps.
but that is the matter of this country
where we dwell,
a place where the stars are as close as a smile,
where the winds are not tempests
but a spell in the weather,
where no longer our dreams
are of penny ice-creams
but macdonalds that cost you a dollar.

and are we to be reduced to anecdote,
the time when, the time where
rather than now?
alone where we stand is a beggar’s land
were the blackfeller’s dreaming
could give us a hand.
for this is our black brudda’s country.
its bruises and wounds are now theirs
for we have made this land untenable
for even the poor on the stairs.

look around you bruddas
to leichhardt, poor buggers they were;
chewing green leather sample bags
and dying within sight of a murri camp.

they say that blaxland, wentworth and lawson
were the first to traverse
that rugged blue mountain range.
but the koorie had used the hieroglyphs
of wallaby maps
and the echidna’s scratched calligraphy
to show the way;
long before the gubba’s foot had trod this scrub
the dreaming tracks were made.

(Leichhardt, Wentworth, Blaxland and Lawson were all early white explorers of Australia. Murri and koorie are Aboriginal people's words for themselves — different in different parts of the country.)

Most of Lea's titles are out of print. The Love Poems and Nebuchadnezzar are available from Abe Books. (Nebuchadnezzar is also available from the link given previously, above.)

The brief introduction to All Travellers We ends: 'His elegant generosity of spirit, eternal optimism, and far-reaching influence on Australian poetry will echo into the future. There will never be another like him.'

The Thursday Think Tank # 80 - Choices

2012-01-12T09:00:00.000-06:00

Every day in life we make choices. Even on the days we don’t want to. Not making a choice is actually making a choice. As confusing as that sounds it is true. Today for the Thursday Think Tank we want you to focus your writing on the choices you make in life. It can be a lifelong choice or memory of a choice or decision you made long ago that affects you today. If you want you can keep it simple and you can write about the fact this morning you chose to eat cereal instead of eggs. Not all choices our major and nor should everyone’s writings be major. Sometimes it’s the little choices that make us smile and continue on.

You've chosen to read today’s prompt so now the choice is yours to write or not write for it. We look forward to reading what you chose to write about today.

To write or not to write, the choice is yours.

If you have a prompt idea (even a Music or Film inspired one) that you would like to suggest or share with us please send it to poetsunited@ymail.com . We keep a folder set aside with all your suggestions and just might use it one day.

There 3 simple rules:

1. Don’t link to more than 3 poems per week.

2. Please visit some of the other poems linked here when you link to yours.

3. Leave a comment after you have posted your link.

Life of a Poet~Madeleine Begun Kane

2012-01-11T06:00:00.002-06:00

There once was a girl called Madeleine.
In a limerick sea she was paddlin’.
She said, “OMG! What a rich wordy sea!”
as through the waves she went ske-daddlin’.

Or somesuch. Kids, what a treat we have today. We are visiting the Queen of Limericks, Madeleine Begun Kane, famous bard of Mad Kane’s Humor Blog. Madeleine has several humor blogs connected to her main site; she covers a great deal of territory with her madcap humor. Bring along every rhyming word you know, in case we’re called upon to speak in verseJ Be ready to giggle and to be amazed!

Poets United: Wow, Madeleine, looking around your site, there is just SO MUCH SCOPE!!!!!! I am way impressed and scarcely know where to start. A veritable plethora of pithy humor.

Madeleine: Thanks! That’s so nice of you to say.

Poets United: Difficult to articulate as well :) Let’s begin at the beginning. Where did you grow up, Madeleine? Country or city? What was childhood like?

Madeleine: I grew up in suburbia --- Massapequa Park, Long Island, New York. And if Massapequa sounds vaguely familiar to you, it’s probably because you’ve heard Jerry Seinfeld describe Massapequa (his hometown) as an “old Indian name that means ‘by the mall.’”

And no, I’ve never met Seinfeld or any of the other famous Massapequans. By the way, the list of famous Massapequans I’ve never met also includes: the Baldwin Brothers, Steve Guttenberg, Brian Setzer, Marvin Hamlisch, Dee Snyder (Twisted Sister), Peggy Noonan, Ron Kovic, and (for late night joke fodder fans) Joey Buttafuoco and Jim Bakker-temptress Jessica Hahn.

I’m still trying to figure out what the heck they put in Massapequa’s water.

Poets United: Whoa! No wonder you have so much material! Your childhood neighbours could keep you writing for years.

Madeleine: So, what was the question? Oh yeah … What was my childhood like? I spent most of my time studying, reading, taking music lessons, playing in concerts, practicing flute, piano, and oboe, and fantasizing about playing oboe in the New York Philharmonic.

Poets United: Wow. All that music sounds great. What was high school like?

Madeleine: I could repeat all that stuff about studying, reading, music lessons, practicing sundry musical instruments, and fantasizing about playing oboe in the New York Philharmonic … but that would probably be boring.

Poets United: “Oh, no,” she demurred, politely. Hee hee. When did you begin writing?

Madeleine: I was always good at writing in school, and I have vague childhood memories of writing depressing poetry for “fun.” But the truth is I was so obsessed with being a professional musician, that the thought of being a writer didn’t cross my mind until my late thirties.

[At the Big Apple Circus in Queens]

Poets United: Tell us about the music, Madeleine.

Madeleine: I majored in music at the Eastman School of Music and Cal Arts, performed at the Aspen Music Festival, and was recruited to play oboe in the Dallas Symphony when I was 19. (I also taught oboe at SMU, which was pretty weird, because my students were older than I was.)

I also spent many years freelancing as a symphony oboist and chamber group oboe player in the New York metro area and, because oboe playing pays almost as badly as writing poetry, I did lots of other jobs at the same time – teaching private oboe students, working for the Nassau County Department of Social Services, etc.

Poets United: Wow. So cool!

Madeleine: At some point in my mid-twenties I realized that I needed a new career. Aside from financial issues, I’d been battling carpal tunnel syndrome for years and I knew my oboe playing days were numbered.

And no, this isn’t where I had some sort of “I want to be a writer” revelation. It was more of a “I’m argumentative – maybe I should go to law school” revelation.

Come to think of it, my “I’m dying to become a lawyer” law school application essay could be considered my earliest “creative” writing.

Poets United: Cackle. I love it. I wish there was room for it hereJ “There once was a lawyer called Mad, who thought the justice system was baaaaaaaad.....” On your site you say you are a “recovering lawyer". Is there a story about that? (I’m sure there must be).

Madeleine: I worked as a lawyer full-time for roughly fourteen years. For most of that period I was also freelancing as an oboist evenings and weekends. So I was crazy/busy.

Being a lawyer certainly enhanced my writing skills … assuming you consider long sentences with lots of pompous words an enhancement.

I didn’t especially like practicing law, although it certainly paid better than playing the oboe. And speaking of playing the oboe, a dental surgery nerve injury effectively ended my music career a dozen years or so after I got my first legal job.

