A Poets View

If you are a writer in any genre it is essential you have an online presence.  Whether it be a website, myspace page or blog you need to be online to not only display your work but present yourself as a serious writer.  Your website can include a bio, a few poems and a listing of where you have been published.  Make sure to also include a contact page.  There are many web-hosts which are free and can be built quickly and easily using their templates and graphics etc…  It’s also a good idea to have business cards printed.  You can also do this through Vista Print and basically just pay for your shipping.  They have free cards - which have limited designs or you can pay a little extra for a larger selection or customized cards.  The key is to have some cards available so that you can hand them out to friends, family and at poetry readings.  When someone asks “What do you do?” have a card on hand with your website information, your name and contact info.  The key is to look professional.  You take your writing seriously and so should others.

During my last trip to Hong Kong in March of this year I decided to stay on Hong Kong Island rather than Kowloon so I could get a taste of that area.  When I saw that Hong Kong had a botanical garden I was thrilled.  So, I chose a hotel near the garden.  I was able to walk only one block from my hotel to the gardens and did so each morning.  This stay I was lucky enough to encounter beautiful weather the entire week.  I began my day by walking through the gardens over to the SoHo area of the island each morning.  I saw the same people everyday and they were so nice and friendly.  Everyone walks and does Tai Chi in the park daily for their exercise routines.  The above photo I took during one of those walks and was one of the many gardens which reside there.  There are hundreds of various plant and animal species as the garden is also their zoo.  There are many different, unique and exotic birds living there.  They love birds in Hong Kong as do I.  There are also tigers, monkeys and a Burmese python which scared the “you know what” out of me.  There is also a playground, a fountain, a pond and many other amenities for their visitors.  I loved the gardens and will hopefully go back soon.  You can find more info and pics be visiting my Hong Kong website at http://joshongkong.tripod.com

Agape
for Pierre

My heart summoned you
at an early age not yet knowing love.
Sensual whispers, warm rains
shower my body and soul with your being.
When you spoke, I could not speak
for words escaped me.

You sang
strumming blood tears on your bouzouki
year after year lost in Rebetiko.
Yet life your muse, music your passion.

Too young
I could only listen;
rhythms burning my very core.
Your melancholy eyes hypnotized my essence
a captive trance, nirvana.

Fate
years later realized.
Now a woman
we shared love, requited passion, unrestrained.
Boundless infinity together a moment in time.

Soon thereafter you were gone.
Suddenly your last breath stolen away, gone too soon.
I now see those melancholy eyes
within the wind amongst the trees along the shore
within my soul;
I love you still,
Agape mou…

Today I wanted to show you all what a typical Poet’s Market listing looks like.  I’ve used my own as an example.

<YASOU EZINE
 E-mail: joanneolivieri@sbcglobal.net. Web site: http://yasouezine.tripod.com. Established 2000. Contact:Joanne Olivieri, editor.
Magazine Needs Yasou Ezine, published online 3 times/year in March, July, and November, is “an eclectic mix of poetry, short stories, art, photography and commentaries. We publish work which is geared towards celebrating life to it’s fullest and accept work by beginning as well as seasoned writers. We also accept artwork and photography. All artists considered.” Does not want “anything of a violent or sexually explicit nature.” Considers poetry by children and teens. Has published poetry by Taylor Graham, B.Z. Niditch, Colleen Breuning, C. David Hay, Paula Timpson, Corey Mesler, Lyn Lifshin and Genny Harten-Borleis. Receives about 500 poems/year, accepts about 25%. Number of unique visitors: “hundreds per month.” Sample: free online.
How to Submit Submit 3 poems at a time. Lines/poem: no limit. Considers previously published poems and simultaneous submissions. (Considers poetry posted on a public Web site/blog/forum and poetry posted on a private, password-protected forum as published.)  E-mail submissions only (pasted into body of e-mail message); no disk submissions. Cover letteris unnecessary. “Read our guidelines page.” Reads submissions year round. Time between acceptance and publication is 3 months. Never comments on rejected poems. Guidelines available on Web site. Responds in 1 week. Never sends prepublication galleys. Pays “for featured poet in each issue. We pay in cash, plus either a music CD or poetry chapbook.” Rights revert to poets upon publication. Reviews chapbooks of poetry. “For a modest fee of $5, we will review chapbooks of poetry and publish the review in the following issue along with a link to the poet’s Web site. Make checks payable to Joanne Olivieri.”
Contest/Award OfferingsSponsors annual poetry contest. “The ezine sponsors a poetry contest annually at which time the rules and awards will be listed on our Web site. Please check Web site regularly for detailed information.”\lineAdvice “We encourage beginners to submit their work. We pride ourselves on recognizing the uniqueness of each poet and affording them the opportunity to be published. All styles and forms welcome.”>
 
