Clair de lune

Claude Debussy gets honoured with Google Doodle

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NewBorder Interview with Rigoberto Gonzalez

Yes, these snubs are frustrating and sometimes maddening, but I take great comfort in knowing that we have not stopped writing just because the Pulitzer prize committee hasn’t given us a bone. Because that’s not why we write. We are not here to please a mostly-white institution. If New York never notices, it’s New York’s loss, but it’s only a matter of time before it catches up to the cultural and demographic shifts of this country’s readership. All the rest of us have to do is to keep writing, build up the readership, and not allow New York—or anyone else—to tell us they discovered us or that our journeys began when they first took notice.

Announcing the Winners of the 3rd Annual Terrain.org Contests

The editors of Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments are delighted to announce the winners of our 3rd Annual Contests in Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction:

Poetry

Genevieve Leet

For her poem set “[when I died they found a nest of snakes in my intestines, their backs]” and “Somewhere beyond the curve of the earth, there is a ceremonial bamboo boat”

Judged by Suzanne Frischkorn, who writes:

“[when I died they found a nest of snakes in my intestines, their backs]” and  “Somewhere beyond the curve of the earth, there is a ceremonial bamboo boat” disarmed me with their terrible beauty. These poems appealed to me initially by sound, then by language, and finally with meaning. While the first may appear more abstract than the second both of these poems have many layers. Delving into a difficult poem and finding that the effort opens its secret compartments—and here the compartments are all fastened by spring hinge—is extremely rewarding. That there is beauty in the terrible ruin caused by marine debris, that there is usefulness in decay after death—those snakeskin boots!—is something that may cross our minds when cultivating soil, but not often when contemplating the death of “everything that ties its shoes”. The surprises in these devastating poems make the reader think, and then think again. Like the ghost images that linger in the second poem, these poems linger within the reader. It takes a deft hand to create art that works on multiple levels. I look forward to reading more of the poet’s work.

Rigoberto Gonzalez on Eduardo C. Corral

"The sophistication of "Slow Lightning," however, is that its stunning imagery, its serious treatment of craft, as well as its homage to a Southwestern culture and landscape that predates its life as a U.S. territory, will endow the book with a timeless quality. This is indeed a classic in the making." 

♥ & ♥

Two Poems from Slow Lightning, by Eduardo C. Corral at Poetry Daily today!

Self-Portrait with Tumbling and Lasso is one of my many

& very favorites in the collection.

Swoon.

♥ this poem from LOCUSPOINT: Seattle

Dream of the Unified Media: LOCUSPOINT: Seattle, 30 September 2006: Of her city, editor Rebecca Loudon wrote, "Seattle is a city known for its rain, its lush green beltways, its flourishing theater and music...

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Closet High School Girlfriend, by Brent Goodman

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I know it’s not easy being an artist. I know the gulf between creation and commerce is so tremendously wide that it’s sometimes impossible not to feel annihilated by it. A lot of artists give up because it’s just too damn hard to go on making art in a culture that by and large does not support its artists. But the people who don’t give up are the people who find a way to believe in abundance rather than scarcity. They’ve taken into their hearts the idea that there is enough for all of us, that success will manifest itself in different ways for different sorts of artists, that keeping the faith is more important than cashing the check, that being genuinely happy for someone else who got something you hope to get makes you genuinely happier too.

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Happiness, by Paisley Rekdal

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How Gorgeous are these?

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Love Song with Ruin, by Paul Guest

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Dream of the Unified Media: Writing and Revising Poems: A Romantic Comedy:

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She Buys Old Furniture, by Reagan Lothes

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Chagall Animated - Страсти по Шагалу (2006), часть 2/2

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The Straightforward Mermaid, by Matthea Harvey

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why walk, when you can dance?

You could say they're bringing ballet to the people, but beyond that, they are showing the versatility of the effect of ballet and its most talented stars. Not just swans on stage, these ballerinas make a street fence near the Williamsburg Bridge or a crosswalk in the East Village look suddenly full of life, color, and beauty begging the inevitable question -- why walk, when you can dance?

Ballerina Project

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CantoMundo Fellows Carmen Tafolla and Eduardo Corral Read -- more readings here.

50/50: Words & Images for Didi Menendez

Edited by Grace Cavalieri, & April Carter Grant

This anthology contains poems, essays, and visual works from writers and poets who have been published by Didi Menendez in MiPOesias magazine, OCHO, Poets and Artists (O&S), or books. Each piece is about or dedicated to Didi in celebration of her long-standing commitment to advancing print and web standards for independent publishing of poetry and art. Full-color interior.

My poem, "Papaya," inspired by the fabulous Didi is included along with poems by Barbra Nightingale, Diego Quiros, Ivy Alvarez, Ron Androla, Nick Piombino, Holly Picano, Michael Parker, Meghan Punschke, Amy King, John Korn, Grady Harp, Jose Parra, David Lehman, Matthew Hittinger, Cheryl Townsend, Andrew Demcak, Bruce Covey, Luc Simonic, Diana Adams, Charles Jensen, Reb Livingston, Karen Hollingsworth, Melissa McEwen, Wiliam Stobb, Nick Carbo, Pris Campbell, Denise Duhamel, Edward Nudelman, Marie-Elizabeth Mali, Geoffrey Gatza, Emma Trelles, Miguel Murphy, Jeremy Baum, Kirk Curnutt, Michelle M. Buchanan, Evie Shockley, Dan Murano, LD Grant, April Carter Grant, Tony Trigilio

50/50 Words and Images for Didi Menendez

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