National Poetry Month 2013: A Capitol Podcast for Poetic Pedestrians

One of my favorite Android apps is TuneIn Radio. It's a free app that gives me access to radio shows and podcasts from around the world. I can go through a list of local radio stations and listen live, but I can also search by themes, such as Arts and Food. Best of all, I can do a search.

Find TuneIn Radio on your PC or Mac.

When I type "Poetry" into my TuneIn Radio search, I get shows and podcasts that don't play on WYPR or WAMU, our local NPR affiliates. There is Poetry Radio, Poetry Show, Poetry off the Shelf (a recent episode was about the 2013 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize), Poetry Lectures (talks given by scholars and critics), New Books in Poetry.

I love podcasts. They're great to take on a road trip or to liven up a commute. (RadioLab is my favorite podcast to combat the boredom of folding laundry.)

But I had never heard of a podcast walking tour. Today in the TechnoVerse, poet Greg Luce explores our nation's literary riches -- with the help of a podcast walking tour from the Poetry Foundation. Put your kicks on and your ear buds in. Let's explore Washington D.C.'s poetry heritage, with a little help from Greg and smartphone technology.

Touring D.C.—Poetically

Washington, D.C. is justly celebrated for its many monuments, historical sites, and innumerable works of fine art from all ages and cultures. Political debates sound in and around all three branches of government and somehow, seemingly against all odds, the important work of governing our country actually is accomplished. Less well known about our city is that it is a rich in poets and poetry, past and present, some echoing and drawing from the great historical and political events transpiring here, others limning timeless themes of literary art.

Washington, DC is famous for its cherry blossoms.
They are past peak for this spring, but you can learn more at Bloom Watch.

On a recent Saturday morning, I was able to explore some of Washington’s poetic treasures, thanks to a podcast created by the Poetry Foundation. Beginning in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress, moving past the Capitol and along the National Mall, and finishing at the National Archives and Navy Memorial site, I marveled anew at the beauty of my city while listening to the words spoken by some of the many poets who have lived and worked here or been inspired by our sights or our history.

Elizabeth Alexander at the 2009
Presidential Inauguration.

Narrated by poet and D.C. native Elizabeth Alexander and featuring commentary by scholars and poets, the podcast takes the listener on a poetic journey, enlivened by the voices of the poets themselves performing their works. The tour is far too rich to describe in detail, but highlights include Robert Frost’s famous reading of “The Gift Outright” at John Kennedy’s 1961 inauguration, Ms. Alexander’s own inaugural poem for the 2008 inauguration of Barack Obama, Jane Shore’s deeply moving narrative of a visit to the Holocaust Museum, and Yusef Komunyakaa’s equally powerful “Facing It,” confronting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

A real revelation to me came from a poet not usually associated with Washington, William Carlos Williams. Having been offered then denied appointment due to suspect political connections as Poetry Consultant in 1952, Williams nevertheless visited D.C. as a tourist and produced a lyrical and satirical vision of the Capitol building entitled “It Is a Living Coral.” While perhaps not among his finest poems, it offers a fascinating mélange of wonder and sardonic observation especially entertaining to anyone who has visited the Capitol and marveled at its design and many decorations.

No account of Washington poetry would be complete without a discussion of Walt Whitman’s Civil War sojourn here, thus the listener is invited to visit the Portrait Gallery where Walt nursed wounded soldiers while hearing a passage from one of his poems describing his experience. And finally, D.C. poets Sarah Browning, David Gewanter, and Kenneth Carroll remind us that poetry is a living entity here, producing poems of witness and engagement in response to injustice and war.

Find it at Amazon.

Maps are provided to accompany the audio and locate the sites to be visited. It would, I suppose, be possible to take the tour virtually, especially if one is familiar with the city. But I would strongly recommend hitting the streets and experiencing the beauty and power of these poems while surrounded by that of Washington itself. Tours of New York and Chicago are also available and I hope that Baltimore might soon join the list.

