Thursday, December 31, 2015
Elegy for an Almost Friend
Labels:
elegy,
Elegy for an Almost Friend,
Mark Butkus,
New Year,
poem
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Happy New Year y Gracias to the Writers of Bar None Group for 2015!
Celebrating the launch of "Last Call: Poems, Stories and Art from the Costalegre." |
What an incredible year!
The first moments of 2015 were spent on the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto contemplating a route back to Chicago — the end of a Christmas roadtrip. The last moments of 2015 were spent in Barra de Navidad, Jalisco, Mexico to launch the third volume of the Bar None Group anthologies — Last Call: Poems, Stories and Art from the Costalegre.
We have been fortunate to share the voices of 47 poets, writers and artists who have been touched and inspired by the Costalegre. But my debt of gratitude is not limited to the voices in Last Call, it extends to the other 20 writers we featured online. To all of you who have read and shared the words within the pages of the Bar None Group we are grateful.
Happy New Year to:
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Saturday, December 19, 2015
First Lines Second Thoughts — Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol
First Lines Second Thoughts is a look at the first lines of well known literary works. On second thought, do these opening words stand alone as poetry? Today, in keeping with the spirit of the season we look at the opening lines of Charles Dickens' timeless A Christmas Carol.
Rather than write pamphlets and essays to address the issues of poverty and social injustice in Victorian England, Dickens conveyed his thoughts into A Christmas Carol. A book so cherished that it has never gone out of print since being published this day — December 19 — in 1843.
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Jeff Parker Scores with Book of Found Poetry from the World of Sports
Every once in a while the Bar None Group takes a look at poetry in sports. Whether its a beatnik hockey commercial from a Bruin, a prognostication from The Greatest, a retirement notice from the Black Mamba or the wisdom of Metta World Peace. And with the latter we featured the former Ron Artest's own words poetically assembled by Jeff Parker.
Parker's found poetry poem — Erratic Fire, Erratic Passion also serves as the title of his latest book. Erratic Fire, Erratic Passion is a collection of found poems composed of the words of professional athletes.
Iconoclastic author Chuck Klosterman says, "There are many who refer to sports as poetry in motion, and there are some who argue that all conversation is a living form of poetry. These are both imperfect metaphors. But here is a book that takes the literal language of sports and converts it into the actual structure of poetry, and — sometimes, almost by accident — the result is actual perfection."
Parker's found poetry poem — Erratic Fire, Erratic Passion also serves as the title of his latest book. Erratic Fire, Erratic Passion is a collection of found poems composed of the words of professional athletes.
Iconoclastic author Chuck Klosterman says, "There are many who refer to sports as poetry in motion, and there are some who argue that all conversation is a living form of poetry. These are both imperfect metaphors. But here is a book that takes the literal language of sports and converts it into the actual structure of poetry, and — sometimes, almost by accident — the result is actual perfection."
Monday, December 14, 2015
Remembering Hannah Szenes at Hanukkah
Labels:
Ashrei Ha-Gafrur,
Blessed is the Match,
Hannah Szenes,
Hanukkah,
poem
Quaint Sayings of Uncle Jeff: On Happiness
Uncle Jeff ruminated on thoughts and themes from sorrow to happiness at the turn of the last century. His niece, Iva, noted nine such sayings. As a young woman of 26 in 1929, Iva was determined to collect and write down the quaint sayings of her Uncle Jeff for posterity's sake. She wrote down his homespun adages within the pages of her second-hand copy of Three Centuries of American Poetry and Prose.
Uncle Jeff had this to say about happiness...
Friday, December 11, 2015
Charles Bane Jr.'s The Chapbook — I Must Write
Labels:
Charles Bane Jr.,
I Must Write,
poem,
The Chapbook
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Beyond John
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Remembering John Lennon on a hot day in Mexico, 2015. |
In that difficult weighted heat
of placid summer afternoons
in a tropical country
when the air is so thick that nothing can shift,
and not even a gnat or a mosquito is
buzzing the voice of God
into the sleeping ear
of “Beyond John”
who replaced Jesus
in the second half
of the twentieth century
in a smoky cannabis haze.
I remember, but not that well.
Monday, December 7, 2015
Rain in December
Labels:
December,
Mark Butkus,
Mexico,
rain,
Rain in December
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Kobe Bryant Announces Retirement via Poetry
Two months into the worst season of his 20 year basketball career, L.A. Laker legend Kobe Bryant announced his retirement at the end of the season on Derek Jeter's The Player Tribune website. The announcement itself was not unexpected, nor was the forum. But the form of the announcement shook not just the sports world but the literary world as well because Kobe Bryant announced his retirement in the form of a poem. Dear Basketball.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Is It Too Soon?
Labels:
Christmas,
Is It Too Soon? poem,
Mark Butkus
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