Collin Kelly posts

Please go to Collin Kelly's blog to his July 13 post...Annie Lennox paying tribute to AIDS, and the blog directly beneath it about one of his friends who died from AIDS. Both posts moved me to tears and the youtube video by Lennox is both moving and tremendously beautiful.

Pris

Today's my Birthday

Five candles on the cake. Yes, tis true. I'm only five. I'm a child prodigy. My first poems were dictated from the womb and scribed by my mother until I could write for myself at 2 weeks.

her candles
set the ceiling on fire
birthday girl

:-)




Okaay...the real truth. Sigh.

Birthday picture:

For right now...

..for multiple reasons, I've lost my joy in the internet. Recently it's been a source of pressure more so than creativity and a source of dischord in one instance instead of a place of peace. I'm offering a youtube I enjoyed, today, and hope I can find my way back to the reason I started blogging and posting in the first place. Thank you, those of you who read me and have become friends in the process.

Visit the amazing brush with me. It's indeed amazing.

Pageland Watermelon Festival

My old hometown in South Carolina, population 2500, celebrates 55 years of the Watermelon Festival this year beginning July 20, just two days after my birthday. I just discovered that they have a site on MySpace and offered some ancient clippings and photos I have from the fifties. They asked me to send to feature some. I'd like to share them here, too.

Now, tell me what YOUR town is famous for!

Click on the pictures to enlarge and read...especially about watermelon prices in one of them!

This is the front of a booklet of all the beauty contest winners who came to Pageland to vie for Watermelon Queen.




This is the swimsuit competition, held at the local swimming pool.







Next is a photo of my father with Miss America. He was wearing the traditional red shirt that men on the welcoming committe wore to meet her at the airport. The shot was taken at the beauty queen's luncheon.



Barefoot Day! Before the parade day, men were required to come to town barefooted and the women wearing aprons or face a fine by this bevy of newly deputized high school girls who collected a quarter for each 'misdemeanor':-)




Here's the article about watermelons. It also shows a photo of the recently built watermelon market. I hear it's grown tremendously over the past years.



And finally, a shot from the 80's showing downtown mainstreet. Not much changed from when I lived there.

Brady Senryu Contest

I've decided to enter this contest, sponsored by The Haiku Society of America, for the first time this year so have been busy workshopping senryu at Haiku Hut instead of blogging. Since last week's Nostalgia Friday didn't garner any interest I'm content to put that off for a while:-).

At the least, this contest will be fun. Senryu must be unpublished and posted nowhere except your website or a workshopping board.

First prize for this prestitious contest is a hundred dollars. For those of you who write the form, check this link below:

Brady Competiton Information.

Entries are sent on 3 by 5 cards snail mail with a dollar an entry fee and up to ten allowed. Deadline for them to be in hand is the end of this month.

Dare you!

Someone sent me this and dared me to watch without getting a tear in my eye. I couldn't. It's wonderful, so I had to share.

John Lee Hooker and Van Morrison sing GLORIA! wow!

Poet Nguyen Chi Thien --The Journey of a Thousand Autumns

I must read this book!

PROFILE: Vietnam poet Thien's prison years left "no time to love"

By Pat Reber Jun 13, 2007, 0:55 GMT


Washington - His words always got him into trouble.

In 1960, Vietnamese poet Nguyen Chi Thien tried to teach the truth about the defeat of Japan in World War II to a Haiphong high school history class.

He countermanded the official communist textbook, which gave credit to the Soviet Union, and revealed the United States was, in fact, the one that ended the war by dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. Read more HERE and HERE. This latter link contains a brief interview.

What a life of courage. What a life of endurance and ceaseless creativity.

Dante's Prayer Loreen McKennitt

Her best song, in my opinion, accompanied here by a very unusual video.

In The Fray now out

http://inthefray.org/content/view/2307/29/

Click the above link to see my poem, Runway, published in In The Fray accompanied by the very fine art of Mary Hillier (Sunlady Art on MySpace). The journal's theme this month is 'fat', both literally and metaphorically. If you hit 'home' you'll see links in the upper right quadrant to more very good articles.

Once within each section, hit on the heading link. For example, mine is under 'identities', but the poem doesn't show until you click Runway, the title of my poem. Take time to explore the other sections. One is a story of a woman's fight with obesity and the genetic compoment involved. Another is metaphorical...a 'fat' house (clutter). I'm really pleased to be a part of this issue.

