Alarie Tennille's Blog: Alarie's Poetry and Point of View - Posts Tagged "poetry"

Welcome to my new blog!

I've been celebrating Poetry Month the way I celebrate poetry all year, by reading and writing it. I won't be posting a lot on this blog until I get a larger following.
However, I want to invite you to visit and like my Facebook page for Alarie Tennille - Poet, where I've been posting at least one poem a day this month. Since this is my first post, I'll leave you with my most recently published poem, "Layoff":

http://kentuckyreview.org/poetry/2014...

Layoff


It feels like divorce.
While you popped open
anniversary champagne,
your spouse changed
the locks, siphoned off
the accounts, left you
for a younger model.

You’ve slipped off the axle
of expectation, skidded
into an alternate universe,
wrecked in a pileup that took
out half your friends.

You wake from that familiar
dream of going to work naked
to find yourself stripped
of skin and ego. What to do?

You imitate your smile, pump
up your résumé, and tell the mirror
it’s only a job.

© Alarie Tennille 2014

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Thanks for visiting.

Alarie

alt="The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms" border="0" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net..." />The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms by Ron Padgett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I own at least one book of poetic forms and have used several. I've also looked up individual forms online. This handbook edited by Ron Padgett is the best I've seen. I understand there can be problems getting permissions to reprint poems. This publisher worked that out. There is nothing more frustrating than reading a dry description of a form and list of rhyme schemes (abba cddc...) with no example to make it come alive.
Padgett's book is better for other reasons, too, not the least of which is that he's an entertaining writer and gifted poet. He earned that fifth star by sharing insights on how to get started writing in a particular form, what sorts of topics or tones the form lends itself to, and lists of writers from ancient times to present who have excelled in each form. If you're a teacher or writer thinking you should buy a form handbook, this is the one.



View all my reviews

"Keeping Cool" is one of many poems I've written about my father, a Carolina farm boy who became a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne (WWII). I suppose after dropping from the sky into the Battle of the Bulge, sitting in a burning car seemed like nothing. This poem is in my book, Running Counterclockwise:

Keeping Cool


The used car was a steal
Daddy said. Air conditioning.
So we piled in and headed
for Richmond. Broad Street,
downtown—scalding pavement.
What did we care that traffic
crawled? We enjoyed
the novelty of not sweating.

The woman in the next car
seemed cool, too, as she
asked Mama, “Did you know
you’re on fire?”

Flames shot up from the chassis.
My brother saved himself,
watched from the corner as Mama
turned into Wonder Woman,
yanking me up and over
the front seat.

Now the three of us stood
on the curb yelling at Daddy.
The fireman with a bull horn
yelled, too, “Sir, get out of the car
NOW!” But Daddy just stayed
cool.

Alarie Tennille

© Tennille, first published in Wild Goose Poetry Review

I've reviewed SHE HAS A NAME both on Amazon and in Goodreads, but I wanted to call it out in my blog, too. Poetry rarely finds many readers, and this is a book that needs to be read. It will especially benefit families dealing with autism or other special needs.

Kamilah Aisha Moon writes poignant, accessible, engaging poems no matter what the topic, but SHE HAS A NAME goes way beyond being another collection of good poems. Moon opens the door to her family home and introduces her sister with autism, “1 in 150 now.” She shows how the condition also affects the other sisters, father, mother, teachers, bosses, bullies and, in the end, changes our world.

In our society, it’s taboo to speak of personal heartbreaks. Moon writes, “…I’m from the South, a suburb/where Grief pulls the shades first, stays home if indecent.” Fortunately, she is also a poet and loving sibling who recognizes she must give voice to a sister “with a native tongue of one.” Moon is equally frank in telling of childhood fights (“Her honor saved,/gauze and hydrogen peroxide fizzing/in broken skin.”) and in exposing her adult guilt (“Each visit home frays me,/the price I pay for being able to drive away.”)

Moon never wallows in self-pity. Instead, she invites us to the world family reunion where we each wear a name tag, have a story to tell, and claim each other.

My poem, "Volunteer Vertigo," from my book, RUNNING COUNTERCLOCKWISE, was featured as Your Daily Poem for May 18, 2014. I hope you enjoy it.

http://yourdailypoem.com/listpoem.jsp...

