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Crime Against Nature
Politically urgent but never one-dimensional, in language that's always clear but never pedestrian, this groundbreaking book recounts how the author lost custody of her sons when she came out as a lesbian, then forged a beautifully honest relationship with them later in life. Connecting her loss to other forms of oppression and violence against women, she dares to dream of a world that "will not divide self from self, self from life." This collection was originally published in 1989 by Firebrand Press and won the 1989 Lamont Poetry Prize, a second-book award from the Academy of American Poets. A Midsummer Night's Press, in conjunction with the lesbian literary journal Sinister Wisdom, reissued it in 2013 in an expanded edition with historical notes and an author essay.
Critique Circle
Critique Circle is a free online forum for writers of literary fiction, genre fiction, essays, and articles. Members can give feedback on each other's work, either on the public site or in a private group. The site includes tools for plot outlining, storyboarding, keeping track of submissions, and writing prompts.
Critique Corner Finale: Our Best Advice for Poets
The authors of Critique Corner collaborated to bring the series to an end with a special gift: a list of do's and don'ts to help your poem get into the winner's circle.
Dear Readers,
Each month for the past ten years, Critique Corner has demonstrated revision principles to a wide array of poets based upon poems selected from your contributions. This month, we conclude our series. We hope you have enjoyed these monthly essays, learned something, and felt inspired to take a fresh look at your own poems.
Each of the reviewers at Critique Corner has been in the position of selecting poetry for publication and/or judging contests. Not surprisingly, most editors and judges will describe the same selection method, at least initially: make two piles, one for "pass" and one for "read again".
So, as our final send-off, we have prepared two short lists that you can keep and review. The first list is what to avoid if you want to get into that "read again" pile. The second, shorter, list are the signs that we are looking at a winner.
Topping all three of our "avoid" lists:
- Spelling Mistakes
It's like showing up to a job interview with your shirt unbuttoned. We all have spell checkers these days. Use them! - Fancy Formatting
Most gimmicks—colored fonts, huge fonts, flashing pictures—tire the eyes of any reader sorting through lots of poems. They often get garbled in transmission, and they complicate printing and online publication.
Our chief general recommendations:
- Read contemporary poetry
Just as much as you can cram into your schedule, and let its innovations filter into your work. You'll find lots of great examples here. - Engage the senses
When you actively evoke sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures, the reader is more likely to share the experience with you. Always favor the tangible over the abstract.
And now, our lists:
JENDI REITER
Jendi Reiter is the author of the poetry collections A Talent for Sadness (Turning Point Books, 2003), Swallow (Amsterdam Press, 2009), and Barbie at 50 (Cervena Barva Press, 2010). Awards include a 2010 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artists' Grant for Poetry, the 2012 Betsy Colquitt Award for Poetry from Descant magazine, and the 2010 Anderbo Poetry Prize. She is the final judge of the Sports Fiction & Essay Contest and the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest, both sponsored by Winning Writers.
Please avoid:
- Merely descriptive poems
Show me why I should care about the thing described. For instance, a nature scene, by itself, is not a satisfying poem for me. Something emotionally involving has to happen, to demonstrate why this scene is worthy of my attention. This can take place in a number of ways: a character in the poem having a meaningful interaction with nature (e.g. James Wright, "A Blessing"); a character's internal reflections inspired by his or her surroundings (e.g. Robert Frost, "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening"; Mary Oliver, "The Summer Day"); or the nature scene as metaphor or allegory for the author's philosophical point (e.g. Robert Frost, "Design"). - Poems that are really prose with line breaks
Poetry should not be a throwaway format for prose passages that are too insubstantial to comprise a full-length story or essay, such as straightforward narratives or expositions of views. Use poetic devices such as metaphors, unexpected juxtapositions of ideas, and formal patterns of sound and rhythm. (See our August 2010 Critique Corner for a discussion of the "poetic turn" that structurally distinguishes it from prose.) - Poems that list your emotions by name
Find images and anecdotes that will produce those emotions in the reader. For instance, if you're writing a love poem, don't tell me that your beloved is kind; show the reader something kind that she does, and make it as unique as possible. - Ungrammatical omission of articles ("a" and "the")
Some recommend this as a way to "tighten" a poem, but to me it sounds like an awkward computer-generated English translation. - Monotone stylistic choices
Capitalization and punctuation add texture to a poem. Like rests in music, or shadows and light in a painting, they tell us where to linger, making room for important moments to sink in. One can use them effectively in nonstandard ways, as Emily Dickinson demonstrated. However, think carefully before omitting them altogether. If you take away the visual variety and rhythmic cues that capitalization and punctuation provide, you'll have to heighten the poem's appeal to the other senses, with stronger sound patterns and more intense meaning. Otherwise, the colloquial immediacy of the first few lines may shade into drabness as the poem goes on and on with no tonal changes.
Aim for:
- Poems that display pleasure in the richness and variety of the English language
Think sonority. A poem should be delicious to speak. Some examples from past critiques include Karen Winterburn, Akpoteheri Godfrey Amromare, Judy Juanita, Laura Van Prooyen, and Laurie J. Ward. - Poems that teach the reader something new
As a contest judge, I love when I come across entries that draw me into another world, whether it's a historical period, an exotic place, or a look behind the scenes at a particular type of job or pastime. Well-chosen details make me feel that I've experienced someone else's life, first-hand. Examples from our critiques include Isa "Kitty" Mady, Ken Martin, Babs Halton, Martin Steele, and Heather McGehee.
TRACY KORETSKY
Tracy Koretsky is the author of three novels: Ropeless (Present Tense Press, 2005), a 15-time award-winning novel that challenges cultural perceptions of disability; The Body Of Helen, inspired by modern dancer Martha Graham; and The Novel Of The Century, a romantic comedy about the importance of love, books, and choosing both. She offers her memoir in poems, Even Before My Own Name (Raggedbottom, 2009), at www.TracyKoretsky.com as a free download. Also on the website: recent work, audio poems, interviews and reviews.
