National Poetry Month 50 State Tour -- Connecticut

Connecticut -- the fifth state -- joined the union on 1/9/1788. That means we've got a lousy 2 for 5 record on state poets laureate, people. Because Connecticut (like PA and NJ) doesn't have one.

The "Constitution State" had a P.L. from 1985 until 2009. Their most recent state poet laureate was John Hollander.

And then Connecticut just kind of forgot. I'm guessing somewhere in Hartford, someone's got "Hire New Poet Laureate" on the bottom their to do list.

But "Vacant"? That makes the Poet Laureate position sound as appealing as an airplane bathroom.

J. D. McClatchy is a worthy Connecticut poet. His book Hazmat was nominated for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize.

Before I get too depressed about the East Coast's lack of poets laureate, here is a poem by John Hollander.

An Old Fashioned Song
by John Hollander

No more walks in the wood:
The trees have all been cut
Down, and where once they stood
Not even a wagon rut
Appears along the path
Low brush is taking over.

No more walks in the wood;
This is the aftermath
Of afternoons in the clover
Fields where we once made love
Then wandered home together
Where the trees arched above,
Where we made our own weather
When branches were the sky.

Read or listen to the rest of the poem here.

Let's drive north to Massachusetts next on our National Poetry Month 50 State Tour.

No poet laureate position, so Mass joins Connecticut on my wall of shame. But we'll stop by for a visit with Ralph Waldo Emerson. 

National Poetry Month 50 State Tour -- Georgia

The fourth stop on our 50 state tour of poets laureate is Georgia. The Peach State (official fruit since 1995) joined the union on January 2, 1778.

Fun facts about Georgia include that its State Possum is Pogo Possum. Which makes me wonder whether any other states have an official possum. And how many state animals are not actual animals, but cartoons.

Are you a fan of the Weird States series of books (which started with the magazine, Weird New Jersey, natch)? Take the "Weird Georgia" quiz.

Georgia is on *my* mind because it has had a state poet laureate since 1925. No breaks or break-ups. No dumping poetry over politics (yes, I mean you, New Jersey).

David Bottoms has been Georgia's poet laureate since 2000. James Dickey said, "One cannot read him without being nerve-touched by his sardonic yet compassionate countryman's voice, his hunter's irony."

As long as we're visiting, let's see for ourselves.

My Daughter at the Gymnastics Party by David Bottoms  When I sat for a moment in the bleachers of the lower-school gym to watch, one by one, the girls of my daughter’s kindergarten climb the fat rope hung over the Styrofoam pit, I remembered my sweet exasperated mother and those shifting faces of injury that followed me like an odor to ball games and practices, playgrounds of monkey bars and trampolines, those wilted children sprouting daily in that garden of trauma behind her eyes. Then Rachel’s turn, the smallest child in class, and up she went, legs twined on the rope, ponytail swinging, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five feet, the pink tendrils of her leotard climbing without effort until she’d cleared the lower rafters. She looked down, then up, hanging in that balance of pride and fear
Read what Bottoms does with "those wilted children sprouting daily in that garden of trauma" he remembers in his mother's eyes  -- the rest of the poem is here.

Let's pack some fried chicken for the car ride back up the east coast. (Another Georgia fun fact -- Gainesville is reportedly the chicken capital of the world.) 

We'll continue our National Poetry Month state tour in Connecticut. I heard they need someone to fill their vacant State Poet Laureate position.

This road sign is so funny, I may just forgive you Connecticut.

National Poetry Month 50 State Tour: The Real Poets of New Jersey

Full disclosure as we head into New Jersey, third state on our National Poetry Month tour. I was born in Teaneck, in the shadow of New York, NY. (That's a photo of Farleigh Dickinson University, where my dad used to teach when I was little).

I may not have the big hair, or the accent, but I'll always be a Jersey Girl.

We've got awesome diners, Walt Whitman (who has his own rest stop), the Shore, William Carlos Williams, the Boss and Bon Jovi, the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, the Jersey Devil, Allen Ginsberg, Renee Ashley and...no poet laureate.

