(And of course, it is always wonderful to share pages with the inimitable Larry D. Thomas, friend and former Texas Poet Laureate, who wrote a blurb for my first book, Ten Counties Away.)
So very excited to have work appearing in the Spring 2020 San Pedro River Review alongside these amazing Southern writers. Of those on the list of contributors, Philip C. Kolin (Distinguished Professor of English at Univ. of Southern Mississippi and Emeritus Editor of The Southern Quarterly) and Jack Bedell (Poet Laureate of the State of Louisiana, 2017-2019, and author of No Brother, This Storm) were gracious enough to write blurbs for my forthcoming full-length collection of Southern poetry, This Geography of Thorns. *AND* so was SPRR and Blue Horse Press editor Jeff Alfier. It means a great deal to me to have all four of us connected by this issue ahead of the release of my book. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy and I am very grateful to Jeff for including me.
(And of course, it is always wonderful to share pages with the inimitable Larry D. Thomas, friend and former Texas Poet Laureate, who wrote a blurb for my first book, Ten Counties Away.)
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I was saddened today to learn that a fantastic online haibun journal, Haibun Today, has published their final issue. The journal first appeared in 2007, and I was very fortunate to have a haibun published in their December 2015 issue [“New Bethel Road”]. According to his statement, General Editor Ray Rasmussen is closing up shop to focus his efforts on his own work and to devote more time to another outstanding haibun journal he works on, Contemporary Haibun Online. You can read his full statement here. While the presence of HT will be sorely missed, I’m very grateful for the role the journal has played in promoting English-language haibun. As Ray points out, in any given year since 2015, most English-language haibun have appeared in the digital pages of CHO and HT, a fact that sizes up their contribution pretty concisely. The journal will remain up as an archive. Best of luck to Ray and the rest of the HT staff moving forward, and I look forward to seeing the fruits of their new endeavors.
Stoked to place a poem in the online version of the journal Juked. Click on by to read “Whippoorwill’s-Boots,” a poem I’m very happy to have found a home for. I’ve got a book in my “Texas” bookcase titled Legends and Lore of Texas Wildflowers by Elizabeth Silverthorne, and it has provided me so much inspiration through the years. This poem deals with the unexpected, the intricate world of connections that lie beneath the surface. What’s more, it’s a swampy love poem. Juked is a terrific journal with both a print and an online version. I've been trying to crack their pages for years now. You should check out the talented writers they have published recently.
Had a great time last week speaking to the Poets of Tarrant County on pushing the boundaries of formal poetry. Such an enthusiastic, talented group! And I was flattered to receive from them a stunning azalea in honor of Naomi Stroud Simmons. I really look forward to crossing paths with this group again. They’ve got a GREAT thing going. For anyone interested, check out their monthly meetings at the historic Thomas Place Community Center. Thrilled to have a haiku accepted by Kallisto Gaia Press for inclusion in the 2020 Texas Poetry Calendar! I’ve been publishing poems in the TPC for several years now, and am always grateful for their support on a personal level and for their tireless promotion of poetry in the Lone Star State. If you’ve never seen a TPC, they are awesome… a spiral-bound planner-style calendar with the calendar on one page and seasonally appropriate, Texas-themed poems on the facing page. They always feature some of the best Texas poets, including Texas poets laureate, and this issue is no exception, with a great poem from 2019 Texas Poet Laureate Carrie Fountain between the covers. I am humbled to be included. Grab one today… heck grab a half dozen—they make fantastic gifts for poetry lovers and fans of the Lone Star State alike. Mid-spring rains-- Today I returned to North Joshua Elementary School to talk shop with the second-grade poets there. This talk, the second year in a row I've given it, came after the students had spent weeks of reading and writing their own poems. So, my focus was not so much on the nuts and bolts of poetry, but rather on ways students can nurture their own love of poetry. I discussed career paths that can lead them to interactions with poetry, while also pointing out that most of the world's greatest poets had day jobs that had nothing to do with poetry. To show how poetry can be playful, I read some of my favorite Shel Silverstein poems as well as some funny poems I've written for my own day job . I read Maya Angelou's "Life Doesn't Frighten Me," which the poet wrote "for all children who whistle in the dark and who refuse to admit that they are frightened out of their wits," to show how poetry can be inspiring. I also discussed the publishing process, not as some obscure mechanism ruled by grown-ups, but as something they themselves can participate in. And I made my point with an anecdote about my own publishing experiences with my high school literary magazine and with a reading from the Rattle Young Poets Anthology, showing them that even kids as young as 5 and 8 can publish. It was a lot of fun, and I was grateful for all of the engaging questions, the poems shared with me, and the thoughtful thank-you notes and gifts. Not only is it still National Poetry Month, but April 18 is National Poem in Your Pocket Day! Celebrate by selecting a poem, carrying it with you, and sharing it with others throughout the day at schools, bookstores, libraries, parks, and workplaces. Then, join the conversation on social media by posting a link or screenshot and on Twitter using the hashtag #pocketpoem. Looking for a poem? I can help you out. Click below to download a copy of "The First Second" originally published in my latest chapbook What Happens When We Leave. Copies of What Happens When We Leave are still available if you're interested. Just send me a PM for ordering info.
