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Zeddie Little, also known as "Ridiculously Photogenic Guy," can apparently do it all. He beams, he memes, and now, he phonemes. The rest of us should just give up.

Credit to lolPhonology.

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I... want to work here.

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This passage is terrific.

I can't pretend to be familiar with Adrienne Rich's work, and yet I can feel the magnitude of her passing. It's a terrible loss for poetry, because she was, very clearly, a figure of great stature. The silver lining: she leaves behind a legacy in poetry, yes, but also in feminism. Rich has long been on my ever-growing list of poets to read. Perhaps her death is the push I needed to get her work into my hands.

Adrienne Rich: Yes, I do, and I usually say to them—which I also believe to be true—“You were changing your life and you read my book or you read that poem at a point where you could use it, and I’m really glad, but you were changing your life.” Somehow when we are in the process of making...

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Saw this post and had no choice but to reblog, adding to it my twelfth-grade memory of an assignment for Studies in World Literature. After reading Swift's "A Modest Proposal, we were tasked with the creation of a baby-eating infomercial. Perhaps an unorthodox project for Catholic school, yet it proved a surprisingly apt vessel by which to teach Swift, and it was easily the best group project I've worked on. Thank you, Mr. K! I know you've stopped assigning the project now that you have a baby of your own; I'm nevertheless grateful for the memory, and for the lesson in satire. It has certainly helped my own writing.

Eating babies

“I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.”

— Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal”

Thing I learned today: students suddenly start paying attention during lecture when you call Jonathan Swift “the Stephen Colbert of the eighteenth century.” (via englishprof)

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I'm excited for this! My poem will be in print, and in good company at that.

Hart House Review Launch 2012!

Come join us as we celebrate the launch of The Hart House Review’s 20th Anniversary edition, and second year of national distribution!

There will be readings by Rob Benvie, Andrew McEwan, Jenn Gardner, Stevie Howell, Aaron Kreuter, Marlena Millikin, Tracy Kyncl, and Rebecca Melnyk.

Link to the Facebook event here.

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I'm happy to announce that my poem, "Suburban Attire," has been featured in the latest issue of Steps Magazine. Thanks to my editor, Eric Andrew-Gee, for the helpful suggestions.

Check it out, folks! I'm on my way.

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My favourite moments:

Franzen: "People I care about are readers... particularly serious readers and writers, these are my people. And we do not like to yak about ourselves."

#JonathanFranzenHates

At least he keeps things interesting...?

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Semantics and abortion

Read "Republican Presidential Candidates are Dangerous to Women's Health" (PDF) if you want to be angry at Republicans. But read it also for this interesting linguistic bit from Planned Parenthood: anti-choice. Is there a corresponding anti-life used by pro-lifers? Political rhetoric fascinates me. To rephrase "pro-life" and "pro-choice" (respectively) in opposite semantic terms is to exercise simply one's persuasive abilities.

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There are very few thoughts or concepts that can’t be put into plain English, provided anyone truly wants to do it. But for everyone who strives for clarity and simplicity, there are three who for one reason or another prefer to draw the clouds across the sky.

E. B. White, Why Brevity Is Not the Gold Standard for Style (via nevver)

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11. If it sounds like writing, rewrite it. — Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing

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Here's a video. Don't watch the video, it merely distracts. Scroll down instead, or close your eyes. And ignore the beginning and end notes uttered by the PBS NewsHour anchor. But please, stop and listen to Tony Hoagland read "Romantic Moment" (from Unincorporated Persons in the Late Honda Dynasty), a poem I love and am sharing to spread that love--my belated Valentine's gift to you.

Also related, and also brilliant, and also from Unincorporated Persons is "Love," a poem Tony read at SLS Montreal '11 and yet another master class in writing the funny/sad binary. He prefaced his recitation with a sly remark: "I really hate the title of this poem." As if he wasn't already my man-poet crush. I couldn't locate a video of this or any other recitation, unfortunately, so I've transcribed the poem here: Love   The middle-aged man who cannot make love to his wife with the erectile authority of yesteryear must lower his head and suck her breasts with the tenderness and acumen of Walt Whitman. And if the woman has lost her breasts to the surgeon and his silver knife, she must hump the man's leg in the dark bedroom like a rodeo bronco rider. Let them be hard and wet again, respectively. Let them convince, and be convinced. It is the kind of heroic performance that no one will ever mention. It is the part of the journey where the staircase gets narrow and you must turn sideways to pass. Over the earth the clouds mutate and roll. The trees catch their breath for another try. Wind rips through the dried-out grass with a threshing sound. The man is going under the covers. The woman letting him. Both of them refusing to be stopped by shame. All that talk about love, and This is what that word was pointing at. That ending couplet. That fourth stanza. Can we just discuss Tony for a quick minute? Oh, you mean that's what we're doing currently? What a guy. I'm curious to hear what people think about the fifth stanza and its place within the greater whole. And re: "Romantic Moment," you might be interested to know that the final lines Tony recites in the video ("Then she suggests that it is time for us to go / to get some ice cream cones, and eat them") differ from those in Unincorporated Persons ("Then she suggests that it is time for us to go / do something personal, hidden, and human"). How do these different endings compare to you? I find that they express roughly the same sentiments, but slightly prefer the video version for its subtlety and innocence. Send your thoughts to bzuzarte (at) gmail (dot) com. Feel free to send me Sweet Ruin and What Narcissism Means to Me as well, please and thank you, since I've been meaning to pick them up.

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But really, y'all should. Take it from me: the seminars are some of the best in the world.

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I’ve always felt that poetry was particularly erotic, more than prose was. … I say that you read poems not with your eyes and not with your ears, but with your mouth. You taste it.

Former poet laureate Donald Hall on poetry. (via nprfreshair) Perhaps prose is the mindless buffet, overwhelming to the eyes, to poetry's haute gastronomy--sensual, precise, intimate. Poetry requires a refined palate for that slower, more attentive process of consumption. Morsels of food, habitually: a tiny form. That's certainly been my perspective of late, so, good on you, Hall. On the topic of the slowdown demanded by poetry, and its current importance, see the Nick Laird entry of Vincent Francone's "Ten Lessons from Ten Poets" at TQO.

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I'm honoured that my poem, "And Hartley Played His Violin," was published in The Hart House Review's online component. The poem will also be published in their print annual. Many thanks to the editors.

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I hate writing, I love having written.

Dorothy Parker

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... UGH FINE WILL KEEP WRITING.

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I'm listening...!

Read the Roman-Raphaelson book on writing. Read it three times.

Write the way you talk. Naturally.

Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs.

Never use jargon words like reconceptualize, demassification, attitudinally, judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass.

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