Tag: poetry

The Arsenal of Beauty

Name: The Institute for the Appreciation of Beauty in Ordinary Things
Founded: 9.24.17
Founder: Elena Georgiou
Mission: To build an Arsenal of Beauty to use in the War on Ugly.
Funded by: Crowdsourced with donations of beauty and power by the General Public*

Ohio, The Election, 2004, The ReMix: How I Came Looking

The ReMix begins: 2004 draft cuts: (in parens)– 2017 adds: IN CAPS:

After the election, I saw and felt a frozenness–I NEEDED (wanted) poetry (to arrive and speak to me–) to convert (a tableau of different shades of) dread to (a weave of) courage and CUT A PATH TO transformation. TO ROAR. I wanted something to take AND SPEAK the pain, (naturally).  And poetry can hold IT (every complex yearning).

Untitled

  Many thanks for the wonderful response to Clockhouse Volume Five–here are a few more excerpts!   To learn more about Clockhouse and its contributors, to purchase past and current copies, and to submit work for next summer’s Volume Six, please visit the Clockhouse website (www.clockhouse.net).   Excerpts from Volume Five, 2017     from Helene… Continue reading Untitled

CLOCKHOUSE Volume Five: Excerpts!

Clockhouse, the national literary journal published by the Clockhouse Writers’ Conference in partnership with Goddard College, is extremely pleased to announce the publication of Volume Five and to offer a few excerpts here.   We hope you’ll visit the Clockhouse website for a further glimpse of Volume Five contents, to purchase copies, and to find… Continue reading CLOCKHOUSE Volume Five: Excerpts!

Goddard MFA Alum Simone John Launches Testify

On August 11, Goddard MFA alum Simone John will launch Testify at 7pm at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA. In Testify, published by Octopus Books, Simone’s first full-length book of poems, she experiments with documentary poetics to uplift stories of black people impacted by state-sanctioned violence. The book’s first section weaves Rachel Jeantel’s testimony in the Trayvon Martin trial with Kendrick… Continue reading Goddard MFA Alum Simone John Launches Testify

Goddard MFA Alumna Laurel Radzieski’s Red Mother to be Published by NYQ Books

Goddard MFA alumna Laurel Radzieski‘s Red Mother will be published by NYQ Books in early 2018. Red Mother, Laurel’s first book of poems, weaves a love story told from the perspective of a parasite. This series of short poems explores the intimacy, desire and devotion we all experience by following the sometimes tender, often distressing relationship… Continue reading Goddard MFA Alumna Laurel Radzieski’s Red Mother to be Published by NYQ Books

Goddard MFA Alum Kevin Rabas Named Kansas Poet Laureate

Goddard MFA alum Kevin Rabas has been named Kansas Poet Laureate.  He will serve in this position for two years. Kevin Rabas teaches at Emporia State University, where he leads the poetry and playwriting tracks and chairs the Department of English, Modern Languages, and Journalism. He has seven books, including Lisa’s Flying Electric Piano, a Kansas… Continue reading Goddard MFA Alum Kevin Rabas Named Kansas Poet Laureate

Name, Rank, Serial Number: Poet

Casey worked as a journalist in the Marines until, in the late l970’s, she attended a writing conference in California where one of the faculty told her she should, be writing poetry instead.  Casey took this person and their work and when she returned to base, declared herself resident poet, meaning she would no longer report to duty.

I gave my name

rank an serial number,

said I was a poet.  Beyond

       that I refused to speak. 

Rather than send her to the brig for going AWOL, Casey’s superior officers sent her to the psych ward.  Part of her time in the psych ward is a subject of this book. 

