The July/Aug 2020 Poets&Writers Magazine was the first of the magazines I studied this month where the effects of COVID-19 became apparent, an interesting place to end this intensive jaunt through the recent history of Poets & Writers. In the Trends section in a piece called “Literary Festivals Go Virtual” I read, “The Jackson HoleContinue reading “And Zoom It’s Over”
Tag Archives: Blogging A to Z Challenge
You Are Poetry
While reading through the July/Aug 2020 Poets&Writers Magazine, I didn’t find a lot of Y words to choose from. The one that came up the most was “you” in the form of a question. Like in the Q&A with Natasha Trethewey, Joshunda Sanders asks, “Are you relieved to have physical distance from Georgia?” “Have youContinue reading “You Are Poetry”
XLIV Pushcart Prize Collection
On the page across from the editor’s note in the May/June 2020 Poets&Writers Magazine, there’s a full page ad for the 2020 Pushcart Prize XLIV Best of the Small Presses edited by Bill Henderson. The X in this number is ten subtracted from the L after it, as the I is one subtracted from theContinue reading “XLIV Pushcart Prize Collection”
Poetry as a Wedge
In the Q&A with Cathy Park Hong called “Double Doors Open” by Dana Isokawa in the May/June 2020 Poets&Writers Magazine, the word “wedge” is used three times in three different ways. Dana Isokawa writes, “I spot Hong’s three poetry titles on a top shelf, wedged between Homer’s Odyssey and Garrett Hongo’s Coral Road.” In answerContinue reading “Poetry as a Wedge”
The Violence of Poetry
In the Q&A with Natalie Diaz called “Energy” by Jacqueline Woodson in the March/April 2020 Poets&Writers Magazine, Natalie Diaz said, “I have lived many lives. I have tried and failed at many things. I have won and lost much. I don’t know much, but I believe language lasts. In all its violence and tenderness, itContinue reading “The Violence of Poetry”
Unpinnable Poetry
In the Q&A with Natalie Diaz called “Energy” by Jacqueline Woodson in the March/April 2020 Poets&Writers Magazine, Natalie Diaz surprised me with the word, “unpinnable.” She saidd, “I learned quickly that myth is what makes me dangerous—the ability to make a rock weep for its creator, a way to say the river runs through myContinue reading “Unpinnable Poetry”
A Poem as Time
Time also came up a lot in the special section of the Jan/Feb 2020 Poets&Writers Magazine. Keith S. Wilson who wrote Fieldnotes on Ordinary Love (assoc link) his writer’s block remedy is: “Time. They say time heals all wounds, which is a lie, but it is true that no wound healed without time. I hopeContinue reading “A Poem as Time”
Poetry as Survival
In the Special Section “Inspiration” in the Jan/Feb 2020 Poets&Writers Magazine, several of the poets used the word “survival” when talking about how their collection began. Heidi Andrea Restrepo Rhodes who wrote The Inheritance of Haunting (assoc link) said, “This book emerged as a result of poetry as a mode of survival and healing atContinue reading “Poetry as Survival”
The Reach of Poetry
In the Reactions section of the Nov/Dec 2019 Poets&Writers Magazine, I read, “Much of the advice and coaching I offer to undergraduate students who are contemplating MFA programs is to take some time to think about what they actually want out of it, to reach out to people who teach at certain programs or thoseContinue reading “The Reach of Poetry”
A Poem Ponders a Question
The word “question” comes up often in the Nov/Dec 2019 Poets&Writers Magazine. The editor’s note starts with a question, “What is the future of independent publishing?” He writes, “That was the question I asked the eight industry leaders whose answer-essays are featured in this issue’s special section. It was, of course, a rhetorical question. .Continue reading “A Poem Ponders a Question”
Experience Writing 