Poetry blog

We keep you updated on the world of poetry with our news roundups.

Recent posts

The Lack of Poetry

 

In case you missed it, yesterday, October 5, was National Poetry Day in the UK. I"ve been poking around at the various bits of news and note that came out of the day with interest, and find it both amusing and surprising. Perhaps it"s because I"ve been immersed in poetry and its world for most of my life, but when people speak of ...

iPoems Launches

 

I told you about this a few months back - the Brit company that was going to offer downloads of poetry for $.95 each. Well, it"s here and it"s happening today. Not only is it happening today, but they"ve caused enough of a splash to make the front page of Yahoo and get a short news story there. iPoems is modeled on iTunes, and will let people download ...

Dodge Roundup – The Weekend in Poetry

 

So I missed the Dodge Poetry Festival this weekend, but I"m hoping for next year. In the meantime, I"ve kept up with some of the excitement by following along with what"s coming out of there in a few blogs. Here"s a taste of what you would have seen and heard if you"d made it to Stanhope, NJ, this weekend for the 2006 Dodge ...

Poetry Festival Wins Alternate Nobel Prize

 

The function of art in general and of poetry in particular has not been or is to solve the fundamental problems of men and women. Its function is to remind us, from an ever new perspective, the existence of these problems. And our potential to solve them. Poetry and art are there to widen our conscience, and to spur it on an ...

Poetic Truth – Dana Shuster Never Served

 

What is the responsibility of the poet to truth? That may seem an odd question, but it's one that poets sometimes struggle with, especially when they write poetry using the "I" voice. A story reported by Diantha Parker on NPR today brings up the question in a rather haunting way. In 1993, Vice President Al Gore read a poem ...

AllInfoAbout Poetry New Issue Up

 

There"s a new issue up at Allinfoaboutpoetry, with news, poems, reviews and calls for submission. And once again, I run into something that has become a theme lately - the reemergence of poetry as a force in the world today. Justine Eaglestone"s article on the growing demand for poetry books fits right into the reawakening that I"m seeing around me and on the ...

If It’s Thursday, It Must Be Poetry

 

My new discovery this week - Poetry Thursday, a thoroughly delightful blog written in tandem by Liz Elayne and Lynn. Every Sunday night, Liz or Lynn post a new poetry prompt and invite other bloggers to write about it. The prompts are filed as "this week"s (completely and totally optional) idea", because, in Liz Elayne"s words, "You have a lot more freedom than ...

Blog Conversations

 

I was drawn into the Scoplaw blog by a conversation on the values of poetry, and the need for a common vocabulary with which to discuss and criticize poetry, and then drawn further and further along to read about the esthetics of poetry, what is needed to encourage quality poetry, the writer"s adventures as a poet on the internet - and eventually to other ...

Mazisi Kunene poems

 

When Mazisi Kunene died this past August, it was in the city of his birth, Durban, South Africa. Kunene, 76, had spent over thirty years in exile from his native land before returning to it in 1993. In 2005, his country honored him with the title of Poet Laureate. It was a finally fitting tribute from the land that he never stopped loving, even through ...