Double Ds Move!

Well, I have a lot on my plate. Yes, I'm a big boy who enjoys a full a plate and often seconds, even I have to realize when I need to embrace change to keep everything on my plate balanced.

I have decided to move the Double Ds, which is a monthly column I organize with Denise Duhamel, from Read Write Poem to I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin. I hate to move the series from the fantastic Read Write Poems site. Read Write Poem has it all-- writing prompts, forums, and more web traffic than my blog; however, I have to think of the project. I am balancing a full-time job, college, Atlanta Pride Committee, Atlanta Queer Literary Festival Committee, Project Verse, Quarrel, Poetry Swap, Limp Wrist, and as of this week, promoting a chapbook that is going to be published by Pudding House Press. I'm a one man show doing all of this, so I have to do what is easiest for me while keeping the integrity of the project. --- moving the Double Ds to I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin will do just that!

I owe Dana a huge thanks for embracing the Double Ds as soon as I pitched the idea to her. I owe a big thanks to the RWP staff for posting the first entry with Marilyn Nelson.

Please check back for the Double Ds questioning Dara Weir in September. You won't want to miss it!

Sagittarius Agitprop from Black Lawrence Press

Matthew Frank's new collection of poems exchanges ideas for music and music for pictures, with completely unexpected freshness and velocity-- and this is not the experience of surrealism, but of a current realism that is hastening with the times. And these times are often rude and beyond all correction and all comparison. This book is sort of miraculous. I love it.
-Norman Dubie

In Matthew Gavin Frank's splendid debut collection, Sagittarius Agitprop, poem after poem is unswervingly bold and astonishing. "Parts of a Feather," to give an illustration, may be grounded in the experience of newlyweds home from a rainy honeymoon in Venice, but its opening announces that something very different from a personal narrative is at work in a Frank poem: "The superstitious geometry of the rock dove rests/ between its first and fifth rib. And you// rest between it, poised as water. It’s easy/ to call you a disease. Better: a heart or rain[.]" These are striking lines and they move into a startling meditation on art, life, union, and mortality: "Of course, you say, my hands// are the skeletons of everything with wings . . ./ A feather // stripped of barbs is bone." Frank is a master of deft balance between the material of experience and lyric transformation, never losing his poetic footing or his sense of humor. As the speaker hilariously observes: "A marriage license/ makes a lousy umbrella" ("Parts of a Feather"). These poems are inventive, fearless, and wise. To be Frank, I think he walks on the water that is the page!
-Cynthia Hogue, author of The Incognito Body and Flux

William Shatner Reads 'Palin Poetry'

Poetry Swap!

Poetry Swap

Q: What is Poetry Swap?
A: It is a group of poetry lovers interested in sharing poems they enjoy with fellow poetry lovers via snail mail.

Q: Wasn't this project formerly called the Great Poetry Exchange?
A: Yes. The name of the project was changed from Great Poetry Exchange to Poetry Swap to help eliminate confusion between this project and one created by Rick Lupert.

Q: How does it operate?
A: Each poet involved is paired with another poet. (All efforts will be made to pair poets from different states.) A poet will be selected to initiate the poem swapping by sending his/her Poetry Swap Pal a poem. Then the receiving poet replies with a poem. This pattern continues until the poets request a new PW pal or want to call it quits.

Q: Where are some of the current participants located?
A: Poetry Swap has reached the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia as well as GA, WA, CA, OR, NM, OH, AZ, FL, NC, IL, NJ, VA, AR, MN, KY, and UT.

Q: Can I send poems I've written?
A:: The purpose of Poetry Swap is to share poems written by poets other than yourself.

Q: Do I have to be a poet to participate?
A: Nope. You only need to enjoy poetry and want to promote it.

Q: How many poems do I have to send?
A: Ideally, a poet should send his/her PS pal two poems a month. If the poets want to send more, well, that is their prerogative.

