Category: Lifestyles of Poets (Page 7 of 9)

I admit I love joining groups and getting membership cards. I've kept all my library cards. When I was 7 years old, I tried to join the Official Cher fan club. I felt ripped off more than satiated. I was a member of the Barry Manilow Official fan club for about 10 years and wrote about it on Ape Culture in 1999. I just want to belong!

Over the last six months, I've joined a few poetry associations to see if it was worth it. And I'm finding much to like about them.

The Science Fiction Poetry Association: The first group I joined, because my book has science, technology and space exploration themes, was The Science Fiction Poetry Association. So far I've received last year's issue of Dwarf Stars, a small press anthology of mini-poems and two issues of Star Line, the main journal of the association. I really enjoyed the second issue and poems like "Sea Monkeys" by Robert Borski, "The Truth About Unicorns" by Beth Cato, "No Man's a Mythic Hero to His Wife" by Jason Braun, "Dracula Considers Celebrity" by Chris Bullard. They're often ironic, meta and suited to a Gen Xer like me. Even the mini-oems are pithy and smart:

even at light speed…

long stretches
of boredom

–James Weaver

The issue also taught me what steampunk was and alerted me to the book Where Rockets Burn Through: Contemporary Science Fiction Poems from the UK. I also loved F.J. Bergmann's short essay on about whether poetry is possible in a world of tragedy, the power a small word offers "the world of diplomacy. Not a few treaties and negotiations have foundered on deficient wording."

Poetry Fash: This was simply an exercise in throwing money down the drain. I once picked up these newspaper-style issues in Los Angeles. I paid for a two-year subscription via their website (Paypal) over a year ago and have never received a single issue. I've sent four emails to them (via their website and Facebook page) trying to figure out what happened that have all gone unanswered. They did have the balls to send me a mail solicitation last month asking for more money. I think not.

The Santa Fe Poetry Society: I think there are less than 30 members in the Santa Fe Poetry Society, a subset of the New Mexico State Poetry Society. They send out a two-page newsletter once in a while, although since I've become an official member, I haven't received any more (what a tease!). They also run a local open mic event in town that draws more than 30 people. I've been to about four of them but haven't made any poetry pals yet. The group participates in a state convention in Albuquerque in June and I do hope I will still be in town to attend that. I love conventions!

The Academy of American Poets: Early on I also joined The Academy of American Poets. Who has not found their website (http://www.poets.org/) beneficial at one time or another? They've sent me two nifty cards already, a Season's Greetings postcard with a quote from Denise Levertov, "To confuse snow with stars,/simulate a star's fantastic wisdom," and four letters: one welcoming me, one end-of-year appeal for more money (why are those always 4-page sagas?), one presenting me with my 2013 membership card (improved with my name on it), and one with their enclosed journal American Poet.  I was pleased to receive my first issue of American Poet, considering there are allegedly 9,000 subscribers. The basic structure to the articles, which I like, includes an introduction to a poet, two or three of their poems and then a poem from the introducing poet. Issue #43 also included a manuscript study of a William Stafford poem, some reprinted poems from books the academy likes and short book reviews. And the journal looks good, is well designed (I loved the cover art). The poems tend to be difficult…surreal and oblique without much variation, as do the essays and introductions. This would appeal to language and other experimental poets.

The Poetry Society of America: One of my favorite memberships so far is The Poetry Society of America.  Their welcome letter on card stock came with a tear-away membership card I could sign (which I just did today), a button (have I mentioned I love buttons?), an Metro-Transit Authority (NYC) bookmark (I have one of their MTA posters from years ago, too), four beautiful postcards which are too pretty to ever send, and, best of all, a membership to one of their partnering journals. I picked American Poetry Review, a journal that I love not for the fact that I tend to like the poetry and essays they provide, but because I am addicted to anything in a recycled newspaper format. This is why I had Literal Latte shipped to my house in Lititz, PA, for all those years until it folded (sad day!). I've received three issues so far; and beyond being mostly a catalog of ads for MFA programs, (a non-poet might think that's all poets have to offer these days), I've loved every issue. They've provided me with a whole new list of poets to explore, including D.W. Fenza, Kathleen Graber (love her America poems), Michelle Ornat, Paisley Rekdal, and Rachel Zucker.

And there have been some great essays:

• Tony Hoagland on Brenda Hillman (Sept-Oct, 2012)
• Arielle Greenberg on hybred (multi-format) poetry (Sept-Oct, 2012)
• David Wojahn on Elizabeth Bishop (Nov-Dec, 2012)
• David Rivard's poetic meanderings on Robert Frost and writing  (Jan-Feb, 2013)
• Arielle Greenberg on second-wave feminist writing (Jan-Feb, 2013)
• Alex Giardino's interview with Annie Finch (Jan-Feb, 2013)

The Scottish Poetry Library: Now contrary to the sound of my (married) name, I'm not Scottish. Well, at least not that I know of. The Ladd family were cowboys who kept no genealogical records behind. The reason I joined The Scottish Poetry Library had everything to do with how impressed I was with their website when I happened upon it while looking for something else. It was a well-made, efficient, friendly web site. This is a rare animal in the poetry world. Most poetry sites and blog, even unintentionally, come across as exclusive and elitist. Not this one. Having worked in the website business for many years (as a consultant for ICANN even) and having read plenty of books on user experience, I know a good website when I see it. I joined pronto.

