CUE: A Journal of Poetry

CUE has become an online journal. Take a look around.

stealing

Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better...

T.S. Eliot

man, i've stolen a lot from other writers! i counted last night the poems that incorporate work from others. the tally? 12 poems. i was surprised. i'm not talking about epigrams; only two poems in my ms carry epigrams. i'm talking about plugging in the material into my poems.

i shouldn't have been surprised. donald justice, one of my first poetry loves, is famous for borrowing material from other writers. and i'm the type of reader who will turn a memorable line over and over in his mind. heck, i become obsessed. i write down varients of the line in my notebook. i imagine what event/ thought/ emotion could've inspired the line. i repeat the line again and again out loud.

i'm under no illusion that i'm making what i've taken better. i'm not that vain. or stupid. i want to make the stolen material mine. mine, mine, mine. hmm, that sounds kinda of stupid too. ha.

anyways, here's the list of the artists/ writers i've stolen from:

toni morrison
luis omar salinas
gwendolyn brooks
ted berrigan
humberto ak'abal
robert hayden
unknown corrido songwriter
maría meléndez
robert duncan
joseph beuys
angela de hoyos
americo paredes

and the epigrams?

lorna dee cervantes
ronald johnson

bread loaf 2009

the list of bread loaf fellows and scholars has been released. yeah!

some thoughts:

it will be nice to see dave lucas again; we both won the discovery award in 2005. the poem about his father and the comet remains one of my favorites. i wish i'd written it!

james allen hall will be there! i'm going give him a bone-breaking hug when i see him!

leslie harrison and alex espinoza will also be there -- two folks i've never met but who are high on my get-to-know list.

james arthur! i've never met him, but johnny horton kept talking about him at vcca this spring. i think johnny has a man-crush.

i've read some of the poems of tomás q. morín online. love that middle initial.

*

thanks to jills for the link.

Hottie of the week: Fernando Del Rincón

ron slate on stacie cassarino

Zero at the Bone illuminates the moment when one’s first adult assumptions and cherished expectations dissolve into the depths of actual circumstance. In Cassarino one discovers a young poet equipped to project a resolute nature while sounding original and credible (that is, like herself). It’s a rare discovery.

bits

i should call naren tonight.
*
i'm dying to know who else is going to be at bread loaf this year. i think the BL web site is updated in early july, but i want to know now.
*
i wish manuel would send me an email hello.
*
i've noticed that since i joined facebook the comments on my blog have dwindled. what's up with that? you all suck.
*
i can't write sentences.
*
do want $750 bucks and a trip to nyc? well, check out this contest. sounds like a good deal. if only i had a times square poem. do you think a poem about a dead cat would count?
*
my boyfriend is a pronoun.
*
I think sometimes in all of us, there is this idea that it would be nice to publish a runaway book, one that attracts all the major reviewers, that wins all the awards, gets people talking and buzzing, and sells a ton of copies.
*
thanks for posting the pics of jentel, sandra.
*

Sower

a sower walks into the great hall
it's war out there, he says
and you awash in emptiness
you've sworn off your duty to sound the alarm
I've come in the name of fields
it's war out there

I walk out from that great hall
all four directions a boundless harvest scene
I start planning for war
rehearsing death
and the crops I burn
send up the wolf-smoke of warning fires

but something haunts me furiously:
he's sowing seed across marble floors

Bei Dao

2 reviews

Everything about Karen An-Hwei Lee’s Ardor is alluring: the shiny red cover, pomegranate, the cartoid, heart-shaped, graph and mathematical equations.
*
*
In terms of perspective, Chang’s new book builds from where the last one ended, on polyphony, exploring again fear and oppression, misbehavior of all kinds, horrible consequences both physical and psychic, with less of the seemingly autobiographical material that characterized the first book. Here, too, she is more formally varied, and more formally astute than in her first book.

art that rocks my world

Born: Bronze: 39 x 101 x 24: Kiki Smith: 2002

chapbook contest

2009 Thomas A. Wilhelmus Award

RopeWalk Press will award a prize of $1000 for a poetry chapbook.

Postmark deadline: July 15, 2009.

Complete guidelines HERE.

bits

Hey, Javier, how about we both write poems titled "Poem of Social Conscience Written in an Overheated Language that Will Undoubtedly Consign It to Oblivion?" I'll put my version in my second book ms. Ha!
*
I really like this show.
*
Just for the record: I wasn't whining about not getting a residency in my earlier post. I'm not that type of writer. I'm happy and thrilled when I get something, but I quickly move on. My writing life isn't defined by awards, fellowships, or residencies. Though you wouldn't know that by reading the bio on my blog. Damn! I should prune back my bio.
*
The latest installment of In the Grove is up and running.
*
Did I tell you that I killed my nephew's fish? I noticed the water in the bowl was dirty. So I took out the fish, poured out the water, rinsed the rocks, etc. Then I refilled the bowl. With warm water! I put the fish into the bowl; it was dead in less than ten minutes! I'm a terrible uncle.
*
I'm kinda of nervous about having my poems workshopped at Bread Loaf. I haven't been in a workshop in ages. I'm a bit rusty. Am I supposed to bring an apple for the teacher? Or a bottle of gin?
*
Are you a Latino/ Chicano MFA student who reads my blog? If so, say hi! Drop me an email. I don't bite. It's important we make connections.
*
Currently, I'm reading James Galvin's As Is and the ms of a brand new MFA graduate.
*
C. Dale Young gave me a gentle spanking.

