Caffeinated poem: A few weeks ago I had compiled a set of poems to submit to various poetry contests including Boston Review. But I was reading Robert Pinsky’s book Gulf Music and never sent them. It’s not that I forgot to send them. It is just that compared to Robert Pinsky, my poems appear un-submittable. So instead I wrote a poem on a paper cup after drinking a latte from The Dripolator.
Dylan Thomas… is… the proto-rock star, priapic, Dionysiac, excessive: possessed of a richly turbulent emotional life; the Jim Morrison… of his day. And Dylan Thomas was probably the last poet to be as famous as a rock star; he gives fame a certain class.
Nicholas Lezard
(via Tom Fishburne) Link
writing activates a cluster of neurological pathways…. people coping with cancer diagnoses and other serious conditions are increasingly seeking—and finding—solace in the blogosphere. “Blogging undoubtedly affords similar benefits” to expressive writing, says Morgan, who wants to incorporate writing programs into supportive care for cancer patients.
Jessica Wapner for Scientific American
From the interview:
Small means you can tell the truth on your blog.
Small means that you can answer email from your customers….
A small church has a minister with the time to visit you in the hospital when you’re sick.
Small is the new big only when the person running the small thinks big.
Don’t wait. Get small. Think big.
I’ve been able to find mentors… each one of them willing to spend all sorts of time, reading my work, talking “shop.” … I know, there are plenty of books out there that tell writers what to do. Even books that inspire. But there’s something about working with someone who is right there. Someone who listens. Someone who has done it and survived.
Tara Yellen, author of After Hours at the Almost Home
Coffeehouse Junkie 