Goddard MFA Alumna Julia Bouwsma Wins Poets Out Loud Prize

Goddard MFA alumna Julia Bouwsma‘s Midden, her second book of poems, was selected by Afaa Michael Weaver, for the Poets Out Loud Prize.  Midden will be published by Fordham University Press in Fall 2018. In Midden, Bouwsma writes about the forcible eviction of an interracial community that until 1912 live on a small island off the coast… Continue reading Goddard MFA Alumna Julia Bouwsma Wins Poets Out Loud Prize

The Word World

I didn’t know how obsessed I was with the world – with the actual word “world” – until I went through my second book of poems and saw that I used the word at least 30 times. Actually, another poet told me I used it 30 times but of course I went back and counted the words myself (because they were my words) to see if this was true. I’d never done anything like that – count how many times a word got used. I wonder if other poets do this?

Goddard MFA Faculty Michael Klein’s Poem “Beginners”

Goddard MFA in Creative Writing Program faculty member Michael Klein’s poem “Beginners” was chosen for the Poem-a-Day project of the American Academy of Poets.  The poem appeared online yesterday (January 29)  and can be read here. Poem-a-Day is the original and only daily digital poetry series featuring over 200 new, previously unpublished poems by today’s talented poets each… Continue reading Goddard MFA Faculty Michael Klein’s Poem “Beginners”

Hope is a Form of Energy

Goddard MFAW faculty Michael Klein: The beautiful writer, John Berger, who died a day into the New Year once said to the living: “hope is not a form of guarantee; it’s a form of energy, and very frequently that energy is strongest in circumstances that are very dark.” For all of you, I wish radical hope.

Dear Young Disabled Writer and Disabled Writers Not Yet Born,

Goddard MFAW faculty Kenny Fries: Dear Young Disabled Writer and Disabled Writers Not Yet Born,

You might ask: What does this have to do with the disturbing results of the recent U.S. election? Why is this story important for me to impart to you at this time?

When I was born in 1960 nobody knew whether I would live or die. When, after four weeks in an incubator, my parents were able to take me home, nobody knew whether I’d be able to walk.

Now, here I am fifty-six years later, alive and, most of the time, still walking.

CLOCKHOUSE: Words for a Year’s End and Beginning

“This issue celebrates the pain and brilliance in the breaths we take or don’t. See how much time has to offer in the 2016 issue of Clockhouse.”  So says Editorial Director Sarah Cedeño in her reflection on what so many wonderful writers contributed to Clockhouse’s Volume Four.  Sarah’s “Moments, Lapses, and Spans” feels timely as… Continue reading CLOCKHOUSE: Words for a Year’s End and Beginning

CLOCKHOUSE Volume Four

Copies of 2016’s  Clockhouse Volume Four are available, and submissions are still open for what will be Clockhouse’s 2017 Volume Five.   Published in partnership with Goddard College by the Clockhouse Writers’ Conference, Clockhouse is an eclectic conversation about the work-in-progress of life–a soul arousal, a testing ground, a new community, a call for change.    Volume Four’s… Continue reading CLOCKHOUSE Volume Four

Goddard Poets in the House

Goddard MFA alumna Teresa Mei Chuc writes, “If you’re in NYC on Sat., July 30th, I hope you can join us for a poetry reading at Poets House. Several Goddard College MFA in Creative Writing alumni will be there: Drew Dillhunt (Port Townsend, WA), David Giver (Plainfield, VT), Susan Deer Cloud (Plainfield, VT) and Teresa Mei Chuc (Plainfield, VT).

Harmonium

Goddard MFA faculty member Michael Klein gives us permission to share his poem Harmonium. Here’s a taste: “Peace is revolutionary—that hasn’t changed / but intelligence is less popular now. And inspiration. / There’s no money in it. Some of us have been possessed by a more fearful version / of who we are and aim the camera at ourselves to make sure we are living.”

More About the Words: Donavon Davidson

By Heather Leah Huddleston Poets use fewer words than writers of other genres, and maybe because of this, their very existence is oftentimes viewed as somewhat magical, definitely romantic. It seems that everyone these days wants to be a “writer” but not many want to embody the poet’s life. Donavon Davidson proves that poets are… Continue reading More About the Words: Donavon Davidson