Postcard From Billy Collins, Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 2009, photo © 2009 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
In February, we read the work of Billy Collins in our monthly Poetry & Meditation Group. Though he was the United States Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003, I had not been introduced to his body of work (with the exception of his popular poem about mothers and sons, “The Lanyard“). But after reading “Japan” and “Fishing on the Susquehanna in July” out loud, and listening in silence while others read his poetry, I became a big fan.
As is our custom, at the end of the night, the founder of our Poetry Group passed around a card for us to sign, a token of our gratitude to the poet. Each month, she addresses, seals and stamps the envelope, then mails our card off to the poet the next day. We don’t have expectations; it’s enough to share their poetry.
But once in a while, the Universe responds in kind. When we arrived at the March Poetry & Meditation Group, here is what we found:
___________________________________________
To the Teri Blair Meditation & Poetry Group!
Liu Yung
This poet of the Sung dynasty is so miserable.
The wind sighs around the trees,
a single swan passes overhead,
and he is alone on the water in his skiff.
If only he appreciated life
in eleventh-century China as much as I do —
no loud cartoons on television,
no music from the ice cream truck,
just the calls of elated birds
and the steady flow of the water clock.
Billy Collins
Poem reprinted with permission of the author,
Copyright 2006 Billy Collins.
___________________________________________
Billy Collins describes poetry as “the only surviving history we have of human emotion.” We were thrilled and honored to hear from him. And it seems like a great way to kick off National Poetry Month on red Ravine. I am continually surprised by the generosity of famous writers to give back to those of us who find ourselves at humble beginnings. Maybe it’s a lesson to pay attention to — that no matter our status, we are all at the beginning. Every poem, short story, essay, and blog post takes us back to Beginner’s Mind.
We hope you will join in the celebration during National Poetry Month. It was established in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets and is a month-long national celebration of poetry.
According to poets.org, the concept is to widen the attention of individuals and the media — to the art of poetry, to living poets, to our complex poetic heritage, and to poetry books and journals of wide aesthetic range and concern. The hope is to increase the visibility and availability of poetry in popular culture while acknowledging and celebrating poetry’s ability to sustain itself in the many places where it is practiced and appreciated.
The goals of National Poetry Month are to:
- Highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets
- Introduce more Americans to the pleasures of reading poetry
- Bring poets and poetry to the public in immediate and innovative ways
- Make poetry a more important part of the school curriculum
- Increase the attention paid to poetry by national and local media
- Encourage increased publication, distribution, and sales of poetry books
- Increase public and private philanthropic support for poets and poetry
On April 16th our Poetry & Meditation Group will be reading the poems of Yusef Komunyakaa. Maybe you’ll want to start your own poetry group. Or purchase “Ballistics,” the latest from Billy Collins. Poem In Your Pocket Day is coming up on April 30th. And here are 30 more ways to honor poets and poems. Whatever you choose to do, celebrate poetry!
-posted on red Ravine, Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
-related posts and links: NPR: Reading List & Interview with Billy Collins, Got Poetry? (National Poem In Your Pocket Day), Billy Collins Reads “The Lanyard” on YouTube , PBS Online NewsHour: Billy Collins Interview, December 10th, 2001 — the week following his inaugural reading at the Library of Congress after becoming U.S. Poet Laureate, Poetry 180 — a poem a day for american high schools
Your meditation and poetry group rocks. I wish I had the energy to start one here. The responses you have received from the poets has made the poetry so much more alive for me. I can only imagine how it enlivens your study of the poets.
A woman at the KC Writers Group suggested that we go to a web site called “poetic asides” which is somehow connected with the Writers Digest people. This guy is running “a poem a day” challenge for National Poetry Month. He posts a prompt every morning and people write and post a poem. If you do it every day you receive some kind of email certificate showing that you have completed the challenge. He even chooses poems for inclusion in an eBook of the best poems for the month.
So far it has been very fun for me. It’s not too late to start if anyone is interested. I was amazed and pleased to see the number (over a 1000) that write almost every day.
