Lately, I’ve been challenging myself to write more formal poetry. Not a lot, mind you, but I’ve tried out a couple of forms and with some success. Awhile back, I described writing a ghazal, and I thought I’d do the same for the pantoum. This is a form that has stymied me for awhile, yetContinue reading “How to Write a Pantoum”
Category Archives: Poetry
Letter to a Young Poet
The other day, I received an email from a poet, I don’t really know his age, asking about what he could do to get his work published. From his message, I gathered he was submitting to magazines, but hadn’t been accepted yet, or hadn’t been accepted much. I thought I could use that as anContinue reading “Letter to a Young Poet”
How to Write a Ghazal
I feel like I’ve finally had a breakthrough with the ghazal. Now, I won’t claim to be an expert—it will take writing many ghazals before I would begin to think I was even approaching that level—but I do believe I have the beginnings of a ghazal and a strategy for tackling the form. Ghazal’s don’tContinue reading “How to Write a Ghazal”
Of Lines and Sentences in Poems
This week, one of my favorite magazines, Birmingham Poetry Review, accepted two of my poems. They’re not that easy to get into, so I’m very pleased to have two poems selected for their Spring 2024 issue. In proofreading the poems before sending them back, I was reminded that they both have many more lines thanContinue reading “Of Lines and Sentences in Poems”
The Story Behind My Tennessee Williams Poem
The story behind the poems I’ll read at the Tennessee Williams Tribute, Sept. 12, 2020.
How I Became an Instagram Poet
Calling myself and Instagram Poet may seem like a bit of an exaggeration, but I am sticking my toe in those waters by posting my first ever published poem and my first published translations (which actually predate the first poem) on Instagram. My plan is to follow these with more poems, mostly from my firstContinue reading “How I Became an Instagram Poet”
Why Brag About Publishing a Poem?
Bragging is not something that comes naturally to some of us — then there are those who do it all the time and drive the rest of us up a tree. So it doesn’t go without saying that you should brag about every poem that you publish. For some, it may seem ostentatious. After all,Continue reading “Why Brag About Publishing a Poem?”
My Poetry on Vimeo
Back in 2016, I had the good fortune to be part of the Mississippi Book Festival. I’m hoping to repeat that when my next book comes out (are you listening publishers?), but I noticed recently that the Book Festival put the panels on Vimeo. I knew this at the time, and I’m sure I evenContinue reading “My Poetry on Vimeo”
Happy 100th Birthday, Shakespeare & Co
This week marks the 100th birthday of Shakespeare & Company bookstore in Paris. Shakespeare & Co. is an amazing place, both for its beautiful interiors with floor to ceiling wooden bookshelves and for its long history as a meeting place for Modernist writers. It was also the scene of one of the most magical literaryContinue reading “Happy 100th Birthday, Shakespeare & Co”
The Personal / Universal Paradox in Art
The other day, one of my low-res MFA students, Dani Putney, and I were conferencing a poem and we got into a side discussion of the personal and the universal. Dani’s stance, which I agree with, is that the Universal doesn’t exist. (I’ll use a capital letter here, though Dani didn’t since we were talking byContinue reading “The Personal / Universal Paradox in Art”
Kendall Dunkelberg 