Watch This Poetry Video - You Will Like It!

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Watch This Poetry Video - You Will Like It!
April 24, 2008

Hello Poets and Poetry Lovers

It's been a busy week. Didn't get done all I wanted to get done, but I did manage to squeeze in quite a bit. I managed to update several pages on my "add the search box" project. Still a few to go so hang on!

I also added a new toolbar feature this week and updated a page with a video feature, which I hope you'll like. Meanwhile, I'm including a video in this week's e-zine for your enjoyment.

Ah, for the love of Hyperbole, let's read on ....

Poetry Video Of The Week NEW!
World Class Poetry Updates
New Toolbar Features
American Life in Poetry
Poetry Book Of The Week
New World Class Poetry Blog Posts
Are You Subscribed?
World Class Poetry Networking
Call For Submissions!

Poetry Video Of The Week

I like this woman. Her name is TonyaTKO. She's a big YouTuber and has a lot of videos on various topics. Some real good stuff. The below video is from a series called "Wednesday's Word." If you can't click the link or watch the video, you can find it here.

World Class Poetry Updates

Speaking of videos, check out the new Types of Poetry page and you'll see several videos. This will probably be modified at some point in the future, but I wanted to try to add videos to the site and I will likely be adding more. This is an experiment that will be modified for a more effective and aesthetic presentation. I hope you like it.

New Toolbar Features

The World Class Poetry Toolbar is gaining in popularity and each week I try to add at least one new feature. This week, I've added another radio show, LitStation.

I think you'll like LitStation. It's compatible with both PC and Mac. It also runs continuously so you get great programming around the clock. Admittedly, the schedule is a 12-hour schedule so you'll hear the same thing twice if you listen to it 24/7. But why would you do that?

Here's the schedule, which I think you'll agree is awesome!

6:00 am LitStation Features
7:00 am Segue/The Left Hand Reading Series
8:00 am Cross-Cultural Poetics
9:00 am Book Beat
10:00 am The LitMix
11:00 am Radio Radio/LINEbreak
Noon LitStation Features
1:00 pm Segue/The Left Hand Reading Series
2:00 pm Cross-Cultural Poetics
3:00 pm Book Beat
4:00 pm The LitMix
5:00 pm Radio Radio/LINEbreak The Left Hand Reading Series
6:00 pm LitStation Features

Again, the next 12 hours is a repeat of this, but it's an awesome program. The LitMix is a great program that is a string of audio recordings. You'll hear it all - Beats, Modernists, Postmoderns, language poets, avant garde, and New Formalists. They jumble them one right after another and it's an awesome program. At any rate, if you want to hear the program without having to visit the LitStation website then subscribe to the WCP Toolbar (if you haven't already).

If you have downloaded the toolbar then refresh the toolbar so that you can have the new offering. Here's how you refresh:

Click the red WCP on the left side of the toolbar
Scroll down to where it says "Refresh Toolbar"
Click "Refresh Toolbar"

That's all there is to it. Listen to the broadcast by clicking on the radio button. You'll see it there.

Download the World Class Poetry Toolbar now.

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American Life in Poetry: Column 160

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

I've mentioned how important close observation is in composing a vivid poem. In this scene by Arizona poet, Steve Orlen, the details not only help us to see the girls clearly, but the last detail is loaded with suggestion. The poem closes with the car door shutting, and we readers are shut out of what will happen, though we can guess.

Three Teenage Girls: 1956

Three teenage girls in tight red sleeveless blouses and black Capri pants
And colorful headscarves secured in a knot to their chins
Are walking down the hill, chatting, laughing,
Cupping their cigarettes against the light rain,
The closest to the road with her left thumb stuck out
Not looking at the cars going past.

Every Friday night to the dance, and wet or dry
They get where they're going, walk two miles or get a ride,
And now the two-door 1950 Dodge, dark green
Darkening as evening falls, stops, they nudge
Each other, peer in, shrug, two scramble into the back seat,
And the third, the boldest, famous
For twice running away from home, slides in front with the man
Who reaches across her body and pulls the door shut.

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) 2006 by Steve Orlen. Reprinted from "The Elephant's Child: New & Selected Poems 1978-2005" by Steve Orlen, Ausable Press, 2006, by permission of the author and publisher. 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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Poetry Book Of The Week

I could choose a couple of books for this week's Poetry Book of the Week. I've already selected Mark Jarman's Epistles, a couple of weeks ago. So this week I decided to make the Poetry Boook of the Week Eve's Red Dress by Diane Lockward. It's a great choice for a number of reasons.

First, I selected one of the poems from the book for the World Class Poetry Blog, in which we are honoring religious poetry throughout National Poetry Month. Lockward's book of verse is not religious in the traditional sense and "Eve's Red Dress", the title poem, is certainly not religious. But I think you'll like it. And you'll love the book as well.

Diane Lockward has a new book out as well. The title is What Feeds Us. Both books are available at the World Class Poetry Bookstore.