Hey there! Happy Mother's Day. One bit of news I heard this week is that Glimmer Train is coming to its final destination – here’s what appeared in a recent email: “Most of you already know that next fall Glimmer Train will—after almost 30 years—finally arrive at the end of the line: The last Writers Ask, #85, will be out in October 2019, and Glimmer Train #106, the fall issue, will also be out in October (a little later than the usual August) so we have time to tuck every … [Read more...]
Donne, Wright, Calls for submissions
Howdy. I saw a tornado of cottonwood on my deck today. It’s that time of year. The lawn is edged in white. The news of the world and my country’s official take on those news events have left me without adequate words. Fortunately a Facebook friend named Bob Dixon-Kolar made a couple posts that caught my attention this week. One is this passage by John Donne, which is taken from Meditation 17, from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions. Donne wrote it in prose in 1624, but … [Read more...]
First news of the year –accomplishments and passages
January is peppermint. Candy canes are the last of the holiday candy. Shadows stripe the days. And the arctic air makes your breath seem almost mentholated. Everything's a little sharper. It is wonderful to see Solace in So Many Words contributors do illustrious things. BIG congrats to Ellen Bass, who recently was elected to the Academy of American Poets Board of Chancellors. BTW, if you resolve to read more poetry this year, check out the Poem-A-Day series. And … [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...]
News of contributors: Poniewaz, Somlo, Hilbert, Miller, Levine, Subprimal and Nelson Algren contest
I was sorry to read at various sources that Jeff Poniewaz recently passed away. He was currently serving as Milwaukee’s Poet Laureate. Known as an eco-poet Jeff taught Literature of Ecological Vision via the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee since 1989. His book Dolphin Leaping in the Milky Way was awarded the Discovery Award from PEN in 1987. Submission letters and his bio always came with this note: “His last name is pronounced POE-nYEAH-vAHsh and is Polish for … [Read more...]