This is one exciting issue of Hyperbole. First, we've wrapped up our 9-part series on Millennial Poetics at the World Class Poetry Blog. And we've uploaded 7 audio recordings of previously published poems that I know you will love. PLUS, we are now introducing the World Class Poetry Bookstore for the very first time! You're going to love this special issue of Hyperbole.

Table of Contents

1. World Class Poetry Updates
2. New World Class Poetry Pages
3. American Life in Poetry
4. New World Class Poetry Blog Posts
5. Are You Subscribed?
6. World Class Poetry Networking
7. Call For Submissions!

World Class Poetry Updates

7 brand new audio files! If you haven't read these poems by Iraq War veteran Allen Taylor then here's your chance. Read them then listen to them. Allen's (OK, it's me) crisp, clear voice comes through so clean and fresh, you will feel like you are there. It's just like at a poetry reading!

• How To Write A Poem - This poem is more than just a bland ars poetica. It is a vivid portrait of what it means to write a poem, right down to every painstaking detail.
• Tree - "Tree" is one of my oldest living poems. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page. It's the last poem - then, click on the link to hear the audio. Of course, if you want to read the whole page - it's all about the ballade poetic form - then feel free to do that too!
• Love and War - "Love and War" was written while stationed in Iraq in 2005 and was published online before I ever left the country. You'll love the audio version.
• Music - "Music" is one of my favorites. Also written while in Iraq, it was subsequently published in an off line print journal and is a favorite among audiences at open mic readings as well.
• Battlefield Confession - Another war poem that was published upon returning from the battlefield.
• Life - "Life" was also written while in Iraq and published upon returning home.
• 20 Acres - "20 Acres" was one of the first poems I wrote after returning home from Iraq. It was published in the Hanover Evening Sun, the local newspaper, in a column by the Hanover Poet Laureate Dana Larkin Sauers.

And don't forget, you can now search World Class Poetry from many of the pages on the site. I don't have the search box on every page, but I am updating pages as I find time. Enjoy the reading ... and the audio poetry files too!

New World Class Poetry Pages

Sorry, no new pages this week. Look for these new pages soon:

• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• World Class Poetry Bookstore
• World Class Poetry Toolbar

Yes, both the bookstore and the toolbar will soon have their very own promotional pages. You'll get to see all the great benefits to using the World Class Poetry Toolbar and the many, many poetry books available through our store.

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American Life in Poetry: Column 154

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

Here, poet Yusef Komunyakaa, who teaches at New York University, shows us a fine portrait of the hard life of a worker--in this case, a horse--and, through metaphor, the terrible, clumsy beauty of his final moments.

Yellowjackets

When the plowblade struck
An old stump hiding under
The soil like a beggar's
Rotten tooth, they swarmed up
& Mister Jackson left the plow
Wedged like a whaler's harpoon.
The horse was midnight
Against dusk, tethered to somebody's
Pocketwatch. He shivered, but not
The way women shook their heads
Before mirrors at the five
& dime--a deeper connection
To the low field's evening star.
He stood there, in tracechains,
Lathered in froth, just
Stopped by a great, goofy
Calmness. He whinnied
Once, & then the whole
Beautiful, blue-black sky
Fell on his back.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright (c) 2001 by Yusef Komunyakaa, reprinted from "Pleasure Dome: New & Collected Poems, 1975-1999," Wesleyan Univ. Press, 2001, by permission. Introduction copyright (c) 2008 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

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New World Class Poetry Blog Posts

These new blog posts at World Class Poetry Blog wrap up the 9-part Millennial Poetics series. Be sure to check out the earlier posts if you missed them.

• Gaudeamus: A Poem That Celebrates The Taboo
• Poetic Language Cannot Be Too Archaic
• All Poems Are Individuals
• Writing Poetry Is A Craft, There Is No Acceptable Method
• Poetic Conventions Should Be Shunned

Are You Subscribed?

World Class Poetry Networking

my 'read' shelf:

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Call For Submissions!

Send me your original poetry. If it meets my strict standards then I'll publish it in Hyperbole and on the World Class Poetry Blog. Previously published poems are OK as long as you own the copyright. Use the WCP contact form.

Submit your criticism and reviews to Hyperbole. Interviews of published poets welcome. Prose about poetry - send it. Our only bias: High quality.

And when all else fails, write a poem.