Please keep posting about your poet of the month so I can check out their work.
LikeLike
Bob, yes, I’ve heard of that site, and I think there are many more blogs who do the NaPoWriMo (for National Poetry Writing Month). I think one of our haiku regulars, A~Lotus, is participating in several of them. I admire those who can write poetry on demand. I’m up for the haiku, tanka, renga but as far as writing regular poetry on demand every day, that sounds tough to me. Great that you are doing it.
Our poetry group has really turned out to be something I look forward to. Teri’s guidance, the structure she provides, the silence, and the focus of the first half of the group only on the one poet and poetry, and socializing later, really works for me.
I love the reading aloud part, too. We have moved past the year point now. I’ve learned a lot about the poets we’ve covered. And am often spurred to read more on them after our group. Maybe more will be inspired to start their own poetry group. Sure do hope so!
LikeLike
Great photos, QM, and a wonderful reminder to enjoy April & Poetry Month.
I watched the YouTube link you included of Billy Collins reading “The Lanyard.” It is, of course, extremely funny. But what I noticed (in addition to the excellent writing & enjoyment the author had in sharing it), was how slowly and deliberately Billy read. I think that is one of the secrets of understanding poetry…take your time. Rushing brings confusion. If I slow down, I usually get even the most difficult passages.
LikeLike
I love his name. It reminds me of an entertainer’s name, not a poet’s. I don’t know why. And I sense a whimsy there, in his words.
Thanks QM (and Teri) for the introduction to Billy Collins, and QM for this post in honor of Poetry Month. I’m looking forward to checking out the links and becoming more familiar with this particular poet, and participating in other ways, like with my daughters.
(Speaking of which, Dee started out this month learning three stanzas from the famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Paul Revere’s Ride. And she wrote today a poem about Paul Revere, which she read to me. It was fabulous. I’m amazed at how wild a young person’s mind is.)
LikeLike
I agree with you too, Yb. Billy Collins sounds more like an entertainer rather than a poet, but come to think of it, a poet IS an entertainer–an entertainer of the human emotion, and that’s poetry! It’s wonderful to hear from a poet, especially through postcards. 🙂 Super cool!
QM, thank you for sharing a poem from Billy Collins. I haven’t really read much of his work, but only a few.
It’s wonderful to know that you are participating in a poetry meditation/discussion type of group. I miss those. My poetry class in college was my own discussion group. I haven’t been in one since other than “online groups” such as Read Write Poem (RWP) and Poetic Asides (PA).
Oh! I love Yusef Komunyakaa’s work! He’s one of my favorite poets!! His poetry is so raw, yet so profound. It’ll be wonderful to write just as wonderfully as him.
Whew! So far, I’m keeping up with NaPoWriMo as I’m combining prompts from RWP and PA. Yesterday’s prompts though were kind of disjointed, and so I couldn’t combine them. But despite all of that, it is sure expanding my flexibility to write about a variety of topics I wouldn’t imagine I’d be writing! Come November, it’s National Novel Writing Month, but I’ll substitute that with the “unofficial” NaPoWriMo for my own challenge since I’m terrible with short stories and fiction, etc. Because I do NaPo twice a year, sometimes I’m kind of shock at how much I’ve grown when I go back and read these poems! Like, “Did I write that? I don’t remember writing this.”
This was a good morning post for me, and now I’d better get ready for work!
Chao!
LikeLike
It is a pleasure to read this post, QM. Whenever I open my mailbox and find correspondence from one of our poets, I think, “Seriously? You’re writing back to us?” It’s humbling. And thrilling. At the end of our last Poetry & Meditation group, our youngest member (20-year old University student, Naomi), said to me in the kitchen, “It’s better than hearing from a movie star. These people are, like, really smart!” What higher praise than a young person preferring Billy Collins over the latest box office face?
LikeLike
*whoops* Let’s celebrate~!
I loved that… that characterization of poetry. It’s probably the best one I’ve heard.
“the only surviving history we have of human emotion.”