Poets United: That is a shame, Madeleine, with music being such a big part of your life.

Madeleine: At that point, I was starved for an alternative creative outlet. So I started writing during lunch breaks and while stuck in courtrooms waiting for “hurry up and wait” judges to appear.

My first creative writing attempt was a really terrible novel. (I abandoned it after 200 torturous pages.) Next I tried humorous personal essays, which had the advantage of not requiring a plot.

My essays weren’t bad, so I started submitting them to sundry newspapers and magazines via snail mail, spending a small fortune on stamps. (Yes, this was before email and the Internet.)

After roughly a year, I was excited to make my first humor column sale, even though it was to a tiny local women’s magazine newspaper and my payment was just a subscription and a t-shirt.

My second sale was a bit more promising – I sold a humor column about clothes-shopping to the Sunday New York Times. I still remember hanging out with my husband Mark Kane at an all-night newsstand waiting for the 4 A.M newspaper delivery. What a thrill it was to see my first by-line in the New York Times!

Poets United: What a fantastic coup, the New York Times right out of the gate!

[Mark and I at the Lewis Black comedy cruise in 2010]

Madeleine: That sale emboldened me to spend even more money on postage stamps. And after a few more personal essay sales to sundry newspapers and magazines, I was further emboldened to walk away from practicing law. I was (and am) very lucky that my wonderful husband Mark supported that decision.

Eventually the Internet happened, and I expanded my freelancing to web magazines and writing humor columns for AOL. In 1999, I launched my website http://www.madkane.com/. And no, I still wasn’t writing limericks. But I was starting to experiment with other writing forms: parody interviews, satirical contracts, song parodies, etc. And then George W. Bush took office and my writing took a very different direction.

I’d never been especially political, but the Bush v. Gore campaign, culminating in the outrageous U.S. Supreme Court decision giving the White House away to Bush, politicized my writing. I was very upset, and I remember taking a shower the day Bush took office and getting this sudden inspiration to write a parody White House diary in Bush‘s voice. I jumped out of the shower and, without bothering to dry off, dashed off my first entry in Dubya’s Dayly Diary and posted it on my web site.

Poets United: Awesome, Madeleine. That election sickened me too. And the eight years after.

Madeleine: I kept writing that online diary for three or four years, trying to get inside Bush’s head, satirizing actual political events, and making up dialogue and plausible scenarios. I had a great time writing it and certainly enjoyed the reader feedback, press attention, and awards it got me. (The oddest award I got for it has to be Maxim Magazine’s Hot99.)

Poets United: You certainly would have had a ton of satirical material to work with. Sigh. I so love that your political song parodies were popular singalongs at anti-Bush rallies. My kinda gal! What is your take on the present political situation in the States? Are we going to be totally horrified at the next election?

Madeleine: I’m extremely worried about the upcoming election. And that’s why I started the new year by writing this limerick:

A Cautionary Election Year Limerick
By Madeleine Begun Kane

At long last, a new year is upon us,
And the fate of our land hinges on us.
Pay attention to news
And beware of skewed views.
Time to stop letting evil pols con us.

Poets United: Good one. I’m very worried too.

Madeleine: Eventually I started looking for other ways to write humorously about U.S. political events. Probably due to my music background, I wrote dozens of political parody song lyrics. I also started writing political haiku (technically senryu) in 2004.

After writing dozens of political haiku, I started looking for a humorous poetry form that would allow me to convey a bit more information. And that’s when I started writing limericks.

Poets United: I am so enjoying this discussion. You are fascinating.

Madeleine: My early limericks were all political. And what a challenge it was (and still is) to convey information and opinion within the strict limerick format and somehow manage to be amusing! But I think that’s why I fell in love with limericks. I treat writing political limericks like brain teasers, coaxing info and point of view into its AABBA rhyme scheme and anapestic meter.

Eventually, I started having fun with non-political limerick topics, as well – limericks about money, health, travel, marriage, technology, and the day to day annoyances that drive us all nuts. But I found that my readership was seriously split. My humor column readers enjoyed my non-political limericks, but were often offended by my political stuff. And my political limerick fans were so obsessed by politics, that my other humor didn’t interest them.

So I ended up adding two blogs to madkane.com: my Mad Kane’s Political Madness Blog http://www.madkane.com/madness/ for my political limericks and other political humor, and my Mad Kane’s Humor Blog http://www.madkane.com/humor_blog/ for everything else, including my weekly Limerick-Offs. (As you know, my Limerick-Offs are weekly limerick-writing contests in which I provide the first line and participants do the rest. At the end of each week I review all the entries and select the Limerick of the Week winner and several Honorable Mentions.)

Poets United: If you were to write a limerick about your life, what would you say?

Madeleine: What Will I Be When I Grow Up? (Limerick)
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Ev’ry decade I change my career.
The first used my musical ear.
I tried lawyering second,
Till humor scribe beckoned.
What’s next? I just can’t wait to hear.

Poets United: I love it! You are the Limerick Queen, and your lines all rhyme between. I note you have received a couple of significant awards for humor, which is pretty wonderful. Would you like to mention them here? It is so hard for a poet to get publicly recognized these days. And you have done it - in the Big Apple, no less!

[Madeleine at the Harvard Club Robert Benchley Society Award dinner]

Madeleine: My two favorite awards are the “2008 Robert Benchley Society Humor Award 1st prize” (Bob Newhart was the finals judge) and a National Society of Newspaper Columnists award.

[A personal note of congratulations from Bob Newhart on winning

the Robert Benchley humor award]

[Kids - Here is a link to the humor column that won Madeleine the Benchley award, Guide to the Opera Impaired: http://www.madkane.com/opera_humor.html Check it out. It's really funny.]

Poets United: That is impressive, Madeleine. Truly. Do you still write for magazines or newspapers? Or do you submit your work to any other venues?

[Madeleine in front of the aptly named Le Madeleine restaurant in Manhattan]

Madeleine: My writing credits include many print publications, such as the New York Times, Newsday, Plain Dealer, Philadelphia Inquirer, Miami Herald, Houston Chronicle, and Family Circle, plus many humor anthologies and, oddly enough, three college textbooks.

Poets United: Way to go, kiddo! What does your life look like today? I see that you live in New York, which must be exciting.

Madeleine: Mark and I live in Bayside, Queens, about half an hour out of Manhattan. We see lots of plays in NYC, mostly Off-Broadway, some Broadway. And we love just wandering around Manhattan because there’s always something new to discover.

We also enjoy movies, listening to music, discussing politics, reading, long walks, dancing, and spicy ethnic food, especially Indian and Thai.

