16 Wednesday Jul 2014
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Article, Culture, education, entertainment, Internet, poem, Poet, Poetry, Publishing, writers, Writing
“A century ago, poetry did not appear in little magazines devoted to it, but on the pages of newspapers and mass-circulation magazines. The big magazines and even the newspapers began declining about the time they stopped printing poetry.” — William Logan
This is a great article. Read it here: Poetry: Who Needs It?
28 Sunday Jul 2013
20 Saturday Jul 2013
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accident, Article, car, contest, Culture, education, entertainment, god, Internet, Lit. Journal, literature, news, online journal, poem, Poet, Poetry, Publishing, reading poetry, writers, Writing
The Poets Billow is happy to announce the winner of the 2013 Pangaea Prize. Here is an except from Caitlin Scarano’s Entry. Visit our Literary Art Gallery to read seven of her finally crafted poems.
Losing It
God came to me like a drunken man
running from a car accident. God came
at me with a mouth full of snow, blood
& broken teeth. I used to be alone.
I used to wake up without an arm across my neck.
No boys or gods licking the sole of my shoe
or testing the rope ladder hooked in my lower lip.
Sinning is storytelling –
you always look them in the eye. Your body
always betrays you. God came to me
like the accident itself. No, he came at me like the tree
that parted the car, or the girl that parted
the windshield. The only car accident I was ever in
was the night I lost my virginity in the backseat.
God wasn’t there.
Just a frightened, frightened boy.
16 Tuesday Jul 2013
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ban, chris brown, Culture, education, El Jones, entertainment, halifax, jian ghomeshi, music, nova scotia, petition, poem, Poet, poet laureate, Poetry, poets, protest, Society, violence against women, writers, Writing
El Jones, poet laureate of Halifax and Women’s Studies professor at Acadia University, joins Jian to express a more nuanced take on the controversy that has erupted around a planned Chris Brown concert in the Halifax area.
The Dartmouth, N.S. show is set to feature controversial R&B singer Chris Brown, who pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend, pop star Rihanna, in 2009.
Check out the radio interview on the show Q with Jian Ghomenshi
10 Wednesday Jul 2013
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Article, Bonczek, Culture, education, entertainment, literature, Orion, poem, Poet, Poetry, poets, Publishing, reading, reading poetry, writers, Writing
Check out the current beautiful issue of Orion Magazine to read a new poem by Michelle Bonczek, as well as an essay by Barry Lopez, and an article by environmental activist Bill McKibben.
Then journey over to Facebook to like TPB: The Poet’s Billow
29 Saturday Jun 2013
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Article, Business, Culture, education, english majors, entertainment, Internet, literature, news, opinion, people, poem, Poet, Poetry, Publishing, reading, Society, writers, Writing
I love English majors. I love how smart they are. I love their intellectual curiosity. And I love their bold choice for a major. Most of all, I love to hire them.
A recent article by the great David Brooks in the New York Times about the changing nature of the Humanities in higher education just reinforced why, when given my druthers, English majors are my employee of choice.
And the reason is not that I am a writer; I more consider myself an entrepreneur than anything else. I run a small business and the people I hire do a variety of tasks — SEO, project management, social media, and so forth.
For my money (literally and figuratively), for my needs, and I suggest the needs of most small businesses, English majors are easily the top choice when it comes to getting the type of teammate who can make us all better, as they say in basketball.
Read the rest of the article by Steve Strauss at the Huffington Post
28 Friday Jun 2013
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2013, education, entertainment, literature, mentor, news, poem, Poet, Poetry, Publishing, Workshop, writers, Writing
Register for The Poet’s Billow July 7th workshop by 11:59pm on July 1st for a reduced price.
We expect to have writers of multiple styles, and ages, with different experiences and plots in life. But what will bring us all together is a love for poetry and a desire to interact with others who write.
This is a great option for anyone who wants honest editorial feedback on their work. It is great for writers who want to publish, enter MFA programs, just want to improve their writing or even just started writing.
This is a 4 week workshop. Post a poem onto a private website each week and comment on your fellow poets’ work. Michelle Bonczek will give editorial and revisionary comments on poems; through the course of a workshop she may give suggestions for books to read, suggestions for publishing and exercises designed to generate new work. You are guaranteed feedback on a poem of your choosing each week.
Go to our Workshop Page for how to sign up.
26 Wednesday Jun 2013
Article by John Horgan in Scientific America
What’s the point of the humanities? Of studying philosophy, history, literature and “soft” sciences like psychology and poly sci? The Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences, consisting of academic, corporate, political and entertainment big shots, tries to answer this question in a big new report to Congress. The report is intended to counter plunging enrollment in and support for the humanities, which are increasingly viewed as “luxuries that employment-minded students can ill afford,” as The New York Times put it.
The humanities are subversive. They undermine the claims of all authorities, whether political, religious or scientific. This skepticism is especially important when it comes to claims about humanity, about what we are, where we came from, and even what we can be and should be.
24 Monday Jun 2013
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Article, Editorial, education, Fiction, news, poem, Poet, Poetry, Publishing, School, Teaching, writers, Writing
In the past few years, I’ve taught nonfiction writing to undergraduates and graduate students at Harvard, Yale, Bard, Pomona, Sarah Lawrence and Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. Each semester I hope, and fear, that I will have nothing to teach my students because they already know how to write. And each semester I discover, again, that they don’t.
They can assemble strings of jargon and generate clots of ventriloquistic syntax. They can meta-metastasize any thematic or ideological notion they happen upon. And they get good grades for doing just that. But as for writing clearly, simply, with attention and openness to their own thoughts and emotions and the world around them — no.
That kind of writing — clear, direct, humane — and the reading on which it is based are the very root of the humanities, a set of disciplines that is ultimately an attempt to examine and comprehend the cultural, social and historical activity of our species through the medium of language.
This is a great article read the rest at the nytimes.com
28 Thursday Jun 2012
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access, art, Article, books, education, Health, Healthcare, hospital, Internet, Lit. Journal, literature, medicine, online journal, personal development activities, poem, Poet, Poetry, politics, reading, reading poetry, research, science, Society, Writing
Fiona Sampson pioneered the development of writing in health care in the UK. Her publication The Healing Word – a practical guide to poetry and personal development activities, commissioned by the Poetry Society, researches the nature and effects of poetry and healing activities based on actual accounts by workers and users in the health care system. Especially noteworthy are her “Ten Commandments” for good practice in running a poetry project in a healthcare setting. These include:
making sure there is supervision in order to provide a briefing and debriefing support system for the poet;
avoid a competitive environment;
ensure confidentiality with all participants’ writing.
As in any project, being clear about the remit equals good management. However, she suggested that future residencies could benefit from a project manager such as the Poetry Society. Especially in healthcare, poets are working alongside health professionals with very specific outcome models, so the more professionally managed a project is the better. “At the moment we know arts and poetry in healthcare is good because it’s about access… we could also advocate that people are taking part in a prestigious artistic endeavour”, says Sampson.
More at The Poetry Society
