Sunday, August 28, 2011

Lenard D. Moore, Richard Wright, 100 Thousand Poets, and Tanka


"In Retrospect: 9/11" a poem by Lenard D. Moore has been posted on the North Carolina Arts Council web site. Click the In Retrospect link to read Lenard's poem.


JQ Zheng sent this:
   
Curtis,

Thanks for sending me the news on your webpage. I wonder if you would like to forward this link about my book, The Other World of Richard Wright to haiku poets:

http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1401


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Michael Rothenberg, Founder

Your browser may not support display of this image. 100 Thousand Poets for Change

P.O. Box 870

Guerneville, Ca 95446

Phone: 305-753-4569

http://www.100TPC.org

walterblue@bigbridge.org

Poets Worldwide Unite for the Truly Historic "100 Thousand Poets for Change" Event

Poets in 400 cities representing 95 countries are currently organizing the largest poetry reading in history with over 500 individual events scheduled to take place simultaneously on September 24th to promote environmental, social, and political change. 

Poets, writers, artists, and humanitarians will create, perform, educate and demonstrate, in their individual communities, and decide their own specific area of focus for change within the overall framework of peace and sustainability, which founder Michael Rothenberg stated, “…is a major concern worldwide and the guiding principle for this global event.”

Bob Holman and Margery Snyder, in a recent article on About.com said, “the beauty of the concept of 100 Thousand Poets for Change is that it is completely decentralized and completely inclusive.”

The events range from a poetry and peace gathering in strife-torn Kabul and Jalalabad to 20 collective poetic actions in Mexico City where poets, painters, filmmakers and musicians will spread the word of peace and non-violence throughout the city with day long readings and workshops. There are 29 events planned in India, 7 in Nigeria, 17 in Canada, 19 in Great Britain, 5 in China, 3 in Cuba and over 220 events in the United States for a start. Participation continues to grow. Poetry demonstrations are being organized in political hotspots such as Cairo, Egypt and Madison, Wisconsin. There are 20 events in North Carolina where teacher/poets have mobilized and will be conducting poetry workshops and peace readings, and will send poems to congress in a statewide campaign for sustainability and to emphasize the need for arts in the schools. And along the Platte River near Omaha, Nebraska, poets will be demonstrating against TransCanada's planned Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

More examples of events can be easily accessed on the home page of the 100 Thousand Poets for Change website at www.100TPC.org.

All those involved are hoping, through their actions and events, to seize and redirect the political and social dialogue of the day and turn the narrative of civilization towards peace and sustainability.

Each city organizer and their community has an individual Event Location blog page on the website for posting written material, poetry, artwork, photos, and video to document this global mega-event across national borders.

Immediately following September 24th all documentation on the 100TPC.org website will be preserved by Stanford University in California, which has recognized 100 Thousand Poets for Change as an historical event, the largest poetry reading in history. They will archive the complete contents of the website, 100TPC.org, as part of their digital archiving program LOCKSS.

Founder Michael Rothenberg is a widely known poet, songwriter, editor of the online literary magazine Bigbridge.org and an environmental activist based in Northern California.


For information contact: http://www.100TPC.org

Contact: walterblue@bigbridge.org

Phone: 305-753-4569     



25 Tanka on the Theme of Social Realism: Call for Submissions

Please share with any appropriate venue.

The Special Features section of the Atlas Poetica web site is seeking submissions for a collection of ’25 Tanka on the Theme of Social Realism’ edited by M. Kei. Selections should address the topic of social realism, exemplified by great works of art and literature in the field, and covering topics such as poverty, war, violence, sex, urban life, moral decay, politics, immigration, discrimination, rape, social injustice, alcoholism and drug abuse, music, counterculture, desperation, disaster, crime, terrorism, insanity, unemployment, corruptions, famine, and more.

Tanka, waka, kyoka, and gogyoshi should explore the dark underbelly of human existence, exposing the terrors and struggles of the unhappy half of life. This does not mean they are without beauty or grace, but that they must find beauty amid the challenges of the world. Blunt tanka and difficult subjects are welcome, but they must be poetry. Both pastoral and urban works are welcome, but given the frequent presence of rural images in tanka already, the selection will be biased to the urban and suburban environment. (Social Realism is primarily an urban literature.)

Famous examples of Social Realism in art and literature include George Bellows ‘Both Members of This Club’ (painting), Dorothea Lange’s ‘Depression Mother’ (photography), Arthur Miller’s ‘Death of a Saleman’ (theater), and Upton Sinclair’s ‘The Jungle’ (novel).

