Incandescent Mind: Selfish Works Reading Next Wednesday at Ugly Mug!!!

Please join Jennifer Martindale, Steve Ramirez and me December 6th as we read from Incandescent Minds: Selfish Works for Steve and Ben's Two Idiots Peddling Poetry reading at the Ugly Mug. Yay!!!!

The reading begins at 8 (ish). Don't forget to pay Phil the $3 cover, or he will take an organ of his choosing with dull cutlery. The address is 261 N Glassell St., Orange. Public parking is usually available after 7:30 near the corner of E Maple and N Orange St.

Incandescent Mind is published by Sarah Thursday's Sadie Girl Press. Sarah's description and spelling are much better than mine:

"Incandescent Mind: Selfish Work is a full-color, 8.5 x 11″ journal of poetry, prose, art, and photography addressed to the self. 78 authors and artists contribute to this 90 page collection. Layout, design, and editing by Sarah Thursday with additional editing and selection by Terry Ann Wright, G. Murray Thomas, Marianne Stewart, Keayva Mitchell, and Alyssa Matuchniak."

"Much like popular “selfies”, contributors turn the focus of their work on themselves. Beyond the sake of vanity, these selfies are intimate snapshots of a contributor’s personhood. They address the self of the present, past, future, alternate versions, or physical parts in letters, postcards, warnings, reminders, lists, and loving tributes. Available at the Sadie Girl Bookstore."

"Selfish Work includes contributions from: Alex Diffin, Alexis Rhone Fancher, Allegra Forman, Alyssa J Wynne, Amanda Martin, Amanda Mathews, Amy Bassin, Ana Jovanovska, Angela Topping, Anney Ryan, Armine Iknadossian, Ashley Elizabeth, Avalon Graves, Bailey Share Aizic, Boris Ingles, Brenda Matea, Carolyn Agee, Christine Stoddard, Cindy Rinne, Clifton Snider, D S Chapman, Daniel McGinn, Daniela Voicu, Danielle Mitchell, Don Kingfisher Campbell, Donna Hilbert, E R Zhang, Ed Baines, Edward Distor, Erika Ayon, Fernando Gallegos, G. Murray Thomas, Jenni Belotserkovsky, Jennifer Takahashi, Jettie Krantz, jill emery, Jim Coke, JL Martindale, Jonathan Yungkans, Joy Shannon, Kelsey Bryan-Zwick, Kimberly Cobian, Kimberly Esslinger, Kimmy Alan, Kit Courter, LaLa Deville, Larry Colker, LeAnne Hunt, Linda Singer, Mahssa Hosseini, Marc Cid, Marcela Marquez, Marianne Peel, Matt Rouse, Michael Cantin, Michele Vavonese, Nancy Lynee Woo, Natalie Hirt, Nicole Connolly, Odilia Galván Rodríguez, Rachel Kann, RaeAnn Crunk Yinger, Raundi Moore Kondo, Ricki Mandeville, Robin Axworthy, Sarah Thursday, Sharon Elliott, Shelby Pendergast, Stephanie Harper, Steve Ramirez, Steven Lossing, Sukyi Naing, Tamara Hattis, Taylor Xavier, Terri Niccum, Tobi Alfier, Victor Ladd, and Wynne Henry."

Thank you, Sarah!!!!

Ghost Line—Prompt from Rachel McKibbens

Alas, the time for ghosts and goblins is past, but I was too busy procrastinating to post in October. Nonetheless, let’s talk about ghost lines. A ghost line is a line from a poem or novel or really anywhere that is the jumping off point for your own poem. It is the first line of your poem written in invisible ink. You omit it once you are finished. If you feel the line is necessary, make sure you indicate the line is not yours and attribute it to the author. You could make the line an epigraph if you wish. Even after omitting the line, many poets will acknowledge the poem’s inspiration by adding “after Tarfia Faizullah” or whoever provided that first step.

Because my habitual procrastination has continued into the next month (and probably until my last, put-off breath) but mostly since I enjoy fangirling fantastic poets, I would like you to jump to the site of the amazing Rachel McKibbens for her ghost line prompt.