Please avoid:
- Saying it all
Like a case in a museum over-filled with small objects, a poem with too large a scope can be impossible to appreciate. Rather than offer a full family history or list all the conflicts in the world under a title such as "Give Us Peace", choose the most meaningful images and memorable lines and expand upon them. Got more to say? Write more poems! Some poems that fill their containers admirably and leave the reader wanting more are "No Salvage" by Barb McMakin and "Quilts" by Thelma T. Reyna. - Following the rules
Contemporary form poetry demonstrates a knowledge of the form but delights the reader in its digressions from it. Writing form is not about proving that you can count meter and select rhyme, it's about understanding the expressive possibilities of the particular form and exploiting them. Formal constraints give one something to work against, helping to tease out words and ideas that one might not otherwise arrive at; they are the framework, not the finished piece. For the reader, though, forms can fatigue if they fail to evolve in meaning, simply re-stating the same idea with different words. Try inventing a nonce form like Rich Hoeckh's "Sea Constellations of the Northern Sky Offer No Consolation". For demonstrations of how to revise formal poems, have a look at this essay on sestinas, this one on sonnets, and this one on ballads. - Repeating the repetition
The single most noticeable poetic device is repetition. Used well, it can offer musical structure or emphatic urgency. But because it is instantly and powerfully perceived, it can quickly overpower meaning. Rather than repeating a phrase in exactly the same way without nuance or change, strive for subtlety and variation. "Praise Poem" by Stephen Derwent Partington is a fine example. For a full discussion of what works and what doesn't, see our discussion of poems by Changming Yuan. - Centering your poem
Did I say repetition is the most noticeable poetic device? Well, I apologize. Nothing is more noticeable in a poem than centered text. In my own defense, however, I will add that centering is not a poetic device. Rather it is just an option made easily available by our word processors. Not only does it make one's poem more difficult to read and work with, it demonstrates a lack of awareness of good contemporary poetry. Nothing makes me personally reject a poem faster than centering. For a fuller justification (pun intended) of this prejudice, see our critique of "Growing Up Once More" by Gargi Saha. - Not going anywhere
A poem that makes the same point over and over, or for that matter, even twice, is a poem in need of revision. (The good news is, the draft has given you more than enough material to select from.) The essay is the best form for a linear argument. Poems, by contrast, take readers on journeys, leaving them off someplace other than where they began.
Aim for:
- Universality
Be generous with your poetry; make it a gift to readers. Poetry is form of communication, not a puzzle to solve, so seek metaphors and images that are fresh but easy to relate to. Try writing about something other than yourself, or take a poem about yourself and revise it so that it becomes about all of us. For an example of how to do that, see "Garden" by Kelechi Aguocha. - Titles that contribute
A good title can convey tone or efficiently provide context, but the best titles can add a whole layer of meaning. One example is "Michiko Dead" by Jack Gilbert, published in 1994 by The Virginia Review.
LAURA CHERRY
Laura Cherry is the author of the poetry collection Haunts (Cooper Dillon Press, 2010). Her chapbook, What We Planted, won the Philbrick Poetry Prize. She co-edited the anthology Poem, Revised (Marion Street Press, 2008) with Robert Hartwell Fiske. Her work has appeared in various journals, including LA Review, Newport Review, Tuesday: An Art Project, Printers' Devil Review, and H_NGM_N.
Please avoid:
- Using the most obvious ending
If your ending seems too facile, cut it off and see what that does to the poem. Here are some past critique poems with strong endings that shed new light on what preceded them: Joem D. Phillips, L. Kerr, Hank Rodgers, Walter Bargen, and Lisa Suhair Majaj. - Using the first word/idea/rhyme that occurs to you
Push yourself to find an unexpected, surprising, challenging alternative. Try rewriting your poem from memory to see if you can get to some fresher images and phrases. For an example of striking images and details, see "Gotham City" by Charles Kasler. For some ideas on how to reclaim memories in poems, see "On Battery Hill" by Niki Nymark. - Writing as if you hail from the nineteenth century
Beware rhyming ballads, capitalization of first letters in a line, and archaic language. If you always write rhyming poetry, go on a no-rhyme diet. Rhyme is very difficult to pull off convincingly, especially for a beginning poet. A rhymed poem will almost automatically be taken less seriously than an unrhymed one. For a discussion of contemporary rhyming methods, see "Coal Country" by Christina Lovin. - Making shapes with your poem: concrete poetry
This is difficult to do in a way that will be given serious consideration by a reader or judge. - Weak line breaks
Always breaking after the same phrase, or after a period or other unit of grammar, is predictable. Breaking after prepositions, dribbling off, or random-seeming breaks just look sloppy. Unexpected line breaks, such as in the middle of a phrase, so as to change the meaning of the phrase, are welcome.
Aim to:
- Demonstrate precise, even obsessive attention
Write in unsparing detail about something you know a great deal about or have researched thoroughly or observed closely. Choose a topic with a specialized vocabulary that will sound lively and engaging to the reader. For such a specialized lexicon, see Allen Gray's "Tar Sticks to Everything". - Take risks, particularly emotional ones
Yes, this is hard to do, especially in the face of all these caveats. But the poems that readers will remember are the ones that have a powerful emotional center. Avoiding emotion altogether creates safe but bloodless poems.
Our observations are guidelines, not iron-hard rules. Kyle McDonald submitted a masterful old-fashioned poem to our 2007 War Poetry Contest. L.N. Allen's concrete poem, "The Matrushka Maker", matches its subject perfectly. If you want to break a rule, do it consciously, and for a good reason.
