HICKORY POET HOW-TO, PART II
So last time we discussed the advantages for the would-be poet in Hickory to read, write, follow this column, attend Poetry Hickory, and take a class. If you missed that column, you can read it at www.scottowensmusings.blogspot.com. Today we’ll continue with a few more tips on how a poet in Hickory can “get started and keep going.”
6. Join the Club. Since 1932 the North Carolina Poetry Society has facilitated networking and development of poets across the state, bringing them together at least three times a year for annual meetings at the Weymouth Center in Southern Pines, coordinating annual contests in 14 categories, publishing an annual anthology of NC poems, distributing a monthly newsletter, maintaining an online calendar of poetry events, and sponsoring a series of workshops with established poets across the state. Information on “joining the club,” is available at the Society’s website at http://www.ncpoetrysociety.org/. An even larger resource for both poets and other writers is the North Carolina Writers’ Network. NCWN sponsors two annual conferences which feature nationally renowned guest speakers, workshops, classes, and readings. They also distribute weekly updates on opportunities for writers. Their website is http://www.ncwriters.org/. Beyond the state level the two most significant poetry organizations are Associated Writing Programs (http://www.awpwriter.org/) and the Academy of American Poets (http://www.poets.org/).
7. Network. Joining poetry support organizations and attending classes and readings will give the poet the chance to meet writers, editors, publishers and others interested in poetry, but many of those activities are not scheduled more than once a month or last only a short period of time. As with any vocation or avocation, the practitioner may need more frequent interaction with others to keep them motivated and to provide the connections necessary for continued development and success. Virtually every poet I know has a facebook page and is connected through that medium to dozens of other poets, editors, publishers, and readers with similar interests or backgrounds. Many poets also maintain blogs. Visiting these blogs provides information, ideas, and the possibility of “joining the discussion” about poetry.
8. Join or Form a Group. Very few, if any, writers create in a vacuum. Most writers have at least one trusted colleague who reviews their material before the writer sends it out for publication. Many writers belong to critique groups who share their work with each other and discuss ways of improving it. Virtually every creative writing class I have ever taught has resulted in the formation of at least one such group as those students who connected with each other in the class look to keep the energy they’ve developed together going.
9. Understand that the biggest part of writing is rewriting. I never stop revising a poem. In fact, many of my best revisions came after the poem was published. Most of the poets I know are similar in their practices. For most writers inspiration is at best only the beginning, and at worst a fallacy.
10. Submit. When you’re ready, when you think your work is good enough, and your will is strong enough to withstand rejection after rejection, send your poems out for publication. If you have been networking, then you probably know the editors of several journals fairly well by now. Start with them. That way you’ll know that it will be the editor and not a graduate assistant who reads them, and you’ll be more likely to at least get a personal note back perhaps even with suggestions on how to make the poem better suited to that particular journal.
There is a lot more to know about the submission process, but we’ll save that for the next column. Come back in two weeks for more.
Showing posts with label Academy of American Poets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Academy of American Poets. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Support Your Local Poet
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL POET
It’s National Poetry Month! Who knew? And even those who did probably wonder what that means.
In 1996, the Academy of American Poets established April as National Poetry Month as a means of highlighting the legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets, introducing more Americans to the pleasures of poetry, bringing poets and poetry to the public, making poetry a more significant part of school curricula, increasing attention paid to poetry by the media, encouraging publication and distribution of poetry, and increasing philanthropic support for poets and poetry.
One way to tell when a cause is “endangered” is when it is given its own month as a period for bringing more attention to it. Think about it, there is no National Baseball Month, National Hollywood Celebrity Month, National Automobile Month, or National American Idol Month. Those “causes” are so much in the forefront of the American mind that we don’t need a designated month to remind us to pay attention to them. Such designations are reserved for minorities, the disempowered, or causes to which too little attention is paid. Poetry, for example, shares its National Month designation with the causes of Community Service, Sexual Assault Awareness, Soy Foods, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and Financial Literacy (boy does that one need greater exposure these days).
How well these designations work depends entirely upon what is done as a result of them. In the case of poetry, schools, organizations, journals, and writers use the month as a “rallying point” for poetry. They send out mass mailings, arrange live and online programs, and schedule readings, signings, and special educational opportunities. The best source for ideas on how to participate is the Academy of American Poets website at www.poets.org/npm/. There you’ll find lesson plans for teaching poetry, tip sheets for setting up displays and programs at libraries and bookstores, and a list of national and local events. Information is also available on the websites of state and local poetry support organizations like the North Carolina Writer’s Network (www.ncwriters.org) and the North Carolina Poetry Society (www.sleepycreek.org/poetry/).
