 Tell me... WHO YOU ARE READING??For Poetry don't miss BH Fairchild's "Usher" and Merwin's "The Shadow of Sirius". For Prose - I just discovered Robertson Davies, "The Deptford Trilogy." As of book one this is a keeper - more soon. I also recommend Cathy Day's "Circus in Winter." It's really marvelous -- complicated, fascinating and artful. I recommend it highly. You will be glad to read it, and be loaning it to your friends when you're done. Who should I be reading?
WEIRD REVISION TECHNIQUEYou've been working on a poem. There's something there. You're pretty sure there's something there. I mean, there must be a reason you are coming back to this one. But you're feeling stuck. Try this. Read your poem out loud - work on it for a bit if anything comes to mind. THEN get out a copy of HOWL (you own Howl, right?) and stand up in your living room or office or wherever you are - and read a big part of HOWL outloud. At full voice. I like to use Section II - the Moloch section. I tell you - this will move things around in your head. Then go back to your poem. If you have a good tip on revision send it to me at dbbogen@aol.com. |
NewsRecent and Forthcoming Work: My Ms, "Let Me Open You a Swan" won the Antivenom Prize from Elixir Press and is recently out. It's available from Elixir, or Amazon or SPD Books -- or ask your local bookstore to carry it. New poems can be found on POEMELEON on the web (great mag) and on another online journal SUPERSTITION REVIEW. My essay about Lynn Emanuel's incredible art can be found at Gently Read Literature. Just Google Emanuel's Elegies or click on the link above. CRAZYHORSE published "Using a Blue Willow Pattern, the Anesthesiologist Explains the Procedure" and "What We Know About Ghost Images" in a recent issue and "Asylum" (long poem from my new book) in their current issue. They are not online too - ebook. The December PLOUGHSHARES includes "The Rudest Gesture is the Phone that Rings in the Night." SENTENCE 7 is jsutout - and includes "Vocabulary Lesson". I am fascinated with whatever these new forms are - part prose poem (but not quite in the French tradition), part editorial, part whimsy? Also, look for a review of Chris Buckley's terrific "Modern Times" in 7. VALPARAISO POETRY REVIEW (online) published two poems, "October" and "November" in a recent issue. PLAINSPOKE is a new and really interesting journal out of Amsterdam, Ohio. Check them out on the internet. They will include "Dakota Omphalos", "Dakota Schism" and "Special Ed Girl" in their next issue. "The doctrine of original sin" and "the doctrine of angels" appear both in the NEW LETTERS MAGAZINE and on their online site. Their archives are always worth a visit. |
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