I’m gonna pop these two short poems down that have always had a cool juxtaposition in my head. Wanna see if you all know right away who they’re by, cus these two poets are like familiar daily staples in my personal history. Neighbors easily and openly visited as opposed to the rarely read, elusive, towering genius poet that I wonder at but can’t fit into my daily life. Here goes:
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
******
My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell
LikeLike
Sinclair, I find the same thing — that I really have to slow down to read poetry. When I try to read it like I might read a book, I don’t get nearly as much out of it. I often read poetry aloud, even to myself. I get pleasure out of that method of devouring it.
BTW, I enjoyed hearing Billy Collins read on the YouTube link. He’s got a good reading voice. I think it’s something that is developed over time. And he’s funny! I think I read in one of the interviews that he uses humor sometimes to provide an entry point to his poetry. And I remember laughing that night in our Poetry & Meditation Group as part of the process of listening and reading.
LikeLike
amuirin:
My guess: Robert Frost
LikeLike
ybonesy, he does have a great name. There is something informal about the name “Billy.” It’s a name you hear a lot in the South, actually for girls and boys. But it’s often followed in quick succession by the middle name, like Billy Joe, or Billie Jean. 8)
Hey, ybonesy, would Dee consider letting you publish her poem about Paul Revere sometime this month? That would be wonderful. One thing that Billy Collins did as U.S. Poet Laureate was to create this program called Poetry 180 – a poem-a-day for american high schools.
Here’s a blurb about it from Billy:
He talks about starting it in that early 2001 interview (link at bottom of post). And it’s now at the Library of Congress site with all the 180 poems that they did that year. It’s a great resource for high schools. And it ties in with how important it is to listen to poetry that is read aloud.
Here are the links:
Poetry 180 Homepage at the Library of Congress (LINK)
Poetry 180 – A Note About How The Program Works From Billy Collins (LINK)
Poetry 180 – a poem-a-day for american high schools – List of Poems & Authors (LINK)
Poetry 180 — Listen to former Poet Laureate Billy Collins talk about reading a poem (LINK) — one of the things he mentions is to read S-l-o-w-l-y
LikeLike
@amuirin: Yep, I recognize the first poem as Robert Frost. I had to recite it at one point or another.
However, I’ve never heard of the second one. Frost wrote that too? I actually like that poem as well. 8)
LikeLike
amuirin, thanks for celebrating poetry with us. Hmmm, sounds like Teri and A~Lotus have nailed one of the poets. What about Emily Dickinson for the other? I’m curious now. 8)
LikeLike
A~Lotus, Oh, I wish you lived closer so you could come to our April Poetry & Meditation Group to read Yusef Komunyakaa with us! An “entertainer of the human emotion,” that makes a lot of sense. I’m in awe of those who are writing a poem a day and it sounds like you are actually following several sites for NaPoWriMo. Great work, lotus! I look forward to your check-ins here and, of course, your daily haiku. You must have quite a body of work by now. Are you considering print publishing of your poems at some point?
You and Bob both mentioned NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month) so for anyone who wants to jump in, I’m going to add the links here:
Poetic Asides with Robert Lee Brewer from Writer’s Digest (LINK) – Poem a Day challenge for the month of April
NaPoWriMo Pledge Drive at poets.org (LINK) — write a poem a day in April and secure pledges to support poets and poetry
NaPoWriMo at readwritepoem (LINK) – April’s 30 poems in 30 days — great inspirational poetry site that can always be found on our sidebar
LikeLike
Oh, I hope we get to read the Paul Revere poem!
Yep, that took you guys next to no time. Robert Frost was the first & Emily Dickinson for the second one. Good call. 🙂
LikeLike
In preparing for Yusef Komunyakaa, I came across a lot of testimonials from Vietnam Vets. Yusef himself was sent to Vietnam when he was 18 to serve.
A great deal of his poetry is about Vietnam, and these vets talked about how Yusef’s words helped them finally face what had happened to them on the battlefield, and to heal from the terrible after-affects of the war.
