Today I went to First Street Park in Benicia for the Poets’ Picnic with my mother, artist Barbara Holthuis. Poet Laureates from cities all over the Bay read their poems and the poems they drew from baskets that had been filled by Benicia writers involved in the First Tuesday Poets. The group meets monthly at [...]
Archive for the ‘A Poet’s Education’ Category
Poets’ Picnic
Posted in A Poet's Education, The Daily Poems, tagged Benicia, First Tuesday Poets, Gates of Winter, Poets' Picnic, Theresa Whitehill on August 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Mary Oliver on Getting Ready to Write Poetry
Posted in A Poet's Education, tagged A Poetry Handbook, Getting Ready to Write Poetry, Mary Oliver on July 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
“If Romeo and Juliet had made appointments to meet, in the moonlight-swept orchard, in all the peril and sweetness of conspiracy, and then more often than not failed to meet — one or the other lacking, or afraid, or busy elsewhere — there would have been no romance, no passion, none of the drama for [...]
Thinking in Haibun
Posted in A Poet's Education, The Reading Journals, tagged Aimee Nezhukumatahil, haibun, The Artist's Way on June 27, 2011 | 1 Comment »
I recently finished a collection of haibun, called Wild Birdsong, which will soon be in print – so I was delighted to open American Poet: The Journal of the Academy of American Poets (Spring 2011) to read Aimee Nezhukumatahil‘s essay, “More Than the Birds, Bees and Trees: A Closer Look at Writing Haibun.” Her essay is poetry in [...]
Kimberly Johnson, Poet
Posted in A Poet's Education on April 15, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I first read a poem by Kimberly Johnson quite recently when Robert Pinsky shared it through Facebook. Originally published in Slate, it’s called Catapult. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of listening to Kim give a reading at Wheaton College. Among my favorites were “Metronome,” “Book of Hours,” and “Ode on my Belly Button.” Kim made [...]
“The Little Mermaid” at the Artists’ Community Group
Posted in A Poet's Education, The Daily Poems, tagged Artists Community Group, Church of the Rez, Little Mermaid on May 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Last week, on Sunday, the Church of the Rez Artists’ Community Group met at my house. I deeply enjoy all of my friends and their amazing gifts (and you can, too, if you click on their names below and visit their websites): Sandy, singer and photographer and leader of this motley crew Janice, illustrator and [...]
Brotherhood of the Briar
Posted in A Poet's Education, Adventures, tagged " Jennifer Murray, "The Raven, Brotherhood of the Briar, Colin Bodhill, Dr. Jerry Root, helicopter, O Captain my Captain, Poe, Tennyson, Whitman on April 9, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Last night, I joined the Brotherhood of the Briar at the home of my friend, Dr. Jerry Root. The brotherhood meets outside on dark Thursday nights around a splendid fire to drink scotch, smoke pipes, and talk poetry — very much in the spirit of Inklings like J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. I snuck in [...]
Listening to Dana Gioia
Posted in A Poet's Education, Adventures, tagged Daily Horoscope, Dana Gioia, Interrogations at Noon on December 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I recently had the opportunity to attend the Modern Language Association Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where I heard the award-winning poet Dana Gioia give a poetry reading. He read poems from his well-known collections Daily Horoscope and Interrogations at Noon as well as new poems. These are some of the lines he read: “I found [...]
Bright Star
Posted in A Poet's Education, Adventures, Poetic Films, The Reading Journals, tagged Bright Star, Fanny Brawne, Jane Campion, John Keats, love on October 24, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Last night, I went to see the film “Bright Star” directed by Jane Campion. It is the love story of the 19th century, Romantic poet John Keats and the muse who inspired him, Fanny Brawne. The film gave me a whole new vision of Keats, a different perception of his poetry, one which is based [...]
The Glen Workshop 2009
Posted in A Poet's Education on August 4, 2009 | 6 Comments »
I recently attended the Glen Workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I participated in a poetry workshop led by Marilyn Nelson, former poet laureate of Connecticut and the director of Soul Mountain, a retreat for writers. She is the author of such notable books as In the Fields of Praise, Fortune’s Bones, and Carver. I [...]
Interview with Robert Pinsky
Posted in A Poet's Education, tagged An Explanation of America, Figured Wheel, Methought I Saw my Late Espoused Saint, Milton, National Poetry Month, Poems Out Loud, Robert Pinsky, US Poet Laureate on April 15, 2009 | 2 Comments »
To celebrate National Poetry Month, I thought I would interview one of the poets I admire most, Robert Pinsky, who served as US Poet Laureate from 1997-2000 and has authored several books, including a brilliant collection of poetry, The Figured Wheel. When you were serving as the US Poet Laureate, you started the “Favorite Poem” [...]
