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Dear Readers,
A warm thanks to all of you who have helped us meet our 2017 fundraising goal! With some last minute contributions still arriving, we haven't yet tallied the final number, but late last week, we were just $7500 away. To those who have contributed for the first time, and to our friends who have supported us for years, many many thanks for allowing us to continue in service to poetry!
Enjoy this week's poems!
Warmest regards,
Don Selby & Diane Boller
2. Sponsor Messages
MFA in Poetry at Texas State University
The MFA in Poetry at Texas State University offers students the opportunity to work closely with distinguished faculty such as Naomi Shihab Nye, Cyrus Cassells, Cecily Parks, Kathleen Peirce, Roger Jones, and Steve Wilson. Students also learn from internationally known visiting poets, and develop their craft in a supportive and naturally beautiful setting, just 30 minutes from Austin. Assistantships and scholarships are available. The application deadline is January 15th. Please visit our website to learn more, or email us at mfinearts@txstate.edu with any questions.
Vermont College of Fine Arts MFAs in Writing
Vermont College of Fine Arts offers a traditinal low-residency MFA in Writing programÂnow celebrating its 35th yearÂalong with a residential MFA in Writing & Publishing program.
Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference
Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference, June 1-7, 2018ÂSpecializing in the literary translation of poetry and prose. Award-winning translators Kazim Ali, Susan Bernofsky, Mónica de la Torre, Bill Johnston, and Sora Kim-Russellwill offer introductory and advanced workshops along with an inspiring schedule of readings and lectures all in the heart of Vermont’s Green Mountains. See application details at
www.middlebury.edu/blwc/bltc.
Jackson Center for Creative Writing at Hollins
Write the next chapter of an epic.
Talented faculty. Visiting writers. Writer-in-Residence.
Graduate Assistantships, Teaching Fellowships,
Travel Funding, and Full Scholarships.
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
More than fifty years of achievement in poetry,
Fiction, and nonfiction.
Bachelor of Arts with concentration or Minor in creative writing
Where students mature into authors.
Most of all, a vibrant, supportive community.
https://hollinsmfa.wordpress.com/first-child/
Palm Beach Poetry Festival
January 15-20, 2018, Delray Beach, Florida
Workshops, readings, interview, gala and performance events with Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Chard deNiord, Beth Ann Fennelly, Ross Gay, Rodney Jones, Phillis Levin, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Tim Seibles. Admission is by application. For more information, visit www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org or email srw@palmbeachpoetryfestival.org
3. Poetry News Links
News and reviews from around the web, updated daily: Rebecca Foust introduces Naomi Shihab Nye's "Burning the Old Year." (Women's Voices for Change) Kathryn Nuernberger reviews collections by Jenny Molberg, Jennifer Maritza McCauley, Traci Brimhall, and Layli Long Soldier. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) Michael Longley on the poetry of Northern Ireland’s Troubles. (New Statesman) Conor O’Callaghan on "a new year that changed me: when Seamus Heaney came round for tea." (The Guardian) Tanya Angell Allen's tribute to her father, Dick Allen. (Hartford Courant) An obituary for Dick Allen, 78. (Hartford Courant) David Roderick presents "Fascist Statue," by Keith Ekiss. (San Francisco Chronicle) And more...4. New Arrivals
These new arrivals are available for purchase via Poetry Daily/Amazon.com.
Chairs in the River, Laura Bayless (FutureCycle Press) From Here On: Four Sunday Drives, Don Thompson (FutureCycle Press) Bridled, Amy Meng (Pleiades Press) The Magic My Body Becomes, Jess Rizkallah (The University of Arkansas Press) The Getty Fiend, Ken White (Les Figues Press) Voices, Places: Essays, David Mason (Paul Dry Books)5. This Week’s Featured Poets
The work of the following poets will appear as Today's Poem on the days indicated:
Monday - Lesley Wheeler
Tuesday - Philip Schultz
Wednesday - Robert Cording
Thursday - Penelope Shuttle
Friday - Yvonne Reddick
Saturday - Adrienne Su
Sunday - Chana Bloch
6. Featured Poets December 25, 2017 - December 31, 2017
These and other past featured poets may be found in our archive:
Monday -Â Emily Grosholz
Tuesday -Â Henri ColeÂ
Wednesday -Â David WheatleyÂ
Thursday - Alan Jenkins
Friday - Gabriel Fried
Saturday - Emily RoskoÂ
Sunday - Gregory Djanikian
7. Last Year’s Featured Poets
These poems will be retired from our archive during the coming week.
Stephen Dunn, "Historically Speaking"
Peter Everwine, "Lines Written for Elmo Castelnuovo"
Jameson Fitzpatrick, "I Woke Up"
Bruce Bennett, "The Princess of War, The Queen of Nowhere"
V. Penelope Pelizzon, "Western Wind" and "Wishes for 50"
David Wojahn, "Absolute Rhythm"
Khadijah Queen, "Montell Jordan came to the Fatburger drive-thru"
8. Poem From Last Year
I Woke Up
and it was political.Â
I made coffee and the coffee was political.Â
I took a shower and the water was.Â
I walked down the street in short shorts and a Bob Mizer tank topÂ
and they were political, the walking and the shorts and the beefcakeÂ
silkscreen of the man posing in a G-string. I forgot my sunglassesÂ
and later, on the train, that was political,Â
when I studied every handsome man in the car.Â
Who I thought was handsome was political.Â
I went to work at the university and everything wasÂ
very obviously political, the department and the institution.Â
All the cigarettes I smoked between classes were political,Â
where I threw them when I was through.Â
I was blond and it was political.Â
So was the difference between "blond" and "blonde."Â
I had long hair and it was political. I shaved my head and it was.Â
That I didn't know how to grieve when another person was killed in AmericaÂ
was political, and it was political when America killed another person,Â
who they were and what color and gender and who I am in relation.Â
I couldn't think about it for too long without feeling a helplessnessÂ
like childhood. I was a child and it was political, being a boyÂ
who was bad at it. I couldn't catch and so the ball became political.Â
My mother read to me almost every nightÂ
and the conditions that enabled her to do so were political.Â
That my father's money was new was political, that it was proving something.Â
Someone called me faggot and it was political.Â
I called myself a faggot and it was political.Â
How difficult my life felt relative to how difficult it wasÂ
was political. I thought I could become a writerÂ
and it was political that I could imagine it.Â
I thought I was not a political poet and stillÂ
my imagination was political.Â
It had been, this whole time I was asleep.
Jameson Fitzpatrick
Poetry
January 2017
Copyright © 2017 by Jameson Fitzpatrick
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission
Copyright © 2017. All rights reserved.
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