The podcast and map can be downloaded at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/gallery/walking-tours/dc/index
                                    —Gregory Luce

                          

Equinox

I look at my feet

on the sidewalk
ready to take me, well,

nowhere in particular,

especially with this breeze

blowing from some direction

I can’t quite make out. 

A city of 45-degree

angles and circles

with five or fifty ways

to get anywhere and

here I am as entangled

with the ground as this

corkscrewed old tree
my hand presses
against.  I look up:

The sky is a blue net.

—Gregory Luce

Gregory Luce is the author of the chapbooks Signs of Small Grace (Pudding House Publications) and Drinking Weather (Finishing Line Press), and the collection Memory and Desire (Sweatshoppe Publications). His poems have appeared in numerous print and online journals, and in the anthologies Living in Storms (Eastern Washington University Press) and Bigger Than They Appear (Accents Publishing). He lives in Washington, D.C., where he works for the National Geographic Society.

Greg sent me this note: "The tour is actually in two parts (or loops, as they are referred to in the podcast); I only took the first, which runs from the LoC, down the Mall (with an unmapped side trip to the Zoo for Randall Jarrell's poem set there), and over to the Portrait Gallery & Archives. The second moves up into Shaw, Adams-Morgan, Dupont Circle, etc. I was only able to complete the first. (I want to do the second but haven't yet had time)... there is more to the tour than I was able to describe [here.]"

Thanks for taking us along with you, Greg. I agree--Baltimore would be a great city to include on this list of poetry walking tours. Charm City boasts Edgar Allan Poe, "The Star Spangled Banner," and Ogden Nash.

Tomorrow is Poetry Friday. Christine Hurley has a technology-based poetry project for your students. Meanwhile, enjoy a spring walk while you take in a poetry podcast!

Poetry Friday: Remembering Samuel Menashe

Economy of language.

It’s a phrase thrown about in praise of poems. What exactly does it mean?

Does it mean the poem doesn’t sound like everyday speech or dialogue? Because there are some great poems filled with dialogue and spoken phrases.

Does it mean that small words – articles, conjunctions – should be avoided whenever possible? Not unless you want all of your poems to sound like haiku.

I looked up the phrase “economy of language” and found a great article, “What is Poetry?” by Mark Flanagan.

Flanagan writes: “One of the most definable characteristics of the poetic form is economy of language. Poets are miserly and unrelentingly critical in the way they dole out words to a page. Carefully selecting words for conciseness and clarity is standard, even for writers of prose, but poets go well beyond this, considering a word's emotive qualities, its musical value, its spacing, and yes, even its spacial relationship to the page.”

Yet, Flanagan goes on to advise poets not to “shackle your poetry with definitions.”

There’s another favorite phrase in the writing-class world, “Show me, don’t tell me.”

Today, I’d like to show you a master of economic writing.

Rue

By Samuel Menashe

For what I did   

And did not do   

And do without   

In my old age   

Rue, not rage   

Against that night   

We go into,   

Sets me straight   

On what to do   

Before I die—

Read the rest of the poem at the Poetry Foundation.

I love the way the poet plays with sounds, re-mixes a famous phrase from Dylan Thomas, and stays (no matter what William Carlos Williams says) in the world of ideas, rather than things, in this twelve-line poem.

The poet Samuel Menashe died at the end of August. He was 85.

From the Poetry Foundation, which gave Menashe a Neglected Masters Award.

Menashe had a gift for pulling key ideas out of language, without tipping into explication and losing the poetry. He was the first poet to be given the Neglected Masters Award from the Poetry Foundation (2004).

Menashe’s obituary in the New York Times includes a paragraph describing how he came to poetry.

After serving in WWII, including the Battle of the Bulge, “’I came back, I heard people talking about what they were going to do next summer,’ he told The New York Times in 2003. ‘I was amazed that they could talk of that future, next summer. As a result, I lived in the day. For the first few years after the war, each day was the last day. And then it changed. Each day was the only day.’”

That was when he began to write.

