POETRY ON THE WEB * WRITERS ON THE WEB * NEWSLETTER

"Tis true! There's magic in the web" .... Shakespeare (Othello)

You'll notice changes at the powwow web site: http://www.oocities.org/Paris/1416 - all the past issues of the newsletter are now posted. And, for those who love supporting this newsletter and poetry in general, we've added over 50 new books for sale in the bookstore.

Send all news and correspondence to powwow@soos.com

Newsletters:

"Anitra, Dances With Dragons" - anitra@speakeasy.org is working on legitimizing an off-the cuff poetry sharing group via e-mail. Until she has the newsletter hooked up with a listserver, send e-mail to her direct. So far most of the discussion has been logistical; but there has been a few individual postings of poems. Has potential.

Anitra Freeman has also passed the following information on:

creativity in education: an email list of college professors in the literary field. subscribe by sending " subscribe crewrt-l " to listserv@lists.missouri.edu

erotic writing workshop: Both poetry and prose is submitted and critiqued; the membership is generally mature and behaves maturely. A majordomo list: subscribe by sending the command subscribe erotica to majordomo@cyberca.com

kalliope poetry workshop, exercise-based. Administered by Anitra Freeman. "I post a Primer, basically an essay on some aspect of poetry (rhyme, meter, image, metaphor, etc.) with exercises for practice. Everyone learns by doing the exercises and by critiquing each other's exercises. A majordomo list: subscribe by sending the message " subscribe kalliope " to majordomo@scn.org . You can also check out Kalliope at the website: Kalliope

Poem-of-the-Day: Within the broad guidelines of a general theme members post a favorite poem each day, and discuss each other's submissions. A majordomo list: submit the message " subscribe pod-l " to the address majordomo@it.ca

poetrycafe This is a new list, begun by Anthony Dauer. The form of the list will depend on who shows up to participate. To join in, send an email message to: Anthony Dauer (jackechs@erols.com)

Internet Writing Workshop: This is a disciplined environment, run in affiliation with a college, although not all members are students. If you are looking for immediate feedback on your poetry, this is a good place to get it. You can check it out, and subscribe, at Writing Workshop

writers: a whole range of anything that can be written. Warning! Can easily be 200 messages a day. 800+ writers, professional, semi-professional, and Whatever. 50 to 60 are regular posters. Flamewars are usually triggered by a newbie coming on and trying to tell everyone The Laws Of (writing / grammar / marketing / whatever). You have been warned. This is a listserv site, which means it has some additional powers above that of a majordomo site. For one thing, you can limit what you get by topic. (Most flamewars can be avoided by filtering out Filler.) There is a website where you can check out Writers. You can also subscribe from there: Writers

rec.arts.poems usenet newsgroup I find usenet to be a headache, but there is good stuff out there, if you have the patience to learn what names to watch for.

Web-page poetry workshops:
Articulata
AlienFlower

Enjoy!
WRITE ON! If you don't like the media, become the media.
Don't just sit there, write something! Anitra L. Freeman
anitra@speakeasy.org http://www.speakeasy.org/~anitra

Announcements:

Ruth Daigon won USC's annual Ann Stanford Poetry Award on July 3. Congratulations & well-deserved.

Illiterati, the print division of Menace Publishing (Alexandria Va.) has released "Between Absolutes" a collection of works by David Hunter Sutherland. The book is now available through the Online Poetry Bookstore (our sponsor)

Story Line Press announces the publication of Annie Finch's EVE.
Annie Finch's debut book of poems, EVE, reveals an original and unforgettable poetic voice. Finch's ambitious range of themes includes the struggles of contemporary spirituality, the "subjectivity" of the natural world, and the immanence of past generations. Annie Finch is the editor of A Formal Feeling Comes: Poems in Form by Contemporary Women (Story Line, 1994). For further information contact Joseph Bednarik slp@ptinet.com

>From Caron:
--- "I haven't met the man yet who, on setting out to enlighten
everyone else's ignorance, did any more than expose his own."
-- from a conversation at Skid Row

from: Phil Boiarski :
"Poetry is one letter away from poverty."

