The Kundiman Poetry Prize

Kundiman and Alice James Books will be accepting submissions of poetry manuscripts for The Kundiman Poetry Prize postmarked between November 15 and January 15, 2010. The Kundiman Poetry Prize welcomes submissions from emerging as well as established Asian American poets. Entrants must reside in the United States.

The winner receives $2000, book publication and a feature reading.


Complete info HERE

bits

o, bread loaf! i miss you!
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the southern review is putting together a special feature on baseball.
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congrats to oliver!
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a big hello to elena passarello's collegue who reads my little blog. thank you.
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louise gluck on the yale series of younger poets.
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diode!
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contest season is here! and for the first time, i have a dog in the race.
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paul otremba: this wren.

Hottie of the week: jaed coffin (the hottest guy at bread loaf 2009)

Jaed had trained as a boxer, so the discipline of a monk's life was not as traumatic for him as it might have been for a typically-raised American kid. He took vows to renounce sexual thoughts and actions, perhaps a bit more difficult for a male of his age and culture, but while in Thailand he was faithful to that vow and others. He rose early and begged for his food, surprised at how readily it was offered even by the poorest villagers. He tried to learn to meditate, and he became a passable speaker of colloquial Thai.

Barbara Jane Reyes on Paul Martínez Pompa

In part II, he tells us he really called his abuelita grandma. She was the woman who would call Pizza Hut to order food, which she did “with the spirit of Mesoamérica / ablaze in her fingertips.”

Buy the book here.

bread loaf 2009 pics by molly sutton kiefer

More amazing pics here. And here's the link to Molly's website.

Review of Arda Collins

Collins’ debut collection is a labyrinth of canny insights and domestic interiors which reveal the speaker’s elaborate methodologies of hiding and self-exposure. Caustic and pithy indeed, as Louise Glück praises in the foreword, but the persona herein often strikes the reader as more defenseless than arch.

Rome

I saw once, in a rose garden, a remarkable statue of the Roman she-wolf and her twins, a reproduction of an ancient statue— not the famous bronze statue, so often copied, in which the blunt head swings forward toward the viewer like a sad battering ram, but an even older statue, of provenance less clear. The wolf had been cut out of black stone, made blacker by the garden’s shadows, and she stood in profile, her elegant head pointed toward something far beyond her, her long unmarked body and legs—narrower and more finely-boned than the body and legs of wolves as we know them—possessed, it seemed, of a great stillness, like the saturated stillness of the roses, but tightly-nerved, set, on the instant, to move. Under her belly, stood the boys, under her black breasts, not babes, as one might expect, but two lean boys, cut from the same shadowed stone as the wolf, but disproportionately small, grown boys no bigger than starlings, though still, like the wolf, oddly fine of face and limb, one boy pressing four fingers again one long breast, his other cupped beneath it to catch the falling milk, the second boy wrapping both arms around another breast, as if to carry it off, neither boy suckling, both instead turned toward you, dreamy, sweetly sly, as if to chide you for interrupting their feeding, or as if they were plotting a good trick… Beautiful, those boys among the roses. Beautiful, the black wolf. But it was the breasts that held the eye, a double row of four black breasts, eight smooth breasts, each narrowing to a strict point, piercing sharp, exactly the shape of the ivory tooth of the shark.

Brigit Pegeen Kelly

first published in Ploughshares

bread loaf 2009 (pics by dave lucas and celeste ng)

bread loaf bits

where to begin?
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i showered with james allen hall. twice.
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to be surrounded by writers! the shoptalk. the playful banter. the gossip.
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james, c.dale, james a., kara, celeste, matthew, eva, tom, maggie, alan, tomas, dave, sasha, peter w., leslie...
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oh, the readings! some highlights for me include: jenny george, charles baxter, alex espinoza, louise gluck, roger reeves, matthew dickman, tom sleigh, c. dale young, benjamin garcia, peter campion, leslie harrison, sigrid nunez.

go team voltron!
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somebody said this to me: eduardo, you're trying to write portraits of others, but you're really writing self-portraits.
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brigit pegeen kelly read saturday night. she blew the top of my head off. after she read, i had to leave. i walked out of the little theatre before the third reader began. oh, that hive swinging over the black water of the ocean!
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i had a great roommate: alan heathcock. very nice man. very nice hats.
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to have a complete stranger come up to you and say: i read your poem in...
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i hate the weather walrus. i hope he falls on his own tusks.
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if you're looking for recaps of craft talks/ lectures then you're out of luck. i don't roll like that. but molly took notes and has been posting her observations on her blog. thanks, molly!
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the conference re-energized my love for our art. thank you, bread loaf.
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more later.

