dumbfoundry

The Prime Minister's wife had offered to help out Sianna, one of 21 students invited to The Lodge in Canberra yesterday, to read her work and launch the National Indigenous Literacy Project.

In a room packed with high-profile authors including David Malouf and Kate Grenville, Sianna, from the Melba Copland Secondary School in Canberra, had been too shy to read her own poem and Ms Rein had risen to support her.

'This is going to make me cry,' Ms Rein warned. And as she read Sianna's words about the loss of her mother seven years ago, her tears flowed.

Local Urdu literary figures have expressed their profound grief over the death of legendary poet and literary figure, Ahmed Faraz, who passed away in Islamabad on Monday.

"When the demands of our formal education grow heavier, a lot of us lose sight of this: the pleasure of poetry is transformed into the study of poetry, and its direct appeal to our feelings has to adapt to include other kinds of address to our intellects.

This isn’t all bad – but for many people it means that poetry’s primitive power gets overlaid, or corrupted, or altogether suppressed.

Hence the reputation that poetry acquires in many secondary schools (especially among boys, apparently) of being ‘too difficult’, or ‘irrelevant’ or simply ‘boring’. To tell the truth, poetry is no more irrelevant to us as human beings than breathing, which in certain respects it resembles."

"Poets, writers, authors and lyricists are invited to submit work for public interventions in Portsmouth (South East, England, UK)

With permission from the local Council, short pieces of writing will be displayed in public places around Southsea Town Centre from the end of September and into October 2008.

Taking the form, for example, of public notices such as those displayed on lamp posts to announce road closures or planning applications -- writers should be aware that their work will be open not only to the elements, but to the public gaze..."

So there it is. A sordid tale, indeed. But unlike last year's winner, I didn't sign a gag order. And I'm telling my story far and wide, to anyone who'll listen, because the poetry world is small, and it's hard enough to get your work seen and taken seriously. Because it's supposed to work out if you're lucky enough to get that phone call and win that prize. Because poetry presses should be in this because they love poetry and want to produce quality books--not because they have issues and poetic insecurities of their own and need to feel validated and in control. I'm telling this story because once you sign a contract and give up your finalist position in other contests, you shouldn't have to start over at square one--all because an unethical press broke the law and its word.

And I'm telling you this because their new book award contest opens for submissions September 1st, and I want every poet out there who is considering sending their manuscripts to reconsider. Your work deserves to be seen and placed in a press with ethics and integrity. I know it's tempting to just blanket the market and hope for the best, but if you hit with this press, it could happen to you, too, as both of the last two contest winners had to enter into legal action against this press--and neither has a book to show for it.

"Speaking of contests, Kristin Naca is one of the new recipients of the National Poetry Series Contest. Yay! And it's not just the book prize but their inaugural MTV Prize....coming to a college campus near you!

I don't usually pay attention to poetry contests except when it amuses Moi....or when a Filipino poet is involved. And dang if moi purty head don't keep being yanked that way. To wit, So, like, haven't you all noticed how more and more of these contests are being won by Filipino poets?

Ay nagsamit, nagsamit!"

Reading Period: Open (July 1, 2008—September 30, 2008)

Erika Dreifus: "As most of you know, I've recently returned from a writing workshop. Within our group of six, I established what promise to be two lasting friendships. And I am quite positive that I made one lifelong enemy."

Frank O'Hara is not a household name in this country but the poet, who died in 1966, is enjoying something of a renaissance in his native America.

His collection, Meditations in an Emergency, features in a conversation in the award-winning drama, Mad Men, when Don Draper, the protagonist, notices someone reading it in a bar.

Acclaimed New York poet, academic and performer Tracie Morris, a guest of the Melbourne Writers Festival, says that you only become a poet when you really don't have any other choice.

'I don't know if anyone wants their daughter to marry a poet,' she says.

'When I quit my job and told my mother I was going to be a poet, all she could say was, 'how are you going to eat?' It was a legitimate question. But it's my real job, it's who I am. As a writer who performs I appreciate both kinds of poetry, if it happened that I had to choose, if it happened that I could never perform again, I'd be kinda sad but it would be OK. But I couldn't live without writing poetry.'

2006 Bridport International Creative Writing Prize winner Joel Toledo is the first Asian and first Filipino to win a prize in that presitgious competition in the United Kingdom since it was founded in 1973. He actually won two prizes -- second and third prizes, besting entries from all over the world.