"When I gave food to the poor, they called me a saint. When I asked why the poor were hungry, they called me a communist." --Dom Helder Camara

=:-) Sometimes sig files make reading e-mails worthwhile

Pink Cadillac, a quarterly review of literature published in Oxford, Mississippi, seeks submissions of poetry, short fiction, visual arts, book reviews, and essays on contemporary culture and politics. Email submissions are encouraged. For more information, please go to: http://www.olemiss.edu/~jmitchel/caddy/info.htm (-Jason P. Mitchell jmitchel@olemiss.edu)

ETCETERA, a biannual journal of art, literature and ideas seeks submissions. Experimental works, poetry, short prose, interviews and black & white artwork and photography are welcome. Payment in copies. Email to "iedit4you@aol.com" for submission guidelines. For a sample of the current issue, please send $3 to: ETCETERA, P.O. Box 8543, New Haven, CT 06531

My publication is called The Poetic Soul. We publish 2 anthologies yearly of strictly WWW and AOL poets. We currently have two anthologies already in print and available. James Collins (JColl37549@aol.com)

Web Sites not yet listed on Poetry On The Web:
m=magazine p=personal x=misc *=popular

Review:
Brush Up Your Poetry!
by Michael Macrone
Cader Books (1996)

What a treat! Lit majors will get a lot of giggles from Michael's tongue-in-cheek humor Those who simply took poetry in school to try to get an easy grade, and are now looking to refresh their knowledge will have a fun time getting re-acquainted with the masters.

There's even some new things to learn for the lit majors - like Blake's quip on Milton. I've read lots of Blake, and lots of Milton, but never ran across this from Blake before: Milton is "of the Devil's party without knowing it". What a crack-up. And, in the context presented here, it's fun to contemplate how these two major Christian poets have shaped our beliefs. How often have we heard sermons that are more inspired by Milton than the Bible? It's also fun to contemplate on how diametrically opposed their beliefs are, yet both are considered major Christian poets. helps to place our strange century in perspective.

But that's just a small part of what makes this volume a joy. I have shared it with some teenagers - and while the jokes go over their heads, they still have found more to appreciate about poetry because of this volume. Therefore, as a scholar I may find a few faults here and there with Michael's comments on Chaucer, as a teacher I find the book an invaluable method of sharing some classic poetry moments with young readers.

And for those poets who have skipped this part of their education - here is a great place to start.

I set this book on par with Nikki Giovanni's "Shimmy Shimmy" - a similar volume. Where Nikki lovingly introduces young readers to early 20th century American poetry, Michael is introducing young folks to Poetry in a fun manner. And his light-handed humor makes it a fun volume to share with your friends who are poetry literate.

There are minor complaints, just as I had minor complaints with Nikki's book (I believe all humans have inner pain - it's a part of the pilgrim road - nor do I believe that blaming others for that pain is a worthwhile endeavor), these minor quibbles do not distract from the overall enjoyment of the book. For example, I think that when Michael jumped in the OED and chose the 1st definition for bolt, as opposed to the 8th definition in the "miller's tale" - he missed a lot of fun and a great pun. Minor scholastic quibble. If I were his teacher, I'd make him go back to his sources. But, since I am his reader, and the book is printed, we'll ignore these minor quibbles. I know - that doesn't sound like me. Why would I ignore such sloppy scholarship? Because Michael wrote in his introduction: "I hope it inspires you to search for more". This goal was achieved. =:-)

Order from http://www.soos.com/poetpark/books/

News: As I age more and more people that supported me as a writer are moving on. Marvin Malone was one who gave me a lot of support and published my early work. We'll all miss his editorship of Wormwood Review.

To send press releases, etc: send an e-mail with the words "news powwow" in the subject area to powwow@soos.com

Thanks! -Rich