We're like an All-Star Poetry Team with no captain.

Jersey -- you're breaking my heart here.

We used to have a poet laureate position. The last one was Amiri Baraka. His anti-semitic rant at the 2002 Dodge Poetry Festival was hurtful and stupid (the Dodge crowd is typically P.C. -- Poetically Correct leaning greenly left.)

But, New Jersey, you hired a political poet for the job and you got one. Baraka has never been P.C. Truth in advertising, is all I'm saying. Read the whole tale of woe here (and Baraka's rebuttal, to be fair.)

Here is Amiri Baraka reading his Ode to Obama.

New Jersey -- I hope you give the whole poet laureate thing another try. There are plenty of poets to choose from. Just one piece of advice -- one I give my 13-year-old every night -- "Do your homework!" I'm sorry to do this to you, but you're going on my Wall of Shame.


We're off to Georgia and Connecticut tomorrow. After all that drama, I need a rest!

Poetry Friday: National Poetry Month 50 State Tour -- PA

Ah, Pennyslvania. The second state (12/12/1787).

I'm still burned up from my Jersey days, when I'd drive to my cousin's house in the Philly suburbs and see this sign: "Welcome to Pennsylvania, America Starts Here." Excuse me? Are you dissin' my home state?

So, Pennsylvania, while I love the smell of chocolate in the air when I'm riding the coasters at Hershey Park, I am *not* surprised at your lack of a poet laureate.

And that whole thing about, "Every poet is our poet laureate?" Not buying it. That's as lazy as not looking out your window and noticing there is a WHOLE STATE between you and the Atlantic Ocean.

You had one poet laureate, Samuel Hazo. Then you booted him. No explanation. No replacement. That's like breaking up with your first boyfriend and deciding to be celibate for the rest of your life.

And what's not to like? Here's a beautiful poem by Samuel Hazo -- former and only Poet Laureate of Pennsylvania. (You're going on my Wall of Shame, PA, you and your road sign.)

TO WAIT AS A WAY OF LIFE

Samuel Hazo

                 Waiting to act is where
                    the drama waits.
                                     Act,
                    and it's over.
                                   Bad gospel
                    for the overdoers of this world,
                    but irrefuteable…
                                       Hamlet pensive
                    is Hamlet at his truest.
                                             A cobra,
                    coiled on its coils, is totally
                    cobra.
                           The mountain snow
                    that keeps its avalanche a secret
                    threatens the deadliest with white
                    restraint.
                                Never are brides
                    more beautiful than in their veils.
                 Sprinters at the starting blocks
                    with all their muscles primed
                    and flexed look equally supreme
                    before defeat or victory
                    undoes them.

Read the rest of the poem at Poetry Magazine.

Moving on... It's just a short drive to New Jersey

-- my home state. But it's not going to be a

pleasant visit. You thought the housewives

were bad? Get ready for "The Real Poets

of New Jersey."

Until we get there, please visit Book Aunt. She is hosting the

Poetry Friday round-up today. 

Poetry Month National Tour -- Delaware

Welcome to Delaware, first state (12/7/1787). It's the first stop on our 50 state tour of U.S. Poets Laureate -- all in honor of National Poetry Month.

For five days, Delaware was the Uni-State of America. (Pennsylvania joined up on 12/12.) It's home to beautiful beaches. But didn't anyone think choosing the Weakfish as state fish was kind of lame? (Other fun Delaware facts and symbols here.)

Congrats, Delaware -- you've had a poet laureate (on and off) since 1947! Let's visit current poet laureate JoAnn Balingit.You know I love ekphrastic poetry -- look how Balingit takes the form and function of this wooden dish and uses it as a jumping off point to explore parenthood.

