http://www.ablemuse.com/erato Got questions? Got opinions? Post topics for general discussion, requests for assistance, and questions about policy or software here. (P.S. Debate is welcome but our ad hom guidelines do apply.) en Thu, 17 May 2012 01:46:07 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/images/visioncollison/misc/rss.jpg http://www.ablemuse.com/erato http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17823&goto=newpost Mon, 14 May 2012 22:46:29 GMT This is the most adorable Youtube I have ever seen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v...mQ&vq=medium#t

Martin, is this Hungarian? I know from the bridges that it was probably filmed in Florida's Keys. ]]> General Talk Tim Murphy http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17823 http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17816&goto=newpost Mon, 14 May 2012 01:55:38 GMT My wife (all hail, Ellen) said she enjoyed something the other day by e.e. cummings, and wondered if I might think it was a SPOW (short piece of... My wife (all hail, Ellen) said she enjoyed something the other day by e.e. cummings, and wondered if I might think it was a SPOW (short piece of writing) rather than a poem. I said cummings was very, very good, and wrote many, many sonnets. She then showed me the item, which is the second item on this link :
Good Reads, author quotes, E_E_Cummings.

She again asked if it was poem. I said I see some exact rhymes, and that, while possibly sentimental, it rises above spowishness in content, but the layout looks terrible : let me see it in hard copy. Two minutes later on the page it was clearly seen to be a sonnet with some slant rhymes.

This link above renders some of cummings' works well enough, but look at this mess. American writers and readers are in such a debased state of free-verse stupor that no one at this site knew the difference. BAH! ]]> General Talk Allen Tice http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17816 http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17807&goto=newpost Sun, 13 May 2012 11:20:35 GMT As I have every year for a decade, I post my little groaner, Mother's Day, which Gerry Cambridge first published in The Dark Horse:

Mother’s Day


Mothers gathered from miles around
when the mare foaled on Mother’s Day.
One lady’s bonnet blew away
and cartwheeled over the trodden ground.
The mare ate it without remorse,
then groomed her newborn’s glossy coat.
He whinnied as if to clear his throat:
“Excuse me. I am a little horse.”

Everything about it is true, except the last line. May blessings fall richly on all the women here! ]]> General Talk Tim Murphy http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17807 http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17796&goto=newpost Sat, 12 May 2012 12:09:54 GMT map of North...]]> I stumbled across this map of North American pronunciation, and thought I'd post it here.

Best,

Ed ]]> General Talk Ed Shacklee http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17796 http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17792&goto=newpost Fri, 11 May 2012 17:55:49 GMT I've been raising a lot of money for Shanley and the Boy Scouts, because I don't take money for my books. I give it away. The Shanley librarian asked me this morning what to do with the money. This was my response:

Hello, Pam. You should see my poetry library! I've given a lot of thought to this as I continue to raise small amounts of money for the library. Having browsed your shelves, I think you are very weak on contemporary woman poets. But first start with the Collected Poems of Richard Wilbur, my master. You have a Collected from 1988, but Dick is alive and ticking. It is an expensive book. Here are the women: Catharine Savage Brosman, US, Catherine Chandler, Canada, Maryann Corbett, US, Janet Kenny, AUS, Jennifer Reeser, US, Rhina Espaillat, US, and Wendy Videlock, US.

There are many of my books I wouldn't give you, because I don't want your middle school students to be reading them. Too much homosexuality and alcoholism for little kids. But these are entirely wholesome books, better for kids than Cheerios. Most of these are paperbacks, and you will have to sleeve them. Tim ]]> General Talk Tim Murphy http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17792 http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17781&goto=newpost Thu, 10 May 2012 13:09:54 GMT Having recently seen a poem which evoked (?) leaned upon (?) drew strengths from (?) recalled (?) another well-known work - add your own choice of... Having recently seen a poem which evoked (?) leaned upon (?) drew strengths from (?) recalled (?) another well-known work - add your own choice of phrase - discussed in a crit with the use of the phrase (not applied to that particular work) "a mere parody", I am moved to wonder if we could not have a discussion on this subject.

