History's Twists: The Armenians

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History's Twists: The Armenians
October 09, 2008

Hello Poets and Poetry Lovers

Busy week. Got a little done, but I've had laptop issues so I'm a little bit out of my element working on a desktop for a change. Ah, life! How she provides opportunities to grow!

Digression aside, I've got a new book review this week and a couple of updates. The big event this week was looking over Rumsfeld's Sandox, a book of poems I've been working on since deploying to Iraq in 2005. Most of the poems saw their first drafts while in Iraq and I've been revising them for the past couple of years. It's been almost three years now. I'm almost ready to lay it to rest. Be sure to read my blog post this week and give your suggestions on how to proceed.

Poetry Video Of The Week - Kahlil Gibran
New and Updated World Class Poetry Pages
American Life in Poetry by Ted Kooser
New World Class Poetry Blog Posts
LitMixx Pix
Poetry Book Of The Week
Duotrope's Daily Digest
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Poetry Video Of The Week -
Kahlil Gibran

Are you a Kahlil Gibran fan? Check out this YouTube video of Kahlil Gibran's "When Will Man Reach Perfection?" If you can't view the video then click here to watch it at YouTube.

New and Updated World Class
Poetry Pages

This week I updated the Publications Page. If you know a poetry editor or publisher of a journal that publishes poetry, send them to World Class Poetry to get their journal listed. It's free and they'll have access to thousands of visitors every month.

And of course, due to the new book review, of Helene Pilibosian's History's Twists: The Armenians, I've updated the poetry book reviews page.

American Life in Poetry: Column 184

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

I hope it's not just a guy thing, a delight in the trappings of work. I love this poem by John Maloney, of Massachusetts, which gives us a close look behind the windshields of all those pickup trucks we see heading home from work.

After Work

They're heading home with their lights on, dust and wood glue,
yellow dome lights on their metallic long beds: 250s, 2500s--
as much overtime as you want, deadline, dotted line, dazed
through the last few hours, dried primer on their knuckles,
sawdust calf-high on their jeans, scraped boots, the rough
plumbing and electric in, way ahead of the game except for
the check, such a clutter of cans and iced-tea bottles, napkins,
coffee cups, paper plates on the front seat floor with cords
and saws, tired above the eyes, back of the beyond, thirsty.
There's a parade of them through the two-lane highways,
proudest on their way home, the first turn out of the jobsite,
the first song with the belt off, pure breath of being alone
for now, for now the insight of a full and answerable man.
No one can take away the contentment of the first few miles
and they know they can't describe it, the black and purple sky.

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) 2007 by John Maloney, whose most recent book of poetry is "Proposal," Zoland Books, 1999. Poem reprinted from AGNI online, 2/2007, by permission of John Maloney. 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.

New World Class Poetry Blog Posts

OK, it was a slow blogging week. Raising three children under the age of 7 is real work. But I managed to kick out one after reading over Rumsfeld's Sandbox. Please find the time to give me some feedback: