What's Going On With Desert Moon?
Sometimes things are what they seem; at other times they are just what they are and some times we’ve shot ourselves in the feet. Although I haven’t consulted our recent statistics it seems that our policy for one poem per member each day, two critiques per poem, has wiped away some of our workshop’s energy.
I confess I don’t fully understand the ebb and flow of poetry workshops. I suspect however along with all the obvious essentials, two elements may have recently risen. First is the poet’s loss to follow his time, muse and emotion. I realize a person can reserve a poem for future post, but some sometimes the urge for instant gratification is overpowering.
Also it seems to me as the number of new poems drop to a serious low, the energy of the board may be sucked away for posters and visitors. I’ve participated in several workshops over the years some of which have I resigned, because of their poky pace in critiques given.
Recently I’ve compared the number of members who fill out a day -- often ten or less participate, while a couple of other sites have significantly more. At the moment I’m feeling that we should consider less rules and more collegiality.
Jim Corner, Publisher
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This month,I asked DMR members Charlene Dewbre and Yolanda Calderon-Horn about their favorite female poets. Not surprisingly, they found it hard to choose. I considered contributing my own favorites but also found it difficult to settle on one poet. Don’t you also find the poetry you turn to depends on your frame of mind, or the weather, or the day of the week? And while it is possible to say one poet is better than another, a lesser poet may blow everyone else away when it comes to a certain theme, for example, or devise. I think Charlene and Yoly would agree with me…
Here are Charlene's answers:
My favorite living woman poet: Marge Piercy
Why? Because she could be me, at least the me I read through her poetry. She’s earthy and astute. I particularly enjoy the poems she writes about what it is to be a woman; strange, vulnerable, anxious, blooming. I can’t pick a couple of favorites, because I really do like most of what she writes. However, the poems that first attracted me to her work were: A Work of Artifice and Colors Passing Through Us, also
The Woman in the Ordinary where she says:
In her bottled up is a woman peppery as curry,
a yam of a woman of butter and brass,
compounded of acid and sweet like a pineapple,
like a handgrenade set to explode,
like goldenrod ready to bloom.
My favorite dead woman poet: truthfully? I don’t know. Muriel Rukeyser comes to mind (Night Feeding), Anaïs Nin (Risk), Sylvia Plath (Lady Lazarus), Anne Sexton (The Fierceness of Female)
Plath and Sexton are dark, and famous for their moody mythologies. I prefer their stark honesties, rather than overly moody pieces. I admire their ability to lay themselves open. Nin appeals by her brevity – she says a lot in short form, and I think many poets would benefit learning how to say so much with so little. Rukeyser wrote female themes when it was far from popular.
Women have a legacy in poetry – Elizabeth Barrett Browning had the courage to be fierce and female. Not many did before the advent of modern writers; from the suffragettes and forward. What I crave to create, and my favorite themes to read from the uniquely female perspective are the truths about our gender, not the pretty fictions. As Rukeyser says in The Poem as Mask: No more masks! No more mythologies!
Here are Yoly’s answers:
I do not believe I have one true favorite. I have a few literary heroines. Lately, I have been perusing Esmeralda Santiago’s work for her keen ability to give easy access to an audience that is not necessarily Hispanic. That brings me to the author I return to quite often: Julia Alvarez. The Woman I kept to Myself is one of my favorite collections.
Her observation on family life, tradition, friends, love, illness and ethnic nuances are expressed in way that I feel as if she confides intimate details of her life to me in a warm, sometimes witty style. I was brought up with two cultures splitting their distinctiveness within me. I connect with Ms. Alvarez’s work, not only in that dual
tribal sense but in the universal understanding that links women.
Leaving English
Before leaving English, I cling to words
I haven’t paid attention to in years:
dirndl and trill and sin, until the thought
of spending weeks without them is too sad
to think about. Come with me, I invite
my monolingual husband, so at night
you can whisper sweet nothings in my ears
against possession by my native tongue.
Even if Spanish made me who I was,
it’s English now that tells me who I am…
Grand Baby
My husband says, why don’t you write a poem
About the new baby, you’re the writer
in the family, birth is a big deal,
it deserves a poem, “new life,” etc.
Put in about her being born in spring,
On International Women’s Day-
now there’s a theme. I bet most poets write
about their kids and grandkids when they’re born…
Tall order but short notice, honey. I hate
to tell you but babies don’t need poetry.
We do, intelligent people,
gaga over the crib, which thankfully
has a guardrail to keep people like us
from crawling inside to recite something
appropriate and unnecessary. Silence
is the compliment here- …
Just like the living poets, a few of the greats such as Elizabeth B. Browning and Anna Akhmatova take turns in being my favorite.
O but Sylvia Plath’s confessional poetry and journals fascinate me. Her candor is raw yet refined. She expresses grief, love, depression and death in a way
that is exclusive to her. I would love to have the ability to let it all hang out unreservedly.
