I’ve been thinking about bragging. These days we call it promotion. Social media is thick with it. Bragging used to be frowned upon, but it doesn’t seem to be that way so much anymore. I get it. I try to promote Solace in So Many Words and my writing. That’s professional promotion that’s seems required these days when we each have a persona we present to the world. But let’s not get into the branding of Ellen Wade Beals--ouch. How about when it comes to personal … [Read more...]
Archives for April 2016
Lummox wants work; Trees and Math Anxiety; and Bird-watching
Howdy – How’s your April shaping up? Have you been celebrating poetry? Reading it? Writing it? I got an email from Lummox Poetry Anthology #5, which is looking for work on the theme of “ism" or "isms." Examples cited include: Alcoholism, Capitalism, Patriotism, Buddhism, Globalism, Conformism, Masochism, Regionalism, Commercialism, Pessimism, Mannerism, Egotism, Dogmatism, Realism, etc, etc. Lummox #5 is also looking for illustrations, collages, artwork of all kinds. … [Read more...]
Controversial words, controversial works
In the literary world, a couple of respected publications are being questioned for their choice of content. In both cases, the writing itself was far from exceptional. In the first incident the publication is Kenyon Review's KR Online, which featured two poems by John Smelcer, “Indian Blues” and “Smoke Signals.” I’d link to them but they have been taken down by editor David Lynn. This was after a stink was raised on social media about Smelcer's appropriating indigenous … [Read more...]
News on SISMW contributors and friends & calls for submissions
Hello. Hope your Spring has sprung. Here in Chicago we have not quite gotten to warm weather yet. And the news seems to be that other areas of the country have also experienced a return to winter. I guess we should expect April to be harsh for as T. S. Eliot told us: "April is the cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory and desire, stirring / Dull roots with spring rain." BTW, Happy Poetry Month. Cuban-American author Margarita Engle has an … [Read more...]