There’s a great article on Philip Levine (“Songs,” “Waking in Alicante”), our new U.S. Poet Laureate, titled “A Poet Laureate from the Proletariat: An Appreciation of Philip Levine” written by Bill Morris in The Millions. Bill Morris, who also provides a sketch of Phil, says he has committed to memory the last stanza of “This New Day,” which is:
And what we get is what we bring:
A grey light coming on at dawn,
No fresh start and no bird song
And no sea and no shore
That someone hasn’t seen before.
While I am on the subject of Philip Levine, did you see the September 19 article in The Onion? For those of you who do not know, The Onion is a humor publication and published “Distressed Nation Turns to Poet Laureate for Solace.”
The contributor who wrote “Me, My Brother & the Skunk,” k. biadaszkiewicz is also a playwright and her play The Charity Fish Fry Tinikling Show has been selected for the 2011 Humble Play New Play Festival of Appalachian Ohio, which is put on by ARTS/ West in Athens, Ohio.
She describes the play this way: “The Charity Fish Fry Tinikling Show” is about a young woman who has never heard her father say he is proud of her. She works very hard to assemble and put on a one-of-a-kind show and lets him know, so he can attend. After all her efforts, she fails in her goal. But she finds something better. My artistic take on this piece is that it is an innovative and entertaining physical theatre piece ideal for energetic actors and a director with a playful imagination and comedic sensibility. “The Charity Fish Fry Tinikling Show” has been described by its original director as commedia dell’arte, but I wrote it to represent a part of my own experience that I treasure.” Congrats!
The play festival has several local sponsors and one came up with a unique fund-raiser. Jim Kisor of Decorative Injections designed a special daisy tattoo for the festival. It was available in two sizes ($30 and $50) and half the proceeds from sales were donated to the ARTS/West in support of the play festival. For those not ready to take the permanent step, the design was also available as a temporary tattoo for a donation of $1.
If you enjoy reading Kathleen Kirk, you may also want to read Escape into Life, which is an online arts journal where she frequently writes about poetry. In the past month, she has introduced readers to Karen J. Weyant, Joe Wilkins, Vivian Shipley, Patricia Clark, Daniel M. Shapiro, and most recently, Mather Schneider.
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