ORIGINAL poems of legendary bush balladeer Banjo Paterson have been found in a 109-year-old war diary.

The discovery of the 1899 cash book, in which the final pages reveal Paterson's original and unseen poetry, has thrilled Australian literature buffs.

The fellowships are $7,000 cash awards made to individual originating artists living and working in the state of New York for unrestricted use. Grants are awarded in 16 artistic disciplines, with applications accepted in eight categories each year. In 2008, NYFA awarded 136 fellowships to 144 artists, with eight of them working in a collaboration.

The artistic disciplines for the 2009 Artists' Fellowships are: Poetry and Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts (Deadline: October 6, 2008); Nonfiction Literature and Sculpture (Deadline: October 8, 2008); and Crafts, Digital/Electronic Arts, Film, and Interdisciplinary Work (Deadline: October 10, 2008).

We seek original work by Latina/o, Chicana/o, Nuyorican writers, performance poets, and spoken word performers for a new intergenerational anthology of Latina& Latino spoken word, performance poetry.

"Some poets seem to operate from a position of scarcity when it comes to poetry, not one of abundance. They feel more gives you less in the end, as opposed to giving you more in the end. As if we only get so many poems in our lifetime and to play around with poems means we’re going to run out of poems faster. Like the outdated notion that men have a finite amount of sperm and masturbation will result in dried-out plumbing."

"One hears, with some regularity, about how poets would sell an assload of books if they just got off their asses and went out there to move a few tens of thousands of copies. Now, one does not hear this from publishers, nor from the general public. Sadly, it is poets themselves who entertain such notions–maybe not to quite this extent, and often in inverse proportion to the amount of stuff they’ve gotten into print. But still. As this is a literary blog, I shall assume that most of the readers of this essay are, in fact, poets, so, I will address this to you."

Welcome to Postal Poetry, a fantabulous showcase for collaboratively and individually created poetry postcards.

'I can't figure out if you're a detective or a pervert.'

Seeking poems that explore the twisted world of David Lynch's Blue Velvet for The Private Press's next chapbook anthology.

The Blind Chatelaine's Keys takes its impetus from three impossibilities: (i) biography (and autobiography) -- something is always left out, (ii) artistic criticism -- the critic's subjectivity inevitably comes to play, and (iii) pure persona in poems -- the poet's self remains a presence no matter how much a poet may wish to disrupt the “I”.

"I was talking with a marketing manager at a small literary press not too long ago, and he predicts that many small publishers will be forced to move to an on-demand model, especially those publishing poetry. Most poetry books don’t sell enough copies to cover the expense of producing them, hence the reliance on contests to cover publishing costs."

MONDO: How has your Poetry Boot Camp changed the work you write?

SR: I get my students to jump through all these insane hoops, writing poems often in crazy ways. I don’t necessarily write poems with all these methods myself, but I think everything is worth trying in the adventure of poetry. So gradually I’ve begun to write more and more poems in my own workshops, and now I’ve called my own bluff by publishing cut-ups and cross-outs and upside-down poems and translations naifs and so on. I never call them “exercises” in my Boot Camps, because exercises are something you do to practise; I want these to be thought of as real poems, so I call them “projects” or “strategies.” And I feel like now I’ve put my money where my mouth is. Well, there’s no money, of course, but I’ve put something where my mouth is. Ink, maybe.

Literary bands, with songs that revel in intricate language, complex narratives and cinematic plot twists, are on the rise.

[...] The Theatre's foundations remained in east London, and that's what archaeologists believe they have found.

'The first thing I want to know about it is what the foundations can tell us about the architecture,' Wiggins said. 'How big was it? How does it compare with the Rose? How does it compare with the Globe? How similar are they?'

Wiggins said an understanding of what the theater looked like could help Shakespearean scholars understand more about this period in the playwright's history.

'The size of the theater will have an impact on the way the play is written,' he said.

Other works that would have been performed during the period Shakespeare's company was at The Theatre would have included 'Henry IV,' 'Richard II,' 'King John,' and 'the Merry Wives of Windsor,' Wiggins said.

Lyon said it's unlikely The Theatre's complete foundations will ever be fully excavated, but her team intends to examine them further. Fittingly, a new theater is being built on the site, ensuring the foundations below are protected.

