Attention. Attention. The internets has resumed.
•July 26, 2008 • No Comments
Thanks John.
Watch out for the APPLESAUCE !!
NaPoSluMo–National Poetry Slumping Month
•June 18, 2008 • 3 Comments
Yeah, well. So much for NaPoReMo.
Why I keep signing up for these things I don’t know. I crashed and burned halway through National Poetry Writing Month too. I did finish ’Fragment of the Head of a Queen’ though and it’s very good.
I have a piece up in six sentences today. I love that site.
NaPoReMo Day one:
•June 3, 2008 • No CommentsLove the Contagion:
Marvin begins her book with two quotes, one from Dylan Thomas:
“And who shall tell the amorist
Oblivion is so loverless’
And this from Sappho:
“Don’t stir
The trash”
The Sappho quote still fresh in the reader’s mind, here’s how the opening poem begins:
“Quest the contagion, funnel much muck
through your hands upraised and cupped,
pour river-brack down your throat, pick
your scabs with loving glee”
the poem basically moves on and on like this, sonically dense and bursting with vivid, harrowing imagery:
“wear
your lover’s indiscretions like stickpins
in your apple hat: rotting skin, dry as dust,
ample sliced, a great old pie atop your head”
to end with a nod back at Thomas and Sappho:
“Be the world. Do not deny our fascination
lies in its filth, the maggot’s sweet diet.
Marvel at the corrupt! Make disgust your
lust and cast your fresh pain to the trash!”
Marvin obviously intends this poem to be a key to the rest of the book. I’ve only dipped in so far, but what I’ve read of the book is bleak while still very alive and dangerous, I like that she’s willing to push things and risk going over the edge. It’s also celebratory in a dark way. I’ve read through this poem a half dozen times or so this afternoon, and the more I sit with it the more excited I am about my choice for the month.
NaPoReMo
•June 3, 2008 • No Comments
I’m doing NaPoReMo over at the PFFA (Poetry free For All) forum..
The book I’ve chosen is Cate Marvin’s ‘Fragment of the Head of a Queen’.
Here’s the rules:
We have designated June as National Poetry Reading Month (NaPoReMo). The idea goes like this:
1. Buy a new book, preferably before June, by a contemporary poet whose work you are not particularly familiar with. An anthology is also acceptable. You must buy the book. Poetry publishers need your money, especially the smaller ones.
2. Create a thread and, in the subject box, write the name of your chosen book and the name of the author e.g. “Selected Poems – Baby Face Finlayson.” In your first post, provide a link to the book. Also, an index of your own posts might be useful, just as in NaPoWriMo.
3. Read the whole collection by the end of the month at least once. I know some people will laugh at this, as they will read several collections every month. But for others, this will be a new experience.
4. Each day, in your thread, write a paragraph on a poem from the book. There’s no minimum or maximum length of paragraph. It could be a short sentence. But explain how you react to the poem and quote your favourite line (or a line to show why you didn’t like it). Be careful not to quote too much from individual poems. Respect copyright.
5. You can fluff other people’s threads if you wish.
