poetry

an abecedarian metapoem

You can always count on some good stuff coming out of the Hay Festival:

The 400-year-old institution of the poet laureate, a post held by Ben Jonson, William Wordsworth and John Betjeman, has been labelled "ridiculous" and "archaic" by Wendy Cope.

She may well have a point there.

The gloves are off as Derek Walcott viciously attacks fellow Nobel Prize winner VS Naipaul in his recently premiered poem, Mongoose. The piece is “a fast-paced, savagely humorous demolition of Naipaul's work and personality that begins with the opening salvo: 'I have been bitten, I must avoid infection/Or else I'll be as dead as Naipaul's fiction.' Ouch! And it gets better.

William McGonagall’s poetry was the object of scorn and ridicule in 19th century Scotland. Indeed, the author died in poverty, unable to eke out a living peddling his poetry. Today a 35-poem folio of his work has sold for £6,600—more than a first edition Dickens.

Poor fellow must be rolling in his grave.

From July 23 12 noon EST to Saturday July 24 12 noon 2004, we transformed LitKicks into the 24 HOUR POETRY PARTY and created an instant epic poem with the help of writers all over the world. Our goal was to create a single meaningful and coherent work from over five hundred individual contributions. Please read the poem to your left and judge the results for yourself! (The poem isn't awful!)

Just to end off National Poetry Month…

Gary Snyder, a poet known for his verse about nature and spirituality, has won the United States' richest poetry prize, the $100,000 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. The jury called him "a deeply learned and meditative artist, an impassioned ecologist, and a poet of great scope.

Wordsy Friday humor in honor of National Poetry Month. (Well, I laughed out loud.)

In honor of April’s National Poetry Month, New York City is hosting the 6th annual Poem in Your Pocket Day (PIYP) on Thursday, April 17, 2008. This series of events is intended to celebrate the versatility and inspiration of poetry by encouraging New Yorkers of all ages to carry a poem in their pockets to share with friends, classmates, coworkers and family.

What does it feel like to lose all belief in yourself?

Point: National Poetry Month is Great- How can there possibly be anything wrong with National Poetry Month? Counterpoint: National Poetry Month is Not Great- I don't need a designated month to think about it.