What better gift can a writer offer?
LikeLike
QM,
Which poets have you preferred hearing in your group, and why?
LikeLike
Donald, mmmm, hard question to answer. I think I might do a separate post on a list of the poets we’ve covered, but as far as actually listening to poets read their work, I liked Maya Angelou, Kay Ryan, Billy Collins, and Robert Frost. Robert Frost was one of the first poets I ever heard read his own work sometime back in the 60’s. I had a teacher who loved Frost. Plus, like amuirin says, his poetry is many times about nature, seasons, and is so accessible to me. Kay Ryan, I liked her voice. Billy Collins was funny. And Maya, well, Maya is just Maya. She has a voice and powerful presence like none other.
I like that Teri finds recordings of the poets reading their own work and has us listen to them as part of our readings. Do you have poets you are partial to or you have enjoyed listening to?
As far as hearing our group members read, I like to hear everyone read. And it’s amazing how we have all improved with our reading of poetry over the last year. Teri, don’t you think so? And do you have poets that you’ve preferred listening to?
LikeLike
Teri, thanks. That’s great what Naomi said about receiving the postcards and letters from the poets. I am astounded each time a new one comes into your mailbox. (Hey, tell Naomi to chime in on these conversations sometime. I know she’s reading!)
I like that our poetry group is a combination of all ages. It brings so much to the group. And I have to say, I feel like an oldtimer in there. I might be one of the oldest in the group. 8)
Teri, I knew nothing about Yusef Komunyakaa until you mentioned him in one of ybonesy’s post about Vietnam (link in body of post). I’m looking forward to learning about his life this month.
I can’t think of a better way to be of service than to have my writing speak to someone in the way it sounds like Yusef’s poetry has spoken to Vietnam veterans. That seems like the ultimate testimony of writing what’s really there, not a toned down version of what we want to say.
LikeLike
amuirin, ah, wonderful! I’m glad it was indeed Emily Dickinson. And I have to say, I didn’t cheat! The second poem just reminded me of her tone. She is a poet I really enjoy. Your line is elegant, about the way some poets have a style which allows us to easily and openly visit —
“Neighbors easily and openly visited as opposed to the rarely read, elusive, towering genius poet that I wonder at but can’t fit into my daily life.”
Thank you for that.
Emily Dickinson seemed to have lived such an isolated life. But oh the writing she produced. Billy Collins’ poetry gives me an opening to step into like that. It’s not difficult to read or understand. In one of the interview links, he says he writes his poetry rapidly and likes to take poems from beginning to end to discover the destination of the journey of writing it. The interviewer wants to know if he writes a poem in one sitting. Here’s what he says:
It’s interesting to note the way he writes, because if you read people like Donald Hall, he is a revisionist who sometimes revises his poems for years before sending them out into the world. Totally different style.
LikeLike
When we started the group in February 2008, I think we could have all been considered novice poetry readers. Even though we began with accessible poets like Ted Kooser & Mary Oliver, reading poetry out loud took some getting used to. I would remind the group everytime, “Read slow. You’ll do us a favor if you do. We’ll be able to hear the poem.” Now, it’s second-nature. People take time and read each word. It’s wonderful.
Because I’ve emailed everyone the two poems they’ll read before the night of the group, I never think I’ll be surprised with the reading. I always am. People put something into their reading I don’t expect, and I’m as moved as if I’d never heard the poem.
LikeLike
BTW, here’s an interesting tidbit I just remembered about Donald Hall (while we are on the thread of Robert Frost). I had written it into a comment on the post RE: Valentine & Donald Hall (LINK) (some great Donald Hall interview links in that post):
—He (Hall) started writing poems when he was a kid at his grandparents’ farm in New Hampshire. When he was 16, he went to a writing conference and met Robert Frost, and later that year, he published his first poetry.