A special thank you to our contributors. It is not easy to have your work critiqued publicly. We all learned from the privilege of being able to consider your work.
Keep writing and consulting the Critique Corner archives. You will find the full series here.
This essay appeared in the December 2012 issue of Winning Writers Newsletter (subscribe free).
Critique Speak
This website aims to teach writers and readers how to give and receive constructive feedback, using short animated videos. They offer a contest to submit your own video script for their characters.
Crows
Mary knows all the names of the plants,
The tiny buds, the bird calls through the brush,
What will come next season.
Maxine knows the animal spoors, the dog's love life,
How to keep hay from rotting, what she wants.
Donald knows about old wood, forest smells, grass stains
On the carpet, living with the dead.
I know that this sweet world
Slips soundlessly under my skin,
Curls around my ribs, carries me
To when the crow burst from my breast bone,
Rose and swept across the sky
Gathering his tribe, calling and calling
So I would never forget his tongue,
The night I was born.
Tonight the crows speak again
As they do whenever I arrive, as they do
When I am not here
Each morning across these worlds,
Always within the sound of memory,
My longest dream.
Copyright 2003 by Becky Dennison Sakellariou
Critique by Jendi Reiter
I chose "Crows" for critique because of its delicacy of feeling and its pleasing rhythm. Sakellariou has a good ear for the music of speech, which is essential for writing free verse that is lyrical and not prosy.
A well-crafted poem does not declare its theme, but rather allows it to emerge organically from the concrete details of the poem. Through the author's choice of images, "Crows" speaks of kinship with the natural world, accepting one's place in a larger cycle of birth, death and rebirth.
The wisdom of Mary, Maxine and Donald encompasses both signs of decay—"the rotting hay," "grass stains/On the carpet, living with the dead"—and signs of renewal—"what will come next season," the fertility of budding plants and mating animals. This litany of humble, earthy knowledge conveys a sense of peace, like a forest that embodies both stillness and constant change.
The narrator does not enter the scene until the second stanza, conceding the central role to the natural world of which she is only a part. In the final stanza, she hints at her own disappearance: "Tonight the crows speak again/As they do whenever I arrive, as they do/When I am not here." This is a deft reversal of the self-centered Romantic convention that treats natural phenomena as only the poet's emotions writ large.
I would hate to spoil the concision of this poem, but I wish Sakellariou had added more details to help us figure out who Mary, Maxine and Donald are. We meet them without any preface except the title "Crows." I first began reading this stanza as a list of the things that crows know—an idea not without whimsical appeal—but realized that crows probably wouldn't know about carpets or the names of plants. Without any other information, I ended up picturing them as wise older members of the "tribe" mentioned in the second stanza, a community from which the narrator came and to which she periodically returns. [See November critique for more on this.]
This is a poem that invites you to fill in the blanks. Shapes shift as in a myth, people into crows, old wood into new buds. This impression is especially strong in the last stanza, with its suggestion of multiple "worlds," and its concluding phrase, "memory,/My longest dream."
Compared to the understatement of the previous lines, this phrase struck me as a little too sentimental. "Memory" and "dream" are words that many poets, including myself, are tempted to overuse. Some beginning poets will throw in romantic words to pretty up the poem and make it sound more important. By contrast, in "Crows," though it departs somewhat from the tone that I found so appealing in the earlier lines, the final phrase does help to add a new shade of meaning. Suggesting that the memories of her life are merely her "longest dream," the narrator further blurs the boundaries between the natural and mythical worlds. The language of the crows and the language of scientific plant names are aspects of the same reality.
Where could this poem be published? "Crows" would be a good fit for many mainstream literary journals. These come to mind:
32 Poems (edited by Deborah Ager)
A new arrival on the literary scene, this well-crafted little magazine publishes 32 poems in each issue, each no more than 32 lines.
Zone 3 (Austin Peay State University)
Respected literary journal. We recommend their annual "Rainmaker" awards for unpublished poems.
New Millennium Writings (edited by Don Williams)
Handsomely produced journal that regularly publishes work with mythic or magical-realist influences. Check website for contest deadlines (officially June 17 and November 17, but often extended) and rules.
This poem and critique appeared in the October 2003 issue of Winning Writers Newsletter (subscribe free).
Postscript: Our well-read subscriber Lucinda Lawson cleared up a question I raised above. She writes, "You mentioned in the critique wishing that you knew who Mary, Maxine, and Donald were, assuming they were older and wiser members of the 'tribe'. I read poetry for pleasure, and before I reached the end of the piece, I recognized Mary Oliver, Maxine Kumin and Donald Hall (all very influential poets) by the things the writer said they knew, as well as by their first names, the short list of items for each poet being reflective of that poet's repeated themes throughout the lifetime of his/her work. Kind of a neat touch, I thought."
Becky has confirmed that this is what she had in mind. It's great to have such astute readers. I learn something every day!
ctrl + v
Named for the keyboard command for "paste", ctrl + v is a biannual online journal that publishes artistic collages of words and images. Editors say, "All forms of collage—digital, scissor-and-glue, mixed media, fabric, sound—are encouraged + adored. We are particularly interested in what happens when fragments of language move through the space of other materials."
CTRL + WALT + DELETE
In 2022, the Poetry Center at Smith College in Northampton, MA invited students, alums, staff, faculty, and visitors to create collage and erasure poems from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. Images of their creations are collected on the Poetry Center website.
CUE Editions
Based in Tucson, Arizona, CUE Editions is an independent micro-press that specializes in limited-edition, hand-made chapbooks by new and established poets. Authors include Stephanie Balzer and Mark Horosky. Visit website to purchase back issues of Cue: A Journal of Prose Poetry (no longer publishing).