Thanksgiving Part II—What You Ate

Thanksgiving is a holiday for spending time with family and friends, ignoring the problematic parts of American history, avoiding politics and overeating. Ultimately, the overeating tends to linger longer in my case...as my pants can readily affirm. 

Now is your chance to write an ode to stuffing (or over-stuffing), a sonnet to green bean casserole or that villanelle to repeating heartburn.  

Or if you wish to write a truly depressing poem, research nutmeg and never eat pumpkin pie with a clean conscience again. The politics of the dinner table can be as brutal as those discussed around it, but I prefer not to sob over my dessert on a day off, so my prompt is the cheerful and/or creepy instruction to address a poem to a Thanksgiving dish—traditional, take-out, main course, side or just dessert—anything you ate yesterday. And no judgment from the rest of us. Perhaps you can even zombify it. Maybe it will eat you back—from the inside out. 

Check out Bruce Guersey’s “Yam” on the Poetry Foundation website  .

Thanksgiving—What You Gave

For this Thanksgiving, let’s focus on the giving rather than expressing gratitude for our gifts. Write a poem about what you gave. Use anaphora (repetition of the first word or phrase at the beginning of the line) to tie the poem together. Put a bow on it. This is your present.

Begin each line or, if you prefer, each stanza with I gave.

These gifts may have been unwanted—perhaps they were curses—or maybe they were all that you could  give, but you gave them nonetheless. Who accepted them, and who turned away? What did your gift make?

You can read and listen to Alberto Ríos recite his lovely poem “When Giving Is All We Have” at poets.org. 

Sand Fortress

You build a sand fort with feather pennants, a moat and a tunnel entrance. Who would you invite to live with you in your fragile fortress? Who would stay with you as safety crumbles?

Erasure: Cutting Down to a Poem

Erasure (along with its cousin “blackout poetry”) is the technique of omitting parts of an existing text (whether poem, article, reprint of a speech, a novel or an excerpt) to create a poem. With blackout poetry, the text is left as is with the omitted words, phrases and sentences marked out. Part of its appeal is its dramatic presentation. Erasure typically reorganizes the remaining text perhaps into stanzas.

Some poets take full poetic license in erasure by changing the wording or the forms of words and even combining letters to create words not found in the original as long as the words/letters remain in the original sequence. I admit I truly enjoyed cutting the text of Mike Huckabee’s speech to have him seemingly admit to a torrid desire for a shirtless Vladimir Putin.

While my erasure of Huckabee’s speech was merely silly, erasure is a great technique to use for political snark and for knifepoint observations. A recent article in Fast Company noted the form’s skill in delivering harsh truth. The poet Isobel O’Hare recently applied erasure to the recent statements from celebrities accused of sexual harassment and posted these blackout poems to Instagram. For more examples, check out her website.

Full disclosure, I first came upon Isobel O’Hare’s poems on the Poetry Foundation's Harriet blog, and the next day my stepson sent me a link to her poetry. 

I first tried erasure at Poetry Lab, the inspiring generative workshop run by Danielle Mitchell. This prompt is hers. She gave everyone this block of text from Virginia Wolf’s The Voyage Out and required that we cut it down to just twenty words.

Your prompt is to do the same. Cut this text down to just twenty words:

Chapter XIV

The sun of that same day going down, dusk was saluted as usual at the hotel by an instantaneous sparkle of electric lights. The hours between dinner and bedtime were always difficult enough to kill, and the night after the dance they were further tarnished by the peevishness of dissipation. Certainly, in the opinion of Hirst and Hewet, who lay back in long arm-chairs in the middle of the hall, with their coffee-cups beside them, and their cigarettes in their hands, the evening was unusually dull, the women unusually badly dressed, the men unusually fatuous. Moreover, when the mail had been distributed half an hour ago there were no letters for either of the two young men. As every other person, practically, had received two or three plump letters from England, which they were now engaged in reading, this seemed hard, and prompted Hirst to make the caustic remark that the animals had been fed. Their silence, he said, reminded him of the silence in the lion-house when each beast holds a lump of raw meat in its paws. He went on, stimulated by this comparison, to liken some to hippopotamuses, some to canary birds, some to swine, some to parrots, and some to loathsome reptiles curled round the half-decayed bodies of sheep. The intermittent sounds—now a cough, now a horrible wheezing or throat-clearing, now a little patter of conversation—were just, he declared, what you hear if you stand in the lion-house when the bones are being mauled. But these comparisons did not rouse Hewet, who, after a careless glance round the room, fixed his eyes upon a thicket of native spears which were so ingeniously arranged as to run their points at you whichever way you approached them. He was clearly oblivious of his surroundings; whereupon Hirst, perceiving that Hewet's mind was a complete blank, fixed his attention more closely upon his fellow-creatures. He was too far from them, however, to hear what they were saying, but it pleased him to construct little theories about them from their gestures and appearance.

