Well done.

“You Can” for @WillBrown at http://poetguru.com“

Rightfully intrigued, I followed the link and found a poem entitled “You Can” for Will Brown.

It was a short poem that I interpret to mean that you should always be ready to receive inspiration. Not only that, but to somehow capture the thought, the seed, and save it for later. For a time when you can be alone and plant that thought again in your mind.

But that was not the important part.

The greater realization came from the fact that Thom reached out to inspire a fellow poet.

As poets, in order to be effectively inspired, we must link arms with other poets. Friends that, whenever you have any contact with them, ask you if you are writing. Gordon Buss asked me this very question a couple of days ago in an email. I was inspired then as well.

But inspiration can only go so far. As Thom says in the last lines of the poem: “Your pen before ink runs dry. Sins to just think.”

You can only change your next action.

—

You can’t change a relationship with a loved one.

You can only change your next interaction.

—

You can’t change your entire job.

You can only change your next task.

—

You can’t change your body composition.

You can only change your next meal.

—

You can’t change your fitness level.

You can only start moving.

—

You can’t declutter your entire life.

You can only get choose to get rid of one thing, right now.

—

You can’t eliminate your entire debt.

You can only make one payment, or buy one less unnecessary item.

—

You can’t change the past, or control the future.

You can only change what you’re doing right now.

—

You can’t change everything.

You can only change one, small thing.

And that’s all it takes.

Enjoy:

I, for one, I believe that the two can both peacefully coexist in the fast moving market of e-readers. In fact, I now own both devices and am equally pleased with both when it comes to the purpose that they serve.

Len Edgerly in his latest podcast episode of The Kindle Chronicles mentioned that he distinguished between the two users by the term “serious readers”; a term that just makes sense when it comes to discerning which device works best for each individual person.  Serious readers are people who like to read books for an extended period of time. They make time to separate themselves from the world by immersing themselves into the world that they are holding in their hands.

On the other side, the casual reader is perfectly content to read just a few pages at a time whenever the moment hits them. The things that bother serious readers about the iPad are not a factor for casual readers. Screen glare, the iPad’s weight, and eye-strain are things that will rarely affect someone who only picks up the iPad for short bursts of reading.

This is where the poetry consumer comes in.

People that read poetry typically don’t sit with one book of poetry for long periods of time. Our readings tend to come in bursts. Have you ever sat down and read dozens of poems in one sitting?

For me, the battle between the e-readers purely from the poetry reading perspective is not a battle at all. It is as simply a choice of which medium is available for me to use at the moment I decide to read. The choice could be paper, a magazine, a blog, my computer, my iPad, or my Kindle.

Currently, poetry publishers are deciding that for us. Most poetry is being published traditionally (magazines, journals, books, blogs, and web), but a few publishers are riding the technological wave with their poets. Electronic delivery, currently primarily by PDF, is giving great opportunities for some. However, the selection on both the iPad and Kindle seem limited. In some cases it is because the publisher isn’t getting the books into the digital marketplace and in others it is the technological constraints of the market itself that provides a hurdle the the individual author must first overcome.

Here’s what I foresee in the very near future for the digital market. Application developers will pair with poetry publishers, both publishing houses and individuals, to create applications that dismantle such hurdles. Look to digital providers such as LuLu.com and others to lead from the front.

So, in the end, which device is better for the poetry consumer. Either. It depends on what your other reading habits are. Serious readers will prefer the Kindle or Barnes and Noble’s Nook. Casual readers will prefer the iPad or one of the other potential tablet computers coming down the stream.

I am concerned with the poet who is seeking a means of delivery. I hope you consider all avenues to share your works.

Her presence is pure emotion when she is on stage and her words pierce your soul and intertwine with your emotions as she speaks. Amazing.

Listen to her poem “End Times” in this video and tell me what you think.

I found this video over at Viral Verse –another great site for quality poetry videos. Be sure to stop by, check out their videos, and subscribe!

