Poet a Day Blog

Poetry Planet Blog is an unsual project put together by the League of Canadian Poets as a tribute to Canada for National Poetry Month 2009. The League has compiled the work of 60 Canadian poets from across Canada and posted them under the city and province from which the poet hails. The result is a stunning variety of poetry in all styles, well worth bookmarking for return trips. Especially read Because Her Heart by poet Claudia Coutu Radmore, listed under Carleton Place, ON, then dance around through the posts and get your fill of the world of Canadian poetry in 2009.

Quick, choose one to answer the following question:
Quickmuse is
a) quirky
b) quintessential poetry
c) quute

Okay, I reached for that last one, but the correct answer is d) all of the above. Quickmuse debuted back in 2006 with a bit of a splash in the poetry world. The quirk - watch nationally known poets compose poetry - in competition with each other. The quintessential poetry is a given when you bring in poets like Julianna Baggott and Robert Pinsky, and challenge them to write a poem in fifteen minutes - while an online audience watches. The trick is that they’re not watching your BODY via webcam - they’re watching your words as you type them out on the page. It’s an interesting look at how the creative process works - the poems are recorded as the poet types them, complete with hesitation, backspaces, additions and deletions.

How it works: the Quickmuse team presents the two poets with the same picture or passages to serve as inspiration, then tells them to start writing. The poets are timed as they type, and the software records every keystroke for later playback. On the site, you can click on an agon - that’s what they call the competitions between a pair of poets, a term that goes back to ancient Greek competitions between poets - and choose between reading the finished poem, or watching as the poet composes it. They’re fun to watch - you literally get to see the poem take shape on the screen as it is being written. It’s even more fun watching an agon live, which you can do if you sign up for the newsletter and keep up on the next upcoming bout. Definitely drop by and check this site out for a quirky look at how the muse works when she works quickly.

Allow me to introduce you to Sharon Brogan. No, really - ALLOW me. It is my true pleasure to share her work with you. Versatile, evocative and moving are just a few words that describe Brogan’s poetry - but don’t take my word for it. Click on the link to Watermark - A Poet’s Notebook and fall into the rabbit hole. Don’t just scroll down the front page and read the current posts - you’ll miss all the marvelous twists and turns that have taken years to develop and build. Take a few sideroads from the Watermark sidebar to discover photography, poetry and musings from a brilliant, sensitive poet with a soft spot for cats and a unique voice. Explore the Snapshot Poetry links to find gems like Snapshot Poem 18 March 02009, where a pair of turquoise poems become the centerpiece of a poem about maturing and relationships or wander through the Oratory section to find poems like Fibromyalgia ». And don’t just read the poems - scroll down to read the comments left on them to learn how a poet can make the very personal so very universal.

Are you still here? Why? Go read Brogan’s poetry! Now!

Looking for something a little different? If the Walls Could is a single-poet blog with a difference. Interspersed with his - quite well-done - poetry, David Zen-Kennedy features “a-z poems”, nifty posts where the poem is built by the comments left on the post. The a-z poems are fun - but the real meat in Zen-Kennedy’s blogs is his own poetry - a real, conversational voice that speaks in short moments that hold far more in them than the few lines suggest. Here’s a small sample to whet your appetite:

cat cloud, wish cloud

looking out your kitchen window
we played charades with the clouds
you saw a catCloud, I saw a
wishCloud and you gave me my
first kiss, not the way I imagined it,
it was practically perfect except
for untangling your bracelet when
it got caught in my sweater. I was

… go read it to find out what comes next - then go on and read some more.

Powered by ScribeFire.

A very different kind of poetry blog, How a Poem Happens is fascinating reading for anyone who has ever asked the question “Where do you get your ideas?” Brian Brodeur, author of two award winning poetry books, posts a weekly interview with a published poet. Each interview focuses on one poem by that poet and asks them questions about the process of writing that poem - when did you write it? What inspired you? How many times did you revise it? There are other questions that speak even more directly to the process of poetry - consideration of forms, of publishing and of poetry styles and how they fit the particular poem chosen to feature. How a Poem Happens is a young blog - only begun in January - but it shows a lot of promise as a site to check regularly for good reading and interesting information.

These guys dropped by here a while back and I’ve been meaning to get back to their site and give it a look see for… oh, a couple of months? I finally made it, and I’m glad that I did. Don’t let the minimalist theme fool you. It just lets you focus on the important part of the site - the poems and the poets. Young American Poets is a poetry blog that accepts and publishes submissions from other poets on a regular basis. Daniel Bennett, Julian Bailey, David Weinglas and (editor-at-large), Kevin Bacon are responsible for housekeeping at Young American Poets, and they do a decent job of it, posting about 6 poems or short stories a month. If you were born before July 20, 1969, you’re welcome to read all the poetry you want there. If you’re a poet who was born after that magic date, you qualify as a young poet and can submit poetry for consideration.

If you’re one of those people who are always looking for a source of inspiration, A Thousand Words is a valuable addition to your writing toolbox. Every Sunday, Jenn posts a visual inspiration for writing. Each photo is linked to its source so that you an easily download and use the photo in your own posts on your own blog, and credit and link back to the original source. Participating is as simple as writing about the inspiration posted, then using the Mr. Linky widget at A Thousand Words to link back to your post. The inspirations are beautiful, the site is well-designed and Jenn has taken pains to make it easy to use. It’s sadly under-utilized as of my visit, but that doesn’t make it any less useful for prompt-y goodness. This one goes on my inspiration-starter list.

poetry prompts, writing prompts, weekly prompts, poetry, poetry meme

Powered by ScribeFire.

Once upon a time, several young poets met at a week-long poetry course after winning a competition. They all got to be such good friends - because a week of sharing poetry will do that to you - that they decided they would never let go of each other, and that furthermore, they would do what they could to ensure that other young poets had a chance to meet and read each others’ poetry. The end result of that happy little story is Pomegranate, an online journal for young poets. Their definition of young is under 30, which is pretty generous, since the oldest of them is an ancient 19 years of age. The poetry is excellent and the journal is very easy to read. The personalities of the journal founders comes through loud and clear and fresh. It’s a definite place to add to your web rounds - there are five issues up now for you to enjoy, and you definitely will enjoy.

Powered by ScribeFire.