Here is my rough process (scribbled, crumpled and torn):

Even though everyone began with the same text, the final results differed dramatically among the workshop’s participants.

Here is the final version of my erasure from the text:

Virgin Wolf:
Erasure of Virginia Woolf’s The Voyage Out

Going down was saluted
by the kill.
Plump meat stimulated
by throat—
bones mauled
to rouse the thicket
of spears.

And here is the erasure poem created by another participant, Ben Trigg.

Erasure from The Voyage Out, Virginia Woolf

The dusk electric hours lay long in their hands.
The women of hard silence rouse spears to attention.
Little gestures.

Good luck!

TONIGHT! Poetry Lab Visiting Author Workshop: Eric Morago

Tonight, The Poetry Lab will have Eric Morago lead the workshop, starting at 7 p.m. For this event, the charge is $15. Tickets are available at poetry-lab.squarespace.com. Click the link to check out upcoming events!

The Poetry Lab workshop meets the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month in Long Beach (235 E Broadway, 8th Fl). Danielle Mitchell is the coordinator. The Poetry Lab specializes in generative workshops and provides special sessions with visiting authors. Critique sessions are available a few times a year. As always, the workshop discusses craft and promotes contemporary poetry.

Lullaby of Teeth reading tomorrow night at the Ugly Mug

Tomorrow night, Mike Cantin, Robin Axworthy, Nancy Lynée Woo, and I will read from Lullaby of Teeth, the anthology from Moon Tide Press, at the Ugly Mug in Orange (261 N Glassell St). The reading begins 8-ish. Sign up for the open reading, and let Ben know if you are a first-time reader at the Mug. Cover is $3. Beware Phil, the proprietor. You must pay him before you can pass. Hope you can make it! I would love to hear you read!

The parking sign is a LIE

Pictures from anthology reading

It was a wonderful evening of poetry. Kate Buckley and Sarah Maclay were of course fabulous. Carrie Pohlhammer provided a touching tribute to John Gardiner and read one of his beautiful poems. I was so excited to be part of the anthology with Armine Iknadossian, Mike Gravagno and Robin Axworthy. Thank you, Eric Morago, for all of your work on the anthology and for allowing me to be a part of it.

L - R: Mike Gravagno, Robin Axworthy, Sarah Maclay, me, Armine Iknadossian, Kate Buckley, and Carrie Pohlhammer

Kate Buckley

Sarah Maclay

Carrie Pohlhammer reading a poem by John Gardiner 

Armine Iknadossian 

Mike Gravagno 

Robin Axworthy

the awkward author...

Eric Morago

Reading tomorrow night!

This Thursday Robin Axworthy, Boris Ingles, Mike Gravagno, Armine Iknadossian and I will be reading from the Lullaby of Teeth anthology by Moon Tide Press. The reading starts 7 pm at the Laguna College of Art and Design Laguna (374 Ocean Avenue, downtown Laguna Beach). I hope to see you!

Femme Fairy Tale Word List

Word lists, yes, word lists. While all of us remember having to write out vocabulary words, exercises using words from one poem or by a particular poet can propel some useful freewriting or even lead into a poem or short story. Just as a form can force our writing into a new direction by its restrictions, word lists and ghost lines can offer a starting point. Sometimes a box opens into a whole new room.  

Below is a femme fairy tale word and phrase list from “Little Red”in Double Jinx by Nancy Reddy.

Choose eight and climb in. See where it carries you.