As you can see it states the magazine info, the magazine needs and how to submit your poetry.  It also includes extra tidbits that are important to the magazine.  If you’ll notice is also says “(Considers poetry posted on a public Web site/blog/forum and poetry posted on a private, password-protected forum as published.) ”

Which basically means that anything published online and is visible to all - meaning you don’t need a password to see it on a page, is considered as previously published which in this case is okay because I accept previously published work.  However many zines do not so if you see this statement and the zine does not accept previously published work then you cannot submit any poetry that has already been published elsewhere. So, if you read this and have any questions about submitting or any questions at all please feel free to post them here or contact me.

When submitting your poetry to magazine or ezines the editors will usually stipulate what rights they acquire.  I’m going to explain each of these so you’ll know exactly what they mean.

1.  First Serial Rights.  This means that the poem has never before been published and the poet is offering their poem for publication for the first time to the magazine. 2.  One Time Rights or Simultaneous Rights means that the publication has nonexclusive rights to publish the poem once.  So, basically you can submit your accepted poem to other publications at the same time.  It means you retain all rights to your poem.

3.  Second Serial Reprint Rights. This means that publications will accept your poetry which have been previously published elsewhere.  With these rights you will have to indicate the name of the publication which first published your poem.

4.  Electronic Rights.  This means online magazines, CD poetry readings etc… Some online magazines also archive their issues.

5.  Relinquishing all Rights.  There are instances where a magazine or publisher will ask for “all rights” which means that you basically turn over your rights to the publisher and cannot publish that particular poem anywhere else.  It’s not a good idea to relinquish all rights however there are instances when you can.  It’s up to you.  Example:  Last year I entered a poetry contest where the winner received a round-trip ticket to Hong Kong.  I won the contest and as a result had to give up my rights to that poem.  Normally I never give up rights to my poetry but this was a free trip to Hong Kong so I could not pass that up.  So, you have to do what’s right for you and work with the publication on that issue.  You normally won’t find many publications asking you for “all rights.”

Let me know if you have any questions regarding these rights.

First I want to express how deeply sorry I am at the tragedy that took place in the Hudson household.  I can’t even imagine how devastating it must be to lose a Mother, Brother and have a nephew missing all at the same time.  My thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to the entire family.

It was reported that Chicago, where these murders took place has the highest number of murders this year above any other state in the country.  However we all have our problems with guns.  I’ve seen first hand what guns can do.  Working as a teller in a bank years ago I was held up with a gun.  A few years later while working in that same bank on Market street, some crazy walked into the building up onto the fourth floor and decided to kill his wife and take hundreds of people hostage.  The police had the building surrounded and we could not leave until they captured the killer.  I was meeting a friend for lunch one day down the financial district when shots rang out at the 101 California buidling and the entire area was cordoned off until the murderer, after shooting hostages killed himself.  These are just a few examples of what guns do and what I’ve seen first hand.  There are so many more.

I can just hear the conservatives saying it’s not the guns it’s the people who pull the triggers.  My argument is if we did not allow guns these tragedies wouldn’t be taking place.  Granted there would still be some illegal gun activity however the majority of crimes would drastically decrease.  WE NEED GUN CONTROL IN THIS COUNTRY.  I don’t give a rats you know what about us all having the right to carry guns for protection.  There is no other purpose for guns other than killing.  And for all you hunters out there, and yes you too Ms. gun toting hockey Mom, you should not be out there hunting and killing animals either.  I’d like to ask the NRA and everyone in favor of them, how would you feel if one of your loved ones was murdered with a gun?  I want someone to please give me a rational answer to why it is we need guns.  I don’t want to hear it’s a constitutional right and I don’t want to hear because we need them for protection because both of those statements don’t fly with me at all.  They’re just excuses to carry guns.  Give me a good reason.

Just thought this was too funny and had to share it with you.

You’ve been writing and have stacks of poetry of which you’ve organized and now want to start submitting your work to magazines.  It is sometimes overwhelming trying to choose which magazines to contact so I thought I’d compose a short list of a few of my favorites who are always looking for both new and established poets and publish both online and hard-copy.  I’ve listed websites and names and in one case, Nomad’s Choir, they are strictly a hard copy magazine so I’ve listed the contact info and address.  Visit their websites, check out their guidelines and what type of poetry they publish then if it’s right for you, start submitting.  Also, with the League of Laboring Poets, since there is no website you can email Tom Conroy and request their guidelines before submitting.