Q: How long will Poetry Swap run?
A: As long as people are willing to swap poems, Poetry Swap will exist. Ideally, it will be great if poets stay paired for at least six months before requesting a new Poetry Swap Pal or quitting Poetry Swap.

Q: What about my mailing address?
A: No information will be sold nor will you be added to any mailing lists. All information remains private!

Q: Where can I direct my questions? How do I get involved?
A: Contact Dustin Brookshire at dustinvbrookshire@gmail.com with any questions, or send your name/mailing address as you want your Poetry Swap pal to see it. Please put "Poetry Swap" in the subject line of your email.

Where The Poem Comes From

I'm the latest writer to participate in Ellen Steinbaum's series titled Where The Poem Comes From. Click here to see what I have to say about "Stuck," which was originally published in Oranges & Sardines.

"The Replacement" by Tania Rochelle

THE REPLACEMENT

For months I've imagined brass
and polish, sharp edges--
a food critic, maybe,
or a stripper-someone
agnostic enough to tolerate
an indifferent lover, reluctant
father, petulant payer of bills;
and all that time, she's just
got to get to class.
Ten years younger, she shakes
her long brown hair
from her clueless face,
asks if I want my husband back.
She tells me she wouldn't compete,
as if it were a gift,
more lead crystal
to leach slow poison
into my daily cocktail.
So fresh I could bite her,
this girl, twenty-one, still
smelling of grass and Kool-Aid,
is asking permission.
But I'm not her mother--
to care if she runs
with a pencil in one hand,
a fork in the other.
Let her keep her prize:
his glass-green eyes,
a gold-plated tongue
that ferrets out soft spots
where promises grow
wild as ivy, as fire
through parchment.
Searching her flat baby-blues
for ripples, the slight wave
that might suggest she stands a chance,
I see only a plain beauty,
hands in her pockets.


Tania Rochelle, Karaoke Funeral

Two Poems in Oranges & Sardines

The latest issue of O&S contains two of my poems: "Stuck" and "Drunk Dialing With Denise Duhamel." Didi Menendez does fantastic work with all her publications; she's publishing royalty.

"Stuck" is from a collaboration project. I swap lines from Denise Duhamel poems with another poet. Each line received has to be the first line in each poem we write. The project has been good times.

Stonewall Reading on 6/27/09

The Atlanta Queer Literary Festival and the Special Collections Department of the Atlanta-Fulton County Library are the forces behind a 6/27 reading paying tribute to the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. The schedule is below.


First Section (10 a.m. - noon)
Franklin Abbott (host)
Patrique Vosges
Bob Strain
Sincere
Guerin Asante
Larry Corse
Lakara Foster
Alice Teeter
Deb/ra Hiers

Second Section (noon - 2 p.m.)
Collin Kelley (host)
Megan Volpert
Theresa Davis
Yolo Akili
Lisa Allender
Elliott Mackle
Kristyl Dawn Tift
Dustin Brookshire
Antron-Rechaud

Third Section (2 - 4:30 p.m.)
Reginald Jackson (host)
Malika
Donovan Brown
Karen G
Jessica Hand
Stanley Fong
Robin Kemp
Cleo Creech
KenJ Martin
Queen Sheba

Currently Reading...

www.karlahuston.com

Denise Duhamel Comments on Light Verse

Denise Duhamel at Books and Books from Andrew Hevia on Vimeo.

Over at Fans of Denise Duhamel OR A Group of Duhamalites, Denise answers a question a month from a member of the FB Group. I'm sharing the May question and answer.


Question from Dustin Brookshire:
Recently, Steve Fellner (poet and critic) wrote an entry in his blog, Pansy Poetics, analyzing some of your poetry. His blog entry led to a series of great comments from his readers and a discussion on Light Verse in your work. The comments have led me to ask this: What role do you think Light Verse plays in contemporary poetry? (Click here for Steve's post on Denise's work.)