Donald Hall actually met Robert Frost. Isn’t that amazing? Sometimes when I find a writer I really like and realize that they may have died in my lifetime, maybe when I was 20 or 30, I think — Man, I could have met them! I sometimes think that about May Sarton or James Baldwin or Georgia O’Keeffe. They were all alive during my adulthood, yet I didn’t know their work the way I know it now. It makes me want to try to meet (or at least hear them speak) all the writers I love who are still alive. Does anyone else ever get thoughts like that?
BTW, this post on Frost — Robert Frost (Miles To Go) (LINK) — has some great links in it about the life of Frost.
LikeLike
While we are on the subject of great poets and poems, I wanted to say that one poet I have come to love, mostly through the posts of ybonesy who has written extensively about him, is Pablo Neruda. She has given me an opening into his life and poetry, and I’d really like to make a point of reading more of his work. His language, phrasing, and choice of words are wild and alive. He’s got so much passion and fire.
Here are the links to the red Ravine pieces ybonesy has done about (or related to) Pablo Neruda:
Getting To Know Pablo Neruda (LINK)
Pablo Neruda’s Love Of Things (LINK)
Postscript Neruda (LINK)
Hay Que Vivir (LINK)
Ode To A Pink Shoe (LINK)
Eat His Words (LINK)
Neruda – Solo La Muerte (LINK)
LikeLike
ybonesy,
When I was a teacher, I had my students memorize “Paul Revere’s Ride.” I’m glad to hear the tradition continues with Dee. There’s something instantly mysterious and exciting about the opening lines that pulls children in…”Listen my children, and you shall hear, of the midnight ride of Paul Revere…”
I, too, hope to hear what she wrote.
LikeLike
I asked her if she would be interested in seeing her Paul Revere poem published on red Ravine. No, she said instantly. But, I have another poem, she offered.
I’m not sure why the Paul Revere poem is not something she’d like others to see. She read it to me last night, and she read it to her sister (Dee calls her “my blister.”). I think she will be required to read it to the class. But, the writing of a poem about Paul Revere was an assignment, while the other poem she wrote was not.
BTW, teaching poetry and programs that promote awareness and value of poetry—it works. Reason I say that is because in the few days that poetry has been a focus at school, I see poems written on Dee’s hands and on notes left around the house. I asked her this afternoon what she’s been doing. Writing poetry. And that was before I asked her if she’d like to publish a poem on rR.
Em’s school has been doing national testing mornings last week and this week, and Em comes home drained. To say she is tired of standardized testing is an understatement. It is about the quickest way to kill a kid’s love of school. I can only guess that the testing scores drop with each day that testing continues. The first day Em came home and said, Well, I think I did pretty well on my tests. Same second day. By the end of the week, she didn’t want to talk about school. Today she was deflated. Thankfully it was her early day and she got to spend the entire afternoon at an activity at the community library. I can’t wait until the testing is over and they start reading and writing poetry in honor of National Poetry Month.
LikeLike
QM, I’m glad to hear that you’ve come to love Neruda. I sometimes go read his poem Ode to Things to get a boost. It’s a delightful poem.
LikeLike
ybonesy,
Tell Dee we’d love to read *any* poem she writes, Paul Revere or not.
LikeLike
I definitely will. She told me she’d find it for me today after school. Thanks for your encouragement.
LikeLike
ybonesy, yes, I love Ode To Things. I like how you post it in Spanish and English in the post (second link in comment on Neruda above). I could read that one over and over again. At the end of the post you wrote:
Pablo Neruda wrote three books of odes during his lifetime. “Oda a las cosas” appeared in the book Odas Elementales in 1954.
Three books of Odes. 8) Glad you’ll be posting a poem from Dee. I’ll look forward to it.
LikeLike
@_@ <– My shocked expression. Wow, this post exploded all in one day!! I’ll give a much more detailed explanation tomorrow as it’s almost 1am and I should go to bed because I’m working early tomorrow (or uhh, really, in about 7 or so more hours)… But yeah, I have lots to say!!
LikeLike
Is anyone here doing Poetic Asides? Several people in the Kansas City Writers Group are doing daily posts.
