It's June 30, Seven AM, Do You Know What the Poetry Book Club Book Is?

Tomorrow, I leave for the much anticipated, much needed vacation with my mother. Today, I have to wrap up loose ends. Probably the biggest loose end for this blog is our selection for the Poetry Book Club Book for July.

Since I will be gone until July 7, the selection will take place on July 8. We'll have a discussion post on July 24, since I will be selecting late.

Here are some suggestions, made in the past...

* Gino suggested Tramp in Flames by Paul Farley

* Aaron suggested Real Karaoke People by Ed Bok Lee

Here are my suggestions for the month, to help fan the flames of debate...

* For a little nepotism, here's my graduate advisor and hero Deborah Keenan's latest book, Willow Room, Green Door

* Elizabeth Alexander's most recent book American Sublime

* Because she kills me, Louise Gluck's new book, Averno

That should be enough for selection. If you have your own recommendation for next month's book or if you want to vote for one of the above, please leave it in the comments.

Have a great week!

Dana Gioia Done Good

A friend of mine sent me this article from CNN.com about a new NEA program. Dana Gioia, the second term chair of the government agency, has created a new program called "The Big Read." In over 400 cities across the country, the NEA is providing grants for spreading specific works of literature. Click here to see what book is being used in your community.

By getting a community to focus on a singular book and a book event surrounding it, Gioia hopes to encourage literacy and the love of literature. I think I've mentioned before that I'm not a huge fan of Gioia, but I'm a tremendous fan of reading. So, kudos for Gioia's creative approach to the spread of reading in America.

Instead of Verb, I Decorate

I made a couple of changes to my blog, mostly in the layout. I feel like I need to change the look every couple of months to keep myself engaged. It took me forever to decide on the colors, and I spent two days asking my husband which blue he likes the best. "Do you like periwinkle, honey? Do you like cobalt better, sweetie? Yes, they're both blue, but ones blue-er. Honey?"

I am most proud of the banner, which I designed myself from some digital pics I took with my old camera and my new camera.



The first picture is an inverse of the poet=verb snapshot I took back in April. (Wow, time flies.) Speaking of poet=verb, I didn't post my poetic verbs this week. I'm rethinking the concept of just posting my verbs. I think I'm still going to keep track of them, but I think I'd like to transform those posts into more weekly or biweekly ruminations on poetry as an action and how it affects my writing life. Those will resume after my vacation.



The second picture is an inverse of a closeup I took of my journal. I'm hoping to make a cover for a new journal before I leave on my trip, because this one is getting old and full. Which is a good thing.



The third picture is an inverse closeup of the fluorescent lights above my cube in my office. It haunts me, with its sickly white glare.

Please let me know what you think of the redesign, so I don't have to bother my husband anymore. He thanks you in advance.

#13 -- Summer Starts In

Summer Starts In

humid alleyways,
and garbage-scented breezes,
sour as spoiled lilacs.

Poetry from Prison

I learned about an interesting new poetry anthology from Day to Day on NPR today, and I'm really intrigued by it.

Mark Falkoff, a law professor who also has a doctorate in literature, compiled poems from Guantanamo Bay detainees. His anthology, Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak, will be released by University of Iowa Press this August. During the Day to Day Program, one of the now-released poets read a couple of his poems and described a little of his experience as a detainee. His experience was harrowing, surely, but he described it in such a touching and accessible way. For instance, he developed a literary friendship with one of the guards and they traded poems back and forth about their experience as guard and inmate. I wonder what Foucault would think of that?

What amazed me most about this project is that these poems have an amazing opportunity to humanize these detainees and their experience. Here is their perspective, not only on their detention, but on their lives. However, the program described some of the legal difficulties that Falkoff had in trying to publish this anthology. Apparently, the current administration felt that the poetry might contain hidden messages that could endanger our national security. I cannot imagine that a respected press like the University of Iowa Press would publish poems that would promote terrorism. I think that the administration's concern is that the detainees' plight could become sympathetic, and that the poems might encourage further awareness of the Guantanamo debacle.

Sasha Did It!

Sasha emailed me, triumphant that she had conquered the "Myth" style poem that we had discussed during May's Poetry Book Club.

Here is her poem Ants, which I think is pretty marvelous!

Congratulations, Sasha!

Weekly Word Count, June 18-24

This was haiku-a-go-go week for me, after a bit of a stall on the project. I completed 3, so I wrote 300 words for the week. This puts me at 17594 for the year. I hope the streak continues.