I was not disappointed. Right away, they sent me a laminated card (so old school!), a letter with a personal message on it about being delighted to have a Santa Fe member and to please come and visit someday (I sure will!), a programme booklet of all their local events, their annual review report and the Poetry Reader journal. This group impresses me. If I ran any kind of poetry association, I would rip off everything they do. They do smart and aggressive outreach with local kids and museums, they coordinated an Olympic Games poetry competition for this year's games, they're involved in book-related artworks around the city, they take their online site and social media very seriously (yet inclusively), they provide lesson and reading guides for teachers, librarians and writers. They partner with scholars, artists, local bookstores and poets in other countries. They're materials are really really well designed. They're transparent and so, so friendly. I can't emphasize that enough. I wanted to join this place of good feeling and acceptance. I was darn-right enthusiastic about it.

The first journal talks about nature writing, discusses the biography of a Scottish poet or two (Nan Shepherd) and what the library is doing with their collection, tours of poetry readings in local bookshops (with pictures), their podcasts and some interviews and columns from members.

Overall, I've enjoyed these memberships and look forward to getting more mail from them.

I was happily tied up for the past few weeks with some visitors to Santa Fe and some small readings locally. On February 4, I attended an open reading in a little theater called Teatro Paragaus, a reading hosted by the New Mexico State Poetry Society-Santa Fe Chapter. I read "Imagine Mars" and "Why Photographers Commit Suicide."

I don't know why we call them readings. So poet-centric that is. Shouldn't we say, "I'm going to a listening" because the majority of people are listening? Ok, maybe not.

Anyway, it was my first reading since October of 2004 when Julie Wiskirchen and I read excerpts from St. Lou Haiku at the St. Louis Public Library and the first St. Louis Book Festival held in Forest Park. I didn't do particularly well for open mic nite. My reading was inordinately breathy and too close to the microphone. Later I thought: to be new may be brief; but to be new is a relief. Plenty of time for improvement. My goal was to practice ways of being as a poet: to be open, connected and friendly. As much as I tried to focus on my specific tasks: to honor the time rule, to pay attention to my body posture, facial expressions and to smile, it was all thrown to hell when the MC mispronounced my last name as McCreely. This is surely due to my bad, post-carpel-tunnel handwriting on the sign-in. The MC for NMSPS, Jim Raby, is actually a very good energy and excellent at corralling all these open mic poets. My husband took photos but unfortunately these were lost when, a few days later, I went to update the software on my iPhone and it crashed. I lost about 9 months worth of data.

My reading the following Friday, February 8, at Highlands University as the inaugural speaker for The Women for a Change Club went much, much better. I had the full hour to myself and not only had time to talk about the poems in my book in depth, but I had time to have a conversation about the amazing publishing changes afoot in the world, (the pros and cons of self-publishing versus traditional), and most importantly (since this was an audience of academics), how poetry can be used in academic research (with examples directed toward some of the archaeologists in the group). This reading went very well. Considering my sucky open mic, I was surprised. But apparently some enthusiasm and humor, my knowledge about technology from years working at ICANN, and my spirit of DIY came through. I read "Imagine Mars," "The Birds of Mars," "Helga in the Park," and "Why Photographers Commit Suicide."

The only piece of the talk I left out, by mistake, were three very interesting and apropos NPR interviews I had discovered the day before:

• NPR, December 19 2012: Self-Publishing: No Longer Just a Vanity Project
• NPR, February 4, 2013: Self-Publishing Now the First Choice for Some Writers
• NPR, February 5, 2013: Why Traditional Publishing is Really in a 'Golden Age'

The room was full and many stayed afterwards to talk about poetry and their prior experiences with poetry. A very good conversation overall.

The next week was spent furiously cleaning our house for the reunion of the Sarah Lawrence women in Santa Fe over Presidents' Day weekend. Sherry Fairchok (technical writer at The Gartner Group and author of the book of poems Palace of Ashes) and fictioneers Murph Henderson (Theater Specialist at the Pew Center for the Performing Arts) and Julie Wiskirchen (coordinator of Santa Monica social events and the visiting authors program at Google, co-author of St. Lou Haiku and co-editor of Ape Culture) came from Bronxville, NY, Philadelphia, PA, and Los Angeles for a weekend of tooling around Santa Fe. I had a fabulous time catching up with them. On Saturday we visited the Folk Art Museum and saw the Annie Leibovitz show Pilgrimage at the Georgia
O'Keeffe Museum (because my husband works there, I was able to attend the opening reception a week earlier with Annie Leibovitz). Julie and Murph had Frito Pie down on the Plaza and we all ate dinner at La Plazuela in the La Fonda Hotel for dinner. Sunday we went to Pecos National Monument and visited the Greer Garson house. Then went to Las Vegas, New Mexico, to see the Victorians, Highlands University and the Plaza Hotel. We ate Mexican food at my favorite restaurant there, the Original Johnny's Kitchen.

Now I'm getting back into the swing and sway of Big Bang Poetry! I have been exploring some interesting poetry podcasts, memberships and books. More to come soon.