One of the things that I’ve learned over the years about leadership (yeagh, nasty taste in my mouth) is that you’ve got to know your limitations. I’d like to say that is something I learned in the military, but that would not be true. Military leaders do not typically recognize limitations. Even if they are [...]
The New York Times published this story on June 29. I’ve read about it in several other places since then.
I find this sort of thing to be rather interesting because we’re often told that the Internet and social media have “leveled the playing field” so to speak between the big cheeses and the “little guys”. [...]
Mary Biddinger, editor of Barn Owl Review, asks, “What are your written or unwritten rules.” The responses, on her blog, are very interesting reading. Mine is here:
Allen’s Rules For Writing Poetry
First, I have no rules.
I don’t follow other people’s rules
If there is a rule that I’m supposed to follow then I break it.
If I’m expected [...]
When I read a lot of young poets I read poem after poem that start with ‘I’ or use the familiar pronoun as the subject in the poem. It is almost always easy to associate this ‘I’ with the poet him or herself simply because many of the poems use the same voice, tone, and [...]
Try some politically engaged poetry.
R.I.P. Tom Disch.
Writing poetry on Otto.
I’ve talked to several writers of multiple genres who have said that they love poetry more than anything, but since they can’t make any money writing poetry they write other stuff to make their living. Is that good?
All I can say is, it can’t be bad. I personally think that writing poetry will strengthen one’s [...]
My regular readers will know that I am passionate about poetry. I have been since my college days when I wrote my first real poem, a lyrical ars poetica titled “Threesome.” I wrote the poem in response to “Satan Says” by Sharon Olds, who was the first contemporary poet I was subjected to. Her first [...]