BLOG ASSIGNMENT 1



Exposure to poets, to new kinds of poems--different
styles, sensibilities, etc--is how you find a new voice.
Or maybe it would be more accurate to say, it is how
you add nuance to the voice you already possess. Reading,
for a poet, IS truly a FORM OF READING. To
that end you need to read stuff you like and stuff you don't
like. I keep saying that in order to publish you need to
find magazines that publish poems that speak to you.
Way back, when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, when
I was taking poetry workshops, I would simply write
down the name of every poet the workshop leader
mentioned, go home, buy the book(s), and open the
thing, when it arrived through the mail (no poetry online
then--it all came to me, pokily, through U S Post)
and see what miracle had arrived. Or not. I used to
buy every Pushcart Anthology in order to find poets
I believed would spur me on. I'd find, maybe, out of
the thirty represented there, maybe eight I felt I just
couldn't live without, and I'd order the book (quite often,
actually, from my local bookstore). So, for you, this
is what the Pushcart and BAP are doing stacked up,
maybe, right now, on top of your bills that came in
the mail, which sounds right to me . . . So, here's the
first blog assignment. I've been wanting you to read four
poems in the PA. Now I want you to read the four poems
and RATE them on your blog. AND I want you to write
a not-too-arduous 40 words on each, explaining why you
like it or don't like it. This is to be done by Feb. 21 at
noon. (Yes, that is a pretty random date and time--so sue
me). Anyway, to be clear, simply follow this formula:

1. Title of Poem, and name of poet.
(your thirty or so word reasoning for choosing this poet
as number one goes here)

2. Title of poem, and name of poet
(your thirty words etc)

And so on. Consider it a kind of meme (I hate the word meme,
but nonetheless.)

The poems you are considering, of course, are by
Patricia Lockwood, Bob Hicok, Mary Szybist,
Michael Dickman.

More of these assignments will be coming. It is one way
to make the reading purposefully various, wide ranging,
etc. I will include poems from this Pushcart Anthology
and from the Best American Poetry Anthology . . .