Hissa received death threats as the result of her appearances on the show and for the words she spoke. She didn’t just speak poems of love and nature, but she chose the opportunity to speak about issues of women’s equality in a region where the phrase is scoffed at and demeaned. Her courage in this competition earned her and the women of the region more than that one million dollars could have ever purchased.

Every time we speak out what we as poets believe, we speak for those who have the same thoughts and words, but don’t have the means to share them. We have our open mics, blogs, podcasts, books, and magazines to speak truth as we know it. We have the opportunity to reach more people than some will ever reach in their entire lives.

Embrace that, poet.

Here’s a video from ABC Nightly News where Hissa Hilal is featured as the Person of the Week. I hope it inspires you.

Here’s an article from ABC as well, in case the video is regionalized by ABC: Person of the Week: Poet Hissa Hilal

Moving Poems scours the web for great examples of poetry put to video and video worked around poetry. Dave decided to start the site “in part to learn how to make better video poetry”.

What I like best about the site is that he doesn’t just post the video, but he gives good insight on why he likes it and even interesting tidbits about the video.

A good example is the information he provided about a couple of Walt Whitman poems that were recently featured in televised advertisements here in the states. I had seen the Levis commercial featuring “Pioneers! O Pioneers”, but wasn’t aware of all the discussion taking place about it on the web and media. I definitely recommend taking a look at the full article.

Here is the Levis ad that was mentioned:

Let me know if you come across a good video that you think others here would enjoy. I’d love to share it!

Let me know in the comments or via Twitter!

I’ve seen my share of sites that prompted poets to come online, share their poetry, and interact amongst the community. Some have been good and some have been bad. What separates the good from the bad, in my opinion, comes down to how the site founder handles a small set of criteria (in top of my head order):

• Site design
• Community involvement
• Showcasing poems and poets
• Providing incentives to poets to comment on other’s poetry

Hello Poetry does a great job in all these areas. Lets hit each of these specifically to explain further.

Site Design

I know. This can’t be the most important thing to look at when reviewing a poetry site. But it is very important. You consciously evaluate whether a web site is good or bad with the first few seconds of the home page loading. It’s a fact.

The web design crew at Hello Poetry have succeeded in creating a beautifully minimalist web design devoid of heavy graphics, banner ads, and the gaudy colors that we see on many poetry community sites (I’m guilty at times, too). The first thing you see center page is a short description of the site with an immediate call to action to read a featured, random poem. Nice.

Community Involvement

Click on the “Community” link at the top of the page and you are taken to a page split into a few different sections:

• “Suggested Poems”: Featuring two poems from users (not sure how those are chose)
• “Poems by recent interest“: Appears to use recent comments and views to showcase
• “Members most active this week“: A list of hyperlinked poet names. You can click the poet’s name to go to their profile page which contains a great deal of info about him or her:
  • Short bio
  • Newest poems
  • Top poems
  • Words used ~ Shows, in tag cloud format, the most used words by the particular poet. Cool! This is helpful for the poet and for the reader to gauge the basic mood of the poet’s writings
  • Groups they are a member of
  • A poet Q&A created that is pulled from questions that the poet chooses to answer in the “Discussions” area of the site.

All these areas practically beg the reader to explore, comment, and contribute to the site without being too overbearing.

Shocasing Poems and Poets

Hello Poetry has enabled an automatic background process they call “Exposure” to promote poets and poets throughout the site. Here’s how they define it on a recent blog post:

Keep in mind that even though exposure is now handled automatically, the same ideas apply as before. Your work will be exposed more often if you read and give thoughtful reactions to poems, and do other positive interactions on Hello Poetry. This keeps everyone on a level playing field and gives something in return to those contributing the most to the community.

So, the more you are involved in the site, the greater your chance of poetry being exposed. I have read discussions both pro and con of this technique, but it seems to work overall.

Providing Incentives to Poets to Comment on Other’s Poetry

This goes hand in hand with their “Exposure” algorithm. That along with creating a very good user experience and generally open and encouraging community of poetry lovers, seems to be keeping the site updated with fresh and interesting reading.

I do have some concerns as the discussion forum that I thought was there a month or so ago seems to have disappeared. This could be because the creators thought it took away from the pure poetry aspect or because of some of the grumblings I saw as some of the new features were being implemented. Or both.

