Susan Rich's Blog, page 52

Thoughts on National Poetry Month

Is this marathon of events really over? This April was a whirlwind of trips and challenges. I've lost count of how many different presentations and readings I've done but I know the number of poems I wrote: 0.

I'm typical of many poets I know in that I am happiest at home surrounded by books and paper. I love people but mostly one on one or in small groups. Presenting my work to large groups doesn't come easily to me, but I've learned to enjoy the adrenalin rush of performing on a large stage or teaching in an art museum. The liberation that comes from moving beyond my own limits seems worth all the nervousness I suffer before the event. Now that the month is over, I only remember the fun times.

Here is an incomplete list of where I spend my National Poetry Month.

At Richard Hugo House in Seattle (where I live) as a reader for A Face to Meet the Faces, a new anthology out on persona poetry. Hearing all those voices come together -- the mask of the pop star mixing with the mask of the Biblical matriarch was great fun. Thank you Stacy lyn Brown and Oliver de la Paz for creating such a lovely book.

In Portland, Oregon where I read with Kelli Russell Agodon at the bookstore made famous in the hit show Portlandia and stayed at the wonderful Hotel Deluxe. Road trip!

At the incredible Massachusetts Poetry Festival where I somehow did five events in one day including a superb and moving Favorite Poem Project reading. I will never forget hearing politicians, restaurateurs, and poets share poems that had impacted their lives in major ways. I also adored the Improbable Places Poetry tour with poems on shower curtains, menus, knitting shops and storefront windows all through the town of Salem. Thank you January O'Neil, Colleen Michaels,  and crew for making this such a far reaching and important event.

And while in Salem, Massachusetts I was thrilled to also work with the docents at the Peabody Essex Museum. Before the festival started we spent a fantastic afternoon writing poems from visual art. Where better to teach about ekphrastic poetry than in an art museum? This was my third time working with art museums and I hope to continue this work. Simply put: I love it. I'm in love with the Peabody Essex Museum and I need to go back and wander through the galleries. It's a world class museum so if you are in the area, you must go.

I know I am forgetting entire conferences (Fields End!, readings, and another trip I took; it's late.

A friend asked me if I would feel better if I wasn't crazy busy during poetry month and I knew the answer immediately. I want to be a poet in the world; I just want to find a way to enter with an easier "face to meet the faces" to quote Elliot -- and a certain cool anthology.

And the winning number is ...

Congratulations Katie Capello winner of The Alchemist's Kitchen!
Instead of a spin of the wheel or names in  a fedora hat, I used the random number  generator and the number  that clicked in was 31. Given the current poetry contest going on for a week's residency with me at Anam Cara Artists Retreat in Ireland, this seemed the perfect method as the random number generator was created at Trinity College, Dublin.

Congratulations, Katie! Please get in touch so I know where to mail your copy of The Alchemist's Kitchen!

Poetry Competition Announced: Win a Residency in Ireland

Marc Chagall "I and the Village"So here's the deal: I'm teaching a one week workshop in Ireland at Anam Cara Artists Retreat this August and you now have the chance of coming for free. All you need to do is write a poem of 14 lines or less on the Marc Chagall painting shown below "I and the Village." For deadlines and details click here to for Anam Cara's web site.

The winning poem will be announced June 14th on Bloomsday and will be published on the Writing Ireland web site which is an excellent source on all things related to writing in Ireland (and beyond).

Writing Ireland has just reprinted my essay, "It's Not How You Write, It's Not How You Re-write: the Art and Craft of Revision."

 If you want to sign up now for my course at Anam Cara "Speaking in Pictures: A Poetry Workshop Considering Visual Art" you should book soon; only a few places left! Please feel free to contact Sue at Anam Cara for a full schedule of the week. Her email is anamcararetreat (at) gmail.com

What could be better than writing poetry in Ireland?

Coming Attraction: I and the Village Poetry Contest

I and the Village by Marc ChagallThis is just to get you thinking about this image in case there is an ekphrastic poetry contest coming up. Details to be announced soon. In the meantime, isn't this an amazing image? I especially like the upside down woman and the inner thoughts of the cow / goat. Marc Chagall is a favorite of mine. At the moment I am reading his memoirs which so clearly reflect the same consciousness and style as his visual work. Stay tuned on this radio dial for more details very soon!

Poetry Window at The Roost in Salem, MA

My poem "The Mapparium" on the Improbable Places Poetry Tour
Seeing my poem about the Mapparium at the Christian Science Center in Boston in a shop window of a very cool place like The Roost, makes me incredibly happy. This is the poem I wrote in 1990-91 which brought me back to poetry. Before I ever knew of Elizabeth Bishop I was writing about globes and maps. The Mapparium is a place Boston area school children visit on field trips. Jhumpa Lahiri has a short story that takes place there, one friend confessed to going on dates there; it's a place where you can walk inside the world and hear its echo.

Notice the paper airplanes flying above my poem
Colleen Michaels has created an incredible tour of poetry in improbable places: on storefront windows and drink coasters,  tucked in menus and other mysterious spots. The festival has not even officially begun, but I'm already having fun.

