The poetry podcast for, about, and inspired by YOU, the everyday poet. Submit your audio poetry for worldwide distribution. Hear interviews with poets of all skills from around the world.
I am pleased to announce that within a few weeks I will be launching “The Poet Tech Podcast”, a new addition to the recently launched Cloudy Day Art Podcast Network.
The Poet Tech Podcast is a podcast for poets and writers about how we use technology, in the broadest form of the word, to create and interact with our works. I’ll discuss everything from computer hardware and websites to pens and paper.
Possible topics:
How to set up your own website to showcase your writing
Review of a popular notebook brand
Interviews with poetry website editors
How to podcast your writings
I’m looking forward to the launch, so please subscribe and stay tuned!
Wow, that was a lot of words, and there were some amazing words spoken at tonight’s Grand Slam Finals. The final teams were Hawaii, Rochester, NY, New York City, Chicago, and last year’s returning champs, Philadelphia.
There were so many poetry fans packed into the Lincoln Theatre here in Washington, DC that they had to turn folks away at the door. I barely made it inside and was let in after they made room for just a few more after about 100 people walked away from the door. The venue holds about 450 people.
This event was one of the most amazing poetry events I’ve ever been to. Scratch that…it was the most amazing poetry event I’ve ever been to. HBO has been documenting the teams up to tonight’s event, so stay tuned because in a few months time you’ll be able to see tonight’s event and a behind-the-scenes look into what these kids did tonight.
So, congrats again to Hawaii!
I live-blogged the event, so you can read the play-by-play below:
Brave New Voices 2008 – International Youth Poetry Slam Finals!
Team Santa Fe, New Mexico. The only all Native American team at the Brave New Voices 2008 International Youth Poetry Slam gives their introduction. The crowd loves it!
The crowd was really supportive of the team and they deserved it. They gave one of the tightest performances of the afternoon as opposed to some teams who seemed to be holding back their best for the competition.
The HBO crew seemed to be giving this team a lot of attention, so you’ll be sure to see more of them in the documentary HBO is making on Brave New Voices 2008.
Brave New Voices 2008 is off to a great start. I captured some great pieces today. More to follow, but for now enjoy this highly motivating piece “Unofficial Proclamation”:
I’ll be attending next week’s “Brave New Voices 2008“, the 11th Annual International Poetry Slam Festival, here in Washington, DC July 15-19th 2008. Over 450 poets from around the country and world will be converging on the nation’s capital to compete.
The festivities will include workshops, discussions on the environment, the competitions throughout the week, and the Grand Slam at the Kennedy CenterLincoln Theater on Saturday night. The Grand Slam will be taped to be later featured on HBO’s documentary on Brave New Voices!
This is a great event for the participating youth. I hope to get the opportunity to talk to and interview some of these students.
This week’s featured video is by the amazing poet Taylor Mali. Since the first time I heard it on Indiefeed, this spoken word piece has always been one of my favorites. Listen.
In honor of “National Poetry Month”, which begins April 1st, I’m going to participate in this year’s NaPoWriMo or National Poetry Writing Month. Poets from around the world are committing to writing one poem a day, every day, for the 30 days of April.
I first heard about it through a post by Shanna Compton, which then led me to a post by Maureen Thorson, so I joined her blogroll.
The goal is not to create the perfect poem every day, but to get people to write poetry. A few of your poems will be amazing, a few of your poems will be literary garbage, but they all will be your creation and the experience will be one to remember.
Maureen writes:
Those who accept the NaPoWriMo challenge must commit themselves to writing a poem every day for the entirety of April. Those who accept this challenge may choose to post those poems on blogs, keep them in their notebooks, or hire underemployed skywriters to decorate urban cloudscapes with their output.
I have been doing this for around five years, and many have followed in my wake! If you plan to participate, go forth and do so! NaPoWriMo is free, requires no license, and wants you to propagate it in new and foreign soils.
I would love to have some Cloudy Day Art listeners and readers join me in this. If you agree to participate I will put a link to your blog on the Cloudy Day Art NaPoWriMo page, so others can follow along. I’ll post my poems on my poetry blog if you would like to follow along.
Contact me if you’re in! Oh, if you read this after April 1st, you can still join in. I won’t tell.
Flashback Friday is a new regular feature that I’m adding to the site, because there are many great interviews and shows that many of you have never heard and these poets deserve to be heard again!
It always brings a smile to my face when I hear about teachers finding unique ways to bring technology into the classroom and the learning process. This time I am smiling ear-to-ear when I heard about a teacher doing it using two of my favorite passions: Poetry and Podcasting!
Apparently the kids are quite fond of the poem “Booger Love” by Brod Bagert. A few of them recite it for their individual readings. My favorite recitation is by a student named “Kobie”. HERE is his reading.
I’m only on Chapter 1 “The Poet’s Job Description” and am ready to give my whole-hearted recommendation for this book.
Here’s a chapter excerpt that captures the importance of reading poetry:
We teach ourselves to write the kinds of poems we like to read. The more poems you read, and the more models you learn from and imitate, the better your writing will get. After you have read lots of poetry and written lots of poetry, your own work will become more accomplished and more your own, such a rich porridge of everything you’ve read and experimented with that most readers won’t be able to separate the ingredients. To that, you add your personality, character, and experience and, presto, you’ve got your own way of writing, your style, a uniqueness born of hands-on work with reading and writing.
It’s paragraphs like this that are making this book such an interesting read. Mr. Kooser is known for poetry that connects with people and, so far, his writing has the same effect.
As I mentioned in my audio-blog a few days ago, I plan on interviewing Ted Kooser about this book and the lessons that I’m learning throughout it. I think I’ll shoot for a mid-August date, so why don’t you join me in reading it and come up with some questions of your own?
All 10s!!! 
In honor of “National Poetry Month”, which begins April 1st, I’m going to participate in this year’s NaPoWriMo or National Poetry Writing Month. Poets from around the world are committing to writing one poem a day, every day, for the 30 days of April.
I just started reading the book, “