Horror, repulsion, bafflement. These were strange emotions for me in a place that normally signified beauty and order and peace. I had walked right into the same art museum I had visited a hundred times. Usually, I would go up the stairs one level, pass by the front desk, and head directly into the European […]
Archives for September 2012
This Week’s Top Ten Poetic Picks
1 Art This afternoon while I sipped hot rooibos from a fancy gold-rimmed tea cup (Get on the bus, Gus. All the cool Tweetspeak kids are drinking tea now.), I thought to myself, “Gee, I wonder where I could get a complete listing of the 100 most iconic artworks of the last five years.” Imagine […]
Ordinary Genius: Entering Poetry
The other day I stumbled onto an old Google Talk conversation with a friend, from about a year ago. The conversation went something like this: Friend: I lurked at the Tweetspeak Twitter party last night. Me: I can’t do the Tweetspeak. Too confusing. Friend: I was lost. I’m too literal. Me: L.L. tagged me on […]
Tweetspeak Exclusive: Yet Another Emily Dickinson Daguerreotype Discovered
The recent discovery of a third daguerreotype of Victorian-era poet Emily Dickinson has historians scratching their heads.
Discovering Moons, Discovering Myself
I wanted to give you something of comfort: words like an armoire smelling of talc, lined with lace, concealing a ruby bracelet, tortoise shell comb. Words that melt on the tongue a communion wafer. wheaten and whispering of salvation… (from the poem “Why Write” by Judith Valente) I read Judith Valente’s Discovering Moons twice, once […]
September: Tea for Two (on Proper Sweet Tea)
Some define the boundaries of the American south by way of the Mason Dixon line. Others define its lines by allegiances during the War of Northern Aggression. Frankly, I find both such delineations to be crude and lacking in nuance. No, I do not ascribe to traditional notions of defining the South. Instead, I reckon its […]
Poetry Classroom: Hard Road by Li Bai
Li Bai was one of China’s most important poets. Read about his intriguing life and experience one of his insightful, even subtly witty, poems.
Image-ine: Red Shoes
A girl can dream of stepping out on the High Road, a flame in heels that’ll steel no beau’s heart. What laces each ankle in place she’ll turn to take his fancy and he, blood pressure rising, will let her lead and whirl. “Red Shoes, ” acrylic on board, by Nicola Slattery. Used with permission. […]
This Week’s Top 10 Poetic Picks
The best in poetry (and poetic things), this week with Seth Haines. 1 Art Brian Hirschy is a good friend and a grand photographer. Last weekend we were discussing the state of photography and how the iPhone has become a useful tool in the photographer’s gear bag. With its high resolution capabilities and the development of […]
Poet’s Penance (Part 2)
Angela Alaimo O’Donnell concludes the essay she began last week, seeking to answer the question, “What is a poet?“ My Many-Minded-Ness, or “One of These Things is Not Like the Other” Poets are many and multiple, each unique in his or her own peculiar ways. No two of them are alike—so much so that there […]
“Finding My Elegy” by Ursula Le Guin
Le Guin has pulled together some of her favorite poems and included new ones as a kind of possible life or work summary, including “Finding My Elegy”…
Tea for Two: Autumn
The first fall drizzle blew into Fayetteville this weekend, and though it wasn’t yet cold enough to kindle the fireplaces, someone in the neighborhood tried. The smoke came wafting down the road and through my open window. There is a gathering up in Autumn, and not of leaves. I smell it in the fires and […]
Fiction Friday: The Bra
As I continue my journey through The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction, I continue to be amazed by how a simple writing prompt can suddenly open a new world of characters, events and emotions. After just a few minutes of writing, I get to meet people I never knew existed and […]
THIS WEEK’S TOP 10 POETIC PICKS
The best in poetry (and poetic things), this week with Seth Haines. 1 Art In case you haven’t heard, which is to say in case you live under a rock, the iPhone 5 launched yesterday. Apple’s newest version of their popular telephone/personal computing device is reportedly thinner, lighter, and at twenty times as awesome as […]
Poet’s Penance (Part 1)
Poet: Bless me, Father, for I am a poet, and I have no idea what that means. Priest: I absolve you from your sin. […]
Thomas Gray and the Elegy
Thomas Gray and the Elegy: From the beginning to the epitaph at the end, the poem is shot through with meditations, reflections and allusions to death and the end of life…
September: Tea for Two (on smell memories)
Diving headlong into the world of tea can be disorienting. I know this firsthand. Last week I decided to kick the coffee habit for a month and opted to replace it with a more refined and elegant beverage—tea. But as I visited the local market’s tea aisle, my head swam with the options—black teas, green […]
How to Write a Sonnet Infographic: Quatrain Wreck
Want to write a sonnet? Don’t want to write a sonnet, but you have to? Either way, our Sonnet Infographic will help you laugh and write your way through.
The Listing Attic (by Edward Gorey)
Fiction Friday: He Said, She Said
Last week I received my shiny, colorfully bird-laden copy of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction. Books like this don’t usually show up at my house: I’m a poet, through and through. But I’ve also had this little fling with fiction on the side since attending the Midwest Writers’ Conference, where I practically skipped out […]