Ya’Sou! Ezine
http://yasouezine.tripod.com

Blue Turtle Crossing
http://www.blueturtlecrossing.com

The League of Laboring Poets
laboringpoets@yahoo.com
Contact: Tom Conroy

Nomad’s Choir
c/o Joshua Meander
30-15 Hobart Street., F4H
Woodside, NY  11377

Mudlark
http://www.unf.edu/mudlark

Chantarelle’s Notebook
http://www.chantarellesnotebook.com

Jerry Jazz Musician
http://www.jerryjazz.com

Snowy Egret
http://www.snowyegret.net

Full Moon
http://fullmoonlm.bravehost.com

Raintiger Magazine
http://www.raintiger.com

Freestyle Vision
http://www.freestylevision.com

The Eternity Magazine
http://www.myspace.com/theeternitymagazine

Xploited Zine
http://www.myspace.com/xploitedzine

The Poet’s Haven
http://www.poetshaven.com

The video above is titled The Healing Sea.  I wish I could say it were mine but it was created by my dear friend and fellow poet/photographer - Colleen Breuning.  You can check out her website at http://www.blueturtlecrossing.com

This video is a montage of her photography and poetry and captures the essence of the sea.  It’s beautiful, inspiring and delicately presented.  Enjoy!

Well it’s been about a month since I began blogging on Today.com.  I had no idea really what I was doing when I began.  I did have a myspace blog though I rarely posted anything and when I did it was usually just poetry.

Before beginning my blogging life here I was never really a disciplined writer.  I was one of those writers who supposedly needed that spark to get those creative juices flowing.  Now that I write on a daily basis on both of my blogs I realize that it wasn’t a matter of not being inspired to write or not having those juices flowing but rather just being lazy and talking myself out of writing.  I used to think having writer’s block was part of the creative process.  I now know it’s just about being lazy.  I’m in a totally different mindset now that I’ve been posting my blogs.  I look forward to coming up with new and different ideas and getting them out to my readers.  It’s fun, invigorating and inspiring to a point where I just can’t stop writing.  It’s been a definite positive influence on me and I absolutely love it.  Thanks to my readers and to Today.com

I just recently received my absentee ballot and booklet for California.  The booklet is like reading through War and Peace with all of it’s measures and propositions.  What struck me while looking at the ballot is that there are four other party tickets listed for President and VP.  One of which is a San Francisco Supervisor.  I never even heard that he, Matt Gonzalez was named as VP choice along with Ralph Nader in the Peace and freedom party.  There’s also the Libertarian, Green and American Independent parties.  Did any of you ever hear who was running on these tickets?  I know I didn’t.  I just think it’s really sad that the elite with money are the top two parties so therefore those are basically our only choices because the others would never win?  I can tell you right now that Matt Gonzalez as VP would be a much better Vice President than Sarah Palin.  I seriously think there should be a cap on campaign spending - a low cap.  I would have loved to hear all of these different nominees during the debates.  It annoys me that we did not have that chance.

Joe Biden was recently in San Francisco speaking at a $5,000 a plate fundraiser in the Seacliff district home of a well known CEO.  He raised hundreds of thousands of dollars at that fundraiser.  They all do this and raise exorbitant amounts of money so that they can remain in the race and I just don’t think it is fair to others who are running and don’t have the powerful and wealthy backers to fund their campaigns.  Not to mention when I heard of Biden’s trip here I thought to myself even if I had that kind of money I don’t think I’d spend $5,000 to hear anyone speak.  Plus, for that kind of money the food better be good and allow me to leave with many doggie bags.  Spending so much money on campaigns and negative ones at that during a recession, when many of us can barely buy food and pay bills is just sickening.  Changes really do need to be made.

As for Palin and her $150,000 shopping spree for her and her family well it’s something she had to do.  I mean she couldn’t very well show up on the campaign trail with camouflage sweats and a hunting rifle now could she?  Little sarcasm there.  Joy Behar of the view said it best “before she was shooting her clothes, now she can buy them.”

A lesson to be learned from typing the wrong email address!

A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier.

P.S. Sure is freaking hot down here!

The chapbook was created around the nineteenth century.  It was named after writers who would peddle their writing collections on the street.  Writers would simply print and write their poetry, ballads and stories on paper, fold the paper in half and sometimes design a sheet of paper with hand drawings and use that as a cover for their book and sell them.

