Happy Ishtar

paper wasp's Haiku Submission

Submissions are now open for paper wasp’s June/Winter issue of contemporary and experimental haiku. 

It is an issue in which poets can spread their wings, be different, be daring or even … just relieved that at long last all those experiments in the bottom drawer might find a home.

The deadline for the experimental and contemporary haiku June/Winter issue is 1 May 2014.

Email: ksamuelowicz@optusnet.com.au

Postal: paper wasp, 14 Fig Tree Pocket Rd, Chapel Hill, Qld 4069, Australia

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Anne Elvey and Mark Tredinnick INVITATION BOOK LAUNCH

Issa Haiku

potato leaf--
a rice bowl's worth
of dew!

- Issa 1813

.芋の葉や親碗程の露の玉
imo no ha ya oya wan hodo no tsuyu no tama

5 Points where Jazz and Poetry meet - from Blog SUPREME

by PAMELA ESPELAND

Structured and free, sonic and rhythmic, poems and jazz music seem like natural partners. 

For National Poetry Month and Jazz Appreciation Month, here are some notable collisions between the two.

Hear it, love it, dance to it! http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/

Jayne Cortez tells it like it is.

Ghazal - by Maulana Hasrat Mohani

Ghazal

By Maulana Hasrat Mohani

Silently, silently, crying day and night – I still remember
All those days of our love – I still remember 

With a thousand worries and even more fondness
I felt that first spark of love – I still remember 

At our first meeting when I was instantly taken
By the shy way you bit your finger – I still remember 

The time I yanked aside the curtain
And you hid behind your scarf – I still remember 

In the heat of the afternoon you tiptoed barefoot
Across the terrace and called to me – I still remember

Dodging every stranger’s glance and everyone’s wishes
You stole away at night – I still remember

That evening when the mere thought of separating
Made the tears pass from your eyes to mine – I still remember

And the place where you came to meet me, secretly, so secretly
And so long ago – but I still remember

At the moment of our parting, you said goodbye
With your lips dry and trembling – I still remember 

In spite of all your claims of piety, Hasrat,
That time of desire – I still remember

Translation from the UrduBy Hamida Banu Chopra, Nasreen Chopra, and Zack Rogow

Full essay on how the team translated this ghazal is HERE

Witty!

Top 50 Cricketers - as picked by MARTIN CROWE

Six generations of cricketing greats

• 1877-1900: WG Grace
• 1900-1930: Jack Hobbs, Herbert Sutcliffe, Victor Trumper, Sydney Barnes (4)
• 1930-1950: Don Bradman, Len Hutton, George Headley,Wally Hammond, Alec Bedser, Bill O'Reilly, Clarrie Grimmett (7)
• 1950-1970: Keith Miller, Denis Compton, Everton Weekes, Frank Worrell, Clyde Walcott, Garry Sobers,Graeme Pollock, Fred Trueman, Jim Laker, Godfrey Evans(10)
• 1970-1990: Viv Richards, Greg Chappell, Barry Richards, Sunil Gavaskar, Javed Miandad, Allan Border,Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Ian Botham, Alan Knott, Dennis Lillee, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall(14)
• 1990-2013: Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara,Ricky Ponting, Rahul Dravid, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Anil Kumble, Glenn McGrath, Allan Donald, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis,Curtly Ambrose (14)
• 
  
• The break-up: Opening batsmen: 7; No. 3s: 8; Nos. 4, 5: 8 Allrounders: 7; Wicketkeepers: 4; Fast bowlers: 10; Slow bowlers: 6

'The Naked Writer' - not always a pretty sight!

Apropos of sheep ...

Freshly dyed sheep run in view of the highway near Bathgate, Scotland. 

The sheep farmer has been dying his sheep with nontoxic dye to entertain passing motorists.

from Vogue Knitting via Susan Hawthorne

American Life in Poetry: SPIRIT OF THE BAT

"Despite having once been bitten by a rabid bat, and survived, much to the disappointment of my critics, I find bats fascinating, and Peggy Shumaker of Alaska has written a fine poem about them. I am especially fond of her perfect verb, “snick,” for the way they snatch insects out of the air."

 

- BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE 

Spirit of the Bat 

Hair rush, low swoop—

so those of us

stuck here on earth

know—you must be gods.

Or friends of gods,

granted chances

to push off into sky,

granted chances

to hear so well

your own voice bounced

back to you

maps the night.

Each hinge

in your wing’s

an act of creation.

Each insect

you snick out of air

a witness.

You transform

obstacles

into sounds,

then dodge them.

- Peggy Shumaker

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright © 2013 by Peggy Shumaker from her most recent book of poems, Toucan Nest: Poems of Costa Rica, Red Hen Press, 2013. Poem reprinted by permission of Peggy Shumaker and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2014 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

'Gold In Granite' by Glen Phillips - bilingual edition - with translator/editor Han Zhulin

Wise pyramid ...

Vatican to Digitize 41 Million Pages of Ancient Manuscripts

Doors leading to the Salone Sistino, a reading room for printed books in the Vatican Apostolic Library (via Vatican Library)

What happens when a wide swath of history — previously only explored by white-gloved librarians and erudite historians — is made available to anyone with a solid internet connection? Thanks to the Pope, we’ll soon find out.

The Vatican Apostolic Library has announced it will digitize all 82,000 manuscripts in its 135 collections with the help of a Japanese IT company. That’s 41 million pages spanning nearly 2,000 years of church history that will soon be clickable, zoomable, and presumably, printable. When all is said and done, you’ll be able to read the Psalms handwritten across13th-century vellum on your iPhone — so long as you speak ancient Greek.

More to be seen about this and other great interest features at

http://hyperallergic.com/

Opportunity for Poets

poetry circle

pəʊɪtri/ səːk(ə)l/ 

noun

1. 1.

an online group of poets from varying styles, experience and locations, seeking and providing constructive criticism to advance our poems

The group is evolving and harmonizing. Members exercise flexibility when seeking and providing feedback to suit their writing habits and commitments.

The concept of a circle appealed to me - a continuous line, with all positions on the circumference equal; each poet contributing and responding, perhaps even inspiring other members works - creating, responding, reinventing. The momentum of the circle acting as a creative centrifuge for our members.

Poetry circle is an small group seeking a new member or two. Please contact poet Natasha Adams at http://tashadams.com/contact to express your interest.