All in all, I would recommend Hello Poetry to poets as a place to share their poetry and to read and encourage other poets.

I’m listed there. I only have one poem up, but I hope to increase that soon.

What do you think about Hello Poetry?

He takes an article from a newspaper, looks for key words that inspire him, then blacks out all the rest. It’s a different take on those magnetic poetry or refrigerator poetry kits you can by online, but it is a cool idea none the less. He’s also releasing a book of poetry based on his creations. Check out this video report:

I could see this as a great exercise to try when you think you are running into a creative brick wall.  The words are already written for you. You just have to get rid of the unnecessary ones.

This is a very true statement, though spoken partially in jest.  In fact, this is somewhat what I’m doing here at Cloudy Day Art. Posting 30 blog post over 30 days. I don’t think I’ve written thirty blog posts on this site over the five years of it’s existence!

But is that so wrong?  I would rather have mainstream media cover poetry and its associated events this one time of year than not at all.

It is our jobs as poetry bloggers, podcasters, and journalists to keep the art in the minds of our listeners and readers the other 335 days. Some say that we don’t have the large outreach that a USA Today has, but collectively we can reach millions by sharing one verse with your friends on Facebook. By sharing on link to a spoken word performance to your followers on Twitter. By sharing one podcast with your listeners.

Thirty days isn’t much time for poetry to be in the spotlight. Let’s show them how we do it.

I present to you today, a decent poem being performed on great video.  AmeriKa by RaD (aka Ryanaustin Dennis) is a typical angry-at-America poem shot beautifully and artistically by Christopher George for his Senior Graphic Design Thesis.

I’m hoping to see more poets team up with video artists to create the visual art we need.

*Caution: the following video contains strong language and visuals that my be offensive to some*

What are your thoughts on the current state and future of video poetry?

Share them in the comments.

Today is launch day for the “magical” device known as the iPad.  Hundreds of thousands of Apple fanboys and girls, techies and geeks, and normal everyday people are eagerly awaiting the arrival of their new wonderful toy.

Being a gadget freak myself, I thought about and pondered how I could possibly justify purchasing an iPad for myself. In my household we have an iMac, a laptop, and a netbook. All the bases are covered! I’m still pleading my case with my wife…

Until then, I decided to peruse the iTunes App Store to see what apps are available today on the iPad for all you poets and writers who made the jump. I know of two of my fellow poetry podcasters who are planning on it.

Let’s get started.

PortaPoet:

This app suffers from a poor name choice, but it is still a neat tool.

“PortaPoet will help you to quickly and easily write and share rhyming poems…” It contains a built-in rhyming dictionary, the ability to save poems locally, and the ability to share them with your Facebook friends from within the interface.  (iTunes Link)

~~~

My Writing Nook:

“My Writing Nook provides a simple, uncluttered writing workspace. However, uncluttered doesn’t mean feature-poor.”

This is a great looking app for those of you who write novels. It has a built-in dictionary/thesaurus, autosave, and a neat tie-in to an online web application that lets you sync your iPad version to the cloud for backup and a handy web interface to continue writing and editing when you are on any computer. (iTunes Link)

~~~

Max Journal:

Max Journal is a beautifully designed journaling app meant to imitate the standard paper-based journal.

Features include multiple font choices that give your text a hand-written look and feel. Another neat feature is that you can attach up to three photos per post like you would a summer vacation scrapbook. It even has a virtual paperclip to hold them in place. This looks like a great app to use to write your private thoughts without having to post them to a public blog. (iTunes Link)

~~~

NoteSketch:

Simply put, “NoteSketch turns your iPad into a digital notebook that you can take with you wherever you go.”

We all have those moments when we think of the perfect phrase or theme for a future poem. What do we do next? We immediately scramble for a piece of paper to write it down. Well, with NoteSketch your iPad becomes that notebook. You just launch the app, open a notebook, and use your finger to start writing or sketching down your thoughts. Simple. (iTunes Link)

~~~

Pages:

Pages is the granddaddy of all word processing apps on the iPad. Already popular on the Mac, it has been ported over to the iPad resulting in a beautiful interface with a slew of tools to go along with it.