Gorged                                                                       Kindling

Grainy                                                                         Hearth

Swallowed                                                                  Framed

Rib cage                                                                      Rumbling

Papered                                                                       Hidden

Shelved                                                                       Pinned

Belly plump                                                                Vivisection

Gobbled                                                                      Pink

Roast                                                                           Fall

Cracking                                                                     Inside

Nancy Reddy

Rather than reading the poem that originated the list, which may restrict your own originality, check out the fabulous "The Case of the Double Jinx" by Nancy Reddy. 

Storm

Storm

Let the ocean squall. Accept the hurricane. Embrace the tornado. Pick a natural disaster. Don't look for meaning in it. Let it be both personal and overwhelming. Write a destruction poem.

This prompt is brought to you from the fabulous HanaLena Fennel. If you want more prompts and unicorn glitter from her, subscribe to her Patreon page. 

Patricia Smith

Check out the amazing Patricia Smith reading her poem "Katrina" at the Poetry Foundation. "Katrina" appears in her amazing collection, the award-winning Blood Dazzler.

Along with wildfires burning across eight western states, the U.S. was slammed this year by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. Puerto Rico in particular is still suffering. Please donate, or donate again, if you can. Here is Charity Navigator's list of highly rated charities specifically helping Puerto Rico and other areas harmed by Hurricane Maria.

Come to the Poetry Reading this Thursday in Laguna Beach

Please join me at Kate Buckley’s Poet Laureate reading in Laguna Beach where I will be part of the feature for Moon Tide Press’s newest anthology A Lullaby of Teeth. I am so excited to be included in this anthology and in the reading’s feature with Robin Axworthy, Boris Ingles, Mike Gravagno and Armine Iknadossian.

Below is the press release from the amazing Kate Buckley: 

Laguna Beach’s Poet Laureate, Kate Buckley, Announces Poet Laureate’s Showcase on November 9th: Sarah Maclay and an Anthology Release from Area Publisher Moon Tide Press + a Special Tribute to the Late John Gardiner

Kate Buckley, Laguna Beach’s inaugural poet laureate, has launched a Poet Laureate’s Showcase series of readings, aimed at bringing nationally known poets to Laguna Beach. Literary luminaries featured to-date include Noah Blaustein, Grant Hier, Christopher Merrill, Kathryn Nuernberger, and Tom Zoellner.

The next Poet Laureate’s Showcase reading will be held Thursday, November 9th from 7:00pm - 9:00pm at the Laguna College of Art + Design Gallery at 374 Ocean Avenue in downtown Laguna Beach. The literary showcase will feature the launch of the latest poetry anthology from area publisher Moon Tide Press, along with award-winning poets Sarah Maclay and Kate Buckley. In honor of the late John Gardiner, the evening will begin with John’s dear friend Carrie Pohlhammer reading one of his poems in celebration of his life. The evening will conclude with a conversation with the poets and refreshments.

This series is free and open to the public and graciously hosted by the Laguna College of Art + Design. The Poet Laureate program is funded by the lodging establishments and City of Laguna Beach.

A SoCal Anthology

Lullaby of Teeth: An Anthology of Southern California Poetry is the latest publication from Moon Tide Press, a Orange County based independent poetry press founded by Michael Miller, now run by long time SoCal poet, Eric Morago.  In this anthology, Eric spotlights both exciting established and newer voices alike in attempt to bring poetry to as diverse an audience as possible. 

“With a combination of new and established poets, A Lullaby of Teeth showcases the variety and power of SoCal poetry. The common thread of these poems is their humanity. They tackle real issues of life and death, with heart, insight, and, often, humor, so that the reader both feels and understands them.”

— G. Murray Thomas, author of Cows on the Freeway and My Kidney Just Arrived

“The failed body, the failed mother, the failed love, Lullaby of Teeth: An Anthology of Southern California Poets explores the hazards of being human in a world of forest fires, daughters, inaugurations, pests, and social awkwardness. We are asked to ‘Read between the lines of code’ and see as these poets have seen. With realistic language, sharp and vivid imagery, and a variety of forms that reveal their breadth of talent, these 18 Southern California poets have not failed in forging an anthology that readies the world for crisis and epiphany alike.”