[Madeleine and Mark in Vegas]

We’ve been taking group ballroom lessons for a couple of years. We aren’t very good, but we’re very enthusiastic. This limerick sums it up:

A Couple On The Move
By Madeleine Begun Kane

When my husband and I try to dance,
Some enjoy us and some look askance.
We’re inept, but enthused,
And don’t have to be boozed
To have rumba-like fun — that’s our stance.

Poets United: I love it! Cool mental image! What makes you the happiest?

Madeleine: Spending time with my husband, Mark. We have fun together, even when we’re doing nothing. Best of all, we can always make each other laugh. And I’ve even hooked him on writing limericks.

Poets United: Awwww, that is so sweet. You are a lucky twosome! What is the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done?

Madeleine: I’m not at all adventurous. In fact, I’m a devout coward. But Mark occasionally talks me into doing something that scares me, like river tubing on the Esopus River and mountain hiking in Salt Lake City. And something invariably goes wrong. But at least I get to turn these adventures-gone-wrong into humor columns that pay for our vacations. (See http://www.madkane.com/tubingblues.html and http://www.madkane.com/surmountingmarriage.html for our river tubing and mountain hiking adventures.)

Poets United: Those are must-reads, for sure. Do you have any advice for terrified-of-limericks poets?

Madeleine: If you can write poetry, you can write limericks, especially if you have a good sense of humor. It just takes a little discipline to follow the rhyme and meter rules. (Here’s a great limerick writing resource: http://www.oedilf.com/wiki/index.php/Writing_a_Limerick .)

I recommend reading lots of good limericks in order to get a feel for them. After a while, their rhyme and meter can become instinctive. (My weekly Limerick of the Week winners posts provide many excellent examples: http://www.madkane.com/humor_blog/tag/limerick-of-the-week/)

But the best way to learn to write limericks is to sit down (or stand up or lie down, for that matter) and write them. So give my Limerick-Offs a try. And feel free to email me requesting feedback, if you need some help.

**********************THE END****************************

Poets United: That's all she wrote, folks. Thank you, Madeleine, for this most enjoyable and interesting visit. I am newly inspired by your productivity, and your success will help encourage our readers to keep putting their work out there. This was so much fun!

Isn’t it true, kids, that the people behind the pen lead the most interesting lives? Do come back to see who we talk to next. Who knows? It might be you!

Vice/Versa - Midnight Snack Weekly Prompt #2

2012-01-10T00:01:00.000-06:00

This week it is time for:

Midnight Snack

A simple photo prompt for insomniacs, early birds and the rest of you.
You can post at anytime its just the night owls and early birds get the first crack at it.

Sorrow by Dechobek at deviantART

Look...

Think...

Write...

Post...

Simple Rules

Post anytime its just the night owls who get first crack
Make sure to visit other late night scribes.
Leave us a comment about the photo before you finally nod off.
Please post no more than 3 poems per prompt.

The Poetry Pantry Is Now Open! - # 82

2012-01-08T09:21:00.000-06:00

The Poetry Pantry

2nd Chance Poems or 1st time shares

Anything goes!! All Poems, all Poets, All Week!!

There 3 simple rules:

1. Don’t link to more than 3 poems per week.

2. Please visit some of the other poems linked here when you link to yours.

3. Leave a comment after you have posted
your link.

Classic Poetry - "The Young Bloods Come Less Often Now" by Horace

2012-01-07T05:00:00.000-06:00

Horace, 65 BC - 8 BC

The Young Bloods Come Less Often Now
by Horace

(translated from the Latin by James Michie)

The young bloods come round less often now,
pelting your shutters and making a row
and robbing your beauty sleep. Now the door
clings lovingly close to the jamb--though, before,

it used to move on its hinge pretty fast.
Those were the days--and they're almost past--
when lovers stood out all night long crying,
"Lydia, wake up! Save me! I'm dying!"

Soon your time's coming to be turned down
and feel the scorn of the men about town--
a cheap hag haunting alley places
O moonless nights when the wind from Thrace is

rising and raging, and so is the fire
in your raddled loins, the brute desire
that drives the mother of horses mad.
You'll be lonely then, and complain how sad

that the gay young boys enjoy the sheen
of ivy best or the darker green
of myrtle: dry old leaves they send
as a gift to the east wind, winter's friend.

Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) the Roman lyric poet, satirist, and critic is, for good reason, best know for his Odes. Failed at warfare, he excelled in the arts and was ultimately a significant influencer of Ben Jonson, Alexander Pope, W.H. Auden, Robert Frost.

I Wish I'd Written This

2012-01-06T01:00:00.039-06:00

For Shelton, who always embraced ‘the seeming wonder of being alive’

and it’s comforting to know that though you’re gone

you’re never gone, have left the flowered

words on pages so even those not yet born

can know you – larrikin wit, friend to dips

and artists, patron of prisoners,

forgiver of sins

shelley, in my memory you’re always laughing,

your arm around my shoulders at the leinster arms,

eyes alight, crooning, ‘lizzie hall, have ya written us

any more of those wunnerful poems, girl?’

the more ‘respected’ elders might grope a young

poet’s tits, but all you ever cared for were the words

– their best order, exactitude, capacity for beauty –

and these you made in defiance of all

the sordid ugliness of the world

and there were wild parties at mountain view

me, dosed with tinctures brewed by your muse

and that filthy, filthy nyandi

the laughter and bullshit that accompanied

a case or three of VB, cold afternoons

by a woodstove as the wind whipped

all around, while you pulled books from shelves

to drop in my eager hands, never large enough

to hold all that self-taught wisdom at your command

‘to the sauna!’ you’d demand

and we’d rise, grab a beer

and shed our clothes, make poems

of the sweat and cedar boards

then run redskinned to the herb garden

to plunge into the old cold water bathtub,

a baptism

always, to me, you’ll be fitzroy’s king

barroom bard of underdog and crim,

of murdered girl, koori pride, throwing

your words to the street and the wind

for the price of a beer and a smile

while frontbar punters crowed ‘shelley,

mate, another poem, stay awhile’

and you do, to we who knew you,

stay, unforgettable, your tousled,

addled head, that childlike joy of living

spread across your gorgeous, defiant mug ...

i’ll bet you’re still on the lookout for adventures,

booze or drug, still spinning tall stories

to those mates you’d thought long lost, for you

will never be gone, and i expect to meet again

in poet’s heaven, (where you’ll be propping up

the bar, no doubt, and singing satchmo-style

to fallen angels), anon.

Liz Hall-Downs

dips = pickpockets

the leinster arms = a hotel in Collingwood, an inner city suburb of Melbourne. (In the USA — and, I gather, in the UK too — poetry performance venues tend to be coffee shops. In Australia they tend to be pubs.)

nyandi = koori word for marijuana

VB = Victoria Bitter beer

fitzroy = an inner city suburb of Melbourne

koori = what Aboriginal Australians in areas of south-eastern Australia call themselves

mug = face

This elegy is about a mutual friend, the much loved Australian poet Shelton Lea, affectionately known as Shelley to his friends. (Expect more about him in a future post.) She has brought him to life! The poem appears in the anthology All Travellers We: Poems for Shelton Lea (Melbourne, Eaglemont Press, 2008), available from Black Pepper Publishing and from Readings.