Take the Improbable Places Poetry Tour! Right Here from Wherever You Are

Meet Poetry Czarina Colleen Micheals 

Check out Colleen's amazing invention: The Improbable Places Poetry Tour right here!

Congratulations to Tracy K. Smith - Pulitzer Prize Winner

2012 Pulitzer Prizes: Poetry and Fiction


Congrats to Tracy!!! Today Tracy K. Smith won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and celebrated her 40th birthday. Now that's a great way to start a decade!



Listen to her read her poems here or read her poem "My God It's Full of Stars" on-line here.


****

1. POETRY For a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).


Awarded to "Life on Mars," by Tracy K. Smith (Graywolf Press), a collection of bold, skillful poems, taking readers into the universe and moving them to an authentic mix of joy and pain. Also nominated as finalists in this category were: "Core Samples from the World," by Forrest Gander (New Directions), a compelling work that explores cross-cultural tensions in the world and digs deeply to identify what is essential in human experience, and "How Long," by Ron Padgett (Coffee House Press), an enchanting collection of poems that juggle delight, wit and endless fascination with language.


2. FICTION


For distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).



No Award Nominated as finalists in this category were: "Train Dreams," by Denis Johnson (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), a novella about a day laborer in the old American West, bearing witness to terrors and glories with compassionate, heartbreaking calm; "Swamplandia!" by Karen Russell (Alfred A. Knopf), an adventure tale about an eccentric family adrift in its failing alligator-wrestling theme park, told by a 13-year-old heroine wise beyond her years, and "The Pale King,” by the late David Foster Wallace (Little, Brown and Company), a posthumously completed novel, animated by grand ambition, that explores boredom and bureaucracy in the American workplace.

On the Road Again - Portland Workshop and Reading with Kelli Agodon

Kelli Russell Agodon and I will be headed to Portland this Tuesday for a workshop and reading. Would love to see you there. And of course we will also be visiting Voodoo Doughnuts Wed morning - for eating (not reading).

We'll be at In Other Words Bookstore, Tuesday, April 17th, reading at 7 p.m.

We're also offering a workshop at 3 p.m.

Workshop Details: Two Sides to the Poet’s Life: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Submitting to a Literary Journal & Writing Ekphrastic Poems: Award winning poets Kelli Russell Agodon & Susan Rich come together for an inspiring class on both submitting and writing poems. As editors, co-directors of the Poets on the Coast Retreat, and poets themselves Susan and Kelli will share a behind-the-scenes look at submitting to literary journals and tips to help you get your work accepted. They will also work with participants to generate new ekphrastic poems–new work inspired by art. This is a rare opportunity to explore both sides of the creative life–submissions & inspiration. All levels of poets welcome–from beginning to published.
Cost is $50 and you can register here. The reading at 7:00 PM is FREE and open to the public.

Visual Art and Poetry: The Sister Arts

Henri Matisse: TheWindowToday is devoted to thinking about ekphrastic poetry. Next week I have the honor of presenting my workshop Speaking Pictures at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts as a pre-event for he Massachusetts Poetry Festival.

Marc Chagall: Me and the Village
I have so many ideas and resources but now it's time to scale back and figure out how to plan out our time together. This is where I sometimes run into problems; I want to do everything! Since the participants will be experts in the art, my main job is to provide different ways to restore playfulness. There are so many wonderful poems I want to read together, quotes I want to share, and exercises I want to do. My style is to prepare more than we can do together so I can pick and choose a bit once I get a feel for the group. If you have any favorite exercises or ekphrastic poems, please leave me a note below.

Celebrations, Workshops, Talks, Readings and other Hokus Pocus

Friday April 20th - Saturday April 21stThis year promises to be an amazing poetry festival directed by the super hero poet January O'Neil. I will be doing five different events on Saturday from 11 am straight through the day. What was I thinking?

Here is my schedule for the Mass Poetry Festival including readings, talks, and live action collaboration.

I am honored to be invited back for a second time as Massachusetts is my home turf; the state I lived in until I left  the country for the first time at 19. When I returned to the United States three years later, I finished my degree at the University of Massachusetts -- in Creative Writing. Then after two years in the Peace Corps, I returned to the Cambridge - Somerville area for another seven years.

Massachusetts is where I first started writing poetry and began sending out my work for publication. However, I know that I needed to leave New England to really trust the sound of my own thoughts and words. Now it's ironic to see my name on this poster --- squeezed between Martha Collins and Gail Mazur.

I am also giving a reading and a workshop with the fabulous Kelli Russell Agodon on Tuesday night, April 17th in Portland, Oregon. The workshop is from 3:00-6:00 pm at the Other Words Community Center. The reading begins at 7:00 pm.

Finally, on April 28th I will be presenting at the Fields End Conference at Island Wood on Bainbridge Island. It's a busy month.

I promise this is my last blatant self promotion for a long time. And to that end, I thought I would mention that if you are interested in finding out about writing contests, calls for submission, and other poetry related business, I would love to have you "like" my Susan Rich writer page on Face Book. I confess it would be lovely to have more than my cat and houseplant listed as followers.

And if you haven't already left a message and entered the Big Poetry Giveaway -- do it now! I will mail the two winners their books no matter where they live -- international readers feel free to participate!