 @BlackstonDan
You might not realize it but there's a war going on in poetry and it's been raging for thousands of years. Its battlefields blast into action through every working poet, leaving shell-craters, bodies, and -- what was it Hemingway said about battlefields? -- oh yeah, all that paper -- behind. The war's not built on trenches and drones and it's seemingly enduring as stone... Get the full tip by clicking the button below!!!!! If you apply for a Capital One credit card through the link below (or click the pic), I'll get a referral bonus when you're accepted. Please consider supporting the blog by using the link to apply. Thanks!
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 @BlackstonDan A very wise poet friend of mine recently observed that poetry is a form of communication and therefore any poem that goes unread is, in some ways, unfinished... Get the full tip by clicking the button below. If you apply for a Capital One credit card through the link below (or click the pic), I'll get a referral bonus when you're accepted. Please consider supporting the blog by using the link to apply. Thanks! Categories All  If you apply for a Capital One credit card through the link below (or click the pic), I'll get a referral bonus when you're accepted. Please consider supporting the blog by using the link to apply.
Thanks!  Consider this post a double-tip, because what I'm about to tell you will not only improve your writing, it will get you writing and keep you writing. But be forewarned, this isn't a tip for the timid! You'll need some creative backbone to follow along. Ready? Get the full tip by clicking the button below!!! Categories All  Michelle Tinklepaugh's a special poet and I'm going to tell you why. She does with words what a great watercolorist does with paint, but she paints the most serious, often tragic, archetypal images you're apt to find from any poet on social media. This means two things: first, she has a unique voice and, second, she's immersed in themes that many poets typically avoid or fumble. Her poem "mustard bones and other ways to pay the ferryman" is a brilliant piece of poetry. Click on Michelle's picture above to read the whole poem and you'll soon see why I've got my work cut out for me in this post. Sure, this poem feels like Emily Dickinson and intones like Sylvia Plath, but I defy you to keep these associations past the final line. This poem goes somewhere neither of those Titans visited, and it's purely Tinklepaugh's vision, theme, and aesthetic. It's not surrealism, precisley, and it's not only Symbolist. This fusion and originality generally signals a complete poet, one that should be published regularly in the literary journals, have books out, and be taken seriously by critics. I can't do much about the first issue, but I'm happy to announce that Tinklepaugh has found a publisher and will release a book sometime soon. It's only on the third count that I can contribute. I'm not a critic, per se, but I take Tinklepaugh's art very seriously, as seriously as I take anyone publishing in the journals or elsewhere. I urge you to read her work, which you can do by following her blog or following her on Facebook. My upcoming First Flashes anthology features a poem from Tinklepaugh and I'm excited to include her work. It's going to take another blog post to get down to actually talking nuts and bolts about her poetry. For now, read the linked poem, think about it, and realize that this poem starts with: i carry your bones in my pocket the smooth round ends sharpened into knife points but every single line gets better until, 75 lines later, we reach what's best described as the poem's true beginning. I'll be blogging more about Tinklepaugh's excellent poetry soon, which will gain her a category of her own on this blog, something her work well deserves. mustard bones and other ways to pay the ferryman Categories All |