Denise Duhamel's Answer:
I saw that. At first, I must admit that I was horrified that Steve Fellner—whose work I love! I chose is first book for the Marsh Hawk prize—thought some of my poems were “light verse.” In my mind, light verse was synonymous with silliness. I guest-edited an issue of a literary magazine Ocho called “Florida Funnies” and I am now co-editing an issue of essays about humor in contemporary poetry for a linguistics magazine Humor. I hadn’t really even brought up the term light verse. I think, as Sean points out in one of the blog comments, “because of consumer culture, light=less than? Less calories, less fat, less flavor?” I thought that too. I even thought “Lite Poetry.” But researching light verse, and seeing its long and proud tradition, I am happy to be included. (Puns? Guilty as charged. Alliteration? Guilty as charged. Wordplay? Guilty as charge.) A lot of poets feel similarly afraid of the term “confessional,” which has recently gotten a bad rap. So poets with confessional leanings might deny they are writing confessional poetry or try to call it something else. In any case, in the end, I am happy that Steve associated my work with light verse—or even camp. While Steve is perfectly correct in quoting Sontag, she also says that camp is a way of consuming or performing culture "in quotation marks." And I really do feel I try to do that, so I’m no longer leery of the labels light verse or camp. I like Steve’s blog for the questions it raises about contemporary poetry and trying to categorize it. Do you remember that clapping song? Categories, names of…Colors…Then each child would clap and say a color until they couldn’t think of any more. We could do the same for Poetry.

Child one: Categories.

Child two: Names of.

Child one: Poetry

Child two: Light verse.

Child one: Confessional.

Child two: L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E.

Child one: Formal.

Child two: Post-confessional.

Child one: Transgressive.

Child two: Of Witness.

Child one: Neo-formal.

Child two: Feminist.

Child one: New York School.

Child two: New York School—second generation.

Child one: New York School—third generation.

Child two: Oulipo.

Child two: Harlem Renaissance.

Child one: Nature.

Child one: Surreal.

Child two: Beat.

Child one: Romantic.

Child two: Modern.

Child one: Post-modern.

Child two: Dada.

Child two: Prose poems.

Child one: Haiku.

Child one: Pansy Poetics…

Having said that, I think Light Verse may play a part in contemporary American poetry in that it’s a way to fight back against the jingle, the slogan, our consumer culture. Maybe we need tee shirts? Heavyweights of Light Verse.

Doing The Poetry Thing in Savannah on 5/16/09

On 5/16/09, I am going to chat with some students and do a reading in beautiful and historic Savannah, Georgia.

Whenever I chat it up with students, I like to give them a packet of poems at the end of our poetry fiesta. (This is in addition to whatever poems we might be discussing in workshop/poetry chatter time.) I call it my "poems just for fun packet." This year I am including:
"The Invisible Intruder" by Katie Chaple
"Love Poem" by David Trinidad
"Preference" by Beth Gylys
"My Savior in the Form of a Bus" by Beth Gylys
"Barcelona, City of the Sad Divas" by Charles Jensen
"Helen of Troy Does Counter Dancing" by Margaret Atwood
"Fourteen" by C. Dale Young
"What Do Women Want?" by Kim Addonizio
"The Summer Day" by Mary Oliver
"Malleus Maleficarum" by Maureen Seaton
"Malleus Maleficarum 2" by Maureen Seaton
"Cher" by Dorianne Laux
"Such A Thing" by Denise Duhamel"
"The Great Divide" by Dara Wier
"Twisted, Fucked-Up, Poor Excuse" by Dara Wier
"Garage Sale" by Laure-Anne Bosselaar



Here's the press release for the event, written by the lovely Mary Chi-Whi Kim
Poet/Editor Dustin Brookshire features at Metro Cafe

Savannah, GA- On Saturday, May 16, 5-7 pm, celebrated poet and editor Dustin Brookshire will feature for a special reading/open mic event organized and hosted by local poet, Mary C. Kim. The yet cozy Metro Cafe located at 402 Martin Luther King Boulevard has become the favorite of locals and students both.