Winged Vessel
—Biggs Museum of American Art

JoAnn Balingit

Shaped like a kidney, marbled and starry, this wooden bowl reminds me
of the dish a nurse once packed into my things. Unable to divine its truth or

how to use it with my baby, I stuffed its sweet lobes full of cotton balls.
Its confidence made me doubt myself, aware I was a guesser. But I hung onto

that clown-mouthed dish, for it ferried the people of Fisher Price
across four states one bathtub at a time, passively reinventing itself,

penny holder, hamster john, spinning its principal story: the night I had
contractions while I gazed up at the stars. Each primal wave fanned out

a billion years. “We are 4.6 billion-year-old carbon!” blares my son, so
certified as ancient. He loves to hear the astrophysicist say The SETI group

will not give up its search for rocky planets orbiting stars. Forty years they've
scanned the skies for intelligence, a fluke of circumstance star-forged

just as Julian is, tough chunk of carbon whose questions fling him
through the world. He meteors his body onto the couch, pinches blossoms

from my potted orange, my parallel Florida universe. He finger-grinds
their fragrance out. Wonders, "How do oranges come from tiny flowers?

Read the rest here, or listen to JoAnn Balingit reading the poem. 

Buckle your seat belts, Pennsylvania and my home state of NJ are up next.

Don't even talk to me about Jersey. Despite claiming William Carlos Williams and Walt Whitman, and Allen Ginsberg, the Garden State is on the poetry wall of shame with other poet-laureateless states. I'll tell you the whole story on the way there. It's a doozy. (Just promise me you won't tell any "what's your exit" or big hair jokes.)

Welcome to Poetry Month National Tour

Happy National Poetry Month, gang!

Before we hop in the van and hit the road, here's some political yet poetic history. Did you know that two of our recent presidents have dabbled in poetry?

Let's start our tour of the 50 poetic states with Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. But before you read on, am I April Fooling?

Make the Pie Higher
by George W. Bush

I think we all agree, the past is over.
This is still a dangerous world.
It's a world of madmen and uncertainty
and potential mental losses.

Rarely is the question asked
Is our children learning?
Will the highways of the Internet become more few?
How many hands have I shaked?

They misunderestimate me.
I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.
I know that the human being and the fish can coexist.

Read the rest here.

POP
by Barack Obama

Sitting in his seat, a seat broad and broken
In, sprinkled with ashes
Pop switches channels, takes another
Shot of Seagrams, neat, and asks
What to do with me, a green young man
Who fails to consider the
Flim and flam of the world, since
Things have been easy for me;

Read the rest here.

Okay, folks. We're off to Delaware, the first United State (though, between 12/7/1787 and 12/12 when Pennsylvania got on board, Delaware wasn't united to anything. I guess it was the Uni-State of America.)

Until we get there, no kicking the seats -- I'm trying to drive up here.

Plan your National Poetry Month

I'm not the only one with something special up her sleeve for National Poetry Month. 

 

Blogger Serena Agusto-Cox at Savvy Verse & Wit has a great looking NPM blog-roll. For each day in April, she has a poets, interviews with poets, and poetry reviews for you to check out. Think of it as a gallery tour of poetry. (There may be a few changes in the schedule. Check SV&W for updates.)

 

I'm on the schedule for April 15 -- Tax Day. That's when I'm posting my Poetic Wall of Shame -- a list of states that don't have a poet laureate.

Enjoy these great sites. I'm handing it over to Serena...

 

OK, lets get to the National Poetry Month 2010 Blog Tour Schedule (I'm so happy with the turnout):

April 1:  Savvy Verse & Wit Welcome Post, Maw Books showcases her old poetry, Semicolon's Favorite Classic Poems Survey

April 2:  Diary of an Eccentric on Emily Dickinson, 32 Poems Interview with Geoffrey Brock

April 3:  Regular Rumination on poet Claudia Emerson

April 4:  Indextrous Reader interviews poetry publisher Brick Books 

April 5:  Jenn's Bookshelf reviews Tighty Whitey Spider by Kenn Nesbitt, West of Mars introduces the Roadie Poet

April 6:  Janel's Jumble showcases Estrella Azul, The Betty and Boo Chronicles showcases Poems from the Women's Movement

April 7:  Reading Frenzy features Edgar Allan Poe

April 8:  Books and Movies features Billy Collins

April 9:  Rhapsody in Books features W.B. Yeats

April 10:  Booking Mama will review Poetry Speaks Who I Am, Write Meg! features Kim Addonzinio 

April 11:  Tea Leaves will review "Song of two worlds" by Alan Lightman

April 12:  Monniblog will highlight British Columbia, Canada, poets/poetry, Ernie Wormwood will talk about driving Lucille Clifton who did not drive.