 – Danielle Mitchell, author of Makes the Daughter-in-Law Cry and director of The Poetry Lab

Sonia Greenfield and Armine Iknadossian Tonight at the Ugly Mug

Please come hear these two fabulous poets tonight, 8-ish, at the Ugly Mug in Orange, CA. Cover is $3. Beware Phil, the propieter, who is much nicer than he first appears. The hosts, Ben and Steve, welcome first timers and old timers to the open mic. 

Sonia Greenfield is an award-winning LA poet who edits the Rise Up Review and co-directs the celebrated Southern California Poetry Festival, which alas was this weekend, so you won’t be able to attend. Find links to her poetry and prose at http://www.soniagreenfield.com/index.html

Armine Iknadossian, also an award-winning poet, is one of the bookstore managers at Beyond Baroque Bookstore and will serve as a Writer in the Schools (WITS) for Red Hen Press this fall. Please check out her website for links to her work and for upcoming events: https://armineiknadossian.com/

Check out upcoming features to the Ugly Mug at http://poetryidiots.com/

I hope to see you there!

Join me for Kurt Bensworth's book launch this Saturday...

Kurt is a fellow Orange County writer and a great friend. He is also part of the upcoming e-book box set, Strange Impulses. Come out and celebrate the publication of his second book, Blurred Edges. Scarf down some food and wine, stay a while and chat. 

Irony

A blog of writing prompts that the writer cannot get started on....

Pantoum Form

I have particular affection for the pantoum form as it seems the most representative of my thought processes: circular and repetitive. Anxiety, regret and politics have much in common, I've found. Ask anyone debating or living with me.

Seriously though, the circular nature of the form offers a more associative mode of narrative. This circling makes connections that a more linear narrative would not and provides a satisfying closure.

As Edward Hirsch notes in his description of the form, "It is customary for the second and fourth lines in the last stanza of the poem to repeat the first and third lines of the initial stanza, so that the whole poem circles back to the beginning, like a snake eating its tail.” No wonder, the pantoum structure resonates with me. 

Repetition is a powerful tool for emphasis, and the pantoum is all about repetition, making it a good choice for performances.

Perhaps the most effective strategy though is to tweak the repeated lines either through tone or emphasis or connotation. The callback in comedy draws the listener in with the familiar but adds a slight twist, and the resulting surprise delivers the punch. Tweaking the lines in a pantoum likewise can provide power, push the story along and also demonstrate development, perhaps a change in the narrator’s perception. 

Hirsch states that “the pantoum is always looking back over its shoulder.” Regret and mourning are common themes, but this form can work for humor, particularly a gallows humor. 

You can read more about the pantoum form, its origin and history, excerpted from Edward Hirsch’s A Poet’s Glossary, and find examples of pantoums at poets.org.

Now about writing your own pantoum, remember that the second and fourth lines of each stanza become the first and third of the next stanza, on and on, until the final stanza in which the second and fourth lines repeat the first and third lines of the first stanza. Below is an outline to show more clearly the repeated lines for each stanza. 

Line 1:     A
Line 2:    B
Line 3:    C
Line 4:    D

Line 5:    B
Line 6:    E
Line 7:    D
Line 8:    F

Line 9:    E
Line 10:  G
Line 11:   F
Line 12:  H

Line 13:  G
Line 14:  A
Line 15:  H
Line 16:  C

I am fond of the pantoum for selfish reasons too: one of the first poems I got published was a pantoum. “God was in the Water” was included in the anthology Don't Blame the Ugly Mug and later reprinted at Cadence Collective. 

Welcome

Welcome to my blog. Here I will provide writing prompts and poetry forms to help jump start a new project or rekindle a current one. Most prompts will apply to poetry, but some will focus on the elements of short stories and longer fiction.

I will write book reviews and post others' reviews to highlight the craft of both newly published and long established poets. I will try to provide excerpts of the poems and audio of the poets reading their own work.

I will share some news and articles from my local poetry community in Orange County and from the wider writing community. If you know of an upcoming deadline for a contest or publication or of a reading or other event, let me know so that I can spread the word.

I hope you will join me in establishing a supportive place to improve our own writing and praise others and create discussions that inspire one another.

Check back regularly for new posts and updates. Good luck, get writing and see you soon!