Sleeping with the Enigma of Poetry Mashups With Nonfiction, and More...
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National Poetry Month sparks thoughts of poetry. Yey!
So, I went to bed thinking about a latent image stuck in a file drawer deep in my brain about a woman reading a poem in her kitchen. The question, What is that poem? kept me awake for at least an hour. While pouring my morning coffee, rays from sunrise bounced off the stainless refrigerator, pinged my head, and targeted the file drawers in my noggin. I pulled Jason Shinder’s ‘Stupid Hope’ from a bookcase, and there it was.
Eternity by Jason Shinder
From Stupid Hope
A poem written three thousand years ago
about a man who walks among horses
grazing on a hill under the small stars
comes to life on a page in a book
and the woman reading the poem,
in the silence between the words,
in her kitchen, filled with a gold, metallic light
finds the experience of living in that moment
so clearly described as to make her feel finally known
by someone—and every time the poem is read,
no matter her situation or her age,
this is more or less what happens.
Poets often write in multiple genres: Donald Hall, Maya Angelou, Michael Ondaatje, and many more. They even blend genres within the same book. Jason Shinder kept a cancer journal as he wrote the poetry of Stupid Hope. I celebrate those of you who can mix it up!
–Amy Lou Jenkins
Here’s your concise newsletter with four items to bolster your lit life a few times each month. Look for some variety and expect that each item seeks to serve your writing and reading life.
1. #WriterNews (Subscribers can list their news on our FB page and we may promote it in our newsletter and website.) Share widely so we can support each other.
- Maya Bernstein-Schalet of New York City won the Briar Cliff Review’s Creative Nonfiction Award for “The True Image of the Past Flits” By Walter Benjamin and “the Brain on Alzheimer’s.”
- Cheryl Pappas will lead a generative workshop that will incorporate powerful forms of flash, including hermit crab flash, the breathless paragraph, also known as the one-sentence story; flash that borrows techniques from poetry, such as anaphora; ekphrastic flash; flash inspired by sound; fairy tale flash, and on and on. Open to all writers at all levels. Details.
Send your third-person announcement to Messenger on the First Person Writing, FB page.
2. #CallsForSubmissions
These Markets Want Your Work
- Electric Literature’s essays delve into the world of books and culture with an appreciation of a personal and critical lens. If you’d like to submit your work, they prefer full submissions on spec but detailed pitches are also welcome: Details.
- The 2023 edition of Flying South has opened its doors to writers from March 1 to May 31. There are three categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. First Place winners will receive $400, while Second Place holders will be awarded $200 and Third Place with $100. Moreover, finalists will have their work published in Flying South. Details.
3. #WritingArticles +
Watch four great minutes from Michael Ondaatje, who writes in multiple genres, on the music in the words.
Let’s look at some successful mixed-genre memoirs.
4. #BookReview
Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
Retro-review: Here’s a release from 2000. ‘Refuge’ is a classic must-read for those who are called to love our earth and its inhabitants. For essayists and memoirists, ‘Refuge’ serves as a mentor text for how an essay collection can pull together threads in life to form an intimate narrative with a scope big enough for the whole world. Read the full review.
End Notes
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