The obituary I liked most (for its descriptiveness) comes from The Economist, which says of Menashe’s work:

“They were very short poems. Many were only four lines long. He began with more, but then worked to make them as concise as possible. They were honed down to the essence, sculpted like stones. He left them on scraps of paper all over the apartment.”

If you happen to be teaching economy of language with your creative writing class, instead of giving them a definition, show them Menashe’s work. They will see poetry with new eyes. You can find more of his poems at Archipelago magazine.

Enjoy your Poetry Friday, everyone. Today's host is Amy at The Poem Farm.

I'll be getting ready for the Baltimore Book Festival and 100,000 Poets for Change this week -- both are next Saturday. Hope to see you there!

Poetry Friday: Call for Original Poems

Happy Poetry Friday! I have big news to share.

I am editing a new anthology of poetry for the Maryland Writers Association.

The theme is love, in all its facets. I hope many of you will send original poems. The book should be out for National Poetry Month 2011.

I've already a poet ask whether the theme is intentionally broad. Yes. We're going to think beyond romantic love for this book.

To give you a sense of what "love, in all its facets" means, here is one of my favorite (non-romantic) love poems.

A Blessing

by James Wright

Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,

Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.

And the eyes of those two Indian ponies

Darken with kindness.

They have come gladly out of the willows

To welcome my friend and me.

We step over the barbed wire into the pasture

Where they have been grazing all day, alone.

They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness   

That we have come.

They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.

There is no loneliness like theirs.   

At home once more,

They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.   

I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,

For she has walked over to me   

And nuzzled my left hand.   

Read the rest at the Poetry Foundation.

Have a wonderful Friday. The Poetry Friday links are at Karen Edmisten's blog today. Thanks for hosting Karen!

For those of you who'd like to  submit to the MWA poetry anthology, here is the official call for manuscripts:

 

Maryland Writers’ Association

Call for poetry submissions

MWA Books, publisher of New Lines from the Old Line State: An Anthology of Maryland Writers, is seeking submissions from MWA members for its second book, a poetry anthology.

The theme is Love, in all its facets. Laura Shovan, winner of the 2010 Clarinda Harriss Poetry Prize, is editor. MWA members are encouraged to send 1-3 of their best poems on this theme, with a limit of 100 lines per poem, to MWAbooks@marylandwriters.org. All poetic forms will be considered.

Deadline for submissions: October 27, 2010

Notification:  December 15, 2010

Publication Date: National Poetry Month – April, 2011

Email submissions: send an attachment with cover letter and 1-3 poems. In the subject line please write “poetry anthology submission.” In the cover letter: your full name, pen name if applicable, street address, phone number and email address. Also include the title of each poem with line count, and a brief bio (approximately 70 words). The poems should be compiled as one continuous Microsoft Word, Rich Text, or Text file so your submission can be sent as one attachment. Include the poem title and your name in the upper right corner of each page you submit. Only electronic submissions will be considered.

Previously published work will be considered, provided it does not conflict with the original publisher’s reprinting policy and the author retains all reprint rights. Any work restricted by third party copyright will not be accepted. Submitting authors grant MWA and MWA Books permission to publish submitted work; otherwise authors retain existing copyrights.

Simultaneous submissions are permissible. Please contact us immediately if your poem is accepted by another publication.

Poets whose work is selected for publication will receive a copy of the anthology, an author discount on additional copies, and invitations to read at promotional events. Due to the high volume of submissions anticipated, we are unable to respond with specific feedback regarding your poems if you are not selected.

You must be an MWA member in good standing to participate. For more information, to renew your membership, or to join now, visit us at www.marylandwriters.org.

This project is funded by the Mildred Werba Fund, gifted to the MWA for use in supporting poets. MWA thanks the Fund and Werba family for their generosity.

 

Poetry Friday: 50 State Tour Visits Washington

Welcome back to our protracted tour of the 50 states' poets laureates. I wish I had better news from the west coast...

Washington State was 42nd to join the union. It was also a latecomer to poets laureate. The position was signed into law in 2007. Governor Chris Gregoire named poet Sam Green to a two year term.