Cultural Appropriation for the Worried Writer
Jeannette Ng is a medieval studies scholar and author of the British Fantasy Award winning novel Under the Pendulum Sun. In this article for Medium, she discusses how to write responsibly outside your demographic. Some tips: stop looking for fail-safe rules, think critically about your motives and sources, and compensate the people who are teaching you about other cultures.
Cultured Vultures
Cultured Vultures is an online journal of contemporary writing, literary and entertainment reviews, and articles on politics and culture. Their free poetry contest offers web publication to the top three unpublished poems submitted each week.
Cupid and And Speaking of Strategic Planning
CUPID by Jean Wilson
A greeting to all you lovers, and those who like romance,
We put our trust in Cupid's arrow, nothing is left to chance.
Our fat, little cherub friend shoots our perfect mate,
Instantly we fall in love and leave the rest to fate.
Problem is, poor Cupid is feeling very sad,
Divorce rate is escalating, and things are looking bad.
Cupid's hit an all time low, his aim has gone to seed,
He's drinking rum by the barrel, and smoking loads of weed.
When it's time to do his duty, he aims his arrows high,
Off they wobble in the air, sailing through the sky.
Where they land is anyone's guess, it's certainly not the target,
There's going to be a few mistakes, some people will be hard hit.
Now there's utter chaos, since Cupid's seeing double,
This could be disastrous, us humans are in trouble.
He's joining people together for an inevitable life of doom,
The bells will dolefully ring "here comes the Bride and Gloom".
He's made some very strange couplings, Jordan and the Pope?
A vicar with a stripper, oh Lord give us hope!
Prince Harry and Lady Gaga, the monarchy's in strife!
It was bad enough when Charles took Camilla as his wife!
Kermit and Pippa Middleton? Oh Cupid can't you see?
Poor Jennifer Aniston, you've matched her with a tree!
I really think enough is enough, I'm calling in your boss,
Venus will be horrified and very very cross!
Our Goddess was sympathetic, she let Cupid keep his job,
On condition he join a "self-help group", which he agreed upon a sob.
The next day he flutters in, to a meeting of the AA.
He sits down, takes a breath, and then begins to say...
"Hi, my name is Cupid and I'm an alcoholic,
I've never had to seek help, I'm normally very stoic.
But times are really changing, it seems love is replaced by hate,
My job just seems so stressful now, there's too much on my plate."
"No one seems to take the time to listen to their heart,
Those lazy humans sit and wait for the piercing of my dart!
I would create the perfect union then it would end upon a whimper,
Instead of trying to work at it a solicitor would be simpler."
"I can't be responsible for the failing human race,
Marriages in crisis, the establishment in disgrace.
A complete lack of morals that the media promote,
Lengthy anniversaries becoming more remote."
"I no longer feel any job satisfaction,
It drove me to drink, hence this drastic action.
It really must be time for me to hang up my bow,
I will tender my resignation and in a month I shall go."
"For years I've joined these couples and all of it for free,
I've always been single, so when is it time for me?
I need that special someone who believes in exchanging rings,
Who will be happy to settle down and clip my errant wings."
"Who will tickle my fat belly and call me names like 'cuddles',
Who will fly with me in the rain and dance amongst the puddles.
Who will moan to me constantly about the toilet seat,
In whose warm bed can I depend in which to warm my feet."
So Cupid raised a final glass of aphrodisiac mead,
Off he flew to find his mate and the new life he would lead.
So what will happen to us all without his intervention?
The effects are astronomical and too numerous to mention!!
Copyright 2012 by Jean Wilson
AND SPEAKING OF STRATEGIC PLANNING by Lisa Badner
Yesterday's meeting was not to be believed.
So invigorating, it sent some over the edge.
The roll-out agenda ambitious,
the deadlines aggressive. Implementing
critical initiatives at this critical juncture
is critical, said Troy from Operations.
Steady as she goes. Thirty seven
glossy 11 by 17 pie charts. Beverly
from Licensing wore a long blouse
over her tattoos. Vickie from Finance
wore pink. Key is to strike a balance,
said George, chief associate deputy
to the deputy associate chief
of Analysis and Audits, between
the objectives of goals
and the goals of objectives.
Fran from Communications presented
a soft launch of the new mission.
In song. Then, Wanda from Data
dimmed the lights. Powerpoint blue
engulfed the northwest wall.
The anticipation unbearable,
Margaret from Research ran out.
Oh the pressure. The pressure.
The new logo was red.
And black. And purple.
Shadows of teal. A touch
of magenta, when you stare
for three seconds, then look away
and blink, each eye separately,
four times. It spoke to everyone,
Collections staff cried. Enforcement
saluted. The fonts: Bakersfield
Old Face and Brittanic Bold.
Subtext in Century Gothic
Estrangella Odessa.
Copyright 2012 by Lisa Badner; first published in TriQuarterly #137
Critique by Jendi Reiter
What's a joke without a punchline? Whether a poem is serious or funny, it should build to a conclusion that enhances the meaning and exceeds the power of the preceding lines. This month we present for your consideration two poems that made it to the semifinals of our 2012 Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest, a select group of about 60 out of 2,500 entries.
Both of these poems rely on incongruity, a staple feature of humor, though in quite different ways. "Cupid", by Jean Wilson of Shropshire, England, gets laughs from the peculiar celebrity pairings that result when the God of Love goes on a bender. The image of a drunken, morose cherub also comically reverses our expectations. "And Speaking of Strategic Planning", by Lisa Badner of Brooklyn, NY, displays incongruity both in the events and in the tone of her poem: the melodramatic behavior at a corporate meeting, and the rapturous voice in which the speaker describes something as trivial as a new logo. Good satire reveals the exaggerated importance we place on unworthy objects, by exaggerating it even further.