I first knew Liz as the young Melbourne performance poet recollected along with Shelley in the above poem. She wore lacey black mittens and carried a slim cane. ‘How elegant,’ I thought, ‘What individuality!’ — not realising the reason for them.

Her latest collection of poetry, My Arthritic Heart, was published in 2006. A review, which you can read in full here, says: 'The preface to My Arthritic Heart calls the book an autobiographical account of the poet's struggles with Rheumatoid Arthritis, but the poetry, like all good poetry, transcends its subject.'

Yes, it’s wonderful stuff — searingly honest, powerful, even beautiful. Her own eloquent words on the book and its genesis, plus several of the poems, are here. At present there is one second-hand copy of the book available at Abe Books for whoever is first to grab it, and it is still available from the PostPressed website.

I’m glad to know from Liz herself that she finds life good these days. She and her husband Kim Downs (writer, musician, technician and sculptor) live on a bush property in sub-tropical south-east Queensland and look after a number of native birds, particularly various kinds of parrots. Liz and Kim are both musicians. They were formerly two members of the Cathouse Creek trio; more recently have become SWAMPFISH, a roots-blues-alt-country duo.

Online biographies say:

Liz Hall-Downs has been reading and performing poetry in public and publishing in journals, since 1983. She has been a featured reader at countless venues across Australia, has toured the USA, and has had work published and broadcast on TV and radio in both countries. As well as poetry, Liz writes fiction and essays and has worked as a community artist, writer-in-residence, editor and singer.

To which I add: She holds the degrees of BA in Professional Writing and Literature and M. Phil. in Creative Writing from the University of Queensland. Currently, instead of poetry, she is working on a novel and enjoying her music and gardening.

Her earlier publications include Fit of Passion, book & cassette, with Kim Downs, 1997; Blackfellas Whitefellas Wetlands with B.R. Dionysius & Samuel Wagan Watson, published online 1996, released on audio CD, 2000; and Girl With Green Hair (still available from) Papyrus Publishing, 2000. (Click on poetry on the lefthand side.)

You can read more of her poems online at:

http://www.thedrunkenboat.com/halldowns.html

http://www.angelfire.com/zine/bluefifth/Winter2003/poet11.html

http://www.othervoicespoetry.org/vol15/lhall-downs/index.html

http://www.thedrunkenboat.com/fitofpassion.html

The Thursday Think Tank #79 - Unique

2012-01-05T08:25:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! I love the feeling of a fresh start. It has that blank page feel and the pristine beginnings of a new book. The photo I chose may appear odd at first, but I think you will see why. Goals and change all have to start within. It is an inside job at first, then it ripples out. Did you make any resolutions or goals for the New Year?

"One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach; one can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few."~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I see many things in this photo. What do you see? Pen a poem that reflects your feelings, your view.

Our Monthly "Reflection" photo prompt is provided to us by Ella Wilson. We would like to thank Ella for her inspiring photos and for helping us out here at Poets United. If you would like to know more about Ella, see her other photos or read her poetry please visit the blog below:
Ella's Edge

If you have a prompt idea (even a Music or Film inspired one) that you would like to suggest or share with us please send it to poetsunited@ymail.com . We keep a folder set aside with all your suggestions and just might use it one day.

There 3 simple rules:

1. Don’t link to more than 3 poems per week.

2. Please visit some of the other poems linked here when you link to yours.

3. Leave a comment after you have posted your link.

Submit Your Poems Today!

2012-01-04T18:00:00.000-06:00

Our mail bag has been open and we have been accepting submissions for our second Poetry Pantry Anthology (Poems, Prose, Photos and Art) since August but the deadline is coming fast so if you have not submitted your work yet you better get to it.

For this years anthology we have decided to allow the bulk of our submissions dictate what our secondary title will eventually be. Our target release date is once again in March or April, just as it was this past year. The last day to submit a poem for consideration will be 15 January 2012.

We intend to include as many submissions as possible while still producing a quality book. The book itself again will be sold by Lulu (an independent print to order press) with little or no profit to Poets United. We will keep it as cheap as possible for our members.

Please read below for further information and guideline.

• All current followers and poet bloggers who actively participate with Poets United qualify for consideration as long as they are active blogging poets and are listed on our blogroll. Anyone who is not on our blogroll will unfortunately have to wait till the next issue for possible publication unless they are included on time.

• As an artist or photographer you do not need to be listed on the Poets United blogroll for consideration. We like photos and art to accompany our poetry and give the anthology a well rounded look and feel. All photos or art will be in black and white so please consider that prior to submission.

• All submissions need to be emailed to poetsunited@ymail.com Please title your email “Anthology Submission” so that we can separate them from the many of emails we receive daily.

• Please submit no more than three 3 poems for consideration.

• By submitting your poem you agree the Work is original work, it has not been copied wholly or substantially from any other work or material and publication.

• All submissions and copyright will remain with the Author of the work.

• Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Please let us know, though, and notify us immediately when your work is accepted elsewhere.

After lengthy consideration our anthology will appear once a year in March. It is our goal to see that a good portion if not all our submissions are published in this or future anthologies (This will greatly depend on the amount of submissions). Extra consideration will be given to first time submissions and those that are active participants in the Poets United Community.

When sending us a submission be sure to include the following:

• Your name or Pen Name

• Your Blog Name & URL

• Title of the poem or poems you are submitting

• We would prefer a word copy but you can also post it within the body of your email. Also if it is online please give us a link of where we can find it.

We try not to edit your poems so be certain that it is exactly the way you want it!!!

The Poetry Pantry, independent and unaffiliated, is an international poetry anthology published annually or biannually by Poets United, an online poetry blog community. It is run entirely by its community participants under the guidance of its founder Robert Lloyd. The Poetry Pantry features poetry, prose and art submitted and approved by the members of Poets United. To view or obtain a copy of our previous anthologies please see the link below or email us at poetsunited@ymail.com.

Please remember we are not a professional agency of any sort. This anthology and all we do at Poets United is for the benefit of the Poets United community. It is a hobby and labor of love for most of us and we are happy for having the opportunity to just attempt an annual publication.

To dowload a free copy of our current anthology or to purchase one of your very own please visit the link below.

Get Your FREE Online Copy!

Life of a Poet ~ Kodjo Deynoo

2012-01-04T06:00:00.006-06:00

by Sherry Blue Sky

Kids, week after week, this poet has faithfully posted his poems at the Think Thank and Poetry Pantry, for our enjoyment. It seems long past time to interview him, but I am flying blind as, when I poked around his site, with my yellow plaid cape and magnifying glass, I couldn't find any clues as a starting-off point. Here is our man of mystery now, ready for The Big Reveal. You'll find him on any given day at ....Kodjo Deynoo Poetry (K.D.)