I have also recently had the opinion expressed that a parody would surely be something that made fun of the original poem rather than something which used it in order to recast it toward a new and different end - a form of work for which, it was suggested, there ought to be a different, and so far undefined, 'name'.

I take the view that parody is not - or at any rate should not - be primarily a means of poking/provoking fun at the expense of existing work, but is a quite serious and worthwhile dialogue with something already known and valued. It seems possible that poetry has been somewhat 'purist' and coy about practices which, in music for example, have been a significant part of the development of artistic expression.

Should serious parody be out of the closet and welcomed (again?... think of some earlier periods) as part of a vibrant poetic culture? I'd vote "Yes" - and I'd love to hear the opinions of others.

Nigel - and, yes, I do write them quite a lot. ]]> General Talk Nigel Mace http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17781 http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17774&goto=newpost Wed, 09 May 2012 21:48:48 GMT CRITICISM I am looking to expand my horizons on issues in the writing of critical essays on the most current, the always with ij, and poetry in... CRITICISM

I am looking to expand my horizons on issues in the writing of critical essays on the most current, the always with ij, and poetry in general. I have read the Perloff review and am now reading the book, and I must say not with relish or enjoyment. Who are her esteemed colleagues that I should read, plus o any oher critics, particularly not with an academic viewopoint?

I am doing personal research but thought I would ask for assistance. Although I write poetry and fiction,. I do not delude myself as I know my skills ae best used as a critic and.or editor, but I need to do the background work, Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Vernon ]]> General Talk Vernon Sims http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17774 http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17743&goto=newpost Sun, 06 May 2012 11:09:57 GMT I wasn't going to mention it, as last year there was a slightly embarrassing thread about it, but then I changed my mind.

The Northampton Literature Group's 14th annual poetry competition has a week to go before the deadline; it's one of the few comps that separates rhyming and free verse poems, which was my idea all those years ago when it started.
The link is here

Martin Parker won the Humour Prize last year and, because we didn't follow through with the results, he was denied an announcement on the sphere of his worthy success - so here it is, belatedly! :D

John and I hope some of you will enter; it's not free, but the prize money is decent enough. (There's always, in the spirit of these things, loads of rubbish submitted, and few outstanding entries - so you're in with a good chance! ;))

Thanks,

Jayne ]]> General Talk Jayne Osborn http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17743 http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17733&goto=newpost Fri, 04 May 2012 13:55:36 GMT Many of you remember (and contributed to) an issue of Bumbershoot featuring "tailgaters," funny couplets combining a famous line of poetry with a comedic one. I suggested to the Washington Post that they use the concept for one of their weekly humor contests, and they have done so, giving a nice plug to Bumbershoot and using tailgaters by me and Frank Osen as examples of what they are looking for. Maybe some of you will send in some tailgaters to the Washington Post? They need to be unpublished. You can send in up to 25 of them, so get to work.

Here's the link. ]]> General Talk Roger Slater http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17733 http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17717&goto=newpost Thu, 03 May 2012 01:33:58 GMT My own transport needs are, if someone could help:

1. A lift down from New York on Wednesday. I'd pitch in for gas, etc
2. Failing that, a lift to WCU from the Philly 30th St. Train Station.

Simply put, Rick's leaving on Tuesday, and I have a gig that night. I simply can't afford Amtrak on top of an international flight immediately afterward that was excrucuiatingly expensive, plus two weeks of catsitters' fees. So if I must do trains, it has to be the far cheaper New Jersey Transit and SEPTA.

As for the end of the conference, I'm flying out of Philly to Dublin on the 10th, so the shuttle will work... but... my flight is at 9 PM, so does anyone want to hang around Philly with me for a few hours? ]]> General Talk Quincy Lehr http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17717 http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17683&goto=newpost Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:12:23 GMT Pardon this distraction from discussions on the state of higher education and the perils of finance, but this West Chester neophyte has travel... Pardon this distraction from discussions on the state of higher education and the perils of finance, but this West Chester neophyte has travel questions, and this is probably the best place to ask them. I think I'd better be looking for a plane reservation pretty soon, as driving isn't an option for me.

