Poems I Like (7)

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2014, Ahrem Warner, All That Time, Auden, baby, Boris Pasternak, conductor, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Elinor Brooks, Engram, February, fun, hilarious, ink, inspiration, Jacqueline Berger, lean, Lines from the Creek, May Swenson, orchestra, poem, poet, poetry, Recovery Room Maternity Ward, sad, Sasha Dugdale, simple, stillbirth, Swallows, The Conductor, Their Lonely Better, touching, transcendent, tree, weep, words

A few more poems that I have enjoyed recently. I hope you find something here you like too.

Just click on the title to read a poem in full. Let me know what you enjoyed by adding a comment.

‘Lines from the Creek’ by Elinor Brooks

A parent watches their child fishing and reflects on how he’s grown up. “I remember how it felt / to cradle your baby skull.” Beautifully done.

‘February’ by Boris Pasternak trans. Sasha Dugdale and ‘Engram’ by Ahrem Warner

“Get out the ink and weep!” Two enjoyable poems about inspiration which affectionately poke fun at poets.

‘All That Time’ by May Swenson

Simply a poem about two trees that have come to lean on each other.

‘Swallows’ and ‘Recovery Room, Maternity Ward’ by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

Two incredibly sad poems about the aftermath of a stillbirth. “Someday, within these walls, / I will hear my baby cry.”

‘Their Lonely Better’ by W.H. Auden

A great poem from an old master. “Words are for those with promises to keep.”

‘The Conductor’ by Jacqueline Berger

About a conductor of an orchestra who suffers from Parkinson’s. Moving.

To see other posts about poems I like, click here.

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Poetry News Round Up: March 2013

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actor, Aime Cesare, album, An Appointment with Mr Yeats, Auden, Australian, award, Azerbaijani, Bashar al-Assad, BBC, Bedouin, Bombardment of Homs, book, Brand New Ancients, Cecil Day-Lewis, censorship, chicken, Christopher Pollnitz, Clive James, Clothes that Escaped the Great War, comic, competition, contest, Daily Times, death, DH Lawrence, Ehsan Sehgal, Emilie Blachere, English, fast food, First World War, food safety, French, Glastonbury, Greek, illness, John Ashbery, Kate Tempest, KFC, love, Love Letter from Emilie Blachere to Remi Ochlik, Marie Ponsot, Million's Poetry, music, Nabati, National Poetry Competition, New York, news, Pablo Neruda, Paddy O'Connell, Pakistani, Patricia McCarthy, performance poetry, Peruvian, photography, poetry, politics, Quick Question, radio, Radio 4, Raghda, Remi Ochlik, rhyme, rhyming, Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, Scottish, Siegfried Sassoon, social media, Suhail Al Mazroue, Syrian, Ted Hughes Poetry Prize, terminal illness, The Guardian, The Poems, The Waterboys, TV, twitter, UAE, UNESCO, Urdu, war, Wilfred Owen, World Poetry Day, X Factor, Yeats, Zarb-e-Sukhan

All your essential poetry news from the month of March, delivered straight to your door with no extra charge for postage and packing.

Poetry and War

There’s always been a close relationship between war and poetry, as successive people have sought to make some sort of sense of evil and death.

This was brought home to us again this month by the astonishing ‘Love Letter from Emilie Blachère to Rémi Ochlik,’ a love poem written by the girlfriend of Rémi Ochlik, the French photographer who was killed a year ago during the bombardment of Homs in Syria.

Rémi Ochlik, the night before he was killed
[Source: Flickr Creative Commons © FreedomHouse]

The BBC presenter Paddy O’Connell was left choked with tears as Emilie’s poem was read out during his Radio 4 programme and he left the airwaves silent for 12 seconds before regaining his composure.

Poetry and the Syrian conflict appeared a further time in the news when Raghda, a famous actress, was attacked in response to explicitly supporting President Assad and reciting anti-Islamist poems.

Poetry and Illness

On a similarly sobering note, the veteran Australian broadcaster Clive James has penned a moving poem about the effects of his terminal illness and the way in which he is retreating from the world.

Rhyming can be Fun

Another Cecil Day-Lewis poem was discovered this month. Well, I say ‘poem,’ it is more a sample of quirky rhymes produced to help a pupil and is in fact a response to a similar effort from WH Auden. The second stanza reads: “To ignite / Sticks of dynamite / Is not the chief delight / of Norman Wright / Which is proved by the fact that he is still in sight”.