Collin Kelley: "So, basically, I am asking you on Wordsmiths' behalf to make a donation to the store. They have set up a PayPal account on the homepage of their website at www.wordsmithsbooks.com. Any amount will help. I am also going to help round up some poets and writers for a reading during a fundraising weekend they will have Aug. 15 - 17. More on this soon.

"You may live out of state or you may have never been to Wordsmiths, but trust me when I tell you this indie bookstore is worth saving. It's a dying breed and I just cannot stand the idea of this great shop -- which cares so much about local authors, personal attention and digs poetry -- just disappearing. Please, please, please consider making a donation today."

We have one missing pigeon – that brave and fearless bird that carries the Pigeon Cam has still not returned. Concern for the bird has come in from poets, punters and news channels alike. The Red Room is running a Missing Pigeon Unit operation to ask the public for details of sightings of the bird around the Illawarra area.

Description: The Ninth bird was released at 1:26pm with The Big Ish (Splash)and two other minders. The two minders also failed to home on the day, but they did get home the next morning. They were both good, experienced birdsthat have survived a number of years of racing. This was a very short fly for them and it was most surprising not to get them home in good time. Splash took 20 minutes and this was around 5 minutes off the pace indicating that he took off while the minders didtheir evasive work as decoys and then went to ground. Unfortunately the Ninth pigeon may have been handicapped by his load and hampered in his efforts to escape.

The bad area for predation is around Coledale/Scarborough area approx 5kms from the release point at Bald Hill. He might be found somewhere around there. Graham Davison tells us that he was a good strong cock that should have easily carried the weight. The weight of around 25 grams is equivalent to a good feed for a pigeon so that should not have upset him too much. The attached is a photo of a bird that looks very similar to him and could be used as his photo.

Any information is to be sent to pigeons @ redroomcompany.org and we are offering a reward for the bird’s discovery. If ‘Pigeon Cam’ is found and still alive then just gently pick him up and place him in a box of some description - a beer carton is ideal. Then call the 1300 887 606 number and tell them that you have the camera bird. Mr Steve Saywell will pick it up as soon as I am informed. No need to feed or water him and Mr Steve Saywell will be there within a couple of hours at the latest.

Updates can be found at http://www.pigeonpoetry.com, where news and images of the race day, sweep and media can be found. We will soon be uploading interviews with and recordings of the Pigeon Poets, so be sure to visit the site for the ongoing Pigeon Poetry experience.

We are looking for actresses to take on the role of poet Emily Dickinson at different stages of her life. Important requirement for each role is the ability to do a New England accent. Slight build, dress size 10-12.

"Of course you get schmaltzy (send me the pillow that you dream on – o wot? Not really…) and bathetic – and banal – like any genre. But at its best, it’s wonderful, on work, poverty, death, love, ageing. Reba McIntyre is great on the subtleties of betrayal –


‘He said, have you ever cheated on me?
Has there been somebody else?
Is there someone that you love more than me?
Someone you can’t forget?
Have you ever cheated on me?
I said: only in my mind.’


Where’s your Othello now?"

"My pigeon heart beats for our lost pigeon. Our Pigeon is Missing. We have the entire Illawarra region searching for her as I write."

Read poetry by Christine Hamm, Cheong Lee San, Tasha Klein, Patry Francis, Stan Apps, January O'Neil, Tim Martin, and Shanna Compton.

Also included in this issue is the amazing photography of Micha Boland and the stunning art of Xiaoyang Galas.

"MANILA, Philippines - Playing with shadow and spark, the book’s cover exemplifies the multifarious nature of its author, the poet José Garcia Villa.

Tipped one way, the cover shows a young Villa’s profile, and tipped another, the words dove, eagle and lion emerge.

Doveglion, an amalgamation of the three words, was Villa’s pen name, and is emblematic of the iconoclastic and meaningful writing life possessed by Villa, born in 1908, died in 1997, and named a National Artist for Literature."

If you really want to hear about it, my beat up copy of The Catcher in the Rye is one of my favorite books. And this plain, all Times Roman typeface, solid Maroon and Yellow type paperback is one of my favorite cover designs. A perfect marriage of content, form and memories. The cover demands that you fill in the rest yourself. Compared to the simplicity of this, all other designs are just plain phony.