Here is a list of ways almost anyone can participate in National Poetry Month:
• Buy a book of poetry. Main Street Rag Publishers (www.mainstreetrag.com) out of Charlotte publishes about 100 books of poems each year, many of them by local and state authors. Many MSR titles are available locally at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in downtown Hickory.
• Subscribe to a poetry journal or read one online. NC journals publishing poetry include Main Street Rag, Dead Mule, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Asheville Poetry Review, Cave Wall, Carolina Quarterly, North Carolina Literary Quarterly, The Sun, Iodine, Cold Mountain Review, and Greensboro Review. Nearly all of them have websites that make ordering a subscription easy to do.
• Take a class. Creative writing classes are offered at CVCC and Lenoir Rhyne and occasionally at local libraries.
• Attend a reading. Poetry Hickory features two published poets and three Open Mic poets at 6:30 on the first Tuesday of each month at Taste Full Beans. A complete schedule is available at www.poetryhickory.com
• Support an organization by making a donation or joining. Nearly all poetry journals and reading series are non-profits and can benefit from financial support. Organizations like NCWN, NCPS, and the Poetry Council of NC are also non-profits that attempt to help writers and audiences connect.
• Finally, develop a greater interest in poetry by reading, writing, and talking about poetry.
According to one often-quoted poem, “April is the cruelest.” Hopefully, participating in
National Poetry Month, increasing your own appreciation of poetry, and helping others develop their taste for poetry as well can help lessen the negative effects T. S. Eliot wrote of.
It’s National Poetry Month! Who knew? And even those who did probably wonder what that means.
In 1996, the Academy of American Poets established April as National Poetry Month as a means of highlighting the legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets, introducing more Americans to the pleasures of poetry, bringing poets and poetry to the public, making poetry a more significant part of school curricula, increasing attention paid to poetry by the media, encouraging publication and distribution of poetry, and increasing philanthropic support for poets and poetry.
One way to tell when a cause is “endangered” is when it is given its own month as a period for bringing more attention to it. Think about it, there is no National Baseball Month, National Hollywood Celebrity Month, National Automobile Month, or National American Idol Month. Those “causes” are so much in the forefront of the American mind that we don’t need a designated month to remind us to pay attention to them. Such designations are reserved for minorities, the disempowered, or causes to which too little attention is paid. Poetry, for example, shares its National Month designation with the causes of Community Service, Sexual Assault Awareness, Soy Foods, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and Financial Literacy (boy does that one need greater exposure these days).
How well these designations work depends entirely upon what is done as a result of them. In the case of poetry, schools, organizations, journals, and writers use the month as a “rallying point” for poetry. They send out mass mailings, arrange live and online programs, and schedule readings, signings, and special educational opportunities. The best source for ideas on how to participate is the Academy of American Poets website at www.poets.org/npm/. There you’ll find lesson plans for teaching poetry, tip sheets for setting up displays and programs at libraries and bookstores, and a list of national and local events. Information is also available on the websites of state and local poetry support organizations like the North Carolina Writer’s Network (www.ncwriters.org) and the North Carolina Poetry Society (www.sleepycreek.org/poetry/).
Here is a list of ways almost anyone can participate in National Poetry Month:
• Buy a book of poetry. Main Street Rag Publishers (www.mainstreetrag.com) out of Charlotte publishes about 100 books of poems each year, many of them by local and state authors. Many MSR titles are available locally at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in downtown Hickory.
• Subscribe to a poetry journal or read one online. NC journals publishing poetry include Main Street Rag, Dead Mule, Wild Goose Poetry Review, Asheville Poetry Review, Cave Wall, Carolina Quarterly, North Carolina Literary Quarterly, The Sun, Iodine, Cold Mountain Review, and Greensboro Review. Nearly all of them have websites that make ordering a subscription easy to do.
• Take a class. Creative writing classes are offered at CVCC and Lenoir Rhyne and occasionally at local libraries.
• Attend a reading. Poetry Hickory features two published poets and three Open Mic poets at 6:30 on the first Tuesday of each month at Taste Full Beans. A complete schedule is available at www.poetryhickory.com
• Support an organization by making a donation or joining. Nearly all poetry journals and reading series are non-profits and can benefit from financial support. Organizations like NCWN, NCPS, and the Poetry Council of NC are also non-profits that attempt to help writers and audiences connect.
• Finally, develop a greater interest in poetry by reading, writing, and talking about poetry.
According to one often-quoted poem, “April is the cruelest.” Hopefully, participating in
National Poetry Month, increasing your own appreciation of poetry, and helping others develop their taste for poetry as well can help lessen the negative effects T. S. Eliot wrote of.
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