Tone of voice is another crucial tool in the humorist's kit. In fact, it can make or break a poem, turning a would-be joke into a belabored mess, or a sentimental ode into an unintentionally ridiculous display. Choice of form interacts with choice of tone, because form can tell us how serious the poet is about her subject matter, while tone often determines whether she convinces us of that assessment.
For example, "Cupid" uses a loose iambic heptameter, arranged into four-line stanzas of two couplets with predictable sing-song rhymes. This was a common structure for epic and tragic verse during the Romantic era, but its very success in that mode has since made it a cliché and a hallmark of bad amateur poetry today. Therefore, it is a perfect form for a poem that pokes fun at romantic conventions. The bumpety-bump rhythm hints that "Cupid" will be a farce, while the tone of the first two stanzas goes from almost-straightforward to clear silliness by line 8 ("drinking rum by the barrel").
The farce amps up, as it should, till we reach the point that for me was the heart of the poem: the ludicrous yet oddly apt love matches between celebrities. Prince Harry and Lady Gaga? Why not? Imagine the hats at that royal wedding! And poor Jennifer Aniston, indeed—the tabloids have matched her with so many beaux, a tree may be the only new possibility left.
Unfortunately, "Cupid" did not advance further in the judging because nothing so memorable occurred in the rest of the poem. Cupid's six-stanza speech contains some smile-worthy rhymes (alcoholic/stoic, puddles/cuddles) but the new information comes at a much slower pace compared to the rapid-fire jokes in stanzas 5-6.
The last lines in particular felt like a throwaway ending; the poem had to stop somewhere, but nothing was added or resolved. For me, it would have been more satisfying to end with Cupid finding an incongruous mate of his own. (Margaret Thatcher's single, isn't she?) A good ending references what has gone before, with a twist.
The humor in Badner's "And Speaking of Strategic Planning" is deep rather than broad. It's free verse that still pays careful attention to form. Paradox? Not really. Just as "light" verse shouldn't mean careless writing, neither does "free" mean "anything goes". Line breaks, cadences, and sound patterns must be used thoughtfully to create drama and highlight key concepts. Badner does this so well that even though I understood the joke, the mood of hushed reverence affected me, too.
Whereas Wilson's simplistic rhymes and predictable meter set the stage for farce, Badner's ironic humor derives from pairing stylistic sophistication with banal events. She carefully places line breaks to create tension that resolves with an absurd anticlimax, again and again: "Implementing /critical initiatives at this critical juncture /is critical"; "Vickie from Finance /wore pink."
This is why I was expecting a more resonant ending than a mere list of fonts. After the delicious melodrama of "It spoke to everyone, /Collections staff cried. Enforcement /saluted.", this was one spot where an anticlimax simply made the poem feel unfinished.
However, the prestigious journal TriQuarterly found it satisfactory, possibly because their criterion was not "what makes Jendi laugh so hard that her iced tea comes out her nose". Or maybe it was the typeface.
Where could poems like "Cupid" and "And Speaking of Strategic Planning" be submitted? The following contests may be of interest:
Reuben Rose Poetry Competition
Entries must be received by October 10
Long-running contest from Voices Israel gives prizes up to $750 and anthology publication; enter online
Firstwriter.com International Poetry Competition
Entries must be received by October 1
British writers' resource site gives prizes up to 500 pounds for poems 30 lines maximum; enter online
These poems and critique appeared in the September 2012 issue of Winning Writers Newsletter (subscribe free).
Curly Howard Misreads Edgar Allan Poe
By Paul Fericano
The director yells Cut! and everyone on the set
is relieved to feel the weight of the day lifted
like a dark comedy of unscripted errors,
no one more thankful than Curly Howard
who retreats to his trailer for a quick smoke and a drink,
rubbing as he goes his shaved cue ball head,
where once the hair grew so thick
he actually appeared handsome to women
who fought to run their fingers through it.
He's reminded now of the sacrifices he's made,
the punishment he endures at the onscreen hands
of his older brother, Moe, who lovingly calls him Babe,
the mixed emotions he feels with each conk on the head,
each slap of the face or fingers poked in bewildered eyes,
and all the bricks and bottles and picks and shovels
and falling pianos and entire buildings collapsing
down around him in heaps of lowbrow humor and pain
can't hide the desperation of his clownish art,
the dreary midnight in his laughter.
Sitting alone, the alcohol convinces him otherwise
and he imagines himself a student of serious literature,
finding wisdom in the works of Edgar Allan Poe,
reading tales of unspeakable horrors befalling others,
grateful for this small refuge of scholarly insight,
and he commits to memory poems of young love dying,
mourning loss in a small room, much like this one,
childlike and powerless to rescue the slipping away,
the black doom of wings waiting above the door,
and he reads as he rocks, repeats the line
Quoth the raven, 'Nevermoe,' over and over again,
until he knows it to be absolutely true.
Curly-Headed Pussycat
Israeli poet Elisha Porat tells the story of two writers, one an angry young war veteran who hopes poetry will ease his traumatic memories, the other an sanguine older man who learns his own lesson about the fragility of youth and beauty.
Cuttings: Haiku and Short Poems
Links to haiku and Zen Buddhist quotations compiled by Michael P. Garofalo on his Garden Digest website.
Cyber English’s Glossary of Literary Terms
Maintained by the students in Cyber English.
Cyree Jarelle Johnson
Cyree Jarelle Johnson is a poet, librarian, teacher, and activist in New York City. He is a founding member of the Deaf Poets Society (an online journal of disabled literature and art) and the Harriet Tubman Collective, and an editor at TransFaith. His writing touches on themes of sexuality, blackness, autism, disability, and social justice. His first book of poetry, Slingshot, will be published by Nightboat Books in Fall 2019.
