I'm not sure what it is that makes me resist continuing something I start but it's sure there. So, back to this. The main thing is that I'm just back from the Austin International Poetry Festival. I hosted at one venue, read at three others, and conducted a workshop. Everything went really well and, as usual, I came back energized and eager to accomplish something. This will be the first thing I accomplish. Next maybe I should finish putting that book of poems together that Diminuendo Press say they want.

The workshop I did has made me do a lot of thinking. I hope the effect was similar for those who came to it. I called it, The Where IS the Who: Writing Poetry of Place. My point was that, for me, a poem that sets out to describe a location, bit of scenery, river, pond, flower, mountain, or molehill needs to invoke in me some emotion and the ability of the poet to direct that reaction is part of that writer's skill.

I believe that in every poem worth the name there are at least two emotional sets in play, the writer and the reader. There may be more than that. Notably when the writer has created or co-opted a narrator whose feelings do not necessarily reflect their own. Look at Browning's, My Last Duchess. The poem may also deal with the reaction of some player other than those mentioned. A good deal of narrative poetry that tells a story will do that.

Interestingly, these thoughts have generated a number of ideas for poems that I will work on later. Spending four days listening to poetry read and talking to poets from all over will do that, too. A special contact was Lori Desrosiers from MA (not ME like it said in the program.) She was special. Poet, singer/songwriter, and all around good person to get to know. I was honored to have her play my guitar at the "big read" for featured poets from areas besides Texas.

Ten years of attendance leads to a feeling of family. I started to name some names but I'd leave someone out and I don't want to do that. Anyway, hopefully any of them who read this will realize how important they are to me.

On the original subject, I don't expect I'll get any better at being consistent posting these but I intend to try. I would like to get into some specifics on the act of writing. It would help me clarify my thinking and, with luck, mean something to you, as well. Thanks for reading and, as always, I would love to hear from you.

Austin International Poetry Festival

Ok, time for some promotional stuff. Listen, the Austin International Poetry Festival (www.aipf.org) (hereinafter refered to as AIPF) is one of my favorite things to do every year. The Seventeenth Annual AIPF is coming April 23-26, 2009. I am hoping to see all my old friends from past festivals and a whole bunch of new ones. The weekend will be packed with more poetry than you know what to do with. There's more going on than you can do, in fact. In fact, if you try you might end up like I did last year with a major blood pressure event caused by living on coffee, little food and less sleep for four days. That by the way is not a festival requirement and I have promised to slow down next year. (I think She Who Must Be Obeyed is planning on going this time to keep an eye on me.) For those who have never been, everything starts on Thursday afternoon with signing in at Ruta Maya Coffee Shop and starting to meet and greet. That evening will be a reading of the poems selected for the anthology, di*verse*city. (more on the anthology in a minute) followed by an open mike that will go about as long an anyone wants to get back up there and read another one. Friday and Saturday will each start with workshops which will be listed before too long on the website. There will be featured readers and special times like the Slam on Friday at 9:30 pm. Like I said, there is more to be done that one person can do I probably won't stay for the whole "all nighter" that I expect to take place on Sat. I did that last year and I don't think it was good for me. You come do it, though, to uphold the tradition.

Oh, yes, the anthology. Well, you can have poems considered for the anthology by registering by Feb 1, 2009 and submitting up to three. The complete guidelines are on the website, be sure you read them before submitting. Those go to an editorial committee who chose the poems to be in the anthology and forward a number of those to an independent judge to chose first, second, third and, sometimes, some honorable mentions. I've had honorable mentions twice but never quite in the money. (however, to my great satisfaction. one of those was the year that the judge was Coleman Barks)

If you get a poem in the anthology, you get a free copy. You know how that goes. Registration isn't expensive, just $35 with a submission or $30 without. You should be able to find reasonable priced accomodations at what ever level you chose to travel. For convenience, somewhere south of downtown along I-35 south is probably your best bet. I haven't checked yet this year but I've been able to keep mine at about $50 a night in past years. I find pretty cheap rooms but they've been comfortable. I haven't been asking Motel 6 to keep a light on for me, either.

If you can, plan a little extra time. April is a great time to be in the Texas Hill Country. There should be lots of wild flowers out and, depending on the rain patterns of winter and spring, maybe we'll even have some bluebonnets left.

Come on to Austin, I think I'll be hosting a couple of venues and maybe you'll be reading in one of those.

Well, I started this blog in 2005 and never followed up on it. Now that I have started a new one called Mind Lint I think I'll try to use this one for more talk about writing and related topics.

Let's start with a short trip. Two weeks ago I went to the Hill Country of Texas at the invitation of good friends, both poets of considerable skill, to attend the Burnet Poetry Festival. It was a thrill to see a poem of mine used on the back cover of their anthology, The Enigmatist, (but I did accuse Mike of not wanting to contaminate the work inside with my stuff.) Having my work in the same place as Gary Snyder and Li Young Lee was a real ego boost. I think the reason we go to these things even knowing that we will be reading to each other and buying each other's books is because we need the relationship with others that are trying to do the same thing we are. It works! I always come back from events like this with new vigor in my writing, with a new committment to the process (edit, revise, edit, rest, edit, then with great reluctance, let go).

Now I'm working on new pieces to be ready for submission to the biggie, the Austin International Poetry Festival. The seventeenth of these will be held next year April 23-26 and I'm proud of the fact that I have been a participant the last nine years. I hope that they will, once again, ask me to host a venue or two, that was a real pleasure last year. English poet, John Row, was the feature in my venues and was a treat. Especially fun and sometimes moving were his stories about his "day job" as Poet-in-Residence ("that doesn't mean I live there!") at Suffolk Prison, Suffolk, England. I'm anxiously waiting for more information on who is coming this year. The festival has shrunk a little these last couple of years due mostly to the expense of travel. The British contingent is down a few and I'm not sure that Singapore is sending anyone this year but we still have many states and a few foreign countries represented. Last year saw poets from the US coming in from Maine to Washington State, California to Florida. Spain, Australia, New Zealand, England and Mexico were some of the countries represented. The total was over one hundred and we had a great time. Academics, performance poets, slam poets, lyric poets who had never shared their work before, they were all there. This is still, I think, the largest non-juried poetry festival in the country. That means if you sign up and show up you get at least one venue to read at with a ten minute block of time to read. No critique (unless you ask for it afterward) just appreciation for your willingness to expose yourself in your work. Maybe someone will see this (if anyone sees it) and decide to make the trip. You can check out registration information at www.aipf.org . Email me if you have any questions.

Ok, enough for this time. Hopefully there will a next time very soon.