Besides standard text documents, you can create flyers, form letters, charts, insert images and resize them on the fly. You can then export them a variety of ways to allow you to print them or have them printed professionally. Great for chapbooks or your personal collection of poems to give as gifts. (iTunes Link)

There will be more and more of these apps appearing on a weekly basis as many new use cases are developed by poets and writers. I’m quite curious to see what will evolve.

Have you purchased or planning on purchasing an iPad? What apps would be helpful for you?

As you can tell by searching this site, I’ve been a big fan all this time.

Many poetry related podcasts came on the scene after his 2005 debut with big dreams and aspirations–I was one of them. I have seen many come and go. Some of them I missed.

So, what was the secret in the success of Slam Idol? Simplicity. A simple concept. A great idea that rose above the technology. Too many of us poetry podcasters were more focused on the tools rather than the art we were supposed to be representing.

The main focus of those of us with this gift, this ability to take a poem that very few have ever heard and share it with hundreds of people from around the world, should be remembered in its simplest form.

Share.

Don’t worry about getting the best microphone. Don’t worry about having the nicest looking blog. Don’t worry about monetizing the art.

Just share.

That’s what Simon did so well. He consistently put the poet before the technology. He then followed that with the slow tweaking of the medium.

Before he purchased his own hosting he was at SlamIdol.tripod.com (free). Then he bought his own domain name, SlamIdolPodcast.com, which he hosted at GoDaddy for free as well I believe. Eventually he moved over to Podshow, now Mevio, and now is hosting his site on a full domain. All over the course of five years.

All this while, rather than constantly playing with the tech, he shared. Poets from around the world received listens and votes from poetry lovers from around the world.

Well done, Simon!

Simon is taking a bold step and totally revamping what Slam Idol is be begetting the Slam Stream. If you haven’t followed his discussion listen to Slam Idol #297 and my interview with him to hear where he’s going.

It has that same feel of the early Slam Idol experience for me. A new experience in waters where few have tread before.

I’m going for a swim. How about you?

National Poetry Month was started by The Academy of American Poets in 1996 and has been gaining popularity ever since.  Each year poets around the country, and world in this connected age, find new ways to celebrate poetry and increase it’s visibility.

One of my favorite celebrations is the challenging and humbling National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo) started in 2003 by poet and blogger Maureen Thorson. I’ve participated in the past and some of my favorite writings have come from the experience. Some days the words flow easily from the pen and other days you must carve them out of your soul with a chisel and a sledgehammer, but the experience is a beautiful one. You emerge from the process like an ancient warrior emerging from the wilderness after a thirty-day rite of passage.

Check out Maureen’s NaPoWriMo site if you would like to join in and have your poem site listed for NaPoWriMo 2010 if you so choose. In fact, you don’t have to post online at all. You can simply join the challenge by making a vow to yourself to write one poem a day for the month. No pressure!

For an even greater challenge, the folks over at Read Write Poem have a very in-depth challenge where many of the poets have the chance to have their April writings featured in a published anthology.

If you simply want to enjoy the poetry, I recommend doing a search for NaPoWriMo or #NaPoWriMo on Twitter whenever you get a spare moment. Many poets are already tweeting out links to their writings using the #NaPoWriMo hashtag. I often look for new poetry to read by searching for the #poetry hashtag.

Are you participating in NaPoWriMo this year? Post a link in the comments and I’ll be sure to check out your poems and may even link to the ones I really like that I come across!

Have fun!

Image Credit

This will kind of be a mixture of all that because I’ll be posting everything from poetry, embedding poetry videos, talking about poet tech, a podcast here and there, and maybe even a short story or two. We’ll see!

Please check back daily or subscribe to the All Posts Feed to keep up!

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bicameral/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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!

(07/19/2008)  Powered by: CoveritLive

  

Close

7:11	Ok, folks. thanks for joining me. Still in line outside of theater.