Interview with KAZIM ALI

One wants to say that language is the only homeland.

I can't wait for this book!

“This is one tough, smart poet. The poems of Paul Martínez Pompa are gritty and visceral, but never cross the line into sensationalism. They are poems that vividly evoke the urban world, especially Chicago, without ever lapsing into urban cliché. They are poems that seek justice for the Latino community without ever resorting to the overheated language that all too often consigns poetry of social conscience to oblivion.” --
Martín Espada, 2008 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize judge

2009 Omnidawn Poetry Contest

Submissions accepted by Omnidawn March 1 – June 30, 2009

Judge: Ann Lauterbach

Full details HERE.

small press spotlight: steve fellner

There’s nothing special about living with a single mother in a trailer park, being gay, and wanting to meet your biological mother.

bit

i hate it when poets whine. i hate the po-biz. i didn't get the residency. i don't think i'm a writer. don't you?

can i tell you something? i've hit a wall. a wall of self-doubt. i won't bore you with the gory details.

Into The Beautiful North

Read the first three chapters of Luis Alberto Urrea's new novel HERE.

Hottie of the week: Justin Bartha

Saw "The Hangover" yesterday. He was my favorite part of the movie.

San Pedro River Review

is reading from July 1st through August 31st. Complete guidelines here.

diode wants your babies

diode is reading for their august 2009 issue.

diode is one of the best online journals.

submit.

Steel Toe Books Contest

from the website:

Steel Toe Books will select its next two titles through a contest, judged by Denise Duhamel. In addition to a judge's choice, there will be an editor's choice. Both authors will receive $500 and a publication contract. All entrants will receive copies of the two winning books. Students and past students of the judge and editor are not eligible. The deadline is June 30.

Submission process:

Send the following:
a check or money order for $24
a copy of your 48-80 page manuscript for consideration
an acknowledgements page
two cover pages, one with your name and contact information, one without

Do not send a SASE for notification. Upon selecting a new title, we will make an announcement on the web site, on our News page.

Mail the packet to:
Steel Toe Books
c/o Tom C. Hunley
Department of English
Western Kentucky University
1906 College Heights Blvd. #11086
Bowling Green, KY 42101-1086

poetry broadsides for $10 bucks!

i love broadsides. i own a few. one by alberto rios. one by aga shahid ali. one by eduardo c. corral. ha!

but i want more! thank goodness for the center for the book arts. they have a lot of broadsides for sale. each one goes for ten bucks. not bad.

thanks to mizz t. jones for the link.

Madonna Essay Anthology Seeks Submissions From Women Writers

from the editor:

I’m currently looking for smart, thoughtful women-authored nonfiction essay submissions. It’s for a new anthology all about our favorite freaky feminist singer/artist/’Sex’-er/mother/material girl: Madonna.

She’s been such a powerful, iconic cultural figure for the past 26 years (!). For women and girls in America, it’s almost impossible not to have been influenced, in some way, by her media presence.

I want to hear how Madonna — her music, her persona, her image, her lyrics — has changed your life. Love her or hate her, you probably have an opinion; she elicits major passion from millions of people. Whether you think she’s a genius marketing maven, a pioneering feminist businesswoman or little more than a very rich stripper, I want to hear your perspectives. How did her work affect your feelings, your mindset, your sexuality, your ambitions? Where were you when you first heard her music, and how did it make you feel? How did seeing her videos on MTV change the way you thought about growing up female? How did your parents react when they heard you singing the lyrics to “Like a Virgin” at the dinner table? What was it like the first time you saw her perform live? What about her pisses you off to no end?

I’m looking for a wide range of perspectives. I don’t care if you love her or loathe her — just own a strong point of view, and write your essay in an honest, thoughtful, engaging fashion.

WORD COUNT: Submissions should be between 1000 – 5000 words, double-spaced and paginated.

DEADLINE: September 1, 2009

DETAILS: Please send your submission via email, as a Microsoft Word document attachment, to madonna.book@gmail.com. Also include your full name, address, phone number, email address and a short author bio.

CONTACT: Feel free to email the editor, Laura Barcella, at madonna.book@gmail.com with questions.