27 Saturday Oct 2012
Posted in Blog
Tags
2012, astronomers, books, entertainment, Evory, Internet, Lit. Journal, literature, news, online journal, poem, Poet, Poetry, poets, Publishing, reading, reading poetry, Robert, science, writers, Writing
We wanted to recognize Robert Evory for his poem “Astronomers” that was just published in The Baltimore Review.
13 Saturday Oct 2012
Posted in Blog
Tags
2012, award, contest, Deadline, Internet, literature, national awards, news, online journal, poem, Poet, Poetry, poets, Publishing, reading poetry, submissions, writers, Writing
On Monday, submissions for the Atlantis Award will officially close at midnight
The winning poem will be published on our website and be nominated for any national awards that they qualify for; the poet will be interviewed for the Poet’s Billow website and receive $100.
07 Sunday Oct 2012
Posted in Blog
Tags
2012, Article, Bonczek, Book, books, Chapbook, contest, Internet, literature, love, manuscript, mentor, Michelle, Monkey, news, online journal, Orange, personal, poem, Poet, Poetry, poetry editor, poets, Publishing, reading, Win, workshop leader, writers, Writing
Just wanted to send out a congratulations to Michelle Bonczek, our poetry editor, mentor, and workshop leader here at The Poets Billow, for winner the Orange Monkey Chapbook contest with her manuscript The Art of the Nipple.
04 Thursday Oct 2012
Posted in Blog
Tags
Article, books, Event, Internet, literature, New York Times, Olympics, poem, Poet, Poetry, reading, reading poetry, Writing
The torrent of sports poetry inspired by the London Olympics continues unabated: NPR even hosted Poetry Games, in which listeners voted on a selection of verse with an athletic theme by celebrated poets from various countries. But few people today recall that poetry, just like the 100 meters, was an official Olympic competition from 1912 to 1948. Sadly, the names of the medal winners are not listed on the International Olympic Committee’s rosters. And many of the winning poems in the so-called Pentathlon of the Muses — which had to be “inspired by the idea of sport” — have mysteriously vanished as well, perhaps, as critics have suggested, because of their dubious literary quality.
Read the rest of the article
26 Sunday Aug 2012
Posted in Blog
09 Monday Jul 2012
Posted in Blog
Tags
abusive stepfather, american music award, art, Article, books, celebrities, entertainment, Internet, Lit. Journal, literature, music, online journal, poem, Poet, Poetry, reading, reading poetry, teen motherhood, Writing
Joy Harjo has released four CDs, and won a Native American Music Award for Best Female Artist of the Year for her album, Winding Through the Milky Way.
View caption Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie
29 Friday Jun 2012
Posted in Blog
Tags
art, Article, Health, Healthcare, Internet, Lit. Journal, literature, mary rizzo, medicine, new jersey hospitals, online journal, poem, Poet, Poetry, poetry therapist, reading, reading poetry, research, Writing
“We see literature as a way for health care workers to reconnect to the humanities of their patients, to see through someone else’s eyes and to understand their patient’s perspectives,” said Mary Rizzo, associate director of the council who runs “Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Healthcare” in six New Jersey hospitals.
“Through studying literature, we learn to be better diagnosticians, better observers, better interviewers, better clinicians,” said Nancy Gross, who moderates the program at Overlook.
In hospitals across New Jersey and around the country, medical professionals are increasingly turning to poetry, novels and other forms of literature to help improve patient care. From book clubs to writing seminars to today’s Poetry and Medicine Day in Newark, hospitals are encouraging their staff to seek out literature to help increase empathy, learn about new cultures and improve communication among their team.
“Art always enriches life,” said Julia DiGioia, a physician at Overlook who is a member of the book program. “These are human stories. They give us a deeper appreciation of life and a new appreciation of what our patients can endure and triumph over.”
Diane Kaufman, a psychiatrist at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, sees poetry and writing as integral to her work. As founder of Creative Arts Healthcare, she works with colleagues across the hospital to celebrate the arts.
Today, they present the third-annual “Poetry in Medicine Day,” a program featuring a morning lecture by a nationally renowned poetry therapist, workshops with five authors who have written about medical issues and discussions about using stories and poetry in clinical practice.
“Medicine is a creative endeavor,” Kaufman said. “Sometimes we split ourselves apart. This is a way to bring ourselves together and to announce out loud that we have a creative community here.”
Kaufman says studies show the use of arts — music, photography, paintings, writing — can help patients in their recovery.
28 Thursday Jun 2012
Tags
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
26 Tuesday Jun 2012
Posted in Blog
Tags
art, Article, Blues, books, Internet, Lit. Journal, literature, music, online journal, poem, Poet, Poetry, reading, reading poetry, Writing
One of the most popular forms of American poetry, the blues poem stems from the African American oral tradition and the musical tradition of the blues. A blues poem typically takes on themes such as struggle, despair, and sex. It often (but not necessarily) follows a form, in which a statement is made in the first line, a variation is given in the second line, and an ironic alternative is declared in the third line.
African-American writer Ralph Ellison said that although the blues are often about struggle and depression, they are also full of determination to overcome difficulty “through sheer toughness of spirit.” This resilience in the face of hardship is one of the hallmarks of the blues poem.
Some of the great blues poets include Sterling A. Brown, James Weldon Johnson, and Langston Hughes. The title poem of Hughes’ first book, The Weary Blues, is also an excellent example of a blues poem. It begins:
"Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
He did a lazy sway . . . "
Another example is Brown’s poem “Riverbank Blues,” which begins:
"A man git his feet set in a sticky mudbank, A man git dis yellow water in his blood, No need for hopin', no need for doin', Muddy streams keep him fixed for good."
Contemporary poet Kevin Young is continuing the tradition; his most recent book, Jelly Roll, is a collection that draws heavily on the blues tradition. Young is the editor of the recent anthology, Blues Poems.
Article from Poets.org
25 Monday Jun 2012
Tags
art, Article, books, contest, Haiku, Internet, Lit. Journal, literature, online journal, poem, Poet, Poetry, reading, reading poetry, Writing
A traditional Japanese haiku is a three-line poem with seventeen syllables, written in a 5/7/5 syllable count. Often focusing on images from nature, haiku emphasizes simplicity, intensity, and directness of expression.
Haiku began in thirteenth-century Japan as the opening phrase of renga, an oral poem, generally 100 stanzas long, which was also composed syllabically. The much shorter haiku broke away from renga in the sixteenth-century, and was mastered a century later by Matsuo Basho, who wrote this classic haiku:
An old pond! A frog jumps in-- the sound of water.
Among the greatest traditional haiku poets are Basho, Yosa Buson, Kobayashi Issa, and Masaoka Shiki. Modern poets interested in the form include Robert Hass, Paul Muldoon, and Anselm Hollo, whose poem “5 & 7 & 5” includes the following stanza:
round lumps of cells grow up to love porridge later become The Supremes
Haiku was traditionally written in the present tense and focused on associations between images. There was a pause at the end of the first or second line, and a “season word,” or kigo, specified the time of year.
As the form has evolved, many of these rules–including the 5/7/5 practice–have been routinely broken. However, the philosophy of haiku has been preserved: the focus on a brief moment in time; a use of provocative, colorful images; an ability to be read in one breath; and a sense of sudden enlightenment and illumination.
This philosophy influenced poet Ezra Pound, who noted the power of haiku’s brevity and juxtaposed images. He wrote, “The image itself is speech. The image is the word beyond formulated language.” The influence of haiku on Pound is most evident in his poem “In a Station of the Metro,” which began as a thirty-line poem, but was eventually pared down to two:
The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.
Article From Poets.org