Daily s-Press
Dorothee Lang, editor of BluePrintReview, an English-language online literary journal based in Germany, began this blog in March 2010 to review new books of poetry and prose from small independent presses. The site looks beyond the usual university press prizewinners to showcase innovative writers and publishers.
Daily Writing Tips
A monthly membership fee of $10 buys an e-newsletter subscription and access to the Daily Writing Tips archive with hundreds of articles on grammar, style, word usage, and spelling. Articles are grouped by broad category (e.g. Vocabulary or Business Writing) but not easily searchable by topic.
Dalkey Archive Press
This independent publisher in Champaign, Illinois specializes in bringing translations of world literature to the US market. Their website features author interviews, information for bookstores and reviewers, critical essays on contemporary literature, and other resources of interest to translators.
Damonza Book Design
The design team at Damonza offers a variety of packages for book cover design, print and e-book formatting, and book trailer videos. They have experience in both fiction and commercial nonfiction. Check out their 800+ samples on their website.
Dance and Disappear
Winner of the Juniper Prize. These poems radiate joy and spiritual insight.
Dancing Girl Press & Studio
Spawned by the online zine Wicked Alice, DGP seeks to publish work that bridges the gaps between schools and poetic techniques: work that's fresh, innovative, and exciting. The press has published over 90 titles by emerging women poets in delectable handmade editions. The studio also sells art paper, ephemera, and vintage-inspired arts and crafts.
Dark Art Movement
Founded by Alberto Sisí, the Dark Art Movement is an online gallery of macabre visual art in the tradition of Hieronymus Bosch, Francisco Goya, and H.R. Giger. Writers of horror fiction and poetry will find many intriguing images to use as writing prompts or to license for their book covers.
Darker
The former US Poet Laureate needs no introduction, but this early collection (1970) deserves to be rediscovered. Other poets use images as metaphors; in "Darker", the images are the raw sense data of a surreal, often sinister new universe. "My neighbor marches in his room,/ wearing the sleek/ mask of a hawk with a large beak." Dare to enter the "phantasmagoria" (Howard Bloom's description) of the poet's mind.
Datasets and Dictionaries for Crosswords
George Ho, a cryptic crossword creator and machine-learning specialist, has compiled this list (current as of 2022) of useful online dictionaries, word lists, and databases of notable historical figures. Not just of interest to puzzle fans, these resources can also help writers find synonyms, rhymes, pronunciations, and quotations. Notable links include the Expanded Crossword Name Database, which aims at increasing representation of women, nonbinary people, and other under-represented groups in crossword trivia clues.
David Biespiel: Follow Your Strengths, Manage Your Weaknesses
In this essay for the online journal The Rumpus, widely published poet and teacher David Biespiel makes a good case for playing to one's strengths as a writer and spending less time fixing weaknesses. The troubleshooting emphasis of most writing workshops, he says, leaves writers feeling demoralized, and takes energy away from turning their good skills into great ones. Instead, try to become more of what you already are, and work on what you enjoy.
David Kherdian’s Day Book
David Kherdian is a notable Armenian-American author whose poetry books and memoirs chronicle mid-century immigrant life in Wisconsin and the intergenerational legacy of the Armenian genocide. Taking the form of an online diary, his blog features reminiscences and poems inspired by daily life.
Dawn Drums
By Robert Walton. Set in 1864, this historical novel tells the story of the bloodiest year of the American Civil War, brought to life with a chorus of voices both real and fictional. The cast of narrators includes President Lincoln, American Red Cross founder Clara Barton, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., and the women and escaped slaves who fought for the Union and cared for the wounded in field hospitals. This book would be a good addition to a history curriculum for young adults.
Dead Darlings
Dead Darlings is a novel-writing advice blog by alumni of GrubStreet Boston's Novel Incubator. Brief, personable essays cover a variety of topics from inspiration to revision, publication, and marketing. There are also interviews with authors of notable new books.
Death to the Death of Poetry, an essay by Donald Hall
Poetry has been dying all its life. Newsweek just added its nail to the coffin ("Poetry Is Dead. Does Anybody Care?" 5/5/03). The doomsayers are dead wrong, writes Don Hall, but "no one wants to believe me."
december Magazine
Founded in Iowa City in 1958, and now published in St. Louis, MO, december Magazine was a pioneer in the little magazine and small press movement. december accepts submissions October 1-May 1, and pays $10 per page (minimum $40-maximum $200). No simultaneous submissions. There are also annual poetry and prose contests with prizes up to $1,500. The journal has published early-career work by notable writers such as Joyce Carol Oates, Donald Barthelme, Marge Piercy, and Rita Mae Brown, and was Raymond Carver's first professional short story publication.
Declaration of Love
By Mary O'Melveny
I love you the most of all!
my grandniece said as we splashed
our way around the park pool,
she in her magenta water wings,
me with my blue exercise noodle.
For that moment it was as true
as anything she has ever said.
Her sincerity was as unimpeachable
as a flawless diamond.
Such love can set a heart aflame
even in the coldest waters.
Tears never spill out
in times of purest belief.
The day will always end well.
DeepL Translate
DeepL Translate is an online translation tool (similar to Google Translate) with both free and paid versions. The advanced option lets you translate MS Word and PowerPoint files without ruining the formatting.
Deerfield Public Library Queer Poem-a-Day
Launched in 2021, this daily podcast from the Deerfield Public Library in Illinois features a recording of a poem written and read by a contemporary LGBTQIA+ poet for each day of June. Authors include Donika Kelly, Spencer Reece, Cameron Awkward-Rich, and Jenny George.