Poets United: Kodjo, you are a man of mystery. How intriguing! Would you like to tell us a little bit about your life?

Kodjo: To start off with, I like my readers to personally relate to what they read and not to interpret it in terms of what they have read about me, on my blog.

I do live in a flat with a few neighbours around. I am 32, so I wouldn’t say I am that young , though like everyone else I would like if the time could be turned back a few years, just to relive the joy again. Mind you at present I am enjoying life, so it is all the same to me.

Poets United: Trust me, Kodjo, thirty-two is young! Where did you spend your childhood? Was childhood a good time for you?

Kodjo: I grew up in Ghana, and it was a very joyful childhood. I have four siblings and a few cousins in a very big house, so there was always something to get up to. Usually in my case it was being mischievous, as the fourth born, and having my elder siblings picking up after me. Ghana is a beautiful country and a very socially opened society.

I spent my 20s in the UK, where I still live.

Poets United: It sounds like a wonderful journey, that you are making. Do you live in a rural or urban setting now?

Kodjo: I cannot live in a rural environment. I tried in a little village in Cambridge called Long Stanton, but really hated it. After 8 p.m. the whole place goes dead. I am more of a city guy, and I live in Bristol. I like the cultural mixture one is opened to, it reflects in the very varied background of the friends I have, most of them from different countries, which enriches my cultural knowledge and understanding .

Poets United: That sounds wonderful, Kodjo. What is your day job? Do you enjoy it? What would your dream job be?

Kodjo: I just completed an MSc in construction project management, and I work as an assistant project manager for a small construction company, here in Bristol, but for poetry, we all know what career I would really like to be involved in.

Poets United: Dream big! There are no limits! Can you tell us the story of when you began writing and what got you started?

Kodjo: Well, I had always explained myself in metaphors and proverbs. It gets a bit annoying, it is partly to do with my Ghanaian background, where it is common to have people quote proverbs and metaphors in conversations.

Poets United: That's interesting. What led you to choosing poetry as your means of creative expression?

Kodjo: I felt drawn to poetry, well before I even started writing. My poems are mainly based on social observations, and since I always had an opinion on almost every subject, I felt what better way than to combine my love for poetry and for opinion.

Poets United: Well said! When did you start blogging? Is it the experience you anticipated? What do you love about it?

Kodjo: I started blogging in 2009, first from myspace, but I found the audience base on myspace was very limited, I opened another blog page before finally settling with the one I currently have. It has been great blogging. I have had the opportunity to read a lot more from similar minded people. I didn’t think poetry was still popular until I started blogging, and I have readers from all across the world.

Poets United: Isn’t that just the best thing ever? How did you find Poets United? You have been such a faithful participant........

Kodjo: I found Poets United through blog surfing and that was it, this was the platform I had been looking for all along, and I knew it was always going to be an important source. Poets United has afforded me the opportunity to meet like-minded people, and I am very much looking forward to the new year.

Poets United: Yes! A new year of writing, for all of us. Yippee! How would you describe your personal approach to the creative writing process, Kodjo?

Kodjo: I find it difficult to follow a method, it is part of my shortfalls. At the same time, it frees me to make my writing about the message it carries, and not about just writing poetry.

Poets United: I love that: the poem is about the message it carries. Who would you say has been the single biggest influence on your writing?

Kodjo: I would have to say my elder sister, because she encouraged me to open up a blog and to link it to twitter as well, she has always been my number one fan, and for that I appreciate her greatly.

Poets United: That is very cool, Kodjo. I’ll bet she’s proud of you. Where do you go for inspiration?

Kodjo: I read a lot, and have a lot of discussions with friends. Social commentary is what I write about, so my surroundings is my biggest inspiration. There is so much going on now in the global society that just naturally feeds into my writing . I found Pablo Neruda very inspirational as well.

Poets United: Is there a connection between music and poetry for you?

Kodjo: Music is poetry, if ever any could be described in the genre. I always find it interesting when one listens to music and at that very moment the song sung is reciting word for word what the listener is feeling. It works well when one finds him/her self in an argument with the partner and all the right words just get said by the third party. Music summarizes feelings and emotions and that is just what poetry does too, so I would say yes, music is poetry.

music is poetry

Poets United: What is your favorite poem, written by you?

Kodjo: Oh what a question, the hardest for me to answer, so hard it plays into why I hardly enter into poetry competitions. I just can’t pick, because they all have an individual message within them, so that I feel each is just as important as the other. I would have to let the reader decide on this.

Poets United: When you are not writing, what other interests do you pursue?

Kodjo: Dancing is my thing, when I do find the time to go out. I have always loved dancing, it frees all caged sprits. I would encourage everyone to dance. I even dance in my car when I am driving. It feeds into my happy-minded spirit, and I am able to deal with life, knowing just a quick dance will encourage me to carry on.

Poets United: I so love your joyful spirit. What causes are you most passionate about?

Kodjo: I worry about deforestation and of course global warming, about politicians’ lack of honesty and the widening gap between the rich and the poor. I am passionate about Africa.

Poets United: Me too, Kodjo, on all counts. Have you ever lived a great adventure? Or, conversely, is there a great adventure you would like to live?

Kodjo: I always worried my parents when I was young, because I kept sneaking out of the house and roaming around. I would be gone for hours all on my own, seeing things for myself. I paid the price when I got back, but I always ended up doing it again soon as the opportunity arose. Guess I have to apologise to my parents and siblings for stressing them with my vanishing acts.

I would like to drive across all continents and experience the environment. I would definitely have a lot more poetry to write from that. This will be my pilgrimage before I die, starting from America, specifically New Orleans.

Poets United: Lots of great music there to dance to, Kodjo! Are there other writers in your family? Where do you think your talent comes from? Did your parents and teachers encourage your writing?

Kodjo: Well as it stands yes, my uncle, I am told, has written a lot of songs but he never made it as a musician. I think deep down he might have wanted to. I have not seen him for a while, he is one person I would like to sit down and talk with, about our common passion. He also happened to be a rebellious guy in his youth, just as I was.

Poets United: You must have that talk with him, while you still can, kiddo. Would you like to give a shout-out to some of the poets you follow most closely?

Kodjo: A few come to mind: Brian Miller , Claudia , Mary, Tarringo T Vaughan, truthfully a whole lot more than I can make mention of. It has been a few years now, and I know some regulars on the poetry blogsphere scene.

Poets United: It is a wonderful community, isn't it Kodjo? Is there anything else you would like to share with Poets United?

Kodjo: I hope and wish in the near future we would have all been graced with success in these dreams we indulge in, with Poets United recognised for its contribution to modern poetry.

