Payment for your Poetry

Fiction writings have an agreement up front with publishers for a certain percentage of the revenues. I'm curious how many of my poet readers have had the same offer for their poetry books, chapbooks, or just published poems. A friend of mine who's able to sell a lot of his book has had contracts for his books for a share of the profits, but he works hard with readings to bring in the publisher's costs and then some. Most people with chapbooks don't get a share since, to be honest, either the chap barely makes the publisher's costs, if that, or else the book is print on demand.

In the Fray is one of the few journals I've been in that pays for a publication. I know that Pedestal does, too, both unusual for online zines and both have funding from elsewhere.

What is your experience?

Send in the Clowns

During the summer I worked in Manhattan before grad school, I saw Anthony Newley on Broadway singing Send In The Clowns. It had a huge impact on me. The stage went black except for one spotlight on him. The audience was mesmerized. I searched youtube but no videos exist with him singing the song again. I listened to several. Judy Collins. Barbra Streisand. Frank Sinatra. Even Elizabeth Taylor. Glenn Close, of all poeple, gave the song the rich tone that I'd heard that night so many years ago. Anyway, here it is...and she's gorgeous!



...yet this was my favorite song in the show, the keynote to the singer's role in the musical. In this one, his face was painted half white, like a clown's , and his rendition was magical. I couldn't find a single version on youtube that came close, but here's the voice of Frankie Laine and some shots from showbills and some hokey filler images. Close your eyes and imagine another man, a man on a stage in Manhattan singing his heart out.

Halloween is upon us!

Published in Sketchbook Journal, Oct 2008

Sarah Palin does it again!

Thanks to Collin Kelly for featuring this youtube about troopergate. And this woman could be Vice-Prez?? No thanks!

The new Oranges and Sardines is out...

...and it sizzles. The new journal has everything from an interview with one of my favorites, Lucille Clifton, and the cover art by Drew Ernst sizzles. You can buy at Amazon soon or download a PDF version HERE.

For a download you have to become a member of the site hosting the PDF file.

Pris

New chapbook finally out.

Lummox Press has just published my latest chapbook, Hesitant Commitments, as part of its Little Red Book series. As described, on the Lummox site, the Little Red Book series is an on-going collection of books, designed to fit easily in your back pocket or purse. Some are illustrated. All are affordable (six dollars ppd). As stated on the site, the series features the work of American writers, primarily of poetry, who are most widely known in the Small Press.

Send check or concealed cash, with the name of the chapbook in a note, to
Lummox c/o
POB 5301
San Pedro, CA 90733-5301
(add 20 percent to the six dollars for extra postage if out of country)
or
buy online (via PayPal) at
Lummox Press

My book on the homepage serves as a link to the updated Little Red Books. Scroll down and you'll find my book with its own paypal link on that list.

Thank you again, Lummox!

Go to Collin's blog and check this out.

I'm not even going to say what he's posted there except that if you're a poet, posting on the Internet, your name may be in the link he describes (mine is) and the project is one that purportedly has Ron Silliman angry enough that he thinks we should sue.

Let Collin explain HERE in his blog.

The Wild Goose Poetry Review is out!

A wonderful issue. See it at Wild Goose Poetry Review

Thanks to Helen Losse, editor of The Dead Mule for announcing this in her blog, too!


Poems by:

Linda Annas Ferguson
Janet A. Baker
Pris Campbell
Ann Fox Chandonnet
Chella Courington
Brenda Mann Hammack
Helen Losse
Carter Monroe
Janice Moore-Fuller
Tim Peeler
Mark Smith-Soto
Harding Stedler
Nikolai von Keller

A special thanks to Scott Owens, co-editor for selecting my poems for this issue.