7:17	Ok, chaos at the theatre. Folks, like me, with reservations being turned away.

7:20	There is hope. Line slowly moving.

7:29

I’m in!

7:30	Rochester NY on stage.

7:35

Scores:

7:35	9.1, 9.1, 9.5, 10

7:36	Chicago on.

7:40	9.2, 9.5, 10, 10

7:41	NYC up w/ group piece

7:45

Amazing !

7:46	9.7, 9.9, 9.9, 10, 10

7:46	Philly 2007 champs on stage.

7:47	6 on stage

7:48	Talking about how they haven’t been a team. Disqualifying themselves.

7:50	Performing “Free”

7:53	Standing O from crowd

7:54	9.8, the rest all 10s

7:55	Hawaii up at mic

7:56	2 person piece

8:00	9.6 10 10 10 10

8:05	The theatre is at capacity. 450 attending

8:06	Round 2 begins now

8:07	Chicago on again. 2 poets this time.

8:10	Poem of tragic childhood. We’re all silent

8:10	9.7, 9.8, 9.9

8:11	NYC up w/ one poet

8:15	9.9, rest all 10s

8:16	Philly back up. FYI HBO is filming this for a documentary on Brave New Voices.

8:17	Poem: we are a vessel

8:22	Nice piece on growing up transgendered. 10, 10, 10, 10

8:23	Team Hawaii – two poet piece.

8:25	Piece on the 7 deadly sins. Parts getting laughs.

8:27	The talent at this show amazing! 9.9, 10, 10, 10, 10

8:28	Rochester on w/ a solitary poet.

8:32	Speaking on the tragedies of hip-hop.. The death of hip-hop

8:33	9.5, 9.9, 9.5, 10

8:34	All poets are between 13 and 19

8:35	http://youthspeaks.org

8:35	Team Austin on stage to share a piece between rounds

8:36	Speaking for the late Shannon Leigh

8:41	Shannon Leigh passed away a few weeks back.

8:41	Round 3 begins w/ NYC.

8:46	“Braething polluted air is better than not breathing at all” 9.8, 9.9, 10, 10

8:47	Team Philly up. 4 female poets. “we are doing this for our mothers”

8:51	An ordinary day in the life os a desparate house wife. 9.7, 9.8, 10, 10

8:52	Hawaii up at mic with 1 poet.

8:53	Story of cousin lost to war.

8:57	Judges : 9.8, 9.9, 10, 10 for Hawaii

9:04	Photo from line getting in to theter earlier: http://brightkite.com/00Zkg

9:05	Back from dance break intermission. rochester coming up

9:06	Single poet. Poem about finding herself.

9:10	Everyone was glued to her words. She was in tears. 9.8, 9.8, 10, 10

9:11	ChiTown to the stage. 2 poets speaking.

9:12	One poet reciting names of kids killed in school violence as the two speak

9:15	Standing O from the crowd. “When will they call this a genocide”. All 10s!

9:18	Philly team is up with 3 poets for the final round

9:24	“We dance to keep our feet on the floor” in ref to lynchings. All 10s from the judges. Deserved.

9:24	Team Hawaii bringing three this round.

9:29	Nice piece on the environment and oil greed. Nice change of pace. 9.5, 9.9, 10, 10

9:31	Rochester, NY going with 1 poet this round. Thanks all poets for the love this week.

9:32	Funny piece on lost love.

9:35	Brilliant. Crowd chanting: “Poetry…Poetry…” 9.8, rest 10s.

9:36	Chicago bringing one poet. Crowd showing her much love.

9:37	“Ode to a female MC”

9:41	Yeah…she tore it up. All 10s!!!

9:42	Last team of the night: NYC

9:43	One poet on crutches. Her team mates gathered behind her, arms raised.

9:44	Poem about struggles of disability.

9:45	Crowd starting to raise arms in support around the building.

9:47	“I don’t need to fall to break”

9:48	Another standing O from all of us

9:49	This was a beautiful night of potery. So much love in here.

9:49	We all know what the scores will be.

9:50	Hesitation. Thanking judges.

9:51	Judge spokesman tearing up as reminiscing about the week.