Poets United: Thank you, Kodjo. For letting us get to know you better, and for being such a long-time supporter of Poets United. It is always wonderful to meet the person behind the pen.

Isn't it true, kids, that poets are some of the most interesting folks around? Don’t forget to come back and see who we talk to next. Who knows? It might be you!

AND..........Happy New Year, to one and all!

Vice/Versa - Midnight Snack Weekly Prompt #1

2012-01-03T09:03:00.000-06:00

This week it is time for:

Vice Versa

Surge/Recede

Trivial/Significant

Surge- a strong, wavelike, forward movement, rush, or sweep: the onward surge of an angry mob.

Recede-to go or move away; retreat; go to or toward a more distant point, withdraw.

Significant - Important: of consequence.

Trivial- of very little importance or value; insignificant: Don't bother me with trivial matters.

Simple Rules

Post anytime its just the night owls who get first crack
Make sure to visit other late night scribes.
Leave us a comment about the photo before you finally nod off.
Please post no more than 3 poems per prompt.

Poets United for 2012

2012-01-02T12:20:00.002-06:00

With a New Year upon us Poets United is ready to hit the ground running. Our In box is spilling over since we were all on vacation and taking a break so it will take a few days to wade through those emails. For those folks who wish to be added to the Blog Roll and for those who have submitted poems for consideration in our upcoming Anthology please know we are not ignoring you and now that the time with family and holidays has passed we will soon be contacting you.

Also there will be a few minor changes at the very beginning of this year. We will be discontinuing our Poem of the Week and Blog of the Week posts (we are considering posting this on Facebook instead in a minor format). Mary Kling is going to take some time for herself and focus on her writing. We greatly appreciate her dedication and time to this daunting task and now that she is stepping away from it we feel it’s the right time to discontinue. If the opportunity presents itself please make sure to give her a big thank you for her wonderful efforts. Mary is not leaving us though. She will be helping with other menacing tasks that can be found behind the scenes at Poets United such as our upcoming and highly anticipated Second Anthology.

The proposed schedule for 2012 is as follows:

Sunday - The Poetry Pantry

Monday – Open Day

Tuesday – Midnight Snack / Vice Versa (Posts a minute after Midnight on Monday)

Wednesday – Interviews

Thursday – The Thursday Think Tank

Friday – I wish I’d Written this

Saturday – Classic Poetry

We are currently looking for a few folks to help on Facebook as we intend to make that page a little more active. If you have any interest in this please contact us at poetsunited@ymail.com. We would like someone who would be interested in posting a Poem a Day and or a Poet a Day.

Poets United is such a major success and wonderful community because of the people who participate in it. This means if you are reading this then you are one of the reasons this community thrives. We look forward to the New Year and can’t wait to see what wonderful poetry and fun we all get to share.

Thank you for all you do for Poets United!

Classic Poetry - "A Song for New Year's Eve" by William Cullen Bryant

2011-12-31T05:00:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year, Poet-Friends!
Here's a post to inspire and delight... a traditional New Year's Eve piece.

A Song for New Year's Eve

by William Cullen Bryant

Stay yet, my friends, a moment stay—
     Stay till the good old year,
So long companion of our way,
     Shakes hands, and leaves us here.
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One little hour, and then away.

The year, whose hopes were high and strong,
     Has now no hopes to wake;
Yet one hour more of jest and song
     For his familiar sake.
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One mirthful hour, and then away.

The kindly year, his liberal hands
     Have lavished all his store.
And shall we turn from where he stands,
     Because he gives no more?
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One grateful hour, and then away.

Days brightly came and calmly went,
     While yet he was our guest;
How cheerfully the week was spent!
     How sweet the seventh day's rest!
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One golden hour, and then away.

Dear friends were with us, some who sleep
     Beneath the coffin-lid:
What pleasant memories we keep
     Of all they said and did!
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One tender hour, and then away.

Even while we sing, he smiles his last,
     And leaves our sphere behind.
The good old year is with the past;
     Oh be the new as kind!
          Oh stay, oh stay,
One parting strain, and then away.

Want to know more about William Cullen Bryant?
Click here for information provided by Northern California's College of The Siskiyous.

The Poetry Pantry Is Now Open! - # 81

2011-12-26T00:01:00.002-06:00

The Poets United Community would like to wish you happy New Year. Whatever and wherever you celebrate or even if you do not celebrate we hope the upcoming year is a great one for all our our poets, friends and their families. Please keep safe and we look forward to the next year here with all of you at Poets United.

So that there are no deadlines or time crunches for our contributors Poets United will only be posting the Poetry Pantry on Sundays. Everything else will be on hold. Consider it a small break from 18 December through 3 January. Please feel free to post as many poems as you would like under our tree since it will be up all week.

Happy New Year to you all!

The Poetry Pantry

2nd Chance Poems or 1st time shares

Anything goes!! All Poems, all Poets, All Week!!

There 3 simple rules:

1~~. Don’t link to more than 3 poems per week.~~
(This one is on hold due to the holidays so please post away)

2. Please visit some of the other poems linked here when you link to yours.

3. Leave a comment after you have posted
your link.

The Poetry Pantry Is Now Open! - # 80

2011-12-18T00:01:00.002-06:00

The Poets United Community would like to wish you happy holidays. Whatever and wherever you celebrate or even if you do not celebrate we hope the next few weeks are amazing ones for all our poets, friends and their families. Please keep safe and we look forward to the next year here with all of you at Poets United.

Happy Holidays to you all!

The Poetry Pantry

2nd Chance Poems or 1st time shares

Anything goes!! All Poems, all Poets, All Week!!

There 3 simple rules:

1~~. Don’t link to more than 3 poems per week.~~
(This one is on hold due to the holidays so please post away)

2. Please visit some of the other poems linked here when you link to yours.

3. Leave a comment after you have posted
your link.

Classic Poetry - "In The Desert" by Stephen Crane

2011-12-17T05:00:00.007-06:00

In the Desert

by Stephen Crane

In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter—bitter,” he answered;

“But I like it
“Because it is bitter,
“And because it is my heart.”

A contemporary and friend of Joseph Conrad, H. G. Wells, and Henry James, Stephen Crane is best known for his internationally acclaimed novel, The Red Badge of Courage. HIs poetry follows the same vein. Realistic, direct and unsentimental, it was quite different from the day's norm. A unique soul, Stephen Crane died when he was only 28.

I Wish I'd Written This

2011-12-16T01:00:00.009-06:00

Three Poems for Carmen
by Lyndon Walker

1. APOLLO BAY – 5am 7th August
The ocean was with us all night
Thunderous and heavy
Rolling over in its sleep
And further out, deep
Full of whales and coldness.

Your tiny sounds as you slept
My creeping through the house so as not to wake you
To write this.
Outside
Barely breathing
The dark, unwoken, world.

2. HER SOCKS
I knew they were her socks when I picked them up
And put them with other things
Into my bag. Two small socks without dislike or suspicion.