April 13:  Life Is a Patchwork Quilt features poetry for the deaf

April 14:  SMS Book Reviews will surprise us with a poetry book review, Author Ru Freeman will talk about poetry's cross-cultural presence, such as Palestinian poet Dharwish 

April 15:  KCBooks will discuss Robert Frost's The Outsider and how it impacted her, Author Amok will post a Wall of Shame with a list of states that do not have poet laureates.

April 16:  the life (and lies) of an inanimate flying object will review Poetry Speaks Who I Am and host a giveaway for 2 books, Evelyn Alfred will profile either Rita Dove, Marilyn Nelson, or Mari Evans.


April 17:  She Is Too Fond of Books will review Tighty Whitey Spider, A Circle of Books will review a small illustrated Poetry anthology, Wordsworth The Eternal Romantic.

April 18:  Bibliofreak will feature slam poet Reggie Gibson and a technique for writing poetry that resembles that kid's game called MASH.

April 19:  New Century Reading will review a couple of poetry books, 1330V will also post a poetry book review

April 20:  Bermudaonion will review The New Kid on the Block by Jack Prelutsky, 32 Poems Blog will interview John Poch.

April 21:  A Few More Pages will feature Lucille Clifton

April 22:  Necromancy Never Pays will feature a poem

April 23:  Everything Distils Into Reading will review a poetry book, In Bed With Books will discuss Romantic poetry, how to read it, and review Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know.

April 24:  the bookworm will feature Pablo Neruda

April 25:  Bookalicio.us will review How to (un)cage a Girl by Francesca Lia Block

April 26:  Peeking Between the Pages reviews for one of these poets: Jill Bialosky, Margaret Atwood or Sylvia Plath, things mean a lot will review Mary Oliver's Red Bird

April 27:  Jen's Book Thoughts features THE LINEUP: Poems on Crime by Reed Farrel Coleman, Linus's Blanket will talk about her experience reading poetry, Reb Livingston's Your Ten Favorite Words, for That's How I Blog show with yours truly.

April 28:  Ooh Books will post a poem for Free Verse with Mr. Linky; Estrella Azul will feature Karen Schindler.

April 29:  Online Publicist will interview me, Boston Bibliophile interviews Cambridge Poet Populist Jean-Dany Joachim

April 30:  Brimful Curiosities will feature read aloud poetry: Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young collected by Jack Prelutsky, All Kinds Of Families by Mary Ann Hoberman, The Wonder Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal; Diary of an Eccentric's The Girl talks about Shel Silverstein and his books

Whew! It's going to be a jam-packed celebration. See you on April 1.

Poetry Month National Tour!

National Poetry Month is almost here, y'all!

Buds are on the trees. The air is spring spicy and I've got linguistic wanderlust. It's time for a poetry road trip. Virtual, of course.

During the 30 days of April, we'll visit each of our country's great states and their poets laureate. Okay -- some states are not great. I'm talking about the ones with a state candy and a state tree, but no state poet.

Look for my State of Poetry Wall of Shame on April 15. That's right, Tax Day. If you pay taxes (and I know you do), you deserve to have your own Poet Laureate.

We'll drive through each state as they were admitted to the union, starting in nearby Delaware and working our way to lovely Hawaii (Wall of Shame member. Seriously, Hawaii. Joy Harjo is right there!) Expect some surprises and April Fool's fun.

Pack your haiku-ing gear. I'm filling the tanka with gas. Meet you bright and early Thursday morning.