Found Poetry

The Poetry of Donald Rumsfeld

Reminder: No class on Thursday or Friday

Young Writers

In exchange for getting a day off from class, you will be required to attend at least one of these readings.

Wednesday: June 27: Faculty Reading, Harry T. Moore Auditorium (Faner 1326), 8PM: Pinckney Benedict

Pinckney Benedict joined the faculty at SIUC in 2006. He is the author of two collections of stories — Town Smokes and The Wrecking Yard — and Dogs of God, a novel. His short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in a number of magazines and anthologies, including Esquire, StoryQuarterly, Zoetrope: All-Story, Best New Stories from South, The O. Henry Award Collection, the Pushcart Prize series, and The Oxford Book of American Short Stories.

Thursday, June 28, Faner 1005, 4PM

Graduate Student Reading with MFA students Nathan Beck (fiction), Sara Burge (poetry), Rachna Sheth (fiction) and Renee Evans (fiction)

Thursday, June 28, Faner 1326 (Moore Aud), 8PM

Graduate Student/Faculty Reading with MFA students Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum (poetry), John Flaherty (fiction), Kerry James Evans (poetry) and YWW Director and Associate Professor of English Allison Joseph

Friday, June 29, Faner 1326 (Moore Aud.) 4 PM

Graduate Student Reading with MFA students Josh Woods (fiction), Helena Bell (poetry), Tracy Conerton (poetry), Mary Keck (fiction)

Friday, June 29, Faner 1326 (Moore Aud.) 8PM: Curtis L. Crisler

Curtis L. Crisler is a graduate of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne and of the MFA Program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. During Curtis's time in Carbondale, he served as Assistant Director of the Young Writers Workshop. His first book of poems, Tough Boy Sonatas, was published this year by Front Street Press. He currently teaches in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

REMINDER

The first Writer's Notebook check will be on Monday. I will be taking the journals overnight so you will be reprieved of your writing obligation for that day.

You should have 50 drafts of poetry--or enough poetry (long poems, etc) to represent half an hour to an hour's work every day.

~Ms. Bell

10 Things Teenagers Should Know About Writing

Technically I don't think any or many of yall are teenagers anymore, but John Scalzi always has good writing advice:

10 Things

Response to "your writing sucks" arguments: On Teens

Legitimate Dangers

My favorite poem from Legitimate Dangers is “Kelly, Ringling Bros. Oldest Elephant, Goes on Rampage” by Joel Brouwer. This poem appeals to my tastes as it is very descriptive and uses interesting language to paint the picture of the cruel treatment and redundancy that makes up Kelly the elephant’s life. For instance, the lines “squirming toddler cargo/ glopping Sno-Cone on her back, cramped freight cars,/ stale hay, the vets incessant vitamin shots…” illustrate Kelly’s situation while exhibiting great sound and displaying the wonderful alliteration found throughout the poem. I am no poetry expert by any means and have read very little poetry in my life. Within the last week and a half, however, I have realized that I am drawn towards this type of poetry which paints a very descriptive picture and uses a specific instance to ask questions and exhibit themes. This is opposed to the poetry like “Poem to Line My Casket with, Ramona” by Josh Bell, which, although I am sure is a great piece of literature, made no sense to me at all. With Brouwer’s poem I knew exactly what the poem was about right from the start which allowed me to concentrate on the themes and the clever use of language such as “her four tamed tons/ and burst in her meaty head” or my favorite quotation “Nothing remarkable/ about shotgun triggers of train tickets” which is used to explain the ease with which humans can change their situation in the world. Anyone who skipped this poem should definitely give a try and pay particular attention to the colorful language contrasted by the final deadpan line “They shot her forty times before she died.” I really love this poem.

Writer's Workshop #1 (6-15)

Since time was an issue for today's workshop, I wanted to use this as an option to continue discussion.

In terms of my poem, the second to last selection that started as "higher points roll off his tongue", I wanted to explain the meaning of it since I was not able to do so in class. For those that gave their viewpoint on the meaning, you were on the right track. If you look at the fifth stanza, last line this the only place where "him" has been capitalized. This is making reference to God. The other "him"s refer to the character that I will try to explain.

The poem is a story a small town preacher that originates in a small church. The preacher begins to understand that he has a higher calling outside of this church. He begins to travel from small town to small town to spread his message. At this time the only money he takes for himself is the money that is necessary (for gas, food, lodging, etc...). Over the course of his touring the preacher begins to grow in popularity and makes a name for himself. He can be viewed similar to the televangelists that fill large arenas or sell numerous souvenirs. There are now enough people in the crowd to provide the preacher with more financial opportunties. The preacher begins to use the excess money on material items for himself, and not to help the needy or the less-fortunate. The preacher has gone against the teachings of Christianity and the purpose that brought him into religion. Greed has taken over the small town preacher that is now more focused on excess than his purpose. The last line in the poem means that God did not let his son die on Earth so that people can make money off of his son's name.


I enjoyed hearing the poems and I thank everyone for the comments in class today. I look forward to reading the poems that will come over time.

NASA

This has nothing to do with writing, but it's really cool nonetheless. And it makes me want to buy a baby monitor.

If you're looking for some poetry...

Verse Daily Archives

Recommended Reading

Since I didn't write down the list I put on the board this morning, I'll have to compose this list of personal favorites. Feel free to add to this list with your own recommendations in the comments.

Poets:

Jack Gilbert
John Ashberry
Matthea Harvey
e.e.cummings
Sharon Olds
Ann Carson
Donald Platt
James Kimbrell

Novels:

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
A Moveable Feast by Earnest Hemmingway
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Dune by Frank Herbert
House of the Spirits by Isabelle Allende
Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosely
The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Under my Roof by Nick Mamatas

Interesting Book/Film Combinations:

The Princess Bride: Book and Screenplay by William Goldman
The Color Purple: Book by Alice Walker Screenplay by Menno Meyjes
The Devil Wears Prada: Book by Lauren Weisberger Screenplay by Aline McKenna
Starship Troopers: Book by Robert Heinlein Screenplay by Edward Neumeier

Books on Writing:

Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Storyteller by Kate Wilhelm

Welcome

This is the group blog for Ms. Bell's English 119 course.