Susan Rich's Blog, page 88

Guest Editorship - What I Learned

My experience as a guest editor at Crab Creek Review taught me many things, not the least of which was: many poets like to write about art. Although the issue with the ekphrastic portfolio isn't due out until October, I am done with the hardest part of my job: choosing poems. Here is what I have learned so far in a very random order:

1. Many poets like to write about visual art. I ended up reading close to 2,000 poems. Never in my craziest dreams did I expect so many submissions. Poetry and pa...

The Sea (from Isla Negra)

The Sea

The Pacific Ocean was overflowing the borders of the map.
There was no place to put it. It was so large, wild, and blue that it
didn't fit anywhere. That's why it was left in front of my window.
   The humanists worry about the little men it devoured over the years.
   They do not count.
   Not even the galleon, laden with cinnamon and pepper that perfumed it as it went down.
   No.
   Not even the explorer's ship --- fragile as a cradle dashed to
pieces in the abyss -- which keeled over with ...

Happy Birthday, Pablo Neruda - "Tonight I can write the saddest of lines ..."

I love this photo of Pablo Neruda because he looks both happy and regular. A nice guy enjoying his life. A few years ago I had a birthday party for him and we all drank Chilean drinks and brought a Neruda poem to read. One of my friends even brought a tape recorder (!) and a tape of him reading his work. This was pre-youtube. His birthday is close to mine so I got to celebrate vicariously. One day I would like to make the pilgrimage to Isla Negra. In the meantime, here is one of my favorite p...

Flowers in the Garden - July is the most generous month...

Today I've adapted to the summer season. Yoga in the morning, a walk along the beach this evening --- and flowers from the garden in-between. I'm hoping to translate this peace to poetry --- tomorrow...

Birthday Poems ~ "To the Book"

"They say it's your birthday ..." by The Beatles is my favorite birthday song -- which I did not sing today. Instead, I invited a small handful of  very close women friends over for an afternoon of poetry, wine, food and cake ~ what could be better? Even though some of my closest friends aren't poets (and many are) everyone agreed to bring a poem or a favorite saying to share. I also created a set of questions for the day --- some funny and some serious. I loved it -- and I think the others e...

Thank you, Sandy Longhorn - The Alchemist's Kitchen - Reviewed!

I woke up to a lovely present this morning - quite unexpected, too. Sandy Longhorn, 
fellow poet - author of Blood Almanac (winner of the Anhinga Prize for Poetry) and blogger and all around kind person has posted a review of The Alchemist's Kitchen at her website. You can read the review here. I would write more but am hoping to get to Midge Raymond's workshop on travel writing tonight. See posting just below. And stay cool ...90's in Seattle. And yes, intense sunlight.

For the Seattlite in You ~ Free Workshop Tomorrow Night

I spent New Year's Day happily ensconced with Midge's book of short stories. Now I get to learn from her in a free workshop at Pilot Books on Capital Hill -- tomorrow night. Hope to see you!


Thursday, July 8, 2010, at 7 p.m. (That's tomorrow night)!

Join Midge at Seattle's all-indie Pilot Books for a free travel-writing workshop
and reading. In this hour-long workshop, you'll learn how to turn your
adventures into compelling fictional stories or memoir. Learn how to portray
character (even if the ...

On-Line Literary Salon for The Alchemist over at Blogalicious

Diane Lockward author of the newly released Temptation by Water is hosting a party for me today. The thing is, she lives in New Jersey and I am in Washington State. It's a bit of an issue unless we have all the festivities on-line. Diane will be doing a series of literary salons and I am honored that she chose The Alchemist's Kitchen to be her first. Included is a brief interview, a reading of "At Middle Life: A Romance" complete with Sarajevo in the background. Most importantly, there is...

Translation Matters: The Panther

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I should admit first thing that I don't speak German, but I do have a new bilingual collection of Snow's The Poetry of Rilke and its clear that Rilke did use an "abab" rhyme scheme in these quatrains. Since German and English employ a completely different word order, Snow has not kept to the rhyme scheme in his translation; yet, I can't help but know that his version is closer to the original. Why? Because Snow's translation is by far the better poem. Or is something else at work here? Is...

Dead Mentor Poet: A Dozen Things I've Learned about Rainer Rilke

1. As a teenager, Rene (as he was called as a boy) had horrible acne.

2. Throughout his life he was plagued by profound headaches.

3. At age 17, he ran off with Olga Blumauer to an "obscure" hotel in Vienna. It was three days before they were found and brought back. The relationship was over - as was his career in business.

4. Rilke's mother dressed him as a girl complete with long gowns and braids until he entered pre-school. This was not the custom of the day.

5. He wrote many plays. Many bad p...