The Outdoor Journals feature poetry broadsides posted in various locations around Baltimore and Nashville. Typical spots to find a page include light posts, abandoned buildings, shopping carts, bus benches, bulletin boards, public restrooms, and so on. It is the contention of the Outdoor Journal that being read outside changes the experience — confuses the reading and makes it deliberate.

http://www.nashvilleisreads.com/

1. — Actress backs medieval Norwich mystic appeal —
2. — out their business as usual, rarely consulting their Shakespeare, William Wordsworth or Robert Frost. One has to wonder if poetry has any place in the 21st century —
3. — What, exactly, is an artist book? —
4. — Music and poetry have been kissing cousins since each began —
5. — Medvedev, Putin congratulate poet Yevtushenko on jubilee —
6. — In “Hardheaded Weather,” poet Cornelius Eady vividly explores issues of racial division in American life —
7. — More Kay Ryan: What I love even more than the simple cliché is maybe the malapropism—the happy confusion of TWO cliches and Fairfax poet’s original voice draws notice and highest honors and Spike in sales for next poet laureate —
8. — LOL —

The Frank Stanford Literary Festival
October 17 - 19, 2008
Fayetteville, Arkansas
click

1. — A 54-year-old former schoolteacher has won the poetry category of the Montana New Zealand Book Awards —
2. — Using a pack of tarot cards as an early writing exercise, Kay Ryan says, forced her “to start dealing with these abstractions like love, death, the wheel of fortune.” and “I’ve always been able to count on the world to humiliate me. Now I’ve been elevated to a post where I can humiliate myself.” and A Small Taste of Kay Ryan —
3. — Thirtysomething love poetry —
4. — We should appreciate execrable poetry with an axe to grind - it teaches us a lot about the good stuff —
5. — Bob Dylan does not deserve this snobbery and pedantry —
6. — It’s not every day that a new magazine is launched in Philadelphia, and even rarer still does a literary journal make its debut —

1. — Forgotten treasure from Brazil —
2. — Eyes, and whether or not to trust them, are central to Ode to Psyche by John Keats —
3. — Slain man identified as UC Riverside professor —
4. — Poetry Foundation clarifies the policy on their blog comments —
5. — The Poet’s Poet —
6. — A 21st-century warning from a 13th-century poet —
7. — Web Extra: Selected Poems by Kay Ryan —
8. — Radio 4 poet criticises BBC soaps and aggressive interviewers —

Brace yourselves

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Who voted for Kay Ryan in the poll last week? Raise your hands. Who was the “suggester”? Yay Kay! I think that’s great.

“Kay Ryan, Poet Laureate” anagrams to:

Ya! A natural! Eke poetry.
A yank poetry laureate.
An okay letter aura — yep!

My map is updated.

1. — Court advisor says poem list infringed database right —
2. — Portugal Holds On to a Poet’s Words That Few Can Grasp —
3. — Moscow at the end of the first decade of the 21st century is not a place many would equate with poetry —
4. — For generations, both the young and the old in the hamlet of Hoang Duong in Ung Hoa town in the northern province of Ha Tay have communicated by poetry —
5. — Stemming flow of literary heritage across the pond —
6. — Haiku in English —
7. — Dylan Thomas Prize Finalists Announced —
8. — “For every rule in formal poetry, a creative window opens.” —
9. — Turning the Page on The Disposable Book —

Why Musicians Make Us Weep And Computers Don’t

So I was outside and I reached for the handle of the screen door and did I mention that is was nighttime? I almost grabbed this thing with the big pinchers … I actually went ahhhhhhhhh! & kind of screamed hahahaha

1. — Readers solve ‘lost’ poet mystery —
2. — To the Editor: In his review of Frank O’Hara’s “Selected Poems” (June 29), William Logan … —
3. — Poetry Everywhere? Yes, Everywhere! —
4. — From great landscapes spring fine poetry, but which scenes of inspiration and dedication stick most in the mind? —
5. — Ex-Poet Phelps suits up for Orioles —
6. — Why Africa needs to invest in its own literature —
7. — “Airing out books after the monsoon rains have passed” is a seasonal reference used by haikuists —
8. — WPVM’s Wordplay Podcast with Landon Godfrey [mp3] —

Fastest Known Muscles Found in Songbirds’ Throats

1. — Who Owns That Prayer? —
2. — Anthology traces lines of contemporary poets from across the sea —
3. — Can science explain why ABBA is so catchy? —
4. — A tribute to Jonathan Williams planned —
5. — U.S. isn’t immune from poet’s observations on injustice —
6. — Inspired by Jazz, a Poet Does ‘His Own Thing’ —
7. — Michigan poetry —
8. — her difficulty — her intransigent demand that we pay total concentration to every word — is exciting —
9. — Wordsworth Daffodils estate on the market for £3m —

You Bastard: A Narrative Exploration of the Experience of Indignation Within Organisations

Libertarians: A (Not So) Lunatic Fringe

Looks like Mary Oliver and “anybody but Jorie Graham” are neck-and-neck for first place in the Who is going to be the next United States Poet Laureate? poll. I’ll leave it open until the new POLUS POetLaureateoftheUS is announced. Maxine Kumin got some votes but I’m not sure if she would want to do it again?

