Saturday, January 23, 2016


January 21, 2016

  1. Welcome
  2. News and jabber
    1. I am putting my notes online via a blog at http://bigelowpoets.blogspot.com/
    2. National Poetry Month, April
      1. What about a reading here?
Andrews, Margaret <MAndrews@fairfieldct.org>
9:47 AM (21 minutes ago)
to me
Dear Mr. Gilmore:
That’s wonderful news!   We’ll be sure to get it into our April newsletter when you have more information about what you’d like to do.
It would make a nice Thursday evening program, say about 6:30 or 7 pm   We will start to be open Saturday mornings in March - June as well – say 10 a.m or 10:30 am?
Daytime room scheduling gets a bit difficult in spring since we have so many other things pre-booked.  However, you could substitute one of your already planned class times for a reading time if that would work.
I need 4 weeks lead time for the CT Post Calendar.
I need 3 weeks for public relations out to print and electronic media.
The deadline for the April newsletter for material and any photos to me will be Monday, March 7th.
We will also create a flyer that gets posted in various places around the building and goes to area libraries & Chamber of Commerce for their member businesses to help promote.
Please stay in touch and we’ll make plans when you’re ready.
Sincerely,
Margaret Andrews
Alarcon died January 15, 2016
L.A. Prayer
BY FRANCISCO X. ALARCÓN
April 1992
something
was wrong                  
when buses                
didn't come                
streets                          
were                              
no longer                    
streets                          
how easy                      
hands                          
became                        
weapons                      
blows                            
gunfire                        
rupturing                    
the night                    
the more
we run
the more
we burn
o god
show us
the way
lead us
spare us
from ever
turning into
walking
matches
amidst
so much
gasoline
Francisco X. Alarcon, "L.A. Prayer" from From the Other Side of Night/Del otro lado de la noche: New and Selected Poems. Copyright © 2002 by Francisco X. Alarcon.  Reprinted by permission of University of Arizona Press.
Source: From the Other Side of Night/Del otro lado de la noche: New and Selected Poems. (University of Arizona Press, 2002)
I bring him up in part to introduce you to Martin Espada, another Latino poet and one I am happy to have met on several occasions. He comes to Connecticut a lot and is worth the reading and the effort to attend his readings. He is a splendid reader.
March 22: Reading, 1 PM
E.O. Smith High School
Storrs, CT
Contact: Denise Abercrombie, dabercrombie@EOSmith.org
March 23: Reading, 6:30 PM
Quinnipiac University
Hamden, CT
Contact: Jason Koo, koo@brooklynpoets.org
  1. The current assignment
    1. Who did it?
    2. Did you bring the source poem?
    3. Part of the reason for this assignment is to get you to read poems. Molly Peacock says to read  fourteen poems for each one you write. Go to Barnes and Noble, have a coffee and read from their racks. You don’t have to buy the book. Skim through a handful. Find something you like. Enjoy it. Look for things you want to put into your own poems.
    4. For those who used lines I provided, here are the sources
      1. “Being a dog and being treated like one” John Berryman
      2. “When we were walking in the day’s light, seeing/the flight of bones to the stars,” Conrad Aiken
      3. “She knows what you need, I know what you want.” Bob Dylan
[Verse 8]
When Ruthie says come see her
In her honky-tonk lagoon
Where I can watch her waltz for free
’Neath her Panamanian moon
And I say, “Aw come on now
You must know about my debutante”
And she says, “Your debutante just knows what you need
But I know what you want”
Oh, Mama, can this really be the end
To be stuck inside of Mobile
With the Memphis blues again
      1. “It’s too long that I have been alone” Allen Ginsberg “Message”
It’s too long that I have been alone
it’s too long that I’ve sat up in bed
without anyone to touch on the knee, man
or woman I don’t care what anymore, I
want love I was born for I want you with me now


  1. The next assignment
    1. Write a poem of exactly 13 lines
    2. This will force you out of couplets, quatrains, cinquains, etc
    3. Some will be forced to expand, others to contract
  2. Next Meeting
    1. February 4, 2016
  3. Other notes
    1. Regarding line breaks and manipulating the reader
      1. You must give the reader reason to put up with your shenanigans.
      2. Write up to the validity of the impulse to write, the validity of the moment you are trying to consecrate.
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