Poetry News & Notes

I arrived at the 24 Hour Poetry Feature about 9 p.m. on Saturday night and for the first hour or so, it was me, Karen G. and Theresa Davis reading to each other in the auditorium of The Horizon School. However, by the time my midnight feature slot rolled around, there were more than a dozen people. Since I had 40 minutes, I read the After the Poison chapbook cover to cover, and the response was gratifying. I had never read many of the poems aloud, so it was good practice and I got to see how it all "hangs together" in a reading situation. I went back to the event yesterday afternoon for about an hour or so. Karen G. and Theresa looked like they were on the verge of collapse, but called the event a success with people trickling in at odd hours all through the 24 hour period. At 8:05 p.m., Theresa sent me this text message: 520 poems in 24 hr. We are the shit, no matter how delirious. We are hard core! I couldn't agree more. 

I missed a bunch of poetry events this weekend because of deadlines. Natasha Trethewey hosted poets featured in the 2007 Best New Poets on Saturday and yesterday Rupert Fike and Louise Runyon read at Wordsmiths Books. While those readings were happening I was assembling the final Java Monkey Speaks Vol. 3 Anthology manuscript to give to our proofreader and attending a steering committee meeting for the Atlanta Queer Lit Festival. We are full steam ahead for Oct. 15-18. 

I've blogged about the Amazon.com controversy at the VRZHU Blog. Amazon wants POD printers to use its BookSurge program if they want to sell POD titles on the site. Small presses and DIY'ers are pissed. Some are calling for a boycott of Amazon. Weigh in with your opinion.

Many thanks to Wordsmiths Books marketing guru Russ Marshalek for the shout out on the store's blog!

UPDATE: Time and Materials by Robert Hass and Failure by Philip Schultz are co-winners of this year's Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.