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American, Australian, award, birth, book, Carol Ann Duffy, Clive James, Dante, Desmond Elliott Prize, English, FaceBook, Google poems, Google Poetics, Google+, haiku, Japanese, joke, killer, Maitreyabandhu, news July, novel, novel in verse, ode, Patricia Lockwood, Poet Laureate, poetry, Prince George, rape, Rape Joke, Ros Barber, royal baby, Sampsa Nuoti, The Crumb Road, The Divine Comedy, The Guardian, The Independent, The Marlowe Papers: A Novel in Verse, viral
Not much to report this month. It must be poets’ summer recess or something. Anyway here’s your round-up.
The heir to the throne is in need of an ode.
Traditionally, the UK’s poet laureate would greet the arrival of an heir to the throne with a new poem. But Carol Ann Duffy was on holiday when His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge was born.
Fortunately, The Guardian stepped in and invited readers to write their own poems “fit for a prince.” You can read these here.
There’s a poetry-writing mass killer in JapanThe bodies of five people were found in a tiny mountain village in Japan after two houses were burnt to the ground.
A haiku was found stuck to the window in the home of a 63-year old villager, which read: “Setting a fire – smoke gives delight – to a country fellow.” The man is now being sought by police.
Google has inadvertently expanded its empire into the world of poetry-writing.
The Independent reported on Google Poetics, the quirky phenomenon where Google predicts your search terms and creates “Google poems” as a result.
This unusual facet of Google was first stumbled upon by Sampsa Nuoti. Here’s an example:
Who wants to read a rape joke?The US poet Patricia Lockwood has written a poem called Rape Joke which has gone viral. It begins:
“The rape joke is that you were 19 years old. / The rape joke is that he was your boyfriend.”
The poem, as you’ve probably guessed, isn’t a joke. It’s about what it’s liked to be raped. It’s an essential read. Within hours of being posted it has received over 10,000 ‘likes’ on Facebook.
Awards
- The Desmond Elliott Prize has been won by Ros Barber for The Marlowe Papers: A Novel in Verse. You can read an extract in The Guardian.
Book Releases
Last but not least, a couple of highlights from the poetry books published during July.
- The Divine Comedy by Dante has been translated by Clive James. The Guardian says it’s “a mixed bag” but “let no one impugn James’s incredibly hard work.”
- The Crumb Road by Maitreyabandhu. The Guardian says this collection has a “rich but melancholy modesty.”