Reading at Bread Loaf 2009

pic by Dave Lucas

more bread loaf pics!

here are some pics of faculty and fellows serving as waiters. it's a bread loaf tradition. click on pics to enlarge them.

matt mendez, jim ruland, leslie harrison.

c. dale young. doesn't he look happy?

alex espinoza, watch it! don't pour coffee on brigit pegeen kelly!

my sub. want some?

peter campion holding a tray stacked with invisible plates and cups. what a pro!

dave lucas is a scholar, like me. i like his glasses.

thomas mallon, also known as biff, was my waiter.

my workshop leader, tommy sleigh. long live johnny rockets!

bread loaf pics (for victoria chang)

bread loaf bits

drinks on the porch. drinks at the barn. drinks at treman.
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tom sleigh is rocking my world. i had a one-on-one with him the other day and his feedback was amazing. AMAZING!!
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i read the other day. i think i did well.
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i have three words for you: james allen hall. he's so freaking sweat and funny. but you know that.
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tonight a poet told me that my poems don't sound like the poems written by most iowa graduates.
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i'm not drunk!
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a blogger that we all know and love is wearing crocs at bread loaf. not me.
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leslie harrison gave a wonderful reading this afternoon. i bought her book. i hope she will sign it for me.
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i like my roommate. sweet guy.
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matthew dickman is the fellow in my workshop. nice guy. i like how he talks about poems. i adore his glasses. and his orange socks.
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the mosquitoes are crazy around here. i've been bitten like 30 times.
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there a lot of talented writers here. i find myself holding my breath sometimes while i'm listening to someone read at the little theatre.

bread loaf pics (click on pics to enlarge them)

jfk bits

well, i'm at the jfk airport in nyc. waiting to board my plane to burlingotn, vt.
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i forgot to pack my nice shoes.
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i'm scanning the faces of the people waiting at the gate with me. i'm trying to find the writers. i think i found one! a fellow wearing a I LOVE BILLY COLLINS t-shirt. he must be going to bread loaf. or hell.
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i'm kinda of nervous.
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my breakfast: a green apple & a snapple. the price: a little under five bucks.
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i totally forgot that everybody gets a roommate at bread loaf. i haven't had a roommate in years. it will be strange sharing a room with a stranger.
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oh, oh, oh, i see someone holding an AWP tote. wait, it's an AWWP tote. what the hell is AWWP?
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i just saw one of the pilots walk by. he's cute. big bald spot but cute.
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i have to give a five minute reading while i'm at bread loaf. yes, you read that correctly. FIVE minutes. ha. each scholar only gets five mintues because there's like 15 of us.
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i almost forgot to pack my notebook.
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Barbara Jane Reyes on Joseph O. Legaspi

In "Imagined Love Poem to My Mother from My Father," even in the domestic and bloody act of scaling, slitting, and gutting a milkfish, the mother is an mythic mermaid, a precious trophy, "a silver mine to be mined." Here, "to be mined" is also to become the possession of another. Legaspi is especially adept at layering gendered roles and power dynamics, mythological and religious wonder, and desire that is both beautiful and brutal: "Do unto me, the spy / up in the thick fruit tree, as you have done / unto the milkfish...."

boxcar goodies

the latest installment of boxcar poetry review is up & running.
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check out the e-conversation between chris o. cook & joe millar:
You asked if my poems were scary. I don’t know if they are or not. Jim Galvin said once after reading a few of these in draft form that it was like being sprayed by a waterhose and feeling unable to breathe...
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and the reviews of brandi homan & jay hopler.

po- biz bits

crap! i can't enter the walt whitman this year. why? one of my teachers from iowa is judging: marvin bell.
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fire: nick flynn
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for the first time, this fall, i'm going to send out my ms like crazy. and i'm a bit nervous.
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But, if there's one thing I've learned in the last 9+ years, it's to keep writing, keep revising, and keep submitting. And I wanted a few, dear poet-friends with whom I could talk writing--people who could celebrate my successes and whose successes I could celebrate in return. That ambition has come true in a way that I find deeply satisfying and which rewards me on an almost daily basis.
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APR's website is sporting a new look.
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and sarabande's!
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shahid reads his own palm: what a freaking great title for a book!
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Brent Goodman’s debut collection breathes a brilliant fuse of flashback, spirituality, and honest inspection of the universe. Throughout The Brother Swimming Beneath Me, Goodman achieves surprising breakthroughs in consciousness, all the time tending subject matter that could not be more difficult.

A Room of Her Own Contest: Ladies Only

Award: $1000 and online publication for the best unpublished work by a woman in each of four genres Short Fiction, Sudden Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry

complete guidelines HERE

Three Candles Press First Book Award

three candles press is pleased to announce the third Three Candles Press First Book Award for a best first book of poems. The contest will be judged by Alexander Long, whose books include Light Here, Light There, Vigil and A Condition of the Spirit.