Dustin Brookshire is an Atlanta-based poet and activist. His work has appeared in Subtle Tea, Ocho, Ouroboros Review, Qarrtiluni, and more. Dustin is the proud founder of Limp Wrist, Quarrel, and Project Verse. When you wake up each morning, he wants you to ponder the words of Mary Oliver, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do/ with your one wild and precious life?”

Winner of a 2006 Atlanta Review International Merit Award in Poetry, Mary C. Kim has published in The New York Times Magazine and various literary journals, and won two poem commissions from The Ohio State University’s Multicultural Center. She has authored Silken Purse, a poetry chapbook published by Pudding House Press. Her multi-genre self-help book, Karma Suture, garnered an Honorable Mention in the 2007 Writers’ Digest International Books Contest.

Co-organizer of one of Savannah's first community-based Asian American literary events in 2005, she states, "Savannah enjoys few literary events celebrating the key roles of GBLT community members in the arts. I am proud to spotlight these and other artists in our community."

For information on Dustin Brookshire, visit dbrookshire.blogspot.com; For information on Metro Cafe, visit http://metrocoffeehouseonline.com.

Meddling Kids

"Pilot Books will hold our first open reading period in May of 2009 to select a manuscript to be published in our new Meddling Kids Series. Please submit 2 printed copies of your original poetry manuscript (10-25 pages of verse) postmarked between May 1st -May 31st , 2009. Include two cover pages--one with manuscript title, your name, address, email and phone; another with manuscript title only."

Beth Gylys Event on Wednesday

It is no secret that I adore Beth Gylys. She is an all around sweetheart and my former professor. However, even if these things weren't accurate, I would still adore her for the poetry she writes. So, yes, you must attend this:

On Wednesday evening, April 29th, at 7:30 p.m. in the Kopleff Recital Hall, GSU soprano Sharon Stephenson and tenor Richard Clement, accompanied by pianist Peter Marshall, will be performing "Eight Personal Ads", compositions by internationally acclaimed composer Dan Welcher, lyrics taken from Beth Gylys's book of personal ads Matchbook. There will be a reception afterward. The event is free and open to the public. Please attend and invite your friends!

Who Are The Project Verse Finalists?

Who are the finalists for Project Verse?

You can find out this Friday when I am interviewed on The Joe Milford Poetry Show. I hope you'll be able to tune in; however, if you can't listen live, check out the archives at The Joe Milford Poetry Show's website later for my interview.

Besides discussing a handful of poetry projects, I plan to read a mix of new, old, and really old poems..... titles including: "Bad Fruit," "Boys Will Be Boys," "It's All A Crapshoot," "Rule #3 Of Sexual Relations," "I Haven't Completed An MFA Program," and more.

How I Discovered Poetry Series!

If I compiled a list of my top ten favorite poems of all time, it is easy for me to say Marilyn Nelson's "How I Discovered Poetry" would be one of the first poems I would write down. (There would be no second guessing myself.) Chills creep over my body every time I read Nelson's "How I Discovered Poetry." Every time I read Nelson's poem, I feel the passion I felt the first time I read it. People, this is what good poetry does to its reader.

I use "How I Discovered Poetry" every chance I can when leading a workshop. I love to see the looks on the faces of writers after they finish Nelson's poem--the sound of the gasp as they finish the last line. I've also found it is a great exercise to have people use the first line of the poem as a writing prompt.

Marilyn Nelson is a powerful and talented poet whose words will make you bow to her work. Marilyn is a delightful, kind-hearted poet. Every time I've seen her she wears a smile that reaches out and hugs you. Marilyn Nelson is a poet who has not been polluted by her success. She is a delight.