Here’s the beginning of Plath’s poem …
Morning Song
Love set you going like a fat gold watch.
The midwife slapped your footsoles, and your bald cry
Took its place among the elements.
Our voices echo, magnifying your arrival. New statue.
In a drafty museum, your nakedness
Shadows our safety. We stand round blankly as walls.
I'm no more your mother
Than the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow
Effacement at the wind's hand.
Keep reading! Some places to find more.
More about Marge Piercy here. (http://www.margepiercy.com)
More about Sylvia Plath here. (http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/11)
More about Julia Alvarez here. (http://www.alvarezjulia.com/)
More on Anais Nin here. (http://www.anaisnin.com/)
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This Month: Perfectly Punctuated
Lacking questions for an intelligible interview this month, I was lacking any column to add to the July Moon Notes. Jim Corner suggested I write a short note on the use of punctuation. So I’ll try.
Almost all the grammar I learned came in Seventh Grade. Mrs. Bedford would be amazed to learn that what she tried so valiantly to teach me actually stuck, at least in part. Other things I learned from her have had more importance in my life than the grammar; yet this does arise to be helpful. Mostly, she taught me about clauses and phrases and that these things had relationships with one another in what I now know of as syntax. Punctuation merely is a means of telling other people what the relationships are between those phrases and clauses in sentences.
I have learned since Mrs. Bedford that punctuation also serves to suggest the aural nature of the language. Commas and periods, colons and semi colons, dashes help to provide indication of breath and flow: cadence, in other words. Within poetry, a study on Free Verse (with that title) talked of lines and how that element was central to poetry – whether metrical or free; the author also suggested that a line properly ends with a slight pause, something on the order of half a comma. Contrary to English teachers I had in high school, I find poetry is not read as prose, that lines make a difference in the reading of sentences and that the line break is not simply read through in the course of the reading. That pertains to the use of punctuation as it influences the aural quality of the reading for which punctuation is a principle indicator.
I suppose Jim had in mind some sort of rules. But I am hard pressed to suggest any. In general you can use a comma for almost anything – but the semi colon affects the cadence with a bit more of a pause and rides between independent clauses in a sentence (where a sentence needs to adhere to the unfolding of a single idea: two ideas need two sentences). When an apposition arises, often a colon assists in providing something of a fulcrum which balances (as in a child’s teeter-totter) the parts. This generalizes and reaches beyond strictly grammatical relationships, as is often found on Desert Moon Review in Guy Kettelhack’s poetry. The dash is significantly less formal, initiates a pause which is in a hurry, sometimes marking out a parenthetical addition (for which, of course, parentheses would be another option, being more formal and somewhat more held back from the flow of the sentence).
Much of what I use and suggest comes from noticing the relationship of syntactical units which poets choose to use. And the question I ask in reading is how the poet is using the punctuation chosen, whether that seems to assist the reading (syntax and cadence and poetics alike) or not. I ask the same questions when I read my own drafts. The units are metaphors and symbols, rhetorical units and discursive matter, images and sound and cadence or rhythm, assonance, alliteration and rhyme. Those things fit into sentences and fold into lines; punctuation serves to make the relationships appear more readily to the eye and thence to the ear of the reader.
Bill Flewelling
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Members in Media
Bret Addison’s “Four Solitudes” and “Hill Country” are in the current Lily Lit Review. Bret’s "For Miss Louise Baker of New Orleans", "Just a Note to Keep You Informed", and "New Orleans Mardis Gras 2006" have also been accepted for an upcoming issue of Triplopia (www.triplopia.org).
Laurie Byro’s "Tinisima" will be in the next issue of Grasslimb (http://www.grasslimb.com/journal/).
Mitchell Geller’s "Villanelle on the Sky," which received an HM in the February 2006 IBPC, will be published in the Summer 2006 Canadian print journal Sonnetto Poesia.
Sarah Sloat’s ”Summer’s End“ has been accepted to Yemassee (http://www.cas.sc.edu/engl/yemassee/index.html).
Scott Summer’s “Secret, “I’ve Had Fears” & “Late Autumn Nap” will be in the next Grasslimb (http://www.grasslimb.com/journal/). Scott’s “Principal Mancinelli” has also been accepted by The English Journal.
In editorial news, Gary Blankenship’s Mind Fire Renew (http://www.mindfirerenew.com) is out, as is a new issue of Chris George’s Loch Raven Review (http://www.lochravenreview.net/).
Feeling left out? Post or send us your publishing accomplishments, and provide a link!