Unfortunately, the position is now "temporarily suspended."

From what I could gather online, people argued that poetry is a luxury. Who wants to pay a poet's travel expenses and stipend when there's a recession going on? With money tight, sparing cash for a poet to visit schools and community centers is a tough sell.

Today, I'm sharing a poem by Sam Green about the act of writing poetry.

If it was hard, physical (dare I say taxing?) work, would you still do it?

If You Had to

If you had to make the quill

pen in the old way, stripping

the feathers, cutting the well,

splitting & shearing the tip

off clean; if you had to grind

the ink, holding the cake

straight against the stone,

circling until your wrist ached

to get the proper tone of black;

Read the rest of the poem (and some others you should check out) here.

In the age of instant cut and paste, Green seems to ask, do we still honor our poems with effort? And, in light of his PL position being in limbo, how do we convince the general public that funding our art form is worth the effort?


You might also like Green's poem "Night Dive" at the Poetry Foundation-- it reminds me of after-dark lake swims in the summer.

I'm off to the ocean tomorrow. Dip into more Poetry Friday posts at Language, Literacy, Love. Breanne is hosting the round-up this week.

NPM 50 State Tour: Illinois

The Prairie State has had a poet laureate since 1936. Past P.Ls include Carl Sandburg and Gwendolyn Brooks.

Illinois' current poet laureate is Kevin Stein, who is a well respected literary critic as well as a poet. Read an interview with Stein here.

Before we check out Stein's poetry, here is a youth poem featured on his website. Stein is a champion of kids writing poetry -- you'll find some great work by children on his site. Yay!

Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School, 6th grade
by Rebecca


Aged Cheese
 

People are like cheese.
When cheese is first made, it does not have
strong flavor.
When a child is born, it has not discovered
all its senses.
As the cheese ages, it gets more flavor.
As the child grows, it explores the world.
When the cheese is sold, it lives in
a refrigerator.
When people become adults, they get a job,
have a family, and buy a house.
Eventually, the cheese gets forgotten,
it gets moldy and is fed to a dog,
or eventually when you are old,
your kids move away
and after a long hard life
you lie down to rest
for the rest of your life.

And here is a poem by Kevin Stein -- a sort of dual character sketch. What does the open space breaking up each line signify to you?

It Didn’t Begin with Horned Owls
Hooting at Noon

by Kevin Stein

Though in them he heard       the weird symmetry

of loss and love’s becoming,       a great silence

between one call and the       other’s reply.

So he laid block, framed       studs into walls:

plumb, square, on line.       He stayed up late,

straightening bent nails       on the lip of a block

with his ballpeen hammer,       the way a contractor

with a sprung back had shown       him. Evenings

he went next door to talk,       toting his thermos

of bitter coffee and a picture       of his son

who’s dying of AIDS. Son       he’d failed, son

he’d pounded on and never got       right.

The rest of the poem is at the Poetry Foundation.

Anastasia Suen is hosting Poetry Friday at Picture Book of the Day. Stop by for some rockin' verse.

National Poetry Month 50 State Tour: Wall of Shame

It's Tax Day.

If you pay taxes, and I know you do, demand your poetic rights!

If you live in a Wall of Shame state, wouldn't today be the *perfect* day to tell your governor you want a poet laureate of your very own?

Here it is...your poetic Wall of Shame. These are the 10 states who do not have a poet laureate. (Notice the bench in front of the Wall of Shame is empty. Vacant. No one is in the bench position. Kind of like these states and poetry.)

National Poetry Month 50 State Tour

Wall of Shame

1. Poo on Pennsylvania! You have great gifts in Gerald Stern and Sonia Sanchez, but no poet laureate. That's just plain lazy.

2. Naughty New Jersey your poetry community is thriving and you're home to the largest poetry festival in the country. So, you were burned by a bad poet laureate experience. Get over it.

3. Cankerous Connecticut, saying your poet laureate position is vacant makes it sound about as appealing as an airplane toilet.

