Jennifer's comments (member since Aug 06, 2007)

Jennifer's comments from the ¡ POETRY ! group.

Gregory wrote: "Thank you, Jenifer, for information about a foreign language April magazine. Could you provide the a link to it?"

Here's the website for Poetry magazine: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/

They have a link for newsletter sign-ups so that you can be notified when the April issue giveaway is announced. And, in the "Past Issues" section, you can read most of the poems from those April translation issues, as well as download the discussion guide.

J.

Jan wrote: "I love Yehuda Amichai, Tony, and I found your translation from the Norwegian of Gro Dahle's poem delightful, Ruth. Gregory, shall we continue our discussion of translation here? I think how a trans..."
Hi, Jan,
Amichai is my favorite poet in any language. Lately, I always bring at least one of his poems to recite when I do a poetry reading, just to have a bit of his presence in the room with us. Thanks for mentioning him here.

Sandra wrote: "Some time in the last few months, I believe April, Poetry magazine featured all translations. It was wonderful, some poets I wasn't familiar with. Alvaro de Campos and Dahlia Ravikovitch were espe..."
In case you're interested, Poetry magazine has been putting together an all-translations issue every April for the last few years. To help spread the word about poetry written in languages other than English, they usually offer ten free copies of the April issue to anyone interested in holding a discussion group on the poems in that issue. The copies come with a handy set of questions to help kick off discussion, and you can sign up for the free issues on their website. I always order a bunch for my poetry classes.

Hi, Amy,

Here's a link for a reading series I organize in Des Moines, Iowa. (The website obviously hasn't been updated yet for the fall, but it will be soon!)

Thanks,
Jennifer

http://www.drake.edu/artsci/english/orga...

Wendy: I've facilitated writing groups for at-risk youth, and I've found the Runaway with Words books to be quite helpful:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18289...

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26961...

The "Short Course on Poetry" book is probably best suited for only the very young (pre-teen), but the "Collection of Poetry" anthology includes the prompts and approaches that helped to generate the poems included in the book--lots of useful ideas.

Gender Question #2: Butch, Femme, Androgynous, or All Over the Map?

Marking the small check in the small box,
I think: there is no appropriate answer here,
except perhaps Artichoke, impenetrable, thick-petaled
flower, sharp edge and ragged root. Inside,
velvet opal translucent tongues, and inside,
further still, the choke, silky threads who want
to hold in the heart, to raise a spired fortress
for the tender green. This, though, is not an option,

so I choose, All over the map, all over Barbados,
Siam, Constantinople, all over Ireland and Israel,
all over the sierra of my stomach, down the straits
of my legs, to the archipelago of toes.
Somewhere on the circuit, I stop

to visit whatever terrain bears the name Femme,
some scenic dream atop a mountain or nestled
deep within a delta. I watch tourists teem
around the attractions. I snap some shots, too,
so I’ll remember what Femme looks like
once I leave. Perhaps, from there, I’ll bike

to Butch, a city that sparkles like hubcaps
spun from a swift machine. Some say that there
the stars are drilled through sheets of obsidian,
pressed like grommets into hides of darkest leather.
If the iron gates to town are barred, I’ll fly

first-class to Androgynous, where blades of grass glow
silver, the shade of Joan of Arc’s sword,
and the sky at sunset runs red as the rouge
on Bowie’s cheeks. The land shifts,
rolls and recedes like the tide, carries me out

and out, to my home, my artichoke home,
my platypus home, my webbed feet
and beak and fur. I trace again my small mark
in my small box, my small window
from which I watch landscapes reach
like frail fingers into space,
into the places we have not named.

Thanks, Tom, for that bit of info, too. I run a reading series out here in Des Moines, and I'm always looking for folks who are great performers as well as great writers!

I've read a poem or two of Carson's, but nothing to give me much sense of his work all around. I'll definitely check him out, though. Thanks for the recommendation!

I'd suggest trying *Hay* (1998). The language in that book feels more playful than in some of his others, and the real pleasure for me is in the range of forms and techniques he appropriates and reinvents. It's the only Muldoon book I've ever taught, and my poetry students rave about it every time--in particular, they're fond of “Sleeve Notes”—a series of poems related to various albums—and "Hopewell Haiku," a sequence of ninety rhymed haiku.