My series titled "How I Discovered Poetry," as you probably already assumed, is inspired by Marilyn Nelson's poem, "How I Discovered Poetry." This series will be posted only during April in tribute to National Poetry Month and in honor of Marilyn Nelson. The series will include responses from Denise Duhamel, Ellen Bass, Mark Bibbins, Sandra Beasley, David Trinidad, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, and more. (I'm even going to participate! I am hosting the party after all.) I think I can safely say there will be a little something for everyone. I hope you'll take a moment every so often to visit I Was Born Doing Reference Work In Sin to check out the series.

I begin the series with Marilyn Nelson's poem, and it will end on 4/30/09 with brief commentary from Marilyn on her poem.


Enjoy:

HOW I DISCOVERED POETRY

It was like soul-kissing, the way the words
filled my mouth as Mrs. Purdy read from her desk.
All the other kids zoned an hour ahead to 3:15,
but Mrs. Purdy and I wandered lonely as clouds borne
by a breeze off Mount Parnassus. She must have seen
the darkest eyes in the room brim: The next day
she gave me a poem she’d chosen especially for me
to read to the all except for me white class.
She smiled when she told me to read it, smiled harder,
said oh yes I could. She smiled harder and harder
until I stood and opened my mouth to banjo playing
darkies, pickaninnies, disses and dats. When I finished
my classmates stared at the floor. We walked silent
to the buses, awed by the power of words.

Marilyn Nelson, “How I Discovered Poetry” from The Fields of Praise: New and Selected Poems.

National Poetry Month Begins!

National Poetry Month officially starts today!

Please leave comments on this blog entry letting me know what you have planned to celebrate National Poetry Month.

In honor of National Poetry Month I am running a series in I Was Born Doing Reference Work in Sin titled How I Discovered Poetry. Get ready for responses from Denise Duhamel, Ellen Bass, Charles Jensen, and more.

I think you will enjoy the How I Discovered Poetry series!

Update Time: Limp Wrist to Fundraising to Project Verse and More!

(1) I was happy with the current status of fundraising for Limp Wrist until this weekend when I received word that $750 is not the fee for the Juniper part of the scholarship. The total amount is $1,030-- $750 covers tuition and meals plus $280 to cover a dorm room for the scholarship recipient.

With this in mind, I want to remind you that tomorrow is the last day to enter in the Limp Wrist raffle. Click here for the details and for pictures of the items. I'm very happy to say the funds from the raffle are TAX DEDUCTIBLE and go to support the inaugural Limp Wrist Scholarship.

(2) Ellen Bass, Maureen Seaton, and Dorianne Laux have blurbed Stealing Fire.

Stealing Fire is, by turns, delightful, ironic, witty, stabbing, sobering, intoxicating. I didn't want it to end. ~ Ellen Bass, author of The Human Line

The ordering process for Stealing Fire is going to be a tad bit different than originally mentioned; however, it will still be easy! After covering the production costs of the chapbooks, all funds raised will go to the Limp Wrist scholarship fund.

(3) If you are on Facebook, join the cool kids in checking out:
Fans of Denise Duhamel OR A Group of Duhamalites
Fans of Dorianne Laux
Fans of Laure-Anne Bosselaar
The Joe Milford Poetry Show

(4) I am participating in Dana Guthrie Martin's FaBoStaMe 2009. I plan to use my 30 updates in 30 minutes to announce something big.

(5) I have started consulting with poetess Stacie Boschma on an Atlanta Project. I love that she is just as thrilled as I am about it. This is not the big announcement that is mentioned in #4. This will stay secret for a bit longer as it is to die for.

(6) Project Verse should be kicking off in late April. I received 39 applications, each ranging between 15 to 19 pages. I am giving each application the attention it needs; therefore, it is very time consuming.