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Hi all,
Please congratulate the following three poets whose poems will represent Desert Moon at IBPC this month:
Seán Callahan -- "Cheating the Drop"
Laurie Byro -- "Poison Wood"
Guy Kettelhack -- "In a Kind of Way"
Well done to all of the poets who were nominated during the past month. The following is the list of poems nominated in the past month by poet (in alphabetical order), title, and nominator:
Laurie Byro -- "Poison Wood" -- Guy Kettelhack
Seán Callahan -- "Cheating the Drop" -- Guy Kettelhack
Bill Flewelling -- "And What Next?" -- Rick Storey
Christopher T. George -- "Heat Lightning" -- Laurie Byro
Guy Kettelhack -- "In a Kind of Way" -- Rick Storey
Guy Kettelhack -- "Punch & Judy" -- Rick Storey
Sarah Sloat -- "Autobiography of a Minor Saint" -- Laurie Byro
Sarah Sloat -- "Emergency Substitutions" -- Guy Kettelhack
S. Thomas Summers -- "Instead" -- Rick Storey
S. Thomas Summers -- "This Morning" -- Guy Kettelhack
* * Note! I see a lot of the same names doing the nominating of these fine poems. I would encourage any and all members to nominate a poem in the IBPC nominating thread if you see a worthy poem! Thanks! * *
The poems to go to IBPC from Desert Moon for July were chosen by a panel comprising myself and Sarah Sloat. We "recused" our own poems that had been nominatd since we both have poems going to IBPC from other participating boards.
The best of luck to Seán, Laurie, and Guy!
Chris
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Where to get help
Experiencing any troubles with the DMR site or getting in touch with an administrator?
If you're experiencing any technical difficulties, please be sure to send a message to HELP at Desert Moon.
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The Back Side of the Moon
From Editor Chris George:
Hello everyone
We were pleased to learn that our own Sarah Sloat won second prize for her poem "Flight" representing Desert Moon Review in the judging of the best poems in the Interboard Poetry Competition (IBPC) for the past year, and that our own Laurie Byro won an honorable mention for her poem "The Mandolin" representing Melic Review in the same contest among all poems in IBPC. Wow! Complete results are at http://www.webdelsol.com/IBPC/wire.html.
I think these impressive showings by two of the talented poets who participate on our board well shows the quality of the poetry in our workshop here at Desert Moon Review. Long may it continue!
Publisher and founder Jim Corner and I are proud of what Desert Moon stands for and of what it has achieved. We do nonetheless actively seek ideas on how we can do things better here. If you have suggestions please feel free to e-mail us at editor@desertmoonreview.com.
Best regards
Chris George
Editor, Desert Moon Review
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Desert Moon Review Summer Contest Deadline Extended!
Desert Moon Review is extending the deadline on its summer contest until August 1, 2006.
The theme is to write a poem about one of the following or a similar angle on the earth's resources: 'Earth without electricity' or 'Earth without oil' or 'Earth without Water' -- that is, you must use your imagination to envision our Earth without some essential element. What would life be like then? How would we survive?
Write a poem of 40 lines or under, any form. E-mail no later than end of day August 1, 2006 to editor@desertmoonreview.com. Winners and honorable mentions to be published in Crescent Moon Journal edited by Mustansir Dalvi. If you have not seen our Winter 2006 issue with the winners of our Winter contest check it out. Good luck!
IMPORTANT!!!!
One of the reasons we have extended the Summer contest is to bring in more entries and potential winners to publish in Crescent Moon Journal.
I have put the above notice at a number of the places I frequent but members here could help by placing the notice at the sites where you may go and I do not. Could I therefore ask that members please copy and paste the notice in the announcements section of your favorite sites? This will be a big help. Thank you in advance.
Also as a reminder we are also looking for member and staff poems to include in the Summer issue of Crescent Moon Journal. These poems can be either on a summer theme or possibly on the topic of the contest, the environment, or whatever topic you wish. We are looking for strong poetry to make this the best ever issue of Crescent Moon Journal. E-mail your poem no later than end of day August 1, 2006 to editor@desertmoonreview.com.
Chris George
Editor, Desert Moon Review
* * *
Summer Poetry Contest at Writer's Block
Writer's Block Poetry Forum is pleased to announce a Summer Poetry Contest. You are invited to write a poem of up to 40 lines, in any style or form on the topic of summer. Note that we will be looking for inventive use of theme. The winning poems will be published in Web Del Sol Review. Judges will be Writer's Block editors AnnMarie Eldon, Jude Goodwin, and Christopher T. George. Send poems by midnight eastern time on Saturday, July 15 in the body of an email to editorctrip@yahoo.com and also post it in the main poetry thread at Writer's Block. Please label your entry "Summer Poetry Contest."
Good luck!
The Editors
The Writer's Block
http://www.the-writers-block.net/forum/
From Associate Editor Trace Estes:
The following poets have recently been granted membership to the workshop:
- Penny August
- Alveraz Ricardez
- J. Rod Pannek
- Karen L. Monahan
Please join me in welcoming them to the Desert Moon Review!
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Send it to MoonNotes.
MoonNotes is a monthly publication of the Desert Moon Review.
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