Teri, have you ever done Lucille Clifton or Linda Hogan. I like Clifton’s poems because they speak to my heart. I like Mary Oliver and just received a new book of poetry to read from a dear friend.
LikeLike
@Bob: I’m doing Poetic Asides and Read Write Poem for NaPoWriMo! Whew! It’s a lot of work combining prompts. However, if I happen to fail at combining them, I write two separate poems (one for each prompt)! That’s a lot of writing for me, but so far, I’ve been pretty content with how some of my poems turned out.
Okay, I’ll talk about the rest of what I have to say later as I am dead tired tonight. G’night!
LikeLike
Bob,
Our group hasn’t read Lucille Clifton or Linda Hogan. We have done Mary Oliver, though.
I’m glad for the two poet names; I will check out their work since I know you’ve enjoyed their writing.
LikeLike
A~Lotus, wow. No wonder you are tired. 8) I am impressed by your dedication.
LikeLike
Thanks for all the great comments on this thread. Wonderful to see people so excited about poetry. I wanted to come back and drop in the other Billy Collins poem Teri sent me for the night we read Billy Collins. It’s wonderful because she takes her time in choosing the poems and often selects poems that might resonate with the reader.
Since we love and practice haiku on red Ravine [See haiku 2 (one-a-day) (LINK)], this poem seems particularly fitting. I love the direction he takes it as the haiku moves across the house with him.
_____________________
JAPAN
by Billy Collins
Today I pass the time reading
a favorite haiku,
saying the few words over and over.
It feels like eating
the same small, perfect grape
again and again.
I walk through the house reciting it
and leave its letters falling
through the air of every room.
I stand by the big silence of the piano and say it.
I say it in front of a painting of the sea.
I tap out its rhythm on an empty shelf.
I listen to myself saying it,
then I say it without listening,
then I hear it without saying it.
and when the dog looks up at me,
I kneel down on the floor
and whisper it into each of his long white ears.
It’s the one about the one-ton
temple bell
with the moth sleeping on its surface,
and every time I say it, I feel the excruciating
pressure of the moth
on the surface of the iron bell.
When I say it at the window,
the bell is the world
and I am the moth resting there.
When I say it into the mirror,
I am the heavy bell
and the moth is life with its papery wings.
And later, when I say it to you in the dark,
you are the bell,
And I am the tongue of the bell, ringing you,
And the moth has flown
from its line
and moves like a hinge in the air above our bed.
LikeLike
A couple of more great links that I left out of the original post:
Billy Collins Biography at Poetry Foundation (LINK) — discusses a NY Times article by Weber that addresses Collins’ 6 figure deal with Random House (this was some time ago) and the ensuing battle between Random House and the University of Pittsburgh Press over rights to some of the poems.
Animal Magic by Aidin Vaziri at Poetry Foundation (LINK) — Garrison Keillor talks dogs, turtles, and other four-legged creatures with Billy Collins and Kay Ryan.
This Billy Collins quote is from the first link. It’s a good question to ask ourselves as writers — are we willing to stop anywhere?:
LikeLike
QM,
When you read “Japan” at Poetry & Meditation, no one reacted to the sexy last lines. I was so surprised! But then when you read “Fishing on the Susquehanna in July,” the group couldn’t stop chuckling…was it because of Billy’s wry admission he had never fished in the river he described?
I loved hearing you read it, knowing you know that river in Pennsylvania well.
*****
FISHING ON THE SUSQUEHANNA IN JULY by Billy Collins
I have never been fishing on the Susquehanna
or on any river for that matter
to be perfectly honest.
Not in July or any month
have I had the pleasure–if is is a pleasure–
of fishing on the Susquehanna.
I am more likely to be found
in a quiet room like this one–
a painting of a woman on the wall,
a bowl of tangerines on the table–
trying to manufacture the sensation
of fishing on the Susquehanna.
There is little doubt
that others have been fishing
on the Susquehanna,
rowing upstream in a wooden boat,
sliding the oars under the water
then raising them to drip in the light.