Here's a link to my book review by Denis Low, former Poet Laureate of Kansas

http://www.kansascity.com/entertainme...

Writing to art is my favorite escape from writer's block. This fall (November 13, 6-8:00 p.m.) I'll be teaching my workshop, Art-Felt Words, at The Writers Place in Kansas City.

My most recent on-line poem was written to an odd, but beautiful photograph. "Odd" is the key word. It took me to an unusually dark, eerie place: the sort of place I'd rather know about through fiction than from the evening news.

http://vsw.org/afterimage/inklight/

I'm pleased to be a featured poet on Houseboat. This is my largest collection of poems online. Check out the beautiful art and photography on this site – lots of inspiration to be found.

http://houseboathouse.blogspot.com/20...

If you're unfamiliar with Bobby McFerrin or simply want the enhanced poetry experience, search "Bobby McFerrin Blackbird" on YouTube.

Bobby McFerrin


swallows
a flute
saxophone
bass
set of drums
didgeridoo
washboard
one flying blackbird
two sopranos
three cloggers
a Volkswagon full of clowns
wind chimes
castanets
Elvis
the lost chord
and tonight’s audience.

© Alarie Tennille 2015

A Goodreads reader who liked one of my poetry reviews asked for my advice on putting together a poetry chapbook. I decided to share my answer here for anyone else who's interested.

ADVICE FOR PUTTING TOGETHER A POETRY CHAPBOOK

(Note that I don’t include tips for finding a chapbook publisher, which is a much later suggestion.)

Do you have a trusted critique group, mentor, or someone with more experience who can honestly critique your work? This is second only to reading a lot of poetry on my tips to beginning writers. If you alone think you’re ready for a book, you’re likely not.

Have you published many poems in journals or anthologies? This step is essential before
compiling a chapbook unless you are self-publishing, which I do not recommend. Ideally, 30-60 % of the poems in your chapbook should be already published. If you’re in major league poetry markets, that number can be somewhat lower. Remember that a publisher is making an investment in you, so it likes this assurance of your experience, success, and marketability. Other talented people are competing for your contract.

Okay. You have a lot of published poems, so what’s next? Gather 35-40 pages of your best work together. While you should select what you consider your best and your published work, publishers have differing guidelines for how many pages they want you to send. Be prepared to cut your manuscript down or expand it according to their requirements. ALWAYS FOLLOW THEIR GUIDELINES FOR SUBMITTING!

If you are self-publishing, you get to make the rules. That is fine if you are making gift books for your friends and family. However, if you want to establish yourself as a literary author, you need to follow the long, hard path to publication.

Do you have 35 to 40 pages you like and that your critique group likes? Because chapbooks are so short, they often stay more strictly on a single theme or topic. Not every poem needs to be about Auntie Em, if that’s your main topic, but enough poems need to be different that one or two poems don’t stick out as not belonging. Make deliberate choices. Look like you know what you’re doing.

Spread your pages on the floor and arrange them. I like to match up 2 or 3 poems that I feel belong together, then switch to something new either in tone or subject. For example, I like to give the reader something lighter to read after a few poems about death or loss. If your book is My Family Makes Me Look Like the Sane One, group a few Dad poems together before dropping in Mom or brother Joe.

For me, titling the book comes after the selection of poems. I tend to throw away 20-40 titles before landing on the one that really sings to me. This task can be easier if you are naming your collection for the best poem in your manuscript. However, you should double check that the title doesn’t jar against many other poems in your collection. I have also rejected names because I don’t want shoppers to assume my books is an art book, cookbook, or something other than poetry.

Google the name you want to use. Although you may have legal rights to call it Gone with the Wind or Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, you shouldn’t confuse readers or unfairly steal another artist’s glory.

So, you have a longish chapbook compiled and a title. Are you ready to send it off? No. Share it with a few trusted readers, ideally from your critique group. Instead of putting them on the hot spot, asking “Is my book any good?,” ask, “If you had to cut 3 poems from this book, which would you take out?” The answer may not imply these were your worst poems, only that they didn’t fit the title or mix. If more than one person names the same cut, please listen.

Recommended reading:

http://jeffreyelevine.com/2011/10/12/...