National Poetry Month AND NaPoWriMo

April is National Poetry Month here in the United States, and it is NaPoWriMo - National Poetry Writing Month, too.  NaPoWriMo is a challenge to write thirty poems during the thirty days of April.  I am participating this year.  So far I have written seven of the thirty poems, six of which I have published online.

My Poetry Editor blog is registered with NaPoWriMo, and so that is where I am posting links to all my poems.

So Happy National Poetry Month, everyone, and Happy NaPoWriMo, too.

Remembering Cris

It's not like Cris Advincula and I ever met, yet I felt a kinship with him that will last beyond his life and perhaps mine, too.

Today Cris died unexpectedly from complications of diabetes.  He was a young man, on his computer, probably creating compelling poetry or images as was his wont.  He was ever an inspiring and community building man, always with a positive outlook.   Even when the tsunami took everything, still he was able to take it in stride.  His strength and his creativity remain as totems and exemplars to us, we who are left behind to try to grasp some corner of his genius before it is blown off into oblivion by the winds of time.

HUMBUG Poetry Contest

Eye On Life Humbug Poetry Contest 

This week only, December 12th through 16th.  Submit a twisted Christmas (or other winter holiday of your choice) poem to The Poetry Locksmith and be entered to win a bag of humbug.  Winner announced on Monday, December 19th.

Contest rules:

• Previously unpublished poems only
• No more than two poems per contestant
• Contest open only to poets in the United States
• Paste your humbug poems into the body of an email.  NO ATTACHMENTS.
• Enter "HUMBUG" in the subject line
• Send the email to me at tomr@rubecom.us
• Include your name and mailing address so we can send you your prize if you win
• Less than 400 words
• Approach Christmas (or your preferred holiday) from an unusual angle

After December 19th, all rights revert to the poets.  The bag of humbug will be shipped concurrent with winner announcement.  In addition to the winner, a number of runners up will be published in The Poetry Locksmith at Eye On Life.

Simon Perchik at Eye On Life

This week at Eye On Life, The Poetry Locksmith, it is our pleasure to feature Simon Perchik's poetry. Simon has a unique voice that is worth hearing. I hope you'll stop by and have a look.

In other news, I wrote an article about the new PS900 series power supplies by Ingersoll Rand in an attempt to demystify them. I hope I succeeded. They also came out with a retrofit version designed to ease replacement of the old PS873 series with the new PS900 series. I'll be writing about that soon at Door Hardware Genius.

Reading Poetry in Public

I tried a new tactic at the Cantab Lounge last night. Usually if I read at open mic I'm nervous, so I have a couple of beers. However, I have noticed that this does not really enhance my performance so I decided to try mindful breathing instead. Mindful breathing worked great. As the crew of the Boston Poetry Slam set up the stage, I breathed and became totally calm. When the first eight or nine poets read, I was open and receptive and ready to thoroughly enjoy - which I did. When I went up to read I was happy and eager. It was a kind of funny, cute poem I wrote about waiting for Donna outside a store. I'll post it someplace and let you know.

At the break I contacted Simone Beaubien, the driving force behind the Boston Poetry Slam and Host City Director for the National Poetry Slam coming up in August. She agreed to an interview. If you'd like to read it, please click here.

Touching Base

I've been busy. I wrote a poem, an article about some new hardware and I published one of our regular contributors to Eye On Life Magazine: Donal Mahoney.

Like I say, I've been busy. :)

Live, Sort of...

I have started putting vocal recordings of some of my work on SoundCloud. It's a good thing... but I don't want it to take the place of open mike at the Cantab in Cambridge as my spoken word outlet. Nevertheless it is nice to be heard, and one cannot be heard if one is silent. In this way I can be heard even when I am silent.

Melissa Diana, Featured Poet on EOL

Eye on Life Online Magazine is kicking off Poetry Month (United States) with work by Melissa Diana. Please come by and read.

Poet's Tool Box

When writing a poem, the poet uses words in a special way to convey meaning. “Meaning” is a slippery word, isn’t it? Well, for our purposes, let’s agree that “meaning” means what a person wants to communicate. Let us further stipulate that the reason poetry exists is because words alone are often not quite up to the task of fully expressing meaning. Poetry helps words do more than what they were designed to do by painting pictures, evoking feelings and triggering thought processes in the mind of the reader or listener. The poet attempts to do this by arranging words in a certain way.

Here is a series I wrote at the request of a friend on how to get more meaning into your poetry:

• Rhyme
• Meter
• Form
• Imagery

These articles appear on "HubPages" - a place where I make a small amount of money when people see the ads Google places on the page.

Frank De Canio

Please stop by to check out Frank De Canio’s work at Eye On Life Online Magazine (the Poetry Locksmith section). Interesting poetry from an interesting poet. I don’t often accept rhyming poetry, but Frank really makes it work.

Steele Fields

New poet up on Eye On Life Magazine: Steele Fields

Chris Grasso - Featured Poet

Chris Grasso is Featured Poet in the Poetry Locksmith section of Eye On Life Online Magazine this week. Be sure to check out his work.

Changes at the Poetry Locksmith

Look for big changes soon at the Poetry Locksmith at Eye On Life Online Magazine.

This year's poetry contest will have no entry fee.
First prize will be $100
Second prize will be $50
Working on 3rd prize.

If you are interested in sponsoring a prize, please contact me.

In addition, I will be announcing a new fiscal sponsor for our Poetry Travel Fund.

Keep your eyes open. You don't want to miss nothing!

New Poems Up

New poems up at Eye On Life Magazine!

http://www.eyeonlifemag.com/poetry-unlocked/

Check out "Jimmy the Blind Man Says He's in Love" and "Small Time Town"

Good stuff.

Inspiration

I was inspired to write this short piece. I don't know why. Who knows whence inspiration comes?

http://www.eyeonlifemag.com/the-poetry-locksmith/inspiration.html

Summer Poetry

In summer the poetry universe slows down, kicks back, goes on vacation, but not the Poetry Locksmith , where I have published my first review in a series on poetry for summer reading.

Next I'll review a book by local Boston poet, Ben Mazer, "Poems"

Please stay tuned. :)

Cantab Lounge - Cambridge, Massachusetts

Book release party for the new project from Christopher Kain.
Summertime Speed Slam: 3-, 2-, and 1-minute rounds.

Sign up for 8pm open mic by 7:15pm

738 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts


http://slamnews.com/cantab/schedule.html

Poetry Contest Winners to be Announced

Winners of the first annual Eye On Life Poetry Contest will be announced next week on February 23rd or 25th.

We enjoyed an eclectic and wonderful assortment of entries and we will be hard pressed to select the winning poem. But we will. All winners will be published here on Eye On Life. The first prize winner will receive $100 and publication. The second prize winner will receive a gift crate from Zhi Tea and publication. Third prize winners will receive publication.

Thank you to all entrants. It was a pleasure reading all the entries.

We hope next year even more poets hop on board and enter the contest. Contest entries are accepted from November 15th through January 31st.

Regular poetry submissions are accepted year round.

Send Momma To The Slam

In my role as Poetry Editor for Eye on Life Online Magazine I have had the pleasure of reading and publishing poetry. Some of the talented poets I have corresponded with have fallen into a particular demographic – female, poets who do not currently read their work in public, between 25 and 45 years old, with small children to care for. We have chosen four of these women to send to the Women Of The World Poetry Slam in March.

If you would like to help us “Send Momma To The Slam”, please CLICK HERE.