But the nearest I have ever come to
fishing on the Susquehanna
was one afternoon in a museum in Philadelphia
when I balanced a little egg of time
in front of a painting
in which that river curled around a bend
under a blue cloud-ruffled sky,
dense trees along the banks,
and a fellow with a red bandanna
sitting in a small, green
flat-bottom boat
holding the thin whip of a pole.
This is something I am unlikely
ever to do, I remember
saying to myself and the person next to me.
Then I blinked and moved on
to other American scenes
of haystacks, water whitening over rocks,
even one of a brown hare
who seemed so wired with alertness
I imagined him springing right out of the frame.
LikeLike
Okay, now that I’m am 80% rested after such a difficult past week, I am now ready to write and respond to this post.
@QM: Maybe one of these days I can come over and visit your poetry meditation group. 8) That’ll be fun!
Yusef Komunyakaa is definitely an entertainer of the human emotion as well. I’ve read _Neon Vernacular_, you could see his Vietnam War references in some of those poems. I love his diction; it’s raw and thought-provoking.
For NaPoWriMo, I’m following only 2 sites, thank goodness! I was going to follow several more, but I was like, no, I’m working and going to school. It’s just too much as for every poem I write, I try to make it into its final draft as much as possible before I post them all on my poetry journal.
I am thrilled, honored, and touched to be writing haiku and other Japanese forms with you and all red Raviners. 🙂 And when you shared that “Japan” poem by Billy Collins, I could see how and why that poem resonated with you, because reading a haiku/senryu is definitely something to look forward to.
Yes, I have quite a large body of work now–not just haiku, senryu, and other Japanese forms, but lots of free-verse poetry. I am considering publishing, but I feel very intimidated, if not shy and protective of my work, if I were to send it out to the publication houses. And then there’s the self-publishing market like Lulu.com. I’m not sure what I should do. Also, another thing I’m kind of discouraged about is that even though I would like to share my work with everyone (i.e. readers, etc.), would there anybody reading my book if I were to publish? Sometimes I feel like no one would read my work. After all, I think that bottom line is that every poet wants to be heard or read in some form or another because there is a reason why every poet, writer, etc. writes.
LikeLike
@yb: Do you have any good poetry books by Pablo Neruda to recommend?
I haven’t read very much of his poems, but the ones that I have, I found that they were so rich! It’s like cheesecake, I kid you not (or that’s how I feel after reading his poems). 😛
LikeLike
@amuirin: Oh, so the second poem is by Emily Dickinson. Wow, it’s great that you mentioned how they’re both so similar in form. That’s interesting.
@Teri: Thank you for sharing another Billy Collins poem! I have my good dose of him today! 🙂
LikeLike
Teri, thanks. Yes, I was surprised, too, when people were snickering during the Susquehanna poem. At first, in the middle of the reading, I didn’t know why, then finally caught on. Yeah, I think it was the many different ways he repeated that he hadn’t fished there; yet there he was writing a poem about it. 8)
And then, not much reaction at the end of the Japan poem, when he takes it along to bed. I really love that poem. The sense of time and moving through every day occurrences carrying that haiku along with him. That’s really experiencing the haiku, not simply reading it.
LikeLike
A~Lotus, working, going to school, and writing poetry every day, that’s enough! No wonder you are so tired. I can understand why you would feel shy and protective of your work. I think that vulnerability when putting work out there makes sense. The self-publishing vs sending out to the publishing market seems like a common struggle for writers, too. Your last question about who would read the work, I do think people would read your work. But I know what you mean. There are days I go into a book store and stand there thinking — there are so many books already out there. Who would want another one? Poetry in particular is a harder form to sell (in my opinion) for some of the reasons we talk about in these comments. It takes time to read poetry and take it in. You have to sit with it. And everything is distilled down to just the barest essentials.
One thing about book publishing or self-publishing though, you might never know who is reading the work. Whereas sometimes there is immediate feedback in an electronic form. Yet I have no desire to publish an electronic memoir. I want it in book form. When you publish hardcopy, I think once you decide who your audience is, you maybe have to let it go out to the Universe, then on to the next book. Writers feel a passion to keep writing, no matter what. I believe whatever you decide, you will be successful. You have drive and discipline and consistency. You follow a structure and write every day. You seem to really want it. You bring up good questions.