Hey all, the The Fort Worth Poetry Society has just published Words in Concert: Poetry Inspired by Classical Music, and I am thrilled to have a poem included. Proceeds will benefit the musicians of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. I am humbled to have my work alongside poems by Naomi Shihab Nye and Texas Poets Laureate Larry D. Thomas, Carol Coffee Reposa, and Karla K. Morton. And I'm always happy to be published alongside friends like Mike Baldwin, Steve Sanders, and Anne McCrady. Please consider purchasing a copy today from Amazon. Thanks to Mike, who, as editor of this collection, found space for my poem, which was inspired by the haunting piano music of Modest Mussorgsky. And thanks to Larry for first bringing this opportunity to my attention. I hope you will consider supporting this worthy cause. I was very fortunate today to have the chance to speak to the Poetry Society of Texas at their monthly meeting. I always love getting the chance to visit with my friends in the PST and share works and ideas. I was happy to donate a copy of my 2018 William D. Barney Chapbook Contest winning book, What Happens When We Leave, to the PST's permanent collection. My talk focused on current events poetry, which is a field I have only recently begun to explore since I was inspired to write about Hurricane Harvey. What Happens When We Leave contains several current events poems, including pieces published by Poets Reading the News and Rattle: Poets Respond, so it was a good tool to use to illustrate my approach to this subject. I spoke on the challenges of writing poetry that won't be so tied to the present that it becomes irrelevant in the future. To overcome this, I discussed selecting inspirational material from the "back pages" of the newspaper, as opposed to the big, overwhelming stories on the front pages. It is easier, I think, to find something of ourselves in these quieter, quirkier stories, something that can speak more to the human condition and less to the politics and passions that are so hard to constrain in a poem. I spoke on using unique perspectives to create a current events story, approaching a topic tangentially. And I spoke on the ways to approach a news poem: as an objective observer, as an interpreter of events, or with a narrative retelling or a narrative frame. I was also very happy to learn about the next Barney award winner, Robert Schinzer and his manuscript Westbound 380. Robert read several pieces from his award-winning manuscript, and I am very much looking forward to seeing his book come to life. Congrats, Robert! photo credit: JDarrel Kirkley photo credit: JDarrel Kirkley photo credit: JDarrel Kirkley Robert Schinzer reading from his Barney award-winning manuscript Westbound 380. Photo credit: Steve Sanders Critical Essay on the Mississippi Delta Poetry of Larry D. Thomas Published in Arkansas Review4/3/2019 I am VERY excited to announce the publication of my first piece of literary criticism and my first photograph in Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies, Volume 50, Issue 1 (April 2019). The issue is guest edited by Philip C. Kolin (author of Emmett Till in Different States) and focuses on the poetry and poets of the Mississippi Delta. Grab a copy to check out my essay “Despair and Hope through Delta Labor in the Poetry of Larry D. Thomas” and my photo of the now-defunct juke joint Po Monkey’s Lounge in Merigold, Mississippi.
As a writer outside academia, I don’t face demands to publish criticism, and since my grad degree is not in literature, criticism is a little out of my comfort zone anyway. However, when Philip approached me about writing an essay on the Mississippi Delta poetry of friend, mentor, and 2008 Texas Poet Laureate Larry D. Thomas, I thought I’d give it a shot. I have long been a fan of Larry’s work, and I am passionate about the people, places, and sounds of the Delta. Thanks to Philip for his editorial guidance and tremendous patience with me through the process. I am pleased my photo is being used to illustrate his poem “Juke Joint Blues.” Thanks, too, to AR editor Marcus Tribbett for sending Philip my way. And thanks to Larry for generously sharing his work and insights into his personal history. This was a great experience. |
J. Todd Hawkins
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