1. — Diane Ronayne: Remembering kayaker, poet, teacher Bill Studebaker —
2. — Sometimes I think critics resent poets who are understandable —
3. — Anecdote answers the origins of a Richard Hugo poem —
4. — Bookmonger: Poets Deal with Life’s Physical Limitations —
5. — Judging a letter by its cover, these were remarkable —
6. — Overshadowed poet gets overdue attention —
7. — It Will Not Wash: Does It Work, or Not? —
8. — Was Whitman Really Gay? [MP3] —

church of human bones (Nat’l Geo. video)

1. — Much ado as £15m book is recovered —
2. — The Clerihew winner —
3. — Although I’d like to think that “poem” is not a four-letter word, to most people it probably is an obscenely elitist pastime. —
4. — Words such as “swatvac” and “ridgey didge” may not be normally associated with sonnets but they’re there, as are references to Ikea and Target. —
5. — For instance, why don’t you use hair conditioner? —
6. — Poet Alfred Arteaga, professor of Chicano and ethnic studies, dies at 58 —
7. — If Gloria’s generous 330-odd pages demonstrate how substantial Hill’s body of work is, The Hat shows this brilliant lyricist of human darkness writing more acutely than ever —

The pool yesterday was wonderful.

1. — Poems written by Emily Brontë have returned to the Haworth parsonage where they were penned nearly 150 years ago. —
2. — North Beach old-timer lands in hospital —
3. — I didn’t force a thematic relationship on any poem, but I could encourage a poem in a particular direction if it seemed to be tending that way on its own. —
4. — Film chronicles Blackfeet poet’s collaboration with composer —
5. — After years of friendship, Robert Duncan and Denise Levertov clashed over what a poet’s role should be in a time of war. Ange Mlinko dishes on what broke them apart. —
6. — Kenya: Is the Pen Mightier Than a Machete? —
7. — (more) On the Gurlesque —

FISA: Why It Matters & How They Voted

I started new types of physical therapy this week. I am so sore I can barely move. But that means it is doing something, right? I’ll be doing PT in the pool at the therapist’s when this blog post goes live. WIsh me luck.

1. — Memorial for Idaho poet, kayaker Studebaker to be Saturday in Twin Falls —
2. — Poets, Fiddlers and Leaving Seattle —
3. — Exene Cervenka: Fom X To Missouri —
4. — Tuesday’s Poem: “Old Timers’ Day” by Donald Hall from White Apples and the Taste of Stone [mp3] —
5. — What Am I Doing Wrong With This Poem? —
6. — Milarepa picked for 22nd Napa Sonoma Film Festival 2008 —
7. — August Kleinzahler’s ugly gifts —
8. — What makes Shapiro so important to American poetry right now is the success with which he’s taken over the territory of fiction writers —

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Barack Obama was among the 69 senators voting to broaden government spy powers and give immunity to phone companies that aided in secret wiretapping. way to go.

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I must have been living in an alternate reality or am utterly clueless or oblivious because this confused the heck out of me:

“If born female into the majority of US American households, one will live 20, perhaps 30 years under the moniker ‘girl.’” [comments]

20 or 30 years?? What??

Has that really been your experience? Daaang! Personally, the only time I ever have had the adult moniker “girl” is with some of my mostly-African-American-coworkers at the HCBU I work at — and I have the feeling that the Gurlesque “girl” and the HCBU “girl” are not equivalent.

What do you think?

Why do most American women have the moniker “girl” ’til maybe age 30 nowadays? (?) Is that something they are self-identifying with? Or is it a generational thing that I am oblivious to? The comment that I linked to says that society is doing it to women. Powerfully.

Do you think you are a “girl?” Do others call you “girl”? How old are you? Where do you live? Help I’m confused.

– signed, 40-year-old woman

1. — Poet Saw Wai appeared at Insein prison court yesterday for the third time defending himself against accusations of violating section 505(b) of the penal code —
2. — Unpublished Pablo Neruda poems highlight last romance —
3. — Thomas Disch, Novelist, Dies at 68 —
4. — Bad boy lit 101 —
5. — Starting in Sept. 2008, Northwestern will offer, for the first time, a Master of Fine Arts program for students who write poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction —
6. — Calif. woman pens a rant-and-rave for the D: An epic poem about the city —
7. — White Stripes’ White pens poem about Detroit —
8. — Osama’s son ‘writes terror poem’ —

you can still vote in yesterday’s poll if you’d like

1. — This is one of the weirdest lessons a writer has to learn —
2. — Eight shortcuts to writing timeless odes and getting $$$ for it! —
3. — I am a poet who works out of pleasure rather than pain —
4. — A chat with two poets in love —
5. — “Poets. They sleep where they fall.” So, little wonder you’re tripping over them. —
6. — “We decided to dedicate our life completely to poetry” —
7. — Despite a tough life, Elizabeth Bartlett kept her insouciance: her poetry is untidy, sardonic, feisty, dreamy. We must not forget her —
8. — Marilyn Chin Named Finalist for California Poet Laureate —
9. — the late A.R. Ammons and the immutable laws of nature, featuring a recording from the 92nd St. Y. —

We should do a poll to guess the new poet laureate. You can vote here:

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The software made me put in some answers, before I could publish it, but I actually have no idea. You can add the name of a poet, too — hit the vote button to add it (or to vote for a poet who already appears.)