Annette Marie Hyder, who has a site also on my space is editor of the portion of In The Fray where I'm published and on the editorial board. She's also a poet, journalist, and founder of the project Facing Feminism: Feminists I Know.

BTW, There's a section under each poem and article for comments. Take the time to do so if you can.

And what was very nice is that I was paid. :-)

Live Reading on youtube by S.A. Griffin

The first poem is an early erotic poem, then he finishes this L.A. reading with his infamous, fantabulous The Revolution is being Televised. S.A. was co-editor of The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. A wonderful reading!




By the way, a book representing the best of S.A.'s poetry over the last 30 years is just out by Rank Stranger Press. Ordering information is below:

S.A. Griffin
Rose of Sharon Press
POB 29171
Los Angeles, Ca. 90029-0171

The cost is 20 dollars, plus 5 dollars mailing (It's a big book). Make checks payable to Charlie Whitley.

A video reading at Poetryvlog.com

I'm reading (video) three poems at www.poetryvlog.com, a site
run by George Wallace and his associate, Michael Mart, for a week. I made a few flubs, but hope they're not terribly noticeable.

There's a spot for comments for those of you who feel moved to make one. And no, 'throw tomatoes at her' wouldn't be one of my favorite choices lol.

I'm excited about this. The video is short so I hope you'll take time to watch. The default player on the site is Quicktime, but you can click your choice of another player just beneath the box. I use Windows Media Player to watch it, myself.

I did this in three separate readings, due to my voice limitations, and couldn't find the shirt I wore in the third (recorded first), hence the sudden change in clothes.

Pris

NOTE: Even though I'm featured this week I'll go into the archives, so late readers of the blog can still find me there:-)

What neat news!

This came in today's email. I'm surprised and pleased. This poem had a lot of personal meaning to me, so the honor was even more special.

Announcing May 2007 Peer Award for Best Poem of the Issue
To the members of Boxcar Poetry Review


Neil Aitken

Today at 2:16am
Reply
After tallying the votes, we are pleased to report that Pris Campbell's "Undertow" is our Peer Award winner for Best Poem in the May 2007 issue. She will be receiving $25 and a "gold star" for her efforts :)

Peer Award Winner
"Undertow" - Pris Campbell

Runners Up
"Oneiromancy" - Doug Ramspeck
"North Carolina By Greyhound: First Christmas After the Funeral" - Joe Wilkins

Once again it has been an honor to showcase all of your work -- we've heard many wonderful comments from readers and contributors regarding the poems in this particular issue. If you haven't already, take some time and reread these excellent poems at Boxcar Poetry Review ( www.boxcarpoetry.com)

Best wishes,
Neil Aitken, Editor
Boxcar Poetry Review

Tom Blessing and Mark Hardenbach collaborate!

These two men are both poets I admire and love to read. I think Mark Hardenbach is probably one of the more prolific poets today. Tom posted his song on Ron Androla's board (It's linked under poetry boards in my links as the Underground Board).

Someone suggested it be put to music. Voila....the result. Below the youtube video are the words to Tom's song. Mark Hardenbach is the one who set them to song. I think this is a wonderful collaboration...and a fun one, too. Rave on, you two!



A Sad Song About the End of Love

refrain

i ain't nothin' but an old man
please take me by my hand
lead me outta this sad land
lead me outta this sad sad land


good times won't come again
no the good times are gone
i been traveling this lonely road
too long, yeah, far too long

r

thought love would be eternal
last forever, so they say
seems forever is a short time
seems i lost the way

r

i've tried dancing with the bible
and dancing with the wind
but when she left for another
i started dancing with sin

r

thought whiskey was my savior
but whiskey don't pay for meals
that just an airy illusion
it was either work or steal

r

i saw her once in Detroit
my flesh began to crawl
i lit out for Chicago
ran into that old blues wall

r

got down, so far down
couldn't see for tears in my eyes
whatever friends i had
looked at me with despise

r

i'm so tired of traveling
on liquor and the bus
so tired of traveling
feeling like a wuss

r

time to be a leaving
can you show me the way
preachers tried and bottles tried
i got nothing left to say

r