Also this month, an album by the Scottish group Waterboys was released called An Appointment with Mr Yeats,’ in which they have set Yeats‘s poetry to music in 14 songs. (This is the US release. The album came out in the UK in 2011.)

The Waterboys in Concert
[Source: Flickr Creative Commons © denaflows]

Poets in High Places

Suhail Al Mazroue has become the UAE’s new Energy Minister. Among other things, Suhail is known for having a passion for Nabati poetry, an art form with Bedouin roots. In 2006, he even took part in Million’s Poetry, an X Factor-like TV contest for Arab poets. Lines of poetry still dominate his Twitter feed.

Chicken Poetry

That’s right – chicken poetry. The fast food chain KFC launched a contest on social media asking fans to pen a poem which included the line “the chickens are innocent.” The initiative is part of a media campaign designed to be a riposte to food safety criticisms of the chain.

An Inspiration for Poetry?
[Source: Flickr Creative Commons © isriya]

World Poetry Day

On 21 March (which happens to be my birthday!), UNESCO celebrated World Poetry Day, focusing on the poetry of William Butler Yeats, Pablo Neruda and Aimé Césaire and also some lesser-known authors from Azerbaijan and Greece.

Awards

• Kate Tempestwon the Ted Hughes Poetry Prize for her hour-long ‘spoken story,’ Brand New Ancients. Kate is a well-known poet who has performed at Glastonbury.
• Patricia McCarthy won the UK’s National Poetry Competition with a First World War poem inspired by her mother’s stories, ‘Clothes that Escaped the Great War.’ The poem has drawn comparisons with Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon.
• Marie Ponsot won the lucrative Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. She pocketed $100,000 in recognition of a lifetime’s achievement in poetry.

Book Releases

Notable book releases in the month of March included:

• The Poems by DH Lawrence, a new uncensored edition of his poems that the editor, Christopher Pollnitz, claims “reveals him as a brilliant war poet.”
  
• Zarb-e-Sukhan by Ehsan Sehgal, a collection of Urdu poems that was written over a span of 42 years. The Daily Times describes it as a “splendid poetry collection.”
• Quick Question by John Ashbery, a collection comic poems about urban New York scenes. The Guardian says there’s a “renewed vigour to this latest offering from one of America’s most accomplished poets.”

Poetry News Round Up: December 2012

Tags

127 Hours, American, archaeology, arts centre, Auden, auditorium, award, Bannockburn, book, British, Byron Johnson, Carol Ann Duffy, education, film, French, Gerard Woodward, Guyanese, Hadrian, Idaho, James Dyson, James Franco, John Agard, Josephine Hart, Kathleen Jamie, lesbian, Life Saving: Why We Need Poetry, monument, news, Penelope Shuttle, philosophy, poetry, Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, Romans, Rome, San Francisco, Sandy Hook, school, Supreme Court, Sylvia Plath, The Seacunny, Yeats

Poetry News from the month of December, all shipshape and ready for action.

Probably the story that attracted the most attention this month was the news that a San Francisco high school senior was suspended after writing a poem which appeared to sympathise with the gunman of the Sandy Hook School massacre.  The case raises questions about literal interpretations of poetry and authorial voice.

In the UK, a new schools competition is being introduced to encourage teenagers to learn poetry by heart.  Students will be asked to memorise and perform a poem.  Some saw this as a deliberate riposte to James Dyson’s criticism of literature education and “French lesbian poetry,” which we reported on in November.

In Rome, there was an exciting archaeological find.  An ancient 900-seat arts centre, built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, has been excavated.  The auditorium was built in 123 AD so people could listen to readings of poetry and philosophy.

James Franco, famous for the film 127 Hours, attracted plenty of coverage this month by announcing he is to publish a book of poems, though it’s not likely to come out until 2014.

Scottish poet Kathleen Jamie’s poem was chosen to be inscribed on woodwork and displayed at the newly restored Battle of Bannockburn monument.

The Guyana-born poet John Agard won the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry.  He is only the second black poet to win the award.

In December we bade farewell to the poet and former Idaho Supreme Court Justice Byron Johnson.

Finally, here is a quick look at some of the poetry books that were published in December.  The Seacunny by Gerard Woodward is considered to be eloquent, witty and beautiful.  Carol Ann Duffy has published a new selection of work by Sylvia Plath.  In Life Saving: Why We Need Poetry, Josephine Hart provides a beginner’s guide to the big guns that comprise the English canon, from Auden to Yeats.  There is also a New and Selected Poems of Penelope Shuttle.