Degrees of Latitude
A woman's life unfolds in this finely crafted book-length poem, composed of found texts, fragments of conversation, and images recollected with the context-free vividness of a dream. Blossom takes on weighty subjects like divorce and alcoholism at a slant, breaking them apart into sentences separated by daring associative leaps, like the scattered impressions that a child might gather but be unable to process.
Demeter Press
Based in Toronto, Demeter Press is an independent feminist press specializing in books about mothering and motherhood. They publish peer-reviewed scholarly work, fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction by and about mothers, mothering and family issues. Demeter Press is the publishing arm of the Motherhood Initiative for Research and Community Involvement.
Deposition
Intense, sometimes cryptic verse explores the title's dual meanings of a witness statement and the removal of Christ from the cross. Ford's poetry occupies the territory between crucifixion and resurrection, a "dark night of the soul" that ruthlessly clears the ground for faith without making any cheery promises. Another must-read for poets working on spiritual themes.
Design
Perhaps paradise, too, blooms in due season.
A fragmentary gift that sprouts in piecemeal design
under a chaotic spring, its lesions
perhaps a paradise in due season.
A distant view from a cool hilltop gives reason
to speculations, and frenzies of color align
to show a paradise blooming in due season,
a fragmentary gift, sprouting in piecemeal design.
Copyright 2009 by Janet Butler
Critique by Tracy Koretsky
In August I asked why one might write a text-message poem. This month, same question, but for a much older form—the "triolet".
Well, for one thing, if you can accomplish a triolet, you will have a piece that requires a second reading to fully appreciate. Inviting a second reading is always a goal of good poetry.
But be cautioned: formal poetry demands more from the reader, who not only has to parse language not delivered in standard speech, but is also expected to understand the rules that the poet was following. (Sites such as Ariadne's Web can help you become a more knowledgeable reader and writer of poetic forms.)
For contest entrants, the use of traditional forms can distinguish your work, demonstrating that you are capable of working on two levels at once. However, you should be aware that while some judges may be impressed, an equal number loathe formal poetry of any kind.
Most importantly for those of us who love to write poetry, a closed form like a triolet gives us something to work against. Until a poet experiments with putting some formal constraints on a poem, it is impossible to appreciate what they can elicit. They can force fresh language, or expand a poet to a more public voice. They can excite rhythms.
Many poets first try their hand at the villanelle, which does share some of the same qualities, but I would suggest that triolets offer a better starting point for explorations. Certainly they make a better stepping stone to the sestina, which so many poets try next and then grow frustrated. And since the poet only composes five lines, it's worth a try.
For this month's author, Janet Butler, it was worth four tries. In her letter she wrote: "I've decided to make July 'write-a-triolet-a-week' month." She went on to say that she and a long-distance poet friend give each other a challenge every week and suggest a theme. Clearly we have a poet here who understands how structure can support her work and help her become a more accomplished, versatile, and prolific writer.
She has chosen for her poem a complexly rule-bound form. Next, she must choose a theme, something that expresses the properties of its tight structure—that expresses, if you will, its "triolet-ness". Not surprisingly, she chose: "Design".
From its first line we are clued that this is a poem meant to be read slowly: the internal clause separated by commas, the slow movement of the "u" sound. It is not so much a proposition (as one might conclude from the "Perhaps") as a thesis—the word "too" inviting the reader to fill in her own examples.
It asks a question: does "paradise"—a word rich with cultural and personal connotations—only bloom for a season in its turn? The next three lines wonder whether there is ever a time in the cycle of seasons that the "lesions" of the creek, its dry rivulets and washes, aren't thriving with life. Notice she has used a second connotation of "paradise", this time not a proper noun.
In lines five through eight, Janet is done asking questions. She turns to argument and provides evidence. Looked at from what she takes the trouble to describe as a "cool" high place, the pattern of colors supports her proposition, for at least as far as her eyes can see.
In other words, this is a poem with an underlying rhetorical strategy. It is very well achieved. The result, just as it stands, is very satisfying.
So much is suggested by the choice of the word "cool". In the same line as "reason" it connotes "mind", "hilltop", of course, the cranium. So another way to read line five is psychologically. When, with a "cool head", we take some perspective, we see that paradise—whatever that means—is not only brief and fleeting but "fragmentary" and "piecemeal". These lines deepen the meaning of the poem and make it more potentially relevant to a random reader's life.
But again, this is a poem with an underlying rhetorical strategy—in this case, an argument, usually the domain of the elegant sonnet. I wonder if Janet's lines, sonnet-like in their length and rhythm, exploit all the potential lively fun out of the song-like, witty triolet? I find myself reading this as if it were written in couplets, and line five, as I've shown, operates much like a volta. Might this be a near-sonnet dressed up as a triolet? Has Janet chosen the best vehicle for her words?
If it has a weak thread, I would pick out lines two and eight. In these lines the "gift that sprouts" is what is called a metonomy—a substitution, in this case for "bloom". What remains of the line without these words is "fragment" and "piecemeal", which describe the bloom.
Because of this, grammatically, they really belong in the previous sentence. But anyone can see why Janet made the choice to end-stop her first sentence exactly as she did. To fix this, she need only remove the metonomy.
She is left with the concepts "fragmentary" and "piecemeal design". I question these. Not only do I not hear music between the two phrases, but I feel their choppy rhythm detracts from the flow that exists in the first and third lines. Furthermore, I struggle to find what resonates between their meanings. Perhaps the words are too close to one another in concept? Or perhaps they are too abstract. Here may be the place for metonomy. What concrete objects might represent "fragmentary" and "piecemeal" as well as connect to and expand upon the image of a chaotic spring?
But this is just one line, and not the rhyme at that. "Design" rings with line 6, which is a model for a good pivotal line in a poem—that comma handing off the topic like a marathoner with a baton. So not even a line—a few phrases! And whether Janet revises them or not, she has, by daring to work with a form, created a tightly crafted, well-argued and insightful poem.