David Trinidad to Judge '09 Atlanta Pride Poetry Contest

CONTEST DETAILS
• All entries must be the poet’s own original, unpublished work.
• Poems must address one of the following topics:

(1) Pride Begins With You
(2) LGBT Civil Rights
(3) Stonewall

• Two pages is the max length per poem submitted for the contest.
• Poets entering may not have been a student of the contest judge.
• All entries must be received no later than midnight on May 11, 2009.
• Poems should appear in the body of an email as well as in an attached Microsoft Word Document. The first page of the Microsoft Word document should contain the poet’s name, email address, phone number, and titles of poems submitted. The first page is the only page that should contain the poet’s name, email address, and phone number.
• Entries should be submitted via email to poetrycontest@atlantapride.org with a subject line of :“*Insert Name Here*-- Atl Pride Poetry.”
• The contest winner agrees to acknowledge the Pride Magazine as the first publisher in future reprints of books,anthologies, website publications, podcasts, radio, etc. Copyright reverts back to authors upon appearance in the Pride Magazine.
• The final contest judge is David Trinidad. Trinidad will announce the contest winner by June 30, 2009.


PRIZE
• Atlanta Pride will split the collected entry fee money, 50%-50%, with the contest winner.
• An announcement regarding the contest winner will be posted on the Atlanta Pride website.
• The winning poem will be published in the ‘09 Pride Magazine with a brief bio of the winner.
• The winner will be featured at the Atlanta Pride Literary Event as well as a reading at Outwrite Bookstore & Coffee House.
• The winner will receive a brief interview to be featured in Limp Wrist, an online magazine with queer sensibility.
• Please note the contest winner is responsible for his/her transportation to and from the Atlanta Pride Festival, as well the reading at Outwrite.


FEES
• Poets may submit three poems with an entry fee of $5. Poets may submit an additional three poems with a fee of $2 per poem.
• Payments must be postmarked by May 11, 2009.
• Payment should be in the form of check or money order and made out to Atlanta Pride Committee.
• Mail to:
Atlanta Pride Committee, Inc
Attn: Poetry Contest 2300 Henderson Mill Rd Suite 125
Atlanta, GA 30345

ouroboros review #2

I have two poems in the second issue of ouroboros review: "Memo" and "Wanting To Come Out." I'm also happy that I can say two more of my poems will appear in the third issue.

First Annual Queer Voltage Queer Poets Competition

From the fingertips of Christopher Soden:
Queer Voltage: the theatre that produced the award-winning Queer Anarchy is pleased to announce a fundraiser : The First Annual Queer Voltage Queer Poets Competition. Any poet who self-identifies as GLBT may enter. 10-15 Finalists will be invited to read at a special event at 7PM, May 16th, 2009 at Teatro de La Muse in Plano, Texas. 1st (150.00) 2nd (75.00) and 3rd (50.00) place prizes will be awarded with three honorable mentions. All Finalists receive certificates and will be featured in a commemorative chapbook released at the Finalist's Reading. We hope to provide actors to read for finalists unable to attend, and a video tape of the event. You need not be present to win.

Entry fee is $5.00 per poem. Poets may submit three poems for $15.00 and a copy of the winning chapbook. No poem should exceed 3 pages. Contestant's name should not appear anywhere on poems. A cover sheet including contestant's full contact information (Name, address, phone number, email address) poem titles and brief bio should be enclosed. Checks and money orders should be made out to Queer Voltage. Entries must be postmarked by March 31st, 2009. Christopher S. Soden, Director : Queer Voltage, 7706 Meadow Road # 121, Dallas, Texas 75230. 469-228-1575. We accept email submissions : jlgdrd@gmail.com

Poems will be judged on craftsmanship, originality of language and subtlety. Poets must self-identify as GLBT poems submitted needn't queer issues. Judges are respected members of the literary community and represent a variety of disciplines and orientations. Top six winners will be chosen by preeminent Queer Poet and Pulitzer Prize Nominee, Cyrus Cassells. Queer Voltage is dedicated to the performance of ground-breaking, poignant and provocative drama to advance understanding and appreciation of the Queer Community as a whole.