Every now and then, after (or in the midst of) a heavy grading period, I have to remind myself that in addition to being a university professor, I’m also a poet. In the throes of a busy semester, this can be a challenge, but this morning, I took a few minutes to work on aContinue reading “Poetry Contest Submission”
Category Archives: Writing
Southern Literary Festival 2014
Each year in the South, a group of undergraduate English majors and their professors descends on one member institution for a weekend of readings, workshops, and fun. This year, the host school for the Southern Literary Festival was Ole Miss (University of Mississippi to the rest of the country), who did a fabulous job arrangingContinue reading “Southern Literary Festival 2014”
Concrete Poetry
I always have a little fear and trepidation introducing concrete poetry to a class of creative writers, as I did today. On the one hand, I’m afraid I may get a lot of texts written in a shape that don’t have much poetry to them; on the other hand, I am convinced that the visualContinue reading “Concrete Poetry”
How to Drive Traffic to Your Blog: Be Useful
I keep marveling at how much my blog’s traffic has increased in the past year and thinking about the posts that made this happen. On the surface, the best advice I might give for driving more traffic to your blog could be: write about technology. My techie posts, which weren’t part of the original conceptContinue reading “How to Drive Traffic to Your Blog: Be Useful”
The Power of Twitter for Writers Looking to Publish
If you’re anything like me, you set up a Twitter account when it was just reaching popularity in 2008-2009. You followed the short list of your friends who had a Twitter account. Then, for funsies you followed a few starlets just to add to your following list and to be trendy (I’ve followed Ellen DeGeneres…
Mississippi Philological Association
Today is the annual meeting of the Mississippi Philological Association, a scholarly organization focused on language and literature, which also encourages creative panels. I’ll be reading a few poems at one of the sessions, Kim is reading a paper, and MUW has three students who will be reading fiction, poetry, and an essay. It wasContinue reading “Mississippi Philological Association”
Haiku Revisited
Awhile back, I wote a post on judging a haiku contest and mentioned that I had written a few haiku. It’s not my main form of poetry to work with, so I’ve always felt a little like a fish out of water with haiku, yet it was a form I wanted to explore for awhile.Continue reading “Haiku Revisited”
New Year’s Resolution 2: Complete a Book of Poems
Some readers of this blog will be familiar with my series of poems on the paintings and logs of Walter Inglis Anderson, which I’ve called “Barrier Island Suite.” They’ve been around for a few years and have been published individually in magazines over the years, but I’ve never quite decided what to do with themContinue reading “New Year’s Resolution 2: Complete a Book of Poems”
Why Hire a Poet?
I’m not on the job market, so I can use myself as an example in this post. But I’ll try not to brag too much. Poets generally have reasonably high self-esteem, but not huge egos. This probably stems from the fact that most people don’t think of poets in the highest regard. We’re seen asContinue reading “Why Hire a Poet?”
Why are All Poets Dead or Famous (or Both)??
Okay, so I hope to be living proof (along with many of my friends and students) that the title of this post isn’t true. However, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking it was true if your only source of information was an online bookstore. Just one example this morning, I went to Barnes and Noble,Continue reading “Why are All Poets Dead or Famous (or Both)??”
Kendall Dunkelberg 