green, yellow, grey: go! May 13, 2009: I’m heading to Oregon tomorrow, and I can’t get Bob Kaufman out of my head. (more...) by Camille Dungy

Mujeres poetas de Venezuela/Women poets of Venezuela May 7, 2009: I received an unanticipated package early this week. Each month, enough packages containing books or journals show up in my box that I tend to be unfazed when an unexpected package arrives. Often, when such books arrive, I take a cursory glace at the cover and the table of contents, register interest, then set the book aside, promising to return [...] by Camille Dungy

Mother’s Day is on the way May 5, 2009: Mother’s Day is, for mailing purposes, essentially tomorrow. Attempting to be on top of this, I had picked out three perfect cards.  One for my mother, one for my grandmother, and one for my godmother, women who are still alive and well and happily involved in my life. Bless them.  Each would have a suggestion, for instance, as to where I [...] by Camille Dungy

Poetry now April 29, 2009: I’ve been posting quite a bit about the exciting work produced by some of our finest emerging poets, and I’ve also written about poems that are sonically engaging. So it may come as no surprise that I am pleased to announce that From the Fishouse: An Anthology of Poems that Sing, Rhyme, Resound, Syncopate, Alliterate, and Just Plain Sound [...] by Camille Dungy

What the Kids Are Reading These Days April 23, 2009: Every week I introduce my students to a few poems I think speak to what they’ve tried to write themselves.  I do this hoping they’ll read more and, reading more, learn to write better and better.  Amen.  It being near the end of the semester, I’ve been interested in what resonated most.  As ever, the answers surprised me. (more...) by Camille Dungy

Dyslexicon April 16, 2009: (An ode to words removed from the 2008 Oxford Junior Dictionary, a dictionary aimed at children ages 7 to 9, concluding with the newly-added words.) (more...) by Camille Dungy

Poetry is making things happen! Installment #2 (Help Him Woo Sarah Silverman) April 13, 2009: Can poetry help this man woo the woman of his dreams (and support at-risk youth in the process)? (more...) by Camille Dungy

Sound makes sense April 9, 2009: Yesterday a student came into my office with a guitar, and he sang me a song.  He did so because he had realized the music could convey more than his words could.  He wanted a boost behind the piece he’d written for our meeting.  I listened to his song (with pleasure: he plays guitar well and has a pleasant voice), but afterwards we talked [...] by Camille Dungy

Poetry is making things happen! Installment #1 (Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project) April 7, 2009: We’re nearly a week into National Poetry Month.  Poems, poems, everywhere. Also economic chaos, heightened criminal activity, catastrophic climate change…and all the other worrying realities of our time.   This world is full of real-time hard times. How can poetry make it better? (more...) by Camille Dungy

What’s the word for wonderful in your language? April 2, 2009: Global capitalism is nothing new.  Through history, the need to maintain the flow of capital has driven the diasporas of people, languages, and, yes, poetry.  Whoever thinks contemporary North American poetry is provincial or isolationist hasn’t read the four poets I discuss in this post. (more...) by Camille Dungy