4. Miserly Massachusetts lists its poet laureate as: Position does not exist. Like, "We can't be bothered."

5. Oh, no! Ohio, like Mass, just can't be bothered to have an official state poet.

6. Mad-brained Michigan has had one poet laureate in its history. Edgar Guest was the only worthy poet your state has ever produced? Seriously?

7. No way, Nevada. You haven't had a poet laureate since 2007. What gives?

8. Noisome New Mexico. I'm getting tired of these states with "Position does not exist." Actually, poet laureates do exist. In 40 other states. What's your problem?

9. Artless Arizona -- artless is a good word for a state that doesn't honor poetry through a poet laureate position.

10. Hapless Hawaii, just because you were the last state on board, I'm not forgiving you. Joy Harjo is a resident of your state. Give her a call, would ya?!

Thanks to Pete Levin's page for some of these great, Shakespeare inspired insults.

As long as I'm venting, I'd like to have a word with the Poetry Foundation and the Academy of American Poets.

You'd be shocked at how many state poets laureate are not represented on these important websites. I, for one, was flabbergasted

If a poet has been deemed worthy by an entire state, that person deserves a bio on your venerated site. Discuss amongst yourselves while we get back on the road. Our National Poetry Month 50 State Tour continues.

NPM 50 State Tour: Vermont

What is the 14th state? Vermont, Naturally. Or, you may prefer the slogan, "What happens here, stays here (but nothing really happens here)."

Vermont is known for its skiing, but it's just gorgeous in the warmer months. And yes, there is a Ben and Jerry's Factory that you can tour. The tour guide who turned us away (we missed the last tour) said there's nothing more delicious than ice cream fresh from the production line. Thanks. Thanks a lot.

Vermont was admitted to the Union on March 3, 1791. It has the lowest violent crime rate of all 50 states and boasts the only state capital without a McDonalds. But before we all decide to move there, let's check out the Green Mountain State's poetic heritage.

Robert Frost was Vermont's first poet laureate when the position was created in 1961. But the state had no poet laureate from Frost's death in 1963 to 1988. Galway Kinnell was the next PL, followed by Louise Gluck, Ellen Bryant Voigt and Grace Paley.

Multi award-winning Ruth Stone is Vermont's current poet laureate. At 95, Stone writes bravely and eloquently about the region of latter age. I found "The Question" at the Poetry Foundation, where you can read several of Stone's poems.

The Question

by Ruth Stone

While needles of the evergreen

practice a windy chaos,

heads of snarled hair;

something in the tree

longs for old age;

bald brown knobs of skull

without subterfuge;

but it continues with its greedy

resinous sexual odors. 

 

The poem concludes here.

Join me in Kentucky next. I'm a big fan of Wendell Berry's poetry, so we'll be sure to pay him a virtual visit on our National Poetry Month 50 State Tour.

NPM 50 State Tour: Virginia

Virginia is for lovers...poetry lovers.

The tenth state, which signed on 6/25/1788, has a Pulitzer Prize winning poet laureate to brag about.

Claudia Emerson won the 2006 Pulitzer for her poetry collection The Late Wife.

Her most recent book, Figure Studies, is on my to-read list. Emerson's website says it opens "with a twenty-five-poem lyric sequence called 'All Girls School,' offering intricate views of a richly imagined boarding school for girls."

I love how Emerson's poem "Stable" is a kind of elegy for her state's rural roots.

Stable

by Claudia Emerson

One rusty horseshoe hangs on a nail

above the door, still losing its luck,

and a work-collar swings, an empty

old noose. The silence waits, wild to be

broken by hoofbeat and heavy

harness slap, will founder but remain;

while, outside, above the stable,

eight, nine, now ten buzzards swing low

in lazy loops

You can find the rest of the poem at the Poetry Foundation.

Virginia may be for lovers, but I love New York. The Empire State is up next on our National Poetry Month 50 State Tour.

Just don't tell them that the Statue of Liberty really does belong to Jersey.