WATERMARK

a poet’s notebook

Established 02004

poetry

January 20, 2009

Inaugural Poem * by Elizabeth Alexander

UPDATE: Here, courtesy of RCH, is the poet's version of the poem, with line breaks: Praise Song for the Day. This version, though, is copywrighted, so I don't feel comfortable posting it here — even though it seems to me that this poem, of any, should belong to any of us. So below is the… Continue reading

Current Affairs, poetry

“Art Journaling for Less” digi, Inaugural Poem, inauguration, poetry, President Obama
November 12, 2008

Kay Ryan

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?showShareButtons=true&docId=9160491711308336291%3A1082000%3A1287000&hl=en Continue reading

poetry

Kay Ryan, poet, Poet Laureate, poetry
August 8, 2008

National Poetry Prompt Appreciation Day

Today is that day, according to an event announcement at facebook (I think you probably have to be a member to see this): On the eve of National Poetry Prompt Appreciation Day, which Jay Robinson and I have just now declared, we are offering you a cornucopia of poetry exercises to jump start your writing.… Continue reading

poetry

National Poetry Prompt Appreciation Day, poem prompts, writing prompts
July 20, 2008

Poetry, Personality & Design

We’ve been having some interesting discussions about poems, poetry, and poetics on the PoetryEtc list — some of it focused around my own recent work. Frederick Pollack offered some thorough and pointed criticism of my poems — and my ‘kind’ of poetry. What is my kind of poetry? Mainstream, I gather. Lyrical, perhaps. Not,… Continue reading

poetry

design, poetics, poetry
January 18, 2008

How to Critique a Poem

First, I do not expect every comment on my poems to be a critique — please don’t feel required to become a critic! Please, please don’t! I love getting comments on my poems; just that tells me it meant something for you. Critiques are, however, welcome if you feel so inclined. This post is… Continue reading

poetry

critique, how to, poetics, poetry

Ancestral (Artificial )Intelligence

I do not use AI to write. For me, writing is how I think, and I prefer to do it myself. If/when I post anything here that I suspect or know to be AI generated, I will tell you.

I have changed this from Artificial to Ancestral, after Abi Awomosu @ Substack. This medium was made with human history, human thought. All of it, bright and dark. It is ancestral.

Poems

Please do not assume that I am the speaker/ subject of my poems.

In these times of creative nonfiction and fictionalized memoirs, I think of the poem itself as true fiction: it is most likely not factual, but it must be true.

It is likely to be — it is best if it is — a truth I did not know before I wrote, and may not understand even then.

A poem is my way of discovering (dis-covering) what I feel; sometimes, what I think — but it is not necessarily biographical.

poetry

Inaugural Poem * by Elizabeth Alexander

Kay Ryan

National Poetry Prompt Appreciation Day

Poetry, Personality & Design

How to Critique a Poem