How a Poem Happens

Saturday, March 21st, 2009

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.

Bird Droppings

Sunday, July 20th, 2008

Bird Droppings is a site of very personal poetry, written by one woman with an ear for lyrical language. Ayesha posts in spurts - so it’s worth checking back frequently to catch up on what she’s done recently. I particularly liked her poem “Bead Factory” which reminded me of the poem Jamaican Market - a flowing list of things seen. A very pretty site, as well - and Ayesha has enabled a “Rate This Post” feature that lets you assign a 1-star to 5-stars rating to each of her poems, for those that want to play judge and jury.