The general Atlas Poetica guidelines apply, therefore poets must be 16 or older. Please visit for complete guidelines and to view previous Special Features. Poems should be contained in the body of an email. Please query before sending attachments.

Submissions: Poets are invited to send up to ten poems each, but only one poem will be chosen by each poet, in keeping with the theme and format of the ’25 Poems’ features on the Atlas Poetica website. Send to: editor@AtlasPoetica.org, with a subject line of ‘Tanka for Children.’ Reprints are acceptable, as long as they include previous publication information.

Deadline: Deadline for submitting to ’25 Tanka on the Theme of Social Realism’ is November 30, 2011. The planned publication date is Winter 2010/2011. Special Features are published on an irregular schedule.

Email address for submissions: Editor (at) AtlasPoetica (dot) org -- subject line: Social Realism

--
M. Kei
Editor, Atlas Poetica
A Journal of Poetry of Place in Contemporary Tanka

AtlasPoetica.org

To keep abreast of developments, please subscribe to Keibooks-Announce list at or by sending email to: Keibooks-Announce-subscribe@googlegroups.com




Press Release – For Immediate Release – Please post to all appropriate venues

26 August 2011 — Perryville, Maryland, USA

Atlas Poetica : A Journal of Poetry of Place in Contemporary Tanka is pleased to announce ‘From Lime Trees to Eucalypts : A Botany of Tanka,’ a special featured edited and with an introduction by Angela Leuck. The seventh installment in the Special Features hosted at AtlasPoetica.org, the website for Atlas Poetica. ‘From Lime Trees to Eucalypts’ is a collection of poetry of place that explores locality through the plants of the region. Angela Leuck is a well known editor of haiku and tanka on the theme of flowers and gardens.

Nature has always been a popular subject in tanka, both classical and modern, but Leuck drove the topic forward by asking poets to send poems about “plants that are typically associated with a particular region, even if they are not well known outside that region.” Each selection is accompanied by the botanical name as well as location so that readers may appreciate the particular plants along with the poems.

Twenty-five poets, some well known and others only recently emerging into the public eye, evoke love and loss and coming home, whether it be amid the prickly pears (Opuntia ficus-indica) of Sicily or the huon pines (Lagarostrobos franklinii) of Tasmania. Homer is seen in the olive trees (Olea europea) of Greece and pilgrims amid the mayflowers (Epigaea repens) of Nova Scotia. Prayers are offered with kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) in America, but in humorous counterpoint, a few curses are muttered for the key-limes (Citrus aurantiifolia) and sea-grapes (Coccoloba uvifera) of Key West.

Atlas Poetica is an international tanka journal that publishes all forms of tanka literature: tanka, kyoka, and gogyoshi, along with prose, sequences and sets, shaped poetry, and non-fiction. The Atlas Poetica Special Features section highlights different aspects of the literature. 2010 focussed on tanka traditions from around the world, while 2011 will focus on different aspects of the literature. An upcoming Special Feature will present ’25 Tanka Poets from Great Britain and Ireland’ edited by Jon Baldwin.

Designed by Alex von Vaupel, Technical Director for Atlas Poetica, the website hosts information about the journal, submission guidelines, ordering information and sample issues. Previous Special Features are archived free online.

Atlas Poetica is now accepting proposals for Special Features to publish in 2012. Anyone interested in being a Guest Editor for a Special Feature at the Atlas Poetica website will find guidelines on the Special Features home page below the Atlas butterfly that is the symbol of the journal. Anyone interested in being a Guest Editor should familiarize themselves with the project by reading the Special Features section and also sample issues of the journal archived on the site.

About Keibooks:

Keibooks is a micropress located in Perryville, Maryland, USA, founded by M. Kei, a poet and tall ship sailor. Keibooks publishes select projects reflecting his interest in tanka poetry and the sea. Using print-on-demand technology, Keibooks is able to publish high quality literature in attractive, affordable editions.

Keibooks is home to Atlas Poetica : A Journal of Poetry of Place in Contemporary Tanka, and previously published Fire Pearls : Short Masterpieces of the Human Heart, a classic anthology of tanka love poems, as well as several other titles. It recently published Catzilla! Tanka, Kyoka, and Gogyoshi About Cats. For more information, visit: http://AtlasPoetica.org

Contact:
M. Kei, publisher and editor
Keibooks
P O Box 516,
Perryville, MD, 21903, USA.
Email: Keibooks (at) gmail.com
http://AtlasPoetica.org

--
M. Kei
Editor, Atlas Poetica
A Journal of Poetry of Place in Contemporary Tanka



The renray posted the other day has a title. Thanks to all who participated in naming the poem. I'll post a follow-up soon and announce/credit the person who named our renray.

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