LikeLike
@QM: I feel comforted in knowing that you too feel the same way that I do based on your response. And I couldn’t agree more when you said that no matter what happens, no matter what the circumstances are, writing is always a passion! 8) It is what keeps us more human and to realize that poetry are the words we breathe and eat!
LikeLike
I’ll get you those book titles, A~Lotus. I have two that are at home on my shelf.
LikeLike
@Yb: Thank you so much! I am always craving for poetry. I haven’t read fiction novel for a while now. Can’t remember when the last time was!
LikeLike
[…] a writer. She has written four memoirs and two collections of poetry. And maybe because it’s National Poetry Month, I was drawn to the way she weaves poetry into memoir when describing the differences in her […]
LikeLike
[…] Minneapolis and founder of the Poetry Group of which QuoinMonkey fondly and frequently writes. (See Postcard From Billy Collins — Kicking Off National Poetry Month for the latest post on that group and Teri’s piece titled Desire And A Library Card — […]
LikeLike
It’s Poem In Your Pocket Day 2009! I left my poem in the Poem In Your Pocket Day (LINK) post. It an older poem from Billy Collins and called “No Time” (you can read the poem here (LINK).
I’ve been listening to poets read their poems all morning in honor of Poem In Your Pocket Day. I’m imagining they are pulling their own poems out of their pockets and reading them to me. 8)
I’m heading offline now. But wanted to leave a couple of great links I found. You can hear Billy Collins read a selection of poems, including “Shoveling Snow With Buddha,” “Monday,” “Flock,” “Creatures,” “The Lanyard,” “The Country,” “Surprise,” “No Time,” “Love,” “Sonnet,” “Japan,” “Forgetfulness,” “Consolation,” “On Turning Ten,” and “Nightclub” at the Key West Literary Seminar site (LINK). He has a wonderful voice, a great sense of humor.
BTW, Billy Collins will be attending the Clearing the Sill of the World: A Celebration of 60 Years of American Poetry In Honor of Richard Wilbur (LINK). It’s The 28th Annual Key West Literary Seminar from January 7 – 10, 2010.
It looks like an amazing lineup of poets. Here’s a blurb from their website (LINK above):
Wow. Check out the Richard Wilbur (LINK) poem “The Writer” at the conference link above. Finally, here’s a link to hear Wilbur read at the same site:
Richard Wilbur: 1993 — A Reading in Tribute to Elizabeth Bishop (LINK)
You can also combine the Seminar with a workshop program and take a workshop with Billy Collins — Strategies in Reader-Based Poetry (LINK). It’s January 11th – 14th, 2010 at The Key West Literary Seminar’s Writers’ Workshop Program (LINK). Anything is possible!
LikeLike
Thanks, QM. Great stuff here.
This reminded me that I need to let you know, Dee decided against publishing her poem. I asked her about it last week. I wanted to get it in before National Poetry Month was up. I think she got shy about getting it out there.
I don’t want to push it.
Also, here is a Neruda book title for A~Lotus:
The Captain’s Verses
I have another, but I can’t find it on my shelf.
LikeLike
[…] their hands when they sign my books. Or when our Poetry and Meditation Group receives a card from Billy Collins, Gary Soto, or Robert […]
LikeLike
[…] -related to posts: Got Poetry? (National Poem In Your Pocket Day), The Poet Writes Back — Gary Soto, Which Came First, The Grasshopper Or The Egg?, The Poet’s Letter — Robert Bly, Postcard From Billy Collins — Kicking Off National Poetry Month […]
LikeLike
[…] first anniversary in 2008, we were living dangerously. The second year, we celebrated poetry with a Postcard From Billy Collins — Kicking Off National Poetry Month. Year three explored the range of horoscopes of our readers. Here we are at the end of year four. I […]
LikeLike