Nowadays, it’s much more advanced.  Chapbooks are anywhere from 16 to 40 pages long.  Anything over 40 pages is considered a full length book.  There is software you can purchase for desktop publishing which allows you to make the chapbook yourself.  However this can be very time consuming and if you are not computer savvy, like me, it can be a daunting task.

There are chapbook publishers who can either offer you publishing alone or offer contests which require an entry fee but if you win the contest they will publish your chapbook.  I personally am wary of these contests.  First, because you need to send a reading fee which is usually pretty steep ranging from $20 on up and if you do not win, you’ve just thrown away the fee you’ve paid.  I would say do some research online and find chapbook publishers.  There are many out there so see what they have to offer.  The one most important factor for me when I was researching publishers for my chapbooks was the control issue.  I wanted as much control over the entire process that I could possibly have.  I wanted to use my own artwork for the cover, I wanted to choose my own font and style and basically wanted to have a choice for the entire book.  In the end I went with Shadow Poetry and there are many others as well.  You can also go with Lulu.com who also offers publishing and prints the books as they are needed. 

Now publishing a chapbook is not something you should even be thinking about until you have some publication credits under your belt.  Of course if you have written some poetry and don’t intend to have anything published but rather a nice little book with your words which you can give as gifts to family and friends, then by all means check out publishing your own chapbook. 

If you’re a poet who has some publishing credits to your name such as being published in 10 to 20 different publications then you may want to think about publishing a chapbook of your best work.  Chapbooks are great for poetry readings and using to establish yourself within the poetry world.  However most bookstores unless they are independently owned do not carry chapbooks.  What you can do though is contact your local small bookshop and offer to do a signing of your book in their store and sometimes they will allow that because it creates a buzz for their store.  You can also check out local cafes and see if you could host a poetry reading.  The bottom line is chapbooks are a good first step in getting your name and work out to the public.

This is a shout out to all bloggers out there my friend has started a new fro-yo blog.  It includes reviews, tips and basically everything you want to to know about fro-yo.  Check her out at http://froyogirl.blogspot.com/

Thanks.

Haiku is a specialized form of poetry created by and within the Japanese culture.  For me personally I think it is the essence of poetry with its’ simple, clean and metaphoric values.  There are many forms within this genre to include senryu, tanka, renga, haibun etc…  They are all strict in form and each presents an exquisite form of poetry.

We’ve all learned that the 5/7/5 - 17 syllable is the proper style for Haiku.  However that is not necessarily the case.  Traditional Japanese haiku is not measured by syllables and does not employ a strict 5/7/5 element. 

I am in midst of learning more about these traditional forms and wanted to share with you a website link on the Shadow Poetry site which explains in detail the history and how to’s of writing haiku.  Check it out at http://www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/haiku/haiku.html

As poets and writers we tend to have stacks of our work sitting around the house gathering dust.  I’ve been asked many a time, in fact I was asked this today, “I have hundreds of poems laying around so what do I do now?”  The first thing to do is organize your poetry whether or not you will be submitting for publication doesn’t matter really but you need to be organized.  Back in prehistoric times when I was asking myself this question there were no computers.  Yes, I know hard to believe but true.  So, I would type my poem on my typewriter with carbon copy so I always had an extra copy then I would three hole punch the copy and file into a three ring binder of which I had indexed for specific poems.  In other words nature poems would be filed with nature, love with love and so on.  Oddly enough I still do that because I like to have hard copies of all my work.  Of course now I type them on the computer

Whatever works for you is fine.  You can have different folders online for different subjects or you can use a binder or even regular folders marked with each different subject and have them filed in a cabinet or file box.  The point being you need to organize in order to work with your poetry.  Another good idea is to have index cards with the titles of your poems.  This is also good for keeping track of where you submitted your poems and the date in which they were submitted.  You choose what is right for you. 

The absolute key is to be organized.

Hello everyone,

 I am so excited to present the fall issue of Ya’Sou!.  This is the largest issue I have ever published.  It is filled with pages by both new and undiscovered poets as well as poetry  from the traditional triolet to free verse and the experimental.  Also included are the winners of the poetry contest.  I want to thank all who entered and congratulate the winners.

I’d like to introduce you to Justin Germino aka Dragon Blogger who has joined Yasou as the resident blogger.  His poetry is excellent to say the least and he will also be writing about blogging etc… in future issues.  Be sure to visit his page and check out his blogs.  I’ve included the Yasou blogroll as well which will be a permanent feature.  The page has a list of blogs displaying some very creative artists and writers.

