Drew Myron's Blog, page 62

Thin Skin - winner!

Yes, we've got a winner!

In the random, eyes-closed, pick-a-name drawing to giveaway a copy of my book, Thin Skin, the winner is . . .

Sandy Mier

Congratulations Sandy. Thanks to everyone for reading, writing & responding.

Still burning to read Thin Skin? Don't deny your desire — buy the book at these fine locations:

• Push Pull Books (publisher - signed copies available here)

• West Side Books in Denver, Colorado (thanks Lois!)

• Mari's Books in Yachats, Oregon (thanks Mari, Mary & Jeanette)

• Amazon (thanks big anonymous warehouse)

 
Until next time . . . write on, read more!

 

10 books that shaped my writing life

A nearby library recently received a grant to buy poetry. What books, they asked me, would you suggest?

After brief dismay (money to buy poetry?! this is a rare and wonderful occasion), my mind raced and whirled. How to choose? Award-winning books? Classic poetry? Contemporary? Regional? Mainstream favorites? My latest favorites?

After all the mental hubalub, I offered the following list of books I learned from and loved, the poetry collections that, though I didn't recognize at the time, shaped my writing life:

The Dream of a Common Language by Adrienne Rich
With a close command of language and line, Rich masterfully unspools experience.

A conversation begins
with a lie. And each
speaker of the so-called common language feels
the ice-floe split, the drift apart

Live or Die by Anne Sexton
Sexton was master of confession (long before social media saturation).

But suicides have a special language.
Like carpenters they want to know which tools.
The never ask why build.

What Narcissism Means to Me by Tony Hoagland
This book delivered revelation: a poem can be funny, witty, sarcastic, sad, and tell a story, and all at once!

The sparrows are a kind of people
Who lost a war a thousand years ago;
As punishment all their color was taken away.

The Way It Is by William Stafford
A model of productivity, Stafford wrote over 50 books — and his first was not published until age 46!

What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson
Is this book a very long poem, or a semi-short story? Carson calls it “a fictional essay.” I call it brilliant.

XXIV. And kneeling at the edge of the transparent sea I shall shape for myself a new heart from salt and mud.

A wife is in the grip of being.
Easy to say Why not give up on this?
But let’s suppose your husband and a certain dark woman
like to meet at a bar in early afternoon.
Love is not conditional.
Living is conditional.

50 poems by e.e. cummings
Cummings showed me what a language could do, what a poem could be.

love is more thicker than forget
more thinner than recall
more seldom than a wave is wet
more freqent than to fail

The Book of Questions by Pablo Neruda
Yes, poems can be silly, surreal and stirring.

And what is the name of the month
that falls between December and January?

Why didn’t they give us longer
months that last all year?

And three more — not poetry, but poetic:

Dear Diego by Elena Poniatowska
A poignant, delicate story of art and unrequited love, told through letters.

 

Journal of a Solitude by May Sarton
As a younger writer, this book provided comfort and relief.

And it occurs to me that there is a proper balance between not asking enough of oneself and asking or expecting too much. It may be that I set my sights too high and so repeatedly end the day in depression. Not easy to find the balance, for if one does not have wild dreams of achievement there is no spur even to get the dishes washed. One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being.

The Lover by Marguerite Duras
Tight, lyrical prose turns this intimate story about sexual awakening into a poetic, searing story of love.

Note: Don't worry, this process didn't dismiss local and lesser known poets. I also composed a list of regional favorites, and another poet gathered a list of Oregon's award-winning poets.

Now it's your turn. What's on your list? What books have stayed with you, have shaped your writing life?

 

Thankful Thursday (on Friday)

It's Thursday, again, already. Please join me in a weekly pause to express appreciation for people, places, things and more.

On this Thankful Thursday-Friday, I am thankful for:

- the magic (okay, chemistry) of spray tans

- the relief of tears

- the unexpected companionship of you.

And by you, I mean, readers and writers and people near and far, that I have met and not met, that I have known and not known. Some days it strikes me the beauty of how this big and sometimes anonymous world can mysteriously opens its arms and let me in. Thank you, dear reader, for your attention, your literary love.

To show my appreciation, please let me give you a book. Win a copy of my new book, Thin Skin. The drawing is just days away and I want you (yes, you!) to win. Go here.

 

 

Smile — and other (essential) tips

When your hands tremble and your voice quakes, relax your mouth, recall your best friend, and smile. The audience wants to like you. When you relax, your ease allows others to breathe a sigh of relief, too.

Hey, don't hang around here today — head over to Lisa Romeo Writes, where I offer Ten Tips to Giving a Good Reading. (My favorite is no. 8, Don't bring your husband).

Read the tips here  — then meet me in the comments to dish about your annoying and/or fabulous reading experiences.

 

Thankful Thursday: Just One Line

Some days she writes just one line:

I like chocolate.

Last time she told me what she could say but couldn't write:

I've lived in four places. It was hard when I had to leave all my toys.

Maybe she's 8 or 10 or 15. Maybe her story is every story of nearly every child I now can't shake.