9:52	All 10s as expected.

9:53	Host: This can’t end. Crowd: Let’s go to the White House!

9:54	Mark Barmuti (sp?) about to share a poem. Is this the Barak poem?

9:59	“Here we are the artistic frontline of those left behind”

10:00

Poetry chants one again fill the room.

10:01

All the teams taking the stage.

10:03

They’re still tabulating the score.

10:04

All the poets are singing “This Little Light of Mine” crowd clapping and singing along.

10:05

Now it’s a big dance party as the poets hug and congratulate each other.

10:06

Poets are thanking the judges.

10:08

Poet Sonya Sanchez among the judges. She is speaking now.

10:11

“Sometimes we have to step away to have another day”

10:11

Here we go:

10:12

5th place: Philly

10:13

Roch 4th, Chi 3rd

10:13

NYC 2nd

10:13

Hawaii 2008 champs!!!!

10:21

All poets on stage chanting “BNV ain’t nothin’ to fu** with” Photo http://brightkite.com/00Zkg

10:23

That’ll do it. Thanks for reading. Be sure to subscribe for future updates. Enter your email in the enews box on the front page. Goodnight!!!

10:23

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 Center Lincoln 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.

Let me know if you’re coming. I would love to meet up with you at one of the events. You can find more information, including the bout schedule, at the Brave New Voices 2008 web site.

Check it out here: Cloudy Day Art #42

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!

Let me know what you think in the comments!

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!

The school is Glenbrook Elementary of Euclid, OH. The teacher is Mrs. Mahoney.

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.

Glenbrook Elementary Poetry Podcast

Does anyone know of any other schools doing something similar? Let me know in the comments.

One lucky poet will win, from me, one interview on “Cloudy Day Art” and a $15 gift certificate to Amazon.com.

There are plenty of great sponsors, so be sure to check it out and send in your poetry. It would be great to see one of my listeners win!

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?

*UPDATE* Listen to my interview with Ted Kooser on Cloudy Day Art #81!

Billed as:

A comprehensive view of contemporary poetry across the United States.

It’s a Zampano Films production in association Kill Poet Press and Journal (site currently down – their MySpace)

It looks very interesting and I’m curious to see how it is released. Artsy, independent movie houses, straight to DVD???

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

The State of Poem (extended trailer)

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One of the questions I ask is:

“If you write poetry, how do you usually compose?” 

That really got me thinking about how we as poets create and edit our works.  Think about it. Just generations ago, poets used nothing but pen and paper to generate their works.

No computers.

No Internet.

Just the poet.

The solitude of the craft has become broken by Instant Messaging, e-mail notifications, and the temptation to minimize creation and maximize our web browsers.

That being said, according to current survey results, 50% of us create our poetry on computers. I am one of those. In fact, besides short phrases scribbled on napkins during quick flashes of inspiration, 99% of all my drafts are formed through a keyboard.

To those who purposely avoid the computer and opt for the holy trinity of poet, pencil and pad, I commend you for your discipline.

But, at the same time, I wonder if there are any advantages to being online during creativity. Certainly a case can be made for quick access to online dictionaries and thesauruses. What about a quick trip over to Wikipedia to corroborate your witty sci-fi reference to Cerulean Blue?

What are your thoughts?

The DC Poets Against the War are organizing a contingent of poets from around the country to take part in this weekend’s “March on Washington” that has been put together by a group called “United for Peace & Justice“. From the PAW website:

Come to Washington January 27 to March With the Poets As We Call on Congress to End the War Now!

March with the poets to call for an end to the war in Iraq! We’ll be carrying lines of poetry on signs through the streets of Washington. Join us! Details and contact information below. On Saturday, January 27, DC Poets Against the War will host a poets contingent at the United for Peace and Justice protest. We’ll be gathering on Satuday, January 27th at 10:30 am at Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th Street NW, Washington, DC (U Street/Cardozo on the Green Line), and heading via metro together to the protest at around 11 am. We’ll have plenty of signs, or bring your own if you feel inspired.  