Where could a poem like "Design" be submitted? The following contests may be of interest:
Franklin-Christoph Poetry Contest
Entries must be received by November 30
Free contest from seller of luxury pens and desk accessories offers $1,000 for unpublished poems
The Lyric College Poetry Contest
Postmark Deadline: December 1
Free contest from venerable journal of formal verse offers prizes up to $500 for poems by US and Canadian undergraduates
Writer's Digest Poetry Awards
Postmark Deadline: December 15
National writers' magazine offers prizes up to $500 for poems 32 lines or less; online entries accepted; no simultaneous submissions
This poem and critique appeared in the November 2009 issue of Winning Writers Newsletter (subscribe free).
Deskbound
By Claire L. Frankel
When you are deskbound
Poetry is the only possibility
You can start a novel
Or a non-fiction
On your Corporate edition of WORD
But weeks of DELIVERABLES
(Now ! Now ! Finish it !!)
Will wear you down
And remove your focus.
A poem is a burst
A starlight
A breakthrough
So clear, so happy,
So breathtaking.
Unbound.
Detour
This poetry collection explores the breaking apart and remaking of a woman's identity in the middle of her life, through a son's birth and a painful divorce. Subject matter that in a lesser poet's hands would be merely confessional here takes on a haiku-like precision and open-endedness, intimate yet unbounded by the confines of one person's experience. This feat is accomplished through White's use of the second-person voice and the way she narrates major events obliquely, through peripheral details described with quiet beauty.
Diane Gilliam Fisher
Fisher's stark, plain-spoken verse shows a gift for inhabiting the voices of her characters and the world they inhabit. We especially recommend her second book, Kettle Bottom, which tells the story of the West Virginia coal miners with tenderness and a quiet rage for justice.
Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
Word-lovers will appreciate graphic designer and filmmaker John Koenig's list of words he's invented to express subtle, familiar, as-yet-unnamed feelings. Some are illustrated with video clips. What imaginative person hasn't experienced "onism: the frustration of being stuck in just one body, that inhabits only one place at a time"? E-books have their merits, but they'll never evoke "vellichor: the strange wistfulness of used bookstores".
Digital Poetry
Brian Kim Stefans presents "the dreamlife of letters". Words from A to Z scamper, dissolve and deconstruct themselves in this 11-minute animation, Stefans' playful response to postmodern jargon. Read Teemu Ikonen's commentary on the genre, "Moving Text in Avant-Garde Poetry".
Digital Transgender Archive
The Digital Transgender Archive is an online compendium of source materials and original documents of transgender history, including oral histories, periodicals, correspondence, and activist pamphlets and posters. Invaluable for researching your historical novel or writing characters outside your personal experience of gender and sexuality.
Directions of Folding
By Heather M. Browne
I saw a horrible accident
Ocean blue papered Holiday dry cleaning
Bundled tight
Not her place to cross
Not between the lines
Ignored directions
She flew
High
Confetti tossed skyward
Red, green, blue, skin
A holiday popper
So odd to see a body fly
Twist, turn
Somersault tumbling in the air
A baby doll thrown
Kaleidoscoped view
Her body forgot the order in the sky
Directions of folding
As the potpourri of cloth, paper, skin
Crumbled to the soiled ground
A towel after washing
Clothes from wearing
Napkin following a meal
Body after crash
No care of bend, fold, crease
Done with use
Discarded directions
She crumpled amongst rumpled napkin, paper, cloth
Scattered littering the road
Not along the creases
So unnatural the folding
Origami limb
Director’s Notes: Holocaust Memorial Day, Tel Aviv
By Ricky Rapoport Friesem
Pan across the bustling plaza
bursting with the energy
of busy people on the go.
Zoom out to a long shot
as the siren's piercing howl
brings them to an abrupt halt.
Hold on the shot of the plaza,
still now, and silent.
Zoom in on a pair of sandals
glistening with wet sand.
Cut to a series of tight close ups
of dusty shoes, trendy shoes,
soldiers' boots, high heels,
low heels, new shoes, old shoes,
bridled feet twitching with life.
Tilt up to motionless legs and torsos,
faces settling into solemnity.
Pan the plaza until the siren's
howl is sucked into the void again
and the crowd lets out a collective sigh,
like swimmers coming up for air.
Zoom out to a long shot of the crowd, stirring.
Zoom in to their shoes, in motion once again, then
cut to tight close ups of fancy buckles, worn heels,
burnished leather, delicate straps and tangled laces.
Zoom out to reveal they belong
to the tumbled mass of shoes on display
behind glass in the Auschwitz museum where
they rest now, undisturbed and unclaimed.
Slowly fade to black.
Disability in Kidlit
Disability in Kidlit is a multi-author website dedicated to discussing and improving the portrayal of disability in middle grade and young adult literature. They publish critical essays, reviews, and interviews. Their goals are to help readers, editors, and libraries find books with accurate and respectful treatment of disability, and to educate writers and editors about problematic portrayals. All contributors and editors identify as disabled.
Disability Writes
Online forum for disabled writers to post poetry, fiction and articles, and receive feedback and news of writing opportunities. Website is managed by Just Services, with funding from Arts Council England.
Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space
By Amanda Leduc. A hybrid of memoir and literary criticism, this important and engaging book challenges us, as writers, readers, and myth-makers, to resist the habitual misuse of disability as a symbol of tragedy or villainy. Canadian novelist Leduc interweaves her thesis with personal memories of growing up with cerebral palsy and interviews with modern disability activists.
Dispoet
Insightful blog about poetry and disability includes brief reviews and discussions of contemporary poets writing about the subject (Floyd Skloot, Jim Ferris and others), plus contests and resources.