It's Thankful Thursday and here in this dark nook is gratitude for the young girl softly sounding out words like a prayer. When we come together I am "teacher" but mostly I listen and wait. We talk, and read, and write, and she is eager and willing. With the pencil in a fierce grip, her hand labors across the page. It's not easy but slow and deliberate she inches out letter after letter. Today she has something to say:

I am the old bike asleep in the rain.

 

It's Thankful Thursday, a weekly pause to express gratitude for people, places and things. What are you thankful for today?

 

On Sunday

How can I help the wounded if I don't welcome my own wounds?

— Father Gregory Boyle
sharing the words of a former gang member
in an interview with Krista Tippett
on American Public Media's On Being

 

Let words rise Off the Page

Join us for Off the Page — an evening of fiction, poetry, memoir & song — on Saturday, April 13 at 7pm on the central coast of Oregon, in the village of Yachats.

Festivities take place at the Overleaf Lodge Event Center. Doors open and music starts at 6:30pm. The reading begins at 7pm. Admission is free and open to all ages.

Enjoy the 7th annual celebration of fiction, poetry, memoir & song. An ensemble of Oregon writers — hailing from Siletz, Newport, South Beach, Waldport and Yachats  — will share their work.

Featured writers include: Scott T. Starbuck, Khloella Brateng, Theresa Wisner, Hallie Price, Drew Myron & youth from Seashore Family Literacy — with music by Richard Sharpless.

Free words, free expression, free admission.

 

Celebrate, and How!

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

— T.S. Eliot
from The Burial of the Dead

April may be a rough month but it's also National Poetry Month. Coincidence? Given how poets make art of their misery, it seems quite fitting.

Launched in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, National Poetry Month began with just a few hundred people taking part. Today, it is the largest literary celebration in the world with special events taking place in thousands of schools, libraries, bookstores, and communities nationwide.

Here's how you'll find me spreading poetry cheer:

Poem in Your Pocket Day
The idea is simple: select a poem you love, carry it with you, then share it with co-workers, family, and friends. Poem in Your Pocket Day is on April 18, 2013.

Memorize a Poem
Copying or reciting a poem — my own or someone else's — helps me experience a poem more deeply. With the concentration repetition requires, I more fully "wear" the poem and feel the way its cadence and language bends and moves.

Put Poems in Unexpected Places
Some of my favorite spots: The bathroom stall. The coffeeshop table. Beneath a car's windshield wipers. Slipped between pages of library books. More ideas here.

Write a Letter to a Poet
Have a favorite poet? Or a book of poems you love? Write a letter to the author expressing your appreciation. Or, just write a poetic letter to . . . anyone. 

Chalk a Poem
Write a poem on the pavement — in chalk. It's cheap, easy and a fun surprise for passers-by.

Find (unexpected) Poems
Found poetry is waiting for you to discover its beauty. Write a Newspaper Blackout Poem, a Headline Poem, or patch together a Collage Poem. Up for a challenge? Check out Pulitzer Remix, in which poets take on the classics to "find" poems within the texts.

There's no shortage of ways to celebrate: attend a reading, join a writing group (or start one), buy (or borrow) a book of poems, subscribe to a poetry journal, and . . . write a poem!

How are you celebrating?

 

Thankful Thursday: Happiness is . . .

from the stanza, a blog by Molly Spencer

It's Thankful Thursday.

Gratitude. Appreciation. Praise. Please join me in a weekly pause to express appreciation for the people, places & things that bring joy.

On this Thankful Thursday, I am swooning over spring, spotting "wild" daffodils at every turn — in vacant fields, along highway edges, in ditches, and at dead ends. Just who planted these bright yellow beauties? Thank you, thank you, thank you.

While contemplating botanic mysteries, I'm equally thankful for these kind surprises:

1.
Happiness is a shelf of unread books, writes Molly Spencer — and there's my book!

2.
A note from a friend:

My sisters and I read your poems out loud. We didn't understand everything, but after a few martinis we understood some things.

Family, cocktails & poetry aloud. Now, that's how to enjoy poems! With friends like these it is a very Thankful Thursday indeed.

 

What are you thankful for today?  

 

 

 

A Thin Skin Giveaway

Shazam!

My book is fresh from the press — and I'm giving it away.

It's spring, it's sunny & it's National Poetry Month. Hotdiggety, let's dive in!

Enter now to win Thin Skin, a collection of photos and poems by Drew Myron.

Here's how: Leave your name and contact info in the Comment Section below. On April 30, 2013 — at the end of National Poetry Month — I'll close my eyes and randomly pick a name from the entries. Winner will be notified on May 1, 2013. 

That's it. Simple.

Want a challenge? Write your own poem using Thin Skin as a theme, and share your work in the comment section. I may be bowled over and send you a book, too.

To get you in the mood, here's the poem that prompted the Thin Skin title:

Unless you

visit the dark places, you’ll never
feel the sea pull you in and under,
swallowing words before they form.
Until you visit places within you
cloistered and constant, you will travel
in a tourist daze, wrought with too much
of what endures, depletes.

If you never turn from light, close
your eyes, feel the life inside, you’ll leave
the church, the beach, your self,
knowing nothing more.  

Unless you are silent, you will not
know your urgent heart, how it beats
between the thin skin of yes and no.

— Drew Myron

 

 Let the fun begin! Enter now. Write now.