My plan is to get to Bus Boys and Poets a little early to set up a couple of interviews and then record the arrival of poets, the preparation, the mass metro ride, and scenes from the march. I hoping that everything goes smoothly and that the most challenging part will be editing the footage.

I’ll keep you updated!

Tags:Poets Against the War:March On Washington:United For Peace and Justice

I really do enjoy the experience of a poetry slam, but unfortunatley the lesser, quiet, more introspective poet sometimes gets lost in the grandeur of the other more vocal and animated slammers. Yes, I know that is a big part of the poetry slam–how well you move and excite the crowd and I do believe that a truly great poem can out-shout a loud-mouth by the sheer beauty of the words, but still….

My heart just bleeds for the little guy.

The poet that pours his soul into the paper. The poet that literally becomes exhausted at the end of writing an eight line poem that would never be entered into a slam, but dies to be heard. I know that is what open mic events are for, but still…

I ache for the little guy with the small voice.

Poetry slam is quickly losing its function as a community building force among poets, which is often the first reason a lot of “old-timers” site as why the poetry slam was created. We need to move on from the ill-fated slam and find another forum or structure by which to network, support, and push each other as performers and writers. Slam has devolved into a place where we rarely offer honest critical advice, relying solely on the affirmation of audience applause or winning of a slam as “evidence” of our credibility as an artist.

–Carlos Andres Gomez

Well said, Carlos.

Well said, StrUHT.

There’s actually an odd correlation between these ideas: poetry is either inadequate, even immoral, in the face of human suffering, or it’s unprofitable, hence useless. Either way, poets are advised to hang our heads or fold our tents. Yet in fact, throughout the world, transfusions of poetic language can and do quite literally keep bodies and souls together – and more.

Why do all most of the good poetry newspaper articles come out of the UK?

Some of you probably believe that the NEA’s take on poetry is probably too upscale for the average American, but at the same time Mr. Gioia and crew have done a lot of work to get poetry out of the academics and into everyday society. The Poetry Out Loud project is just one small example.

“…Gioia found he disliked the cloistered academic world and the fact that he was being trained to write a kind of poetry his own family would never enjoy. “It’s bad as a society if you have all your poets at a university. There should be a broader life experience open to writers,” he says. “I was being taught a professional language that was spoken by about 600, 700 people in the world.”

When he decided to leave Harvard to study business at Stanford, most of his professors couldn’t understand his decision to abandon a promising academic career. But Gioia saw himself following poets like T.S. Eliot and Wallace Stevens, who had worked in commerce and wrote on the side. His questions about the system would crystallize in one of his most famous and debated writings, a 1991 essay for The Atlantic, “Can Poetry Matter?” in which he argues the form has become too elitist.”

The NEA has received a lot of bad press for the “art” that it has endorsed over the years, but perhaps Mr. Gioia is changing that perception–one poet at a time.

You can subscribe to our audio here: Simon and Me

I’ll have the text of my poems available at my new site: The Workshop along with any additional info that I may mention in the audio.

The Workshop will also be a way for you to listen in on future projects as well. These will be poems that I will be contributing to specific podcasts, websites, magazines, etc that do not have a “first to print” clause.

This is going to be fun!

Will

I’ll talk to you soon.

Until enjoy this great poem by Billy Collins:

Anyway, I’ve decided that the only way to silence that voice is to first build up a body of work, so that I can at least give myself the option of publishing or not. And, as I am building up my works, I can submit single poems to various magazines, newspapers, articles, and podcasts to find out what kind of reception and feedback my poems get along the way.

In my entire life I have submitted poetry to three or four projects. Two of those were podcasts.

The Washington Post ran an article about some great publishing alternatives for us amateur writers. LuLu.com has gotten rave reviews for their on-demand publishing method. I have heard many unsung writers singing its praises. Blurb.com just debuted as a direct competitor as of yesterday. Both worth checking out.

So, as a result, I’m going to work hard at becoming a better, more frequent author. I’m putting together a discussion podcast on creativity and overcoming writer’s block with Thom Ingram of the Poet Guru Podcast and Harry Lafnear of the EveryDay Muse podcast to find out their techniques for their poem-a-day writing projects. We’re shooting for recording this Saturday. Stay tuned!

