quotes (about poetry). you know, to inspire you.

True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and nothing but what is necessary.
-German poet Heinrich Heine

A poet must leave traces of his passage, not proof.
-French poet Rene Char

I don't want to write good poems. I want to write inevitable poems--given who I am, they are what I will write.
-American poet William Stafford

(A theme? Yes, there is one.)

because we have no excuse to learn

And we're back. I'd like to begin with some video--ease us back into the game.

My classmate Lauren, who interns for the PI, goes to a lot of local events to report on the new blog aimed at our age group. (I wish them luck.) Her latest post covers the Youth Speaks preliminaries. I love listening to slam poetry. You should too.

Who speaks? Youth Speaks

If anyone happens to stumble upon this; also, Dylan Thomas

If anyone who isn't me, Alyssa, or Joy happens to come across this and wants to help share poets and poems and short stories, then e-mail me (acsmith@willamette.edu) and I'll include you. Seriously, three's company, four's a party.

Also, read "A Visit to Grandpa's" by Dylan Thomas. If I edited a book called "Greatest Short Stories Written, Ever," this would be one of them.

http://www.undermilkwood.net/prose_avisit.html

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Yeah, more Jorie Graham ALL RIGHT!

Opened up my New Yorker today, and Jorie Graham had a poem in it. I don't even have to tell you that I was excited. It's a good one.

Later in Life

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the neglected girlfriend

Finishing third place
after good beer and Halo:
story of my life.

"Poets don't have to work."

I love hearing writers read their own work. Maxine Hong Kingston (author of The Woman Warrior and Tripmaster Monkey) is a fun one to listen to. Her reading at U.C. Berkeley's Lunch Poems makes me laugh out loud. She talks about her process of becoming and being a poet and reads from her more recent books, To Be The Poet. The video is almost an hour long--it's high quality but if you can't sit for too long, at least listen to her poem about elephant seals. Start at 10 minutes if you want somewhat of an intro to the poem. But if you just want to skip straight to the poem, forward to about 13:30 minutes.

For Sarah and Joy

When the river is

still, to stand beside the shore

is to see the sky.