She had thrown them off, quickly
To race out across the road
To tell the man
Whose hat had blown off
Where he could find it.
She’s like that.

And when she came back
Leaping at me
Like a silver fish from a stream of pure joy
I lifted the camera I had been playing with
And gave thanks.

3. BECAUSE YOU ARE MUSIC
Because you are music
I drive carefully
Up the mountain road through forest
And patches of light
Into your absence.

When I asked Lyndon’s permission to include him in this series, he kindly supplied a bio:

LYNDON WALKER was educated in Psychology at La Trobe University, the University of Melbourne and Deakin University. Lyndon practices as a Family and Individual Therapist. He undertook a world reading tour in 1994 and in 1996 was awarded the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry. He lives in Carnegie in Melbourne.

(Expanding that a little, from his facebook profile:) He writes poetry, short stories, novels, screenplays and academic works on Psychology and Psychoanalysis. He is a father of one adult daughter.

I first got to know him in the early eighties, when we were both on the Committee of the Melbourne Branch of the Poets Union of Australia, and both had books published by Pariah Press. Pariah was a Cooperative venture requiring meetings and discussions, so in both capacities I learned to value his intellect, wit and generous spirit.

As a performance poet, he could be wonderfully over the top — good lungs for shouting, when required! We no longer live in the same city so I haven’t heard him in recent years, but I imagine it’s still the case. His poems on the page reveal a similar daring, in his willingness to experiment. A free versifier like most of us, he also handles form very well. And as you can see, he is capable of the most tender nuances. Because the above poem mentions music, I’ll round out this little sketch by telling you that he sings in a concert choir called Soulsong.

Details of Lyndon’s books and some individual poems can be found at his website.

The Thursday Think Tank # 78 - Off The Cuff

2011-12-15T10:55:00.000-06:00

You have come here today possibly looking for inspiration and we are going to turn it around on you. Today, right now, stop what you are doing and write. If you have taken the time to visit and read this post then you can take another moment or two to write something, anything. Throw caution to the wind and see what this very moment inspires in your pen.

Do not be lame and post something you wrote earlier this week. That’s what the poetry pantry is for. We are calling out your current creativity not your past writings. We will know if you wrote it before because it will be time stamped on your blog. We may even post a Tsk Tsk if we see that is what you did. Challenge yourself to write for the moment. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t need to be revised a dozen times. It just needs to be written now.

We look forward to reading your off the cuff poetic exploration. It will be fun to see what inspires you instantaneously.

There 3 simple rules:

1. Don’t link to more than 3 poems per week.

2. Please visit some of the other poems linked here when you link to yours.

3. Leave a comment after you have posted your link.

Life of a Poet ~ Abin Chakraborty

2011-12-14T06:00:00.003-06:00

by Sherry Blue Sky

Kids, this week we are hopping on a magic carpet, which will whisk us away to the Land of Aladdin. We are flying to INDIA, to visit the very talented Abin Chakraborty, of Abin's Literary World, whose work you will often find posted at both Poets United and Imaginary Garden With Real Toads. We have just touched down, have been ushered into a large stone building, and shown to a room full of books. The chai tea is coming to just under the boil, and the scent of cloves and cinnamon are in the air. Draw nearer to the fire with me, and let's meet the lovely poet, waiting for us in his book-lined den.

Poets United: Abin, thank you for allowing us to visit! I live vicariously, (if indeed I live at all), and India has long been one of the countries of my dreams. Tell us, what was your childhood like? It must be wonderful to live in a part of the world so brimming with a rich cultural heritage, landmark architecture and statues, the stuff of myth and history. A feast for the eyes, everywhere you look.

Abin and friend :)

Abin: I was born in Kolkata and have always lived in the city. My only acquaintance with the countryside was through visits and vacations. But I did have a wonderful childhood, full of fairy tales, folktales and legends, which I came to know through books my parents generously provided. So during my early years, I was as conversant with Indian epics and fairy tales as with the fairy tales of Europe and Russia.

And life in Kolkata, or more specifically the satellite township of Saltlake where I live, has always been nice for me. I understand of course that my city has its fair share of problems. But it is still my city. It knows all my firsts. And I feel at one with all the sights and sounds – even the cacophony and grime.

Poets United: Sigh. Already, I know this will be too brief a visit to your wonderful country. Can you tell us a little about yourself, and your life of today?

University of Calcutta

Abin: I am now pursuing my doctoral thesis as a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of English, University of Calcutta, and I also teach at Presidency University, as a Guest Faculty. My days are therefore punctuated by academic assignments of one kind or another, sprinkled with seminars and conferences, as well as my personal reading.

Presidency College

Poets United: How absolutely wonderful! A dream life for a poet, for certain! In your recent interview at Real Toads, you mentioned having written since you were a child. Do you remember how old you were when you began? Was there an event that sparked that first poem?

Abin as a little one, with his beautiful mother

Abin: I started to read limericks in my vernacular Bengali when I was maybe three or four years old. I think that is what prompted me to start rhyming. I don’t exactly remember when I started writing, but it is probably around the time when I was six or seven. And those poems were on all kinds of topics – from the cricket or football world cup to local holidays and festivities.

Poets United: I knew it! A prodigy! Do you still have the poems written in your childhood? Would you like to share one?

Abin: I think they can still be found in some old trunks. But I haven’t seen them in a long time. Also, they were all in Bengali. Sorry.

Poets United: Rats! I'd love to poke through those trunks! What led you to choosing poetry as your means of creative expression?

Abin: Personally, I think it is difficult to be a poet consciously. There has to be something inside you which sparks you into writing a poem. Then you can consciously shape and mould it. But the initial impulse has to be something that is beyond your conscious control. In other words, poetry chose me, rather than the other way round.

Also, my mother recites poetry and I have heard her reading and practicing for a long time. That could well have been an influence for my choice of poetry.

Poets United: I so agree with you, that poetry chooses us. People can manufacture poems, of course, but when you read the more inspired poetry that springs forth from a poet's inner life, the reader certainly can feel the difference. Are there other writing forms you wish to explore, or are you content as a poet?

Abin's very talented parents

Abin: I am content as a poet. I love reading, writing and teaching poems. Since my father is a playwright and since I did write a couple of plays for inter-school competitions, I think there is a theatre bug inside me which might prompt me to write a play someday. But all that is too far in the future and rather uncertain.

Poets United: You have stated T.S. Eliot is your favourite poet. Is there anything about his work that you feel has had a significant impact on your own approach to writing?

Abin: Where do I start? Whether it is theme or technique – I owe a lot to him and nobody better captures the predicament of modern urban existence than Eliot. I have borrowed much from him – both consciously and unconsciously and as I continue to read him, I learn more and more. Some of his lines, such as “To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet” are so poignant and so true that I can’t help being overwhelmed by them.