Sara Dreams About Paul Newman

He's wearing a pink shirt and dark tie
and he's supposed to take her to dinner.
Sara's heart raced when she saw his old movies,
knew he wanted her, not Maggie the Cat,
wanted her on the bicycle bars, played
pool with fat Jackie Gleason just to impress.
She hopes they will kiss, puts on pink lipstick
in case, but Paul Newman is crying, head
in his hands. The floor is black from his tears.
Sara knows he's crying because someone has died.
Just now, he remembers it was him.
Sara wants to hold him, tell him it's ok,
but Joanne leads them down a long crowded path.
Frail kids from the Hole in the Wall Gang
bear Paul on their shoulders.
People in rags, rich people,
old people, young people surround them.
At the end of the path,
Sara's dead parents stand waiting.
Sara tries to push the sun back to start
the day over, but the sun keeps on going.
Pink fades to gray, the path disappears
and now Joanne is the one weeping.

Are websites being killed off by blogs??

When I started a website in late 2000 blogs were barely beginning to enter internet consciousness and usually involved someone designing the blog from scratch. Over the years, as we all know, blogs have multiplied to the point that no-one can keep up. I still keep all of my poems on my website (though a good deal are hidden now and don't show to visitors due to sheer volume). I still get around 60 hits a day on the website so people clearly are visiting. No-one signs the guestbook so I don't know who. I have a lot more visitors than comments on my blog, too, but I DO get comments so the blog provides an interaction with the reader that a website never can give.

My questions are these: How many of you have a website now? How many of you had a website but closed it when you began blogging? If you do have a website, how do you use it, ie to showcase certain things, to keep most of your creative work there, or....??

Do you think we'll still see websites, other than business/professional ones, on down the road or do you see them slowly fading away.

Paul Newman dies at age 83

It was a shock to hear today about Paul Newman's death. When I was a teenager I had a mad crush on him. When I grew up, I could see what a fine actor he was, besides being a humanitarian. He leaves a hole in Hollywood, yet another one of the fine actors to leave us.

Roger Ebert's tribute article about him ends with this quote:

In a book about the actor, the writer Lawrence J. Quirk quotes Newman: "I'd like to be remembered as a guy who tried - tried to be part of his times, tried to help people communicate with one another, tried to find some decency in his own life, tried to extend himself as a human being. Someone who isn't complacent, who doesn't cop out."

Read the entire tribute here in the Suntimes.

A Challenge

Write the the first 2-3 lines of verse that comes to mind as soon as you see this. First impression. No thinking.

When Beauty turns against you.

Recently I read, in passing, a reference to the old Charlie's Angels tv show. I was blanking on the name of the third angel (though a third angel changed several times over the course of the show which I can no longer clearly remember now). Who could forget the quiet beauty of Jacklyn Smith, however, or those combed--back golden locks of Farrah Fawcett, along with 'the' calendar she made. I googled the two of them to find that Jacklyn, in her early sixties still has a calm beauty, though the article debates whether or not plastic surgery is part of it (She's said no, she's not had it). On the other hand, Farrah has had multiple facelifts and had to do several over again due to a botched job. There was almost a gloating in how far that famous face has fallen. I found a sickness in that gloating. Out of the 3 references I glanced through, only one mentioned that she has a serious form of cancer and is in a fight for her life.


Is beauty such a two-edged sword? Is it better to be just 'average' when you're younger so that people don't gloat so much when you lose it or is it better to have that brief moment grazing the sun before your wings are clipped and you fall? Opinions??

I do realize that beauty may not be the term some may use for Farrah but 'glamorous' would certainly apply. So would 'sex appeal'. Same difference in terms of the question I'm asking.

These are some of the photos I found at those sites:

The infamous calender:



A 'now' shot:




Another angel, Jacklyn Smith, in 2008, born 1947, according to her bio:



I wish Farrah the best in her battle with cancer! I was a little reluctant to post this all, but I think the question is important. How do we value celebrities now who was once made famous by looks or power? We don't even need to go that far. Is there one among us who's never commented on how far our old homecoming queen in high school has fallen?

The passing of a remarkable man. Reginald Shepherd

When I read the blog below, I'm struck repeatedly with the combination of talent, generosity, and strength of spirit manifested in Reginald Shepherd. He discusses the illness that led to his recent death and , at the same time, discusses poetry and lauds other poets. It's well worth your time to read his words at his Reginald Shepherd Blog.

(His blog was duplicated by The Poetry Foundation, but thanks to the comment below telling me that the link wasn't working, I'm linking directed here. I can's find the problem in the other link, though the blog still exists on that site, too.)