Award: Winner receives $500.00 and 25 copies of the winning book. Deadline Oct. 15th (post-mark date). The winner will be notified at the end of December. Runners up and two alternates will be posted on the website by January 15th, 2010. The book will be available through Small Press Distribution, online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble, and at fine booksellers in America and Europe. The winner will receive a standard royalty contract.

complete guidelines HERE

bread loaf bits

i will be in tom sleigh's workshop. yeah! he was my first choice. hmm. should i admit that on my blog? don't hate me, brigit!
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i will not be wearing crocs at the conference. and if you're wearing crocs then i might not even talk to you.
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another latino poet will be in sleigh's workshop with me. finally someone who will get the the spanish slang in my poems. well, i hope he gets the slang.
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i don't think i will be blogging from the conference. sad, i know. but i'm there to learn & to have fun. but i will post some pics every other day. who wants to see a pic of c. dale young falling off a tractor?
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i've been emailing with a handful of scholars/ fellows recently. it's so nice to make some kind of contact before actually meeting.
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i'm not going to take fancy dress clothes for the dances. why? because i don't like to dress up. and because i don't have any fancy clothes. i'm going to wear jeans & fish scales.
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man, i can't tell you how much i'm looking forward to this conference.
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James Arthur: The Death of the Painter
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Vocho (Yellow): Vinyl, batting, thread & car parts: Margarita Cabrera: 2004

...the Volkswagen, which I made one day in my studio after making these smaller domestic appliances. There was an announcement in the media about the discontinuation of the Volkswagen Beatle in 2003. We had three of them in my family and I felt something like a real loss, like something really shook me and I started realizing that it really was a national icon. It really economized transportation for a lot of people including my family. All of a sudden it came into the market and everyone had to have it.

Taxi’s drove it, ambulances drove it, policemen drove it, all the delivery people drove it. It was everywhere, and it still is a very prominent car. The production of that machine employs so many people, so the discontinuation was like a real death. It was a real loss of an icon. Also, it was made in mass production like every other piece I made. I saw it as a machine, but it also had all of this other really important information.

bits

imported more cds to itunes last night. hot fuss, eyes open, the boy with the arab strap, peace, if you're feeling sinister...
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Immortality, here I come! Okay, that was too easy & expected. But $900 bucks would be nice, no? And, of course, the immortality.
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i love the ampersand!
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currently listening to Belle & Sebastian's "There's Too Much Love."
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man, the blogs are abuzz with the seth and fellner dust up. i'm already bored with it.
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clever?
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Barbara Jane Reyes on the MFA Industrial Complex

I don’t know what others look for when they decide to pursue a MFA degree, or what the MFA means or is supposed to mean. It’s just a degree, and we know a degree is not a guarantee of anything. It’s not the glittering prize itself, or a golden throne upon which you sit and gaze from far above at the illiterate masses. Admission into a MFA program will not magically bestow you with the keys to the kingdom.

Hottie of the week: Dan Vickery

from HGTV's Design Star

Courtney Queeney: Some Thoughts on Women's Poetry

I started mulling over the idea of niceness in women's poetry after three different men -- from different generations, who knew me in different capacities -- read the manuscript of my first book and each responded with some variation of, I really like your poems, but they're not very nice. I can't imagine Eliot's editor telling him that The Waste Land was great, but it wasn't very nice -- niceness is, predominantly, a cultural expectation of women. Case in point: recently, at my day job, a young man who spends week every day meticulously cataloguing his ennui via Facebook status updates told me I "should be friendlier." I don't work for an escort service; it's not my job to be his friend. Evidently, it's his job to ponder pictures of his dog on the Internet, which occasionally makes my job more burdensome. I am, therefore, unfriendly on occasion -- because as Tina Fey so eloquently put it, Bitches get stuff done.

reb says

Those who self-create their role of authority on a particular subject are not open to the same criticism as other "authorities" and "culture capitalists."

Because they created their own authority, through their own hard work and dedication, whereas the others were born to poet princes and verse-y gumdrop fairies.

Those born into poetry wealth wear magic rings that others have to kiss to gain consideration.

Whereas the ethicals charge very reasonable rates.

bits

should i go to awp denver? i wasn't asked to be on any panels and i didn't submit any panel proposals. but i don't want to miss the fun again. denver is so close. i could even drive there! or take the bus.
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Waldrep’s sometimes bewildering, often exciting prose poems make their own unconventional music, replete with slippages, repetitions, suggestions: “Every sound is tropical, every sound is perishable,” he writes
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i'm put off by collin kelley's aggressive self-promotion. but who else is going to promote him? as a small press author, he knows what he needs to do. and even though his self-promotion makes me uncomfortable, i admire his gumption. here's the blog for his upcoming novel.
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josh weil is a hottie. and an author.
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i should live in europe. the music i adore gets love over there. a-ha's foot on the mountain just entered the uk album charts at #5; it hit #1 in germany. i can't stop listening to the title track.
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chickens!

Rigoberto González reviews Luis Alberto Urrea

...entertaining, but shallow, border tale

Steve Fellner on Seth Abramson's Creative Writing Firm

Steve has taken down the post, but there's a discussion about the post going on over HERE.

bread loaf 2009

i just found the list of readings/ lectures for this year's bread loaf conference. oh my! a lot of good stuff. c.k. williams! louise gluck! brigit pegeen kelly!

here's the complete list of events.

this conference is going to rock.

rock on!

look at this!

2009 Concrete Wolf Chapbook Contest

Judege: Jeannine Hall Gailey.

Postmark Deadline: November 30, 2009

Prize: 100 Copies of a perfect-bound chapbook.

Complete guidelines HERE