If you'd like to see a "sampler" of North Carolina poetry, check out The Pedestal Magazine. The current issue features more than a dozen poets - Sarah Lindsay, Fred Chappell, Heather Ross Miller. I have a poem there, too, and am pleased to be in such great and varied company.
I noted a lot of Greensboro connections in that group. We have such a rich tradition here, including the latest initiative with PoetryGSO each April. I heard Mark Smith-Soto read from his new collection at Barnes & Noble as part of that month of activities, and spoke with Steve Sumerford of the Greensboro Library, who with Beth Sheffield leads the planning for this annual celebration. Work has already started for next year, so if you're interested,here's the link.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Blue Peninsula
There is no assuaging the pain of loss, but poetry can help. Sometimes it can be the absolute necessity.
Madge McKeithen, also a Queens MFAer, has a new book out - BLUE PENINSULA. She seeks perspective if not always solace through the poems and lyrics of others - reading and reflecting as her son is attacked by an unknown ailment.
I liked what Billy Collins had to say: "A sequence of meditations on poems not by a literary critic but by a mother who is fighting despair over her young son’s bewildering and protracted sickness. Madge McKeithen tries on these poems—ranging from John Clare to Diane Ackerman—like garments to fit the changing shape of her sorrows, and she holds onto each one to keep herself from falling into the well of grief. Here—let there be no doubt-- poetry makes something happen."
Collins was here a couple of years ago as part of the Poetry GSO celebrations - I remember slipping away from work for an early "dinner" so that I could hear him. The Carolina Theater was packed. He led us though considerations of the 911 losses, the presence of angels on a bus, the ordinariness of suffering and survival. We need to hear his words, Madge's words, the cry of the Psalmist and the powerful spoken word performances that are coming out of A&T and the Greensboro community.
Mere words. Yes - mere, wonderful, salutary, saving words.
Madge McKeithen, also a Queens MFAer, has a new book out - BLUE PENINSULA. She seeks perspective if not always solace through the poems and lyrics of others - reading and reflecting as her son is attacked by an unknown ailment.
I liked what Billy Collins had to say: "A sequence of meditations on poems not by a literary critic but by a mother who is fighting despair over her young son’s bewildering and protracted sickness. Madge McKeithen tries on these poems—ranging from John Clare to Diane Ackerman—like garments to fit the changing shape of her sorrows, and she holds onto each one to keep herself from falling into the well of grief. Here—let there be no doubt-- poetry makes something happen."
Collins was here a couple of years ago as part of the Poetry GSO celebrations - I remember slipping away from work for an early "dinner" so that I could hear him. The Carolina Theater was packed. He led us though considerations of the 911 losses, the presence of angels on a bus, the ordinariness of suffering and survival. We need to hear his words, Madge's words, the cry of the Psalmist and the powerful spoken word performances that are coming out of A&T and the Greensboro community.
Mere words. Yes - mere, wonderful, salutary, saving words.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Wood, bronze, words: Writing in the Mattye Reed African Heritage Collection
The Thursday before a Friday holiday is often not the best time to plan an expedition across campus for a 2 p.m. class. Nevertheless, the Fiction Writing class gathered by bits and pieces (it's a long, long walk!) to view art in the University Galleries and write in response.
Ekphrasis is an ancient tradition, often identified with the Romantics but springing from classical tradition. We discussed writing in response to visual images in class on Tuesday and then went to the galleries on a glorious spring afternoon.
The Taylor Galleries held a display of student art work - figurative painting and drawing, mixed media, and some very interesting papier-mache heads. Across the building, the Mattye Reed Gallery has its permanent collection of African art.
We shuttled back and forth, examining works and then curling up on the floor to write in our journals. I was most taken by the Benin bronze head of a king and the royal leopard from the same culture, although all the masks, a twin sculpture in wood and cowrie shells, and a giant hornbill statue had incredible power.
I remembered a photo a student had captioned, "Old Heads," which I'm told refers either to alumni or to students who take more than the usual four years to complete a degree. So "old heads" became the theme as I wrote about the art works and the former students and the sit-ins that sprang from A&T more than 40 years ago.
I don't know if the scratchings will yield a poem - as we gathered outside under the oak trees to read and discuss, I reminded students that such a practice can help break a writer's block or pry loose new images from the subconscious, but may or may not yield completed work.
I hope the students will have found some of the creative tension I always experience in the presence of art, a balance between contemplation and excitement. And I hope they return to the galleries and seek out the other gallery spaces in Greensboro.
Ekphrasis is an ancient tradition, often identified with the Romantics but springing from classical tradition. We discussed writing in response to visual images in class on Tuesday and then went to the galleries on a glorious spring afternoon.
The Taylor Galleries held a display of student art work - figurative painting and drawing, mixed media, and some very interesting papier-mache heads. Across the building, the Mattye Reed Gallery has its permanent collection of African art.
We shuttled back and forth, examining works and then curling up on the floor to write in our journals. I was most taken by the Benin bronze head of a king and the royal leopard from the same culture, although all the masks, a twin sculpture in wood and cowrie shells, and a giant hornbill statue had incredible power.
I remembered a photo a student had captioned, "Old Heads," which I'm told refers either to alumni or to students who take more than the usual four years to complete a degree. So "old heads" became the theme as I wrote about the art works and the former students and the sit-ins that sprang from A&T more than 40 years ago.
I don't know if the scratchings will yield a poem - as we gathered outside under the oak trees to read and discuss, I reminded students that such a practice can help break a writer's block or pry loose new images from the subconscious, but may or may not yield completed work.
I hope the students will have found some of the creative tension I always experience in the presence of art, a balance between contemplation and excitement. And I hope they return to the galleries and seek out the other gallery spaces in Greensboro.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Books, books, books
April is by far the cruellest month when it comes to books, writers and such - at least in North Carolina.
Poetry GSO again has a full schedule of poetry events, highlighted by poet Luis Rodriguez on April 9. Click for a complete schedule. I'll be reading in the coffee house on April 29.
Over in Durham, the 2006 North Carolina Festival of the Book runs from April 24-30, with appearances by Barbara Kingsolver, Robert Olen Butler, Haven Kimmel, Samuel Delany, Quincy Trope, Madison Smartt Bell, Jill McCorkle ... well, take a look.
Poetry GSO again has a full schedule of poetry events, highlighted by poet Luis Rodriguez on April 9. Click for a complete schedule. I'll be reading in the coffee house on April 29.
Over in Durham, the 2006 North Carolina Festival of the Book runs from April 24-30, with appearances by Barbara Kingsolver, Robert Olen Butler, Haven Kimmel, Samuel Delany, Quincy Trope, Madison Smartt Bell, Jill McCorkle ... well, take a look.
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