The Eternity Magazine of which I am one of the chief foreign editor’s is a spiritually enlightened international magazine which focuses on peace, love and unity throughout the world.  It hosts poetry, essays, art, short stories and commentaries from artists around the globe.  So please visit the Eternity page on the navigation bar where there is a link to their myspace page.  You can read more there.

I am proud to announce Corey Mesler as our featured poet.  He is an extraordinary writer and all around human being. Take a look at his page as well.

I have recently begun blogging on a regular basis as some of you already know and I absolutely love it.  I have two blogs running, one is called A Poets View which is my writing blog and the other is My City By The Bay which concentrates on San Francisco. I won’t post the links here because there are links in the magazine so please visit.  I have to say it is so wonderful to get paid for doing what I love to do.  Thank you Today.com

And, thank you to all my loyal contributors.  You are the ones who make Yasou a great and ever growing ezine.

Visit http://yasouezine.tripod.com for the current issue.

Enjoy,

Jo

I normally do not watch much television.  I am however a fan of the soap All My Children.  I’ve been watching it for over 30 years - since before Erica was ever married.  She’s been married nine times. 

First I want to talk about the writing aspect.  There has recently been a writing team change at AMC with Charles Pratt coming on as head writer.  He used to write with the General Hospital team.  What I really respect about soap opera writers is that these people work very hard.  They work daily to create ongoing dialogue for dozens of characters and have to make it entertaining enough so that their viewers will tune in each day to watch the show.  The show had a slow season for a while however since the addition of writer Charles Pratt it’s an understatement to say it’s been an exciting few weeks.  A tornado hit yesterday and I think in the 30 years I’ve been watching the show this was one of the most lifelike and believable episodes.  It was truly terrifying to watch and the acting and scenarios were just amazing.  Kudos to the writers.

Next, the acting. Unlike movie actors soap opera actors work long hours each and everyday.   Sure, some receive Emmy awards and magazine awards but I have to say that many should receive an academy award.  There are some fantastic actors and actresses on these soaps.  Many who you see on the big screen had started their careers on soaps.  I guess what I’m trying to convey is that they very often do not get the credit they deserve and that’s what I want to do today.

All My Children is celebrating it’s 10,000th episode in November and I think that is a true milestone.  Congratulations to everyone at AMC.

For those of you who have been following my posts in regards to Poetry.com the scam and my poem being plagiarized on their website, here is a letter I received from them today in response to the forceful letter I sent them.  For privacy purposes I blocked out my address and the name of the plagiarizer.  Here is the url to my original post http://apoetsview.today.com/2008/10/03/poetrycom-the-scam/

So, I have to say that I am surprised because I never thought I would hear from them.  And, I also have to say that I do have a new found respect for them.  However, I stand by my comments in regards to submitting to them as a poetry publisher.  They are not publishers but a business.

I also want to publicly thank Today.com for their diligence as if not for them I never would have known my poem was plagiarized.

As days go by I am going to be covering various forms of poetry.  I wanted to begin with my favorite called the Pindaric Ode named after the Greek poet Pindar.  It is basically an enthusiastic and elaborately designed lyric which was composed by the poet Pindar.  It’s comprised of a strophe and anti strophe and epode.  I know, it’s all Greek to me too.  A strophe is a turning as a chorus moving to one side.  An antistrophe is the counter-turn as the chorus moves in the opposite direction.  An epode is a standing still of the chorus.  These were all used in plays and choruses.  In general terms or plain English the strophe would consist of four rhyming lines with the first and third lines rhyming and the second and fourth lines rhyming.  The antistrophe consists of two exact rhymed lines followed by two short rhymed lines in contrast to the strophe.  The epode is the ending which consists of one line rhyming with the two shorts.  I know this is confusing so here is an example.  This is a pindaric ode I wrote several years ago for a religious publication:

Peace

On thy lips fruit of the vine
Shall evoke a taste of shame
Martyred bloodshed cup of wine
Invisible in His name.

Thy wrath befell upon the sight
Of Devils’ chance to winged flight

Yet we
Shall see

Lion and lamb lie down with thee.                     

The most important elements are that the lines have an exact rhyme scheme with a lyrical intent.  When you recite or hear a pindaric ode it should sound like a song.  The master at writing Pindaric odes was John Donne.  So make sure to read some of his work.  It is difficult to pull off a rhyme scheme such as this without sounding like greeting card verse. In today’s markets, there really isn’t a huge demand for this type of writing however when I read poetry for pleasure, these are the patterns I read.