Genre: Poetry

10 Things I Hate About You

The Time Is Now
2.21.17

Writing an unsentimental love poem can be one of the more difficult endeavors a poet can take on, whether the subject of that poem is a lover, a family member, or friend. Taking inspiration from the popular film 10 Things I Hate About You, a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, write an ode to the aspects of a loved one that downright irk you. How might you use a form of repetition in your poem—like an anaphora or refrain—to build tension and showcase either the unlikable or admirable aspects of this person?

The Poetry Coalition Takes Flight

by
Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum
News and Trends
March/April 2017
2.15.17

Twenty poetry organizations from across the United States have joined forces to enhance the visibility of poetry and its growing popularity and cultural impact, beginning with a monthlong, nationwide suite of programs investigating the relationship between poetry and migration called “Because We Come From Everything.”

Tags: 
poetry

Page One: Where New and Noteworthy Books Begin

by
Staff
News and Trends
March/April 2017
2.15.17

With so many good books being published every month, some literary titles worth exploring can get lost in the stacks. Page One offers the first lines of a dozen recently released books, including Afaa Michael Weaver’s Spirit Boxing, Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Refugees, and Patricia Smith’s Incendiary Art, for a glimpse into the worlds of these new and noteworthy titles.

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fiction | Page One

Deadline Approaches for Emily Dickinson First Book Award

G&A: The Contest Blog
2.14.17

Submissions are currently open for the Poetry Foundation’s Emily Dickinson First Book Award. A prize of $10,000 and publication by Graywolf Press is given for a poetry collection by a U.S. writer of at least forty years of age who has not published a full-length book of poetry.

Using the online submission system, submit a manuscript of forty-eight to eighty pages with a biography that includes publication history by February 27. There is no entry fee. Visit the contest page for complete guidelines.

The Emily Dickinson First Book Award is an occasional contest that is not held annually. Previous winners include Hailey Leithauser, Brian Culhane, and Landis Everson. The winner of the 2017 award will be notified by April 30, and announced publicly at the Poetry Foundation’s Pegasus Awards ceremony in Chicago in June.

Love Through the Ages

The Time Is Now
2.14.17

“The Love Song for Shu-Sin”—written around 2000 BCE in ancient Mesopotamia—is considered the oldest love poem that exists in text form, but also functioned as a song performed during a sacred marriage ceremony for Shu-Sin, a ruler in the city of Ur. Read through Sumerologist Samuel Noah Kramer’s translation and think about the elements of the writing that tie it to its specific time and context. What feels ancient about the poem? Can you extrapolate or interpret its meanings in a way that reflect your own experiences of contemporary love? Write a love poem that meditates on love as it might have been expressed four thousand years ago versus how you see it today. 

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