Apparently he is quite the artist and entrepreneur. He is also going to be opening up an new Bus Boys and Poets in the Arlington area. I’m not sure if that one will be closer for me or not, but we’ll see.

Be on the lookout for an interview with him from Cloudy Day Art in the near future.

The Cruelest (and Coolest) Month

It was really quite interesting to read both sides of the argument. However, those in the “National Poetry Month is a silly premise” category always seemed to come across as a bit elitist and proud of it.

Sure, on the surface, it may seem to demean the art of poetry to some, but I think the positive out-weighs any negative connotations. It is, in my opinion, the one time of the year when poetry is even talked about by some individuals and columnists. Just listen to my “Man on the Street” interviews a couple of podcasts back. Those individuals didn’t know it was National Poetry Month, but now they do. And now they will remember.

National Poetry Month. I’m all for it.

It seems rare that you see that much dedication to making a difference in someone so young, but I’m not convinced that it is as rare as we are made to believe. The media likes to play that angle, but we are not the media.

Be sure to check out Chris and his team on Cloudy Day Art #47 for a taste of your future.

We expect to get some great interviews and audio for you, so be sure to stay subscribed and be on the lookout for more great content here on Cloudy Day Art!

Ok, that’s enough reading. Shouldn’t you be writing something??? It is National Poetry Month after all!

Giant Purple Head

Flipping through all the pictures, it all seems so surreal and that kind of makes it appealing. It seems like it would be a very freeing and “spiritual” art experience.

Have any of you been?

Thanks to Harry Lafnear over at the “Everyday Muse” poetry podcast for the kind words and plug. You’ll hear more from him on the “Second Sunday” show this weekend.

Big thanks to Mongo over at the Indiefeed Performance Poetry channel for the kind words as well. Be sure to check out and subscribe to these great podcasts.

Anyway, Gerry has a great inquisitive personality which will go well with vision of the show: discovering the inspiration of the poets he comes in contact with. I’ll have Gerry on the show for a quick interview sometime during the upcoming weeks.

The invitation is still open for anyone else out there who is thinking about linking up with us. Just shoot me an email or post a comment on the site!

Anyhow, thanks to Shamsul for the simple to use and configure template and toolkit.

A big thanks to Becky at Podcast Designs for the new banner, logo, advert, and album art. Great work, and I recommend her.

“Recorded Live at the Sacred Ground Cafe in Arcata, CA. Featuring two members of the “Chico Speaks Out 2005 National Youth Poetry Slam” finalists – Cara Anthieny and Ulises Dorantes.

I have some great poetry clips from the open mic I went to a couple of weeks ago.

You’ll hear from me soon.

Will

Next week’s show will be the audio tour of the BusBoys and Poets Tuesday night open mic that I attended a couple of weeks ago. I’m going to do an interview with a representative from there eventually as well.

Oh, in my last post I mentioned the Tuesday night open mic at Bus Boys and Poets here in DC. It was an amazing evening with a wide variety of poets. The host changes every week, so you are sure to get a slightly different flavor every time you go. That week’s host was a part of a group called “Poets against the war”, so there were a lot of politically charged poems spoken that night. Very much expected here in the capitol.

I recorded over 2 hours of audio from it, so I may have some of that in this weekend’s show. It depends on how much I am able to salvage from an interview I did over Skype on Monday. I interviewed Rg, the founder of BZOO Homegrown Radio, but for some reason I was getting a lot of echo from his voice. This is a problem I have never experienced, but a lot of podcasters have when recording Skype. I hadn’t recorded an interview like this in a while, so it may be that I didn’t connect a cable or set a setting correctly. We’ll see.

Anyway, the results of that will determine whether or not I put the open mic recording out there this week.

Ok, just wanted to drop by an update.

Oh, be on the lookout for a few changes coming to the website over the next few weeks. Its time to change a few things around!

Tags:Poetry:Open Mic:Podcastercon2006:Podcastercon:Skype:Interview