Picking a flight depends a lot on one question: How long does the shuttle take to travel from the Philly airport to the West Chester campus? Google tells me it's about an hour, but I'd like some human opinions, including any inside info anybody has about road construction.

Thanks! ]]> General Talk Maryann Corbett http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17683 http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17671&goto=newpost Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:49:26 GMT Financial question here, from someone who is really disgusted and fed up with my bank.

It's real simple: I have over X amount (lots) USD in a savings account with Dewey Phuquem & Howe, here in AZ. I've had the account for several years and have always had a high amount in there. High amount for someone who has never earned more than 35K per year, anyway.

Now, over the past two months my money has earned a whopping (hold your breath folks...) six cents in interest.


That's what I call a serious lack of interest. Can anyone explain to me how this can be okay? To my mind, naive as I am, this should be illegal.

I was told by one advisor that this is balanced out by the amounts that they are willing to lend. That's fine and dandy, but the money they loan me, by way of my credit card, comes with a 17% percent interest rate. Mathematically, the bank has a ridiculous advantage over me, which is not justified by my banking or credit history, which is exemplary. For heaven's sake, my credit rating with one of the major bureaus last time was 830.

Somebody is making more than a few piddly cents off of the funds I have in savings, but it isn't me.:mad: ]]> General Talk Williamb http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17671 http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17669&goto=newpost Sun, 29 Apr 2012 23:44:29 GMT Ok, let's try a more serious thread.

The biggest problem I have had as an employer and venture capitalist is that kids can't write a simple, declarative sentence, let alone a letter or serious proposal. I'll get a letter from a senior attorney beginning "Myself and Darrold Rath have reviewed your proposal..."

I studied English at Yale, and I learned to write pretty well. I got a good job in advertising and public relations straight out of school, where I learned to write a hell of a lot better, under the supervision of an old newspaper man, than Yale ever taught me. I think it was the old saw that a liberal arts education teaches you nothing, but it teaches you how to learn everything.

Now we have a situation where 50 percent of our recent college grads are unemployed or underemployed, dispensing coffee at Starbucks. And they can't write a declarative sentence. They are graduating with student debt of $28k, and what hope have they?

I think two things are radically wrong with our colleges, first, the immense growth of college administration. What are we doing paying these bureaucrats the same total amount we pay our professors? In my neolithic time it was probably ten per cent. The second thing is that our professoriate has been taken over by my generation who don't give a shit about teaching kids how to read, to write, to think. They just want to brainwash them about racism, diversity, what have you. They want to keep the young adjunct professors on starvation wages, and they use every dime from public funds, especially student loans, to feather their own nests.

I am an outsider looking in, having never drawn a salary from a college, but this is how a small business man sees the corruption of higher education. ]]> General Talk Tim Murphy http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17669 http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17657&goto=newpost Sun, 29 Apr 2012 01:18:39 GMT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWzQcW_W0mM...]]> Interesting video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWzQcW_W0mM
Confession--from 5:37 to the end my mom is speaking.

I added the following from my thanks further down the thread:

BTW, if you are interested, my parents'
memoirs are online here:
My Mom:
http://rocek.knowtheworld.org/Evamemoirs.pdf
My Dad:
http://rocek.knowtheworld.org/memoirs.pdf

Please let me know if you know someone who might like to publish them. ]]> General Talk Martin Rocek http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17657 http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17653&goto=newpost Sat, 28 Apr 2012 20:06:12 GMT Thought I'd mention my guest blog at Potomac Review for a couple of reasons. Firstly it was Bill and Kate Lantry who introduced me to the editor looking for guest blogger (thanks, friends).

I make 2 points in the piece that might be of interest on Eratosphere. I mention how helpful form is to me when writing so much poetry in such a short time. I also mention how important it is to memorize poems by my favorite poets as well, and how I generally combine the writing bit of NaPoWriMo with a fair bit of effort to memorize new poems, and touch up old ones I've had off-head.

http://potomacreview.wordpress.com/2...writing-month/ ]]> General Talk Uche Ogbuji http://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=17653