For Tuesday, January 19


First of all, I wanted to get a day of talk under our
belt--I know I did most of the talking. I think we're in
a good place moving forward, and I do believe we will
be able to copy some "not many, but SOME" of the
manuscripts.

Anyway, we'll take the time to go over the manuscripts,
possibly cull out the bad stuff. I could feel the energy
in the room over the possibility of seeing what goes
and stays in this particular round of entries.

In the meantime, yes, read to page 35 in both Best American
Poetry anthologies, and look at the bios/explanations
given foe the poems in the back. Be ready to speak to
it because, with eight people in the class we can simply go
right around the room. Don't worry, there will be no
wrong answers. Perhaps pick your favorites--point
to anything, anthing, that interests you.

Also, read Ted Solotaroff's essay, noted in the syllabus.

In American Hybrid read the poems by Robert Hass
(pp. 179-184). And the poems of Norman Dubie
(pp. 103-109).

As to the manuscript "arrangement," that will be due
on February 2. Type up your basic impressions (200
words is enough, more is okay) about the poems and
your arrangement and staple that page to a typed table
of contents. Remember I want 29 pages (hence, 29
poems). Include section breaks if they feel necessary,
(Ashley Capps' book has section breaks; Garren's
published books do not).

Check out Downsides. I'll tell you that the first poem
I wrote that appears in the book was "Traveling." The
last (and the poem most requested at readings) was
"A Poem About Bluegills." In fact, the book had been
taken already, and I found I wanted to do something
similar, but different, to "A Poem About Pike."

Additionally, "A Poem About Bluegills" appeared
simultaneously in two magazines, a big no no, and
I'll tell you about that--why, etc. (It appeared, as listed
in the acknowledgements, in Sycamore Review (which
still exists of course), but also in Windless Orchard,
but not credited).