Poets United: Who would you say has been the single biggest influence on your writing? On your life?

Abin: Again it would have to be Eliot. But as far as my personal life is concerned, I guess that the biggest influence is my parents.

Poets United: Yes, I can certainly see that! Abin, you have a very prestigious work background. Would you like to tell us a little about it, and what drew you to your chosen field?

Abin: Thank you. My mother did her masters in English Literature and there are many others in my family on my mother’s side who have all followed the same stream. In some ways, I guess I was predestined to take up English literature and the romance continues still. After finishing my graduation from Presidency College and my post-graduation at the University of Calcutta, I am now researching on three Indian playwrights, and that again is due partly to my familial background. My parents are part of a theatre group where my father is the playwright, and my mother, the leading actress. So since my childhood I have been exposed to the various aspects of theatre and have carried that love into my research.

Abin's mother during a performance

Poets United: You certainly lucked out in the gene pool, Abin. Wow! I can see why you began reading and writing so young. What is the best book you have ever read? And why do you love it?

Abin: I have many favourites for many moods. Shakespeare, Eliot, Agha Shahid Ali, Khaled Hosseini, Thomas Hardy…there are too many authors and too many favourite texts. However, there is one adventure story, by a Bengali author Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, called ‘Chander Pahar’ (Mountain of the Moon) which is the one book which I have probably read more than any other texts, especially during my school days. The world of thrill, adventure, excitement and imagination which the text opened up was absolutely riveting to my adolescent mind.

Poets United: Such riches between the covers of a book! What is your very favourite place to go in Kolkata?

College Street

Abin: It's College Street, which has two famous buildings: Presidency College (1817), my Alma Mater, where I now teach, and the University of Calcutta, where I studied and now research. The footpaths of College street are lined with bookshops, where you can get the rarest of stuff at the cheapest rates - delightful place for anyone like me.

Poets United: I could not be trusted there with a credit card, for certain! What are your personal criteria for good poetry, your own and others?

Abin: The kind of poetry which achieves maximum range of expression through minimum words and teases me out of my thought to unravel the multiple layers of significance. This can be done both with and without rhyme, but does require powerful images and symbols to passionately communicate the poet’s thoughts and feelings to the readers.

Poets United: What a wonderful description! When you are not writing, what other interests do you pursue?

Abin: I am an avid Manchester United fan. So I watch a lot of football/soccer. And I also devote enough time to Sachin Tendulkar’s batting, Roger Federer’s tennis and anything on tv that helps me laugh my heart out.

Poets United: What led you to the world of blogging? Do you hope to publish one day? And does blogging bring you enough satisfaction, if you don’t publish?

Abin: I wanted to blog to share my poetry with others and learn whether what I wrote was at all worth anyone’s time. It is a satisfying experience and the encouraging remarks of you and many of my fellow online poets are obviously richly rewarding. Those comments convince me that what I write is worth reading and therefore worth publishing. So I do hope to get them published someday. But considering the apathy that publishers have for poetry, I am not that hopeful.

Poets United: Would you like to give a shout-out to some fellow poets whose blogs you visit often?

Abin: Definitely. Mary, you, Kerry, Kim, Marian of Runaway Sentence, Laurie Kolp…all of you have helped me to learn a lot of different things about the art of writing and the proficiency and frequency with which you write is absolutely awesome. And your feedbacks are very generous as well. My friend and fellow poet Sayan Aich has also been a big help as he is often the first reader of my poems. In fact, joining the two communities, Poets United and Real Toads has been a thoroughly enriching experience in various ways. My personal poetic output has literally tripled! All thanks to the wonderful poets and readers out there.

Poets United: Mine too, Abin. Is there anything else you would like to share with Poets United?

Abin: I hope it continues to blossom with many new members and I am sure that I’ll keep contributing and sharing as much as I can.

Poets United: We look forward to continuing to read your work, Abin. We're lucky to have you in our community. Thanks so much for this wonderful visit. I see the Carpet hovering, out the window, so we'll say farewell for now.

Sigh. Hop aboard kids, and we'll leave this magical land, and our visit with another gifted poet from our wonderful community. Isn't it true that the people behind the pens are some of the most interesting folks around? Come back to see who we talk to next. Who knows? It might be you!

The Poetry Pantry Is Now Open! - #79

2011-12-11T08:48:00.000-06:00

The Poetry Pantry

2nd Chance Poems or 1st time shares

Anything goes!! All Poems, all Poets, All Week!!

There 3 simple rules:

1. Don’t link to more than 3 poems per week.

2. Please visit some of the other poems linked here when you link to yours.

3. Leave a comment after you have posted
your link.

I Wish I'd Written This

2011-12-09T01:01:00.029-06:00

Do Not Grieve
by Wendy Poussard

Do not grieve
the Buddha said.
The love of living things
is like the clouds
that meet and drift apart.
Desire is sorrow.
Nothing to keep
nothing to own
dwells in the heart.

Do not mourn
the Buddha said.
The love of living things
is like the leaves
that fall in Autumn’s cold.
The wheel is turning.
Nothing we take
nothing we give
is ours to hold.

Yet when he heard death come,
they say he turned
and took the road
that led towards his home.

From Ground Truth (Melb., Pariah Press, 1987)

Wendy Poussard was one of the founders of the International Women’s Development Agency. Much of her poetry reflects her commitment to human rights and environmental issues — and very fine poetry it is. Her work is deliberately spare, almost minimalist, which leads some people to assume that it’s simple, uncrafted stuff. The apparent simplicity has been worked hard for, and contains subtleties and profundities.

‘Do Not Grieve’ is one of my favourite poems of all time. I never tire of it! I think it is perfectly judged. It needs every word, and not one word more. It is very quiet, yet its message resonates … I want say, forever. I can’t think of a poem I would more wish to have written than this (though Dylan Thomas’s ‘In My Craft or Sullen Art’ would push it close) which perhaps says as much about me as about the poem. Still, I can’t fault it.

Wendy has published two collections of poetry: Ground Truth and Outbreak of Peace. Her ‘A Song for “Water Buffalo”‘, written to accompany a musical performance of a piece by Yuji Takahshi, shows something of how versatile she is.

The Thursday Think Tank # 77 - The City

2011-12-08T11:21:00.000-06:00

A lot of poetry comes from the environment around poets. One such environment is the great and grey cities. Many people write of the country with lush green fields and open air but today we want you to write about the city. A city with sky scrapers standing majestic or ominous, the lights and shadows it casts at night, the lonely walk amongst the throngs of people, the love you experienced and link memories to. The city tells a great many stories and through your poetry we hope to read and experience some of those stories no matter true or imagined.

We look forward to be a t9ourist and visiting your city today.

There 3 simple rules:

1. Don’t link to more than 3 poems per week.

2. Please visit some of the other poems linked here when you link to yours.

3. Leave a comment after you have posted your link.